ult
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by ult on Nov 15, 2019 10:12:32 GMT
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Post by tomim on Nov 15, 2019 10:26:12 GMT
That black one with hardtail is sexy.
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ult
Harley Benton Club Junior Member
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Post by ult on Nov 28, 2019 21:04:23 GMT
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Post by beantowntwanger on Jan 16, 2020 20:19:44 GMT
I just received mine yesterday - it's the fusion T HH with natural flame top and Wilkinson trem (looks like a WVS50IIK). Here are my thoughts:
Pros: The neck is beautiful. Frets were polished and there was no fret sprout or jaggies. The fit and finish on this guitar is nothing short of amazing. The Roswell pickups sound great - crisp, balanced. These are not super high output pickups like a Dimarzio Super Distortion or Power Rail, not as hot but definitely more than enough gain and they are very clear. My overdrive and clean tones sounded great - no muddiness at all and my hi-gain tones sounded awesome. The action was good. Now, this is a personal thing for each individual. So, for me it was a little high but I cold have easily done a whole gig with it the way it was right of the box.
Cons: One of the tremolo claw screw holes was stripped a little, so the screw wasn't biting as well when I need to screw them in more to offset the tension going from 3 springs to 2 springs. Not a huge issue though. I just replaced both screws with slightly larger ones I had lying around. You can get these easily at a hardware store as well. I don't think is a production run issue or flaw by any means.
The tremolo base plate was set an angle to the body instead of floating parallel with it. Because it is angled, that means the saddles are set to the same height in order to keep them parallel to the body of the guitar. It offsets the angle of the base plate. I believe this was done because they give you a large trem block. And because it's large, that means it would hit the back of the cavity sooner if the base plate was set parallel with the body. So it presents a dilemma. The proper way to setup a floating bridge is to have the base plate be parallel with the body. On some Squier guitars, the trem block is tapered to allow for that. So the end result is that I made the base plate parallel, adjusted the saddle height and stud post height as needed. I can do David Gilmour wavers, Jeff beck flutters (with the 2 springs), etc. There's still plenty of travel do lower the pitch of the notes, just not enough to make the strings go floppy like a Floyd Rose. The solution to that is either grind down the block to create a taper, or route of some more in the back of the cavity to allow for the block to have more clearance. Personally, it's fine for me the way it is and the extra room isn't missed. IT behaves much like a vintage trem where you can't dive bomb to the pits of hell.
I am very specific about my action and tremolo setups, and most people would be find with the way this guitar is right out of the box. It really is that good.
So to get some other thoughts from a pro, I took it to my luthier, and within 10 minutes of it being in his hands, he was blown away by how good it played and sounded right out of the box. He ended up ordering a black one. His thoughts? This guitar is comparable to other guitars in the $900-$1000 range and the trem system was setup to accommodate the larger block to get more sustain - not a bad thing. It's not a Floyd Rose an d isn't intended to be used that way except for maybe reducing the spring count like i did from 3 down to 2 in order get those lovely Brad Gillis and Jeff Beck flutters.
Should you get it? Absolutely. This is a beautiful guitar and you will not be disappointed. It is very much my main guitar now replacing some custom built guitars that cost thousands more. I have no idea how HB did it, but they have a HUGE winner here.
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Post by beantowntwanger on Jan 18, 2020 17:40:49 GMT
On a six-screw style vintage trem you have to loosen the spring enough in order for the trem to “float”. On two-post trend like a Floyd Rose or the Wilkinson WVS50IIK, the bridge floats a little higher due to where the knife-edge pivot point is. The “proper” way to float a bridge on a two-post system is for the bridge to be parallel to the body of the guitar to allow for the bar to pull-up and pushed down enough. On MIM Strat bodies, the trem cavity is routed further back to allow the larger trem block to clear. On this body though it seems they should have gone back a little further. It’s not a huge issue unless you like your strings to go floppy. I have set mine up with 2 springs, with the bridge floating parallel to the body. This allows me to drop the low E string exactly an octave down - something I didn’t plan on but was pretty cool to discover. I hope this makes more sense and remember it’s perfectly fine to float a vintage 6-screw bridge like the picture you attached - in fact that’s pretty much the only way you can float that style of trem. But the 2 post systems were designed so the bridge can be parallel.
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