Gsr t-400

Synchro

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In support of the gear review section I'll post a brief review of my impressions so far, roughly ten days into ownership. A lot of the information presented will duplicate that found in my NGD thread, but hopefully this will provide a more easily searchable, less crowded location.

First Impressions


First impressions are always notable, even if not all that important in the long run. The overall appearance of the guitar is quite handsome, bright spruce under clear lacquer. When it yellows even slightly the effect should be breathtaking. The woodgrain is even, not particularly tight, but still well within the range of acceptable. The back and sides are figured, once again not textbook perfect, but certainly good enough to be attractive. The workmanship is excellent and the attention to detail more than satisfactory. The binding is perfect, the neck joint likewise and the finish is flawless.

One thing I particularly like on this guitar is the pickguard shape. It has a classic, old school, Guild shape, but it's also very narrow which gives it a modern appearance. It's a minor design point, but it really adds to the eye appeal of the instrument.

This is a very lightweight guitar, coming in at roughly 6.4 lbs, according to my $4, MIC, digital fish scale. When you're a young fellow weight is only a minor annoyance but at my stage in life I want my guitars as light on the shoulders as is practical. It's no coincidence that of the 13 guitars I own, the lightest ones get the most use. This is especially true when it comes to gigs, band rehearsals and other situations when I will be standing for any length of time. I have a lovely Gretsch G-6122-1959, basically a reissue Country Gent built to replicate Chet Atkins' own Gent. It's a great guitar, but at 7.9 lbs. it is passed over for many occasions because of its weight.

Setup


I was surprised, when it came from the factory, that the action was fairly high. The neck seems about perfect and the fretwork is above par so setting the action lower was no big task. The fingerboard is great and the action can get into Les Paul Custom territory with no worries. I installed a titanium Compton Compensated Bridge early in the game. The guitar was strung with EXL 110s from the factory which is definitely on the light side for this guitar. I installed my usual string set, 10, 13 & 17 plain strings on top with 27, 37 & 50 Thomastik Jazz Swing (flat wounds) on the bottom. The net result was wolf tones and an almost uncontrollable harmonic on the 5th string that would vibrate in sympathy with any A or D played on the guitar. It was literally unplayable at this point. I swapped to a Stainless Steel Compton bridge and that seemed to help. I have no idea why, but it could be that the resonant frequency of the titanium bridge worked in concert with the other components of the guitar to produce a wicked resonance right at A3.

Once I swapped to the Stainless bridge the A3 resonance was gone but I had a symphony of wolf tones emanating from behind the bridge. It was amusing, for a few seconds, then just irritating. A set of 3/8" grommets dampened the wolf tones and the guitar when from an untamable, feedback monster that no one could play to being a docile instrument with no nasty surprises. I don't see harmonics and/or wolf tones as being defects, per se, they are the consequence of an acoustic instrument, which has a milieu of factors which contribute to the resonant peaks. Fortunately, as I mentioned, I was able to tame this beast for, literally, pocket change. I need to also not that there were no resonance issues that I noticed with the stock bridge. I prefer the greater sustain of a one-piece bridge, but the OEM tunable bridge was always a viable option.

Pickups


One of the major attractions this model helped for me was the small footprint Anti-Hum pickups. Mini humbuckers, of any sort, tend to have a more focused sound than their large footprint siblings. It comes down to bobbin spacing and the degree of cancellation caused by sensing string vibration over a wider area, versus a smaller area. Anyhow, the mini hums are great sounding pickups, somewhat like the Gretsch Filtertron, but not quite as twangy. There's a depth to these pickups that I find quite intriguing. In the higher end of the clean range these pickups come into full voice and make some beautiful sounds.

Like most pickups, these seem happiest when the volume control on the guitar is turned up. The 8 - 10 range on the volume control seems pretty good, go much below that and the sound becomes less lively. They aren't particularly hot pickups, but they are powerful enough to let the front end of the amp know that they mean business. Conversely, they don't overwhelm the front end of the amp and they retain a great deal of touch sensitivity.

I am very impressed by these pickups and feel that they are an excellent tool in producing the sound I imagine for myself. As I write, I've been playing for 48 years and have never found a pickup that I like any better.

Hardware


One thing I like about this guitar is the fact that it has chrome plated hardware and no gold plating. While gold plating is beautiful, it tends to wear through quickly and to require very little in the way of upkeep. The machine heads are Gotoh SG301s, which suits me fine. They have an 18:1 ratio which I find easy to work with. The feeling is solid and I expect them to last for a while.

