Assembly project (2)

Tuners are in. Looks easy enough, yes? Mere fixing & screwing but I don't have a drill. This was done the primitive way; I nailed some holes to get some depth going then insert those screws in there. Not for individuals lacking in perseverance.

Epiphone: Les Paul Std Pelham Blue (limited offer)

Limited quantity offer from Swee Lee- Epiphone Les Paul Standard in pelham blue ($599). Nice :-)

Winter's yield

Yes, I got my set last Friday but have not decided which guitar it should go into. The Black Winter humbucker may be the manufacturer's most vile distortion-type pickup to date but specs-wise, it's not a total departure from Duncan's Distortion model. I like that assurance :-)

Check the Black Winter ($200- calibrated pair) out at Davis GMC + a whole other range of fresh Duncan  pieces.

Assembly project

I recently bought these parts for personal assembly. I'll let Beez handle the electronics when the time comes. I was looking at the spares I have accumulated after countless swap-outs of other guitars. I would like to put those to use, hence the purchase.

So far, I have manged to instal the input jack bracket which is a fairly simple affair. He he...

Douglas: Grendel (2)

Did the ritual to my Douglas Grendel today. A push-pull coil split switch...

Orange drop capacitor. This pic also shows you the interior appearance of the control cavity; a well-finished affair, I should say.

A pair of Tesla Plasma 7-1 humbuckers. I hear good stuff from this pair in my Schecter Omen 7 & they did well here- more definition, less mush from the 7th (B) string.

After much playing & physical scrutiny, I am giving my Grendel a quick appraisal:

The Douglas Grendel is a cheap guitar, there's no hiding that. But there's also no hiding that it was well made; from one end to the other, it's top notch. It's not a 'wanna be' guitar, it didn't draw inspiration from any particular brand name model out there so you won't feel played out by some false expectations. 

I need to remind potential buyers out there that the neck profile here is the fat & wide type, coupled with a rather flat radius (13.7"), it could be quite a challenge to some of us who are too accustomed to a 6-string. Compounding this experience would be the fact that the manufacturer employed a 'uniform neck profile', meaning- the thickness at the first fret, traveling up to the 12th, only experiences a 0.5mm difference. Please keep this in mind.

Electronics-wise, the Grendel is equipped with budget features so the pickups there are the typical 'get-by' grade, nothing fantastic. In fact, some of us might find it excessively bland across frequencies. One of the pots was extra stiff & I did away with it yesterday.

All in all, the Grendel is arguably a worthy 7-string to own. I wouldn't quite recommend this to players who are starting out with an extra string in their guitar, due to the neck profile. However, if you find skinny necks detestable, this would be a good pick. It's value for money, no doubt about that, it just need a little getting used to.

Blackstar LT

Blackstar is another amp manufacturer to be churning out pedals this summer. These are simple units that promise to recreate the manufacturer's amp voicings. In fact, some models feature the patented ISP feature found on Blackstar amps so you know what you are getting here in terms of 'Blackstar' tones. Looking forward to them being here for a simple reason- they are more affordable than the tube-integrated HT series.