New Guitar in the house!

[Spudman***]

That Gary and BB video is tight. It's so sweet I'm gettin fat listening to it.:

[ZMAN]

I checked over on the Les Paul forum and they are using Meguires Virtuoso polish on the faded series to bring out the satin's shine. There have been some pretty good results. You might try that to brighten up that dull satin look. I personally really like the look of the other ICON series distressed models.
Oh yea while you are on You tube you have to take a look at the Gary Moore doing Red House at Wembly. With a STRAT!

[ZMAN]

Lev: Could you do me a big favour and take a full front and rear shot of your guitar. You could email them to me. The picture on the web site looks more orange than lemon. I have seen pretty good pictures of the original and I would like to see how she compares.
The shop that has them wants me to put a deposit on one because they were not sure if they would be getting one in for stock. So I would like to see some pics of a real one.
Thanks in advance.

[Lev]

[ZMAN]

Hey thanks Lev. That is perfect. I have been doing some research on the "Lemon Drop", and it seems that the original color for these were Cherry sunburst. I have seen several 59s now that are listed as "cherry sunburst faded to Lemon Drop"
Those pictures you took are really close to the original. I have seen pics of moore playing it in 82 and it was much more orange. There is a video on Youtube of just the guitar at the Dallas guitar show last year, and it is very close to yours.
Thanks again. I will be putting a deposit for sure now.
Also this guitar is a candidate for the Mequiers Virtuoso polish trick, it will restore a bit of shine to the front and still keep it vintage looking.
Brian

[Lev]

I didn't have time to put together a proper youtube video but here's a rough cut of me jaming, I switch between all 3 pickup settings to give an idea of the tones available. My playing is pretty terrible on this but you get the idea...

http://s238.photobucket.com/albums/f...ent=lemon2.flv

[ZMAN]

Nice tone, what where you playing through?
Nothing wrong with the playing sounds good. Over all do you feel the guitar is worth owning. It will cost me around 500 Can. My Studio was 1099, so that will give you an idea.
How does that "out of phase" affect the tone.

[stingx]

Looks nice. Found the webpage for specific info on it:

http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageelectric.html

Would be over $800 USD and I think I'd be more inclined to score an Edwards LP for that, or maybe a Tokai.

Enjoy!

http://www.guitarjapan.com/edwards/s...105lts-re.html

[ZMAN]

Stingx: I guess you missed the post where I mentioned I can get one for under 500 Can. I am putting a deposit on it on Wednesday. I am interested in the guitar because of the Peter Green./Gary Moore guitar, that it replicates.
I thought the same as you that with the British Pound being 1.99 they would be in the 700 to 800 range. But I went to the dealers and the price on the
V100 Icon series was 469, without haggling. The Brit price for the Lemon is 349, but the sales person said they were the same price. We shall see when I order it. I would say it might be in the 499 range. About the same price as an Epi Standard here.

[Lev]

Nice tone, what where you playing through?
Nothing wrong with the playing sounds good. Over all do you feel the guitar is worth owning. It will cost me around 500 Can. My Studio was 1099, so that will give you an idea.
How does that "out of phase" affect the tone.

thanks, I'm playing through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with some distortion added by a Zoom G2. I don't think you'll be disappointed with the guitar and given that they are still quite rare in North America it'd certainly be a talking point at gigs/jams.

The price in the UK is now only £260, so I picked it up for €350euro, at that price it was a steel. For once us Europeans are getting a better deal than you guys!! For me, I didn't have an LP in my collection so this thing can get me in to tonal territories my strats couldn't go. The out of phase tone is quite subtle - almost like playing through a semi-cocked wah, just a little more nasal/honky tone than usual.

I was also worried that it may be excessively heavy, quite a few LP's that I'd tried in the past were back breakers but this is maybe just slightly heavier than a strat, very comfortable to play. The intonation was slightly out on the G string but that was easily fixed.

Overall I'm very pleased with this guitar, as I said before I've always been a strat guy so I can't give a detailed comparison against other LP's on the market. But I do know what a quality guitar feels like and sounds like and this baby hits the mark!!

[Jimi75]

The pictures are great and the video is awesome! This guitar rocks and you play some great blues stuff in that video!

Thanks for keeping us informed.

[ZMAN]

Great description Lev. The JHS website has the MSRP at 349 pounds. So you did get a decent price. I agree with the weight of the guitar. The Icon series that I picked up were fairly light. My Elitist is heavy and my Studio is much lighter with the chambered body.
I hate to ask but could you do me a favour? Could you measure the distance at the widest point (Bout) of the body, and from the tip of the horn to the side whith the selector switch, and top to bottom. I am hoping it will fit into a standard LP style case.
I have several tube amps including a Blues Deluxe Reissue so I can get a feel for how it will sound through that. I would love to hear one through my favourite 65 Deluxe.
Brian

[ZMAN]

I hate to report that I got a shock today. I went to put a deposit on the guitar and the price I was quoted was 599 Can. I can't believe that the guitar is 130 dollars more than the regular icon series guitars they have in stock. So this is a deal breaker. We are into some pretty high end guitar territory with that price. And add a case for 75 to 100 bucks. With Gibson prices coming down by hundreds of dollars here in Canada we are in the faded mahogany territory, with real burstbuckers and case included.
I am going to email the distributor and let him know I am a little pissed.
Brian

[Lev]

That's too bad ZMAN, I completely understand you backing out on the purchase, one of the most appealing aspects for me was the fact that it was a bargain - I wouln't have gone for it at that price either.

However for those fretters in the UK and Europe definitly check out the Vintage Icon series, it's not often that we get good kit at a low price on this side of the atlantic!

[ZMAN]

I must admit that the relic Icon series are quite nice. You know now I think about it I might just check out the Regular Icon. They have just about the same set up and they are quite nice. I was so disappointed with the price on the lemon that I didn't even think about the other. They are 469 without bargaining.
I still have not heard back from the distributor. I sent him a little consumer feedback.

[ZMAN]

Lev: It has been a couple of months since you received the lemon drop. I was wondering what you felt about it now that you have had it awhile.
Any likes or dislikes on the guitar?

[Lev]

Lev: It has been a couple of months since you received the lemon drop. I was wondering what you felt about it now that you have had it awhile.
Any likes or dislikes on the guitar?

I still love it, it's the first guitar I reach for when I want to jam.
The neck is soo good, for example the song Satch Boogie I gave up on years ago because of a a tricky little pull off in the main riff that I could never get on my strats. On the LD it's a piece of cake, don't get me wrong my strats aren't setup bad or anyhing but the LD neck is just like butter.

I'd be surprised if every piece that rolls off the production line is this good, I think I just may have got a great neck with an awsome factory setup - I still can't believe how relatively inexpensive this great guitar was (for Europe anyway).

From a tone point of view it may not be jack of all trades, but it really excels on heavier tones. Having said that the clean tones are useable. I rarely use the middle 'out-of-phase' setting, it doesn't sound bad but my personal taste leans more towards the hard rock bridge PUP or the bluesy neck PUP.

My main dislike is still the relic finish but I firmly believe it adds to the tone and playability (sanded neck).

I noticed a couple of great new youtube vids (below) and I will be posting my own as soon as I get the time.

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=eLYmkfeRJl4
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=L7MzGfYKaVo