Please say Konichiwa to my new guitar...

Johnny Storm

Now I'm sure we all remember Gemihen and his preferences for playing Parker and 'Bergers.

Then he got to like the Storatocaster

Now if only I was black, talented, had a head full of acid and could actually play the guitar.........



I ordered it on Friday night from Ishibashi (after having a few jars, natch.) and it arrived on Wed morning which was pretty impressive. But I was very concerned when I saw the way it was packed TBH, only in a crappy triangular cardboard box, lots of bubblewrap and a few Shinto prayers no doubt:

But it was completely undamaged:



It has a really low action as set up out of the box. The nut is particularly low. I took a photo of that but it didn't turn out well. There is zero relief in the neck but no buzzing which is great. This time I am going to leave the guitar 100% alone for at least a month before messing with the set-up even though its set for dive-only and I would prefer floating. I'm sure Fender Japan can do a much better job of setting up that I can.
The vintage radius seems to make no difference at all to me and I have no problem with the vintage frets either. My finger tips are a bit sore possibly because when you press on the string it is "supported" more by the fretboard and digs into your finger more. It kind of reminds me of the POS guitar I bought in 1978 from that point of view. The neck is quite slim but surprisingly not hugely different from my Lite Ash Strat. This guitar seems less "resonant" unplugged than the Lite Ash. The LA had different strings though which may have some impact. Not quite sure about the tone yet. So far I prefer the LIte Ash tone.
Fit and finish is really excellent. The laquer (or what ever it is) on the neck is really shiny and I could stare at it all day. It has a kind of sensuous quality. :eek: The finish is not sticky and in fact I prefer it to the satin finish on the LA.


It wasn't quite perfect though, the jack socket was screwed on just a tiny bit too far along its shaft and when you put the plug in it was forced back out by about 2mm. This lead to to crackling sounds. Being a total bodger (yes I said bodger) I tried to fix it myself. All I needed to do was unscrew the jack socket shaft and screw it back in a few mm further along. Naturally this leads to me snapping both wires off the jack socket. There was no slack in the wires in the jack cavity. In attempting to pare off some insulation I (naturally) cut the wire off even shorter. Obviously the only course of action is then to take off the neck (advice: never do this unless you have a capo or want to replace all the strings), then take off the scratch plate. There was loads of slack in the jack socket wire but it was wrapped around the 5 way switch. Many hours later and much cursing and abuse of innocent family members later the socket is back in place. The pots and 5 way switch look a bit puny IMHO. The ones in my MIK Lite Ash strat look better. (obviously its not how they look that counts)

I'm not even sure why I took this pic except that they all do it on EBay:


Here's my gang (in chronological order, of course):

I can barely play the guitar and my son recently asked me "Dad, do you know ANY songs all the way through?". So, realistically, what you are seeing here is a middle-aged guy having his mid-life crisis (for the 999th time). But, WTF, I just enjoy it;)

LundiMardi

very nice collection there!! Especially the Natural Finish Strat:eek: Absolutely gorgeous, bravo!:)

Doctor J

Ah man that is sweet. I do love the big headstock. Peace and love to you

Doctor J

You should have put a warning on the thread title for Ancient1 to have a change of jocks handy :v:

disgruntled

Very nice collection you've got there and that is one sweet looking strat.
I must admit I like those big headstock too although I ended up going for a 54ri in the end. Those Jap Fenders really are great, especially for the price. Dammit you've got me looking at Ishibashi again.

Johnny Storm wrote:

The pots and 5 way switch look a bit puny IMHO. The ones in my MIK Lite Ash strat look better. (obviously its not how they look that counts)

I completely agree, I'm in the process of shielding and rewiring mine and even though they work fine I decided to switch out the funny looking stock parts. I'll let you know if it makes any difference.

Ancient1

Doctor J wrote:

You should have put a warning on the thread title for Ancient1 to have a change of jocks handy :v:

Aaaaargh, too late!

Dammit Johnny Storm.........oh never mind, i'm coming over tonight.

-=al=-

the neck looks so nice on it, congrats... and ur guitars are all shiney

Doctor J

What's the blue one, the first one? Ibanez ergodyne or something more exotic?

Voodu Child

Nice...i love it when a plan comes together Ive often been tempted by a jap strat, id even think about getting a yngwie one, they come up in the ubox the whole time, yer man is dead popular over there i guess...

Ive been gassing myself, and it was off/on/off over the last few weeks as I checked my funds...I may have to sell my GT8, or even my univalve (not going to happen :P), but i may be getting something tasty soon.. (anyone looking for a boss gt8 keep an eye out in the FS over the next few weeks, get in there quick )

Johnny Storm

The blue guit is a Switch Wild IV. That was the first guit I bought since 1978 after the head snapped off my old POS LP copy about 2 years ago. The only exotic thing about it is that its actually made of "VibraCell" not wood. Its a pretty good guitar with a nice fast neck and jumbo frets. The neck is wide and thin somewhat in the style of Ibanez. It has Grover tuners and a Wilkinson string-thru hardtail bridge. I was amazed at the time that you could get such a good playing guitar for less than €250 but this was based on my experiences from the bad old days. I would certainly recommend Switch to anyone looking for a good value guitar. The only down side of it is the pickups are a bit too hot so its not very versatile in terms of the range of tones. Great rock sound out of it though. Its made in China

feylya

They're really nice guitars alright considering the price.

