So I'm still a bit quiet on the builds, just a bit of sanding and shaping going on. I've been spending a lot more time playing and fine tuning the setups on all my various builds and other guitars. I had a great opportunity to take the herd out to a friend of mines studio to get some feedback from someone who can really play.
He runs a heavily customised Aria semi hollow body, which is a really interesting guitar. So it was great to get his feedback on my setups and various pickup and switch choices. A couple of quick clips here - I wanted to get more, but we kind of got caught up jamming and swapping stuff around. It was loads of fun. We tested them all through his pedal board into a Vox AC30.
It was so good to hear them all through a decent amp! The Shoegazer ended up being his favourite, which was odd because its almost the exact opposite to his guitar - light gage strings compared to 11's, tremolo/floating bridge compared to tunematic, singles and a HB compared to 2 splittable humbuckers out of a 'Lucille' style Gibson. I've actually left it with him as it was hard to wrestle it off him at the end of the day
The standouts were probably my Washburn - the Entwistle HB just blows everything else away and the Bensons are not too shabby either. The shoe gazer obviously and the Cherry.
The Cherry was really interesting. It definitely sounds totally different to everything else - almost like its an emulator or a digital effect of a guitar. We messed around with it for ages trying different things. If I were buying a guitar, I don't think I'd choose it, but it certainly has a unique sound and feel.
Anyway, just thought I'd share. Like showing someone artwork you've made its a bit scary letting someone else play a guitar you have built. The overall positive feedback has definitely encouraged me to keep going with it and there is a high likely hood I will end up building my mate a custom guitar as well.