George:
Tina (named after my wife who, as my 49th B-day present, allowed me to buy it and have all the mods done) does indeed sound amazing, definitey Alembic-like. Gary Brawer, who did all the work except the inays, did one particular mod that seems to make a big difference. The bridge was originally screwed to the top of the guitar, as one would expect. (The Masterhands had load thru the back bridges, unlike Alembics and the Fernandes direct Alembic copies). Gary routed the top and sunk the bridge about 1/8 down into the wood to get a better angle on the strings. This seems to have increased sustain. As I've noted in a previous thread, I always judge an electric guitar by how it sounds unplugged. This one is outstanding.
In addition, this particular guitar and I have some history. I first saw it brand new about 25 years or so ago at a store in Oakland called Leo's. Back then, it was the closest to an Alembic I could even dream of, and even then I couldn't afford it. It sat in Leo's for a while and then Leo decided to close out his instrument stock and concentrate on Pro Audio (which they still do to this day in the same location). I remember the salesmen telling me Johnny B. Goode is dead.
Cut to about 25 years later. I'm in Subway Guitars, a VERY interesting store in Berkeley. They specialize in weird and cheapo guitars (Check them out here:
http://www.fatdawg.com/). Anyway, I see the Fernandes hanging there, looking a little frayed around the edges, I think maybe one of the switches was broken off. I ask about it and find out that Fat Dawg (owner) had bought out the rest of Leo's stock years before. This was the very same Fernandes I had drooled over. It had been sitting in Fat Dawg's warehouse for over 20 years until he moved to a bigger location and put it on the floor. I had to have it.
That said, I'm still jonesing for my custom Further to be completed.
Bill, tgo
(Message edited by lbpesq on July 13, 2006)
