Gibson R8 or Harley Benton with Pickup Upgrades?

ICBM

Three-ColourSunburst said:

The guitar in the picture is the Harley Benton SC550 reviewed by Agufish and is fiited with Wilkinson pickups. It is not the Chibson you played that had Duncans in it.

The guitar in the picture I posted is a Chibson with Duncans in it.

Kittyfrisk

Gassage said:

So, just musing- extending this concept to the point of silliness, should I get a Porsche 911 Turbo S, or a Reliant Robin with an extra wheel and a pair of Rolls Royce Olympus Turbojets with afterburners strapped to the roof?

Which should I get? I'm in a quandry.

Sorted  

Three-ColourSunburst

ICBM said:

The guitar in the picture I posted is a Chibson with Duncans in it.

Ah, I see. I was getting confused as to which guitar we were talking about. Still, under 8lb for a Chibson, and a 'typical of old-grown mahogany' heft for the Harley Benton, add in the long-necked tenon and perhaps we should be comparing Harley Bentons to the 'R' models, not those hollowed-out, circuit board equipped Standards.

thegummy

Grumpyrocker said:

Three-ColourSunburst said:

Neil said:

ICBM said:

The Chibson in the pic above weighed under 8lb, by the way...

Well, balsa is a very light wood. 

He was joking. If you want a 'balsa wood density' Les Paul, you apparently need to sort through a load of R8s and R9s, as folklore has it that the 'better quality' (come lower quality) better sustaining (come less sustaining) more 'toneful' (come less toneful) higher mojo (come lower mojo) come who the fek knows lighter stuff is reserved for these.

I'm no expert on wood, but a quick search suggest that in reality high-density mahogany is characteristic of old, naturally grown trees, whilst younger plantation grown trees tend to produce lower density timber which, as a consequence, is also mechanically inferior to the denser, forest grown timber in terns of strength, resistance to crushing and so on, as well as being more prone to shrinkage. Overall, it does seem that higher-density mahogany is on most counts, actually better quality than the low density stuff.

It's the other way around. The older slow grown stuff is lighter. The newer more intensively farmed and quicker grown stuff is denser. 

That's actually what I thought I remember reading but I didn't want to reply cause I was quite unsure about it.

Seem to remember something about it being dried more quickly in recent years as well? Possibly mixing that up with another topic though.

thegummy

Gassage said:

So, just musing- extending this concept to cars, should I get a Porsche 911 Turbo S, or a Reliant Robin with an extra wheel and a pair of Rolls Royce Olympus Turbojets with afterburners strapped to the roof?

Which should I get? I'm in a quandry.

Just imagine you actually could get new cars for a couple of grand that really were as close to luxury cars as 500 quid guitars are to their luxury counterparts. Would be fantastic.

Three-ColourSunburst

Gassage said:

So, just musing- extending this concept to cars, should I get a Porsche 911 Turbo S, or a Reliant Robin with an extra wheel and a pair of Rolls Royce Olympus Turbojets with afterburners strapped to the roof?

Which should I get? I'm in a quandry.

Way over-extending more like. Unless you know of a Chinese copy 911, with the same design but a different badge.

thegummy

Three-ColourSunburst said:

Gassage said:

So, just musing- extending this concept to cars, should I get a Porsche 911 Turbo S, or a Reliant Robin with an extra wheel and a pair of Rolls Royce Olympus Turbojets with afterburners strapped to the roof?

Which should I get? I'm in a quandry.

Way over-extending more like. Unless you know of a Chinese copy 911, with the same design but a different badge.

I'm sure he's just joking.

Three-ColourSunburst

thegummy said:

Seem to remember something about it being dried more quickly in recent years as well? Possibly mixing that up with another topic though.

You probably saw something about Gibson's vacuum-drying kiln, where instead of waiting months for the wood to dry out naturally, they suck the water out under negative pressure - all part of their cost-cutting, industrial process approach to making guitars. You can see it in this video from around 2:14.

stickyfiddle

thegummy said:

Three-ColourSunburst said:

Gassage said:

So, just musing- extending this concept to cars, should I get a Porsche 911 Turbo S, or a Reliant Robin with an extra wheel and a pair of Rolls Royce Olympus Turbojets with afterburners strapped to the roof?

Which should I get? I'm in a quandry.

Way over-extending more like. Unless you know of a Chinese copy 911, with the same design but a different badge.

I'm sure he's just joking.

I don't know - you can get a "Chacan" in China

Grumpyrocker

A fair cop. Serves me right for listening to YT videos.

Kittyfrisk

Grumpyrocker said:

A fair cop. Serves me right for listening to YT videos.

    

terada

Gassage said:

So, just musing- extending this concept to cars, should I get a Porsche 911 Turbo S, or a Reliant Robin with an extra wheel and a pair of Rolls Royce Olympus Turbojets with afterburners strapped to the roof?

Which should I get? I'm in a quandry.

No need, just bolt those wheels and components to a HB. 

Same thing just much cheaper. 

johnl

Completely unrelated guys but I'm trying to decide whether to spend the night with Vanessa Feltz or Scarlett Johanssen this evening - I've been assured that the end result will be basically the same but I just can't shake the feeling that one will be a more enjoyable experience....

NelsonP

I posted another thread about this, but I think a much more interesting comparison is Squier vs Fender or Epiphone vs Gibson.

Then a bit like saying should I buy an Audi RS3 or a Seat Leon and the 365bhp upgrade.
https://www.evo.co.uk/news/22429/seat-leon-cupra-r-st-announced-with-optional-365bhp-upgrade

Kittyfrisk

johnl said:

Completely unrelated guys but I'm trying to decide whether to spend the night with Vanessa Feltz or Scarlett Johanssen this evening - I've been assured that the end result will be basically the same but I just can't shake the feeling that one will be a more enjoyable experience....

No brainer, you'll have far more laughs & a better conversation out of Ms Feltz 

johnl

A good Epiphone is a very, very good guitar. If Gibson got rid of the ridiculous headstock (which looks sort of alrightish on a 335 but awful on everything else) then they'd completely take over the "Les Paul but cheaper" market.

TINMAN82

I for one am now, genuinely, highly tempted to buy a HB and give it a spin. 

Kittyfrisk

^  To johnl. Agreed, I have several lovely Epiphone's.
The thing is, if Gibson changed the Epiphone headstock to an open book, they would kill their profits and damage their marketing strategy.
 Epiphone Standard LP around £400, Entry level Gibson LP Faded Bourbon £600 (from £750) Lowest Gibson LP Standard £1700 ( GuitarGuitar, figures may vary with sellers).
That's a hell of an ask for any company.

OilCityPickups

johnl said:

A good Epiphone is a very, very good guitar. If Gibson got rid of the ridiculous headstock (which looks sort of alrightish on a 335 but awful on everything else) then they'd completely take over the "Les Paul but cheaper" market.

Totally this. Actually the HB headstock is way better looking than the Epi LP one.

Philly_Q

Kittyfrisk said:

The thing is, if Gibson changed the Epiphone headstock to an open book, they would kill their profits and damage their marketing strategy.
 Epiphone Standard LP around £400, Entry level Gibson LP Faded Bourbon £600 (from £750) Lowest Gibson LP Standard £1700 ( GuitarGuitar, figures may vary with sellers).
That's a hell of an ask for any company.

But Squiers and MIM Fenders, with proper Fender headstocks, don't seem to damage Fender USA sales or profits.

I know the respective ranges and marketing strategies have developed over decades, but fundamentally they're analogous situations.