Incoming Goodies!!!

So here goes the first one!
Sitting pretty on a couple of Saul Koll guitars...one sold literally the first day I received it. Despite having been at this for the past 3 years now sometimes the speed of these sales / the intensity of people's appreciation for these fine pieces of contemporary luthiery still manages to amaze me and make me feel all warm 'n' fuzzy.
Then today someone else wrote, out of northern EU, asking for the remaining Koll Tornado - talk about taking Europe by storm (haha).

in the meantime I'm getting a precious new Nik Huber Dolphin delivered to Italy, along with Nik Huber's personal Dolphin Jr. Bigtime italian pro wants to try one out with an even bigger italian singer w/ int'l recognition (heck - even Nik has heard of him!).

Separately, Gitarre und Bass (the german mag) is putting a Soloway Swan through it's paces... fingers crossed...

Curio: I actually played a '59 Gibson Les Paul in Milano, Italy about one month ago. Thing is, these days, with all those Custom Shop and Historic reissues, not to mention the Tom Murphy relics, and Max replicas, you never really know what you're holding, see? Is it the Real Deal? Is it a very beautiful replica of the same? When I was younger there were only "real" ones or "modern equivalents". Non of this ambiguous as-good-as-the-original stuff! ;-)))

Thx for reading!

Uncle GroOve

Saul Koll Guitars - In Europe!

File under Alt.Jazz.Fusion...
Very crisp and open bridge and middle positions...let Frisell shine through those ambiguous no-3rd cluster chords. Switch to the neck for some Wes inspired octave phrasing, coated in a smoky, woody vibe. Bend your way through nu.jazz microtonal runs with the Skyway trem... . Originally built for guit-extra-terrestrial David Torn (www.davidtorn.net) - there's nothing else like this on the face of this galaxy!



This one is pure rock'n'roll with a twist. Fullerton and Kalamazoo meet down Louisiana way. Short scale, maple set neck, coupled with a greasy, grind-y bridge p.up (think tele on steroids) and a warm and woody neck P90. Go from buttery bloos (neck) to finger pickin' alt-country-americana rock in the mid position, to right hand Honky-Tonk Wimmin' heavyness in the bridge position. This is what it's all about.
Like a Johnny Depp in Willy Wonka - strip away the dandy outfit, reveal them tatoos ;-) ...

Ruokangas VSOP Standard "custom"

VSOP front
Originally uploaded by Uncle GroOve.

Ordered 4 months ago, she is finally here.
We're talking about a Ruokangas VSOP Standard which has been somewhat customized by Juha to my specs.
The upgrades basically are:
Haeussel "harrybarden" blade humbuckers on a pearloid 'guard
Stainless steel frets
Flamed maple neck and fretboard.
The guitar is a bow to that venerable Fullerton double-cut design, from the 25.5" scale length, to the bolt-on neck down to the alder body. Finish is a ultra-thin vintage white poly job. The" venerable design" is brought up-to date by the Wilkinson steel block (a joy to operate, smooth and precise), a moose shin bone nut (naturally lubricated) and thermo-treated woods. This treatment aims to recreate the natural effect of wood aging and drying over time and is a trademarked process (IIRC it was developed by the Wood Institute in Helsinki, Finland).
Tonally the guitar is *alive* and resonant; the low-wind pickups (appx. 4.5K) induce a nice harmonically rich sheen, but despite the maple and the stainless steel frets there is none of that glare in the mid-high register and no ice-pick shrillness from the bridge pickup. The mid positions sund "clucky" and yield an immediately apparent timbre difference when played with an overdriven amp or stompbox. Just flick from one position to go from bright to dark - easy!The generous frets are high enough so that in the high register you're practically playing a scalloped fretboard, which does wonders for faster, shred oriented players. For the heavy crowd I'd recommend using Harry Haeussel's "hot" version of these blade pickups, of course.
The price of this baby would be around 2'800 Euro (incl. VAT). In the price is included a sturdy Hiscox form-fitted case.

A Suhr Review

I've just received a beautiful - even if not spanking new - 2003 Suhr Classic S in transparent white (think Mary Kay minus the gold appointments).
25.5" scale, alder body, maple neck and fretboard, stainless steel 6105s, V60LP pickups, gotoh 1088 bridge, Buzz Feiten, etc, etc.

