wow @HappyCat, that is a nice post to start the morning. Lots of things in there to write about.
It really deos look prettier in person than the pictures. I planned to take some close-ups once the sun comes up. Show some of the details.
First, the bridge intonation is set up for a wound third string. No way around that. I have 3-4 string sets picked out to try and I found that the wound third string is a bit tricky to get. I’ll need to go with either a brand I haven’t tried yet (StringJoy), or one I tend to not like (D’Addario), and there is also flat-wound which I may try, but didn’t like when I tried them long ago. I may have been too inexperienced to use that as a good test case.
I am told this bridge will fall off once the strings are removed, so I’ll need to pay attention to that and getting it back in the right place for intonation when I change strings. I’ll need to take them all off at once since I usually like to do a thorough fretboard cleaning and need to lightly oil it 3-4 times per year or it gets dry feeling. This already feels a little dry.
The body doesn’t have the neck resting on it, so this is part of the resonant sound I have. It feels a little heavy on bass, but that fits well with playing alone. I chose this because it was a true arch-top with fully hollow body. I noticed last night that some but not all amp models I fiddled with will resonate with the body and it will generate feedback quite easily! I’ll need to investigate more to see where that frequency is so I can keep it under control.
Tuning machines feel nice. No sharp edges and no catching points in the rotation. The kit I made earlier this year has horrible catch points in the tunter rotation.
I have a Line 6 Helix. I can plug into such an array of models, that I never find myself needing anything. The Helix was a wonderful decision for my love of fiddling.
We run that nearly year-around. 8 months of air conditioning and 1.5 months of heating with the outdoors being usually below 20%. Indoors is 30% now, and can go down to just under 25% later in the summer if we don’t get any rain. One night with the Humidipaks didn’t change the humidity in the case. The package says the pack should last 2-4 months. I suspect that means 6-8 weeks around here!
I have tables of the measurements. I can post that if you are that nerdy.
My goal is not to duplicate anything. I bought quality guitars that I expect should last me my lifetime - exception is the kit strat at about $80, but that thing sounds really good and sustain is outstanding. It is actually a nice guitar. Still needs some setup touches I haven’t tended to yet, but I expect it to last as well. I will need paint again ia few years - or I can consider it relic
I already have some deep dings in it since i pack it around the house with less care than my other guitars. I see the paint was not thick enough around edges and wood is showing a little.
I didn’t hear too many things in my fiddling last night that were “wow”, but I did note two. The odd thing is that they were candidates for removal from the saved settings list. One was an attempt to get a 12-string sound out of my PRS or Strandberg. This Godin actually sounds really pretty - not too 12-string-like, but a pleasant sound. It might be enough to satisfy my wife’s Byrds requests.
The second was something I called “WEiRD”. It has a very fast slapback that is highly filtered and a parallel second path into a Princeton model. No reverb after it.


