NGD - Featuring "Birds" (updated!)

[marqueemoon]

I've been stalking this guitar on craigslist for a while. The timing ending up being right between the seller dropping the price and my Carmen Ghia head finally selling, so this morning I hopped in the car and drove down to Graham, WA to get it. The seller's pics and description really didn't do it justice. I was pleasantly surprised with how nice it was in person. It's branded "Dark Artz", but obviously a partscaster. The birds are done with woodburning. It does have side dots, but it will take some getting used to.

2 piece swamp ash body (7.2 pounds on the bathroom scale!)
3 way switch
volume and tone with coil splitters for each pickup (push/pull pots)
Electrosocket jack
medium frets that are on the tall side
Hipshot locking tuners
chunky but not huge 22 fret C neck
bone nut
Dimarzio pickups of some kind according to the seller

It will take a little tweaking to set it up with 11s, but so far I'm really happy with it. It's more rock than metal sounding for a humbucker guitar, and the coil taps enable some more stratty sounds.

It's unique, and a fraction of the cost of a comparable "name" Tele. Plus I can mod it with impunity. Planning to play it as-is for a while but maybe eventually put some Lindy Fralin Big Singles in it. Chrome covers and neck pickup surround would look way better IMO.

Anyway, here are the pics. #putabirdonit

[burntumber]

great looking set of nostrils.


guitar aint bad either.

[marqueemoon]

great looking set of nostrils.


guitar aint bad either.

I figured I'd better not post a bigger picture. Nobody wants to see my nose hair.

[mbene085]

Opened the thread expecting to see a PRS.

Pleasantly surprised to find out it's a Tele! Looks good, and not PRS-y. Can you feel the woodburned birds hat are on the fretboard as you play?

1-6-7-12 is a bit of an odd sequence for fretboard marks, but I like how unconventional it looks.

[marqueemoon]

Opened the thread expecting to see a PRS.

Pleasantly surprised to find out it's a Tele! Looks good, and not PRS-y. Can you feel the woodburned birds hat are on the fretboard as you play?

1-6-7-12 is a bit of an odd sequence for fretboard marks, but I like how unconventional it looks.

The markers are done pretty lightly. I haven't really felt them when playing. The neck has black side dots in the normal places.

This is a fun guitar. I took it to play with my drummer on Sunday. I'm pleasantly surprised how clear and un-muddy the neck pickup is. Other than getting it set up for 11s I'm not planning to make any changes for a while. Long term some chimier pickups would be nice, but I'll have to see how much I actually use it.

[kdanie]

Pretty cool... Call it the "Hitchcock"!!

ken

[marqueemoon]

Update time!

Ultimately I found the pickups to be not ideal for my playing style. I just like lower output and more scooped sounding (for reference lipsticks are my all-time favorites). I picked up some Lindy Fralin Big Singles for myself for Xmas, and just had them installed (along with new pots and cap and a full setup). I also had them swap the black ring in the neck pickup for a chrome one.

This thing sounds incredible now. Chimey but full and very woody. I really couldn't be happier with the result.

[mbene085]

Wow, that looks even better, and I've been curious about Big singles for a long time. The extra chrome looks great!

[marqueemoon]

Wow, that looks even better, and I've been curious about Big singles for a long time. The extra chrome looks great!

Thanks! I'm super happy with how it turned out. I won't be able to fire it up with my usual band rig until tomorrow, but I got to play it through a Swart AST at the shop yesterday and it sounded amazing. Really open and bell-like with lots of space around the notes.

[Maggieo]

Update time!

Ultimately I found the pickups to be not ideal for my playing style. I just like lower output and more scooped sounding (for reference lipsticks are my all-time favorites). I picked up some Lindy Fralin Big Singles for myself for Xmas, and just had them installed (along with new pots and cap and a full setup). I also had them swap the black ring in the neck pickup for a chrome one.

This thing sounds incredible now. Chimey but full and very woody. I really couldn't be happier with the result.

That's utterly fantastic!

[oid]

That is surprisingly nice, this sort of guitar is generally not my thing but who ever did the birds executed it quite well! The new pickups were a wise choice aesthetically as well. Nice guitar you got yourself.

[marqueemoon]

That is surprisingly nice, this sort of guitar is generally not my thing but who ever did the birds executed it quite well! The new pickups were a wise choice aesthetically as well. Nice guitar you got yourself.

Thanks. It's not my usual thing either. Glad I took a chance on it.

[marqueemoon]

Quick update on this specific to the pickups.

After trying this with the band rig a few times I found it wasn’t really working tonally in that setting. Just not quite enough rasp/funkiness.

But, the other day I did a little living room jam with a friend of the family and decided to bring this. Though a clean amp (a Line 6 no less) these pickups sounded absolutely amazing. There’s a ton of complexity even when on the neck pickup with the tone control rolled down.

So, if you do squeaky clean guitar and/or jazzy sounds I highly recommend these pickups.

[wooderson]

I might buy a Silver Sky if PRS did birds like that.