The Music Man SUB series bass/ guitars were disct'd in 2006. Back then, there was a slew of lacquer-devoid models churned out by various manufacturers, the pioneer being Fender's Highway 1 series which are still in production to date. In addition to cost cutting, the lack of lacquer reduces the overall mass of the instrument hence propagating more midrange in the output. It's really a love/ hate affair among players; some love the added clarity, others lament the loss in critical lower frequency response.Thw SUB1 HH guitar you see here is nothing too different from Fender's Highway 1 offerings; the body, headstock & neck rear are all devoid of lacquer & finished in a thin layer of overcoat known as 'satin'. The lack of a final 'skin' means the instrument is very susceptible to knocks; if you are easily perturbed by dings, do steer clear of such a finish.
Tone-wise, the SUB1 guitar has an airy midrange which would appease solo/ lead mongers. That extra bite in definition means your single note clarity is assured unless you tamper your EQ settings too much. The overall feel of those bare locations would be a welcome to those of us who simply dislike the sticky sensation a lacquer finish would result in, after prolonged playing, we do sweat don't we?The very fact that the SUB series were discont'd is a sheer illustration of doomed production economics because the reality is, there is a limited following for such a 'unique' instrument finish. Fender did well to be there at the start of it all.
But the SUB1 guitar was one fine instrument & an affordable one indeed. It's also one of the better sounding non-mahogany bodied guitars out there.
8 comments:
Great guitars, but they are poplar.
http://www.ernieball.com/mmonline/specs/instruments_subguitar.html
noted with thanks
This guitar is a fantastic value, IMHO, if you can find one; I have the single pickup version, with locking tuners that EBMM were kind enough to send me(they were left over from production)when I emailed them. Sound qualities as you noted, which I personally like, but the important thing for me is the supurb playability and quality of the EB neck - it is easily comparable to other, far more expensive models in the EB line. This guitar is a steal if you can find one used, I am currently trying to snag the dual pickup version.
Saw one here.
https://post.craigslist.org/manage/1345757183/yac42
Hi, I have a SUB1 and I think it is a great guitar to play. Over the years I have changed a number of parts which has improved the appearance and the sound... I first change the pots to CTS 500k, which made it sound brighter butt less muddy. Then I changed the pickguard to a black plastic one as I hated the thin aluminium one, this also affected the sound believe it or not, made it less hollow. I got fed up with the cheep tuners and bridge saddles; so I got some Schaller locking M6 tuners and GRAPHTECH PS8000 String Saver Strat Saddles. I found some cheep Dimarzio pickups:- neck is a PAF Joe and the bridge a Mo Joe.. yes I was lucky. I gave the sock pickups to my friend ‘Lucy’ for her old Epiphone studio Les Paul, which had appalling pickups. It now sounds fantastic, loads of people come up and ask ‘what the hell is that guitar’ and have very positive comments... Oh yes, I also changed the tone capacitor to a Sprague 'Orange Drop' 0.022. I also tried coil tapping which was OK but I do not like the push and pull pots as CTS do not make them and they feel cheap in comparison, however I replaced the normal pickup change over switch to a Dimarzio EP1111 which is a 4PDT selector switch, three-position (on/on/on). Now this allows me the switch on the 2 inside coils of each humbucker when the switch is in the central position, which gives a straty sound.... The Sub1 is my favourite, I play every day, I also have 2 Fender stats and a Gibson Les Paul and I play them through either a Laney VC15, Laney LC30 or a Cornford Roadhouse 30 head using my home made 2 x 12 cab loaded with 2 Celestion Classic Lead 80 speakers... My the way I got my Sub1 for £200, which I think was a steal....
the SUB series should NOT have been discontinued...
I have the 2 HB version of the SUB with textured dark red finish and black plastic pickguard standard. Glad I didn't get the aluminum version, pretty fugly in my opinion. I disagree with the review of the finish not being coated and prone to dings/scratches. I have found the finish very tough and feel it is less prone to damage than most other finishes. As mentioned in other comments, the neck is wonderful. Great guitar, great deal. Found mine new collecting dust for $300 USD
the satin finish is more 'durable' because of it's textured nature, unlike the smoother overcoat of the RG321, Gibson's Faded series & Fender's Highway1 for that matter. however, the satin treatment in general, cannot keep up with the gloss-coating of other guitars.
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