Koll Black Limba MIDI Toronado – A Player’s Perspective
This was posted by Dave Klausner on thegearpage.net about his Koll guitar. I really love black limba wood and this was a beautiful black limba Koll. I figured instead of just including the pics, I would include Dave’s comments on his Koll to give players out there an idea of what Koll Guitars are like.
Dave Klausner on his Koll Black Limba MIDI Toronado-
I wanted a chance to live with this guitar a bit before posting a review. It’s really so different from all the other guitars I own that it took a while to get my head around it. I have to say, I like it more every time I play it, which is pretty impressive. At any rate, to start with, here are the specs.
Body and neck – Black Limba
Fingerboard – Brazilian Rosewood
Pickups – Lollar P90s
Additional electronics – Graph Tech Ghost/Hexpander piezo and 13 pin
Scale length – 25″
Tuners – Steinberger gearless
Bridge – Wilkinson trem
Acoustically, this instrument is extraordinarily alive. It’s loud, very harmonically complex, and notes ring cleanly and sustain for a long time. It actually came set up a little too low for my tastes. I use .010s, and frankly, when I first got it, they felt a bit like 009s, and at times I had trouble feeling the strings. I tried putting .011s on it, but ended up going back to .010s since I was shredding my fingers on bends. I did jack up the action a bit, which feels better to me (makes it easier to play slide as well). I just like to feel a little more resistance, and the way Saul set it up was too smooth!
I have a lot of amps that I use in the studio, but I have used the same basic rig for close to 25 years, based on a Pearce G1 and a few pedals and rack effects. It’s kind of the great equalizer – pretty much any guitar I plug into it sounds more like the rig than the guitar. Not so with the Koll. It instantly had its own personality, and that took a while to come to grips with, as I could no longer get my “stock” sounds out of it – the ones that had been my “voice” for so long. It’s hard to describe just how much more harmonic content the Koll puts out, but I was sitting there thinking – wow, it has way more lows…and highs…and mids…
I had to back off on a lot of the EQ and gain staging I had, to start to get close to the stuff I was used to. All that extra harmonic content really helped jazz up my “stock” sounds once I had them dialed in, plus I found new sounds that I can’t get at all out of other guitars. I also started finding all sorts of cool new tones, especially playing with both pickups on and messing with the balance between them. Saul also wired in a push/pull switch on the tone knob that puts them out of phase, which opened up even more possibilities.
There was another thread recently, where someone was talking about how different guitars have different dynamics, and the Koll has way more tonal difference between when it’s played softly and when it’s played loudly than any other axe I own. It’s kind of like being used to driving Cadillacs, and sitting behind the wheel of a Porsche. At first, you miss the smooth ride, but you soon begin to appreciate the performance, and how it responds to you. It’s not so much that I have to adjust my technique, as it is that it’s worth adjusting my technique to get the nuances the instrument can deliver.
I also remembered a lesson I learned from Hank Roberts (jazz cello player – with Bill Frisell, etc.). Hank recorded a few CDs at my old studio, and I just loved the sound of his cello, and we got to talking about it at one point. He bought it a long time ago for $25 from an old lady who had it in her closet (years later, he discovered it was an 18th century French instrument – nice find!). It’s rather small bodied, and he was always trying to get this big sound out of it, but couldn’t. Finally, he realized he had to let it be what it was, and embraced its sound instead of trying to impose his sonic vision on it. The result was once he explored its real palette, he found his voice in it.
I had a bit of a similar experience with the Koll, where once I let it be what it wanted to be, instead of trying to make it be more like my other guitars, I discovered it had this great personality, and I’m finding a new voice with it. It can get really mean, but can also be sweet. It can be soft and warm, or have a real sting to it. There are round tones, and angular ones. I play a lot of improv stuff, and the idea was for it to be my “go to” performance guitar, where with the tones available from the magnetic pickups, plus the synth pickup and acoustic output, I could get pretty much whatever I needed out of it on the fly. I think it definitely succeeded on that count.
At any rate, this thread is useless without pics, so here you go. They really don’t do it justice, though. There is a lot of subtle flame that changes depending on the angle you look at it, and the color is a bit richer than it appears in most of the shots (the side angle one probably comes closest).
Koll Black Limba Electric Guitar
Koll Black Limba MIDI Toronado Guitar
Koll Black Limba Guitar
Koll Black Limba Back
Fibenare Guitars – Handmade Guitars from Fibenare Guitars
History
Fibenare Co. is the Guitar Manufactory of the Benedek Brothers,
where besides them the parents have played a very important role as well.
It is shown also in the name of the firm, which came from the words:
“sons of Benedek and Clare”.
Birth of the company
We have to go back to the 80′s in Hungary. The Benedek Family is a family of musicians. All family members have studied classical music for several years in their hometown Kecskemét. Kecskemét is a well-known town all over the world thanks to its tradition of musical education and Zoltán KODÁLY (more than in 50 countries use his method of musical education).
