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  • NGD - ToneTree Vector

I promised a NGD post for this guitar, so here we go (Images are all from ToneTree, they are better than my own):

I saw this ad:

sometime last month, really liked the look of the guitar and decided to give it a try. I got in touch with Robbie Bailey, the maker of the guitar, who kindly delivered it to some friends who stay nearby in Kleinmond. No delivery charge. The guitar got to me in Joburg traveling via a network of friends and family.

If I look at the other guitars posted on his page (https://www.facebook.com/ToneTree-Guitars-995333160536338/), this is definitely one of the more affordable guitars in the range --- probably the only reason why I was willing to buy it without playing it.

In my opinion the quality of the woodwork and the construction of the guitar far outshines anything I've seen at this price. On top of that it includes extras like custom maple pickup-rings, a custom maple jack-plate, glow-in-the-dark side-dots, a solid brass nut and a custom maple electronics cavity cover. Robbie also included a set of strap-locks which was a nice surprise.

The neck is perfectly straight, frets were leveled and crowned and action was set nice and low. For comparison, my Epi LP needed work in these areas and was a more expensive guitar. I did do a 1/4 turn truss-rod adjustment since the neck was a bit flat to my liking, but I think that is understandable when moving a guitar from the coast to Joburg.

When I bought the guitar, Robbie urged me to upgrade the pickups and hardware (He even offered to do the installation for free), and I agree with him. The pickups are from an Ibanez GIO, and while they sound good, I think a better set will make this sound amazing. Both Robbie and I agree that the hardware will look better in gold, so my plan is to upgrade the pickups, tuners, bridge and pots as and when I can find some extra loot.

In terms of pickups, I have my eyes on the Dimarzio Bluesbuckers, I think they sound as good as the SD P-Rails, and they come in gold. Bridge and Tuners will probably be Gotoh.

So here are some sounds I grabbed this morning, clean to dirty (excuse the butchering of the licks)

There are some short blips in parts of the recording which sound like clipping but is actually just missing data. Obviously a laptop/reaper issue that I have to hunt down. All sounds came from my Line 6 modeling amp using presets from Line 6.

Anyway, I am very happy with this guitar, and I hope I can get my playing to do it justice.

Congrats. That is awesome. Totally perplexed as to why he would stick Gio pups in there... far out.

Dimarzios is a good call. I wouldnt spare expense on a handbuilt guitar that oozes quality. Even if its done over a longer period of time.

guidothepimmp Totally perplexed as to why he would stick Gio pups in there... far out.

The only reason I can think of is to keep the cost down. If it had a set of SD's in it at R3.5k more, it would've been around R9k, and then I know I wouldn'tve bought it without playing it first.

And pickups are easy to change and kind of a personal choice anyway, so I'm kinda glad it worked out that way.

    klaasvakie ah man, I was tempted by that guitar when it landed on Facebook. Looks fantastic.

      It looks really well made and at R5500, I reckon it's very well priced - cheap even. If you think a re-fret starts at R1500+, there's a lot there for little $. The wood pickup rings alone are hours.&hours of work

      A dbl action truss and the luminous side markers...gimme!

      Those Gio pups will sound better with gain, the more the merrier. Sooo many upgrade options - thanks to guitaronomics - maybbe P90's, a flavour of bareknuckle's or since it's a mahogany body - a set of gibbo 'buckers?

      Congrats Man! She is a beaut!!! Stunning looking guitar there. I love the simplicity, yet quality, of the whole look. Again, congrats!

      V8 Sooo many upgrade options - thanks to guitaronomics - maybbe P90's, a flavour of bareknuckle's or since it's a mahogany body - a set of gibbo 'buckers?

      Yeah, there are waaay to many upgrade options. I already have a guitar with two humbuckers, hence my earlier post (https://community.guitartalk.co.za/d/26856-non-traditional-humbuckers) about finding some humbucker-sized things that don't sound like humbuckers.

      V8 It looks really well made and at R5500, I reckon it's very well priced - cheap even. If you think a re-fret starts at R1500+, there's a lot there for little $. The wood pickup rings alone are hours.&hours of work

      I think the little extras and special attention really make the difference here, really happy with what I got.

      I recorded bits of my four-note-challenge using this guitar this morning, came out sounding good. Just need to finish the rest, and see what I can do about drums.

      • V8 replied to this.

            guidothepimmp Could also delve into coil tapped buckers with a myriad of switching options..

            Absolutely, if I'm going through the trouble of replacing the pickups, the volume and tone pots are definitely going to become push-pull.

                There was a prs that had a rotary switch for an array of pickups combinations maybe could look at that

                  klaasvakie Yeah, there are waaay to many upgrade options. I already have a guitar with two humbuckers,

                  Will it be a shred monster, rock machine or PRS style versatile? I'm not a fan of 'buckers for cleans - though I did play a HH jackson recently that had passable cleans from the stock 'buckers.

                  I'm a cleans first, then gain - kinda player these daze though. Tsk-tsk, I'm too used to strats.

                  klaasvakie I think the little extras and special attention really make the difference here, really happy with what I got.

                  Yeah, there's a lot of spec on this guitar for 2nd hand Squire $. Though that's a Classic Vibe Squire which isn't exactly terrible...

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