Quote:

<...>Notes Norton...sweet axes! How I love those big,nasty dog ear P-90's!! I like to see someone that appreciates fine instruments and takes care of them. I do a lot of custom changes and repairs, and it breaks my heart sometimes when I see a fine instrument that is in neglected, dispicable condition. Good for you!


Thanks.

IMHO the P90 pickup is the best sounding pickup ever made. I have an ESP with humbuckers and I used to have a Kramer/Focus/Faux-Strat and to me the P90 sounds better than either. Of course, that is a matter of personal taste.

I use the Casino on stage and play the Gibson at home. Since I play sax, guitar, wind synth, flute, percussion controller, vocals and sometimes keyboards on stage, and I sometimes have to switch instruments quickly, I don't want to take a chance on putting a major ding in the Gibson, it's become a collector's item.

And besides for having beautiful amplified tone, I can practice them without an amp, and without disturbing anyone. My wife, Leilani understands and also uses the Gibson to practice at home, when we practice together, we'll bring out both of them rather than plug in her Parker.

BTW, I have tried out an Artcore. They are nice guitars, noticeably heavier than the Casino, the neck is a little bigger, and the ones I tried had humbuckers - - again whether you want hubuckers or single-coils is a matter of taste. IMHO the trade off for humbuckers is to eliminate the slight hum you distort the tone. I can distort the tone of my P90s with FX, but there is nothing you can do to clean up the tone of the humbucker.

Back on topic.

I too have heard nothing but good things about the Rondo Music guitars - Agile and SX. I've never owned one though. But in all the guitar forums I visit, I've never heard anything bad about them. You will probably need to bring almost any mail-order guitar to a luthier or guitar tech to have them check the neck, action and other things that can go wrong in the UPS or FedEx truck unless you are experienced at that yourself. A good setup can make a world of difference in how the guitar plays.

I have a Zoom G1X, FX/Direct Box/Amp Simulator pedal. It does a decent emulation of a Twin Reverb and other amps. If you have a home entertainment system with an aux input, you should be able to use it as your amp with the pedal and save the expense of a practice amp. Also, my partner Leilani bought a little earbud that works on a battery that allows you to hear the guitar amplified in the earbud. However, since I got the Casino and we now have 2 acoustic/electric guitars, she hasn't used it. Sorry, I don't know the name or brand, there are no markings on the device.

Notes

Last edited by Notes Norton; 04/08/09 06:41 AM.
Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
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