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browndog2woof · Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:04 pm Post subject:

hi fellas,

recently we went having a vintage guitars shootout belonging to a collector friend. he has a 58, 65 and 66. so we went testing those guitars.

1) 58 maple refretted c/w all 58 pickups.
2) 65 rosewood refretted c/w 2 ori pickups and a 66 rewinded bridge.
3) 66 rosewood with all ori pickups. (tested previously)

the 58 comes with nailholes. these are use on lazy susan on the painting process. no cnc but ori man made contour. the chequered nitro are indeed handsome. whereas 65 has been on painting stick and cnc. same goes to 66. here are the basics info's.

BODY
58 has the utmost dryness (original cained dried) bell and that pure woody tones (sounding like the bedok masjid in tanah merah melaka< kalo masih ada lagi. pure vintage). the paint has been stripped by the american owner. artificial cain dry has to go from 15 to 5 % using artificial room controlled process but only on blocked timber. anything using 2 or 3 pieces body will have problem.) 65 has been refinished while the 66 is all ori SRV condition. all are having the best! worm route will be clearly viewable. straight and lam alif! all are shallow pickups cavity.

NECK
58, numero uno. it's a maple. 65 and 66 are rosewood tight twang. pure dark but dry. 7.25 radius and non v.

TREMOLO
all are ories. steel pat. pending on 58. shallow blocked steel. that includes the pivot 6 screws. these tremolo have been tamed. not some galvanised steel block on the later ri. fyi, the 82 to 84 ri have some ghost parts on it. anything below 95 vintage reissue still using the steel block with the shallow string ferrules. all are traditionally hardemed, not ovened.

PICKUPS
all alnico 2 magnets. all or most modern guitars are using alnico 5 and larger diametere. therefore, those ri pickups will never come close. the ori fomvars are sligthly thinner and all pickups are low outputs.. if you we're to take the alnico barrels and slide em on the new pickups.. they will flush! reading are from 5.5k below. polarity are all south.

TUNERS
you bet. pat. pending stamped under the 58 and 65 tuners. high content of nickle.

SETUP
axis angle non choked. in other words, flat and straight with a little tensioned by strings. tremolo are set floating standard. sorry to say that many guitars that has been setup guitar shop, sellers, individuals are not to my expectations. i'm sorry. if you want a copy of dan erlwine book. call me. believe me when it comes to the real setup situation, best to stick to standards. the books are a good start and as for guide. but as for the real feel for setup. sendiri mau ingat. truss road and tilt pon kantoi. i've seen many works on rising tounge cases, in other words. FAIL! therefore, forget about intonation issues for the time being.

THE SHOOT OUT RESULTS
1) 58 - nothing comes close man.. waiting for a 54 kalo ada. well balanced and well matched packaged. no doubt they are selling like mad shit up to 50k USD. maybe the maple has a good role because of my preference to it. but the 65 and 66 are just as handsome.
2) 65 and 66 - still a wow factor... kalo compare dgn reissue aku.. malu nak cakap.. better to keep it to myself! ha ha ha!

CONCLUSION
older guitars have high chances having a good quality timbre, naturally dried and cained. that goes for the supporting accessories too.. all of these are the REAL package. a good and proper setup is needed on all the guitars that we have. so that our justification will be proper. yeh yeh! i know that the dates will biased me on the comparison but that's the truth.. as for me, can't afford to get one. lf i do, i will sell them! ha ha ha! special thanks to the owner. i will try to post the pictures soon for all to view! oh btw, few fellow professionals came to test as well. these are just a collective opinions.

adios!
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