Sold some stuff and..

[HalfBlindLefty]

Time for spring cleaning
I looked at my gear and found some stuff I didn't use 95% of the time.
Sold :
Okko Diablo
Digitech Jamman
Fender SuperChamp XD

Still for sale Josie : Fender American Vintage '62 Reissue Stratocaster.

10330262_4361108844108_8883026864174555785_n.jpg (42.66 KiB) Viewed 9447 times

YES, selling Josie, I never felt to happy with the neck shape and she was in the stand for about 95% of the time.
The bond between me and First Lady the '84 Tokai strat is far to strong and her beautiful slim neck fits my hands like a dream (I have rather short fingers)

No use to leave a 1200 + Euro guitar gathering dust. When I hear recording I have 2nd thoughts, but I'm holding my ground.


And....

Tomorrow I'm going to fetch me

Ibanez Artcore Jazz guitar.JPG (21.4 KiB) Viewed 9448 times

An Ibanez Artcore Jazz guitar ( the 3nd reason for the spring cleaning over here)

[MichaelRobinson]

I understand what you mean. I myself have a few guitars that are collecting dust, but
my thought is that I bought, I bought and it costs no more to they stands. It suffices to use some guitars now and then.

[12bar]

If it wasn't a lefty...

[HalfBlindLefty]

Done, the Artcore has entered the house.

While testing, I notoced the shorter neck with a lovely slim neck profile. Instand love
Another thing I noticed was the low string hight and at first I thought I would adjust that to what I'm used to, which is quite high ( for better tome), but while noodling at home, I'm having second thought. Those chord slides are so easy to do as is playing faster runs.
For now I'll try it for a while and see how I think about string hight is a week or two.

Love the shorter scale neck... Chording doesn't hurt my wrist after a few minutes.

I didn't take to much time to optimize Cybie's settings, but wanted to have something to show for, so I did a quick recording of some useless riffs, runs and chords.

download/file.php?id=2809

I know that that wooden push is there in her sound. While testing using the Mesa Boogie of the previous owner I have heard it. So when I take the time to adjust Cybie it will be there more prominent I think.

Lovely guitar to play, she's gonna get quite some time I guess.

[vancouverois]

Seems to sound quite good congrats!

[Blindboy]

Sweet!
I have the right handed version. (the one I had to reglue the headstock on after an onstage mishap)
Looking forward to hearing what you do with it as you get used to her.

[VikingBlues]

Good sounds from the Artcore and just as important it ticks the right boxes for ease of playing. Good sound and no muscle / joint pain is a good combination I think. I've always felt the shorter scale helps me a lot more than such a small difference ought to make.

Look forward to hearing the HBL / Artcore relationship develop.

The inclusion of your Fender '62 re-issue in the spring cleaning does not come as a shock to be honest. I've had a feeling for a long time that the real strong bond was between you and the First Lady, and while you have certainly worked hard at trying to get something extra from the Fender it's often sounded like a bit of a struggle. I recall your concerns about the sounds sometimes not being what you would like, and once those niggling doubts are voiced they often don't go away. Anyway - as you say if you're not playing an instrument much at all then there's not a lot of point in keeping it - particularly if your go-to guitar does the same job better - and particularly if it's tying up a fair bit of money.

Same lack of shock for me with your selling the Super Champ XD - quite a fine wee amp, but with Cybie as your go-to amp being so much more versatile and of much higher quality the XD is never going to be an essential piece of gear. It may be essential for me, but that's because I've nothing better. Not that I can justify any electric gear at all at the moment!

[HalfBlindLefty]

Thanks folks, starting to love this little guitare even more.
For now I left the string hight as is. If I adjust it it will be just a very tiny adjustment

Thought you would have see it coming VB :) and you are right. However : Kitty stays

Oke, I jammed with the Artcore and used the Kitty Hawk and omg do the both of them like each other :)
For the first time I needed to put a compressor in the recording channel so I could give the softer parts a boost . The dynamics of the pair is unbelievable.
The reverb is added during mixing, so kitty was without any fx, just the artcore and the dry amp.

To the Jam, I didn't take time to get the feel for the backing and started straight away. So excuse me if......

download/file.php?id=2810

[vancouverois]

Sweet, it sounds very smooth, a good one!
How do you compare the Artcore to the Epi Dot?

[HalfBlindLefty]

Thanks Chris,

Mhh comparing the Epi Dot and the Artcore
Looking at both their sound, the artcore can have more highs and has more of the accoustic wooden push in it's sound.
The pickups are less ...mhhh. hot that the Epi's. It may sound strange, but the artcore is more dynamic in it's sound, the difference between soft picking and harder picking translates in quite a difference in output.

What strikes me the most and by surprise is that right now I love playing the artcore while I like playing the Epi.
The shorter neck stole my heart, while the lower action makes slippin'and sliding so easy to do that I even might considder lowering the action on some of my other guitars.

What it drills down to is that if I would have stumbled over the Artcore before finding the Epi, I probebably wouldn't have missed the Epi so much as I did after selling my first one.