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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 5:24 am Post subject: Guthrie Getting New Suhr Classic with Silent Coil System |
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Guthrie Govan is on a US tour with Asia right now. He'll arrive in Southern Cal late-July and will pick up a Suhr Classic built specifically for him as it was time he got himself the ultimate "Strat". And here it is:
Suhr Classic SN4678
Alder body
Maple neck with Indian Rosewood fingerboard
60's C Vintage Standard .810-.930 neck shape
10-14" compound radius
6105 SS frets
Standard Trem
Sperzel Trim-Lok tuners
V60LP single-coil pickups with the proprietary Silent Coil System
Sorry, the amazing Silent Coil System is only available to select artists at the moment. Scott Henderson and Mike Landau are other artists trying out this system as it is still in an R&D phase. Scott definitely wants this on all of his guitars.
I dropped this guitar along with others at Tone Merchants today and tried it through various amps. I've heard it before at our Suhr facility and was amazed, but it was something else to hear it again when I demoed it for Noel and other customers at TM. They were absolutely flabbergasted and awestruck by pure single-coil tone accompanied by dead silence. All you could hear is the amp hum - it really is even quieter than humbuckers. Noel decided to try the system against other guitars equipped with Duncan Classic Stack and DiMarzio Virtual Vintage pickups and it was no contest. Those Duncans and DiMarzios are fine pickups but weren't close to nailing that beautiful authentic vintage single-coil tone of the V60LP's.
Here are the pics:
_________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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atomicpanda
Joined: 08 May 2005 Posts: 7 Location: Scotland
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Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2005 9:05 pm Post subject: |
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Very very nice! I like the colour too |
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Carlo
Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 408
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Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:10 am Post subject: |
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that is one fine lookin' instrument |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 3:18 am Post subject: |
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Carlo wrote: | that is one fine lookin' instrument |
Well, a Suhr always sounds and plays even better than it looks, but this one's really special because it has the noise-eliminating Silent Coil System. I never thought it could be done but this guitar is living proof of pure authentic vintage single-coil tone with dead silence on the background - no single-coil noise whatsoever! It's even quieter than humbuckers. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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Carlo
Joined: 13 Sep 2004 Posts: 408
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Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2005 5:17 am Post subject: |
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I wish I could get my hands on a Suhr and test one out, but I'm sure it plays like a dream. And I think strats look so much cooler with a pointier headstock...hehe. |
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wuc
Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 12 Location: England
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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But it still looks like a strat in sea-foam green or whatever they call it! ;-)
In fact, it could be the most perfectly strat-looking strat-copy I ever saw! Online pics seldom do a guitar justice, I guess.
As we all know, the real proof is in the playing (and I'm sure it plays fine). The spec looks great and the addition of locking Sperzels is always welcome.
But (going out on a limb here), aesthetically speaking, it's not the most inspiring guitar I ever saw.
Cheers, wuc.
PS - don't hate me for this sacrilege, I only just registered after long-time lurking. |
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UncleFester
Joined: 14 Jun 2005 Posts: 7
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Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 6:03 pm Post subject: |
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hey nice shoes man !
got me drooling on this one |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 12:40 am Post subject: |
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wuc wrote: | But it still looks like a strat in sea-foam green or whatever they call it!
In fact, it could be the most perfectly strat-looking strat-copy I ever saw! Online pics seldom do a guitar justice, I guess.
As we all know, the real proof is in the playing (and I'm sure it plays fine). The spec looks great and the addition of locking Sperzels is always welcome.
But (going out on a limb here), aesthetically speaking, it's not the most inspiring guitar I ever saw.
Cheers, wuc.
PS - don't hate me for this sacrilege, I only just registered after long-time lurking. |
Well, it's essentially a Strat, done right! There are reasons why many opt for a Suhr Classic over the Fender Custom Shop Strat. The Fender Custom Shop is a mass production facility like any other. They produce nearly a thousand guitars per month. In comparison, Suhr produces around 70 per month with much greater attention to detail. People who buy Fender's Custom Shop pieces brand new then bring theirs over to Suhr to have a fret job done.
I worked at Fender for over 10 years, so I should know. It's all about hitting the numbers there and maximizing profit per guitar - whether it's an overpriced $5000 "master-built" Custom Shop Strat or a Chinese Squier that sells for $150 in Guitar Center. You have to remember that John Suhr used to be a Fender Custom Shop Senior Master Builder and he left because he just got tired of fighting Fender's "Ship it!" mentality and not being able to do things right. _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc.
Last edited by alexkhan on Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
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M@
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 214 Location: Hong Kong
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:07 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, there's always that spectrum from Master Craftsman thru to Mass Production. Horses for courses... large corporations with more employees, larger fixed assets and high marketing budgets have to pay for those 'expenses' somehow, and it's the customer who pays.
