Dean Vendetta CUSTOM XM Review And Update!
Sometimes I feel the need to fashion sound and playability in a way that is not offered in commercial instruments. In most instances, a custom instrument is a luxury, costing lots of money or having excellent connections with good guitar manufacturers and luthiers. My budget doesn't generally allow for anything approaching custom status. So... I make them for myself from stock instruments and specialized parts.
The Dean line of guitars is an EXCELLENT choice for customization. I enjoy customizing my Fender, Squier, Epiphone, and Jackson instruments - but for some reason, Deans are just plain fun to turn into custom axes.
Quick Opinion: One of the best custom guitars I've made or played... Simple, sonically-interesting, plays well, and was a lot of fun to conceive and create. Want one for yourself?
Send me an email through my contact page here. I'd love to make another.
What can it do? Imagine a nice 60's-70's era mini humbucker sound with several split-coil twists. A little dirtier than the Gibson mini humbucker setup, but very pleasing and crunchy in its own right.
Features: What's not to like? Here's the lowdown on the XM Custom:
The host guitar
A Dean Vendetta XM dual-humbucker in "natural" finish (
reviewed here:) ( I love the color on these... I've thought about doing one of the other XM models for that reason...)
Read more information, reviews and pricing for the Dean Vendetta XM at GuitarCenter.com
The sound stuff
GFS AlNiCo V bridge pickup, mini humbucker
GFS ceramic neck pickup, mini humbucker, smooth cover (no poles showing)
DiMarzio PRS-style two-wafer 5-position rotary switch
Switchcraft USA input jack
CTS USA potentiometers
Genuine Sprague Orange Drop capacitor
All-copper USA connective wiring and silver solder
Lots of loving experimentation and effort with these paws
The fun stuff
Medium-ratio green-key Kluson copies (someday some real ones?)
Nice graphite nut
Beautiful hand-made ebony-and-abalone truss rod cover
Re-sanded and nitrocellulose-coated neck profile
DiMarzio speed knobs (Goes to 11!)
Old-fashioned bolt-clamp chicken head knob on the rotary
Schaller strap lock strap buttons
Gibson-creme humbucker rings used as mini-adapters
Quality: Well, my work isn't perfect - I'm not an amateur, but I've only got 4 years experience: I make some mistakes sometimes. That said, a great deal of thought and experimentation goes into the execution of my instrument modifications and customizations. A lot of time goes into getting the sound I'm after. A lot of little parts go into making things better. From the standpoint of the customization parts, the whole thing is high quality, no doubt.
I could have done a better job cutting and dressing the graphite nut. It could still be better if I popped it off and did some more work - problem is, I play it too much and don't want to mess with the success of it.
The pickups are just perfect and are extremely well made. I think the only parts that aren't top notch are the tuners and the bridge. I could drop another $60-$75 on it at some point and really shake things up.
The wiring is good on this one. No extra buzzes, no funky flaky unexpected sounds. Nice solid silver-based solder drops. Not the prettiest solder, but very well-connected. Solid instrument and custom job, overall...
BTW, I did my wiring based on my interpretation of this diagram from GuitarElectronics.com. They're cool people, by the way. I've bought lots of parts from them and highly recommend them for their customer service and selection. Don't forget to add a beer to your shopping cart when you shop with them ;-)
Playability: The guitar is the lightest thing I've ever played (next to an acoustic). The fit and feel is perfect for my body and for sitting. The venerable Stratocaster-style shape is perfect for 24-fret access and the subtle cutaways are really comfortable.
After spending a reasonable amount of time on the neck, the overall playability of the guitar is pretty good. I won't rate up there with a nice USA-made Gibson Standard or USA-made Fender standard, but the XM Custom feels good in the hands and is a pleasure to play.
Sound: I spent quite a bit of time researching what I was after. I started with wanting the sound of the awesome and beautiful Firebird VII (three minis)... I needed a budget donor (but with something
different in body wood), and I still wanted the playability and flexibility for a recording instrument. The addition of splitting and the minis REALLY fit the bill.
How does it sound? Incredible. The American pots, switch, jack, and wiring really make for a good transparent sound set. The mini humbuckers are dirty, skanky, crunchy, grimy, and just perfect for the task. The combination of the AlNiCo V magnet and the ceramic magnet really shines out here. It's not the sound you want for sweet smooth love music. The sound is for making your feet tap and getting your endorphins on.
