# Josh Travis' new custom Legator 8



## Philligan (Apr 16, 2013)

From EMG's facebook. His guitars are always bare bones and I like them 

808X, and that's all I know for specs  looks like a mahogany top, so I'm gonna guess the usual maple/walnut neck thru? The first fret doesn't look too far from the nut, so my guess is it's got the standard 26.5" scale length. I'll see what else I can find out - post specs if you've got em!


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## Eclipse (Apr 16, 2013)

Awesome! Love that headstock.


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## gunch (Apr 16, 2013)

So he ditched Strictly 7?

On this one I can't say I like the headstock all that much.


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## s_k_mullins (Apr 16, 2013)

Wow, two weeks ago I'd never heard of Legator guitars. And now I've seen three well known guitarists playing them, and a Legator NGD thread on here.


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## Philligan (Apr 16, 2013)

silverabyss said:


> So he ditched Strictly 7?
> 
> On this one I can't say I like the headstock all that much.



Yeah. Pretty much every one of their endorsees did, with the exception of Ola. Keith, Josh, Acle, Jim from Chimp Spanner... They all had signature guitars, and AFAIK all dropped after getting their prototypes. Josh played his first two customs and two standard Cobras for a while, got a 9 that I've only seen one clip of, and got his full custom 9, and AFAIK it hasn't seen the light of day.

Also, apparently he does indeed have a Legator 9 in the works  I hope we actually get some clips of that one, the guy really knows how to use all the extra range.


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## Nykur_Myrkvi (Apr 16, 2013)

silverabyss said:


> So he ditched Strictly 7?


Doesn't have to be as this is a custom.

Edit:
/\Ninja'd


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## Rook (Apr 16, 2013)

This immediately reminded me on Invictus, aesthetically at least. Can't explain why...






Too soon?


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## Philligan (Apr 16, 2013)

Rook said:


> This immediately reminded me on Invictus, aesthetically at least. Can't explain why...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Never forget 


On the upside, this guitar looks like it actually plays  It's not helping my 808x GAS. My RG8 should be here any day, then I'll hopefully order a set for it


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## MF_Kitten (Apr 17, 2013)

I dunno, it doesn't look bad. It's just not very interesting or particularly pretty. It might be an amazing guitar for all we know.


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## decreebass (Apr 17, 2013)

I still don't get how people play without the the neck pup...


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## Rook (Apr 17, 2013)

MF_Kitten said:


> I dunno, it doesn't look bad. It's just not very interesting or particularly pretty. It might be an amazing guitar for all we know.



Yeah wasn't commenting on quality, just the first pic looked...

Invictussy....


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## facepalm66 (Apr 17, 2013)

I kinda pitty S7 :/ 

It's more of a bubble than the actual quality, IMO.
Ofc, some price drop would be fair enough


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## Philligan (Apr 17, 2013)

facepalm66 said:


> I kinda pitty S7 :/
> 
> It's more of a bubble than the actual quality, IMO.
> Ofc, some price drop would be fair enough



Yeah, I've talked to them and they're super nice guys. Just seems like hype and ambition got the best of them.

Anyway, I messaged Josh on facebook a while back about his specs, hopefully he replies soon  I'm really pumped to see this 9 string, too.


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## mphsc (Apr 17, 2013)

dig the inlay and S7 can ride out the Boden era for a while.


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## Shredmon (Apr 17, 2013)

I love this thing, it would be awesome when he would get an official signature guitar...


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## Konfyouzd (Apr 17, 2013)

decreebass said:


> I still don't get how people play without the the neck pup...



Pure rhythm players... 

That or they use a pup that can go both ways... There are a small few that can.


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## Bigfan (Apr 17, 2013)

Aw, this one looks even more boring than his S7 sig. Love the man's playing, but these guitars don't look like anything special. I'd figure you should get something unique for a custom


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## Konfyouzd (Apr 17, 2013)

^ Maybe he's just a simple man...


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## Tristoner7 (Apr 17, 2013)

If only that Headstock was reversed. Nice guitar though.


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## jonajon91 (Apr 17, 2013)

One active pickup? ... okay then.


