noob_pwn
Well-Known Member
Hey guys,
Some of you may know that I have been endorsing ET guitars for about 18 months now. This particular guitar has been in the works for quite some time.
I absolutely love the other two Katanas that I own, they are brilliant guitars and do exactly what we designed them to do. When I found out about Evertune, and they released their 7 string bridge I had to have a guitar with one. It did take a while to develop this guitar to accommodate the bridge but it was worth the time and effort.
I also wanted to have Ernie build me a Katana with a single coil in the neck, and with a GMC swirl as opposed to the oiled finishes that are on the original Katanas. I'm a big fan of swirls
There are a few other tweaks on this model that we've made too, the neck is a 5pc instead of 3, I wanted to see if it would add some stability. We also had to go for a thicker body to accommodate the Evertune and as a result, the carves on the body are more pronounced too.
I'll go on to how all this stuff effects the tone but first pics:
Specs:
-BKP blackhawk bridge/sinner neck pickups
-Dimarzio 3-way switch (middle position neck single + bridge inner coil)
-550k CTS BKP volume pot
-Ebony fretboard
-5pc wenge/maple/wenge/maple/wenge neck
-50/50 Wenge top/swamp ash bottom body
-27" scale
-16" fretboard radius
-Dual action truss rod
-carbon neck reinforcement rods
-6100 Stainless Steel frets
-Dunlop flushmount straploks
-Hipshot tuners
-Evertune bridge
-Graphtec retainer on 6/7 strings (the increased break angle seems to give the strings a snappier attack).
-Grahtec nut
-GMC swirl finish
-Green inlays & green glow in the dark side dots
First impressions:
I went down to Ernie's shop and set the guitar up with him. The Evertune is quite a complex unit but once you get your head around it, it's very easy to set up and most of all does exactly what it's supposed to do. It also makes the guitar intonate much better across the whole fretboard which was a pleasant suprise. This will undoubtedly be valuable in both a live and studio setting. The Evertune is going to be a godsend for touring, provided it holds up.
Not only does this guitar play incredibly well, it sounds fucking insane. The two other Katanas have thinner bodies, and have a pronounced high-midrange which helps to give a lot of clarity in the low tunings I play in. They sound really good and I'm happy with their tone. With this one, I think that the added thickness of the body thickens up the low mids a tad. The highs are just as present, the high mids are still ripping but the low end sounds much fuller so overall the tone is a lot more balanced. When I say full, I don't mean muddy though, in fact it actually sounds clearer than my other guitars. I suspect this would have something to do with the independent saddles on the Evertune. The Blackhawk is the perfect bridge pickup for this. I can't get over how good it sounds. It's a very aggressive sounding guitar, very complex and rich with a ridiculous amount of punch, attack and clarity. The woods on this guitar really compliment each other outstandingly.
I'm really liking the neck single. I'm finding that it adds stacks of articulation to a lot of the heavily effected Northlane stuff so it's perfect for me. You can still coax really fluid and smooth lead tones out of it though, the top end rounds out really nicely for a single and I didn't expect that with the 550k volume. BKP really nailed it with the sinner and it sits well with the blackhawk, obviously their voicings are quite different but it's not chalk and cheese and the sinner can really keep up. I have a trilogy suite I'll try in this guitar too but I think that this one's a winner.
The neck profile is probably closest to my '97 universe with slightly less pronounced shoulders, so not the thinnest neck ever, but in top of the ibanez region. I feel bad giving the guitar such an outstanding review because I am such a critical player but to me, it's the most comfortable neck that I have every played. I've played quite a few guitars too as I tech when I'm not on tour with my band. The profile is spot on and the oiled wenge is just a delight to play on, it's so incredibly smooth and I've found with my other guitars that it has a consistent feel when you play live and you're drenched in sweat because of the open grain. I love wenge necks!
I'm actually finding that the thicker body is more comfortable because of the more pronounced carves that it has. The guitar is on the heavier side but still resonates extremely well and has a great response to it. The evertune isn't a light unit, I'd say the guitar is similar in weight to a non-chambered les paul custom, but it's very balanced so it doesn't feel as heavy as it is, if that makes sense.
Anyway, I'm going to go and play the shit out of this thing.
