Hey everybody,
Nice place you have here! Cool to have a site to just geek out about Phish, music, gear, etc. It's always nice to get some extra opinions when I'm considering new gear, too. I noticed a lot of people putting their rigs in their signature, so I did the same. Check it out...
P.S. The Maxon OD listed in the rig is soon to be replaced with an Analogman silver modded TS9. I'm stoked to get it!
Nice rig!
Those PRS Hollowbodies are awesome! I was about to buy one (waiting for a steal price) when I got my guitar.
The Maxon and the Silver are both great pedals.
I probably need to update my sig a bit...
And welcome to the site!
Thanks man! Yeah, the Maxon sounds great but those pedals break if you even look at them the wrong way. I've been through a few of them as well as a bunch of stock ts9s (which also fell apart), so I got the Analogman silver with the Kenny Wayne Shepard Mod that beefs it up so it can take a beating on the road. Hopefully I won't have to buy another OD in a year hahaha.
I see you have an Artinger... I've heard those are great. How do you like yours?
Lol, wow - you must have a lead foot! I've never had a pedal fall apart - had to do some soldering on old ones or bought broken pedals. My original TS9's look nearly brand new. The KWS should help.
I love the Artinger. Probably a larger body than what a lot of Phish fans use and a slightly shorter fret scale (25"), so I suspect it has a slightly warmer sound (also keeping in mind the type of wood will make a difference too). I find the 25" scale is far snappier than a buttery 24.75" scale, actually closer to 25.5" like a strat or Languedoc. IIRC, the PRS is 25" as well. I got the Artinger at a great price - same as it would have cost for a PRS - I don't intend to sell it, but I think I probably made a good investment (if I find the right buyer, I suspect I could at least make my money back). On that note, those PRS Hollow II's hold their value very well it seems.
I tried a few pickup options; it came with SD 59's, then I tried Schaller Golden 50's which were nearly identical, now I have Lollars which are a bit better balanced. With the Languedoc wiring (plus parallel), it really has tons of sounds in it. When I had the wiring upgraded to solid core, the treble stays more intact when turning down the volume.
Matts a great luthier and very cool guy - we chatted quite a bit about the guitar even though I got it used, he answered some questions for me and seemed genuinely interested in my feedback and wiring preferences, which he might start using in future builds (he was contemplating it before so I assume my positive opinion only increased the likelihood he will).
Nice! I'm not positive, but I think my PRS has the 25" scale as well. I like it because I can have snappiness without sacrificing playability. I don't know shit about pickups... That's a whole continent of undiscovered territory for me. I did however, put some Lollar special T's in a tele I had a little while back. I guess I assumed it'd turn it into a totally different guitar, but I personally couldn't tell much of a difference... Maybe a little warmer sounding, I guess.
Yea, pickups can make a pretty big difference if they are a vastly different type of pup, but in my example, the SD 59 is a clone of the Schaller Golden 50, which are both kinda standard, par-for-the-course PAFS. The Lollar Imperials are PAFs as well, but with some of the rough edges refined. I wouldn't want them to sound vastly different from other PAFs, but I wanted the neck and bridge to be better balanced and stuff like that. I wouldn't say it was a night and day difference, maybe not the cost of the pups, but when I switch from neck to bridge, it is a nice slight tonal shift rather than a different instrument.