Hey thanks man! Sometimes you just have to roll up yer sleeves and plunge into it ya know? Nuthing virtuous about it. This is the second "rescue" Mats for me and by far the one with the worst damage.
I confess that there were many times when I looked at it and wondered if it might just be better of to forget about it and sell it off as a "project" and be done with it. But, as long as you don't have the pressure of an unrealistic deadline, you can take the Swiss Cheese approach and before you know it you'll hit a critical mass and the inertia which held you back will suddenly start to propel you forward for a change! Best of luck with your project. _______________________________________________________ Some Comments & Impressions I've got this curvy gal still sitting out in the music room, primarily because, believe it or not, the finish is still off-gassing (curing) a little bit. I figured it would be wiser to let it "air" rather than close her up in the case. This is good though, since I can grab it and noodle away on it when the muse strikes.
My first impression is that it has quite a different "feel" from most of my other Mats, and despite the extremely light body which is riddled with cavities and whittled away to next to nothing, it feels quite solid and surprisingly well balanced. I expected it to be neck-heavy, but it isn't demonstrating that at all. And I haven't measured it but I do find the neck to be wider than my Westone and Vantage models; feels closer to my Vintage 'Tele' actually, so I'm guessing the intent was to emulate a Fender feel. Not the most comfortable for me initially, but after playing awhile I adjust.
I find it awkward to play standing up. Maybe it's just a perceptual thing, but there's so much "meat" missing from the bottom because of that sweeping curve and pointy horns, I find that there ain't much to rest my right arm on. My elbow is hanging out there in space! As a result it's a distraction for me. The neck also seems to be very long, of course it isn't. Again it's a perceptual thing, I feel the same way about SG's, something about the small body I guess. Nevertheless, I always feel like I'm "reaching" wa-a-a-y up there for the first position chords.
Sitting down, is quite a different experience; quite a comfortable and normal feel. If you look just at the outside contours of the body, that makes sense, it still has a somewhat classic guitar shape so it fits nicely over the leg. It's only when standing that you notice the big chunks of missing body, which throws off your tactile relationship to the guitar.
In the final analysis I guess this was designed to be a Metal head, shredder axe, and consequently played and held like one. Every picture I've seen of one being played shows it as low slung (somewhere around the waist) with the neck tilted sharply upwards. From that perspective the body "feel" doesn't enter into it; it's laying against your thigh at that point. It's only when you try to hold it in a "normal" playing position that you experience what I've described above. I tend to hang my guitar somewhat higher than most lead players, being mostly a rhythm player and a singer who has to be wary of the boom mike and music stand, etc. (Not as high as Dave Matthews though!)
Pick Ups I still haven't finalized the pickup adjustments, but they are suitably hot performers, as befits a shredder. The bridge is a stamped MMK45, but the neck has no markings. (You can look back in this thread for pix.) So far, to my ears, the neck seems to have a nicer sound and performance even though the measured output is lower, 7.5 K versus 11.8 K. I need to fiddle a bit with the heights to find the sweet spots; the high end is cutting, but the bottom is still a bit boomy. And it sure doesn't take much to drive this baby into distortion territory! Don't really need to use an overdrive setting at all.
Bridge As mentioned elsewhere, I don't know what affect, if any, the new chrome bridge is having on the tone. The replacement has a considerably lighter block than the one which came with the guitar. Since I have no intention of using the tremolo portion of the bridge, she's held down to the body by 3 tension springs and all appears solid. That cutting high end may be partly due to the bridge??
Little Feet These models originally had little rubber feet on the tip of the bottom horns which allowed the guitar to stand up without sliding forward. I don't think I've seen a picture of what they looked like so if anyone knows I'd appreciate a picture. Judging by the cut of the end they would appear to have been somewhat triangular. I have the screw holes but that's all!
I'm also trying to find a suitable material or an off the shelf item that I could modify. Any suggestions? These were an unusual shape and fairly small by the looks of it.
_________________ Guitars: https://legend.barryeames.com Music/Pix/Videos: https://getback.barryeames.com
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