My new R4

[k.online]

Originally Posted by mattymel

the couv! nice. my only complaint with my R4 is that its neck is sticky. probably got oversprayed a bit. my tech told me he could sand it down, but that it would probably show up, maybe devalue it. not that i ever envision selling it. but he said if i just keep it out of the case and keep playing it, it will smooth out. until then...guess i'll be a little sticky.

Matty, try a little light steel wool. Won't take the finish off, just smooth it out. If you ever want to sell it, just buff it back up. Already done that with mine.

Everyone... I registered the domain 'www.wraptail.com' today. Not exactly sure what I am going to do with it, but I feel these guitars are unique enough that they deserve their own spotlight, not just a few threads on other forums. I am open to suggestions...

[neils]

K, Pre-wired assemblies from Lollar? Didn't see it on his website. So is he assembling his choices of pots and caps to go with his pups? What else could it be. Come on, tell us what you know.

I finally got to really play my R4 last night. Really like the neck. I've been raising the action and I think I'm there now. I re-strung it. Haven't touched the intonation yet and i can't believe how almost perfect it is after action changes and all. May or may not touch pickup position. I do hear the difference in the way the pots react vs my '56 Epi with all RS stuff in it. The woman tone is the fattest warmest most buttery eva'.

But there is no need to gut and wire this thing right now if ever. Damn it sounds fine. I wanna get to my brothers and put it through a Dr Z.

Neil

[k.online]

Jason Lollar posted on TGP that he is no longer selling through Acme and is offering prewired kits himself, they're just not on his website yet.

[mattymel]

once that goes online...im sold. ive been itching to holler at my vashon neighbor for some time. k. so konline...what kind of steel wool do you use to do that on the neck? was yours sticky too? and then what would you use to buff it?

[neils]

So Mateymel, when you did the '50's wiring on your R4 or your R9 did you also make the volume controls independent? The RS kit in my other guitar has '50's wiring and I did that for the caps. But it is still NOT independent volume controls so turning down either pup will kill the whole guitar even when both pickups are on. So which did you do?

Neil

[Von Bek]

That's a really sweet looking R4 there. Well, to be perfectly honest, all I see in the photos here are some truly beautiful guitars, including those two telecasters holding the strat up in the background there. Thanks for sharing them.

[mattymel]

i did 50s wiring to my R9, but keeping it so that the middle position still goes off if one of the pickups is down all the way. just personal preference. i am kind of jonesing to get my R4 done soon.
oh yeah...another thing that rocks about the R4 is that it is WAY more versatile with pedals. i was getting kind of bummed with the R9 because so many pedals cant handle the burstbuckers. now that i have the goldtop, makes me appreciate the '59 so much more when i am plugging straight in to my 1974x.

[k.online]

Originally Posted by Von Bek

That's a really sweet looking R4 there. Well, to be perfectly honest, all I see in the photos here are some truly beautiful guitars, including those two telecasters holding the strat up in the background there. Thanks for sharing them.

The Esqure on the left was totally happening... if you have $11,500 burning a hole in your pocket. To be honest, right now I feel like Strats are essentially firewood but Teles are cool. I will be purchasing a new Tele very soon. A guy named Eric at ECG builds these Teles called 'Pin Up' and they're fantastic, kind of like the Old World guitars from Sean at Lovepedal. I'll be ordering a blonde with a white guard.

Pin Up Tele at ECG

[Horse]

i cant find these for sale new in UK, whats the score?

[Horse]

Originally Posted by k.online

Hey TJ. You really gotta post some more photos of that sweet girl you've got... puh-leeez...???

TJ im guessing they dont make them with burst finishes now? only the GT?

[johnbeloe]

Originally Posted by Horse

TJ im guessing they dont make them with burst finishes now? only the GT?

yeah I'm in the UK too and absolutely GASSING for a burst r4!

[neils]

Just an FYI on my '02 R4. Measured through the input jack each pickup on my R4 measure 7.87K ohms. It was 3.xx with both on.

For comparison my Epiphone 1956 GT RI with P90's is @9K ohms each.

A Gibson P90 dogear I bought new in '08 for the Epi '57 Jr (before I installed a JS Moore P90) measures 7.7K but that is in a box and not in a guitar. That Jr sold minutes ago on eBay. Gonna miss that screamer.

So some data points to consider.

Neil

[Gunner]

Johanna looks great. Congrats.

[mattymel]

man, it seems like we have the same taste in guitars. my next guitar is going to be some kind of a blonde tele too. im kind of drifting back and forth on where to get it though. for a while i was thinking of a custom shop tele. but i think their prices are ridiculous. there is just something about fender guitars that makes me not want to shell out as much as a gibson. so i was thinking of a nash. but now i am leaning towards hahn guitars. expensive, but every one is supposed to be perfect. and he is using nitro and carves everythign himself, not just a bunch of parts screwed together like the nash stuff. though those play really well from what i hear.

[Tele Jr.]

Originally Posted by Horse

TJ im guessing they dont make them with burst finishes now? only the GT?

