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Location: Buffalo,NY | ....I'm talking about the vintage solidbody version. Is there anything I should be on the lookout for ?? I would want to play it at gigs through my vintage Fender,Ampeg or Gibson amps ; may also put it through a Vox AC-15TBX.(Actually I would want one of our other guitarists to play it so I could have the UKII back to play!!).
Can you offer any opinions, thoughts, guidance , advice, belittling critism, etc,etc. Thank you.
Regards,
Tom |
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Location: Upper Left USA | The big differences rest with:
Maple or Mahogany Neck - Maple is snappy and Mahogany adds sustain from what I've heard.
Maple or Ebony Fretboard - same comparison.
Viper or Viper III? Three pup set up can be juicy or overboard.
One Piece Schaller Bridge - My preference over the Brass and Plastic. Very easy to upgrade to and available through the Factory or several Ebay Sellers.
Mahogany/Alder/Maple bodies - the debate goes on...
The pups are wired pretty basic with 250k pots. I prefer the installation of a Stewmac Blender in place of the 3 way switch. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | I've found that a maple neck has a snappier brighter tone. A mahogany neck is warmer and more midrangy. The sustain seems to me just as long, but while the maple sustain drops off in a sort of reverse j shape, mahogany to me has drop off in a straight line.
I've found that the ebony fret board to be more or less the same as maple with slightly more sustain.
That said, the neck makes up only 10% of the sound.
The body adds a lot more to the sound and is much more important. Mahogany bodies are warm and midrangey to me. Alder has no drop off's throughout the sound spectrum, guess you could say it's flat. Never played a maple bodied electric and can offer no opinion on this. The other general purpose tone wood is Swamp Ash, which generally has a very rich bottom end and top end, with a scooped mid.
Let me state that this based on my own experience, others will of course differ. |
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Location: GA USA | Stephen gave me some good advice when I was thinking of buying one with repair and modification issues. Buy one with original pickups so you can hear how it's supposed to sound. You can change them out if you feel you need to. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | by Rick while the maple sustain drops off in a sort of reverse j shape, mahogany to me has drop off in a straight line. This is dangerously close to, "Toasted Wheat Overtones" |
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Location: south east Michigan | The same thought came to my mind. |
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Location: Bluffton, SC | Originally posted by Slipkid:
The same thought came to my mind. Here's another thought - You may want to go back and revisit that first one 'cause I'm thinking somebody's misreading something...
'Course it could be me... :rolleyes: |
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Location: Upper Left USA | Use your words, boys... |
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Location: Up North | "It tastes a bit nutty"
Austin Powers |
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Location: Colorado Rocky Mountains | For total cool, look for a Viper III in natural ash with the maple fretboard, and with a vintage Fender amp, it will sound even better if you're wearing your favorite Hawaiin shirt, hypothetically speaking, of course.
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Location: Up North | That is a beauty Professor. |
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| Dr. Tom,
Here's an option...Ebay# 290110257321 Looks good so far..
steve |
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Location: Up North | That is a beauty Professor. |
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Location: Up North | Wow, server lag big-time today! |
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Location: Simpsonville, SC | Come on Doc, just buy one of each! I will gladly take the one or one's that you don't care for! ;) :D |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Tsk. Tsk. You boys have potty mouths.
Let me make it clear: I did not mean to disparage maple necks. My tele has a maple neck. I know maple necks, and there is no way I meant to say "taste nutty."
I was just trying to explain the sustain relative to mahogany and I have failed.
Forgive me maple, I have wronged you. |
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Location: closely held secret | You're just lucky my viper (maple neck, maple body) didn't hear that... |
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Location: Scotland | Go for a 3 pickup model, they do the tele thing and the strat thing really well. Some of the all maple examples weigh a ton. In my experience the lighter ones sound better and are easier on your shoulder over the course of a gig. But then that's generally the case with solidbodies, the lighter they are, the better they sound. I ditched a sunburst 2 pickup Viper because I would be in pain after 30 minutes of wearing it. |
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Location: Capital District, NY, USA Minor Outlying Islands | Page that has descriptions of woods and their tones. Does a better description than me. Let me add my two favorite necks are maple with a pau ferro fret board, and mahogany with ebony fret board. Good luck. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | Rick, you would love that old Hamer Californian (Diablo) I had... beautiful Maple neck/ PauFerro board |
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Location: closely held secret | He'd probably like that Hamer Echotone you used to have, too. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | If you really want one buy the first one you see. Don't like it upgrade to something else.
V3 w/maple is a good starting point if you want to be picky. |
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Location: Earth·SolarSystem·LocalInterstellarCloud·Local Bub | EH, Wabbit, It'd be our pleasah to excort you to dis years OFC Tooah
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Location: closely held secret | They look like members of a bowling team.
The losing team.
Feel no fret, your baby will be there. Most gracious of you to let me have her this long, by the way. |
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Location: Buffalo,NY | ProfessorBB
posted May 04, 2007 03:54 PM For total cool, look for a Viper III in natural ash with the maple fretboard, and with a vintage Fender amp, it will sound even better if you're wearing your favorite Hawaiin shirt, hypothetically speaking, of course.
ProfessorBB,
Thank you very much. I think yours is probably the best advice.
No else has considered or even mentioned the very important effect that clothing has on tone.I'm a bit disappointed because I thought that most of the people here knew what they were talking about when it came to Ovations and tone. I won't make that mistake again :D
Maybe I should have a hat made of maple and slip on some nice mahogany shoes. Do you think that would be a good tone combination? And lest I forget , the hat and shoes would definiely be used in conjunction with a Hawaian shirt. I'll need further tone advice for the trousers.
MWoody ,Captain_Lovehandles,Jeff W. ,Slipkid ,Weaser P,Grif ,Steve ,BegginJM,The Wabbit Formerly Known As Waskel,Paul Templeman ,
Thank you for your comments.
an4340 ,
The link to the FAQ's on tone wood were a good summary of the various woods and tone. Thank you.
cwk2
posted May 04, 2007 07:32 PM
If you really want one buy the first one you see. Don't like it upgrade to something else.
V3 w/maple is a good starting point if you want to be picky. Seriously,I think that's what I will probably do. I have my eye on a few of different flavors and I'll try to get an unmodified one at good price. What's a good price ??!!
Regards,
Tom
Regards |
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Just hypothettically speaking, if I were to buy a Viper...
