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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | My new Baby, a 2003 Michael Kelly Patriot Q ... and she is CLEAN! There is one minute blem you can barely see only if you are looking for it. She weighs in at 9 lbs. The tarnish on the pickups cleaned up with some Maguires, the Gotoh tuner knobs are slightly pitted and the Gotoh bridge and tailpiece have lost some gold finish, but polished up great. Electrically she is sound. The overall sound is very good. The neck pickup is excellent clean and crunches up nicely at around 8. With the tone pot up (single coil) she looses some volume but has a twangier (is that a word?) sound. The bridge pickup is somewhat muddy at lower volumes, but when turned up comes through OK. Again dirties up at 8. With the tone pot set to single coil, it loses volume, and cuts the tone but not as much as you would think.
Did I mention the sustain? OMG! This little girl just rings on and on... unbelievable.
All in all... I LIKE IT! I can't wait to get my Bradley in the shop just to compare them, then decide which gets upgraded.
The strings were DOA and all I had was a set of Dean Markley Blue Steels in .009s. Too light for my taste and for the Q as well. The intonation is good everywhere but the D, its just a little flat and I ran out of bridge. A set of .010s or .011s should solve that. Otherwise, I am VERY happy.
Not too bad for $275 with OHSC (TKL).
Specifications:
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YEAR MADE: 2003
MADE IN: Korea
BODY COLOR: Faded Transparent Black
CONSTRUCTION: Set-neck
BODY: Mahogany
TOP: Quilted Maple
NECK: Mahogany
BINDING: Five-ply white and black
FRETBOARD: Rosewood
INLAY: Abalone block
FRETS: 22 medium jumbo
SCALE: 24-3/4”
BRIDGE: Gutoh Fully adjustable hardtail
TUNERS: Grover 102G's
PICKUPS: Michael Kelly PAF-Plus (G&B G-113s - Korean made)
ELECTRONICS: Two Volume, two tone - coil tapped
KNOBS: Black Speed knobs
HARDWARE: Gold
Note:
After talking to MK Customer Service, they think its the D string. The Blue Steel .009 strings were 10 years old, but in an unopened pack. I'll replace them with a set of .010s soon. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5563
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | Pretty...congrats! |
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Joined:
April 2004
Posts: 13303
Location: Latitude 39.56819, Longitude -105.080066 | Not that familiar with the brand but it is a very nice looking guitar. Hope that the 10s solve the intonation problem. |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 3111
Location: Nashville TN. | pretty guitar |
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Joined:
December 2006
Posts: 6268
Location: Florida Central Gulf Coast | Originally posted by stephent28:
Not that familiar with the brand Same here... But it sure did capture my attention! |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Those are great guitars. I think they go for around 5-600.00 new, and are worth more than that. A couple of friends have a few each and really like them. |
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Joined:
October 2008
Posts: 639
Location: NW of Philadelphia | Thanks guys. She is a pretty one.
As for the intonation on the D, I found another set of new 10 year old strings in .009s. I keep finding them in my guitar cases. I replaced the D, re-adjusted the intonation and VWALLAH... No more problem! |
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OT: My Memorial Day CL Find...