Quattroste

Ah sweet Guitar Johnny. You know, were not unalike! I could also be classed as a mid life crises suffering(well each time I want a new guitar anyway, or car!) And I can't play jack sh1t either! Now I dont' feel so bad! :cool:

Johnny Storm

Quattroste wrote:

Ah sweet Guitar Johnny. You know, were not unalike! I could also be classed as a mid life crises suffering(well each time I want a new guitar anyway, or car!) And I can't play jack sh1t either! Now I dont' feel so bad! :cool:

Great! We should start a club!

Rustar

Johnny Storm wrote:

I can barely play the guitar and my son recently asked me "Dad, do you know ANY songs all the way through?"

I know what you mean, man, if I weren't in a band I'd STILL have 12 instruments and not know any songs!

Great collection, how does that Parker Fly fly? I've always been very interested in trying one (something about it's lightness and pre-existing back problems).

Kenny_D

Think that's a Parker P44 Rustar. The flys are fairly expensive. Whats the parker like anyway? BTW, love the new guitar. Got a link to that it on ishibashi? I'm tempted to pick up a jap strat or tele but not sure because there seems to be lots of diff model numbers

Johnny Storm

*** GStrormcrow - the one I got is sn ST68-TX85, meaning that it's an 1968 reissue with Texas Special pickups and the Fender Japan list price is 85K Yen.
There seems to be a problem linking directly to translated pages on Ishibashi so go to Ishibashi, then select Fender Japan in the left hand pane, then click on the photo of a stratocaster. FYI for some reason in translated Ishibashi English "problem" means "guitar neck". Also for any completely inexplicable words like "Gemihen" try saying them out loud - it may give you a hint.

*** Rustar, The parker fly is way cool. The model I have is a Fly Mojo. Its all mahogany with Duncan Jazz and JB pickups. I read about the Fly being refered to in a snarky way as an orthopedic guitar. Which is actually one of its accomplishments. Its about half the weight of a normal guitar at 4 or so pounds. Its also totally contoured all over the back and bottom so its extremely comfortable, standing or sitting. Its kind of snuggles onto my beer belly (in good way).:D
The best feature of this guitar is the frets and fretboard. They are made in a totally unique way and are the the best, smoothest, sexiest of any guitar I have ever played (and I have been in a lot of guitar shops over the years:rolleyes: ). The neck is very wide flat and thin. It has a good coil splitting feature and a piezo pickup so you can get an extremely wide range of sounds.
The disadvantage of the guitar is that you dont just plug it in and get a good sound immediately, you actually have to work at it to get the tone you want. Amp settings on this guitar will be very different from every other guitar you play. Also its almost too easy to play - believe it or not - which is an diasadvantage you'd just have to experience to understand.
Here's a great interview with Ken Parker. Its long but well worth reading IMHO. Warning: If you read this you will buy a Parker Fly

feylya

Damnit Johnny, now I'm really gassing after this

Johnny Storm

feylya wrote:

Damnit Johnny, now I'm really gassing after this

That's nice Feylya. If I was you I'd also seriously consider the black Lite Ash Strat. They're about the same price, delivered and tax paid.

feylya

I want white pickups, knobs and switch though. I've been watching too much Pink Floyd @ Live 8

Although, I'll be heading into town tomorrow so I'll check them out!

Johnny Storm

I know what you mean, the all black is a bit much. It'd only be a few euros to get white knobs (€6 for the 3 AFAICR) and switch from Thomann but I've read its almost impossible to get other covers for those Duncan pickups.
I remember now that you said before that the you didn't like the V shaped neck on the Lite Ash. The Fender spec says its a C shaped neck but IMHO you are correct it is in fact more like a soft V shape. FWIW At first I really liked it, then I went off it (and started getting sore thumbs and tendons) and I have to say I really like it again now.

EDIT: FYI - There's a white Lite Ash Strat in Muscians Inc

feylya

I'm actually thinking about following in the Great Doctor's footsteps and getting some parts from eBay. Maybe some Fralin's, Sperzel locking tuners, possibly some EMG presence and tone controls...

Johnny Storm

feylya wrote:

I'm actually thinking about following in the Great Doctor's footsteps and getting some parts from eBay. Maybe some Fralin's, Sperzel locking tuners, possibly some EMG presence and tone controls...

