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3 recent acquisitions

Posted: Fri May 03, 2013 2:29 pm
by aviator
I've switched almost entirely from electric to acoustic in recent months, with just one more electric to sell, which might be going next week. My Blackstar amp has been sold, together with a big pedal-board.

In their place are my 'precious' in the image link below. My GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome has been satisfied, with no more purchases planned unless I win the Lottery!


(sorry, can't figure-out how to get images to display with BBCode)


https://www.dropbox.com/s/0clk3q0rdiftmd4/2013-05-03%2008.00.26.jpg



On the right, the Fylde Orsino, purchased from Hobgoblin in December last year. A true fingerstyle guitar with a ridiculously low action and huge resonation and sustain. Made in Penrith it is by a country mile the best guitar I've owned and played.

On the left, a two-month-old Vintage VE2000GG Gordon Giltrap Signature. Ordered-in for me by Reidy's in Blackburn (http://www.reidys.com/br/guitars/acoustic_guitars/r). I'd tried one in early 2012 in Forsythes in Manchester and hadn't liked it one bit - but the great reviews made me go back and try another and this ones spot-on. I ended-up buying it for £349 and got a free headstock tuner too. For a production guitar it's superbly made, not a single glue mark, and everything absolutely perfectly finished. The gold hardware matches the cedar top perfectly. The action as delivered is a bit high for a fingerstyle guitar, but I will fix that with the next string change. It still wafts cedar when I play it. Strangely some played pieces sound better on the Vintage than on the Orsino - particularly Al Petteways 'Seven Swans'.

And finally in the middle, the latest and last purchase for a while. I have a weakness for 12-strings that goes back to listening to Genesis albums in the 1970s onwards. I had intended to buy one but this one was a 'tried-it-brought-it' example.

It's a Faith Saturn FS-12. Like the Vintage it has a natural (satin) finish and being all-solid wood it looks tremendous. I found it in Johnny Roadhouse in Oxford Road in Manchester, after first playing a Tanglewood 12-string that had been on my list of guitars to try but which I found to be awful (high action, nut too narrow etc). Then I saw the Faith for just £399, brand new.

The normal price online is between £549-593, and even more in a shop. Why so cheap? Well you can't see it easily but there's a dent in the front that was enough to drop the price by over £200 off the normal shop price. The dent is of no concern to me - I could do the same with a pristine guitar on the first day of purchase with an accidental collision with a pub table.

But the price wasn't the key attraction. It was the tone. Unlike most 12-strings this one isn't some jangle machine. It reminds me of the Zemaitis 12-string tone Mike Rutherford and Anthony Phillips produced on 'Stagnation', with every string balanced and with a huge detailed sound. The other attraction is the action - unlike any other 12-string I've played, this is very low, as in near-Orsino low. I keep it down-tuned by two steps minimum to preserve the neck. I'm now trying to play Leo Kottke pieces, rather than relying on 'Hotel California', 'Ripples' and 'Stairway To Heaven'.

So, the switchover to acoustic is done, and without purchasing a US or Chinese-made guitar I've managed to get three 'keepers' and make an almost seamless switch from electric to acoustic. The Faith and Vintage are made in Indonesia (perhaps in the same factory) and originate from British-based firms. The Fylde is British-made.

I'll try to get some YouTube example pieces played on all three in the near future.

Re: 3 recent acquisitions

Posted: Sat May 04, 2013 1:10 am
by Sue
Hi Aviator,

I've sent you instructions on how to add photos by PM,

hope this helps,

Sue