NGD: EJ Rosewood

[Bhodie]

Well, through a series of horse trades I was able to get this EJ RW very reasonably... I know that alot of people have beat these guitars up on the forum, and my first impression of the pickups was kind of Bleh.. but after digging into it all weekend, I have found that "tone knobs are your friend"

So, all the good stuff is still there..

• Great neck shape, soft "v" transitions to "c" (and it does not feel as "sticky" as my old style EJ)
• Great body shape, weight and resonance with lacquer finish
• Nice frets.. not "vintage skinny" but reasonable medium jumbos
• Nice very dark fretboard
• Great vintage hardware with modern touches (staggered vintage tuners) big ass trem block...
• Nicely finished and great quality.. as good or better as any custom shop I have owned

and.. as a player that usually plays with tone knobs "dimed", it really responds to rolling off the tone on the bridge pickup (not needed on the neck)

And, as far as the weird color name "tropical turquoise".. it looks like it was sprayed from a sonic blue paint can...

The only minus for me visually is the binding.. it feels great, just kind of looks weird on a strat.. I will surely get over it.

 

[James]

Very nice! I think the EJ Rosewood Strats are cool, and the bound fingerboards are very unique.

 

[russiancrowe]

Sweet looking guitar. I played one the same colour at Elderly a few weeks ago and am now gassing big time for one. As soon as I save up enough money that's what I'm buying. I love the necks on the EJ, it was very comfortable.

 

[scolfax]

Looks awesome!

 

[analogsystem]

I think the binding is almost the coolest part. For some reason I can't explain, I really miss the fret nubs on bound necks but Fender has never done them that I know of.

Still a very cool axe.

 

[Ricky_Rockhardo]

The Blue with the binding works for me, on the others, not so much. Nice one, enjoy.

 

[jimification]

Beautiful! that's the colour I'd go for too.

 

[KazJY]

This is my favorite strat. Embrace the binding! it's ok. really. they made thousands of these, and the world still turns.

Congrats! (now I want a 2nd one)

 

[robertkoa]

_Just wish those frets were a little beefier, like a true Medium Jumbo.......don't like the binding, but doesn't affect TONE of course.

 

[Citizen_Insane]

Awesome guitar! The killer for me has always been the binding. I prefer rosewood necks, but I'm just not a fan of binding on Fender necks. It just never looks right.

 

[cottoneyedjoe]

You know, at first, I HATED the bound rosewood neck.

Then I played one. OOOOH, so nice!

Cool color too. That's a fine guitar.

 

[Arc Angel]

Had a maple version that I couldn't bond with and sold. The rosewood versions I've played have been really good though. Nice guitar. Congrats!

 

[Boris Bubbanov]

Excellent color choice with that bound rosewood.


That's true, these have not been seen too much like the maple board ones were.

 

[Liquid_Mojo]

I love the feel of a neck with binding. Probably why I like my Les Paul's. A Strat with binding on the neck? Different, but that's what makes it

 

[Bhodie]

Ok.. got tired of fiddling with the knobs so much.. so thank to a fellow TGPer, I just installed a set of Grosh Fat 60's with the plate on the bridge.. wow.. what a difference. This guitar is now just what my brain tells my ears to expect from a late 50's early 60's strat from my high school years. (plus Grosh was great to deal with.. sent them an email regarding wiring.. and had a response in less than 1/2 hour.. great service!)

Plus.. it has a usable middle position, which in my experience was really there just to provide a #2 and #4 switch position

So, single coil niche filled.. P90 niche filled.. Humbucker niche filled.. DONE! all I have to do now is practice more!

 

[stratlad]

Nice arsenal of guitars there!

 

[re-animator]

cool guitar. like the color choice as well. how do you find the pickups in terms of brightness? i've got a strat with ej pickups in it running into my bandmaster and it definitely seems on the dark/meaty side...on the verge of not even sounding stratty.

 

[Bhodie]

cool guitar. like the color choice as well. how do you find the pickups in terms of brightness? i've got a strat with ej pickups in it running into my bandmaster and it definitely seems on the dark/meaty side...on the verge of not even sounding stratty.

Wow.. my experience was exactly the opposite.. that is why I changed them out. The EJ pickups in mine were so bright I had to run the bridge tone set at around 4 and the neck around 7 to keep from calling dogs in from miles around. The Middle is not wired to a tone pot and was really bright and nothing to do for it except change wiring...

 

[Gham]

I've only ever seen one other in that color but it was more of a Blue-Green aqua ,maybe it was a custom color,dunno?

 

[dsmc80]

Rosewood fretboard and a fantastic body color on a well spec'd strat. That's a mighty fine strat.