Soloway Swan experiences

[seahawk29]

Always loved the look of these guitars and have always been intrigued by them. They are designed for Jazz but I always thought they would kill for low tuned stuff. Anyone have any experiences with them and using them in the context of heavier music?

 

[narad]

I don't but I know that they were being ghost built by a not particular good US builder for a while, and a luthier friend of mine was none to impressed with them. At the time they had a kind of unique factor going with the scale length, but these days? That's super easy to find with probably more appropriate other specs and hardware.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Echoing much of what Narad said, it seems that after Jim stopped making them something was "missing", at least that's what a lot of people started saying. Whether that was just some mojo or actual issues with the guitars is debatable, as they're still fairly uncommon.

There's nothing really "special" about them spec wise that would be objectively good or bad for heavier music, most are semi-hollow which can lead to a higher noise floor, but there's ways to compensate for that.

Do you like the shape? Are they within your budget? Those are some more important questions.

Are you looking at a used/stock model or going custom?

The one Swan I ever played, almost 15 years ago, had a pretty thick neck. Not sure how it is now though. Just another thing to consider.

 

[diagrammatiks]

27 inches is common place now.

I played one when I was in Seattle. It’s a n incredibly ugly guitar by today’s standards.

Semi hollow 27 is so common now. Dunno why’d you grab a swan

 

[xwmucradiox]

A 27" scale USA-made guitar that doesn't look made for metal is pretty rare nowadays IMO. Fender made teles for a while and when they stopped the prices doubled for second-hand models. Fender Subsonics still still for big bucks used.

Very few Swans were made after Jim sold the brand. A lot of those guitars were more normal Gosling and Solo 15 models that appealed to regular folks. That venture lasted less than a year from what I remember.

If you have a chance to buy a Swan for a price you like they are very well made guitars that play and sound great.

 

[Tom Drinkwater]

I played a few Swans years ago. Nice guitars but I was under the impression that they were made by USACG or possibly another OEM. Anywho, I would snag a strat or tele and a baritone conversion neck from WD or Allparts. That would give you tons of modding options and a reasonable price.

 

[shadscbr]

I have a semi-hollow 7 string Soloway Swan, and love it. I find it works great with my Mesa Rectoverb for metal. Plugged in, it's less feedback prone than my full hollowbody, and still has nice volume and tone unplugged. Fit and finish are great. I ordered directly through Jim, I don't have any experience with the post-Jim guitars. Good luck, let me know if you pass on a 7 string

https://flic.kr/p/RQjXqk]SunBakingSwan1[/url] by https://www.flickr.com/photos/150177219@N04/][/url], on Flickr