Kitarablogi.com – Finland's premier Guitar and Bass blog
Juttuja kitaroista ja bassoista
Shadow JMS-52E-NS
• all solid cutaway dreadnought
• thermo-treated woods
• solid German spruce top
• solid African mahogany rims and back
• mahogany neck
• blackwood fretboard
• genuine bone nut and bridge saddle
• built-in Shadow pickup system with master volume and tone
Rhythm guitars recorded with an AKG C3000. Lead guitar recorded direct off the Shadow pickup and preamp.
Contact: Musiikki Silfverberg
• Made in Germany
• Single-transducer double bass pickup
• Mounts in bridge scroll
• Output jack attaches with velcro
****
Audio demo recorded with an East European plywood double bass. The Shadow SH951 was plugged straight into a Focusrite Saffire 6 USB-soundcard.
Monille Mayson Guitars ei ole tuttu nimi.
Olen melko varma, että tilanne tulee muuttumaan lähitulevaisuudessa. Mayson on kiinalainen kitarabrändi, joka pyrkii kehittämään omat ratkaisunsa designin ja valmistusmenetelmien suhteen, pelkän kopionnin sijasta. Maysonin pääsuunnittelija on Alex Wang, jonka käsialaa ovat firman monet rakenteelliset ja tuotantoteknilliset parannukset. Tavoitteena on rakentaa laadukkaita teräskielisiä kitaroita muusikkoystävälliseen hintaan.
Mayson Guitarsin merkittävimmät innovaatiot koskevat firman patentoitua kaulan ruuviliitosta, kansien rimoituksia, sekä hieman syvempien kaikukoppien käyttämistä lämpimämmän soundin tuottamiseksi.
Kitarablogi sai Maysonin suomalaiselta maahantuojalta, NordSoundilta, Mayson M3/OCE -kitaran testiin.
****
Mayson M3/OCE (558 €; topattu pussi kuuluu hintaan) kuuluu valmistajan Luthier-sarjaan. Kyseisessä mallissa on Mayson Marquis -kokoinen koppa (vastaa Grand Auditorium -mallia) soololovella, sekä aktiivinen mikkijärjestelmä.
M3/OCE on hyvin tyylikäs ja näyttävä soitin, jossa on kokopuinen ovangkol -kansi, sekä vaneripohja ja -rimat samasta kauniista puusta. Ovangkol on ruusupuun kaukainen sukulainen (ei uhanalainen) Afrikasta.
Maysonin kaula on veistetty mahongista, ja sen otelautaan on käytetty intialaista palisanteria. Nauhojen profiili on perinteisen kapea.
Mayson kayttää kitaroissaan omavalmisteisia, avoimia viritinkoneistoja.
Virittimet on upotettu lavan puuhun, mikä estää hyvin tehokkaasti kaiken ei-toivotun liikkumisen sivusuunnassa.
Sekä satulaan, että kompensoituun tallaluuhun on M3/OCE:ssa käytetty aitoa naudanluuta.
Testisoittimeen on asennettu Maysonin oma MPC-6 Purecoustics mikrofonijärjestelmä.
Järjestelmän etuaste tarjoaa kolme säädintä – volume, basso ja diskantti.
Testikitaran ainoa pieni pistevähennys tulee sen irrallisesta paristopussista. Pussia paikallaan pitävä tarranauha oli irronnut kaulablokin vierestä, minkä vuoksi paristo roikkui ainoastaan johtimien varassa kitaran kopassa.
M3/OCE:ssä on tyylikäs rosetti ja puusta tehty reunalistoitus.
Laadukas kirkas viimeistely tuo ovangkolin kauniit syykuviot esiin.
****
Kyllä, kyllä, myönnän sen avoimesti:
Olen kauniiden puiden suuri ystävä, eikä Mayson M3 jätä tässä suhteessa todellakaan toivomisen varaa.
Kaunis ulkonäkö on M3/OCE:ssä kuitenkin vain osa erittäin toimivaa kokonaisuutta. Kitaran soitettavuus on erinomaisella tasolla, mistä on kiittäminen laadukasta nauhatyötä ja kaulan mukavaa D-profiilia.
Parasta tässä Maysonissa on mielestäni kuitenkin kitaran soundi. Testikitara soi täyteläisesti, mutta tarkasti, ja se tarjoaa aimon annoksen tuoreutta ja helinää diskantissa. M3/OCE:n sointia voisi kuvailla jopa flyygelimäiseksi.
Maysonin piezomikitys ja sen MPC-6 Purecoustics -etuaste toimivat moiteettomasti. Helppokäyttöisestä järjestelmästä saa hyvinkin käyttökelpoisen piezotulkinnan kitaran akustisesta soundista.
