So, this may be my final custom guitar for a while as this is the most off the rails guitars I've bought in a while. Let's start with pics.
Verso Instruments - Orbit Baritone 28.5" - Folded Steel Body
I recorded some footage of me messing around with the guitar in the studio, through my rig. The rig is a Quad Cortex -> EVH 5150 III 50W -> Zilla Vertical SFB 2x12 with K100s. My playing is rubbish, but I wanted to demo some of the features without processing the audio.
Carbon Reinforcement Oak Neck
Body Color Surf Green RAL 6019
Neck Finish: Natural Oil
Neck Profile: C (standard)
Neck Thickness: 20mm (standard)
Neck Width: 45mm (standard Baritone)
Scale Length: 28.5"
Fretboard Radius: 16", Semihemispherical fretends & hidden tangs (deluxe fretwork)
Nut Material: Black Tusq
Tuners: Schaller M6 LOCKING (nickel)
Wiring: (Knob 1) Blend, (Knob 2) Single Pickup Tone, mono & dual-mono output
Strings A-A Tuning 14-68
Strap: Richter Raw Punch II (Dark Oiled)
Humbucker Type3 - COMPRESSED
HB2 - ALLROUND
1. The guitar body is made of folded steel.
2. The pickups are handwound and are magnetised. You can place the pickups anywhere on the body.
3. The guitar is a baritone (28.5") so it is built for lower tuning.
4. The blend of pickups and pickup placement allows for interesting tones. You can split the signal out as a stereo to send the pickups to different amps / pedals.
Surprisingly, the guitar plays well and is more conventional in terms of playing than I had expected. If you sit in a classical position, it's a wee bit awkward (the folders don't sit as nicely), but it is doable. Standing up with it, the neck dive isn't too extreme. Perhaps comparable to an SG. The guitar is not heavy - most of the weight is due to the oak neck as the body is... mainly folded steel.
The oak neck has a lovely dark stain, and has a comfortable C profile. It was not hard to acclimatise to it.
The switches at the back allow for pickups to be removed and replaced. Robin has a few pickup profiles from piezo, clean, hotter and hot pickups that he winds himself. You could have all 6 (at the time of writing), and swap out the pickups depending on the application. I've gone for the all round and the compressed one for my taste.
Under high gain, the pickups are quite microphonic - you may want to use an expression pedal to cut the signal (mine doesn't have a volume pot). It did rip when I started playing some of my riffs which was cool.
I would just watch the video and skim through it to get an idea of the sound.
If you ever get a chance to try one, do so, as it's a trip and real fun. I think this one is a keeper.
For funsies, mint guitar club. Millimetric MG-6 on the left.
Verso Instruments - Orbit Baritone 28.5" - Folded Steel Body
I recorded some footage of me messing around with the guitar in the studio, through my rig. The rig is a Quad Cortex -> EVH 5150 III 50W -> Zilla Vertical SFB 2x12 with K100s. My playing is rubbish, but I wanted to demo some of the features without processing the audio.
Specs
Carbon Reinforcement Oak Neck
Body Color Surf Green RAL 6019
Neck Finish: Natural Oil
Neck Profile: C (standard)
Neck Thickness: 20mm (standard)
Neck Width: 45mm (standard Baritone)
Scale Length: 28.5"
Fretboard Radius: 16", Semihemispherical fretends & hidden tangs (deluxe fretwork)
Nut Material: Black Tusq
Tuners: Schaller M6 LOCKING (nickel)
Wiring: (Knob 1) Blend, (Knob 2) Single Pickup Tone, mono & dual-mono output
Strings A-A Tuning 14-68
Strap: Richter Raw Punch II (Dark Oiled)
Humbucker Type3 - COMPRESSED
HB2 - ALLROUND
Thoughts
Features
This guitar is bizarre for the following reasons:1. The guitar body is made of folded steel.
2. The pickups are handwound and are magnetised. You can place the pickups anywhere on the body.
3. The guitar is a baritone (28.5") so it is built for lower tuning.
4. The blend of pickups and pickup placement allows for interesting tones. You can split the signal out as a stereo to send the pickups to different amps / pedals.
Surprisingly, the guitar plays well and is more conventional in terms of playing than I had expected. If you sit in a classical position, it's a wee bit awkward (the folders don't sit as nicely), but it is doable. Standing up with it, the neck dive isn't too extreme. Perhaps comparable to an SG. The guitar is not heavy - most of the weight is due to the oak neck as the body is... mainly folded steel.
The oak neck has a lovely dark stain, and has a comfortable C profile. It was not hard to acclimatise to it.
The switches at the back allow for pickups to be removed and replaced. Robin has a few pickup profiles from piezo, clean, hotter and hot pickups that he winds himself. You could have all 6 (at the time of writing), and swap out the pickups depending on the application. I've gone for the all round and the compressed one for my taste.
Sound
I primarily play grind / death metal and I am surprised at how gnarly it sounds with full on distortion. The baritone scale length is something new to me (I have Dingwall basses, but this is a guitar), so the sheer size and full-ness of playing an open A is pleasant. The pickups allow for an interesting blend of tones. In the "normal" setup, the neck and bridge sound clear and spanky. As a clean guitar, it sounds huge and clear. The real fun is when you start moving the pickups and doing some weird combos. You can slap the pickup nowhere near the strings for fun. It almost gives a high pass filter effect.Under high gain, the pickups are quite microphonic - you may want to use an expression pedal to cut the signal (mine doesn't have a volume pot). It did rip when I started playing some of my riffs which was cool.
I would just watch the video and skim through it to get an idea of the sound.
Wrap Up
I took the chance to pick up the guitar from Robin and meet him - and it was great! He's an awesome dude and he showed me round his workshop. His ideas and approach to design is genius. I was quite taken aback at how much of a guitar this is - I was a bit worried I bought something more weird than a functional guitar. There's been a lot of thought put into this and you can argue, well, yeah, everything is bespoke and isn't as serviceable as a standard Fender, but then, look at this thing. It's kind of insane.If you ever get a chance to try one, do so, as it's a trip and real fun. I think this one is a keeper.
For funsies, mint guitar club. Millimetric MG-6 on the left.
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