Hi Everyone!
This is my first NGD here on sevenstring, and my first eight string, first custom guitar, in fact, it's a lot of firsts. Lot's of virginities being decimated.
I've been on the Black Water guitar waiting list for a while now, and was just strolling around the internet when I found this guy on Craigslist, at a very good price.
Needless to say, I jumped on it quickly. So, onto some stats and a review.
For those that haven't seen the guitar before:
"Body: Padauk w/ wenge flat top
Neck: Goncalo Alves
Fretboard: East Indian Rosewood
Headstock plate: Wenge
Scale Lengths: 28.00" - 25.00", 7th fret parallel
Number of Frets: 24
Construction: Bolt-on w/threaded inserts and stainless bolts
Electronics: Lace Deathbars
Controls: 1 vol. 1 tone & pickup selector switch
The bridge are some custom aluminum baseplates that I had cut on a waterjet with stainless steel Gotoh-style saddles"
Review:
The guitar came to me in almost perfect shape. Hardly a scratch on it. This being my first eight string (and first guitar with fanned frets) it took me a good day to get used to playing it. Oddly enough, it wasn't because of the fanned frets. I was worried that with such a difference that I wouldn't be able to play shit, but I could! So my advice for anyone who is wondering about fanned fret playability, don't fret and get it!
The neck profile is very thin and and makes it easy to reach throughout the fret board. When I got the guitar, the lower strings where a little too low and buzzed quite heavily. I've raised them up and most of the buzz has gone away while not being so far to make it any less difficult to play. The notes on the ~23rd fret don't seem to ring out as much as I would like, can't tell what exactly is causing that. Then again, my other guitars don't go that high, so maybe that's what all guitars do?
Other than that, it's one of the best playing guitars I've had.
The only thing I'm not sold on are the pick ups. Getting a good clean tone out of them is really easy. Getting a good distorted tone I've found difficult. Compared to my Bare Knuckle Black Hawks, they seem muddy and if I try and fix that it sounds like a really narrow band eq boost phaser thing. I'm going to keep giving it the good ole college try, but so far, I'm not too impressed.
I through together a quick demo, don't be too hard on my playing
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/russell-t-forty-barnett/eight-string-demo-black-water-guitar[/SC]
All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase. This has reaffirmed my decision to get a black water, also that I went with bare knuckle!
More Pics are on page 2 of the black water dealer page.
Thanks Everyone!!!
This is my first NGD here on sevenstring, and my first eight string, first custom guitar, in fact, it's a lot of firsts. Lot's of virginities being decimated.
I've been on the Black Water guitar waiting list for a while now, and was just strolling around the internet when I found this guy on Craigslist, at a very good price.
Needless to say, I jumped on it quickly. So, onto some stats and a review.
For those that haven't seen the guitar before:
"Body: Padauk w/ wenge flat top
Neck: Goncalo Alves
Fretboard: East Indian Rosewood
Headstock plate: Wenge
Scale Lengths: 28.00" - 25.00", 7th fret parallel
Number of Frets: 24
Construction: Bolt-on w/threaded inserts and stainless bolts
Electronics: Lace Deathbars
Controls: 1 vol. 1 tone & pickup selector switch
The bridge are some custom aluminum baseplates that I had cut on a waterjet with stainless steel Gotoh-style saddles"
Review:
The guitar came to me in almost perfect shape. Hardly a scratch on it. This being my first eight string (and first guitar with fanned frets) it took me a good day to get used to playing it. Oddly enough, it wasn't because of the fanned frets. I was worried that with such a difference that I wouldn't be able to play shit, but I could! So my advice for anyone who is wondering about fanned fret playability, don't fret and get it!
The neck profile is very thin and and makes it easy to reach throughout the fret board. When I got the guitar, the lower strings where a little too low and buzzed quite heavily. I've raised them up and most of the buzz has gone away while not being so far to make it any less difficult to play. The notes on the ~23rd fret don't seem to ring out as much as I would like, can't tell what exactly is causing that. Then again, my other guitars don't go that high, so maybe that's what all guitars do?
Other than that, it's one of the best playing guitars I've had.The only thing I'm not sold on are the pick ups. Getting a good clean tone out of them is really easy. Getting a good distorted tone I've found difficult. Compared to my Bare Knuckle Black Hawks, they seem muddy and if I try and fix that it sounds like a really narrow band eq boost phaser thing. I'm going to keep giving it the good ole college try, but so far, I'm not too impressed.
I through together a quick demo, don't be too hard on my playing
[SC]https://soundcloud.com/russell-t-forty-barnett/eight-string-demo-black-water-guitar[/SC]
All in all, I'm very happy with the purchase. This has reaffirmed my decision to get a black water, also that I went with bare knuckle!
More Pics are on page 2 of the black water dealer page.
Thanks Everyone!!!
