Guitar Players: More Options

This might be interesting to guitar players, especially lefties. Normal people have to decide for themselves.


There's never been a better time to be a lefty guitar player.
This is what we call hyperbole.
Let's just say it's an interesting time to play guitar in general. Music is widely available, there's tons of information on YouTube, including pretty difficult songs to play and demos of gear. And makeup tips.


This missive was spawned by a number of developments by Fender. For the longest time, lefties could not purchase any offset Fender (Jaguar, Jazzmaster, etc). Fender has a configurator on their site, where you can pretty much build your own guitar. They just added a lefty option for the Jazzmaster. Regardless of which Fender you want, you should go play with it, to see what you can come up with for your 'dream guitar'. Your choices are Jazzmaster, Stratocaster, Telecaster, P Bass and J Bass; all available left-handed. You can choose wood, finish, hardware, pickups, and neck shape (you can choose a C neck or a slightly larger C neck).

Speaking of offsets, Fender also announced most of the offsets are available on a one time only basis from Fender Japan. You leave a deposit now and they deliver the guitar at the end of the year.

Speaking as myself, which is pretty much the end of the list of people for whom I can speak, I'm not as excited as some offset fans. If I were going to order one (or several) it would be because I wanted them for the collection. After looking and listening, I'm not sure an offset will fit sonically. The output of the pickups is down below my beloved Strat and the guitars sound kinda plinky, lacking sustain. While this may work perfectly for surf music and whatever else, it won't work for me. You don't see many blues and classic rock artists with offset Fenders. Cobain had a modified Jaguar, but he wasn't exactly know for tone. Oddly enough, you can buy a Cobain model (unless you're a lefty, talk about irony).

My big problem... well... the one I'll admit to... is the neck. There are two very important specifications to me: shape and radius. Radius is the curve of the fretboard. The lower the measurement, the more curved the board. The shape is literally the shape of the neck, from the side of the fretboard, around the back to the other side of the fretboard.  Back when Fender first started (1950s), the necks were huge, with a 7.25" radius, and a large V-shape. I grew up with late 70s Fenders, which were very similar to the vintage ones. Fender now refers to this neck as a U shape (I think - they're weird). You cannot purchase this neck on a stock Fender, including the Mod Shop. I spoke to Fender and was told if I don't like the C neck on all of their stock guitars these days, I'm screwed.

Fender has a long history of reproduction guitars, lately 50s, 60s, and 70s. Every time they do this, they mess up an important feature. The current 50s 'correct vintage' Strat has a fairly accurate neck shape, with a 9.5" radius, which was not made in the 50s. So it's somewhat less than correct vintage. Fender is obviously not bothered by this. In fact, only the crazies (who would that be?) are upset. There are U neck guitars available from Fender Japan, which I am investigating. The hurdle here seems to be a very large body of water, plus an exchange rate.


WHAT OTHER CHOICES DO I HAVE?

Glad you asked. Or I would have had to stop typing at the last paragraph.
If you like Fenders, your other choice is custom parts or custom guitars. I'd recommend you check Nash Guitars, somewhere up the the Northeast US, available on Reverb and a few stores. They are very vintage-correct and feel great (ok, the one I picked up backwards in a store). I can't help you with custom guitars, as there are way too many people who do this.

Parts are where it's at if you read this far. The biggest would have to be Warmoth. They have one of everything, at least. You can purchase stock guitars bodies or necks. You can also configure your own. Each step is explained, so you aren't going in blind. The stock necks start at about $150 and go way too far up, depending on whether you need African Pink Cocobora accents with a roasted quarter-sawn maple fretboard, and solid gold inlays of upright vacuums. There is no price difference for lefty or righty. The bodies in stock range from $260 to $600, but again, this is highly variable, depending on whether you like an in-stock body or designing your own.

Warmoth's options for designing your own body and neck go down to minute details. One of the reasons is that you can order what you specified right at the end. Each option has help available, so you're not scratching your head and squinting thoughtfully, in case anyone walks by. I read that your order does not come complete or built. They expect you to get the finish off the frets and put everything together. There may be an option for getting everything done for you but I haven't looked for it.

