Post by ashcatlt on Dec 2, 2011 16:35:58 GMT -5
I've always wanted a Thinline Tele type guitar. Not sure why. I like Teles, and I like semi-hollow guitars, so... When I recently found myself a bit more liquid than I've been in years I went and ordered an Xavier XV-620. I had a black/rosewood one in my cart for $169, but at the last minute I found one in the Clearance Section for only $124. Only problem with this one being:
It's orange.
Not really a bad looking guitar, and I can't tell why it was marked down, but I can't be seen playing it. So it will get refinished at some point. It's also going to be re-wired once I order some switches. I got their "Vintage" Lil Punchers to replace the stock pickups and will wire it basically like my hybrid, but just two pickups. There's no real hurry, though, since it's honestly sort of redundant to the hybrid.
Since I was going to take the pickguard off to re-wire the thing, I haven't swapped out the factory strings. I don't know what guage these are, but they're so thin and loose that it feels like a toy when tuned to standard. My hybrid is strung with 11s, and my Gibson scale guitars have 12s, so im pretty used to the strings fighting back a bit. I knew there was a quality instrument, there, but couldn't really feel it.
In order to try to justify the thing, I thought maybe I'd try keeping it in open G. Of course that made the tension thing even worse for half of the strings! Today, though, I got the idea to just tighten the things until they felt right, and ended up in open C - GCGCEG. This is a fourth up from standard, and really pretty fun to play.
So I think this guitar has found its calling. Rather than going to 11s, I'll leave it in 08s or whatever and call it my Tenor guitar. So now I've got both a baritone and a tenor!
Now I need to go order some switches...
Edit -
Okay, maybe I've changed my mind.
Now I'm thinking along these lines:
My mini-strat is currently strung for Nashville tuning. That's the "extra set" from an Ernie Ball electric 12 string set starting on 11. Originally I had it tuned up to "tenor nashville", a fourth above standard. This, though, meant that I couldn't exactly double a standard tuned part, so I had to drop it. And now it feels like a toy. Those 11s are the biggest readily available electric twelve string sets I can find. That is, Musician's Friend carries them for reasonable prices. There are acoustic strings out there, but that kind of clashes with the black and chrome thing I've got going on. And I'm too lazy to look for a good place for singles.
Anyhoo, it feels like a toy for the same reasons as above. Feels and sounds like it's strung with rubber bands! So, I'm thinking: "...two birds...one stone..."
...I'm gonna put the "regular set" of 11s on the mini and tune it up to tenor and put the "extra set" on the Tele for Nashville!
Now the Tele's redundancy with the hybrid becomes maybe an asset. If part of the point is to simulate a true 12 string by way of overdub, then it might be nice if you could get the two guitars sounding as close to the same as possible, no? Same bridge, same nut, same neck. Very similar pickups and wiring as long as I don't need the middle.
I think this might be a better plan, and get me playing both more often.
It's orange.
Not really a bad looking guitar, and I can't tell why it was marked down, but I can't be seen playing it. So it will get refinished at some point. It's also going to be re-wired once I order some switches. I got their "Vintage" Lil Punchers to replace the stock pickups and will wire it basically like my hybrid, but just two pickups. There's no real hurry, though, since it's honestly sort of redundant to the hybrid.
Since I was going to take the pickguard off to re-wire the thing, I haven't swapped out the factory strings. I don't know what guage these are, but they're so thin and loose that it feels like a toy when tuned to standard. My hybrid is strung with 11s, and my Gibson scale guitars have 12s, so im pretty used to the strings fighting back a bit. I knew there was a quality instrument, there, but couldn't really feel it.
In order to try to justify the thing, I thought maybe I'd try keeping it in open G. Of course that made the tension thing even worse for half of the strings! Today, though, I got the idea to just tighten the things until they felt right, and ended up in open C - GCGCEG. This is a fourth up from standard, and really pretty fun to play.
So I think this guitar has found its calling. Rather than going to 11s, I'll leave it in 08s or whatever and call it my Tenor guitar. So now I've got both a baritone and a tenor!
Now I need to go order some switches...
Edit -
Okay, maybe I've changed my mind.
Now I'm thinking along these lines:
My mini-strat is currently strung for Nashville tuning. That's the "extra set" from an Ernie Ball electric 12 string set starting on 11. Originally I had it tuned up to "tenor nashville", a fourth above standard. This, though, meant that I couldn't exactly double a standard tuned part, so I had to drop it. And now it feels like a toy. Those 11s are the biggest readily available electric twelve string sets I can find. That is, Musician's Friend carries them for reasonable prices. There are acoustic strings out there, but that kind of clashes with the black and chrome thing I've got going on. And I'm too lazy to look for a good place for singles.
Anyhoo, it feels like a toy for the same reasons as above. Feels and sounds like it's strung with rubber bands! So, I'm thinking: "...two birds...one stone..."
...I'm gonna put the "regular set" of 11s on the mini and tune it up to tenor and put the "extra set" on the Tele for Nashville!
Now the Tele's redundancy with the hybrid becomes maybe an asset. If part of the point is to simulate a true 12 string by way of overdub, then it might be nice if you could get the two guitars sounding as close to the same as possible, no? Same bridge, same nut, same neck. Very similar pickups and wiring as long as I don't need the middle.
I think this might be a better plan, and get me playing both more often.