Cranes in Cardiff has gone, I see

[Cyclops]

Personally I'd take the Washburn Hawk over a PRS SE any day of the week. I do have a soft spot for that lovely old Jap stuff

I still love playing the Hawk - it's my instrument of choice and cost me about £750 in 1979. I'm buying the PRS for the Floyd Rose whammy bar - and the neck dimensions are very close to the Hawk; so the playability is almost the same. The pick-up configuration is also similar to the Hawk, and a selling point of the PRS SE Floyd is its 85/15 pick-ups

[Veg1960]

I love those old Washburns - never had one of the Hawk Series but have an A15 and A20. The A20 is killer! Those EMGs may take a bit of getting used to, with the Floyd should be very different from the Washburn

[Cyclops]

I love those old Washburns - never had one of the Hawk Series but have an A15 and A20. The A20 is killer! Those EMGs may take a bit of getting used to, with the Floyd should be very different from the Washburn

I've got a Floyd on an Ibanez so I know what I'm getting. Although the Ibanez has a thinner neck, I find it harder to play than the Washburn because of the jumbo frets. The up-side is when I go back to the Hawk, it feels so fast!

[Veg1960]

I've got a Floyd on an Ibanez so I know what I'm getting. Although the Ibanez has a thinner neck, I find it harder to play than the Washburn because of the jumbo frets. The up-side is when I go back to the Hawk, it feels so fast!

Those EMGs will be a lot more aggressive sounding that the old Di Marzios in your Wing series. It's great to have the contrast between the two

[Cyclops]

Those EMGs will be a lot more aggressive sounding that the old Di Marzios in your Wing series. It's great to have the contrast between the two

The blurbs re: the pick-ups - "The 85/15 set is based on Paul Reed Smith's 1985 Standard Treble and Bass pickups, much-respected for the ability to offer great humbucking and single-coil tones. These new humbuckers are wired through a master volume, master tone (with a built-in push/pull coil split) and a three-way pickup selector blade switch offering both pickups solo and combined. Textbook stuff.

Time to plug in. Running through our amp's clean channel, the bridge 'bucker unloads a whole sackful of sparkle. While this setting works great for choppy rhythm stuff, we prefer adding the neck pickup into the mix. This combination retains the bright clarity of the bridge pickup but adds some warmth. Switch to single-coil mode and you're almost in Hendrix Little Wing territory'

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/gu...stom-24-646172

[Veg1960]

The blurbs re: the pick-ups - "The 85/15 set is based on Paul Reed Smith's 1985 Standard Treble and Bass pickups, much-respected for the ability to offer great humbucking and single-coil tones. These new humbuckers are wired through a master volume, master tone (with a built-in push/pull coil split) and a three-way pickup selector blade switch offering both pickups solo and combined. Textbook stuff.

Time to plug in. Running through our amp's clean channel, the bridge 'bucker unloads a whole sackful of sparkle. While this setting works great for choppy rhythm stuff, we prefer adding the neck pickup into the mix. This combination retains the bright clarity of the bridge pickup but adds some warmth. Switch to single-coil mode and you're almost in Hendrix Little Wing territory'

http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/gu...stom-24-646172

My mistake - had assumed they were EMG 85/81 set. Totally different kettle of fish.

[NYCBlue]

I bought a Hohner 335 copy in blonde from Nobles on Crwys Road in about 1990. It was a surprisingly good guitar. I think my son has it now.

[Veg1960]

I've never had a decent semi, so not really familiar with them. I once passed over a Cherry Red Edwards 335 in Cash Converters for £125.00 - I didn't know what it was. Doh! By the time I hit google it was gone

[NYCBlue]

I've never had a decent semi, so not really familiar with them. I once passed over a Cherry Red Edwards 335 in Cash Converters for £125.00 - I didn't know what it was. Doh! By the time I hit google it was gone

Ouch!

[Vimana.]

