NGD - Relish Mary

fcs101

fcs101

Axe-Master
Just got a Swiss-made guitar, the Relish Mary. What a great piece of gear! It's a semi-hollow construction with an aluminum frame. It's piezo equipped with two removable pickups via the removable back (held on by magnets). There is no visible neck joint when the back is installed. It has 24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets. The upper fret access is outstanding (I've never spent too much time that far up, still it's great to have it).

If you're not familiar with Relish, they've developed a new pickup switching system. So the pickups are "plug-n-play". You can either purchase ready-made pickups or have your choice mounted on the Relish pickup frames. I can see some humbucker-sized single coils in my future and maybe some P90s.

I've got two other guitars with piezo, but this is now my best sounding one. The output jack is stereo, so I'm waiting delivery of a stereo splitter cable (should arrive tomorrow) to be able to utilize separate signal chains.

I was back and forth between this and the Jane, but went with this because the Jane is more hi tech with a touchpad pickup selector switch. I didn't want to mess with that. BTW, this three-way switch is so smooth, it's like butter; I've never felt one like it.

@bleujazz3, this is what I mentioned yesterday that I opted for over the PRS HBII. In the end I felt like a Kiesel I have was just too similar to that guitar.

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AtomicJeff said:
That's crazy - enjoy and congrats!
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Thanks! I'm really chomping at the bit to get the splitter cable. My other piezo guitars have two output jacks and I wasn't fully prepared to use a stereo output.

Yeah, it's very unique. The construction is solid. Forgot to mention that the fretboard is made from interwoven bamboo; it's very comfortable and most people probably assume it's rosewood at a glance. The ability to swap pickups in mere seconds really attracted me to it. The sustain is incredible with the string-through on the aluminum frame.
 
Congratulations, Cole,

Relish seems very cutting edge, not sure purists would jump on the bandwagon, but some folks always find a way to bring something new to the table. Enjoy. Will be watching once you choose a new pickup config and get the engine purring...and dude...M-0014!
 
AtomicJeff said:
Whaaaat? How is the tone on that? Snappy?
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I just went and eyeballed it again. You could tell someone it was rosewood and they'd believe you. I think it's even more comfortable to play on though. I would describe the neck as slim, comfortable, and fast.

The tones with humbuckers go from snappy to very mellow. I can't wait to try some single coils on it. I hate to admit it, but I don't own one single P90 equipped guitar because I've never been convinced it was something I'd use consistently, but this give me options.
 
Dave Merrill said:
Cool!

Is the battery for the piezo preamp?

Would be nice to hear some clips of just the naked guitar, flat, no amp or a clean one
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Yes the battery is for the piezo. That black box next to the battery is the piezo preamp.

The mini toggle selects piezo, blend, or mag pickups. At first I didn't see much use in blending without the stereo split, but with humbuckers it is actually an option to lend some clarity.

Are you asking for just some unplugged strumming/picking?
 
fcs101 said:
I hate to admit it, but I don't own one single P90 equipped guitar because I've never been convinced it was something I'd use consistently, but this give me options.
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I was a big single coil nut for a long time, aside from the HSS Strat that made you give up the bridge single to get the GR-RRR! going on. Lately, I've found some HBs I can relate to (SD Jazz, PRS 59/09, 58/15LT, 85/15S - all relatively vintage/low output), and I've found that Fralin's Hum Free P90s represent the perfect middle ground between the two....
 
I'm glad you mentioned the upper fret access being good. I had found these guitars some months ago, but I thought the upper fret access just looked uncomfortable. With some guitars you just have to feel them to know for sure. Congratulations! It's truly beautiful, and that pickup system is just incredible.
 
fcs101 said:
Forgot to mention that the fretboard is made from interwoven bamboo; it's very comfortable and most people probably assume it's rosewood at a glance.
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I would not have known it was not rosewood if you had not mentioned it.

Bamboo is amazing. You can break the stuff down into fiber and make cloth that is softer than cotton, wicks moisture better, and, the best part, it's bacteriostatic, antifungal, antibacterial, hypoallergenic, hydroscopic, a natural deodorizer, and resistant against ultraviolet light. It grows like a weed. https://econation.one/bamboo/
 
State of Epicicity said:
I'm glad you mentioned the upper fret access being good. I had found these guitars some months ago, but I thought the upper fret access just looked uncomfortable. With some guitars you just have to feel them to know for sure. Congratulations! It's truly beautiful, and that pickup system is just incredible.
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It's a fairly thin guitar so I think that really aids it. I should've included a side shot.

EDIT: I just measured and the thickness is 1.25" at the joint. You can play with the back removed and bring that down to .75". The body has some curvature so it does widen out from that for the main body.
 
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ScottyB said:
Wow, that is a very cool design. How does it sound like unplugged?
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It's very resonant. The sustain even unplugged is killer. I did an A/B with two other semi-hollows and this is the most pleasant sounding; maybe that aids the piezo tone. The best I can describe it is the difference between strumming something like a 335 and a Strat. The 335 will be more resonant but will still retain some "tinny" sound. This seems to cut out those tinny freqs and is more balanced. You can remove the pickups to get more volume. I mean you're not going play this to a group of people, but I can definitely see using it unplugged for song writing or bouncing around ideas.
 
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