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## Danukenator (Apr 17, 2013)

jonajon91 said:


> One active pickup? ... okay then.



You realize this is what HE wanted, right? I know actives don't get a lot of love here but tons of people use them and like them.


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## Philligan (Apr 17, 2013)

Danukenator said:


> You realize this is what HE wanted, right? I know actives don't get a lot of love here but tons of people use them and like them.



 Danza III, Danza IIII, and the Royal Thousand were all recorded with a single 808.


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## Bigfan (Apr 17, 2013)

Philligan said:


> Danza III, Danza IIII, and the Royal Thousand were all recorded with a single 808.



With the amount of hate those mixes get that's hardly a convincing argument for the 808


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## Rick (Apr 17, 2013)

Oh well.


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## Rook (Apr 17, 2013)

Bigfan said:


> With the amount of hate those mixes get that's hardly a convincing argument for the 808



I'm not a fan, but the pickups could have been hand wound by Steven Hawking using unobtainium bobbins and unicorn hair coils, it would have made no measurable difference hahaha.


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## Philligan (Apr 17, 2013)

Bigfan said:


> With the amount of hate those mixes get that's hardly a convincing argument for the 808



I didn't know it was that bad  Danza III was pretty rough, but I thought IIII and Royal Thousand sounded killer.


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## Koloss85 (Apr 17, 2013)

I honestly love those 3 albums especially danza iiii. Travis is one off favorites for sure. I just couldn't get along with the 808 when I had it even with the 18v mod. But now that I have a little better setup, I'd definitely be open to trying it again before just doing an automatic pick up swap.


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## GizmoJunior (Apr 17, 2013)

I think the guitar is stunning in its simplicity. I saw Glass Cloud this past Friday and he played it along with another Legator 8. They were both badass guitars but the other one has a neck pickup.


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## WaffleTheEpic (Apr 17, 2013)

Konfyouzd said:


> Pure rhythm players...
> 
> That or they use a pup that can go both ways... There are a small few that can.



Like Meshuggah and their Lundgren M8s. 

They use only bridge pups and their cleans actually sound amazing.

Personally I'm not a fan of how cleans sound over bridge pups, but that's probably because I haven't found the right bridge pup or dialed in the right settings yet. XD


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## General Stalin (Apr 18, 2013)

I actually saw Josh this past weekend playing this guitar at Jamboree in OH. I can't really comment on it's sound or how it looked to play because I'm almost 100% certain he basically air-guitar'd over a track. He was swinging his guitar around and running all over the place like and animal and was barely playing anything that looked like what I was hearing through the PA system. Regardless, it was a good show.

I think the 808's sound good depending on the guitar they are put in. I played an LTD with 808's and it sounded muddy and awful, but then when I hear Javier Reyes play his Ibanez with an 808 it sounds clear and beautiful. I also played a Dean RC8 the other day with 808's and it sounded pretty damn decent (especially for a 25.5" scale).


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## Semichastny (Apr 18, 2013)

Philligan said:


> I didn't know it was that bad  Danza III was pretty rough, but I thought IIII and Royal Thousand sounded killer.



Danza III also came out around the time non-meshuggah 8-string guitar tones were still in their infancy. It also doesn't help that a production 8 with a 28+ scale was not very common then, and many of the core/djent bands who would use them are not the types who would have proper sized strings on their ERGs.


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## JosephAOI (Apr 19, 2013)

Guys, trust me. After hearing this guitar live, seeing it up close and playing it, this company is gonna go places. Fantastic guitar. Played like BUTTER. Absolutely effortless.


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## Philligan (Apr 19, 2013)

Semichastny said:


> Danza III also came out around the time non-meshuggah 8-string guitar tones were still in their infancy. It also doesn't help that a production 8 with a 28+ scale was not very common then, and many of the core/djent bands who would use them are not the types who would have proper sized strings on their ERGs.



 



JosephAOI said:


> Guys, trust me. After hearing this guitar live, seeing it up close and playing it, this company is gonna go places. Fantastic guitar. Played like BUTTER. Absolutely effortless.



Nice  It'll be cool when some guys here start getting them, I'm interested to see what these are like.


