Vola Guitars - What do you know?

[ExMachina]

Vola can make you the Keene models if you reach out to them. They come with thinner necks and are built to order in the states.
I just ordered one and I’ll report back with my take on it once I’ve had it for a bit.
I’ve got high hopes for it! I’m a big fan of Keene.

What's the cost?

 

[Albake21]

What's the cost?

I was just replying back about it haha. Looks to be $3450 and US only. https://volaguitars.com/collections/usa-signature-models

Not a bad price, but I feel like there are better options unless someone was real set on a Keene signature. I'm actually pretty bummed, I thought it was going to be MIJ when I played it at NAMM this year. I was just waiting for it to pop up on their site.

 

[JimF]

He's been teasing an orange one without the pickguard on Instagram, wonder if that'll be a 2024 MIJ model?

 

[jim777]

I had a conversation with them yesterday, and they said they have a bunch of new models with the thinner necks coming out in the near future. I was specifically asking about the Vasti KJM and if they would put a thinner neck on that when they replied with the info on new models. Just thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[JimF]

I know its kinda counter productive, but if they did a no pickguard model with a thin neck I could be very tempted.

 

[Jon Pearson]

Wasn't Keene supposed to have a signature coming out?

 

[JimF]

Yep, the green one is on the site under USA models, and he teased an orange one a few months ago that was supposed to be an updated sig.

 

[Jon Pearson]

Yep, the green one is on the site under USA models, and he teased an orange one a few months ago that was supposed to be an updated sig.

Weird, doesn't show on the US mobile site, maybe I should try a VPN...

Edit: sure enough. Set my location in the UK and now it shows up. Weird.

 

[77zark77]

Despite my lil voice in that world, I'd like to thank Stéphane, a french luthier (who has stopped his luthery activity since) who designed with BenArbia his 6 and 7 string axes
Vola 'respects' the design and Benarbia will to keep SPCustom pickups (the ChaosLand is a killer !)
You can see here the 10:15 design, the guitar was called SS13, SS15 (if you make a search via CTRL-F)

10:15 / TEN FIFTEEN Users Club - Guitare électrique

10:15 n'existe plus.... Merci aux quelques uns qui ont montré un intérêt pour mes guitares et qui m'ont fait confiance. Autorisation N°01705/TP/2015...

www.guitariste.com

 

[jco5055]

I emailed the US shop, just to see the prices etc, and when they replied asking for specs and I gave a loose list they ghosted lol

 

[jco5055]

they actually did get back to me, and they said it would be like $3800 for a pretty much full custom, which in the US seems great. I do wonder who's building them though...I know Acacia was mentioned but I don't know if that's still the case

EDIT: It definitely is, I see the Vola NAMM video and the Acacia founder is in the picture.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I love that Michael Keene sig to death. So glad he went back to the alien green finish for that guitar.

 

[Jon Pearson]

I love that Michael Keene sig to death. So glad he went back to the alien green finish for that guitar.

It's a sweet looking axe. Expensive, but very cool.

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

It's a sweet looking axe. Expensive, but very cool.

I still wouldn't buy it because of the narrow nut (41mm, ouch) but I'm surprised they didn't do a mass produced version.

 

[jco5055]

I still wouldn't buy it because of the narrow nut (41mm, ouch) but I'm surprised they didn't do a mass produced version.

I feel like narrow nuts are fine if you never dabble in any chords beyond power lol

 

[HeHasTheJazzHands]

I feel like narrow nuts are fine if you never dabble in any chords beyond power lol

Even then my massive hands are iffy with them. I THOUGHT was doing fine when I tried a couple of Yamaha Pacificas, then I got a PRS CE24 and yeah, remembered why I prefer the wider nuts.

 

[jco5055]

I’m a wide nut guy myself, with 6s I like the 45mm nuts the best

 

[S4M4R1N]

I actually prefer narrow nut on Vola to the standard nut on Fujigen stuff due to less friction and easier tuning. I don't see much difference in stability and I like to throw in wall-of-distortion open chords on all seven strings and Fear Factory triplets all over the place.

But I do feel significant difference with medium frets compared to jumbo frets. My OZ 7 RV RF came with 9-56 gauge string set on medium frets and it seems that is where it's most comfortable at. And OZ 7 RV RF is a slinky dinky strat, so that's fine. But for hard riffery, I prefer jumbo frets with 10-59 gauge strings. Probably PDM/QGM and other signature models with stainless frets are bigger than standard nickel frets, but I have no confirmation on that.

 

[Chri]

I feel like narrow nuts are fine if you never dabble in any chords beyond power lol

Does Keene have some form of focal dystonia? I remember him never using his pinky(?). So the narrow nut probably helps with some of the weird extended chords in his discography.

 

[jco5055]

Does Keene have some form of focal dystonia? I remember him never using his pinky(?). So the narrow nut probably helps with some of the weird extended chords in his discography.

I heard back in the day it was some kind of result from a fire/burn I think