It's a wrap

There are 1001 reasons out there as to why people do a wrap over for their tune-o-matic + hard tail bridge assembly. Some cited added sustain & tension issues for doing so - good for them. My personal reason is depicted above; the wrap over method prevents the strings from coming into contact with the tune-o-matic bridge because the break angle is less acute. If strings come into contact with that tune-o-matic bit, there would be some funky buzzing happening which would highly likely annoy you. So, there.

Pro Loomis

A new one from Jackson - Jeff Loomis' Pro-Series Kelly got a hard tail treatment. That's about it. Should it be more interesting than merely featuring a non-whammy version? If it should, then Jackson would be wise to hold it off till 2024. Nice body grain there & it's not ash.

Pic: Jackson USA

Hard tails

Spent the Sunday playing my PRSes, the Mira in the morning...

... the SC250 to close the day. Both guitars were given a fresh set of strings before playing.

I'm not too fond of finished necks so the real reason why I played them today was because I like to hear the Seymour Duncan pickups in action:

• Mira: JB/ P-Rails
• SC250: Pegasus/ P-Rails

Mira's partial hollow body dampened some brightness from the JB so it has a strong bottom end response for heavy music, no problems there. The P-Rails in its full humbucking mode sound very wooly in the neck but unlike a Gibson humbucker, there's still clarity in the mix. 

The SC250 on the other hand was pretty much dictated by the Pegasus. On a personal note, it's a prog-esque pickup for that rock-hippie type of tone very prevalent in the 70s but with a strong distortion presence. Technical geeks would love this pickup for its ability to manifest individual notes very well.

After a re-set up following the re-string & thorough cleaning I came to the realization that I could not get a super low, super shredding action simply due to the bridge type of both instruments Yes, a low action was possible but nothing Ibanez-like. It's a different playing experience but nothing hopeless & struggling when fast playing is concerned. Even for Gibson guitars, hard tail bridges are just not cut out for low action settings. They have this fixed height which was compounded by the top mount nature. We can only go so deep/ low & that's it. But I'm rather sick of this sunburst-type finish- no more for me.

Here's wishing you a good week ahead. Remember to embrace difference but ditch it once it makes you feel stupid. 😁

Broderick's hard tail

This is Chris Broderick's 'new' Jackson for 2016- the Soloist HT6 (7-string version available). You guessed it, a non-whammy version of his signature guitar. The hard tail here is a little unique because it's a top load model meaning, no string goes through the body. At this age, I appreciate non-whammy guitars more due to its hassle free nature when it comes to re-string & tuning.