NGD (first Suhr)

[Sorenspete]

Dream guitars are like Dream women, they never fully meet your expectations. On a serious note I spend years craving for a Veleno all aluminum guitar after seeing Mark Farner play his. When I watched a demo/review of one I realized I would have hated it if I ever got one.

I can say this about both guitars and women. People are just people and guitars are just made by them lol.

 

[Chewie5150]

How would you describe the pickups?

 

[Sorenspete]

How would you describe the pickups?

I'm not a guru by any means when it comes to pickups, but I'll say that the 85 is my ol' reliable since it has such a smooth, balanced tone (the 81 is shrill for my taste). And the SA's are nice and stratty while also being low-noise. I ran through my old Rosanna (Toto) preset and the positions 2 & 4 tones were out of this world close to the recorded Lukather tracks*. If you're like me and you like Knopfler and Lukather, then this guitar is perfect for you. I know how controversial EMG's are, but when it comes to HSS guitars I'll go for an EMG set every time, but it has to have the Knopfler mod for those pos. 2 tones! I don't think I'll ever switch these pickups out.

*I realise Lukather used a Strat with Fender pickups and a '59 Les Paul for "Rosanna" but the 85/SA/SA set does nail it.

 

[Tonedeaf]

So there's a Knopfler mod. I always wondered how he came so close to the original tone with this guitar.

 

[Andy Eagle]

Man, that's a bummer when a new guitar doesn't live up to the hope you had for it. Suhr guitars are generally quite consistently well made but there are still less than perfect examples that make it off of the line.

It was a surprising choice that Suhr used an import model of the Floyd for the legacy series guitars. In the past they've only offered the OFR and the excellent Gotoh 1996t on their builds. Some of their recent decisions regarding hardware seem to be more oriented to reducing cost rather than producing the best instruments. I hope that doesn't point to a larger trend

In recent years the only version of the OFR they use is the FRT100.

 

[Dave Merrill]

Lazy/too busy question.
What actually IS the Knopfler mod?

 

[Andy Eagle]

It’s to mimic a coil tap on the 85. It was on a push pull on Mark’s Pensa and he hardly ever used it.

 

[Dave Merrill]

It’s to mimic a coil tap on the 85. It was on a push pull on Mark’s Pensa and he hardly ever used it.

Thanks.
What is it electrically?

 

[Andy Eagle]

Thanks.
What is it electrically?

A cap and a resistor I can’t remember exactly what value. I have it written down somewhere.

 

[Churchhill]

@Sorenspete - Really appreciate the honest review! It's definitely a beautiful guitar, hope it grows on you a bit. I little lemon oil should help the rosewood a bit.

 

[Sorenspete]

@Sorenspete - Really appreciate the honest review! It's definitely a beautiful guitar, hope it grows on you a bit. I little lemon oil should help the rosewood a bit.

I broke it in a bit more last night and I was in the zone (as corny as that sounds) playing Neal Schon licks so safe to say it's grown on me. I gave it a dash of lemon oil on first string change but I'll give it another drink in a week or so.