Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 02:57:22 PM

Title: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 02:57:22 PM
to be honest, the NGD was more than a week ago, but i could take some pic just today (and should have waited a couple more days, maybe... sorry for the sub-par photographic quality)

this, ladies and gents, is my second Cicolin (my luthier) WR, this time a Rage model... specs are: maple neck-through with mahogany wings, pau-ferro fretboard, wilkinson bridge (but once again i realized that i don't really know what to do with a trem bar...), sperzel locking tuners and, least but not last, BKP Nailbomb calibrated set with aged nickel covers (that look really sick!). miniswitch is for coil splitting.

if you're asking yourselves if the "balkenkreutz" has got any political meaning,

1) NO. it hasn't. it was a german army identification symbol in WWI and in this form it's a simplified version used on tanks and aircrafts in the last years of WWII.
2) i've got a WWII fetish, and always fancied putting one of these on a guitar. so nothing more.  :)

The original idea was to follow Rolling Stones' teachings and paint it black. with the white cross on. so i didn't care much about fancy flamed maple necks... this one was the less figured in my luthier's workshop, but felt better than the others.
BUT when i saw those mahogany wings i decided it would have been a crime to cover them in paint, so i preferred to paint front maple in semi-transparent dunkelrot (my panzer fetish striked again), leaving wings and rear maple surfaces unpainted.
a bit hazardous, maybe, but i like the result... what do you think (panzer thing aside)?

Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 03:03:06 PM
just for the record, this one below is my first Cicolin...

Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: CmdChicken on March 27, 2010, 03:16:21 PM
Thats some gorgeous wood
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dave_mc on March 27, 2010, 03:55:59 PM
nice :D
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: AndyR on March 27, 2010, 04:05:20 PM
Yeah, I do kind of like that :D

And, interesting about the balkenkreutz - I've wondered about putting it on a guitar as well, for several years now... I can imagine a strat painted up like a bf109, mottled grey, maybe with a light blue scratchplate - possibly even going for a yellow headstock (and Philly knows how much I'm usually against painted headstocks on strats!). But I don't think I'll ever have the bottle to do it (or be seen out in public with it!)
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 04:21:06 PM
Yeah, I do kind of like that :D

And, interesting about the balkenkreutz - I've wondered about putting it on a guitar as well, for several years now... I can imagine a strat painted up like a bf109, mottled grey, maybe with a light blue scratchplate - possibly even going for a yellow headstock (and Philly knows how much I'm usually against painted headstocks on strats!). But I don't think I'll ever have the bottle to do it (or be seen out in public with it!)

that would look good!

(http://a33.idata.over-blog.com/499x330/0/39/65/84/bf109f2s.jpg)
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Philly Q on March 27, 2010, 04:34:42 PM
and Philly knows how much I'm usually against painted headstocks on strats!

I do!  :lol:  I wouldn't go for just a yellow headstock though, that would look weird, I think the tips of the body horns should be yellow too.

Back on topic, dheim, I'm still not sure about that body shape but they do look beautifully made, and lovely timbers!  :D
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Lew on March 27, 2010, 04:35:48 PM
wow looks great!
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Twinfan on March 27, 2010, 04:50:34 PM
Interesting!

That hard tail looks, err, robust!
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Fourth Feline on March 27, 2010, 05:15:13 PM


It must be a Fokker to play ...
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 05:42:43 PM


It must be a Fokker to play ...

 :lol:
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Nolly on March 27, 2010, 05:47:50 PM
Damn tasty, I'm digging the aged nickel covers. I'd never thought of it before, but they would go great with cosmo black hardware..
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: FernandoDuarte on March 27, 2010, 06:55:24 PM
Nice :D
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: 38thBeatle on March 27, 2010, 06:57:04 PM
Looks very classy to me.
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: nfe on March 27, 2010, 07:00:32 PM
if you're asking yourselves if the "balkenkreutz" has got any political meaning,

1) NO. it hasn't. it was a german army identification symbol in WWI and in this form it's a simplified version used on tanks and aircrafts in the last years of WWII.
2) i've got a WWII fetish, and always fancied putting one of these on a guitar. so nothing more.  :)

All fair and well, but if you intend to gig it you're going to spend forever having to explain that to folk :lol: God help you if you were in a BM band  :lol:
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 07:13:15 PM
the worst thing is that i've got this gorgeous keith richards replica strap... i bought it for the first custom but i used a brown leather one instead... so i'm currently using it on the new one. but together they're definitely too much! :)

(http://minotaur.gr/catalog/images/175776%20KEITH%20R%20replica.jpg)
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: tomjackson on March 27, 2010, 07:18:43 PM

Nice.  Not usually my thing but looks really nice :D
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 27, 2010, 10:52:07 PM
i swapped straps , this one looks much less suspicious... ;)

(http://minotaur.gr/catalog/images/3G)Brown%20Black.jpg)
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Fourth Feline on March 28, 2010, 12:42:22 AM
i swapped straps , this one looks much less suspicious... ;)

(http://minotaur.gr/catalog/images/3G)Brown%20Black.jpg)

That certainly matches the guitar very nicely ; and the shoes ? 
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Philly Q on March 28, 2010, 12:44:33 AM
That certainly matches the guitar very nicely ; and the shoes ? 

