Weird...but kewl!

Kloppsta · Post by **Kloppsta** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:03 pm

The "Switch Ultima IV"

"one of the coolest designs of the year with the advent of Switches â€œVibracellâ€ 3-D shaped neck-thru body. For guys who swear that strings thru body provide better sustain â€“ these strings go WAY through the body â€“ all the way out to the back edge! Like Andersons, it has the dual strap pins on either side of the string ferrules. Other features are Grover tuners, tuneomatic bridge, dual humbuckers, 1 11/16â€ nut, 25.5â€ scale, bound neck, raised silver logo. It is one of the most uniquely styled guitars I have ever seen and highly recommended for someone looking for something a littleâ€¦different. Vibracell doesnâ€™t change with the seasons and isnâ€™t sensitive temperature differences so once you set it up, it should stay that way for a long, long time. This guitar is flawless and could be sold as new and an excellent choice in this price range, $275."

Not a bad buy for someone @ $275 USD. Should be pretty cool to play!

goldtop0 · Post by **goldtop0** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:08 pm

And it's got humbuckers

The Scarecrow · Post by **The Scarecrow** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:14 pm

Paintjob is pretty awful, but the shape is kinda cool, Tele on steroids.

TMG 03 · Post by **TMG 03** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 4:39 pm

Looks very cool. I would prefer the less Robot look and have it looking closer to an normal tele shape. I love the look of where the neck meets the body.

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 5:45 am

I'm sure its better in person than in the photos.

It looks to me like a Swedish design - sort of like an early SAAB. By that, I refer to its stranger than normal shapes and designs, which have less to do with functionality and all to do with making it appear different. But good on them for doing something different - it must be damn hard to be original when designing a geetar - I mean in the past 50+ years - haven't we seen just about everything?

I'm sure it'll appeal to scads of kids all round the place - especially if someone famous ever uses one. Kids are easily deceived that way. XXX uses one, so it must be good - if I buy one, it'll make me good etc

ash · Post by **ash** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:04 am

Rog wrote:
I'm sure it'll appeal to scads of kids all round the place - especially if someone famous ever uses one. Kids are easily deceived that way. XXX uses one, so it must be good - if I buy one, it'll make me good etc

Rog, I didn't realise Yngwie Malmsteen had such an effect on you

Its an interesting idea... kind of like a submerged archtop tailpeice. Unfortunately there would be some consequenses in that unless you had roller or graphtech saddles, bends (while feeling light) would be less likely to come back into tune, and there's a slight risk of the strings buzzing inside their channels. But I'm sure they would have already discovered those potential problems and dealt with them.

I dare say its a cow to thread a string all the way up those channels too, especially if it has already been wrapped around the tuner before!

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:28 am

> especially if it has already been wrapped around the tuner before!

Are you trying to say people actually re-use strings?

Must be some strange people out there....

Actually, that yet another advantage of locking tuners - there's only one kink to be straightened out - no wrapping round the tuners.

ash · Post by **ash** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:47 am

Well, some people do re-use them, but I was referring to those occasions like setting up, when you sometimes need to remove a new set to adjust or change something...

Gelato · Post by **Gelato** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 11:57 am

Rog wrote:Are you trying to say people actually re-use strings?

Must be some strange people out there....

Yip, i remember reading, many years ago in a guitar mag, about extending their life by boiling them (the strings, not the magazine)... Used to do it quite a lot when the cost of a new set of strings was more than I could afford

Worked ok, got a few more days playing out of them

Kloppsta · Post by **Kloppsta** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:06 pm

Yeah, ive heard the "Boiling" technique works particularly well with thicker gauge strings and especially bass strings. It apparently gives them that "new" "clean" feel, but only adds a little more "brightness" so they sound more like a "couple of day old strings", which I personally find more pleasent than brand spankers.

It just sounds to rangi though! Imagine -

"Au Bro, tont fourget da gas cooker and da pot Au! Gotta boil dem stings befour da geeg au"

ash · Post by **ash** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:14 pm

Yeah, I used to boil bass strings, but guitar strings were never worth the effort. You can add a dash of vinegar or salt to help clean the muck off too. Some model aeroplane people clean their engines by boiling them in propylene glycol antifreeze... outside of course! It cleans everything down to shiny metal.

Rog · Post by **Rog** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 12:40 pm

For those of us who prefer flats - bright is exactly what we do NOT want to hear.

Yep, I tried the boiling in water, cooking in oil, drowning in CRC methods way back when I used Rotos, but really, its just too much effort for too little return, IMO.

I also used the dipping in hot lacquer method once - they had a vat for that at some factory I worked at. That was probably the more successful - cleaned in a trichorolethylene (sp?) bath first then hot coated.

That was around the time when I also used the nylon covered bass strings.

Hot_Grits · Post by **Hot_Grits** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 1:00 pm

The Scarecrow wrote:Paintjob is pretty awful, but the shape is kinda cool, Tele on steroids.

Hmmm, I was thinking less 'tele on steriods' and more 'tele in german s&m outfit'.

I guess you could say I'm less than impressed by the aesthetics.