Congratulations Jim. I haven't read the whole article yet but it sounds like they really loved the axe. Way to go!
Hey Jim - Congratulations on the GP review! I saw your brother in NYC today and we were both thrilled to see you succeeding at your dream.
Thanks. Did he also tell you that I filled his entire living room with about half a truckload of boxes when I came through for the Long Island show? I think he was happier than I was that we sold a few guitars so he could have a little extra floor space before I went home.
Congrats Jim I know you have worked hard. It has to really be a feather in your cap to see it in print. Mike
Thanks guys. I finally received my copy yesterday. I think Oregon is the last place in the country where they arrive. It was quite a rush to open the book and see that double page photo. It was especially gratifying to see that they had focused on what we were trying to do musically and actually "got" it.
Congrats again Jim....it is really great to see you doing so well. However, there seems to be a problem with the guitar in the GP review......it's missing the low A string!! Shad
I got mine yesterday too - isn't their distro house in Boulder..? Anyway - very nice to see your work getting recognized! Did you think the review was fair/accurate? I thought they did a pretty thorough job this time and did get what you were trying to accomplish with the design. The guitar is beautiful! Just curious - did you send along a 'primer' of sorts detailing the attributes of the Swan or did they figure it out on their own? Some reviews GP do kind of sound like somebody's just copied the manual and added a few choice words like 'cluck' and 'chimey'...
I thought it was both fair and accurate. I sent them a short summary plus a detailed description of the features on the actual review guitar. I had had several conversations with a senior editor over the last couple years, so they were very aware of we were doing long before they got to the review. I think the fact that we're doing something so radically different determined the direction for them and I was really pleased with the approach they took. They acknowledged that what we were doing was unique and that the tones it produced couldn't be reproduced just by tweaking their other instruments. That was the really big thing for me, when he said that he couldn't reproduce what we were doing just by EQing his other guitar. Most guitars fit pretty neatly into a very small number of types, so most reviews focus on how those guitars do the familiar. How well do they do the classic Tele sound? Can they cop an ES175 vibe? Can they do brown tone? There was none of that in this review, in fact it was quite the opposite. Instead he focused on how we had created something different, a type of our own, and I was really pleased with that.
Unfortunately, Jim, many readers will want to know how it compares to their Tele, or Strat or whetever... It is a shortsighted way of looking at an instrument, but a popular one. GP definitely goes up a notch in my book by not leaning that way. I hope readers also "get" it. Oh, and I still can't wait to read the review... I guess I should resubscribe...
Congratulations on the review, Jim. Phone ringing off the hook yet? Be interesting to see just what kind of impact a GP review can have out there on a small builder.
Finally, I will be getting my copies in a few minutes. I'll have to get 1 framed. As more Swans get into circulation, people will soon start to realize the capabilities of this incredible instrument. It certainly speaks for itself. I'm keeping 2 Teles, 2 Strats, 1 Gretsch, 1 Gustavsson Bluesmaster, 1 Burns Cobra and a few other oddities. The Soloway Swans will be handling 90% of all my Humbucker and P90 based sounds from the classic 335s, SGs, Les Pauls etc, plus covering a great deal of ground into the land of the single coil pickup. Most importantly they will be creating sounds that are unique to the Swan that no other "classic" guitars are capable of producing. That's what sets this instrument apart from the others. It has many unique tonal qualities that other guitars can't emulate because their design simply does not let them go into the areas where the Swan can venture. Jim, thanks for building these fabulous instruments. I simply can't get enough of them, and they have come at a time in my life where they are truly helping me overcome some major hurdles. "Just what the doctor ordered" if you know what I mean. CONGRATULATIONS
