“Only they who believeth in their guitar quest shall be granted passage”

Tag: electric

Musicman Guitar James Valentine signature series

Musicman james valentine is… oh, Hello 😀 well this time is past a year from my latest blogpost, and I have to admit, this coronavirus , covid-19 has brought me back to start writing again. Yeah, need a pandemonium to take me back here. okay let’s get move on.

I do really have a good stuff to talk about. yup, it’s THE Musicman guitar, the James Valentine signature series one. Pretty isn’t it?

James Valentine is Maroon 5 guitar player and one of great guitarist. He plays riff perfectly, has strong sense of guitar phrasing and articulation, great taste of music. funny thing is, some people questioning his worth to have A Musicman signature series guitar by his name. (yea it was the comments on facebook when i shared my guitar review video, says “it’s funny you have to put maroon 5 on your video title, it means he’s no worth it, and i completely disagree with that. I respect James Valentine as my guitar hero. done.. no more whining.

Let’s talk about this guitar shall we? See, this musicman james valentine guitar has the best body design I’ve ever seen and touch. it has classy almost-gibson look while definitely i can feel the telecaster right away after i strummed it.

so beautiful.

The neck.. i smell strong maple syrup came out from this roasted maple wood neck. it’s almost like i wanted to lick it (i did by the way, and it’s tasteless 😀 ) . literally it smells so sweet

I was really happy when I hold this guitar.

ah yes.. the sound. It is definitely a tele sound with upgrades. it has booster engaged by push-pull volume knob and neck split coil on tone knob. check it out on my vlog video >>

the headstock is gorgeous, definitely high class musicman style

headstock front

so overall this is the most gorgeous guitar i ever play and yes, it was sold to guitar collector already. i missed this guitar. likely I’ll buy another one someday

headstock back

Musicman James Valentine Guitar Specifications

Model: Valentine

Size: 13-1/4″ wide, 1-3/4″ thick, 38-7/16″ long (33.7 cm wide, 4.5 cm thick, 97.6 cm long)

Body Wood: Ash

Body Finish: High gloss polyester

Bridge: Music Man® Modern hardtail with vintage bent steel saddles

Pickguard: Shell

Scale Length: 25-1/2″ (64.8 cm)

Neck Radius: 10″ (25.4 cm)

Headstock Size: 6-3/8″ (16.2 cm) long

Frets: 22 – High profile, medium width, Stainless Steel

Neck Width: 1-5/8″ (41.3 mm) at nut, 2-1/4″ (56.9 mm) at last fret

Neck Wood: Select roasted maple neck

Fingerboard: Select roasted maple neck

Fret Markers: 1/4″ Black Face dots

Neck Finish: Gunstock oil and hand-rubbed special wax blend

Neck Colors: Standard – Natural with finished headstock

Tuning Machines: Schaller M6-IND locking

Truss Rod: Adjustable – no component or string removal

Neck Attachment: 5 bolts – Sculpted neck joint allows smooth access to higher frets

Electronic Shielding: Graphite acrylic resin coated body cavity and aluminum control cover

Controls: Custom Music Man® active preamp; push/push volume for gain boost, 500kohm push/push passive tone for custom split pickup configurations – .022µF tone capacitor

Switching: 3-way lever pickup selector

Pickups: SH – Music Man® custom wound staggered pole piece single coil (bridge) and humbucker with chrome covers (neck)

Left Handed: No

Strings: 11p-14p-18p-28w-38w-48w (RPS 11 Slinky #2242)

so.. is this an epic comeback or what?

see you next posts
April 15, 2020
PRS SE Custom 22 Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar

I got a PRS SE guitar for this time review and, first thing I wanna tell you is, that we should give credit to PRS guitars for the hardworks. Paul Reed Smith has taken his guitars into world’s music library like a new vocabulary for distinctive sound and playability. This PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar is a wonderful balance between price, sound, action and finishing layout. yes, Paul Reed Smith did it..

PRS SE Custom 22 Semi-Hollow

lucky i got this guitar for my guitar review. At first I didn’t even know how to start, so i search on youtube about this guitar and I found few great things to make comparison. first interesting thing is, if we turn the volume down to about 80% we will get an acoustic-piezo-pickup-like sound. So tried it and it works as it said on the review. The warm, clean tone sound that came out from the middle switch position becomes very nice acoustic steel strings guitar sound if we turn down the volume knob a little. I guess this comes from the semi-hollow guitar body and the factory default PRS SE pickups for this guitar has succeeded in capturing the semi-hollow guitar body sound. Very good. The clean tone itself has a twang, although I can’t say it’s a tele twang. But it’s in between Fender and Gibson. It’s truly amazing. While I can’t say this is for my playing, but, definitely I’ll choose this guitar for recording purposes for its wide sound range.

>> check my video review PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar <<

Next thing I wanna know about this guitar is, of course, how this guitar sound with overdrive and distortion effect. I have digital effects pedal and analog pedals for this, unfortunately my amp hasn’t come yet when i made this post, so i use Behringer ultra-G GI100 DIbox and an ordinary 1×10-inches speaker. The result is beyond expected. this guitar has warm overdrive and gritty distortion (I still can hear the note clarity in full distortion), while I can get a distinctive-fat and rich sound for lead guitar session as I use the booster. Overall, the sound is pretty amazing for medium grade PRS SE guitars.

