GAS has hit for the 1st time in years - Nik huber krautster !

riffpowers

anyone played one ??!!

CHrisP86

No but i've played one of these and it is stunning!  Would be my choice for that style of guitar.

Schnozz

I believe @Treewig had nice one 

FelineGuitars

CHrisP86 said:

No but i've played one of these and it is stunning!  Would be my choice for that style of guitar.

That is one of our 25th Anniversary of which there will be 5 (to go with the 5 arch top Lions that complete the limited edition)
All are still available at this point. 

Confession : they may be some of my favourite guitars that we have made to date.

I may make a few less lavish versions once the 25th builds are all done as I really like the form of these guitars.

Treewig1

I've owned three.  Terrific guitars.  I just prefer the longer scale length of the Huber Dolphin (and Krautsters tend to have thick necks - but they are comfortable).  Had a Krautster with a Bigsby.  Should never have sold it.  Krautsters used to be the cheaper Hubers.   Really pricey now. Worth it though!

Wazmeister

Yes, Ive owned one, and played two only a few weeks ago at World Guitars...

Lovely guitars, with an amazing balance between neck and bridge pickups. There are two rare colours and specs at World Guitars at the moment... but they are strong money.

With a big wodge of cash to spend, I liked em, but penultimately, didnt love them.

RandallFlagg

I had a Krautster II for a while. Lovely satin neck, very well finished and played very nicely. The body was in Petrol Blue and the finish was weird, I've never come across it before, kind of a cross between gloss and satin and really showed up fingerprints and was hard to clean them off, very smeary. I couldn't tell what type of finish it was, definitely not nitro and nothing like Fender poly.

The pickups sounded good but the control knobs felt cheap Allparts Gibson copies and the push pull coil split pot meant that the tone knob sat higher off the guitar body than the volume knob and was really slack to turn, making it feel a bit cheap.

Overall the guitar felt a little characterless, which was disappointing for the money paid so I sold it and got a Gibson R8 which feels much more like home. 

Dominic

^ spot on about the knobs and finish but the sound is spectacular -I certainly wouldn't call it characterless............in fact I would say it has amazing bite and sting

Whitecat

Love 'em. Very hot pickups but controllable and tone monsters as such. They are now available with two different neck carves too so you can go old school fat neck or a slimmer "60's" carve too. 

Philly_Q

RandallFlagg said:

I had a Krautster II for a while. Lovely satin neck, very well finished and played very nicely. The body was in Petrol Blue and the finish was weird, I've never come across it before, kind of a cross between gloss and satin and really showed up fingerprints and was hard to clean them off, very smeary. I couldn't tell what type of finish it was, definitely not nitro and nothing like Fender poly.

The pickups sounded good but the control knobs felt cheap Allparts Gibson copies and the push pull coil split pot meant that the tone knob sat higher off the guitar body than the volume knob and was really slack to turn, making it feel a bit cheap.

Overall the guitar felt a little characterless, which was disappointing for the money paid so I sold it and got a Gibson R8 which feels much more like home. 

I had one of the single-humbucker ones (with just a push-pull volume control) and I agree with your comments about the finish and the pots.

I'm not sure if it was characterless, but there was something a bit clinical about it (strangely it reminded me of a Lakewood acoustic I had, although I don't want to invoke stereotypes of "German efficiency").  I think ultimately I felt it was a bit out of my league, although I've owned more expensive guitars.

The big fat flame maple neck was lovely to look at, though!

Treewig1

So many high end guitars use plastic knobs.  I don't know why luthiers don't pay attention to this small, but important (to me), detail.

jimmyguitar

There's a 2nd hand Huber just listed at Guitar Village
https://guitarvillage.co.uk/products/nik-huber-dolphin-ii-tobacco-sunburst-pre-owned-2009-ec

Treewig1

GV's Dolphin has been there a while.  Really keen pricing!

riffpowers

I doubt I'll ever be able to afford or justify one, but they do seem fantastic.

Whitecat

The pricing on Hubers has skyrocketed over the past few years. No doubt he's charging more simply because he can - rarely do they last more than about a week at World Guitars, for example. 

They are exceptional, but I can understand how you'd want to do a little comparison shopping for that kind of coin. 

hoops

Had one for about six months now - absolutely love it.

FreddieVanHalen

Hubert is expensive, but compared to the way Gibson prices have been going recently, maybe not so much considering the quality of the guitars.

skaguitar

I had a Frank Hartung Junico which is basically the same guitar and are generally a bit cheaper when they come up second hand....great guitars though...haussel pick ups... top quality build... I regret selling mine.
here's a link to one that sold recently

https://reverb.com/uk/item/2891906-frank-hartung-junico-les-paul-junior-2016-gold-top

dindude

skaguitar said:

I had a Frank Hartung Junico which is basically the same guitar and are generally a bit cheaper when they come up second hand....great guitars though...haussel pick ups... top quality build... I regret selling mine.
here's a link to one that sold recently

https://reverb.com/uk/item/2891906-frank-hartung-junico-les-paul-junior-2016-gold-top

I really like the look of those, and that gold top is lush - although being "better than mint" is some sales pitch!

dealmaker

Krautsters are one of my favourite guitars, light, resonant, "alive feeling" and sound amazing, I have two of them.. The necks on them are some of the best out there. For me its the perfect carve.  I'd say they are one of the three most underrated guitars out there, along with Knaggs Steve Stevens models, and Yamaha SG's.