The tailpiece is a genuine, made in the USA, Guildsby, un-plated. Like every sand cast Bigsby I've ever played, it works smoothly and without even the slightest bit of friction. As it came from the factory it had a 3/4" spring and a nylon spacer. I found the handle a bit high for my liking but removing the spacer made it just about perfect. I tend to like the butter-knife handle to ride fairly low. I would imagine that many players would have been thrilled with it the way it shipped. The strap buttons were standard Guild fare, which I replaced with Schallers.

Everything feels solid, the volume and tone controls are smooth and respond predictably. The pickup switch is noiseless and feels solid enough to last a long time.


Sound


Of course, sound is what it's all about. This guitar has a solid spruce top and laminate maple back and sides. It is not made for high levels of acoustic volume but it has reasonable volume unplugged and sounds good that way. Many thin-bodied guitars sound a bit pinched when played acoustically, this one does not. The sound holes are fairly small and one can barely see inside the guitar. The bracing is out of sight and out of reach. I'm not sure just how heavy or light the bracing is, but whatever level they have chosen works well for this instrument. If I were a guessing man, and I am, I'd guess that it's lightly braced.

Once I chased down the overtone/wolf-tone problems I found it to play well through my various amps. It doesn't seem particularly prone to feedback, although I'm certain that it will if you push it hard and turn to face the amp. Actually, this strikes me as a very amplifier friendly guitar. The Guild hum buckers seem to be able to get along with anything I own which includes a DRRI, a TRRI (for outdoor gigs or toppling dictators), a '68 Custom Deluxe Reverb, an Excelsior, a Winfield Cyclone and a Winfield Typhoon. The Fenders all have the typical Fender preamp, the Excelsior is somewhat old school, think Supro and the Winfields have an EF86 pentode in the preamp stage, feeding EL 84 power sections. With this fairly diverse set of amps I've found that the Guild pickups go about their business and give the amp a solid signal to work with. This guitar is not picky about which amp it prefers.

The output, no matter what the amp, is a pleasing combination of clarity and character. The pickups definitely treat the overtones coming off the strings with respect and pass along a complex, interesting sound; something quite different from any other pickup that comes to mind. I can get a Chet sound fairly easily, but if I use a flat pick and dig in a bit harder the glassiness dissipates and the pickup bares more of its soul. The characteristic sustain of the guitar, coupled with these stellar pickups, is gorgeous. One of my tests is to emulate the silky, but bluesy sound of Billy Butler's solo on Honky Tonk. I've found that not just any old pickup can produce this sound, it's an exercise in clean, but very mellow and lacking in any sharp edges. The T-400 passes this test easily.

The pickup spacing is quite wide. The fingerboard is 20 frets long and the neck pickup is up there tight, quite a ways distant from the bridge. This gives a mellow, warm sound that holds up even in terms of old school Jazz guitar. The bridge pickup is quite close to the bridge and the sound of this pickup alone is spanky and bright. It's not a Tele, but it'll fool most of the people, most of the time. Combined, the sound sample comes from two disparate areas on the speaking length of the string which results in a mellow sound. It's not particularly dark, but it is warm, even gentle . . . until you dig in hard with the pick and out comes some serious Blues timbre.
 
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Synchro

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Closing Thoughts

Every guitar is a compromise. My Tele is not so good at being a classical guitar, my classical isn't so good at being a Tele. My interests, at least these days, lie with finding guitars that are versatile and capable of letting me play a gig without switching instruments. Thin, hollow body, guitars seem to fit this bill very nicely and I'm pleased to say that this particular model offers a great compromise of versatility without falling into the trap of being equally bad at everything. I credit this, ultimately, to the fact that the pickup spacing is so broad and the the pickups are very touch sensitive. Between these two traits the result is a guitar that seems to sense your musical intentions and works hard to deliver.

With the possible exception of a classical recital (which I'm not likely to be doing), I can't think of a setting this guitar couldn't handle and handle well. The ingredients are there for pretty much everything I would ever demand of a guitar and there are no major weaknesses that must be tread around.
 

Walter Broes

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It's possible of course, but it would be very "untraditional" for an electric Guild - just like epiphone before them, all the arch tops with pickups mounted to the top are laminated. (except the X700, but that's a relatively recent addition to the traditional Guild arch top lineup)

A 60's T-400 (or DE-400 or 500) would have had the laminated top, in any case.
 

