feraledge
Heard the Good News about Maple Fretboards?
You probably think I owe an explanation, huh?
Few points to get out of the way.
1) I would have never thought I would want a headless guitar. It was a long running joke to me. Always more of what Rufus gives Bill and Ted than what Paul Masvidal makes sing. But I have dug the Vader since it was announced.
I hated the former inlay options and I may be of the few amongst SSO that wants to have inalys, but I said that if offset dots would become an option, I would buy one (I'd definitely be gun shy about ordering an Opt 50).
2) With my recent relocation to the middle of nowhere, more travel was going to become inevitable. I can travel without a guitar, but I'd much rather not.
3) I placed the order for this on March 24th, roughly 12 weeks till it was in my hands, just a couple weeks over the anticipated build time of 9-10 weeks and a bit beyond the approximate completion date of June 3rd that I got at the end of May, but who's counting?
However, in the time since I placed this order, it almost felt like Kiesel did everything in their power to make me regret it. I bit my tongue a number of times during other discussions because I didn't want to get a retaliation build or something.
All that aside though, this is a really rad guitar! The oiled neck is slicker than all of my other oiled necks and your hand glides over it like butter. Contributes to the playability excellently, but all around, it plays awesome and sounds killer.
The details:
- Swamp ash body
- Maple neck
- Maple FB (Bird's eye was a bonus)
- 25.5" scale
- 14" radius
- Extra jumbo frets
- Lithium PUPs
It plays so good though. The neck is awesome. I went with the standard Kiesel neck profile instead of the thinner and I could see it being a bit thicker than some would like, but it's very similar to my beloved Charvel, but very slick. You can see how perfectly rounded it is. Excellent C shape. Thickness isn't far off from an ESP Thin U or a DK1. Far cry from a Wizard though.
I actually dig the Lithium pickups. I think they pair really well with the swamp ash body. I think with alder or something they would be a touch too bright, but they're really responsive and articulate. The neck leans a bit bright, but it makes the 5 way split a bit more inviting to mess around with. The spectrum is usable but not as drastic as I would say most are. They kind of remind me of Duncan Distortions, at least from today's go, but with the body being a bit more resonant and growly, it gives it some balls for sure.
Never say never, but I don't plan on swapping them out.
The fret work is solid in terms of arriving with the neck dead straight with low action without an unreasonable amount of buzz. It plays solid, but the fret ends could use some rounding. Would be a good option to include. It's not a deal breaker or anything, but I've also been spoiled with extravagant things like my custom Horizon, so maybe it just stands out more because of that. At some point I'll probably round them out.
No structural flaws so far. No nightmare situations.
But there is a caveat. The finish is Kiesel Racing Orange. So I was expecting this:
Needless to say, when they posted a pic earlier this week, I had a panic moment where I just said, "they blew it, that's straight red!" Decided to wait to see it in person before freaking out.
Now the light does catch it differently. In all of these pics, it certainly does look more red, but in person you can tell it's in the orange territory. Harder to capture, but the lower the light, the more it looks orange.
This other Kiesel Racing Orange is pretty accurate:
I would have preferred the former to the latter. But it definitely is far more red in the pics than in real life. I need to take some indoor shots to prove that, but I did a color adjustment to give a better indication of how these photos make it look and a better idea of what it looks like in person. Adjusted pic is the second one.
It's close enough to not merit a complaint or anything, IMO. There is no question that this aspect stands out to me, so I won't not mention it. Obviously Kiesel has a bit of a history with this kind of thing too, so worth bringing up.
Overall though, seriously, it's a cool guitar. I was thinking it'll be a great traveling guitar, but to be honest it sounds absolutely crushing and is a joy to play. I would have no problem touring or recording with it (yes, will post some samples up sooner than later). Even though I have to keep my eyes down a bit more than usual.
Always end on a high note though, right? So I have a plea to Kiesel. This is a rad guitar, a lot of yours are. These kind of options at this price point is such an awesome thing to have at your disposal and I would gladly consider more after having such a great first impression with this. Please, please, please just drop the PR shenanigans, the negative attacks, the customer service spats and the like and just do what you do best: build guitars like this. This really does speak for itself.
And I genuinely dig it without regret. But there's no reason to keep doing things to test the limits of that.
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