When we (the three brothers: Attila, Csaba & Árpád) grew older we were increasingly interested in rock, blues and jazz music, and electric guitars became the most important for us. But these musical instruments were very expensive at that time, and good ones were almost impossible to find (you probably know: in Hungary you could not get any Gibson or Fender guitars because of the iron curtain) – besides, three guitars were needed at the same time. This is why our father József Benedek urged us to start making our own guitars. This was about in 1990.
Manufacturing the guitars
As we played our self-made guitars interest focused on them. This ended up in making guitars not just for ourselves but for other guitarists too. Guitar production resulted in a lot of experiments, some failures, but later more and more success. The guitars were initially used by the friends, later also professional musicians bought them, and the guitars gained a very good reputation. The hobby activity became professional.
Parallelly with this the quality of the guitars continuously improved, and we worked out our production processes, technologies, procurement resources, but manual fabrication remained. It was time to make a profession of this. Fibenare Guitars Co. was established in 1998.
Nowadays four people work on the guitars, we use the latest technologies and keep traditional manual working for rough and fine work too. Thus Fibenare models have an individual sound in a unique design. From the beginning of getting the most adequate wood till the final step of the right strings, we take care of every little detail. The bridges, electronics and pickups are designed and produced by Fibenare itself.
The exhibitions
In the early years Fibenare Guitars were exhibited on the biggest Hungarian shows (like Music Expo, Wanted-fest, Hang-fest) and during the largest guitar-camp called Guitarmania. Fibenare is still present on the largest music expo in Hungary called Hangfoglalas.
In 2003 we were strong enough to exhibit on the largest expo in Europe Frankfurt MUSIKMESSE. People can find us there every spring since then.
One step foreward was the first exhibition on Winter NAMM show in 2007. We presentate our guitars there every year since then, and happy to have a good reputation.
You can find Fibenare Guitars stand on some of the national exhibitions in Europe (like in HUVEL in Czech republic or London Guitar Show in England) and in America (Dallas Guitar Show) as well thanks for our fine dealers.
Visit the Fibenare website at Fibenare Guitars.
Fibenare Basic Jazz Electric Guitar
Fibenare Basic Jazz Model Electric Guitar
Fibenare Erotic Electric Guitar
Fibenare Erotic Magor Electric Guitar
Fibenare Erotic Vudu Model Electric Guitar
Heatley Guitars – A Look At Some Guitars from Scott Heatley Guitars
Here is a look at a few different guitar models from Scott Heatley of Heatley Guitars. Below you will find some really nice examples of Scott Heatley’s work including the Heatley Modern, Tradition, Standard, and Model T guitars.
Heatley 7 String Guitar
Heatley Modern Electric Guitar
Heatley Tradition
Heatley Modern Guitar
Heatley Standard Koa Electric Guitar
Heatley Model T Electric Guitar
Sherman Guitars – Custom Guitars From Michael Sherman
Sherman Guitars is owned and operated by veteran luthier Michael Sherman, with over 32 years of experience building custom made instruments, as well as an engineering background.
Prior to opening Sherman Guitars, Mike worked in the Custom Shops for Hohner, Hamer, Dean, Ovation, and Washburn Guitars. Working for these companies allowed Mike to develop his craft, as well as relationships with major artists.
We are not your average guitar company here. I like to think of it as a “Custom Shop Guitar Company”. “One-off’s” are our specialty. We have been building muti-scale and multi-stringed instruments for several years. I like instruments that challenge your mind, both from a design and creative standpoint.
Each instrument is carfully handcrafted to my extremely strict standards. I build each one as if it were my own personal instrument. If it’s not good enough to be one of my personal instruments, it`s not good enough for my customers. If it has my name on it, it needs to be perfect!
Here at Sherman guitars, only the finest seasoned hardwoods are used. We are constantly purchasing wood that immediately enters into our kiln for 6 weeks, and then seasoned for another two years before working it. This allows us to keep a log on the movement, and natural stresses in the wood. It needs to pass stringent guidelines before it is selected for your instrument.
Our instruments are finished with 12 coats of labor intensive Poloyurethane/laquer mixture for the depth and clarity. All of our colors are mixed in house, so custom one-off colors are obtainable.
Obviously, we do not offer the cheapest instruments in the world. I try to keep the prices as low as possible, and it’s important that the customer gets more than they paid for. Let Sherman Guitars turn your dream instrument into reality. Feel free to contact me to discuss the possibilities of your dream instrument.
Visit the Sherman Guitars website at Sherman Guitars.
Sherman 7 string Electric Guitar
Sherman 8 String Electric Guitar
Sherman Electric Guitar
Sherman Guitar
Michael Sherman Black Limba 8 String
Sherman Custom 8 String Electric Guitar
David Thomas McNaught – Full Tone Report #3 Basic Guitar Set-up
David Thomas McNaught takes viewers through a basic guitar setup in this edition for the McNaught Full Tone Report. This is a 2 part video series.
Guitar Set-Up Part 1
Guitar Set-Up Part 2