that isn’t a slight on my (ex) squier cv tele.it is a fantastic guitar. but i have p/x’ed it towards a new axe (man!) 😀
i must admit to wanting to go back to a shorter scale more les paul type of guitar again.
i have always really wanted to try a vintage lemon drop guitar (well i’ll let the cut/paste from my post in musicradar guitar section continue the story 😉
have just got back from swindon.
i have made a few posts about the lemon drop guitar here.have been drawn to them since i first saw a picture of one in a magazine about 4-5 years ago.
until a month ago i had never seen one in the flesh.
until today i had never played one.
well i just had to come clean,the tele has been p/x’ed for the lemon drop (i did get £140 for it
i didn’t have any expectations about the lemon drop apart from what i had heard on youtube,read about them.
i have to admit straight off that i play awfully when in a guitar shop (even worse than when at home so duly apologized to the shop staff in advance
they plugged it into a cheapish laney (non valve amp/it had effects e.t.c) and left me to it.
first off the guitar itself.i was pleasantly surprised about the lack of relicing on the front.although there is some,it doesn’t look like someone went to work with a belt sander it looks really nice (to me anyways).on the back there is quite a bit of relicing,it does look like someone used a belt sander on the back/neck.but it all felt smooth.the guitar also felt weighty,but not overly so.
but the playability/sounds are what matter
when i first played it on the clean channel (neck position/bridge/both) it did sound pleasant to my ears.obviously the tele excels at clean though.even so,the more i played it clean,the more i liked it.it definitely sounds like you are playing a les paul style guitar clean.
right on with the gain
by the gods this sounds good (and that’s my crappy playing not a good guitarist
the sound had weight/body to it (this was neck pickup firstly),and sustain!
the bridge position turned things up a notch! it did sound like a truck engine.there was definitely the classic les paul sound to the guitar.warm but with a full bodied classic rock les paul sound.
the middle position i was looking forward to hearing/playing though (after hearing all about the out of phase sound).i had read someone describe the sound as if the guitar was plugged into a wah pedal (half cocked).
well as i have never used (yet) a wah pedal,i couldn’t comment.but by f%*k if it does sound like a classic les paul being played with a wah (half cocked).it sounded awesome 😀 really creamy sound to it.the thing also sustained (and i can never get sustain).
well as you can no doubt guess (well i gave it away at the beginning 😉 have done the deed and p/x’ed my tele towards it (i did get £140 for it,so am very happy with that).
will just have to wait a few weeks to get the guitar now,but by gum i cannot wait to start playing it.
i know that i have lost money on doing things this way (i am an expert at loosing money ;-),but i feel that i am more a humbucker/short scale guitar type of guy. (that’s not a slight on the tele by the way.it is a fantastic guitar).
sorry to have droned on,but you might be able to tell that i am slightly buzzing about the guitar (and apologies for the numpty guitar review).
i must say i am still buzzing about the new guitar (still have to pay some money on it,so won’t be getting it for another 2-4 weeks).
right i’ll shut up now 😀