Clayton Custom Picks - An experienced review
Clayton USA Customized Picks Review
Most of my reviews are sectionalized, categorized, and broken down into parts like
playability,
value, and
quick opinion. This particular review is about a service, as well as the end product. I think this particular review will focus on what I needed, the service I got, and some images of my new promotional item - customized picks!
I wanted to have an interesting way to get ready to market a new part-time business venture called "Bears Guitars." I've opened a hosting site at
http://bearsguitars.com. (As of this writing, the site isn't published yet... stay tuned!) I wanted to find a way to get people to look at my customized guitars, my services, my music, and maybe make a few dollars along the way to keep things going.
Fliers and leaflets are OK, and postings at campuses and non-competing stores work good, but simple, recognizeable, and
useable freebie picks seemed like a great idea. It turns out that I was right. People love them, and my little simple holder page at bearsguitars.com has actually had some activity recently - largely as a result of the picks.
OK, enough about the whys and wherefores... what about the picks? They came out great! I took a custom-drawn simple bear paw, put the site's name on the design, and asked Steve Clayton's custom shop to make me 100 starter white Delrin picks (the white seems to make the text more readable - I'm going to try a color on the next batch).
I chose white, simple Fender 351-style shape, .8 or so thickness, Delrin, and black printing. People immediately react in a positive way when they see the picks. Job done!
So, how are the picks? They came out very nicely. The images and text are pretty clear, and the consistency and quality are really quite good. Out of 100 picks, I found none with errors or weird pick problems. Very nice!
The time it took to receive my order was a several days, but nothing outrageous. I wasn't expecting rush service for 100 custom picks. However, they arrived in reasonable time and nicely packaged. They were in a simple padded package and came in a simple zip-lock style baggie. All is OK, the shipping process didn't harm the picks or cause any issues. I don't know how they ship large orders (although I don't have the budget to buy lots of picks for
http://jbpmusic.com or
http://bearsguitars.com).
Want to purchase some of your own? Go to the Steve Clayton custom site and order some! you can go here:
http://www.claytoncustom.com/ (opens new window).
My first order consisted of $39 for the picks, and some nominal shipping charges. You can choose among First Class mail, Priority Mail(TM), and other, faster methods. The shipping starts at about $5 and can go higher if you need faster shipping.
I've experimented with a new order - this one for
http://jbpmusic.com on blue 1mm Delrin, with a bear design and the jbpmusic.com text... The total order with first class shipping was $44. I think it is a deal.
As with many custom things, the economies of scale apply, if you order more picks, the cost per pick goes down. So if you'd like hundreds or thousands, your price per pick will be lower than my little 100-pick orders...
I highly recommend Steve Clayton's custom picks. You can't buy them at Musician's Friend (but, you could click on the little banner on my page to help me out!), but you can get them directly from Clayton.
Rock on!
Labels: bearsguitars.com, clayton picks, clayton usa, custom, custom picks, Delrin, jbpmusic.com, order, picks, steve clayton
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
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