Wanna hear the guitar? You can hear my Vendetta Custom XM in this little ditty I recorded (opens a new window)... All the guitar parts (except the bass, of course) are done with different settings on my Vendetta. This piece of music is highly pre-production, so it's not ready for prime time... but it gets your toes tappin', just the same.
Value: Priceless. This one is likely to be one of the permanent members of my sound library. The sound is just what the doctor ordered, it's light, and it feels pretty good to play. So many sounds in one package... and you gotta love having mini humbuckers in your sound library!
Wishes: I'm ready to make more of these. I'm likely to do an active pickup version (with either EMG actives or Seymour Duncan Blackouts) and perhaps a nice, spanky DiMarzio version...
Labels: awesome, bear, custom, dean, dean vendetta, dean vendetta xm, jimmy bear pearson, mini, mini humbucker, modified, review
Gibson Faded SG Electric Guitar Review
Gibson USA Faded SG Review
Gibson has some awesome 6-string hard-body electric guitars. Les Paul, Explorer, Vee, Firebird, and SG. My favorite Gibson? Any Gibson.
The Gibson USA Faded SG reminds me of some of the SGs I played in the early 1970s (sans shiny finish, though). VERY lightweight, mahogany, thin neck, bright rockin’ humbuckers, tulip tuners, fixed bridge, and tons of vibe. Every time you pick it up, you don’t want to put it down. Gibson has brought these things back in a modern-day form.
Free Shipping and more information about the Gibson USA Faded SG at GuitarCenter.com
Quick Opinion: Like the Gibson Vintage Mahogany Les Paul, grab one. They’ll be gone and you will have missed a great instrument. This is the kind that will sell (30 years from now) on eBay for good bits of money because of the “vibe” and “mojo” of the lightweight, plain SG.
Playability: The experience of playing the faded Gibson SG is a treat. The body is very nicely balanced, very comfortable, and vibrant.
The neck gives a sense of ease – where some necks make you think about them as you play, the neck on the faded SG is effortless such that you forget about it entirely. For you thick-neck fans, this will be an adjustment – it is quite slender and thin. It feels good, and doesn’t have the roughness of many of Gibson’s “faded” guitars.
The body is comfortable, and makes itself comfortable up against your picking arm and your ribcage. The body is very light-weight, almost the lightest solid-body I’ve ever picked up. Incredibly, though, the balance of body to neck is just about 50/50.
I’ve found that the (fairly standard) setup of the bridge, stop-tail, and nut feel good, and are quite flexible. I’ve played one that was set up for slide – strings high, but still playable with fingers. I’ve played several others that were set up for easy action and quick fingering. In both cases, the guitar performed flawlessly with no buzzes or flat spots. (A few of the fret wires had fuzzy ends, but nothing that couldn’t be handled with some fret polishing paper and a little TLC.)
Features: The features of the Gibson faded SG are basic, simple, and uncomplicated. The instrument features a standard 4-knob control: neck pickup tone and volume plus bridge pickup tone and volume. This SG also has the three-way toggle pickup selector (neck, neck and bridge, bridge).
The finish is sort of a satin clear finish on brown or cherry-looking mahogany. Unlike the faded Les Pauls and faded double-cutaway Les Pauls I’ve played recently, the finish on the SG is still smooth, even though it is not gloss-polished. The faded SG feels like an old, comfortable, worn guitar friend.
This instrument is ideal for a double-humbucker split-coil plus phase modification. (Just remember! Keep all the original stuff untouched! The original stuff is pretty sweet. Future generations will appreciate an elderly instrument with its original bits.)
I like the original-style Kluson tulip/keystone green “Deluxe” tuners. They’re not the sturdiest tuners out there – but they feel like the old Gibsons I’ve played as a kid.
Sound: Simply put, this SG SINGS. When you strike a chord or pluck a low string, you can FEEL the sound. It feels like it was special tuned for its setup, strings, and woods. The set neck, unfettered mahogany, and stop-tail bridge give this guitar a VOICE.
It can be played overdriven, over-distorted, clean, reverb-y, warm and jazzy, and lots more. I’ve played several examples at my local guitar stores (I can’t purchase one at the moment – starving artist – so I researched my review with many months of “research playing” at my guitar stores) – and I’ve played them through Mesa, Peavey, Epiphone, Marshall, Fender, Crate, and others. Standing in front of a full Marshall stack (tube head), with everything on 5 and volume on about 4 – WOW – it makes every guitar player in the store salivate to hear the sound.