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## Zhysick (Apr 20, 2013)

Beautiful... looks like a Jackson COW8 but from another brand... if that makes any sense...


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## MrYakob (Apr 21, 2013)

I'm digging the simplistic look of it, but in-line 8 string headstocks often just seem too long for my tastes


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## The Scenic View (Apr 21, 2013)

I had the chance to sit down with the band Reflections a few weeks ago, and they absolutely love their Legator 7's. They say it blows all 7's out of the water (coming from RC7's).


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## Philligan (Apr 21, 2013)

The Scenic View said:


> I had the chance to sit down with the band Reflections a few weeks ago, and they absolutely love their Legator 7's. They say it blows all 7's out of the water (coming from RC7's).



That's what seems kinda funny to me. I have nothing against the brand or any guys playing them, and they look cool, but it's weird that they're suddenly this established company that no one knows much about, with this group of endorsees singing their praises like they cured cancer, but no guitars on shops or on the streets.

There still isn't much on youtube, but I found this demo. The kid in this is hamming it up so bad, he sounds like he's doing his wedding vows. On a slightly related note, however, it does sound good  I could just be out of the loop, but something seems weird with these guys.



edit: Fun fact. Thanks to that video, I found out that it's pronounced "leg-ah-tore", not "luh-gator".


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## Hollowway (Apr 21, 2013)

I don't know, I still gotta give these guitars a big "meh." I read that the guy in charge of the company patented the body design. I really don't see anything about those unique, so maybe it was something else. At this point I have zero desire to buy anything from them because this is the exact way all of these companies who have gone south started: come out of nowhere with lots of different options (Legator has 60 models), have a bunch of endorsers right off the bat, have a custom shop as well as overseas production shops, have a super polished web page and online presence. Supposedly these guys have a 50,000 sf warehouse in the LA area. I'm just wondering how the heck they're financing all of this, and whether this is going to be another situation where after the super good initial models they get overwhelmed with orders, which are needed to pay the bills, and then quality goes down the tubes. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I'm gonna hang out until I see an established track record for these guys.


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## fr4nci2c0 (Apr 21, 2013)

General Stalin said:


> I actually saw Josh this past weekend playing this guitar at Jamboree in OH. I can't really comment on it's sound or how it looked to play because I'm almost 100% certain he basically air-guitar'd over a track. He was swinging his guitar around and running all over the place like and animal and was barely playing anything that looked like what I was hearing through the PA system. Regardless, it was a good show.



well thats weak. I dont see why Josh would want to do that. When I saw him with danza he nailed it


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## MikeK (Apr 22, 2013)

26.5" scale 8's always feel like turds when I've played them.


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## underthecurve (Apr 22, 2013)

Hollowway said:


> I don't know, I still gotta give these guitars a big "meh." I read that the guy in charge of the company patented the body design. I really don't see anything about those unique, so maybe it was something else. At this point I have zero desire to buy anything from them because this is the exact way all of these companies who have gone south started: come out of nowhere with lots of different options (Legator has 60 models), have a bunch of endorsers right off the bat, have a custom shop as well as overseas production shops, have a super polished web page and online presence. Supposedly these guys have a 50,000 sf warehouse in the LA area. I'm just wondering how the heck they're financing all of this, and whether this is going to be another situation where after the super good initial models they get overwhelmed with orders, which are needed to pay the bills, and then quality goes down the tubes. Maybe I'm just jaded, but I'm gonna hang out until I see an established track record for these guys.



Spot on. These guys might not have similar issues because I don't think they actually build the guitars. My bet is that they are importers, and not manufacturers. All the designs look painfully similar to $250 ebay guitars from china. That 50k sqft warehouse is just that, a warehouse. I'd put money that no guitars are built in America. 
Just took a look at the website. The amps feature L6L tubes, if anyone has been wanting to try those out. Also, on their contact page are listings for adresses in Indonesia, Korea, and Japan....


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## Danukenator (Apr 22, 2013)

Hollowway said:


> Stuff that's probably true.



I didn't want to be the one to say it. But this is exactly what I'm thinking.


