NGD Fret-King Ventura

Grangousier

https://i.imgur.com/3Qx78Jc.jpg?1

I decided to take Thursday and Friday last week off, as I'd not had a break for a while, so I was in a definite holiday mood when I was browsing Reverb for a potential Strat neck on Thursday morning. Which is why I was struck when I found that Ivor Mairants were selling off ex-demo Venturas at less than half price - a blue one and a red one. Showed the wife - the blue one was OK, the red one definitely kawai-i. I also already had a matching strap, so it was A Sign. 

So I wandered up to Mairants'  in the sunshine later on to pick it up. Definite frosty reception to an off-hand comment that the company name might be the reason the guitars didn't sell so well, but generally very upbeat.

I hadn't really thought it through, I must admit, so the last couple of days have been a bit of a learning curve - recently my main playing / gigging guitar has been the beater partscaster I got from @JerkMoans a few months ago (also completely unexpectedly, which seems to work for me), which I love despite its idiosyncrasies. 

https://i.imgur.com/EIblbFW.jpg?1

The Ventura is smaller than I expected, but heavier. It's very shiny - I tweaked the photos to bring that out, which is why they look a bit odd. After restringing and adjusting the action (there's probably a practical reason why the action on guitars in shops is so high, but I don't know what it is), I was astonished by the quality of the instrument I got for not much money. I'd not given minihumbuckers much thought before, but they're great, aren't they. Still trying to work out exactly how they're great, but I do like them. 

https://i.imgur.com/5kB9Upv.jpg?1

The main thing I need to get used to is the volume drop off going from hum bucker to single-coil mode (controlled by the lower tone knob, though it seems to change very abruptly just before the single-coil end rather than being a smooth fade). I was watching the rig rundown for the Breeders a couple of weeks ago, and now I understand why they use EQ pedals just to balance out the volume (I've been using humbuckers and single coils but just one at a time and not switching between them so quickly enough in the same set-up to notice the volume difference).

https://i.imgur.com/PiCOxeC.jpg?1

Anyway, I'm very pleased to have it in the house, though it's a bit of a surprise. Playing with it I found that the neck pickup with a bunch of compression and echo/reverb and a lot of whammy made for a nice pseudo-steel guitar sound, which resulted in an instrumental. Demo below, though in the recording a lot of the steeliness got slightly mislaid. 

Anyway, I thought it might be worth posting here, as well as giving me a chance to practice trying and failing to post images to the board. 

HAL9000

Looks Luvverly. Also, looks like a very comfortable/ergonomic shape - is it?

Schnozz

The English G&L - Great purchase of a work horse guitar that requires no mods and will last a lifetime. Enjoy!

OilCityPickups

That's a lovely looker.

rawk100

I got a blue label Esprit for under 300 notes a while back and it's a great guitar.  Mahogany neck and body, gotoh hardware, rosewood board,  it's a rock solid guitar that plays well and sounds really resonant compared to my LP's. I chucked a bare knuckle cold sweat in it and tuned it to drop C and use it as my bro0otalz guitar.

mbe

Very nice guitar that.

Go easy on the off-hand comments or Ivor may rant.