Synchro

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It's possible of course, but it would be very "untraditional" for an electric Guild - just like epiphone before them, all the arch tops with pickups mounted to the top are laminated. (except the X700, but that's a relatively recent addition to the traditional Guild arch top lineup)

A 60's T-400 (or DE-400 or 500) would have had the laminated top, in any case.

It definitely has the resonance of a solid top. It's pretty decent sounding acoustically. In either case, I'm fine with it the way it is.
 

gilded

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Would it be fair to say that GSR guitars are inspired by vintage models, but specification-wise, not necessarily the same?

The factory website page for the GSR T-400 does mention a solid spruce top, in two places, even. Of course, it also says 22 frets and we know that's wrong!

I never heard of a solid top DE-400/DE-500 back in the day, but that doesn't mean they didn't make one like that (I've owned one of each). I don't remember the DE-400 having spruce as a top lamination, either, although every DE-500 I've seen has the spruce top-laminate.

Anyway, it should be pretty easy to figure out what the top is made of. You guys know the drill; small mirror in the sound hole, and inspect the bottom side of the top. If it is a laminate, it should have a maple (alder?) bottom-laminate, right? I mean, I guess it could be a laminate-top with spruce on top and bottom, but, I just don't think that would happen.

What do you guys think? What have you seen before?
 

Synchro

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Would it be fair to say that GSR guitars are inspired by vintage models, but specification-wise, not necessarily the same?

The factory website page for the GSR T-400 does mention a solid spruce top, in two places, even. Of course, it also says 22 frets and we know that's wrong!

I never heard of a solid top DE-400/DE-500 back in the day, but that doesn't mean they didn't make one like that (I've owned one of each). I don't remember the DE-400 having spruce as a top lamination, either, although every DE-500 I've seen has the spruce top-laminate.

Anyway, it should be pretty easy to figure out what the top is made of. You guys know the drill; small mirror in the sound hole, and inspect the bottom side of the top. If it is a laminate, it should have a maple (alder?) bottom-laminate, right? I mean, I guess it could be a laminate-top with spruce on top and bottom, but, I just don't think that would happen.

What do you guys think? What have you seen before?

Unfortunately, someone was asleep at the switch when it comes to the website. I've seen similar problems on a lot of manufacturer's sites and I think it's bad form. Considering how minute the effort of posting correct data to the database that controls their website actually is in comparison with all the goes into designing and building a guitar I would think that they would be able to do better. While I am basically pleased with the guitar I am less than thrilled with FMIC's role in the marketing end. I'm fighting right now to get some info about the discrepancies in the serial number and a handful of other minor issues, no paperwork, etc. I know that they can do better, Gretsch certainly handles these matters more effectively. I think that they screwed up and sold me the prototype, which is fine, but I should have known that from the onset.

While the guitar is quite serviceable, they basically tossed it in the case with no documentation and mismatched S/Ns. Right now, I effectively have no warranty. Poor form on the part of FMIC.

I suspect that FMIC has come down with a case of IPO fever. It was formed as an employee buyout when CBS decided to get out of the guitar and amp business. They focused on quality and building guitars that were true to vintage spec and they flourished. As the years have worn on they have come to rely more and more upon custom shop instruments and special runs, choosing to rely on cachet and novelty more and more. Amazingly, their MIA line has less consistent quality than the instruments they manufacture in Mexico.

I think that we're well due another shakeup in the music biz', not unlike what happened in the '80s. The saviors of the industry seem to have fallen into the same mentality that their predecessors had. Fender spent a lot of time and effort developing the Guild line and now has sold it, probably to reduce debt in anticipation of another attempt at an IPO. I just can't imagine walking away from all the work they put into the N.S. lineup, not to mention the fine flattops and other guitars built in New Hartford. FMIC's secondary brands (Gretsch, Jackson, Guild, etc) have suffered a real setback. I just hope that CMG respects the brand, respects the work that went into the N.S. reissues and makes wise use of their investment. I really fear for what will happen if they don't continue the N.S. series. Guild may continue to exist, but there will be no entry level path the to brand.

But I digress.
 

SFIV1967

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What do you guys think? What have you seen before?
The best to see if it is solid or laminated is when you take out one pickup. You see in the open wood cavity the cut of the top and would see multiple sheets if it is laminated or just one if it is solid. Synchro, I guess this is an "action item" for the next string change together with taking pictures if the bottom of the pickups.
Ralf
 

Synchro

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The best to see if it is solid or laminated is when you take out one pickup. You see in the open wood cavity the cut of the top and would see multiple sheets if it is laminated or just one if it is solid. Synchro, I guess this is an "action item" for the next string change together with taking pictures if the bottom of the pickups.
Ralf

I've owned quite a few solid topped archtop guitars and the acoustic response of this interment is consistent with a solid top. If I can locate my small dental mirror I'll check and see if the grain matches but that's as far as it's likely to go anytime soon.
 

gilded

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You know, I hate to pull a pickup on a new guitar, not to mention the fact that once the the guitar is set up properly you may not want to take all the strings off at one time (for the purpose of removing a pickup) unless you have to, so that's why I suggested a small mirror.

