narad
Progressive metal and politics
I'm sad that I'm giving away my long planned joke to do "not your grandpa's tele" NGD and then just have it be some random explorer, but that other guy's thread is long gone so I guess I'll just move on..
So there's always been something about those super old Tom Anderson pro-am/grand-ams from the late 80s when the headstocks looked like slimmed down Fender shapes, but they don't pop up much, and they definitely don't pop up in Japan very much. Had a chance the other week to grab one. It's not free of issues but it's pretty:
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It's a bit dinged up around the edges, there's a decent sized chip in the finish at the bottom of the front, and weird scratches with like finish bulges around the back, but overall pretty minor stuff I suppose. The finish is a beautiful color though. This is the grand am model, which is like a fancy version of the pro-am. Grand ams would have koa, figured maple, or lacewood bodies, and like maple or pau ferro necks. Pro ams were more basswood.
After years of hearing about Anderson playability, I can maybe see it, the neck shape is great, the body is comfy, it feels like it should be a really good playing guitar, but I get some resistance in bending and it's just not particularly smooth. It was advertised as 70% frets remaining, which is ilke, how do I even interpret that? But I think there are sections on the treble side where I might want to refret. It's no real problem with the intonation and there's no buzzing, but just not super smooth. Could also be the relief, but I guess the neck has to come off to adjust, and I'm not sure I've ever done that style before - what a pain!
The switching is also something I'd heard about a bit, but I don't find it so useful. It's basically like each switch can be full-on in series, off, or a choice of split or parallel (there's dip switches in the control panel I guess). Then one toggle switches between bridge full-on, and whatever you have your settings on. It's a cool setup if you only really have 2 things going on, which is usually one more than I need
But the in-between sounds aren't that interesting TBH. Maybe I should try the other dipswitch setting. But there's also some grounding issues that I'm sure new ones don't ship with, but weren't disclosed. Pretty noisy in a lot of positions if I dont have my hand on the output jack.
The other thing I didn't ilke so much was the fretboard. In the listing it looked like nice rosewood with reddish streaks, but it looks now like it's pau ferro (that's the usual old one, but nothing against that, usually it's darker though) and then maybe someone tried to stain it black instead of giving it some moisture? So not sure if it's going to stay around or if I can work a discount for these undisclosed issues. I feel like I overpaid a bit for the issues, but complaining in Japan is hard to do.
It's interesting trying to reflect on TA then and now. At the time, a lot of these features were super innovative, and the pickups may have been really versatile and good for a variety of the sounds people wanted in the 80s - glassy cleans, a bunch of variety on neck tones for fusion stuff, and good crunch on the HB. They definitely have character, but I'm not getting thaaat metal of a sound from them (despite guys like Kirk Hammett using them). Probably not as many metal sounds as just a fishman fluence setup these days.
So there's always been something about those super old Tom Anderson pro-am/grand-ams from the late 80s when the headstocks looked like slimmed down Fender shapes, but they don't pop up much, and they definitely don't pop up in Japan very much. Had a chance the other week to grab one. It's not free of issues but it's pretty:
View attachment DSC00324.jpg
View attachment DSC00325.jpg
View attachment DSC00331.jpg
View attachment DSC00332.jpg
View attachment DSC00334.jpg
View attachment DSC00335.jpg
View attachment DSC00336.jpg
View attachment DSC00338.jpg
It's a bit dinged up around the edges, there's a decent sized chip in the finish at the bottom of the front, and weird scratches with like finish bulges around the back, but overall pretty minor stuff I suppose. The finish is a beautiful color though. This is the grand am model, which is like a fancy version of the pro-am. Grand ams would have koa, figured maple, or lacewood bodies, and like maple or pau ferro necks. Pro ams were more basswood.
After years of hearing about Anderson playability, I can maybe see it, the neck shape is great, the body is comfy, it feels like it should be a really good playing guitar, but I get some resistance in bending and it's just not particularly smooth. It was advertised as 70% frets remaining, which is ilke, how do I even interpret that? But I think there are sections on the treble side where I might want to refret. It's no real problem with the intonation and there's no buzzing, but just not super smooth. Could also be the relief, but I guess the neck has to come off to adjust, and I'm not sure I've ever done that style before - what a pain!
The switching is also something I'd heard about a bit, but I don't find it so useful. It's basically like each switch can be full-on in series, off, or a choice of split or parallel (there's dip switches in the control panel I guess). Then one toggle switches between bridge full-on, and whatever you have your settings on. It's a cool setup if you only really have 2 things going on, which is usually one more than I need
But the in-between sounds aren't that interesting TBH. Maybe I should try the other dipswitch setting. But there's also some grounding issues that I'm sure new ones don't ship with, but weren't disclosed. Pretty noisy in a lot of positions if I dont have my hand on the output jack.The other thing I didn't ilke so much was the fretboard. In the listing it looked like nice rosewood with reddish streaks, but it looks now like it's pau ferro (that's the usual old one, but nothing against that, usually it's darker though) and then maybe someone tried to stain it black instead of giving it some moisture? So not sure if it's going to stay around or if I can work a discount for these undisclosed issues. I feel like I overpaid a bit for the issues, but complaining in Japan is hard to do.
It's interesting trying to reflect on TA then and now. At the time, a lot of these features were super innovative, and the pickups may have been really versatile and good for a variety of the sounds people wanted in the 80s - glassy cleans, a bunch of variety on neck tones for fusion stuff, and good crunch on the HB. They definitely have character, but I'm not getting thaaat metal of a sound from them (despite guys like Kirk Hammett using them). Probably not as many metal sounds as just a fishman fluence setup these days.
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