There is some wild stuff available. You can get wood you've never heard of or seen from countries you've never heard of or seen. Your neck will consist of one piece or a neck and a fretboard, depending on options. You can pick 2 different woods. Some are very colorful, with tonal details explained. You can pick Vintage, Modern, or Hybrid basic designs. This dictates which options you can select. For instance, the 7.25" radius is not available on Vintage, but is on Modern. There are a ton of options for radius, as well as compound radius, where it starts as 10" and goes to 16" at the end. Finished or non, gloss or satin or vintage stained. Even fretboard inlay shapes and colors. The necks are available in many shapes like current, V, soft V, boatneck, thin, and others. Keep in mind that you need to have some idea what shape you want: you can't return it easily. My problem is that I can't find anywhere to play anything other than stock Fender necks. In the fifth largest area in the US, there is nothing but garbage to be seen. Almost zero vintage.

The bodies are where most of the fun is. You can choose most popular body shapes for guitar or bass. Choose the wood, cap if you want it; clear or color finish; transparent, burst, or metallic colors. Mount the pickups on a standard pickguard or to the body. Most kinds of whammy bar. Lots of pickups, mostly Duncan (I like them). Tons of goodies.

When you're done, don't forget the hardware. You have a wide choice of these or you can get them and install yourself.

Again, when you're bored, sit down and have some fun configuring your dream neck and guitar.

Lots of people tell me to just go to Warmoth when I complain about Fender not having what I want. Warmoth is not a bargain outlet. Fender has a few necks they will sell you for exorbitant amounts, which Warmoth happily beats, but if you want one item different from stock, you will pay. Warmoth also supplies some necks to Fender.

For example:
Both guitars are configured as alike as possible, with no extras.
A Mod Shop Fender Stratocaster, lefty or righty, basic options, will cost $1699.
A Warmoth lefty or righty body is $370, body/pickups/hardware is 682.35.  The neck is about $262 without hardware. The grand total is $944.35 plus other stuff.  The difference is $754.65 plus whatever hardware you need and assembly for the Warmoth.  Neither of the prices can come down much, unless you use in-stock bodies and necks at Warmoth, and no body finish.

Or FUN STUFF:
If I changed from the basics on the Fender, it would still be $1699.
My Big Fun Ultimate Quilt Maple Cap, blue stain finish body is $715; $1067 with pickups+hardware. The neck, one piece flame maple is $416 plus tuners, for a grand total of $1483. If money was the only criterion, I'd save about $200 with Warmoth and get exactly what I wanted. Fender would essentially be a stock Fender that was expensive, with zero options for a neck I would play. Oddly enough, neither of these guitars had a lefty upcharge.



Another place I'd highly recommend is USA Custom Guitars. I haven't purchased anything from them yet, but I know stories of customer service and humanity far beyond regular retail.



your mileage may vary

What the Hell is a Mandocaster?

That's easy - it's Eastwood Guitars' electronic mandolin. It kinda like you took a seafoam green Telecaster and put it in the dryer until it shrunk to half size.  This is precisely what I told my five yeard old nephew and he believed me. This is also precisely why I'm not allowed to see my five year old nephew often.

Eastwood is very nice to lefties, producing the greater amount of their offerings lefty, including a lefty 12-string mandocaster. I already own a Delta 6, which is pretty cool for what it is, although it suffers a hair in the quality control department, with pencil marks near the pickup route. Suffice it to say that if you know what you're ordering, you will not be disappointed. The guitars are made in China and are not designed to be Les Pauls.

Eastwood was very communicative, letting me know the shipping information. To my surprise, the 'caster was shipped from England (Britland, as the kids say). It arrived in short order, with the carrier's driver conveniently hiding it next to my front steps. To his credit, he wrapped it in plastic to avoid the nearly constant precipitation. I also ordered the custom padded gig bag, which turned out to be a great addition (although getting it monogrammed was not a listed option). And let's face it - it wouldn't fit into any of my guitar cases.

Rather than taking a picture and posting it to all of the social sites (and Reddit), I'm using the Anti-Social Network to post an actual description. In the new tradition of including goodies, I got a package with a cute little cord, some picks, and something called fudge, which, according to the package, sells for 25p (that's $495.76 US). It is not fudge as we colonists know it but it was quite enjoyable. And this is, to the best of my knowledge, not a fudge review (although the absolute best vanilla fudge I get comes from a pharmacy).