By the way, I believe you when you say the guitar's response is consistent with a solid top. It's more just curiosity than anything else.

My old DE-400 was a mahogany laminate and that body was as tight as a drum. Once, in my old rehearsal space, I was sitting 15' from my drummer with the DE400 in my lap. I was facing the drums and 'Sticks' just sort of nonchalantly hit a cymbal with a drum stick. The whole top of the DE-400 vibrated when the sound wave hit it. I couldn't believe it, I asked him to do it again; same result. Man, that guitar would feedback in a hurry! If I'd kept it, I would have a put sound-post inside it.

Speaking of sound-posts, if you're interested, I do have one arch-top with a sound post in it (if you are not interested, you can skip the next three paragraphs!).

It's a '68 Epiphone Howard Roberts Custom model. The 'original' Howard guitars were built on a 16" sharp cutaway body with oval sound hole, carved top and X-bracing. Epiphone built about 300 H in all. 250 were the medium-scale Standards and 52 or so were the long-scale Customs. My HR isn't particularly feedback prone, but the second owner put a sound-post in it and it makes a difference when you are playing with a band.

The philosophy behind it's use is very subtle. It's a single, rubber-tipped wooden dowel and is designed to minimally impact the ability of the guitar to vibrate. The post is barely touching the top and bottom of the guitar. In fact, if you take all the strings off, the top will 'raise up' just a bit and the post will fall over inside the guitar!

The placement of the sound-post is interesting, too. The 2nd owner, Gary, spent a lot of time playing arch-tops in an 'Organ Trio' (B3/guitar/drums) back in the early '70's. He had a fair amount of trouble with feedback (with all his arch-tops) and developed the knack of finding just the right spot to put a sound-post on a hollow-body arch-top guitar. He would turn on an amp, turn the volume up on the guitar and let the unattended guitar feedback. Then, Gary would move a single finger all around the top of the guitar until the very slight pressure of his finger on one particular spot would make the feedback stop! That's where he would put the sound-post inside the guitar! Pretty cool, huh? Kind of a cross between dousing and guitar-repair!

Continued good luck with your T-400. I'm enjoying reading about it. HH
 

Walter Broes

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If you're happy with the guitar, it really doesn't matter if the top is solid spruce or not, of course. I'd be very surprised if it's an actual carved top, I don't think they can do that for the prices these guitars sold for. (look at what the carved top AA sells for, for example) Maybe it's a pressed solid spruce top.

In my own experience, the main difference between solid and laminated archtops is the front end of the note, the attack is entirely different, you get some kind of bell-like attack that extremely hard to describe in words (especially in a language that's not my mother tongue...) you cannot get from a laminated instrument. Volume, strangly, is all over the place with archtops, I've played laminated ones with incredible bark, power and acoustic volume, and I've played solid topped ones that were "silent giants".


Fender spent a lot of time and effort developing the Guild line and now has sold it, probably to reduce debt in anticipation of another attempt at an IPO. I just can't imagine walking away from all the work they put into the N.S. lineup, not to mention the fine flattops and other guitars built in New Hartford. FMIC's secondary brands (Gretsch, Jackson, Guild, etc) have suffered a real setback. I just hope that CMG respects the brand, respects the work that went into the N.S. reissues and makes wise use of their investment. I really fear for what will happen if they don't continue the N.S. series. Guild may continue to exist, but there will be no entry level path the to brand. .
Very true. That's the thing that freaked me out a little about FMIC selling Guild right now - after all the work Mike Lewis put in on the NS line? I wonder how he felt about that. The guys strikes me as a little too much of a music and guitar lover to figure "did the job, got paid, shrug", I'd be surprized if he'd be that cynical about it. It's downright weird. And it doesn't really matter now, but I wonder for how long FMIC had the plan to sell Guild, because the NS line was criminally/suspiciously under-promoted during it's whole "lifetime" at FMIC.
Even the Fender rep the store I work at works with told us awhile ago "yeah...I don't know where they want to go with those MIK electrics, there doesn't seem to be a plan, no brochures, publicity, endorsers, no nothing - maybe they're still figuring that out"

I'd be very suprized if the new owners decided to ditch the GAD and NS guitars, because they'd probably sell 20 GAD's for every US-made guitar sold, and 50 NS guitars for every AP guitar. And the profit margin on the import stuff is probably higher than on the US built guitars.