The Gibson USA 490R and 490T pickups are flexible and warm, but have more output than the vintage SGs around which I grew up. They’re bright without being harsh. They’re easy to push into breakup with a good amp, and they play clean/jazzy with abandon. They’re fabulous.
Value: These SGs are very much worth their street price, maybe more. They’ve been marked down from the $700 range to the $579 range in the past few months. At the new price, they are very much a bargain.
Bear in mind: these do not come with a hard case at this price. They ship with a Gibson gig bag. If you want to preserve your SG, the genuine Gibson SG case (about $129 street) is well worth every cent. If you can’t swing that, at least find a durable TKL or SKG case for it.
As I said with the Vintage Mahogany Les Paul, go to your favorite get-in-trouble guitar store and play an example or two. If you don’t have a git-box store nearby, check out your favorite online haunt and pick one up NOW.
Wishes: I only have two simple wishes: I wish they came with a Gibson hard-shell case (I personally think every Gibson deserves to live in a Gibson case). I also wish that the 490 pickups in this guitar came with German nickel humbucker covers. I’m spoiled by the looks of the old ‘70s SGs.
P.S. Gibson, if ever there was a Gibson sponsorship for "really great Bears who review guitars", this would definitely be one of the ones! wink wink wink nudge nudge
Labels: bear, electric guitar, epiphone sg, Faded, gibson, review
Ibanez SZ520QM SZ520 Electric Guitar Review
Ibanez SZ520QM Electric Guitar Review
When I was first looking for an electric guitar that I could use as a recording guitar and as a way for my son to cut his guitar-chops, I searched high and wide. I had a severely limited budget at the time I began playing again… and had to get some of the features I knew that I liked in a guitar from my early days.
I wanted a guitar that was tough enough to handle hard rock guitar but that didn't fold on me over time. I also wanted an instrument with lots of sustain, plenty of output, and a nice neck.
I ended up settling on an Ibanez SZ520 for a number of reasons. For sure, though, the SZ520 is a remarkable instrument – one that is not given its true kudos in the world of guitars. It is an unsung hero and an excellent instrument.
Quick Opinion: The Ibanez SZ line of electric guitars (and, to an extent, the Ibanez S line of guitars) are excellent instruments. They have the quick feel of a rocker’s guitar, fairly good quality, and excellent features.
These guitars have excellent playability, great sound, and a price that puts them at the mid range between less-expensive set-necks, and inexpensive top-brands. SZs are not a bargain – rather, they are at the top of their range. Whether or not to purchase an SZ will depend very highly on your personal feature interests, and your particular desire for a given sound. Let’s take a look at this fine instrument – with some comparisons along the way.
The SZ is no longer produced as a new product by Ibanez, but you can see more about Free Shipping on Ibanez electrics at GuitarCenter.com
Ibanez SZ520QM Electric Guitar Review
Playability: Several things strike you immediately when you first pick up and play the SZ520. The neck is a dream – and lacks a big heel. The staggered, string-through design rings with sustain. The body is very nicely balanced and is of medium weight. The fretboard is comfortable.
The neck on the SZ520 is nearly ideal for chord players, shredders, and slide playing. It strikes a nice, medium-width balance against just a deep-enough “C” shape to get a grip on it when you’re running up and down the neck. The neck back is painted to match the body, and has a nice, hard, smooth finish. The neck-to-body join is superb on this instrument – few electrics get anywhere close to this nice of a join. The heel-less feels fantastic when you’re flitting around above the 14th fret. I truly wish most Gibsons and Epis had this type of neck join on their electric guitars.
The body balance is above average, if not pretty close to excellent. After playing the SZ for several hours, you don’t feel like you’re struggling with an unruly animal. It just feels good where it is – especially since the weight is medium in the spectrum. A Fender Stratocaster is significantly lighter in
feel, and a Les Paul is a bit heavier in
feel.
The fretboard, string-spacing, and fret size are an interesting combination – almost unique when compared to the other manufacturer’s view on fretboards. The fretboard is subtly different from most any other instrument out there. For those who are familiar with Fenders: it is thinner than a Strat and wider than a Tele – very similar to the superb and underrated Fender TC-90. For you Gibson and Epi fans out there, the SZ is much more like an Epiphone SG with respect to its neck. The fretboard is extremely similar to the Epi G400s I’ve played.