Jackboots!
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Heritage Softail on March 28, 2010, 04:58:51 AM
Those gutars are rather lean and muscular looking.  The double horns having the blunted ends is unique.  Those look like nothing I have seen in the US. The pickups tuck neatly in.  I'm a fan....  Do you have any threads of tone?  What does one of those set you back.  Message me if this is something out of acceptable potocol to mention please. 

Best Regards,

Softail
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: Fikealox on March 28, 2010, 05:51:04 AM
I love those two to death. And I'm normally not a fan of natural-ish finishes at all. Excellent buys, man :D What do you think of the bridges on the two?
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: AndyR on March 28, 2010, 10:38:40 AM
the worst thing is that i've got this gorgeous keith richards replica strap... i bought it for the first custom but i used a brown leather one instead... so i'm currently using it on the new one. but together they're definitely too much! :)

(http://minotaur.gr/catalog/images/175776%20KEITH%20R%20replica.jpg)

:lol:

Can you get them with two "flashes" on?
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 28, 2010, 10:41:31 AM
the worst thing is that i've got this gorgeous keith richards replica strap... i bought it for the first custom but i used a brown leather one instead... so i'm currently using it on the new one. but together they're definitely too much! :)

(http://minotaur.gr/catalog/images/175776%20KEITH%20R%20replica.jpg)

:lol:

Can you get them with two "flashes" on?

no, but some white paint will do....  :lol:
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 28, 2010, 10:59:20 AM
I love those two to death. And I'm normally not a fan of natural-ish finishes at all. Excellent buys, man :D What do you think of the bridges on the two?

well, the hannes is a gorgeous piece of hardware. feels like velvet and it's solid like a rock. the only drawbacks are that 1) i have to change slightly my right hand's position to palm mute the strings, just a bit closer to the bridge pickup than i'm used to with other bridges, and 2) individual saddles allow very fine height adjustments, but the bolts are hard to reach with standard tools

the wilkinson behaves halfway between a traditional stratocaster and a floyd rose bridge... doesn't float that much but almost so. i tried some divebomb and sperzel tuners kept everything in place except on the 6th string, which detuned slightly... i think that slight vibratos shouldn't affect tuning at all. changing strings must be the usual pain in the ass, though! i wanted something different from my usual hardtails, but my playing style simply doesn't need a bar! who knows, i love what jeff beck does with his trem, so i could start using it someday...



Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: AndyR on March 28, 2010, 11:05:58 AM
... but my playing style simply doesn't need a bar! who knows, i love what jeff beck does with his trem, so i could start using it someday...

BEWARE!! :lol:

I got a Brian May Guitars "Red Special" for christmas. I knew it was coming, I knew it had a trem, so I re-floated the bridge of one of my strats in preparation.

It don't take long before you're addicted to that little "wobble" :lol:
Title: Re: ooops, i did it again, as britney would say... N. G. D. !!!
Post by: dheim on March 28, 2010, 11:19:37 AM
Those gutars are rather lean and muscular looking.  The double horns having the blunted ends is unique.  Those look like nothing I have seen in the US. The pickups tuck neatly in.  I'm a fan....  Do you have any threads of tone?  What does one of those set you back.  Message me if this is something out of acceptable potocol to mention please. 

Best Regards,

Softail

both are bright, even if in completely different ways... the first one ( http://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=17899.0 ) is a wenge neckthrough with ash wings and ebony fingerboard: it's full of mids and hi-mids, with bright, open highs. the C-Pig/PK combo enhances its acoustic character and gives her a very aggressive tone.
the new one has got more or less the same amount of bass, less mids and rounder highs. the NB set (that has a very "vocal" , yet agressive tone (not nearly as heavy as the C-Pig, though!) sounds... good. sorry if i'm still unable to tell you something more useful, but i've got little time to play it!
on my PODxt it sounds a bit more aggressive and  less melodic than my NB equipped Ibanez SA2020, i've just tried it for a couple of minutes on my HT5 and my last rehearsal was a complete failure... just i and the drummer made it, so we basically spent our time chatting, and i sat behind the drumset to raise havoc... so my ENGL impressions have to wait til next week! :(