There's always the chance they want to turn Guild into a very exclusive US built boutique-y kind of brand, but I don't know if that would be wise, because as far as the general guitar buying public knows or cares about Guild, that's almost the opposite of the general perception of the brand.
 

Synchro

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You know, I hate to pull a pickup on a new guitar, not to mention the fact that once the the guitar is set up properly you may not want to take all the strings off at one time (for the purpose of removing a pickup) unless you have to, so that's why I suggested a small mirror.

By the way, I believe you when you say the guitar's response is consistent with a solid top. It's more just curiosity than anything else.

My old DE-400 was a mahogany laminate and that body was as tight as a drum. Once, in my old rehearsal space, I was sitting 15' from my drummer with the DE400 in my lap. I was facing the drums and 'Sticks' just sort of nonchalantly hit a cymbal with a drum stick. The whole top of the DE-400 vibrated when the sound wave hit it. I couldn't believe it, I asked him to do it again; same result. Man, that guitar would feedback in a hurry! If I'd kept it, I would have a put sound-post inside it.

Speaking of sound-posts, if you're interested, I do have one arch-top with a sound post in it (if you are not interested, you can skip the next three paragraphs!).

It's a '68 Epiphone Howard Roberts Custom model. The 'original' Howard guitars were built on a 16" sharp cutaway body with oval sound hole, carved top and X-bracing. Epiphone built about 300 H in all. 250 were the medium-scale Standards and 52 or so were the long-scale Customs. My HR isn't particularly feedback prone, but the second owner put a sound-post in it and it makes a difference when you are playing with a band.

The philosophy behind it's use is very subtle. It's a single, rubber-tipped wooden dowel and is designed to minimally impact the ability of the guitar to vibrate. The post is barely touching the top and bottom of the guitar. In fact, if you take all the strings off, the top will 'raise up' just a bit and the post will fall over inside the guitar!

The placement of the sound-post is interesting, too. The 2nd owner, Gary, spent a lot of time playing arch-tops in an 'Organ Trio' (B3/guitar/drums) back in the early '70's. He had a fair amount of trouble with feedback (with all his arch-tops) and developed the knack of finding just the right spot to put a sound-post on a hollow-body arch-top guitar. He would turn on an amp, turn the volume up on the guitar and let the unattended guitar feedback. Then, Gary would move a single finger all around the top of the guitar until the very slight pressure of his finger on one particular spot would make the feedback stop! That's where he would put the sound-post inside the guitar! Pretty cool, huh? Kind of a cross between dousing and guitar-repair!

Continued good luck with your T-400. I'm enjoying reading about it. HH
That's kind of where I'm at. I slap a set of Thomastik flat wounds on pretty much every guitar I obtain and in the dry climate of the desert I can get a couple of years from a set easily. So, as you can see, once the strings go on I tend to stay hands off until Restringing time, when I strip off the strings, treat the fretboard and restring it. I may take a look in there with a mirror but everything in my life is on hold right now pending rotator cuff surgery and a vacation a month thereafter. I've been concentrating on taking care of things around the house because I'll be laid up for a while.

I have a Gretsch Country Club with a soundpost and it's quite effective. I've played Rock with it in a large venue and had no feedback issues. I think that they are a great idea. The T-400 doesn't seem prone to feedback, but I haven't used it in a high volume setting as of yet. I hope to squeeze in a band rehearsal Saturday and crank it up a bit. The last time I brought it to rehearsal I hadn't addressed the wolf tones, etc, so it wasn't a fair assessment.

I've always liked those old HR model Epis.
 

Synchro

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If you're happy with the guitar, it really doesn't matter if the top is solid spruce or not, of course. I'd be very surprised if it's an actual carved top, I don't think they can do that for the prices these guitars sold for. (look at what the carved top AA sells for, for example) Maybe it's a pressed solid spruce top.

In my own experience, the main difference between solid and laminated archtops is the front end of the note, the attack is entirely different, you get some kind of bell-like attack that extremely hard to describe in words (especially in a language that's not my mother tongue...) you cannot get from a laminated instrument. Volume, strangly, is all over the place with archtops, I've played laminated ones with incredible bark, power and acoustic volume, and I've played solid topped ones that were "silent giants".



