Post by LeoThunder on Apr 17, 2019 14:41:13 GMT
It's going out of the catalogue any time soon so I wanted one because I kept looking at it since Cory showed the prototype. I like the idea of a fanfret 7-string Les Paul.
The thing has arrived as expected, two days after the order was placed. Thomann are no longer in catching up mode.
The very first, visual impression is positive and a little surprising: this guitar is elegant. Now, this is not something I was not expecting from a Les Paul / Single Cut shape, it was not immediately visible in videos and I am very pleased to report that this thing is both tall and thin and could carry me off to play immediately. The pick-ups are mandras hot too (no bongo trot, sorry) but that's for later.
I don't like them short and round so I am basically won already. This is a relatively light, slender Les Paul with a decent scale length and to win it all it is also nicely balanced. No bum heavy thing that keeps wanting to fall off to the right side. The flame top is nice, the burst is subtle and even the roseacer fingerboard looks good, plain black under silver offset dots. I really like the fanned optic echoed in the slanted pick-ups, obviously the bridge and the ferules for the strings going through the body.
Visual inspection yields a couple of imperfections at the binding on the top of the headstock and the side dots are not centred but Henning had told me that already. Nothing else makes me unhappy about the looks. The back is a beautiful, slightly reddish brown. I almost wanted the Jupiter Burl, I thought that top looks great, but disliked the satin transparent black back and neck, to be honest.
Set-up was another matter. At first glance, the neck had too much relief and the bridge was too high on the bass side. I gave the neck a good tightening and took the bridge down on both sides. I have fret buzz on low C, F and B flat. I'll have to figure out why, but all else is fine. This is probably the reason this guitar was returned (I got a B-stock for 168€). I find only two rocking frets, which is better than usual on a Harley Benton. Intonation was completely off after lowering the action and I'm running out on the bass side. Low B and E strings won't be perfect in the high registers. Good that I don't use them much there. I had to push saddles 3 to 7 quite a long way back. It was off before I touched the action so I wonder if it was ever set-up properly. I see how a professional would have issues with the guitar at this point. Being a pure hobby player, I won't mind but I'm describing this for you guys.
Two of the plain strings are corroded - D'Addario is crap. I'll leave them on, though. Grover tuners are very pleasant to use.
The neck profile is quite thin, clearly thinner than that of my SC-450 Plus.
The profile is rounder than an Ibanez but it seems we are in Wizard territory here. I'll measure it later, whenever I take the strings off.
String spacing at the nut is somewhat narrower than on a 6-string.
Controls work fine, make a solid impression too. The coil split makes a nice sound (the push-pull has a nice "click"). The tone control works as it should, that is for more than 2/3 of its course. Good.
Now the pick-ups: there's a surprise. First up, they are NOT muddy. There are enough highs in there but they have lots of bass. I'll make this simple: when I use the Fender 65 Twin profile, it sounds like a Bassman with my other guitars. This thing is a bass with the range of a 7-string guitar. And I quite like it at first. I haven't played it much yet but it sounds really good. Not your standard sound, though. It seems to me these pick-ups have somewhat higher output than my other humbuckers, although comparable to my Schecter Omen. The split sound is funny, because the split bridge is utterly quacky, and needs to be taken down a bit in comparison to the full sound. Good that there are two volume pots.
So I want to keep this thing. I need to sort out that buzz issue on the 2nd fret. I suppose I've taken the action a little too far down.
Edit: measurements.
Weight: 4.2 Kg (not accurate)
Body thickness: 44.5 mm (at the neck)
Neck: 19,5 mm at 1st and 21,3 mm at 12th frets (Wizard confirmed - same as an Ibanez SA)
String spacing at nut: 40,5/6=6,75 mm; at bridge: 60,3/6=10,05 mm
Tuner ratio: 18:1
Action at 12th fret: 1.5 mm (after set-up)
The thing has arrived as expected, two days after the order was placed. Thomann are no longer in catching up mode.
The very first, visual impression is positive and a little surprising: this guitar is elegant. Now, this is not something I was not expecting from a Les Paul / Single Cut shape, it was not immediately visible in videos and I am very pleased to report that this thing is both tall and thin and could carry me off to play immediately. The pick-ups are mandras hot too (no bongo trot, sorry) but that's for later.
I don't like them short and round so I am basically won already. This is a relatively light, slender Les Paul with a decent scale length and to win it all it is also nicely balanced. No bum heavy thing that keeps wanting to fall off to the right side. The flame top is nice, the burst is subtle and even the roseacer fingerboard looks good, plain black under silver offset dots. I really like the fanned optic echoed in the slanted pick-ups, obviously the bridge and the ferules for the strings going through the body.
Visual inspection yields a couple of imperfections at the binding on the top of the headstock and the side dots are not centred but Henning had told me that already. Nothing else makes me unhappy about the looks. The back is a beautiful, slightly reddish brown. I almost wanted the Jupiter Burl, I thought that top looks great, but disliked the satin transparent black back and neck, to be honest.
Set-up was another matter. At first glance, the neck had too much relief and the bridge was too high on the bass side. I gave the neck a good tightening and took the bridge down on both sides. I have fret buzz on low C, F and B flat. I'll have to figure out why, but all else is fine. This is probably the reason this guitar was returned (I got a B-stock for 168€). I find only two rocking frets, which is better than usual on a Harley Benton. Intonation was completely off after lowering the action and I'm running out on the bass side. Low B and E strings won't be perfect in the high registers. Good that I don't use them much there. I had to push saddles 3 to 7 quite a long way back. It was off before I touched the action so I wonder if it was ever set-up properly. I see how a professional would have issues with the guitar at this point. Being a pure hobby player, I won't mind but I'm describing this for you guys.
Two of the plain strings are corroded - D'Addario is crap. I'll leave them on, though. Grover tuners are very pleasant to use.
The neck profile is quite thin, clearly thinner than that of my SC-450 Plus.
The profile is rounder than an Ibanez but it seems we are in Wizard territory here. I'll measure it later, whenever I take the strings off.
String spacing at the nut is somewhat narrower than on a 6-string.
Controls work fine, make a solid impression too. The coil split makes a nice sound (the push-pull has a nice "click"). The tone control works as it should, that is for more than 2/3 of its course. Good.
Now the pick-ups: there's a surprise. First up, they are NOT muddy. There are enough highs in there but they have lots of bass. I'll make this simple: when I use the Fender 65 Twin profile, it sounds like a Bassman with my other guitars. This thing is a bass with the range of a 7-string guitar. And I quite like it at first. I haven't played it much yet but it sounds really good. Not your standard sound, though. It seems to me these pick-ups have somewhat higher output than my other humbuckers, although comparable to my Schecter Omen. The split sound is funny, because the split bridge is utterly quacky, and needs to be taken down a bit in comparison to the full sound. Good that there are two volume pots.
So I want to keep this thing. I need to sort out that buzz issue on the 2nd fret. I suppose I've taken the action a little too far down.
Edit: measurements.
Weight: 4.2 Kg (not accurate)
Body thickness: 44.5 mm (at the neck)
Neck: 19,5 mm at 1st and 21,3 mm at 12th frets (Wizard confirmed - same as an Ibanez SA)
String spacing at nut: 40,5/6=6,75 mm; at bridge: 60,3/6=10,05 mm
Tuner ratio: 18:1
Action at 12th fret: 1.5 mm (after set-up)