Let me start off by saying this is a really cool little axe. It has some heft to it. It also had a bowed neck, which the techs at Eastwood assisted me in straightening (yes, it has a truss rod!).

MOUNTAINS TO CLIMB

As we might know, I'm a guitar player.  The first minor hurdle is learning how to play the mandolin. As reality would have it, the instrument is not tuned like a guitar. The irony here is that it is tuned the opposite of a guitar (EADG from the high string down). An online friend observed that if I chose to string it backwards (right-handed), it would be like a guitar.  As a stubborn kinda guy, I chose to play it 'normally' (GDAE, from the low string).  As a cocky kinda guitar player (of rather a lot of years), I naturally figured I could be playing in no time.

This reminds me of my aborted attempt to play the piano. I know theory so I could assmeble chords, but I quickly discovered that you cannot apply vibrato to a key, nor can you (traditionally) bend it. I felt like I was going to break a key while trying, so thus ended my piano career, quite abruptly.

Since this is 2015, I quickly downloaded a few mandolin apps to my android phone. I learned my first chord, a G major, and was off, wanking away and trying to make vaguely musical-sounding noises.  For hilarity's sake, I tried a few individual notes, trying to be the Hendrix of mandolin.  It sounded more like the Cobain of mandolin (don't send hate mail-I calls em as I sees em). It was at roughly this point that I discovered mandolins don't operate like guitars (no, really?). Aside from there being two fewer strings, you cannot bend a note in tune, due to trying to bend a pair of strings simultaneously (like a 12 string guitar).  The other minor thing is that because of the tuning, an open string is equal to the previous string's seventh fret, not the fifth, as on a guitar.

Lazy and anxious to play some actual music, I tried picking out a few things by ear, the first being St. Teresa, by Joan Osborne. BRIEF DETOUR: Listen to some Joan Osborne. She's a really good singer, who can cover almost anything and belt out her own stuff in a very musically pleasing way. It doesn't hurt that she's attractive, althouth I could do without the nose ring. I kinda want her to come sing to me.  She's one of the few that I listen to without listening for the guitar. This song has a particularly interesting bassline, provided by a fretless bass (not a fretted one, as in the video). There's also a live version, with an actual left-handed mandolinist (? and a bloody CAPO).

The next problem is that the spacing between the frets is miniscule, especially in comparison with a guitar. My poor normal sized fingers had some difficulty, especially trying to barre chords (which apparently you don't do). The chord shapes are all wrong too :P  Next up: Led Zepplin's The Battle of Evermore. It's probably wrong but it's mine by ear.

Now ask me how it sounds plugged in.
I have no idea. It's very live acoustically so I haven't plugged it in yet [check YouTube for samples]. In fact, it sustains better than some of my guitars. The first attempt will be into a Fender Mustang I, so I can distort the hell out of it at sensible volumes. What good is an old traditional instrument if you can't use it inappropriately? And for a gag, maybe I'll email Seymour Duncan to see if he has any replacement pickups for it.  JB Mandolin anyone? It has two pickups and a Strat-style blade switch, along with one volume and one tone knob.

Should you buy one?

• IF you're interested in an electric version - it won't sound the same as your traditional mandolin but it will behave better onstage.
• IF you're looking for a bit of good clean fun.
• IF six strings are too intimidating.
• IF you have the cash.
• IF it seems like a good idea at the time.
• IF you like good customer service (with a British accent, even in email).
• IF you have a thing for seafoam green (or black or sunburst).
• IF you want to impress the mandolin groupies (IF there are mandolin groupies).
• IF you're already a musician, looking to add to your resume.

I got a closeout model on sale. There are still lefty closeout models on the site, so you can save some money. Overall, I believe that being a (stringed) musician has already helped the process move along. I'd also like their semi-hollow 12 string, so I could do my Mike Nesmith (Monkees) impersonation. This might come into conflict with my desire for a Custom Shop Strat, so I'll blow up that bridge when I come to it.

Questions?