Very true. That's the thing that freaked me out a little about FMIC selling Guild right now - after all the work Mike Lewis put in on the NS line? I wonder how he felt about that. The guys strikes me as a little too much of a music and guitar lover to figure "did the job, got paid, shrug", I'd be surprized if he'd be that cynical about it. It's downright weird. And it doesn't really matter now, but I wonder for how long FMIC had the plan to sell Guild, because the NS line was criminally/suspiciously under-promoted during it's whole "lifetime" at FMIC.
Even the Fender rep the store I work at works with told us awhile ago "yeah...I don't know where they want to go with those MIK electrics, there doesn't seem to be a plan, no brochures, publicity, endorsers, no nothing - maybe they're still figuring that out"

I'd be very suprized if the new owners decided to ditch the GAD and NS guitars, because they'd probably sell 20 GAD's for every US-made guitar sold, and 50 NS guitars for every AP guitar. And the profit margin on the import stuff is probably higher than on the US built guitars.

There's always the chance they want to turn Guild into a very exclusive US built boutique-y kind of brand, but I don't know if that would be wise, because as far as the general guitar buying public knows or cares about Guild, that's almost the opposite of the general perception of the brand.
I wouldn't bet against it being carved, it appears to be, bit I wouldn't bet my savings account on it either way. I know what you mean, solid top guitars have a different voice. Perhaps they've found a way to carve tops inexpensively with CNC equipment.

I think you're right, the GAD and NS models have got to be money makers. CMG would be foolish to walk away from that. All manufacturers need entry level products to build a customer base over time. Sell a Korean instrument and a few years later the same customer is back with enough money to buy something high end.

I know what you are saying about volume. My old Johnny Smith was not at all loud, in spite of being a fairly high end guitar. The Korean Gretsch G3161 I had for a short time was quite loud acoustically. A friend of mine owns an old Super 400 CES that used to belong to Chet. It's a beautiful instrument, but acoustically a bit lacking. My N.S. Starfire III is surprisingly loud acoustically as is my G6120-DC. The A150 Savoy I just bought is gaining it's voice and is fairly loud, but hardly a "rhythm cannon".
 

krysh

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well, after using my #10 exclusively in studio and on open stages for 6 weeks now, let me add some comments.

first, I don't get this bridge pickup thing. my regular small setup contains a koch superlead preamp pedal and a t.c. nova delay and I use whatever amp I can get on regular jamsessions ( ok, on the most regular open stage I can use an early 70s princeton reverb, nothing to complain about that at all ;) ) my experience is that the T-400 is the most expressive, responsive and versatile semiacoustic I ever tried. I don't see the bridge piclup lacking soundquality in any way, just the opposition. this guitar delivers everything perfectly, if you work with the volume knobs.

Usually I do the settings on the amp (and preamp (clockwise) bass: 10.30, mid: 1400, treble 12.30) with both pickups on and the volume pots around 8 and tone full on my T-400 (you'll have to check on each guitar which setting will be the best for your "sweet spot" and check the pickup and pole pieces height thoroughly before .) from there I can go in any direction - from clean, classy jazz chords to fantastic rock leads with only few easy controllable simple switches (of course a channel switch on the koch preamp included). personally for me the T-400 fulfilled a dream since I played an original DE-400. I have all sounds I need and absolutely no feedback that is not easily controlable in any live situation. it is even better, it is so delightful to play with the feedback, because I can direct it to where I want it and the T-400 always delivers this resonant percusive, almost audiophile tonequality that I was looking for for 33 years (or at least as long as I knew I was looking for it...). and the neck is simply to die for.

do yourself a favour and try one if you are around a shop that still has one. you wont be disappointed if you try what I do. and the craftmanship is beyond any critics.
and last but not least, these guitars have a lot of songs in them, if you know what I mean. ;)

I am so happy, because I was able to fulfill what I said to Dave Gonzales at LTG II in 2011: "if you do a reissue of the DE-400 I'd buy it."

I have found my holy grail in electric guitars. now go and get yours! ;)

thanks for your attention.

edit: and all the pro's I was able to present the guitar to have been in awe! ;)
 
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Synchro

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10
Location
Tucson, AZ
Mine had a definite deficit with regard to the bridge pickup output. The bridge pickup was as high as it could be and it still crapped out in comparison to the neck pickup, when set at the same volume. One pickup swap later and I couldn't be happier.

The same OEM pickups are on my Capri and it has perfect balance, so go figure. :)
 
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