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Hi. This is my first post to SurfGuitar101; however, I've been really
digging the group ever since I joined a couple of weeks ago! I also have
small hands and I have found that the scale isn't as important to the
comfort of the neck as is the thinness of the neck. I have a Mexican strat
with a maple fretboard. The neck is extremely thin. Thinner than most every
other Mexican strat I've seen. Anyway, the strat is easier to play than was
my jaguar, which I sold last year. Many of the vintage jaguars have rather
chunky necks and, despite the 24" scale, I find them very hard to play.
I wanted to also give you a review of a guitar that I just bought: a GPC
Vintage (), which I got at
GuitarPunk. I wanted a Mosrite-like guitar, but not the Mosrite-like price.
So, $399 seemed like it might be worth a try. The positives first. The
guitar body is one-piece alder! I got a sunburst model and it's beautiful. A
Fender with a one-piece alder body like this would cost a lot. I was really
surprised that this guitar has one. The natural tone is very good, probably
due to the nice body. The pickups are fairly strong and give me a
Mosrite-like tone. They're darker and more evil than a jaguar or strat,
which is what I expected, but they still have a lot of twang. I like the
sound with both pickups on. As is common with P-90s, they will feedback when
I stand too close to the amp with the volume turned up. Unfortunately, it's
not a musical feedback, such as I used to get with an old SG I used to have
with P-90s, but more of a piercing squeal. Still, the sound is very nice and
gives me something I don't get from my strat. The fake Bigsby works really
well. It's very tight and there's no play in it. Actually, the Bigsby is
very well made. The guitar also stays in tune, which is surprising. In fact,
it stays in tune as well as my strat, which hardly ever goes out of tune. I
think that the roller nut helps it stay in tune with the Bigsby. Finally,
the intonation is very precise all the way up the neck, which is probably
helped by the zero-fret.
Now the negatives: the neck. Unfortunately, the neck is very chunky. Also
very wide. With my small hands, I have a hard time with it. It has a 24 5/8"
scale, but it's more uncomfortable than my strat. Also, the neck is in three
pieces. The headstock is glued on, like the Danelectro Hodad or the DeArmond
Starfire, but also the tang at the other end of the neck is glued on. Why
put such a cheap neck on what is basically a really nice guitar? Anyway, the
action is good, probably helped by the rather small frets. Like I said, I
love the sound and the look of the guitar. So, I didn't even consider
sending it back. I would consider putting a different neck on it, but the
neck construction is very unusual. The neck pickup screws to the rather
large tang at the end of the neck. Also, the cutout in the body is for the
wide neck and a narrower neck wouldn't fit right.
If you like a chunky neck and want a Mosrite sound for a lot less, I would
recommend this guitar. It's actually very well made, except for the neck!
I'm still looking for another guitar. A shorter scale and also a thin neck
would be ideal, but that's been hard for me to find. Another Jaguar might be
the ticket. I sort of regret selling my other one. The Japanese jaguar necks
seem to be a bit thinner than the new American reissues or the vintage ones.
The Rickenbacker Model 325C58 ()
has a neck that feels fantastic to me, but they are very expensive. They
also have single-coil pickups and a tremelo, which of course would be
required. I know that Penetrator's Rip plays a Rickenbacker, but I don't
know if they're that good in general for what I like to play, which is surf.
The necks do feel good though.
Sorry for the long first post!
Tom
www.oberlin.edu/serials/
wobc.org (Thursdays, 6:00-8:00 EST)
> > <The 24.75 scale is just "about right" for my
> > hands--but, the tone of my JM stock is killer. I don't
> > wan't to mess that up. What do you think? Should I go
> > for it or just leave it alone and keep doing finger
> > stretch excercises?>
Hi Tom!
Thanks for the review of your new guitar!
What is the story with Guitar Punk? Do they build the guitars or buy them
from Japan?
I am surprised the neck isn't narrow like most Mosrites. How wide is it at
the nut?
Speaking of narrow, thin necks: I have a Squier Super-Sonic which was the
sister of the more popular Jagmaster (both in the mid-90's Squier Vista
series). Like the original Japanese Jagmaster (not the new ones made in
China or Indonesia or whatever it is), the Super-Sonic has a 24" scale, a
very thin neck, and the metric equivalent of the "A"-nut width (narrow). So
you might keep your eye open for a Super-Sonic or Vista series Jagmaster
(again, not the new ones which have a 25.5" scale -- not much Jag left in
them). Those might feel comfortable to you. I don't mind the 24" scale, but
the narrow nut width and thin neck bother me.
The Super-Sonic has a reverse Jaguar like body (its smaller though), reverse
headstock, vintage style Strat-like trem, 2 volume pots, two "Atomic"
humbuckers (as found on the Cyclone and Toronado today), and a 3-way toggle.
It looks more Jaguar'ish whereas the Jagmaster looks more Jazzmaster'ish.