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## vansinn (Apr 22, 2013)

Rook said:


> I'm not a fan, but the pickups could have been hand wound by Steven Hawking using unobtainium bobbins and unicorn hair coils, it would have made no measurable difference hahaha.



Unobtainium has a very different dielectric; just might sweeten the tone a Bit.. 

Anyways.. I dig the instrument. No BS, simple and to the point


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## Tesla (Apr 22, 2013)

I like the simplicity of his guitars...and I'm a fan of the COW Jacksons, which this one resembles. The headstock though... :-(

And for the miming thing - I've never seen them live, but from what I can see on YouTube he does go a bit crazy but the guitar sound in the videos is quite different from the album, so it must be live surely? Unless he was clever enough to record a seperate live-sounding track? I reeeaally hope not, because he's one of my favourite players right now!


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## codycarter (Apr 23, 2013)

They are over priced to be honest. I mean nearly 2k for a standard production 8 that's is just meh


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## Philligan (Apr 23, 2013)

underthecurve said:


> Spot on. These guys might not have similar issues because I don't think they actually build the guitars. My bet is that they are importers, and not manufacturers. All the designs look painfully similar to $250 ebay guitars from china. That 50k sqft warehouse is just that, a warehouse. I'd put money that no guitars are built in America.
> Just took a look at the website. The amps feature L6L tubes, if anyone has been wanting to try those out. Also, on their contact page are listings for adresses in Indonesia, Korea, and Japan....



IIRC they don't have US guitars (other than maybe customs). I thought their high end stuff was Japanese.


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## thatguy5557123 (Apr 23, 2013)

silverabyss said:


> So he ditched Strictly 7?



Yeah man, I talked to him a few days ago and he was saying Jim and strictly 7 are becoming real flaky and taking way to long for very simple things.

He seemed super excited for his new guitars so much so that he sold me on them more then I was before.


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## simonXsludge (Apr 23, 2013)

I'm also hestitant about Legator. They look a little cheap and really came out of nowhere. The headstocks are not my thing either.


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## codycarter (Apr 23, 2013)




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## Tesla (Apr 23, 2013)

Wow...those are ugly.


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## InfinityCollision (Apr 23, 2013)

Dafuq is that headstock? Also curious what exactly that patent pertains to...


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## Rick (Apr 23, 2013)

Gross.


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## MikeH (Apr 23, 2013)

$5k list........


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## gunch (Apr 23, 2013)

> $4,999 LIST PRICE


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## gordon_mlz (Apr 23, 2013)

decreebass said:


> I still don't get how people play without the the neck pup...



Agreed. Shredding and riffing with the bridge is tits and all, but sometimes the axe just needs to ride a warm solo on the neck pup every now and again.


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## Robby the Robot (Apr 23, 2013)

That list pricing just ruined what was a wonderful milkshake I was enjoying.  Good thing I'm too broke to have GAS for these guitars.


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## Philligan (Apr 24, 2013)

My Japan = affordable quality philosophy just got thrown out the window.


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## guitarnoize (Apr 24, 2013)

5k for a superstrat with a fugly headstock. For half that price you could get a Suhr!


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## TheFashel12 (Apr 24, 2013)

I don't understand how a relatively unknown company can charge that much for their guitars


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## TIBrent (Apr 24, 2013)

Dat Price = See you later Legator!


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## mike90t09 (Apr 24, 2013)

I love how simple it is. I love that it only has the single pickup. I wouldn't buy this exact guitar because I want my own, not someone else's sig lol


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## willis7452 (Apr 26, 2013)

I love Joshs bands, plisaying style, guitars and I love this but id buy any guitar before id buy this for 5k. Thats insane! Id buy a TAM100 and an Axe Fx if I had that kind of money to blow on fancy expensive things


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## MrYakob (Apr 29, 2013)

willis7452 said:


> I love Joshs bands, plisaying style, guitars and I love this but id buy any guitar before id buy this for 5k. Thats insane! Id buy a TAM100 and an Axe Fx if I had that kind of money to blow on fancy expensive things



This. I'm going to see Glass Cloud tonight so I should get a good look at it assuming he's using it! I personally don't see anything that makes it worth anywhere near that price but then again I also haven't played it.


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