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Post by sonicgator on Dec 6, 2006 18:24:15 GMT -7
Anyone played a Swan? I'm intrigued by the 27" Scale, so I started looking into them. I actually PM'd Jim Soloway over on TGP about one of his guitars and then called him. Because there is no dealer in Atlanta, he is sending me his "loaner" guitar to test drive. That's right, he is sending me one of his guitars to try for 3-4 days free of charge (I just have to pay to send it back to him when I'm done with it).
I am excited about the opportunity to play this guitar, but I'm even more impressed with his willingness to ship me a $2,000+ guitar to just try out. That's Dr. Z level of service right there!
Anyway, I'll try to post some pics and a review after I'm done playing. Too bad my SRZ-65 LE will not be available to test with it!
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Post by billyguitar on Dec 6, 2006 19:34:37 GMT -7
That's almost baritone scale length. What is the point of the longer scale?
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Post by sonicgator on Dec 6, 2006 19:50:55 GMT -7
According to the Soloway website, the longer scale length results in more clarity and better intonation. From the clips I've heard on the site, it adds more bottom-end to the sound, but the guitars are still tuned to a standard tuning.
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Post by nitehawk55 on Dec 6, 2006 20:04:22 GMT -7
It will probably take a few days to get comfortable with that . Let us know what you think . Ric's have a strange scale neck on them too and I've never felt comfortable with them .
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Post by billyguitar on Dec 7, 2006 6:56:54 GMT -7
If you bend much this length would be a big problem. I can see how it would be good for clean toned stuff. I think the Django type guitars have a scale length of 26 or 26-1/2".
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Post by mudskipper on Dec 7, 2006 8:32:28 GMT -7
a friend got one recently and sold it right away. he didn't mind the long scale and such but didn't like how it sounded.
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Post by sonicgator on Dec 11, 2006 19:04:50 GMT -7
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Post by sonicgator on Dec 13, 2006 4:00:56 GMT -7
UPS delievered yesterday. Here are my initial thoughts; I will get some pics posted this weekend hopefully:
The extended scale length is definitely noticeable on the 1st-3rd frets, though the guitar is still comfortable to play. I very quickly became comfortable with the extra reach for fretting some "bread and butter" chords in 1st position. From fret 4 on up (22), the guitar plays and feels like a Strat/Tele scale length. The neck is thin and wide, with a 16" radius, so it's very flat. I most equate it to the feel of an Ibanez Wizard neck, though contruction wise, the two guitars are worlds apart. Probably not even fair to the Soloway to compare it to an Ibanez as the Soloway is not a shred guitar. The profile of this neck and the width make it extremely great for fingerstyle, string skipping, and funkly chord shapes as your fingers have room with which to work. String bending feels as if you are using heavier gauge strings. I'm guessing this guitar is currently loaded with 9's or 10's and it feels like I'm bending 11's. It is not uncomfortable, but noticeable.
And of course, the tone... The guitar is a Swamp Ash Chambered Body with a Swamp Ash "F-Hole" top, Maple Neck, Rosewood Board, DiMarzio Virtual Hot PAF in the bridge with coil-tap and DiMarzio Bluesbucker in the neck.
So far, the guitar sounds great clean or dirty, with a lot of clarity even with a large dose of overdrive. I'm not a shredder so I haven't tried it with metal or extreme high gain. There is definitely more bass to the sound, though it still sounds like a standard guitar and not a baritone or dropped tuning guitar. The notes are extremely resonant and full and maintain their clarity all over the fretboard. Jazzers would/will love the tones out of the Swan as it's so easy to make it clean. Playing some country or bluesy type riffs with the Swan still produces a noticeable amount of spank and sparkle as you would expect from a Tele or Strat. I think some single coils would definitely push this into a more true tone good for country...I bet it would be amazing through a StangRay. I'm really impressed by the Bluesbucker in the neck, it's a great sounding pickup and compliments the tones of the Swan perfectly. Overall, I would say clarity, note separation, and full sounds are the marquee sounds of the Swan....very impressive.
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Post by billyguitar on Dec 13, 2006 8:54:09 GMT -7
I would imagine it would be a good sounding guitar. For me it would take a long time to get used to that long of a scale because of how much bending I do. If that's not a big part of what you do, or if you want to devote yourself to the adapting process, it would be cool! They look to be high quality.
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