Tässä lyhyt näppäilypätkä, jonka äänitin AKG C3000 -mikrofonilla:
…ja sama näyte kitaran omalla mikrofonijärjestelmällä taltioituna:
Hieman plektrasoittoa AKG:lla nauhoitettuna:
…ja sama pätkä Purecoustics-järjestelmän kautta:
Demobiisi koostuu kolmesta stereoraidasta, joiden taltiointiin on käytetty kahta C3000-mikrofonia:
****
Minun mielestäni Mayson M3/OCE on todella hieno teräskielinen akustinen toimivalla piezoelektroniikalla, hyvinkin reiluun hintaan. Ovangkol -kopan ansiosta kitara näyttää yhtä kauniilta kuin se soi.
Se on siis kaikin puolin kokeilemisen arvoinen peli.
****
Mayson M3/OCE
558 € (topattu pussi kuuluu hintaan)
Maahantuoja: NordSound
Plussat:
+ erittäin kaunis ovangkol-koppa
+ työnjälki
+ soitettavuus
+ akustinen soundi
+ mikitetty soundi
Miinukset:
– pariston vaihtaminen hieman työlästä
Most of you will not have heard of Mayson Guitars, yet.
I’d guess this will change soon, because this ambitious Chinese acoustic guitar maker is not content with simply copying other people’s designs and building techniques. Mayson’s chief designer Alex Wang has come up with many structural improvements and updated manufacturing methods to make a better steel-string guitar.
Key changes include Mayson’s patented bolt-on neck joint, their own special top bracing pattern, and deeper bodies for a richer sound.
Mayson Guitars’ Finnish distributor NordSound kindly supplied us with a Mayson M3/OCE for this review.
****
The Mayson M3/OCE (price in Finland: 558 €; incl. gig bag) comes from the company’s Luthier Series and is a Mayson Marquis-sized (Grand Auditorium) cutaway model with a built-in pickup and preamp system.
The M3/OCE is an extremely beautiful steel-string with a richly grained solid ovangkol top, and laminated ovangkol sides and back. Ovangkol is a non-endangered African relative of rosewood.
The Mayson’s neck is crafted from mahogany and topped with an Indian rosewood fingerboard sporting narrow frets.
Mayson uses its own special style of open gear machine heads.
The tuners are sunk into the back of the headstock to prevent any sideways movement of the machine heads.
The M3/OCE comes with a top nut and a compensated bridge saddle both made from genuine bone.
Our review instrument comes with Mayson’s own MPC-6 Purecoustics pickup system.
The preamp offers you three unobtrusive knobs to adjust your sound – volume, bass and treble.
The only point deduction comes in the guise of a freewheeling battery pouch. The sticky tape holding the velcro supposed to hold the battery pouch in place (next to the neck block) has become unstuck somewhere down the line, leaving the battery hanging from the preamp by its connecting cables.
The M3/OCE comes adorned in tasteful wood binding.
The guitar has received a flawless natural gloss finish.
****
I must admit to it:
I’m a real sucker for beautiful woods, so the Mayson M3 got me on its side straight away, thanks to its stunning ovangkol soundbox.
But the M3/OCE isn’t only looks! This guitar plays great, not least thanks to its comfortable D-profile neck, and a very decent fret job.
In my view, the best thing about this Mayson is the way it sounds, though. The sound is rich, well-defined, and offers plenty of zing and sparkle. This is a huge sound with fantastic definition, which reminds me of a grand piano.
Mayson’s MPC-6 Purecoustics pickup system also ticks all the right boxes in my opinion, giving you a very decent piezo version of the M3/OCE’s acoustic voice.
Here’s a short clip played fingerstyle and recorded with a single AKG C3000 microphone:
…and the same clip recorded using the guitar’s pickup system:
Here I’ve used a plectrum and the AKG mic:
…and here’s the same piece recorded with the Purecoustics system:
The demo track consists of three different stereo guitar tracks, all recorded with a pair of C3000s:
****
The Mayson M3/OCE is a fine acoustic guitar with a very decent pickup system at a very fair price. The ovangkol soundbox makes this guitar a real thing of beauty.
I can only recommend you try one out for yourself.
****
Mayson M3/OCE
558 € (includes gig bag)
Finnish distributor: NordSound
Pros:
+ gorgeous ovangkol body
+ workmanship
+ playability
+ acoustic sound
+ pickup sound
Cons:
– no quick-access battery compartment
How do you assess the condition of an instrument?
