TonyFlyingSquirrel
Cherokee Warrior
Keep an eye out for another plugin version coming out soon. Can’t say much else due to a non disclosure agreement, but this has replaced my other chorus plugins.
Unpopular opinions on gear
- Thread starter Spaced Out Ace
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Keep an eye out for another plugin version coming out soon. Can’t say much else due to a non disclosure agreement, but this has replaced my other chorus plugins.
This site may earn a commission from merchant links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.
Oh lawd he comin
Seems pretty unpopular here on SSO but I really don't think that Balaguer does good finishwork. With the exception of their glossy/shell/vintage stuff, their guitars normally come out looking wayyyyy cheaper than other South Korean made guitars They look like Agiles when they should look like Schecters or LTDs if not way better considering the cost.
Similarly, the finishes Skervesen has been putting out over the past few years have been pretty disappointing compared to their earlier stuff. Maybe it was because they moved away from using the Mayones guys to a new painter (or just doing it in-house), but even then I remember that transition and the guitars they put out afterwards for a while were still great. Their new stuff, similar to Balaguer, is just too flat, dull, etc and really misses the mark on fade/burst/transition stuff which is a shame because when they first started becoming known they were putting out some absolutely beautiful (if not extremely in vogue djenty/prog style) finish work in crazy colors and with insane tops.
Of course I'm just speaking broadly here, they've both put out some beautiful looking stuff, but in general I feel their finish work just misses the mark.
Similarly, the finishes Skervesen has been putting out over the past few years have been pretty disappointing compared to their earlier stuff. Maybe it was because they moved away from using the Mayones guys to a new painter (or just doing it in-house), but even then I remember that transition and the guitars they put out afterwards for a while were still great. Their new stuff, similar to Balaguer, is just too flat, dull, etc and really misses the mark on fade/burst/transition stuff which is a shame because when they first started becoming known they were putting out some absolutely beautiful (if not extremely in vogue djenty/prog style) finish work in crazy colors and with insane tops.
Of course I'm just speaking broadly here, they've both put out some beautiful looking stuff, but in general I feel their finish work just misses the mark.
youngthrasher9
Ur Mom Is Too Much Gain
I think that even entry to mid level guitar companies should focus more on building tonally balanced instruments over flashy aesthetics or traditional wood combinations.
InfinityCollision
Well-Known Member
"Tonal balance" doesn't sell to the average buyer, if it sells to anyone at all. Not in ads, not in product specs, not in the shop. Good luck even getting any 3 random guitarists to agree that a single guitar is "tonally balanced" and that this is superior to some other thing of comparable quality. Somebody will call the sound flat or sterile or lacking in resonance or somesuch. 
What does "tonally balanced" actually mean? Sounds like marketing meeting horseshit. 
youngthrasher9
Ur Mom Is Too Much Gain
True, actually! What I meant, I suppose, is focusing more on producing guitars that doesn’t sound dead acoustically or plugged in. I guess you could say even focusing more on the sound quality of the instrument vs flashy aesthetics and traditional wood combinations ESPECIALLY because of how hard it is to get certain tone woods now.
Bloody_Inferno
Silence is Violence
Tonally dead instruments isn't exclusive to low-mid priced instruments. I've played some prestiges and a ton of ESPs and EIIs that were just lifeless planks where even newer Squiers were killing them.
Forgetting for a minute that the majority of the tone from electric guitars comes from the pickups, wood isn't really consistent enough to "focus on the tone" when you're building hundreds or thousands of guitars. Heck, even the low volume builders don't always nail it, and that's because, not only is "tone" completely subjective, but it's not like they can swap in dozens of different pickups before sending a guitar out. Not to mention how important the rest of the rig, and the player themselves, are to the final product.
I also don't understand why folks focus so much on the unplugged sound of guitars meant to be plugged in. It's like complaining about how my car isn't very easy to push around town. No duh, it's supposed to be driven.
I get the spirit of what you're saying, I think. That guitars should be built to perform thier primary function over aesthetic gimmicks.
TheBlackBard
SS.org Regular
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I like to use my Wazacraft MT-2 and my TC Electronic Eyemaster into the clean channel of my 6505+... yes, for THAT tone.
What would you put as a cutoff point for the "good" finishes? IMO the finish on mine looks stellar. Completed in 2017. I do agree that I haven't seen any particularly impressive examples on their Instagram feed for a good while. This might of course have more to do with what their customers order more than anything.
Here's an imgur album for reference: https://imgur.com/a/29kSoOI
The first four images are pre-2017 and 2017 agate finishes. I think all look fantastic but something about the finish spillover as the blue goes to natural just seems like it started to get slightly lazier/more noticeable in the 2017 than the pre-2017.
Then you get to the next three examples of the same finish from 2018 up until 2020 and it's like they didn't even try with the spillover/fade anymore, it's just a big section of blue on top of natural. Looks really bad imo.
Then I have some example of their newer matte finishes which look incredibly flat and...well...matte. It's hard for me to put this into words, but compared to other guitars I've handled in-person and countless images I've compared I've yet to encounter a matte finish that looks THAT cheap/lifeless/2D which is a real shame when there's a nice piece of wood under the finish. Like even cheaper import LTDs have nicer matte finishes.