Originally Posted by johnbeloe

yeah I'm in the UK too and absolutely GASSING for a burst r4!

Well, we know where there are some iced tea plaintops left from '06 and '07. PM me if you are interested...

Originally Posted by k.online

To be honest, right now I feel like Strats are essentially firewood but Teles are cool... I'll be ordering a blonde with a white guard.

Pin Up Tele at ECG

Originally Posted by mattymel

man, it seems like we have the same taste in guitars. my next guitar is going to be some kind of a blonde tele too.

K, mattymel, I'm a long time Tele lover, white blonde white guards are my all time favorite. I think the best LP's are like a Telecaster on steroids, when I picked out my R9 I was looking for the most Telecaster like beast I could find and truly succeeded.

Now that I have my R4 I understand the roots of the LP are much more Tele-like than I ever knew.

Many wouldn't understand this but others will completely get it, I like my Tele's to be as LP like as possible, and I like my LP's to be as Tele like as possible...

I sort of carry the torch for the best of the Fender CS stuff, it's just plain foolish what they are able to charge for some of it now but you can get some real deals on clean used pieces.

[k.online]

Originally Posted by Tele Jr.

I sort of carry the torch for the best of the Fender CS stuff, it's just plain foolish what they are able to charge for some of it now but you can get some real deals on clean used pieces.

TJ, I played one of these Pin Up Teles while I was down in Seattle and it was one of the best Teles I have ever found. Big V-neck, super light and resonant, nitro, light relicing, Duncan Antiquities. In no way did it feel like a 'parts guitar'. In fact, the Pin Up held it's own against that old refin Esquire... and it's only $1400 with a case!!!

I'll refrain from hacking, but I really can't believe what some guitars go for out there. $3K is pretty much the ceiling I would pay for an instrument that I am going to play. Past that, it had better be vintage, extremely rare or somehow going up in value.

Amp prices are completely out of control. Everyone I knew thought I was fucking crazy when I paid $1800 for a Clubman head in 1997. Nowadays, anything under $2K is a bargain. I travel quite a bit and have been lucky enough to have actually played through many of the amps out there. Two Rock, Dumble (real and the various clones), Komet, Kingsley, /13, 65 Amps, Carol Ann, Carr, Category 5... you get the idea. Some have been lacklustre, some have been quite impressive, but none have made me want to replace my Matchless gear. Most that I thought were cool were in the $4-7K range. I promise you this, the only amp I am gonna pay $7K for is an original Plexi. Madness...

Aaaaahhh... got my Monday morning rant out... ;-)

[mattymel]

yes. it is a sad state of affairs with pricing on stuff. you know its bad when you feel lucky to have gotten something you like for under $2000. i got a 1965 fender blackface deluxe amp from emerald city. it took a few trips to solderhaus' brent to get the tremelo right but now i finally have an amp that is a keeper. i have been going off on gear lately. this is like my 3rd month in a row where at the end i am living on spaghetti. oh GEAR!!!!

[k.online]

As much of a gear pig as I am, I am really having to change my ways. I am 36, doing well career-wise, just bought my first condo this year. My plan is to semi-retire in ten years or so, move to a much cheaper city and concentrate on music & fine art photography, my two passions. So as much as I can theoretically afford something, I have to remember that a few thousand now can potentially be tens of thousands in investment income down the road. Certainly not in the current economy but it won't always be like this. At very least I'd like to have options down the road rather than being locked into the 'day job' forever.

[banditguitarist1]

I got R4 gas now...:-/ thanks alot guys lmao

[k.online]

Tone tip: A friend of mine told me this. Set the selector in the middle, set the neck pickup volume on '2' with the tone rolled all the way back, then adjust the bridge volume to taste. Keeps the bite of the full bridge but adds some warmth.

[Tele Jr.]

I'm fortunate that I was able to score my #1 CS Tele years ago before they got so high. I've also got 2 Fender Tone Masters and 2 Prosonics, a bunch of cabs and 2 63RI Reverb boxes. I bring a background as a horn player to my guitar playing, the amp is like your lungs, and to me just as important as the guitar if not more so. I am of the personal opinion that in an auditorium sized room, a 100 watt amp is necessary to reproduce the power of a man with a horn who knows how to put air through it.

I myself have not bought a lot of expensive gear in my life, nearly every choice piece I have was bought for me as a gift, including my historic LP's.

Even my first Stradivarious trumpet that I bought as a kid was done with a savings bond given to me by a relative I never knew.

K, you are so right about the opportunity cost of overspending on gear and such. I'm a CPA in public practice and routinely see 2k contributions to IRA's turn into 10 or even 20 times that amount by retirement time. Many a geezer in mid life crisis don't realize that trophy sports car or whatever is going to cost them a quarter mil down the road...

[Horse]

Originally Posted by Tele Jr.