In my view, the condition of any guitar can be gauged by dividing up any possible issues into three groups:
• Group 1 – Things that can be changed/corrected easily:
++ truss rod settings
++ dead strings/”wrong” string gauge
++ intonation
++ string height (action)
++ pickup height
++ pickup model (if no woodwork/modification is required)
++ worn-out tuners (if no woodwork is required)
***
• Group 2 – Small and slightly bigger issues that a qualified repairperson can solve:
++ a cracked top nut
++ string slots in nut too deep or not deep enough
++ a faulty vibrato system
++ worn frets or high/low frets
++ crackling controls
++ faulty switches
***
• Group 3 – Issues that are difficult and/or expensive to repair:
++ a badly warped neck (so-called corkscrew)
++ a set neck that is out of alignment
++ a broken truss rod
++ unrepaired (or badly fixed) cracks in the wood (for example a broken-off headstock)
++ a botched DIY ”customisation”
Would you buy a guitar from Pete?
****
Here’s one way of assessing the condition of a guitar systematically:
• Tune the instrument and play it for a minute or two. You’ll get an idea of the current set-up, as well as of the general condition and sound of the instrument.
• Is the neck correctly aligned to the body (especially important in set-neck instruments)?
Look at the distance of the e-strings to the fingerboard edges at the 14th fret. If both e-strings are approximately the same distance from the edge of the fingerboard, you’re good to go.
• The truss rod setting (aka relief):
Press the bottom E-string down simultaneously at the 1st and 14th frets (you can use a capo at the first fret), and use it as a straightedge. Take a look at the string at the 8th fret; there should be a small gap between the top of this fret and the E-string – that’s what we call the relief. If the gap is around 0.5 mm, the truss rod is set as it should be. Check the treble e-string in the same way. If there’s a substantial difference between the relief at the low E and the treble e, you’re most likely looking at a warped neck.
If the truss rod setting is not ideal (too tight = no relief; too loose = relief greater than 0.5 mm) you should ask the seller to adjust the truss rod for you.
• Check the nut slots:
Each string is pressed down in turn at the 3rd fret. The string should now be resting on the second fret. Look for a small gap between the 1st fret and the string you’re pressing down. Using a regular 009- or 010-gauge set, there should be a tiny gap beneath the treble e-string and the first fret (when fretting the string at the third fret), just about large enough to fit a sheet of printer paper in there. Because the bass strings need more clearance to vibrate freely, the gap between the first fret and the bottom of each string increases slightly going from the top e-string to the bass E-string.
If the nut slots aren’t cut deep enough, the guitar will be hard to play, and sound badly out of tune in the lowest (open) positions, regardless of action settings and intonation. A luthier will be able to correct the matter for a small charge using a set of special nut files.
If the string slots are too deep (= the strings rest on the first fret, when pressed down at the third), a nut replacement will be in order (except with locking nuts that can be shimmed). Nut slots that are too deep will result in rattling open strings, even if the action and the truss rod have been adjusted correctly. Note: You should check for string rattling using clean amp settings. Playing the guitar unamplified might make you whack the strings harder than necessary.
In most cases replacing a nut is an easy procedure for a repairperson.
• The condition of the frets:
On a used guitar, slight wear marks on the frets are the result of normal use, and this light wear won’t cause any problems.
If the frets are very worn (like the ones in the picture below), you should take the cost of a fret dress (or even a complete refret) into consideration, and maybe try to get the seller to lower his/her asking price.
Refretting bound fingerboards is more complicated and time-consuming than dealing with unbound ’boards, which is usually reflected in the cost. Ask you luthier.
• Check the bridge:
Are all the screws and bridge saddles in working order? Is there ample scope for intonation adjustment?
If the guitar’s set-up is unsatisfactory – the action may be too high or too low; the intonation may be off – ask the seller to adjust the guitar for you before making a buying decision!
• Check the electronics:
Play around with all controls and switches – is everything working as it should? Do all the pickups work?
Scratchy, crackling pots and faulty switches are quite easy for a luthier to exchange. If we’re talking about a new guitar, the shop should take care of this before you buy. With a pre-owned instrument, you will have to take care of the repairs. Note: Replacing electrical components and pickups in semi-acoustic and archtop guitars is generally much more complicated, which will be reflected in the luthier’s quote.
• Check the vibrato:
Does the vibrato (aka the tremolo or the whammy bar) work as it should? Are all the parts in working condition, or are you faced with rusty screws or even broken parts? Is there ample scope for action and intonation adjustment?
If the vibrato bridge looks very worn, or if there are structural problems, like a broken off (or loose) bridge post, you might be facing a complete replacement or a costly repair.
• And finally: Plug the guitar into an amp, and play it some more. Listen to the sound of the instrument. Check its playing feel, its ergonomics, and make a final assessment of its overall condition.
• Based on this checklist (and any possible issues you might have found) you should ask yourself two questions:
Kitarablogi.com – Finland's premier Guitar and Bass blog 