The thing is it's not like everything they put out these days is questionable, they put out some FANTASTIC natural wood and glossy work, but even the natural wood stuff sometimes misses as with the one example of that natural finish popular top.
I guess it's just safe to say that something major changed in the way they apply their matte finishes from 2017/before and 2018-now. I'm sure some love it, but it's just something I've noticed and really don't like.
Here's some Balaguer finishes which I feel compare pretty well to the newer Skervesen stuff: https://imgur.com/a/7WfYNdd
Flat, dull, lifeless, etc...
Of course, some of this could be exaggerated by the photos themselves, but it's something I've noticed across various sources (YouTube, Reverb, Flickr, Instagram, etc). I tried to use a variety of photos in the album to compensate.
Maybe it has to do with the quality of tops being used? That could be either up to customer choice or just based on what they happen to stock, but again as I mentioned above it's not like everything Skervesen puts out fits this criteria, they've made some stunning guitars this year.
For comparison, this is how mine looks like. These are photos from Skervesen but it does look like that in real life too.
https://imgur.com/Dfm8owE
https://imgur.com/nFdNcK9
I can see what you mean. I think the issue with at least some of those pics is indeed the tops. Highly knotted and figured vs less so. The agave finish one with the skull and crossbones inlay is particularly bad looking. But a big part of it could also be glossy vs matte finish and quality of photography. Bad lighting can make even nice flame tops look mediocre. If I remember correctly Skervesen also charges extra for letting you pick a top and if you don't do that you get their best interpretation of what you were looking for. Mine is pretty close to a Photoshop mockup I sent them for reference on the finish and colors I wanted. I was initially hoping (and should have communicated that to them) for a more knotted top in the center but I think the end result is really nice and certainly highly figured so I have no complaints.
The one I feel is legit bad is the 2018 one below the bad agave one. The edges of the color are sharp yet uneven. Might be because of the particular top wood and how it accepts dye, might be a change in who is doing it. The 2020 below it looks nice.
I don't see anything wrong with the last natural one you marked "bad woody". It is definitely not a combination of woods and hardware that I would pick but otherwise there is nothing wrong with it. If you mean it's bad because of how it looks matte on the edge, that's what happens with a matte finish in certain lighting.
One man's "stellar" finish, is another man's "pukeburst trypophobia woodtop" finish.
There's no point in pretending people would reach a consensus on something. That's why we have options.
Exactly. I'm sure many love it, I just noticed a difference and have been a bit disappointed with their recent stuff, it's a me thing. It's mostly because they were the first brand I ever really gushed over back in the day when Musza was posting them on wordpress circa 2013 that I have such strong feelings on their newer stuff as I used to think their finish work was unreal. Like take this https://mondomg.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/skervesen-raptor-7/ it was the first Skervesen I ever saw other than the terrormachines and to this day is one of my favorite guitars aesthetically.
Your guitar was one I was actually going to include in the album as an example of a great finish they've put out haha, it's beautiful. Their gloss stuff is absolutely top tier.
I do believe the tops are a big thing in how I'm interpreting the finish, such as with the "bad woody" one when I guess there really isn't a problem with it. But even with good tops I'm just noticing some things I guess like how you also saw in the skull fretboard and one below it
https://imgur.com/a/1yNMZst (the ordering got messed up) This is two Skervesen Raptors and two Mayones Duvells with matte flamed maple tops from Pitbull Audio all shot at the same angle in the same setting with the same camera to highlight the differences as best as I could. Because it was kinda hard to compare because the only Skervesens they had with flame maple tops had fades, I added two additional photos of a Skervesen without a fade and a Mayones with a fade.
Every company/luthier has their own signature style of finish work, the best summary I can give is that something must've changed in Skervesen's after the final split from Mayones that turned out a way I no longer personally like. A Kiesel matte finish looks different than a Mayones which looks different than a Strandberg which looks different than a Suhr etc etc etc
gabito
Advanced power chords user
I think my only unpopular opinion on gear is that I mostly don't care about tube amps.
I'm OK with just using modellers / plugins, they're good enough for me. Even a POD HD is OK.
I also have a tube amp for when I need more than "good enough" (or just something different), but most of the time I don't.
I'm OK with just using modellers / plugins, they're good enough for me. Even a POD HD is OK.
I also have a tube amp for when I need more than "good enough" (or just something different), but most of the time I don't.
Unpopular opinion...with the rise of VST amps, I don't even care about physical gear anymore. I trashed my real amp during a gig and I haven't bothered to buy another because I honestly just don't give a shit. Thanks to covid the band hasn't done any live shows so I have no reason to even spend the money.
When I do, I'll get a Helix rack unit because of its features and because, of course, I can use it as an interface and use the tones from it at home.
Fuck real amps.
When I do, I'll get a Helix rack unit because of its features and because, of course, I can use it as an interface and use the tones from it at home.
Fuck real amps.
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I like the shiny gloss vintage yellow tint on necks... but then relic’d / worn hard on the back of the neck so it’s silky smooth.
Shask
Well-Known Member
I like roasted maple, lol. Very smooth feeling. It has to be paired with the right color body though.
