MusicYo was an online store that was run by Gibson. They carried brands such as Steinberger, Kramer, Tobias, Slingerland, Maestro, Electar ect...... The prices were unbelievably good and before they shut the thing down they were outright ridiculous. Clearance prices. My understanding it was a proving grounds for new ideas without using the Gibson name. The Electar tube amps were clearly the forerunner to the Epiphone Valve Junior line. I have been banging on my Kramer Standard Pro the last few days and thought I would share it with those who might not have seen it.
Origional MusicYo direct price: $659.99
Mahogony body with a set mahogony neck
Maple cap (You can see in the pics the flame isn't anything to write home about me, this tells me its a cap not a veneer. Why use a veneer that is barely flamed?
Gotoh Magnum lock tuners
Seymour Duncan pickups (JB and a Pearly Gates)
The neck and body appear to be of single pieces of wood, I can't find any lines that would indicate joined pieces
Was billed with USA wiring, whatever that means (The togle switch does match that of my Gibson Les Pauls) It does have coil tapping
My price? They E-Mailed me a coupon code for $300 off. So, I paid $359.99
Wanna see it?
It is a very well built guitar that plays and sounds better than it looks!
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
I bought a faux strat from them on a clearance. Decent guitar for the money, but I just couldn't get used to the short radius neck so I traded it in at a GC. Got as much for it in trade as I paid for it.
Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
You'ld like this one. Nice and flat. It's a 16" radius.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Never seen one of those before. Nice guitar. If you removed the neck pickup you'd see the tenon for the neck joint. Constructing a guitar like this of a single piece of wood would be far to complicated to be cost effective.
No ... I mean the neck is one piece and the body is one piece. Not the whole guitar. :D Most of my other guitars you can see the joint where the 2 neck pieces are joined at or below the head stock. I can usually see where the grain looks different in the body pieces where they are joined as well. Not on this one.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Ah yes - I now see the "s" in pieces. I read that five times because I didn't think you would think such a thing. It may very well be single pieces for both. Single piece bodies are pretty rare now but not too too long ago they were common place. The neck was probably made from a single piece but sawn and re-joined inverted at the head stuck, it might be too weak otherwise through the break-angle. I assume. None the less, a superior neck construction in my experience. I bet it rings like a bell. Any idea what the finish is?
A little unsolicited and semi-related tip for anyone making a guitar - joining two pieces of wood at an angle will diminish the visibility of the joint. A little harder to clamp and glue but very good results since single piece body blanks are increasingly difficult to find. However - a great source of wood is antique furniture auctions. Last year I bought a 8x4 solid Mahogany table top at auction. It was huge an heavy and not one bid was put on it so I took it home for $1.20 (steep commission price, huh?)
I'll probably get 10 blanks out of it.
The finish appears to be poly but the cool thing about this is there don't seem to be many out there. It apparently isn't something that Gibson continued to persue so it is very unique. As I said, it sounds and plays great. I think it would have been well worth the origional price tag and certainly worth way more than I paid for it. We got my son a bass around the same time, same deal, liquidation. His bass is a Tobias. Multiply neck of maple and wenge (African walnut if you will), neck through with maple wings. Again, origionally $659 and we got it for $359. A steal!
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
You'ld like this one. Nice and flat. It's a 16" radius.
I probably would. It looks good.
The short radius is rather standard on strat clone guitars. I did find a Parker DF with a 14" radius SSH design with a coil tapping Humbucker and a Fishman Piezo under the bridge. Ebony fretboard, hardened stainless steel frets and about 5 pounds. It's my go to guitar now and has been for a year and a half. I hardly touch the Gibson, Epiphone and ESP anymore.
Notes
Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
We get it, you love your parker...sheesh.
Kidding, if I were going to get a "modern" styled guitar it would be between the parker fly and a suhr. I think I might prefer the parker in looks and features but that neck is sooo little. Someday maybe.
We get it, you love your parker...sheesh.<...>.
Excuse me if I get over-enthusiastic about it. I've had it well over a year and the honeymoon still isn't over.
Bob "Notes" Norton
Owner, Norton Music http://www.nortonmusic.com Add-on Styles for Band-in-a-Box and Microsoft SongSmith
The Sophisticats http://www.s-cats.com >^. .^< >^. .^<
You got me thinking and I've found that the Parkers are a lot more affordable than the used to be... a Fly might be in my near future - I've been looking for a Marshall Jubilee but I've been pretty happy with my amps lately.
Don't worry, if I get one I'll let you continue writing all the love letters to mister Parker - I'll just pipe in with my agreement.
BTW what model do you have?