I'm fortunate that I was able to score my #1 CS Tele years ago before they got so high. I've also got 2 Fender Tone Masters and 2 Prosonics, a bunch of cabs and 2 63RI Reverb boxes. I bring a background as a horn player to my guitar playing, the amp is like your lungs, and to me just as important as the guitar if not more so. I am of the personal opinion that in an auditorium sized room, a 100 watt amp is necessary to reproduce the power of a man with a horn who knows how to put air through it.

I myself have not bought a lot of expensive gear in my life, nearly every choice piece I have was bought for me as a gift, including my historic LP's.

Even my first Stradivarious trumpet that I bought as a kid was done with a savings bond given to me by a relative I never knew.

K, you are so right about the opportunity cost of overspending on gear and such. I'm a CPA in public practice and routinely see 2k contributions to IRA's turn into 10 or even 20 times that amount by retirement time. Many a geezer in mid life crisis don't realize that trophy sports car or whatever is going to cost them a quarter mil down the road...

2 Prosonics..... thats just showing off bro damn good tone machine amps, wish i had one

[Tele Jr.]

My Prosonic head is in a blonde/oxblood Tone Master head cab originally built by Bruce Zinky as a dummy stage head for Richie Sambora. So I also have a Tone Master dummy chassis built by Bruce that looks real but is blank inside and just lights up the light on the front to look like it's on.

[k.online]

I once read that Sean at Lovepedal originally designed the COT50 to take with him to jams where he will probably have to plug into less-than-stellar amps and still get a great tone. Based on this, I recently purchased an older handwired unit and I concur. Last night I had to play through a Lab Series L5 and the COT delivered as promised. Not necessarily overly distorted, but 'lively' with great overtones and dynamics. Great buy.

As much as I love my Clubman, I find on many gigs it is just too much. A 1x12" cab helped a great deal as it has less 'spread' than the 2x12" I usually prefer. I have tried a number of 10-20 watt amps and while they can solve the initial volume problem, I find that toward the end of the night when the band gets cooking they can run out of gas.

Light bulb.

Set the Clubman for a clean, quiet (and rather uninspiring) tone and use the COT as described above for quiet gigs, or revert to my regular settings if things get cooking. Tried it this afternoon and it sounded great. Not as good as my amp when turned up, but totally useable.

So now that I don't have to buy another amp, like the Lightning 15 I was eyeing, can you say 'Historic Junior'...?

[Tele Jr.]

Originally Posted by k.online

can you say 'Historic Junior'...?

On the other hand, you don't take it with you...

One of the questions often asked the CPA in charge of the estate when a prominent client dies is;

"How much did he leave behind?"

and my answer is always the same...

"All of it..."

Life is short and if you are an artist at heart I believe it's sort of your duty to answer the call and gear up with equipment that inspires you.

And I have to say my R4 is quite the inspiration, I'm discovering more and more of the things it is capable of and am a little surprised that with all my experience as a musician and a guitar player I can still be so inspired by a new instrument. There is a level of provocative nuance here that my R4 is capable of that is really spanking my monkey right now.

[Von Bek]

I'll be ordering a blonde with a white guard.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Dig it!

[k.online]

Originally Posted by Tele Jr.

And I have to say my R4 is quite the inspiration, I'm discovering more and more of the things it is capable of and am a little surprised that with all my experience as a musician and a guitar player I can still be so inspired by a new instrument. There is a level of provocative nuance here that my R4 is capable of that is really spanking my monkey right now.

Yeah, I TOTALLY understand that...!!!

[Bluesdj]

Originally Posted by Tele Jr.

Well, we know where there are some iced tea plaintops left from '06 and '07. PM me if you are interested....

Tried the PM to no avail. Just where would these R4's be? and how many $$? Maybe try PM to me if you don't want to let it out...

[Horse]

Originally Posted by k.online

Matty, try a little light steel wool. Won't take the finish off, just smooth it out. If you ever want to sell it, just buff it back up. Already done that with mine.

Everyone... I registered the domain 'www.wraptail.com' today. Not exactly sure what I am going to do with it, but I feel these guitars are unique enough that they deserve their own spotlight, not just a few threads on other forums. I am open to suggestions...

thats great, id be there! i love these babies, and youre right they need their own site

[Tele Jr.]

K, Much of what is intriguing me most is related to the way the wrap bridge will sympathetically vibrate the other strings.

Digging in or backing off will control the amount of of sympathetic bleed and tone melt between the strings. When doing things like arpeggiated figures, you can control the amount of melting together or separation between the notes by altering the touch.

This also means what we have here is a much less forgiving but also much more potentially expressive tone machine.

I'm recalling now the Tone Quest report where they indicated as duly notable how the vintage wrap bridge on the test guitar didn't seem to ring out like it should or would have been expected to do. So I'm sort of wondering now if this isn't something that varies with each wraptail LP, part of the character of each piece. My '07 seems to be doing it righteous for me like that, sometimes it almost seems like it's chambered or something but it's a little different sort of sustaining ring coming from the bridge vs my CR7.

Bluesje,

Sorry for the delay, email sent...

Good luck with the hunt!