Handpan on melko uusi tulokas viritetyn perkussion soitinryhmässä, joka ilmestyi noin 15 vuotta sitten, samoihin aikoihin kuin tongue drum -serkkunsa.
Handpan koostuu kahdesta kellomaisesta puolesta, joita on liimattu yhteen niin että soitin muistuttaa hieman ufoa. Yläpuoliskolla on keskellä suurin soittoalue – ns. Ding – josta saadaan handpanin perusäveltä. Alapuoliskon keskellä taas sijaitsee handpanin ääniaukko, nimeltään Gu.
Kaikissa handpaneissa on soittimen yläpuolen sivussa yksi rivi erikokoisia soittoalueita; mitä suurempi alueen läpimitta on, sitä matalampi sen tuottama ääni. Perus-handpaneista saadaan yhdeksän eri säveltä – Dingin tuottama perusävel plus kahdeksan äänistä koostuva sävelasteikko.
Jotkut mallit tarjoavat laajemman sävelkirjon lisäämällä handpanin yläpuoliskolle toisen rivin soittoalueita. Välillä lisätään jopa soittoalueita handpanin alapuoliskolla.
Handpanit soitetaan joko sylissä tai puutelineen päällä makaavana. Handpania soitetaan yleensä käsillä tai sormilla – Ding-perussäveltä lyödään tavallisesti soittoalueen kuvun keskeltä, kun taas muita säveliä saadaan kuulumaan soittoalueiden reunoihin lyömällä.
Vantaan Musiikki tuo maahan varsin laajan valikoiman kiinalaisia Raysen-handpaneja. Saimme testiin yhdeksänäänisen mallin arabilaisella hijaz-sälvelasteikolla.
Raysen HP-M9 C# Hijaz (1.100 euroa; laadukas bägi kuuluu hintaan) on täysikokoinen handpan (läpimitta 53 cm) ruostumattomasta teräksestä.
Laadukkaan handpanin valmistukseen kuuluu runsaasti käsityötä, mikä näkyy luonnollisesti myös soittimen hinnassa. Etenkin soittoalueiden tarkka virittäminen vie paljon aikaa.
Lähes kaikki Raysen-handpanit ovat saatavilla joko standardivireessä (a’ = 440 Hz) tai aasialaisessa virityksessä (a’ = 432 Hz). Testissä käynyt Raysen HP-M9 C# Hijaz oli standardiviritteinen malli.
Handpanin perustekniikka saadaan nopeasti haltuun, minkä jälkeen voi tutustua panin sävelasteikon tarjoamiin mahdollisuuksiin.
Koska handpanin rakenne on hyvin kellomainen, yhden soittoalueen lyöminen tuo esiin myös harmonisia lisä-ääniä soittimen muista sävelistä. Myös handpanin perussävel soi usein hiljaa muiden äänten taustalla.
Handpan sopii loistavasti world music -genreen, mutta on myös oiva taustasoitin meditaatio- tai joogaistuntoon.
How do you know that a new feature or phenomenon is here to stay? By finding this feature in instruments priced under 300 euros.
Northstar Guitars is a new brand of affordable electric guitars that focuses on heat-treated wood (also called “roasted”) in the necks of their Fender-style models. At first, heat treatment was only a feature found in custom shop instruments. Over time, roasted necks began to be available in mid-priced electric guitars as well. And now they can even be found in affordable instruments.
The whole idea behind heat treatment is to change the properties of recently felled wood into old and well-dried wood. When done correctly, heat treatment improves the sound of the entire guitar, and it also reduces the movement of the wood in response to the changing seasons.
Northstar Guitars is the brainchild of British company Tanglewood, known for its acoustic stringed instruments, which are manufactured in Asia. The company’s experience in both supplier selection and quality control has now been channelled into this new affordable electric guitar collection.
We received four electric guitars for this test from Northstar’s importer, Musamaailma – three Fender-style models, and one Les Paul copy.
Northstar Guitars has chosen the NS-1 model number for its Strato-like models. The company only offers a limited number of colour options, which is a deliberate decision that keeps the price of the guitars down.
The NS-1 HSS guitar comes in a finish called Inca Silver, while the HH version comes in a finish called Charcoal Frost. Both are beautifully executed metallic colours.
Both instruments use roasted maple for the neck and fingerboard. The wood looks beautiful, and there is even a slight flame visible on them.
Interestingly, the degree of roasting of the necks and fingerboards is different on the HSS and HH guitars, which is why the position marks on the NS-1 HH are a bit difficult to see, especially in dim lighting.
The Northstar NS-1 instruments use solid poplar for the bodies. In this price range, the affordability of the wood outweighs weight concerns, which is why the HSS model is comfortably medium-weight, while the HH guitar is already a bit heavier.