I remembered, from having played one that belongs to a Knopfler nut, that the guitar's response is tendentially "hard"... I couldn't get over the "compressed" feel of the steel frets + Suhr pickups.
To my energetic right hand, the guitar sounded way too brash and middy, without that nice "expanding" kind of tone that I expect from a Stratocaster. By this I denote A) the mid scoop that I have in mind from listening to too much Hendrix and SRV coupled with B) the increased dynamics in a single coil p.up vs. it's humbucker counterpart - one could say in tune amp terms: "sag".

Anyway, I took some time to play the Suhr through my Carr Rambler (www.carramps.com - check them out!)... One of the first things I did was lower the highs on the amp AND lower the guitar's tone controls down to "6". Now I was in business.
The guitar really shines because the pickups' compression actually helps you play with a much lighter right-hand touch - which is obviously a useful feature if you're playing 2,3 hour long sets - and helps you get the same kind of output level if you're fingerpicking. Not a stupid idea at all.
I actually loved the sound of the guitar played fingerstyle vs. the sound of celluloid on the strings and I did find that the Buzz Feiten optimization does wonders for those first position chords, especially triads played on the lower three strings - which usually sound a bit dodgy.

All in all I guess I've found a way to love yet another guitar - much to my wallet's distress.
My girlfriend actually fell in love with it, which means I'll have a much harder time selling it!

May 1st, 2006 Joe Barden is Back And In Business!

It will seem strange to many of the visitors that I should be celebrating - after all I had some success by selling a similar product, right?
Well, it ain't so. First of all because Joe was really unlucky - hit a hard patch, and it took him quite some time to get himself back on his feet. I / we respect anybody who makes an effort to swim back to the surface of things. Nothing to do with "success", it has more to do with the human ability to spring a comeback and get himself a new lease on life.
Secondly, because Harry's and Joe's blade pickups are as different as the night and day; Joe's are acclaimed for their extended-range, high fidelity sound, Harry's because of their midrange detail and their overall warmth.
If you ask me - I think that some months down the road we'll be seeing folks with mixed Barden-Häussel sets... these will turn out to be interesting times indeed!!
In the meantime I have applied for a distributing licence here in Europe - we'll see what will happen and if I get lucky there will be good reasons to celebrate!

Affaire à suivre...

The "Barden" Legacy...

Here is the image of a trio of "harrybarden" Haeussel pickups, both for stratocaster and for telecaster.
As you can see, they do look different from a true Joe Barden pickup, especially on the underside.
This is actually intentionally done to protect everyone from paying for a "fake" Barden - prices of which have gone thru the roof - and out of respect to the "real" Barden design.
I just seem to be unable to order enough at a time - box in, box out... amazing...

Stuff to look forward to...

After the Musikmesse in Frankfurt it's time to give a couple of thoughts on some serious toys - not necessarily all expensive:

• Fulltone OCD: I loved it! I don't understand the hype - but I know tone when I hear it. The only thing Mike should do is make the HP-LP switch "footswitchable" like the Fulldrive II. It would be an even Mo' Killah pedal...


• Electro Harmonix: I loved the H.O.G. and P.O.G. harmonic pitch shifters. Pitch shift CHORDS! Unheard, unearthly, killer.


• Fuchs Amps: I loved the 50 watt OD head... Smooth, rich, creamy. From Blues to hard Rock and Clean, it's got 'em all.


• Koch Amps: these guys were demoing the new Supernova head. Blew many many many people away, including Paul Reed Smith himself - keep an eye for this devastating thang!


• Morgaine Guitars: Made in Germany, just like Nik Huber. Easy, no? ;-) Tried out one of his relic'd LPs. Stunning!!!!


• Roland: Got to meet with the guy that's programming the new super-looper (FC50?). Will make the old Oberheim / Gibson Echoplex look prehistoric!!!!


• Music123.com: These guys came over to the Nik Huber booth. They're looking to open up a high-end section of the store. Could be a very positive surprise for many boutique builders.


• Ruokangas Guitars: I'm stoked every time I meet Juha. Such incredible stuff - with his flamed artic birch tops he sets the bar Very High. Whoa!