Reply With QuoteHNHGD!
Massive win with these guitars. I'd love to have the whole line!
Regular Fretter
Hell Comes Down Under
It was inevitable really.
So after spending time following the Hell guilars (sic) thread and hearing great reviews from a few of you guys, I kinda knew I was going to buy one quite a while back. I'd had my eye on the Bender, but had also been thinking a lot about getting a nice "strat style" guitar for a while (I have an '80's MiK Squier but it's just horrible.) I took a second look at the ZeroDot, and it really ticked a whole lot of boxes for me. It was different enough in every way, from type of woods to bolt on neck, to my Matons that I figured it warranted adding to my small collection. It had a number of things I desired in guitar too. A decent bridge humbucker, locking tuners, unfinished (if that's the term) neck and most importantly (OK well not MOST importantly, but up there), it had to have a story. I wanted something a little different. So 'tick tick boom' as the Hives would say.
So I got in touch with SYO, and after a couple of questions, I was ready to rock. I know the other guys who have dealt with him have already said it, but he's a really nice guy to deal with. Absolutely 10/10 for customer service.
In a matter of days a little piece of Hell made it from Japan to Australia, and I've been hanging out with it for the last couple of nights.
Frankly, I'm impressed! I spend most of my time playing my Maton's that both retail up in the several thou range. I'm not suggesting I'm worthy of them, but by default, they're my benchmark. Well those and my $100 Squier.
My first impressions were great. I have the Ivory, and I really dig the colour. It's a fair bit creamier than it looks in some photo's, something I was delighted to see. Fit and finish are spot on, everything feels quality, more so than I was expecting for the price if I'm honest. It's nicely resonant unplugged and those Bare Knuckle pickups are pretty much perfect for me. The bridge is nice and hot and the single coils in the other two spots absolutely deliver as well.
The first thing I noticed playing it, was the neck. Compared to the painted necks on all my other guitars, the ZeroDot feels amazingly slick. I don't know why they don't leave the back of the necks unfinished on all guitars. Super slidey! The neck profile is a little different to what I'm used to, I think it's a little flatter/slimmer perhaps, and surprisingly, I can actually feel the difference between jumbo and medium frets, the ZeroDot equipped with the latter. Both those things I take as pluses. As I mentioned, I wanted something different to what I have.
Looking closely you can see how much thought SYO has put into these guitars. From the knobs, the tuners (which, by the way, are as good as, if not better, than my pricey Spurzels.) and the cool plate where the neck joins the body. It's like I've bought a guitar with all the best mods done for me! In fact so far, after a couple of days, the only thing I'd consider changing might be the pick guard. I'm not a huge tortoise fan. Don't get me wrong, it matches the Ivory body perfectly, but I have a bit of an idea up my sleeve.
So there you have it. My first Impressions of perhaps the first ZeroDot in the country. I'm sure I'll end up waxing lyrical about it again after I've had more time to play with it, but for now, what more can I say other than I'm completely happy with my new guitar!
Oh yeah.
Pics or it didn't happen right?
Here's a couple of cheesy happy snaps for yaz. (I know, that tweed case looks b*tchin' right?)
Valar Morghulis
HNHGD!
Massive win with these guitars. I'd love to have the whole line!
Guitar: Gibson SG Standard Natural Burst, Squier CV 50's Tele, Hell Guitars No. 2, Squier CV 50's Strat, Reverend Club King 290, Taylor 522e 12-Fret mahogany,
Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass Short Scale
Amp: Fender Super Champ X2 Head, Egnater Tweaker 15, Fender Mustang I, Acoustic B20 1x12 bass amp
Pedal: Budda Budwah wah, Wampler Ego Compressor, Electro-Harmonix Soul Food, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Wampler Velvet Fuzz, Seven Sisters Eve Tremolo, TC Electronics Gravy Tri Chorus & Vibrato, Catalinbread Echorec, TC Electronic Alter Ego 2 Delay, Hardwire Supernatural Ambient Verb, MXR Carbon Copy, Catalinbread RAH, Big Muff Pi with Tone Wicker, BYOC Mouse 2.0 Distortion, BYOC Boost/OD-2
Regular Fretter
Sounds awesome! Happy NGD!
Dave
Guitars: Ibanez AF-75, Schecter Solo-6 Custom, Douglas SG
Amps: Fender Princeton 65, Marshall AVT50
Pedals: Metal Muff, MXR Smart Gate, EHX Cathedral Reverb, Digitech RP-255
Hopeless Noodler
HNHD! Very nice! I actually like the tort guard, but I'd be interested to see what you come up with.
Welcome to the club!
-Sean
Guitars: Lots.
Amphs: More than last year.
Pedals: Many, although I go straight from guitar to amp more often lately.
Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements...
Happy Hell Guitar Day (HHGD)!!
The Law of Gravity is nonsense. No such law exists. If I think I float, and you think I float, then it happens.
Master Guitar Academy - I also teach via SKYPE.
Displaced Texan
Congratulations, Cho! Very nice write up and I couldn't agree with you more. Enjoy your new guilar!
Regular Fretter
Does Syo have a website so one can go and check out all the Hell models, configurations, and options? I guess if I had followed all the Hell posts throughout the last year I would be better informed, but unfortunately I hadn't. For example, can you coil split the bridge bucker on the Zero Dot?
Displaced Texan
I just love this photo!Originally Posted by Ch0jin
Displaced Texan
http://hellguitars.com/ is the site but it isn't live just yet. As for the pickups, I believe Syo left all the wiring on the pickups so you could split the coil yourself.
See https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/schematics.php
Regular Fretter
Your best bet is to send Syo a PM and ask what he has available. He's a great guy to deal with and answered all my questions . I didn't ask about splitting the humbucker though so I can't help you there. I have that feature one two other guitars and never use it, so it wasn't something I was looking for this time around.
Regular Fretter
Thanks! I used a custom Photoshop action to convert to B&W same as the first shot. Then applied a rainbow style gradient filter. The real secret is my 10mm lens though. Wide angle is awesome.
Still a far cry from Roberts "suspended in air" shot though.
Oranges and lemons, say the bells of St. Clements...
That Zero Dot shot is not mine, SYO took it!
What camera do you have chojin? And what lens? I'm looking for a wide angle lens for my newly acquired D700.
The Law of Gravity is nonsense. No such law exists. If I think I float, and you think I float, then it happens.
Master Guitar Academy - I also teach via SKYPE.
Regular Fretter
Ah that makes sense then. It does look a lot like a studio shot. Shows how much I think of your work Robert that I mistook it for yours!
As to gear, I'm still using a Canon EOS 20D and my absolute favorite lens, the Canon EF-S 10-22. The 10-22 is the closest to an L-series I've ever tried. They aren't cheap, but AFAIK it's the widest you can get without going fish eye. Sorry I don't know what the Nikon equivalent would be though
Regular Fretter
HHGD. That's a really fine guitar. I love mine as well. I love the tortoise pick guard. But would like to see what you have in mind for yours. ENJOY!!!
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