Shock horror, I got something that's not an Ibanez. Pictures first!
So the story is I had put one of my guitars up for sale with the intention of purchasing a straight-scale Ormsby Metal V or trading the guitar for a Metal V (which I've gone and ordered anyway now, that'll be hopefully here by the end of the year if WMI doesn't get shut for a third time by the South Korean government due to COVID outbreaks). One of the dudes down here who works at my local music shop responded to my add asking if I would be interested in this Ormsby Goliath as a trade and he offered to let me take it home for a couple of days to try it out with my gear. I wasn't expecting to like this at all and really was only going to use it as a chance to try a guitar like this out as I'd never played one before, and to actually have a proper mess around with multi-scale (as the only experiences I have had prior are a quick hold of some Hype GTR's and a couple of 10min noodles on Joe Haley's custom SX). I was rather wrong (evidently by me posting an NGD
).
This is 100% the type of guitar I would normally stay well away from - I don't really like headless, I prefer ceramic, bonkers output pickups and I'm a massive, MASSIVE trem guy. However this also has the best goddamn coil-split I have come across, it's super resonant (the sustain is insane) and is actually inspiring some weird jazz riffs (tip - if a guitar inspires you to play differently or write new content, GET THAT GUITAR).
The neck profile reminds me a lot of the Ibanez 3-piece 7 necks crossed with the current 5 piece necks. The centre is nice and flat however the shoulders are rounded off a bit more like the 3-piece RG7 necks. It's very comfortable. The fan whilst being a 2" fan isn't noticeable at all, I think I was screwing up for less than 5 minutes until my hands worked out what to do. Going between this and straight-scale guitars isn't difficult either. With the exception of the 27" straight scales that I have set up for Nile-worship, I think anything longer with a 26.5" scale I get from now on will be multi-scale. Having access to the upper register at 25.5 is a godsend for leads - this is mainly why I've avoided 8's as I'd love a 28"-plus scale for some nasty stuff in F, however I'd still like to have the guitar be useful for other things (case in point, I'd like a Meshuggah sig however 29.4" is basically useless for leads).
Ergonomics. The control placement is just right - the volume is close enough to be usable however not too close that it ends up getting knocked during vigorous playing. I will mirror @KnightBrolaire on this and call out the cutaway for real high fret access - the cutaway could have been a bit deeper, although that could also be a side effect of me having played way too many guitars with ridic clearance for the left hand and gotten a tad sloppy with technique as a result. Nevertheless, the cutaway could be deeper. It's comfortable in all positions, standard ergonomic guitar in that regard.
Tone. Tone. Tone. I think why this guitar is so fucking good at what it does is because of how resonant it is, and how good it sounds unplugged. I don't really buy into the tone-wood debate, however as this is the first chambered guitar that I've owned, I imagine it's something to do with that (need to look up the physics of that next time I'm in the university library). Ormsby's pickups are pretty good. The De La Creme in the neck is probably one of the best neck pickups I've ever used and the Hot Rock while not as bonkers as I like, does what it says on the tin very well - Alnico based, moderate output, brutes ensue. Where the tone really shines though is the middle position coil-split. I think everyone goes on about THAT straty-acoustic tone and this nails it perfectly.
I'll be on the lookout I think for an 8-string one of these in the future - as I said earlier, this may be what finally gets me into more 8-string material. Moral of the story - try something different once in a while and don't listen with your eyes on the spec sheet. You might end up liking it!
So the story is I had put one of my guitars up for sale with the intention of purchasing a straight-scale Ormsby Metal V or trading the guitar for a Metal V (which I've gone and ordered anyway now, that'll be hopefully here by the end of the year if WMI doesn't get shut for a third time by the South Korean government due to COVID outbreaks). One of the dudes down here who works at my local music shop responded to my add asking if I would be interested in this Ormsby Goliath as a trade and he offered to let me take it home for a couple of days to try it out with my gear. I wasn't expecting to like this at all and really was only going to use it as a chance to try a guitar like this out as I'd never played one before, and to actually have a proper mess around with multi-scale (as the only experiences I have had prior are a quick hold of some Hype GTR's and a couple of 10min noodles on Joe Haley's custom SX). I was rather wrong (evidently by me posting an NGD
).This is 100% the type of guitar I would normally stay well away from - I don't really like headless, I prefer ceramic, bonkers output pickups and I'm a massive, MASSIVE trem guy. However this also has the best goddamn coil-split I have come across, it's super resonant (the sustain is insane) and is actually inspiring some weird jazz riffs (tip - if a guitar inspires you to play differently or write new content, GET THAT GUITAR).
The neck profile reminds me a lot of the Ibanez 3-piece 7 necks crossed with the current 5 piece necks. The centre is nice and flat however the shoulders are rounded off a bit more like the 3-piece RG7 necks. It's very comfortable. The fan whilst being a 2" fan isn't noticeable at all, I think I was screwing up for less than 5 minutes until my hands worked out what to do. Going between this and straight-scale guitars isn't difficult either. With the exception of the 27" straight scales that I have set up for Nile-worship, I think anything longer with a 26.5" scale I get from now on will be multi-scale. Having access to the upper register at 25.5 is a godsend for leads - this is mainly why I've avoided 8's as I'd love a 28"-plus scale for some nasty stuff in F, however I'd still like to have the guitar be useful for other things (case in point, I'd like a Meshuggah sig however 29.4" is basically useless for leads).
Ergonomics. The control placement is just right - the volume is close enough to be usable however not too close that it ends up getting knocked during vigorous playing. I will mirror @KnightBrolaire on this and call out the cutaway for real high fret access - the cutaway could have been a bit deeper, although that could also be a side effect of me having played way too many guitars with ridic clearance for the left hand and gotten a tad sloppy with technique as a result. Nevertheless, the cutaway could be deeper. It's comfortable in all positions, standard ergonomic guitar in that regard.
Tone. Tone. Tone. I think why this guitar is so fucking good at what it does is because of how resonant it is, and how good it sounds unplugged. I don't really buy into the tone-wood debate, however as this is the first chambered guitar that I've owned, I imagine it's something to do with that (need to look up the physics of that next time I'm in the university library). Ormsby's pickups are pretty good. The De La Creme in the neck is probably one of the best neck pickups I've ever used and the Hot Rock while not as bonkers as I like, does what it says on the tin very well - Alnico based, moderate output, brutes ensue. Where the tone really shines though is the middle position coil-split. I think everyone goes on about THAT straty-acoustic tone and this nails it perfectly.
I'll be on the lookout I think for an 8-string one of these in the future - as I said earlier, this may be what finally gets me into more 8-string material. Moral of the story - try something different once in a while and don't listen with your eyes on the spec sheet. You might end up liking it!
