Think I found him.
Calling
@Duncan Rigby ! Can you enlighten us on what's it's like to play a Gittler?
I reached out to
@Duncan Rigby yesterday via PM here and he gave me a very positive review of his experience with the Gittler Classic, enough to push me over the edge to secure the last new one in this years factory run of them..(timing is everything..) perhaps if he doesn’t mind , I could share his thoughts here.
Brad, Ross is a good guy , a straight business man to deal with.
I got my Gittler Classic to use as the interface (GR-55) into my DAW (Studio One v4 ) thinking that the minimalistic build and material quality of the precision engineering would future proof my musical and recording endeavours. to that end the Gittler Classic is the platform for playing recording.
When recording, I can simultaneously record 3 elments at once the mono analogue , GR55 guitar to Midi (midi out) and GR-55 standard L&R out. I feed into an AXE-FX II to get any amp/spkr/fx chain mix/combination.
The Gittler:
The built material of the titanium is strong and light and since my purchase 3 years ago I have only lightly dusted it, not polished it at all, it’s still shiny.
The Tuning stability is exceptional once you have played in the strings, In 2022 I used it every week for a few hours and only tuned it 3 times, ½ step down, drop D and standard. GR-55 tracked OK on those tunings.
It takes about 20 minutes to adjust to the spine neck, I did get a snap-on neck which was a shallow C style, I have only used that a few times in three years when I needed to play with a hooked thumb over on the low E, that for me is the only use and the snap on neck is good quality plexi.
The precision engineering of the 30 odd frets and the gliss tube around each pickup give opportunity for some big even tempered pitch swings.
The frets have no neck radius, which you get quickly used to. The no fretboard (gaps between frets) can be used to introduce micro tonal changes on any element of a chord, quickly learnt for subtle beating just off unison.
I was asked by a strat player who was confident in trying to beat me up with his Ubiquitous 1960s strat as being the best recording / playing guitar “show me one thing you can do on that tv aerial that I can’t on my piece of furniture”. I did a micro tonal bend on a D chord by pushing the D on the top B into the gap in the neck, he mirrored it with a slight push bend , 0/0 , I then stummed the D chord and pulled the neck back to reais the pitch slightly of the chord, he did the same neck front to back pull… 1/1. I then banged on a three fingered natural G chord with a little bit of tubescreamer then I pushed the neck across the guitar not front to back and the low G / B notes raised in pitch and the high G on the top E flattened… no matter how much he tried on a wooden guitar it cannot be done 3/2 to the Gittler.
As there is no wood to adsorb / colour the energy vibrations you play into the Gittler it is a high sustaining pure string tone instrument, I have found that using a cheap string dampener and advantage in some GR-55 patches to act as a natural noise gate (Piano/Sitar) a worthwhile little optional addition.
Tapping and bellycasting is awesome owing to the engineering.
The analogue playing is awesome and as a live guitar it has punch and clarity, the tone swing from the treble / bass controls takes you from thin single coil lipsticks to full PAF. Plus you can put custom heads on it...
The COSM guitars on the GR-55 are really good, inc the 12 string switch. The Synths and Instruments are a given
The analogue preamp normal guitar might need a noise gate if your using high gain amps as it can hiss a little and it does not pick up the fluorescent lights.
The belly arms are great for sit down and play, the strap-locks are good. The multitool is cute and functional.
If you do get one from Russ, be sure you get the action hight setup by them ( it is a replacement compensated bridge ) I think the default is thin E @ 12th fret 2.5mm. So if you want lower they can do that only at the factory. The bridge can slide / tilt a little for tonation if you go heavier than 9’s.
I have blue lights when connected to GR-55, I don’t miss them not being on whilst playing..
My overriding decision to buy was to get the definitive Midi guitar platform for recording, and I’m never disappointed by the instrument. I learnt Classical Barre style playing not folk thumb over the top so it only took a few minutes to acclimatise my playing style, and owing to the engineered tensions/materials you don’t have to dig in with a pick to get nuance. get to me via
duncan@rigby.net if you have specific question.
I create and produce ambient music from strange sources.