PRS SE Custom 22 Semi-Hollow guitar

If there is one thing that might people dislike about this guitar, my guess is only the matter of taste. there are few minors about the finishing layout, but definitely it isn’t about the playability and precisions. The neck is unique, it’s wide BUT THIN, perfect for shredders but it also give a secure and safe feeling when playing jazzy chords (yes, IT IS). the strings lay very low to the fretboard and no buzzed frets at all. I guess the guitar neck is the thing which made PRS Guitars distinctive characteristics so bold.

I have Fender Special edition spalted maple and Gretsch electromatic for comparison, and i have to tell you PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar neck is very nicely different, yet you will get used to it quick and soon the fun begins. well, I did. 😀

this is a cliche but i got to tell you anyway,

“Semi-Hollow Electric Guitars are light-weighted and PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar IS NOT HEAVY AS IT SEEMS. not heavy at all”

about the price, unfortunately this guitar model is discontinued so the latest new price for this PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow Electric Guitar model isn’t available, but, you might get lucky on eBay, and my suggestion is, take it. This guitar is the FIRST model for PRS SE custom semi-hollow, so consider if you have it, you got a historical stuff.

so far so good, if anyone have one, please share the information with me, thanks. have a good day 🙂
March 24, 2015
Is It That Great Gretsch Sound?

Today is a cloudy day and i can’t get bright picture of silver sparkle of my new guitar (but it’s okay though, my old cellphone camera can handle this), oh yes it’s a Gretsch guitar. The Gretsch G5236electromatic pro jet 125th anniversary with silver sparkle finishing. It’s a beautiful pre-owned guitar with nice deal, no scratch and made in China. here are bunch of pictures about it:

Gretsch G5236electromatic pro jet 125th anniversary

Gretsch G5236electromatic pro jet 125th anniversary

Gretsch G5236electromatic pro jet 125th anniversary

And I like it!! this electromatic pro jet defines overdrive and distortion effects in wide range although it seems i’ll never get tele twang sound or strat glassy tone from it (of course, it’s a Gretsch!). it has unique sound, yes that great Gretsch sound does exist. Its pickups and chambered body deliver tones nicely through amps, even direct input to mixer.

Gretsch G5236electromatic pro jet 125th anniversary

Gretsch mini humbuckers pickups

Gretsch mini humbucker pickups

well, this series isn’t the perfect one actually. my first negative review is about the fretboard craftmanship. it has deadnote on 9th fret and it bothers a lot. i had to take it to my luthier shop to repair it. some say that the Gretsch quality decreases after they put their factory overseas and i think this is the prove. It’s made in China. but enough about it since that will be my only negative review.

overall this Gretsch came with gorgeous looks. it’s Gretsch 125th anniversary guitar, you can see the logo on its headstocks:

Gretsch 125th anniversary guitar logo plate

Gretsch 125th anniversary guitar logo headstocks

Gretsch 125th anniversary guitar headstocks

beautiful vintage accessories in affordable price. i should put this guitar in “on budget guitars” list.
can’t wait to take it on stage with me 🙂
November 15, 2013
My Fender Special Edition Custom Telecaster Spalted Maple Top HH

YES! now is a great time to bring stuff that made my ass work hard lately and forgot to blog. A new guitar for my playing. it’s Fender Special Edition Custom Telecaster Spalted Maple Top tele® HH and she’s gorgeous! I’d been read about this stuff and its reviews several years ago and luckily i met this Fender last year. actually, it took me a year later to take this to my house but i have no complain at all about this spalted maple tele.here i share some pictures i made for this guitar and i think you’ll like it. The guitar itself is a Set Neck Tele and it has beautiful finish well-crafted by Korean manufacturer. this fender special edition custom spalted maple tele is using rosewood fretboard. It has fine playability, the design is natural and very beautiful, i got mine with fire-like spalted maple design.

a brief fender spalted maple telecaster review about the playability that some owners of this guitar said is, Fender Telecaster spalted maple top has a les paul feel. hmm, at first in playing it I couldn’t find this, but after couple minutes, yes, for seconds i felt like i’m holding a les paul guitar. It might be the neck size and color and similar pickups it used those cause this. but the two Seymour Duncan humbuckers operated by push-pull tone knob and three-tone switch are good ideas in changing sound characters on live performances. it’s quite convenient. there’s no complain about the neck, but I’ve been holding the 24-frets neck for years and i guess i need more practices to feel this guitar neck. the guitar neck is great, while me-gotta practice more and more. this two pictures i made here somehow reminds me the led zeppellinsong title, “stairway to heaven“. 😀 i just love this tele..

this spalted maple tele is on 2007 year made, i am the next owner and currently i couldn’t find the new one for this. probably Fender switches this product to Custom Telecaster FMT HH which it has great reviews, too. but i couldn’t make any negative reviews about my Fender Spalted Maple Top Tele® since it has been so great, and the more i couldn’t wait to make video reviews about stuff i use 😀 still making experiments for my own videoblog and sound recording for blogs, wish me luck!
July 8, 2013