The workmanship of the Northstar NS-1 models is very neat, for example the quality of the fretwork is clearly among the best in this price range.
Everything seems to be in order in terms of the quality of the metal parts in the Northstar NS-1 guitars. The tuners are of the modern, enclosed and permanently greased variety, while the vibrato bridges are vintage-style (but with a slightly thinner block).
The pickups of both models use ceramic magnets. The HSS option has two single-coils and an open humbucker, while – as its name suggests – the NS-1 HH is an option with two open humbuckers. In the HSS model, the electronics consist of a five-way switch, as well as a master volume and two tone controls. The HH guitar has a three-way selector, as well as master volume and tone controls.
The playability of the Northstar NS-1 HSS and NS-1 HH is first-class. The guitars have identical neck profiles – a nice medium D – and the playing feel is fast and effortless.
The single coils on the NS-1 HSS sound deliciously dynamic and have a good dose of “woodiness”. The guitar’s humbucker pickup is well balanced with the single coils in terms of its output level, and this pickup also has a certain vintage style to its sound.
The NS-1 HH is clearly aimed at rock-minded players, as the pickups have a little more power and a very deliciously rough attitude.
The model number of Northstar’s Tele guitars is NS-2. The test instrument is finished in a creamy Vintage White colour.
The basic materials of the NS-2 are the same as those of the NS-1 guitars – a roasted maple neck, roasted maple fretboard and poplar body. Here too, the bolt-on neck has been given a thin matte finish, while the body is gloss lacquered.
Here too, the fretboard’s roast is relatively dark, which can make it difficult to see the fret marks in low light.
Since the NS-2 is a Tele-style instrument, the guitar naturally has a vintage Tele-style bridge. In this case, it is a so-called top-loader bridge, where the strings are not passed through the body, but rather anchored to the back wall of the bridge. This solution was found in original Teles from 1958/59, and its idea then was to speed up and facilitate the construction of the guitar.
Some claim that a top-loader bridge is a bad solution that degrades the guitar’s sustain and sound, but I haven’t noticed anything untoward about this Northstar. Well-known top-loader fans include Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) and Jim Campilongo, and both guitarists’ signature models feature this supposedly inferior bridge solution. So much for online rumours…
The workmanship and playability of the Northstar NS-2 are also of a very high level, and this test specimen was the lightest guitar in the test.
The original Telecaster was designed to offer the widest possible range of sounds – the bridge pickup is a bright and rootsy country and rock pickup, while the neck pickup offers a very warm and round jazz option. The ”both-pickups-at-the-same-time” selection, which only officially entered the picture in 1967, has adds some great funk sounds to this recipe.
The Northstar NS-2 offers good versions of these sounds with a small early-1970s emphasis, which has a bit more bite than the early 1950s Teles. This guitar will give you some great James Burton-style sounds from Elvis Presley’s Las Vegas era.
The Northstar NS-3 is a Les Paul Standard-style electric guitar from Northstar. The NS-3’s body is carved from poplar. The maple neck is glued to the body and the bound fingerboard is rosewood.
The body and back of the neck are finished in a glossy Charcoal Frost metallic color.
The NS-3’s hardware consists of a tune-o-matic bridge and a stopbar tailpiece, as well as enclosed tuners with metal Kluson-style knobs.
The Northstar NS-3’s pickups are covered humbuckers. In addition to a three-position toggle switch, the guitar has four controls – each pickup has its own volume and tone controls.
Again, the workmanship and playability leave nothing to be desired in this price range. Based on the test sample, the weight of the NS-3 is still within reasonable limits. The neck profile is – as befits this type of guitar – a slightly rounder D, and it fits my hand very comfortably.
The Northstar NS-3’s pickups are not spoiled by excessive power, and they sound deliciously creamy and very dynamic. Thanks to the surprisingly high-quality pickups, this model covers a wide range of sounds – from clean and warm Jazz to rough 1970s Rock and modern Metal.
Alkuperäinen suomenkielinen versio tästä jutusta löytyy Rockway-blogissa.
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The Epiphone SG Special VE (”street price” around 240 euros in Finland) is currently the cheapest official SG replica. The letters VE stand for “Vintage Edition”, which refers to the model’s matte finish.
On the website of Epiphone’s importer – Algam Nordic – the SG Special VE is only available in matte black and matte brown (i. e. walnut), but on Epiphone’s own website the cherry red matte finish is still listed as an option. I would guess that all three options are still available at Finnish music stores.
The Epiphone SG Special VE looks a lot like the company’s own version of Gibson’s 1970s model “The SG”, especially in the walnut finish.
Should you fancy a gloss finish and chrome covered pickups, I can point you to the brand-new Epiphone SG Tribute model, which will probably replace the Special VE over time.