Some of you may know that I have been endorsing ET guitars for about 18 months now. This particular guitar has been in the works for quite some time.
I absolutely love the other two Katanas that I own, they are brilliant guitars and do exactly what we designed them to do. When I found out about Evertune, and they released their 7 string bridge I had to have a guitar with one. It did take a while to develop this guitar to accommodate the bridge but it was worth the time and effort.
I also wanted to have Ernie build me a Katana with a single coil in the neck, and with a GMC swirl as opposed to the oiled finishes that are on the original Katanas. I'm a big fan of swirls
There are a few other tweaks on this model that we've made too, the neck is a 5pc instead of 3, I wanted to see if it would add some stability. We also had to go for a thicker body to accommodate the Evertune and as a result, the carves on the body are more pronounced too.
I'll go on to how all this stuff effects the tone but first pics:
Specs:
-BKP blackhawk bridge/sinner neck pickups
-Dimarzio 3-way switch (middle position neck single + bridge inner coil)
-550k CTS BKP volume pot
-Ebony fretboard
-5pc wenge/maple/wenge/maple/wenge neck
-50/50 Wenge top/swamp ash bottom body
-27" scale
-16" fretboard radius
-Dual action truss rod
-carbon neck reinforcement rods
-6100 Stainless Steel frets
-Dunlop flushmount straploks
-Hipshot tuners
-Evertune bridge
-Graphtec retainer on 6/7 strings (the increased break angle seems to give the strings a snappier attack).
-Grahtec nut
-GMC swirl finish
-Green inlays & green glow in the dark side dots
First impressions:
I went down to Ernie's shop and set the guitar up with him. The Evertune is quite a complex unit but once you get your head around it, it's very easy to set up and most of all does exactly what it's supposed to do. It also makes the guitar intonate much better across the whole fretboard which was a pleasant suprise. This will undoubtedly be valuable in both a live and studio setting. The Evertune is going to be a godsend for touring, provided it holds up.
Not only does this guitar play incredibly well, it sounds fucking insane. The two other Katanas have thinner bodies, and have a pronounced high-midrange which helps to give a lot of clarity in the low tunings I play in. They sound really good and I'm happy with their tone. With this one, I think that the added thickness of the body thickens up the low mids a tad. The highs are just as present, the high mids are still ripping but the low end sounds much fuller so overall the tone is a lot more balanced. When I say full, I don't mean muddy though, in fact it actually sounds clearer than my other guitars. I suspect this would have something to do with the independent saddles on the Evertune. The Blackhawk is the perfect bridge pickup for this. I can't get over how good it sounds. It's a very aggressive sounding guitar, very complex and rich with a ridiculous amount of punch, attack and clarity. The woods on this guitar really compliment each other outstandingly.
I'm really liking the neck single. I'm finding that it adds stacks of articulation to a lot of the heavily effected Northlane stuff so it's perfect for me. You can still coax really fluid and smooth lead tones out of it though, the top end rounds out really nicely for a single and I didn't expect that with the 550k volume. BKP really nailed it with the sinner and it sits well with the blackhawk, obviously their voicings are quite different but it's not chalk and cheese and the sinner can really keep up. I have a trilogy suite I'll try in this guitar too but I think that this one's a winner.
The neck profile is probably closest to my '97 universe with slightly less pronounced shoulders, so not the thinnest neck ever, but in top of the ibanez region. I feel bad giving the guitar such an outstanding review because I am such a critical player but to me, it's the most comfortable neck that I have every played. I've played quite a few guitars too as I tech when I'm not on tour with my band. The profile is spot on and the oiled wenge is just a delight to play on, it's so incredibly smooth and I've found with my other guitars that it has a consistent feel when you play live and you're drenched in sweat because of the open grain. I love wenge necks!
I'm actually finding that the thicker body is more comfortable because of the more pronounced carves that it has. The guitar is on the heavier side but still resonates extremely well and has a great response to it. The evertune isn't a light unit, I'd say the guitar is similar in weight to a non-chambered les paul custom, but it's very balanced so it doesn't feel as heavy as it is, if that makes sense.
Anyway, I'm going to go and play the shit out of this thing.
nice neck.