I still love playing the Hawk - it's my instrument of choice and cost me about £750 in 1979. I'm buying the PRS for the Floyd Rose whammy bar - and the neck dimensions are very close to the Hawk; so the playability is almost the same. The pick-up configuration is also similar to the Hawk, and a selling point of the PRS SE Floyd is its 85/15 pick-ups

I'd never seen a Washburn Hawk, or at least I had forgotten if I had - I had to google it.
Looks like it comes from the same factory or 'gakki' (Matsumoko I guess) as the venerable Westone Thunder.
But yeah, it's much prettier ;)

I like old late 70's - 80's Japanese guitars too, mainly the F style.
I've bought and sold a few over the years, Greco, Fernandes, early Tokai, Antoria , early Ibanez etc . Early JV Squire's too.
Not kept any. Doh...
My Strat still has an old Tokai body though ;)

[Veg1960]

Got an old Greco Strat - Lovely! Not as nice as my battered old JV Squier though -Had that for 25 years and still my main squeeze

[Vimana.]

Got an old Greco Strat - Lovely! Not as nice as my battered old JV Squier though -Had that for 25 years and still my main squeeze

Good stuff

Edit: yeah .. I spelled Squier wrong earlier ..;)

[Heathblue]

Got an old Greco Strat - Lovely! Not as nice as my battered old JV Squier though -Had that for 25 years and still my main squeeze

I used to have an EKO 12 string Jumbo with a pick-up, my Dad got it for me, fell off a back of a lorry ended up in the Rompney Castle where he acquired it for me

[Veg1960]

I used to have an EKO 12 string Jumbo with a pick-up, my Dad got it for me, fell off a back of a lorry ended up in the Rompney Castle where he acquired it for me

Those old Ekos were built like tanks, I had a 12 string and a 6 string. I remember a time when everyone in Caerphilly had Gretches for a while after the warehouse got turned over

[Vimana.]

This thread has taken an interesting turn (well, 'interesting' for some of us maybe) ;)

I am a bit of a fan of the underdog / alternative / outsider (goes well with supporting the City) and although I had ownership dreams as a young man, I prefer something interesting or quirky over a Fender or Gibson.

Some memorable / favourite 'alternatives' over the years have been:
Maison 335 style (decent quality late 80's? MIK) that particular one just had that something. So .. I sold it (one of many 'FFS' moments)
Mid 80's Fernandes 'The Revival' Strat . Wowza. Also sold that. There is a pattern here !
But my dearest possession/memory was a 70's Ibanez 'Custom' LesPaul clone which was my everything for years, many, many moons ago.
I played/abused the **** out of it until it truly died. I still have the tuner pegs ;)

[Cyclops]

My first guitar was a Rosetti Super Solid Seven. I was 14 and paid for it on the never-ever from my paper round. It was a deep red and had a whammy bar. Used to play my 45s thru the pickups. Discovered some time later that Macca also played a RSSS.

This was it aka Egmond: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVdt1PPSAm4

[Veg1960]

This thread has taken an interesting turn (well, 'interesting' for some of us maybe) ;)

I am a bit of a fan of the underdog / alternative / outsider (goes well with supporting the City) and although I had ownership dreams as a young man, I prefer something interesting or quirky over a Fender or Gibson.

Some memorable / favourite 'alternatives' over the years have been:
Maison 335 style (decent quality late 80's? MIK) that particular one just had that something. So .. I sold it (one of many 'FFS' moments)
Mid 80's Fernandes 'The Revival' Strat . Wowza. Also sold that. There is a pattern here !
But my dearest possession/memory was a 70's Ibanez 'Custom' LesPaul clone which was my everything for years, many, many moons ago.
I played/abused the **** out of it until it truly died. I still have the tuner pegs ;)

The only guitar I truly regret selling was a PRS Classic 24, that I bought from Mike at Cranes on my 30th birthday. It was beautiful to look at and played like a Rolls Royce.The sound was great but it didn't really twang/thud like a good strat or grunt/scream like a good Les. It definitely had something though!

[Veg1960]

I'd never seen a Washburn Hawk, or at least I had forgotten if I had - I had to google it.
Looks like it comes from the same factory or 'gakki' (Matsumoko I guess) as the venerable Westone Thunder.
But yeah, it's much prettier ;)

I like old late 70's - 80's Japanese guitars too, mainly the F style.
I've bought and sold a few over the years, Greco, Fernandes, early Tokai, Antoria , early Ibanez etc . Early JV Squire's too.
Not kept any. Doh...
My Strat still has an old Tokai body though ;)

I picked up a Westone Thunder Jet for £15.00 a while ago. One of my students has a Gibson Les Paul Tribute - The Westone is a better guitar in every respect