narad
Progressive metal and politics
So I recently got back from a visit home in the US for a few weeks. For the most part, I can't afford anything in the US anymore because of poor currency exchange, and with inflation, the price of most things converted to yen is really outrageous. However, there are a couple guitars I've been looking for that rarely pop up, and when they do, they're in the US. In this case, got very lucky and this one popped up Dave's while I was home -- it's a Modulus Blackknife from 1990-1991:
Nothing too special at first glance, but it has a Modulus carbon graphite neck. I'm amazed it took me so long to discover this brand, which I only did through basses, because the necks have an awesome pattern to them:
The "polygons" glint off the light and the effect is really cool.
I have to admit the aesthetic was the main appeal -- that and the smooth fretboard. But I previously had a Steinberger Klein with the graphite neck, and I thought it sounded pretty meh. Not sure where to place the blame really, but I was thinking the neck was probably to blame, and I thought maybe these composites just don't sound as good. My plan was/is to fit it with a Roland GK system so I didn't really care about the guitar's inherent tone, but rather just the playability of it. However, it sounds really good! The pickups are all old Gibsons and it has a very crunchy sound. I'll be selling all the pickups and swapping to singles, but I was happy the tone is good and I'll be looking for other Modulus stuff in the future.
Unfortunately though while I was taking photos here, I noticed there's like a foggy part of the neck in the shape of a thumb.
I'm not sure what happened, but on my flight back they made me gate check it, despite having plenty of room in the overheads as it turned out. I also had to hold the guitar up for like 3 minutes for a TSA guy to photograph it... I may have been holding it from there. Well, nothing pisses me off like some vintage guitar making it all the way to me in good shape just for me to mess something up, so just praying it goes away or I discover some evidence that it was there when I got it, which I don't really mind...
Nothing too special at first glance, but it has a Modulus carbon graphite neck. I'm amazed it took me so long to discover this brand, which I only did through basses, because the necks have an awesome pattern to them:
The "polygons" glint off the light and the effect is really cool.
I have to admit the aesthetic was the main appeal -- that and the smooth fretboard. But I previously had a Steinberger Klein with the graphite neck, and I thought it sounded pretty meh. Not sure where to place the blame really, but I was thinking the neck was probably to blame, and I thought maybe these composites just don't sound as good. My plan was/is to fit it with a Roland GK system so I didn't really care about the guitar's inherent tone, but rather just the playability of it. However, it sounds really good! The pickups are all old Gibsons and it has a very crunchy sound. I'll be selling all the pickups and swapping to singles, but I was happy the tone is good and I'll be looking for other Modulus stuff in the future.
Unfortunately though while I was taking photos here, I noticed there's like a foggy part of the neck in the shape of a thumb.
I'm not sure what happened, but on my flight back they made me gate check it, despite having plenty of room in the overheads as it turned out. I also had to hold the guitar up for like 3 minutes for a TSA guy to photograph it... I may have been holding it from there. Well, nothing pisses me off like some vintage guitar making it all the way to me in good shape just for me to mess something up, so just praying it goes away or I discover some evidence that it was there when I got it, which I don't really mind...