Fingerstyle players or players who use a modified pick hand (like myself) will find the strings a bit close together. However, this is balanced out by overall comfort, and the ease of gripping chords.
In order to get great sounds out of the SZ in slide and chord/soloing, the strings had to be at least 10s with thicker middle strings (and better, 11s or 12s). Custom light and extra-light strings sound muddy and don’t tune well when applied to the SZ. Also, the tone and sustain are robbed with smaller-gauge strings. I tried 10s Fenders, several 10s GHSs, and even the venerable D’Addario XL110s on the SZ, and none of them sounded very good. I ended up settling between D’Addario XLs with a minimum 11 high E-string and Ernie Ball Power Slinky (11.14.18.28.38.48). The Ernie Ball Power Slinky strings sounded the best by far.
If you’re not going to slide on the SZ, you’ll still need to get some good calluses and stay with a set that is 11 and above. 12s were just too thick for me on this instrument – I had a hard time getting a good vibrato and smooth-transition string-bends with 12s.
The fretwork of the SZ I owned was superb in almost any respect. The frets are medium in overall size and height, and the ends were reasonably well-dressed. The nut was well-worked and had no issues at all.
Features: The Ibanez SZ520QM (QM stands for “quilted maple” cap) is a high-feature guitar made in Korea. It has a gorgeous quilted maple cap on a warm and medium-thick mahogany body. The tuners are OK (not great), but the neck inlay is beautiful (my guitar got the name “blue flame” because of its 12th fret inlay). The finish on the guitar is deep and lustrous.
The heel-less neck feature is worth mentioning again. Feel it for yourself – most folks will absolutely love it.
The binding is light-cream, and is superbly done. I only felt the “edge” of the binding in one or two places on the front of the body, and none on the neck.
The Duncan/Ibanez open-face humbuckers are a nice feature. They strike a nice balance between being able to play stronger, more assertive music – and music that is marginally mellower.
The string-end design is string through. The staggered string holes are of varied lengths from the bridge and its saddles. Unlike many string-throughs, there is no tailpiece – the strings feed directly from the bridge to the holes in the body.
The Gibralter III bridge makes intonation a fairly easy task, and is completely buzz-free. It is stud-mounted to the top of the guitar, so lots of sound emanates through the bridge very nicely into the guitar body.
Sound: The SZ520QM sounds wonderful. It has tons of sustain (although an Epi or Gibson Les Paul still have a longer and warmer sustain – the SZ is more like a set-neck SG in sound and sustain). The pickups and electronics are clean and noise-free. Sonically, the SZ is a good crossover guitar – from harder music to classic rock.
I found the pickups to be not as high on the output scale (sound-wise – I didn’t pull them and put them on a multi-meter) as you get with EMGs or more aggressive Seymour Duncan humbuckers. They are louder than my first Epiphone Les Paul’s original open-face humbuckers, but they are not as rich and creamy.
The pickup-selection-and-tone part of the guitar is pretty good. The SZ has the often-used Tone-Volume-Volume plus pickup switch hardware setup. With the SZ520QM, there is one master tone knob, the middle knob controls the bridge pickup volume, and the knob closest to the neck controls the volume of the neck pickup. The SZ also uses a fairly standard (but extremely well-made) pickup selector toggle switch.
Value: Value for the money is where the SZ is not quite a clear winner. I don’t think the guitar is terribly over-priced, but it is not a bargain in any sense. The Fender TC-90 (albeit with Black Dove P90 pickups) and the Epiphone Explorer and Epiphone Flying V are much better performers – yet they all cost less. A similarly-equipped Dean, Jackson, or Schecter is generally a better bargain for sound and price.
With that said, and in all fairness, the SZ520 does have a great feel, and does a decent enough job for the sound. I am a fan of Ibanez guitars, and there are many models that are great… I just think the SZ 520 should be a little lower in price. – or should have higher-end Seymour Duncans to bring up the value.
Wishes: Some nickel-covered and upgraded Seymour Duncans would be great (or, even better, some EMG HZ passive pickups, perhaps H4s). I really think Ibanez should choose to use some nice Grovers as tuners, or at least some locking tuner/locking nut offerings on this guitar.
Labels: acoustic guitar, bear, electric guitar, ibanez, review, set neck, shredder, sz, sz520, sz520QM
RSS Feed For Jimmy Bear's theguitarreview.com