Dayn
Well-Known Member
Just a small update. It took two months, due to backlogs, delays, and floods, but I got it back from the tech. In short, if you want to fuck about with a 10-string, and you're in the US and want to spend extra to get it in a playable state, get one - but you must compromise on the 10th string, and a bit on the 9th.
I've said all I can. The tech tidied up the frets and cut the nut very well, which that alone fixed a lot of the intonation issues and improved playability by a tonne, but he said he couldn't intonate the strings properly. They're mostly fine except higher up the neck on the lowest strings, and even then I can make it better by having a little bit of buzz by lowing the saddle height, so that's fine. But with these huge strings in low tunings on jumbo heights, it's more about playstyle. I can bend the .090 up a full semitone just by pressing harder on the fret, after all, and in the heat of playing the notes will drift.
The 10th string is more a novelty than anything. Even the .120 gauge I'm using for G#0 is still a little too light. But it's the thickest that'll fit the saddle. It has some harsh metallic buzz if you don't play it right. Tuning up to A0 makes it sound better, but the thickness of the string still has that buzz if you're not careful. In all honesty, everything I've been playing on it to date never actually uses the open G#0: the lowest note I've used has been A0. So I'll mostly use A0 from here on.
The decision to have the bridge pickup that far away from the bridge was a mistake. The guitar sounds fine, but the bridge pickup has a 'boxy' quality to it, due to the lesser brightness from being comparatively further away from the bridge. It's not bad, nothing you can't tweak, though I'm used to using the same settings for my other three guitars, so that's a bit annoying. The Cepheus active pickups are surprisingly alright, though.
For reference, I'm using Newtone custom strings. The tuning and gauges are as follows:
1. E4 - .009
2. B3 - .012
3. G3 - .015
4. D3 - .022
5. A2 - .030
6. E2 - .040
7. B1 - .054
8. F#1 - .070
9. C#1 - .090
10. A0 - .120
The .120 at A0 feels slightly tighter than the .090 at C#1, but it doesn't feel as tight as it should be. I like the other gauges but I think I'll bump the .090 up to a .092.
Unfortunately it's not perfect, because it's a cheap mass-produced 10-string that's designed for cheap mass-production, not to let the instrument shine as a 10-string. But for what it is, I like it. If you want a 10-string that's designed to work properly as a 10-string, look into something custom.
I've said all I can. The tech tidied up the frets and cut the nut very well, which that alone fixed a lot of the intonation issues and improved playability by a tonne, but he said he couldn't intonate the strings properly. They're mostly fine except higher up the neck on the lowest strings, and even then I can make it better by having a little bit of buzz by lowing the saddle height, so that's fine. But with these huge strings in low tunings on jumbo heights, it's more about playstyle. I can bend the .090 up a full semitone just by pressing harder on the fret, after all, and in the heat of playing the notes will drift.
The 10th string is more a novelty than anything. Even the .120 gauge I'm using for G#0 is still a little too light. But it's the thickest that'll fit the saddle. It has some harsh metallic buzz if you don't play it right. Tuning up to A0 makes it sound better, but the thickness of the string still has that buzz if you're not careful. In all honesty, everything I've been playing on it to date never actually uses the open G#0: the lowest note I've used has been A0. So I'll mostly use A0 from here on.
The decision to have the bridge pickup that far away from the bridge was a mistake. The guitar sounds fine, but the bridge pickup has a 'boxy' quality to it, due to the lesser brightness from being comparatively further away from the bridge. It's not bad, nothing you can't tweak, though I'm used to using the same settings for my other three guitars, so that's a bit annoying. The Cepheus active pickups are surprisingly alright, though.
For reference, I'm using Newtone custom strings. The tuning and gauges are as follows:
1. E4 - .009
2. B3 - .012
3. G3 - .015
4. D3 - .022
5. A2 - .030
6. E2 - .040
7. B1 - .054
8. F#1 - .070
9. C#1 - .090
10. A0 - .120
The .120 at A0 feels slightly tighter than the .090 at C#1, but it doesn't feel as tight as it should be. I like the other gauges but I think I'll bump the .090 up to a .092.
Unfortunately it's not perfect, because it's a cheap mass-produced 10-string that's designed for cheap mass-production, not to let the instrument shine as a 10-string. But for what it is, I like it. If you want a 10-string that's designed to work properly as a 10-string, look into something custom.