Both of these guitars were meant to capitalize on the grunge craze, I am
sure. I put Seymour Duncan humbuckers in it and then replaced the pots with
push/pull pots to coil tap the humbuckers down to single coils. I slapped
some 11 flatwounds on it and it was my main surfin' guitar for a year or two
(it stayed in single coil mode the whole time!). By that point I was so
hooked on surf music I bought a Jaguar.
Thanks for the post again Tom. I would like to try out a Mosrite/Mosrite
clone guitar some day. The Ghastly Ones, The Ventures (briefly), The
Nebulas, The Phantom Surfers, & The Volcanos (as you well know!) are all
bands that I can think off of the top of my head that used guitars from the
Mosrite family tree.
BN
Neat review! Thanks...I'll be keeping my eye on GuitarPunks in the future.
Did you send them the review? I saw they posted user comments on
their site. I'm sure it would help them to know about the neck
concern - I have small hands, too, and think that would keep me from
buying one of these.
Best!
Gavin
>Hi. This is my first post to SurfGuitar101; however, I've been really
>digging the group ever since I joined a couple of weeks ago! I also have
>small hands and I have found that the scale isn't as important to the
>comfort of the neck as is the thinness of the neck. I have a Mexican strat
>with a maple fretboard. The neck is extremely thin. Thinner than most every
>other Mexican strat I've seen. Anyway, the strat is easier to play than was
>my jaguar, which I sold last year. Many of the vintage jaguars have rather
>chunky necks and, despite the 24" scale, I find them very hard to play.
>
>I wanted to also give you a review of a guitar that I just bought: a GPC
>Vintage
>(<),>),
>which I got at
>GuitarPunk. I wanted a Mosrite-like guitar, but not the Mosrite-like price.
>So, $399 seemed like it might be worth a try. The positives first. The
>guitar body is one-piece alder! I got a sunburst model and it's beautiful. A
>Fender with a one-piece alder body like this would cost a lot. I was really
>surprised that this guitar has one. The natural tone is very good, probably
>due to the nice body. The pickups are fairly strong and give me a
>Mosrite-like tone. They're darker and more evil than a jaguar or strat,
>which is what I expected, but they still have a lot of twang. I like the
>sound with both pickups on. As is common with P-90s, they will feedback when
>I stand too close to the amp with the volume turned up. Unfortunately, it's
>not a musical feedback, such as I used to get with an old SG I used to have
>with P-90s, but more of a piercing squeal. Still, the sound is very nice and
>gives me something I don't get from my strat. The fake Bigsby works really
>well. It's very tight and there's no play in it. Actually, the Bigsby is
>very well made. The guitar also stays in tune, which is surprising. In fact,
>it stays in tune as well as my strat, which hardly ever goes out of tune. I
>think that the roller nut helps it stay in tune with the Bigsby. Finally,
>the intonation is very precise all the way up the neck, which is probably
>helped by the zero-fret.
>
>Now the negatives: the neck. Unfortunately, the neck is very chunky. Also
>very wide. With my small hands, I have a hard time with it. It has a 24 5/8"
>scale, but it's more uncomfortable than my strat. Also, the neck is in three
>pieces. The headstock is glued on, like the Danelectro Hodad or the DeArmond
>Starfire, but also the tang at the other end of the neck is glued on. Why
>put such a cheap neck on what is basically a really nice guitar? Anyway, the
>action is good, probably helped by the rather small frets. Like I said, I
>love the sound and the look of the guitar. So, I didn't even consider
>sending it back. I would consider putting a different neck on it, but the
>neck construction is very unusual. The neck pickup screws to the rather
>large tang at the end of the neck. Also, the cutout in the body is for the
>wide neck and a narrower neck wouldn't fit right.
>
>If you like a chunky neck and want a Mosrite sound for a lot less, I would
>recommend this guitar. It's actually very well made, except for the neck!
>
>I'm still looking for another guitar. A shorter scale and also a thin neck
>would be ideal, but that's been hard for me to find. Another Jaguar might be
>the ticket. I sort of regret selling my other one. The Japanese jaguar necks
>seem to be a bit thinner than the new American reissues or the vintage ones.
>The Rickenbacker Model 325C58
>(<)>)
>has a neck that feels fantastic to me, but they are very expensive. They
>also have single-coil pickups and a tremelo, which of course would be
>required. I know that Penetrator's Rip plays a Rickenbacker, but I don't
>know if they're that good in general for what I like to play, which is surf.
>The necks do feel good though.
>
>Sorry for the long first post!
>
>Tom
>www.oberlin.edu/serials/
>wobc.org (Thursdays, 6:00-8:00 EST)
>
>
>> > <The 24.75 scale is just "about right" for my
>> > hands--but, the tone of my JM stock is killer. I don't
>> > wan't to mess that up. What do you think? Should I go
>> > for it or just leave it alone and keep doing finger
>> > stretch excercises?>
>
>
>
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>
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--
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
The site lists them as $599, how did you get it for
$399?
-1460
--- Tom Hinders <> wrote:
> I just bought: a GPC
> Vintage (),
> which I got at
> GuitarPunk. I wanted a Mosrite-like guitar, but not
> the Mosrite-like price.
> So, $399 seemed like it might be worth a try. The
> positives first.
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