If I was to get another "production" guitar these days at a reasonable price I would by-pass the American and Mexican Strats and go for a Japanese Fender - or better still, a nice Japanese Tokai
Now if I get my bonus, I may be sending a cheque for a new Suhr
I live in Hong Kong, so I keep my ear to the ground regarding China, I'm wondering if (as the trend suggests), that China will evolve just as Japan did regarding their manufacturing. I'm tending to think they won't (from a quality perspective), as the Japanese have more of an eye for detail (remember when people would never buy anything "Made in Japan", until they could actually do it BETTER and CHEAPER than the rest of the world?)
Ed, you hail from Korea, right? - I'm interested to know what's your take on a lot of the Korean made guitars these days... are the production procedures, quality etc similar to Japan? You can answer that question without your Suhr hat on
Cheers _________________ "My day job feeds my family, my night gig feeds my ego!" |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
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Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 6:45 am Post subject: |
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M@ wrote: |
Ed, you hail from Korea, right? - I'm interested to know what's your take on a lot of the Korean made guitars these days... are the production procedures, quality etc similar to Japan? You can answer that question without your Suhr hat on
Cheers |
Yes, born in Korea and bounced back and forth between there and the US quite a bit during my younger days as my father was a diplomat.
I'd be happy to answer this question for you but at another time in more detail as I used to go there a lot on business for Fender. Japan as well, although not as much as Fender had already decided Japan was getting too expensive and just sent me out to Korea, China, and Indonesia looking for cheaper sources.
For now, I'll say that, overall, the country of origin isn't as important as the company building the stuff. You can have crappy companies in Japan or Korea building junk and world-class outfits doing an excellent job in China and vice versa. For me, when I was at Fender, it was just about finding and going with companies than what countries should produce 50,000 Squier guitars per month.
To be continued... _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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M@
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 Posts: 214 Location: Hong Kong
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Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 6:47 am Post subject: |
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Interesting stuff... looking forward to hearing more of that story.
I think it would be great to have a job in the music industry that doesn't just revolve around playing and/or teaching... something more on the marketing and strategy side.
I have some ideas regarding "Just In Time Delivery" of customisable instruments using a web customer interface (based on my E-commerce/Supply Chain Management experience) that could really be beneficial to both customers and producers (large and small boutique). But for now it is just a fantasy...
Cheers _________________ "My day job feeds my family, my night gig feeds my ego!" |
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kabuki
Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 105 Location: Verona, NJ
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 3:52 am Post subject: |
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alexkhan wrote: | Carlo wrote: | that is one fine lookin' instrument |
Well, a Suhr always sounds and plays even better than it looks, but this one's really special because it has the noise-eliminating Silent Coil System. I never thought it could be done but this guitar is living proof of pure authentic vintage single-coil tone with dead silence on the background - no single-coil noise whatsoever! It's even quieter than humbuckers. |
Great. I haven't spent enough recently
Ed - how you been? Hope the new gig is making you happy. _________________ ...the torch has been passed... |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 2:24 am Post subject: |
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kabuki wrote: | alexkhan wrote: | Carlo wrote: | that is one fine lookin' instrument |
Well, a Suhr always sounds and plays even better than it looks, but this one's really special because it has the noise-eliminating Silent Coil System. I never thought it could be done but this guitar is living proof of pure authentic vintage single-coil tone with dead silence on the background - no single-coil noise whatsoever! It's even quieter than humbuckers. |
Great. I haven't spent enough recently
Ed - how you been? Hope the new gig is making you happy. |
Hey Bob, how's it going?
Can't kill time on the forums like I used to with this new gig. It's insanely busy at Suhr. Just moved into a new home around over the weekend where Suhr is located and am now a full-time dude at Suhr. It's a very fun yet challenging gig. Being around John is really cool. He's really at the top of his game with more really exciting products in the works. I also get to see Scott H a lot at the Suhr shop and just recently spent most of a day hanging out with Guthrie in LA. I also spend a lot of time talking with Greg, so being the interface between John and these monster players is the most fun and glamorous aspect of it all. But then, it's just like any other job. I gotta go out and produce like anyone else! _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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kabuki
Joined: 17 Sep 2004 Posts: 105 Location: Verona, NJ
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:43 am Post subject: |
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That looks familiar
I need a pearloid or vintage pearloid pickguard for this baby. What should I do? _________________ ...the torch has been passed... |
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alexkhan
Joined: 10 Sep 2004 Posts: 2783 Location: Chino, CA
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 1:04 am Post subject: |
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kabuki wrote: |
That looks familiar
I need a pearloid or vintage pearloid pickguard for this baby. What should I do? |
Call me at Suhr and we'll get a pearloid out to ya! _________________ Ed Yoon
Certified Guthrie Fan-atic
BOING Music LLC - Managing Partner
.strandberg* Guitars USA
Ed Yoon Consulting & Management
Guitar Center Inc. |
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