NGD: Reverend Gristlemaster

Lewy

First impressions ...

Fit & finish 8/10 - a few tiny rough bits/imperfections but nothing worth bothering about. It’s not a Collings but it’s 1/3 of the price. Most importantly, it’s not over finished which is what I was most worried about. Finish is thin and the whole thing feels alive in the hands. Weight is 7.2lbs.

Playability - insert hackneyed superlative here. It’s very easy to play with 10s. Huge bends are easy and no choking. Action is about as low as I could deal with.

Sound - need much more time to play with it (only played it at low-ish volume straight into my Princeton so far) but it sounds exactly as I was hoping and expecting it would with the two different voicings of the Fluence pups. I’ve been playing around switching between the “blackguard” and “whiteguard” selection, and using the volume knob to equalise the volume of the two and they definitely are two difference voices rather than just one being a boosted version of the other. The other thing is the volume and tone controls seem way more responsive for things like swells than any other guitar I’ve played.

All in all, happy!

TimmyO

Very nice. not heard about those fancy-dan pickups, will google 

Lewy

TimmyO said:

Very nice. not heard about those fancy-dan pickups, will google 

Fishman Fluence Greg Koch set

skullfunkerry

That is a nice looking guitar, congrats!

'Gristlemaster' still makes me feel a bit funny though, and not in a good way O_o

MagicPigDetective

Sweet guitar intoxication! etc etc

merciful-evans

smart!

very interested in Reverend models. Yours looks tidy

EricTheWeary

Lovely. I think Greg always has a treble bleed thing on the volume pot, I don't know if that helps with the volume swells. 
I think Reverend have done a great job there. I'd be interested to know how the body feels compared to a Tele, wether the stepped and slightly wider body make any noticeable difference. 

Evildurka

I am glad to see you like this, I have a custom build tele from stormshadow with those pickups in and love it. That and my newly acquired custom 24 are my go to guitars at the minute, so much so I am debating culling a load to fund a custom 22 and a dgt

Lewy

EricTheWeary said:

I'd be interested to know how the body feels compared to a Tele, wether the stepped and slightly wider body make any noticeable difference. 

I don’t think you’d notice the difference in outline size in a blind test but it would definitely feel thinner and “closer in” if you know what I mean.

EricTheWeary

Lewy said:

EricTheWeary said:

I'd be interested to know how the body feels compared to a Tele, wether the stepped and slightly wider body make any noticeable difference. 

I don’t think you’d notice the difference in outline size in a blind test but it would definitely feel thinner and “closer in” if you know what I mean.

Ahh, okay, I guesss that’s what I’d imagined. That’s a good thing I think. 
Much as it is essentially a telecaster copy there are a number of nicely done changes that does seem to make it it’s own thing. 
Presumably your next purchase is a Greg style skull cap, we await pictures...

Schnozz

I'm a whiteguard fan, so that's a nice option

EDIT: Well, not so much a 'fan' as I just prefer them

Samgb

This looks killer. The raised Firebird bit and the mount around the next pickup are bound to trigger some people but i do like unique looking things. I thought about the Fluence Tele pickups for a long while but just couldnt bring myself to pay the pretty steep price.

Someone mentioned Greg liking a treble bleed? If you look on Reverend's website i think the TBS is standard on all of their guitars anyway.

I just this last week traded my MIM Tele for a Reverend Charger HB. My new best friend. Its great. Especially the bass contour pot which is incredibly useful and just makes it such a versatile guitar.

EricTheWeary

Samgb said:

This looks killer. The raised Firebird bit and the mount around the next pickup are bound to trigger some people but i do like unique looking things. I thought about the Fluence Tele pickups for a long while but just couldnt bring myself to pay the pretty steep price.

Someone mentioned Greg liking a treble bleed? If you look on Reverend's website i think the TBS is standard on all of their guitars anyway.

I just this last week traded my MIM Tele for a Reverend Charger HB. My new best friend. Its great. Especially the bass contour pot which is incredibly useful and just makes it such a versatile guitar.

I rewatched an older interview with him the other day when he had his custom shop Fender and he was saying he always had a treble bleed on all his own guitars so I assumed that would be the case with the Reverend. 

Samgb

EricTheWeary said:

Samgb said:

This looks killer. The raised Firebird bit and the mount around the next pickup are bound to trigger some people but i do like unique looking things. I thought about the Fluence Tele pickups for a long while but just couldnt bring myself to pay the pretty steep price.

Someone mentioned Greg liking a treble bleed? If you look on Reverend's website i think the TBS is standard on all of their guitars anyway.

I just this last week traded my MIM Tele for a Reverend Charger HB. My new best friend. Its great. Especially the bass contour pot which is incredibly useful and just makes it such a versatile guitar.

I rewatched an older interview with him the other day when he had his custom shop Fender and he was saying he always had a treble bleed on all his own guitars so I assumed that would be the case with the Reverend. 

Yeah i think i have seen that interview.
Its weird on my new Rev that even though the treble bleed on the volume is noticeable i find i am using the bass contour instead as it effectively does the job in a 'more useful' way  - ie reduces gain without reducing volume and dynamics/treble etc.   

DrJazzTap

Lovely guitar congratulations! Nice colour

Lewy

DrJazzTap said:

Lovely guitar congratulations! Nice colour

Thanks. “Kochwork Orange”

fretmeister

Lovely!

McToot

I love orange guitars. 

That is all. 

PC_Dave

Gorgeous!! My next purchase is due to be a Blucifer, so I’m pleased someone of this parish has already had the good experience I’m hoping for

Happy NGD!!

Jota

Congrats.
Would love to see the routing under the pickguard.

Lewy

Jota said:

Congrats.
Would love to see the routing under the pickguard.

Here you go...