"So good it's bad, or is that the other way around?": A treatise on guitar attraction

What a lovely thread to have as my 500th post. Only took me 4 years.


Anyways, I have had many GAS threads on this forum, but none like this.

None like this...

Ernie Ball/Music Man Armada HH Black/Gold Opaque 2013 6-String Electric Guitar

I tried an Armada in person this weekend and it was certainly a unique experience. I don't think there literally is a guitar it can be compared to. It is like someone took the body of a PRS SC-45 and put a Gretsch neck on it.

The center curve is at such an angle that -unlike normal LP-style guitars- your arm does not dig into the edge. Also, the center curve makes the bridge and neck seem raised compared to the rest of the guitar leaving ample picking room (that being another Gretsch specific feature). Full neck-through with a sculpted heel as well.

It truly is an oddity, but an oddity that is needed in our stagnating guitar market. It is literally a neck-through Gretsch with PAF humbuckers when you think about it, which is great in my book.​

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ESP Custom Shop EX w/ Oswald Graphic 6-String Electric Guitar

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This ESP is something that has caught my eye for the past 6 years, and now it has undergone a price drop.

It is easily the most obnoxious thing I have ever seen and I love it with all my heart for that.




Quick, somebody buy both of these guitars before I lose my willpower!

 

Like many here know from getting burned by boutique builders: the appearance of a guitar in pictures is not an indication of quality. At all.

They look quite normal in person and play wonderfully. Read my description for a better idea.

 

I don't know why they did not add more solid colors as this is not a BFR run.

The irony is that the figured tops look almost solid color in person. The pigment on top is actually very thick and there is not any real "pop" to the figuring.

Normally I would say yes and agree, but the sharp contrast between the black and white portions really fits the pointed edges. It looks like the guitar and graphic were put together with a ruler. I love how the black ends at the pickup ring's edge, how it meets the off-center in the horn cutaway, how the graphic seems to bloom from the pickups, and how only white space will be obscured by your picking hand.

The painter was definitely on their game that day.

 

I've played "real" explorers. I have not been impressed with a single one.

 

Not for the quality I have seen on low level Gibsons.

 

400 views, 10 replies.


Such a shame.

 

ESPs in general are in no way better than *everything* American made.

Many ESPs are very standard. They just have the luxury of either being extremely cheap or in such low supply you can only assume things about them.

 

Yes, it is gold as well.

I prefer the term "hot mess."