That'd be way cool. I'd love to that myself. Just to be devil's advocate for a minute, the disadvantages of doing it that way are very low re-sale value in future and no warranty. If it works out OK and its a keeper then theres no worries.

feylya

Pfft, what do you need a warranty for? The only thing that could seriously screw up is the truss rod in the neck. If that happens, remove the fretboard and sort it out. The electronics should have their own warranty as should the hardware. And I don't particularly care about resale value. I've just read through the Doc's bass project thread and besides laughing quite a lot, I've rediscovered the epoxy thingy I'm always talking about...

Rustar

Hey, Johnny, looked up some Flys and read the interview. I thought the whole look of the guitar was pretty odd, especially with the pickups and the strangely-shaped pickguard......

Then I stumbled upon these, and I'm beginning to think they're a thing of beauty. They're the 'electro-acoustic' nylon and bronze versions of the Fly.

Voodu Child

Mmm i like the thought of the nylon one. Id love to have a classical guitar to shred on, a la Yngwie (he on an Ovation on some of his shows, and it would make Rodrigo y Gabriella a heart attack)...wonder if its any good?

Johnny Storm

Rustar wrote:

Hey, Johnny, looked up some Flys and read the interview. I thought the whole look of the guitar was pretty odd, especially with the pickups and the strangely-shaped pickguard......

I think Flys have quite a beautiful shape but I can understand that a lot of people dont like them.
JFYI - There's 3 main Parker model ranges. Flys are the high end. Nite-fly in the middle and then the ones that start with P-xx, these are made in Korea
Flys dont have pick guards. The ones with pick-guards are Nite Flys which is quite a different guitar with a bolt on neck etc. Recently they have been trying to make the whole parker thing more acceptable to traditionally inclined guitarists by introducing Nite Flys with Strat and Tele style pickguards. Pretty woeful IMHO.

Did you see this quicktime movie? Its a good overview of the Fly Mojo. (Mojo meaning mahonany)

EDIT: Actually, on second thoughts I think the Tele-style Nite Fly is kind of funky (bring on the lawsuit ):

Eoin Madsen

LundiMardi wrote:

very nice collection there!! Especially the Natural Finish Strat:eek: Absolutely gorgeous, bravo!

+1!

Natural Strat ftw.

jcoote

+2 i love mylight ash strat altho a japper would be sexy..nice one johnny hope u find the tone ur looking for

Johnny Storm

For no reason at all ,here's some more pix of my guitars:-

Doctor J

More pics for no reason? You'll go a long way on this forum

I really like the Steinberger but I don't know if I could ever get used to no headstock.

Johnny Storm

Doctor J wrote:

More pics for no reason? You'll go a long way on this forum

I really like the Steinberger but I don't know if I could ever get used to no headstock.

You'd be totally used to it in about a week. Trust me, you're a doctor;)

Doctor J

Although I can never prove it, I know my missus is twitching uncomfortably right now, sensing this latest GAS explosion :v:

LundiMardi

how does the headless thing work exactly?

Johnny Storm

The strings have ball-ends at both ends and the tuners are at the bridge end. The neck is made of some kind of carbon/graphite stuff. It has about the best tuning stability of any guitar (except maybe an all-graphite 'berger ). The balance is also very stable since the weight is at the body end. The guitar is really compact and comfortable when you are wearing it. I find that after playing this one for a while at home when I change to an ordinary guitar I am inclined to whack the headstock off doorjambs etc.
The problem is that you have to get the special double ball-end strings and this means ordering over the internet.

More info here and at steinbergerworld.com

Doctor J

I would really be interested in a Steinberger 7 string

Rustar

When I was a young tad and finally got rid of my BC Rich Virgin bass and got a real one, it was a Steiny bass. Unbelievable big wooden tone out of a bass with little or no wood. Wish I still had it.
Its only drawback is that there's no place to put your cigarette during solos.

Quattroste

I dunno. Do you not think it looks a bit..... gay?


Nah. Actually I like the body shape but no headstock looks wierd. I'd love to try one and I laughed at the fact that you bash the headstocks off other guitars after you've played it for a while.

Edit: That sounds odd. I meant you bash the headstocks of other guitars off things after you have played the Steinberger. Yeah, thats it!

LundiMardi

the no headstock thing definitely looks dated! But it's interesting none the less

Johnny Storm

It is a kind of uncomfortable looking mixture between the curvy strat type body and the stark looking hardware. I have to say that the fit and finish on it looks great "in the flesh" and all your doubts would fade away as soon as you started playing it. It has a totally solid feel and the neck always feels cooler (temperature wise) than you would expect. The back of the neck is frictionless. It has active EMGs and active eq so its clean, smooth and powerful. You can get a very wide range of tones (none of them bad -unlike the Parker).

steinberger

nice steinberger man..i have one myself gm7ta (transtrem)..savage guitar.i use mine all the time for giggin.as you said excellent for keeping tune and good sounds.rarely break strings (average one a year) personally speaking best guitar i have played and i have strats,les paul,parker which are all great guitars but i just prefer the steinberger:)

Johnny Storm

you da man

legologic

Johnny Storm wrote:

Thats just sublime! I've been lusting after a cream strat just like that for ages!