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The Chinese SG Special VE is a very affordable instrument, which is why the guitar offers slightly unconventional detail solutions in some areas. However, the workmanship is of surprisingly high quality throughout – at least on the review instrument.
The Epiphone’s body is carved from poplar. Poplar is a basic, good instrument wood, its only ”flaw” being the wood’s dull grain pattern, which is why Music Man, for example, only uses it for solid-coloured instruments.
On the SG Special VE, this has been solved by gluing very nice looking veneers of African mahogany onto the flat middle sections of the body (front and back). This trick also preserves the traditional mahogany look of SG guitars in the VE model.
The Fender-style neck joint is a very rare solution in Gibson-style guitars these days, but it fits well on this affordable SG, especially since the joint is really tight and neat. The Epiphone SG Special VE’s neck is made of beautiful Gabon mahogany (another name for the wood is okoume). The neck is basically a one-piece affair, with a second piece added for the upper end of the headstock. The glue joint is visible below the e-string tuners.
Although this is not mentioned anywhere in the official specs, the SG Special’s reddish rosewood fingerboard has been given black plastic binding. The fingerboard is neatly fitted with 22 medium-sized frets, as well as round pearloid fingerboard inlays.
The hardware department consists of Epiphone’s Lock-Tone bridge and tailpiece, as well as inexpensive closed tuners. These machine heads are regularly criticised, for example in YouTube videos, for being ”bad at keeping the guitar in tune”.
In reality, this perceived problem is based on the fact that modern tuners usually have a tuning ratio of 18:1 or even 20:1. The pair of numbers tells us how often the tuner knob must be turned so that the tuner’s post (where the string is attached) turns one full turn. Special VE’s very affordable tuners, on the other hand, operate with a “coarse” ratio of 14:1 – the same ratio seen on many acoustic guitars from the 1970s. These old-fashioned tuners have a slightly jumpier character when it comes to tuning – it is very easy to turn past the correct pitch – and also have significantly more “play” than modern machine heads. As long as you remember to always tune each string up from flat to the correct pitch, these tuners work reasonably well, and there are no problems with tuning stability.
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The Epiphone SG Special VE features the company’s own open 650R and 700T humbuckers, which are very powerful pickups with ceramic magnets. This pair of pickups represent Epiphone’s affordable take on Gibson’s 1970s Dirty Fingers humbuckers, and they have a very strong midrange and big bass.
Traditionally, two-pickup Gibson or Epiphone electric guitars often have a group of four controls in addition to a three-position toggle switch. For modern guitarists, a master volume control that affects the entire guitar is – especially in live situations – often a more functional solution than individual controls for each pickup. Also for beginners, a solution like the SG Special VE, which offers only master volume and master tone controls in addition to the switch, is clearly a better option.
The electronics compartment of the Epiphone test guitar is very clean, as are the solder joints. The parts themselves are – naturally – inexpensive, but I didn’t find anything to complain about in terms of functionality.
Can a guitar in this price range, with a bolt-on neck and a body made from ”the wrong type of wood”, be a real, proper SG? Comparing the Epiphone with three other SGs, I can say that the short answer is “yes!”
I find it very funny that both Gibson’s and Epiphone’s headquarters are apparently afraid to tell people about the real neck profiles of their guitars. Everywhere you look these days, it (almost) always says “slim taper D-neck”, regardless of the model. Do Epiphone’s decision-makers really think that players would be afraid of anything other than thin 90s profiles?
In reality, the neck profile of the Epiphone SG Special VE model is a nicely rounded, but not too thick D-profile, which I think suits an SG-style instrument very well.
There was nothing wrong with the review instrument’s set-up, and the guitar’s playability is more than okay, especially considering the Special VE’s low price.
The Epiphone’s balance on the strap is even slightly better than on many average SGs, because the neck sits about two centimeters deeper in the body than usual, due to the Special VE’s bolt-on neck.
The Epiphone SG body sits nicely in the lap and hangs comfortably against the player’s body when using a strap.
The review instrument’s acoustic voice is very healthy, and I didn’t find any disturbing dead spots.
If you use the Epiphone SG Special VE model with a vintage-style amplifier that doesn’t have a master volume control – like, for example, with a good Fender Champ copy – the instrument’s hot pickups get more distortion out of the amplifier, which I think is a good thing.
With effects pedals, it’s worth using the SG Special VE’s well-functioning master volume, because some effects – for example, some overdrives and many modulation effects – can easily ”clog up” with very hot pickups. But this is what controls on an electric guitar are for.
In my opinion, the Epiphone SG Special VE is a surprisingly nice guitar for the money. It offers a lot of mileage at a really budget-friendly price. If you like the look of the SG, the Special VE is definitely an instrument worth trying out.
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