what do you think of this guitar?

allthumbs · #1 February 10th, 2005

I stumbled onto this site today. The guy has just started and is doing great sales. It looks like his stuff would make teriffic slide guitars. Top of the line is 2800 u.s. so I need to win the lottery quick. what do you think of them?

http://www.solowayguitars.com/

allthumbs

Frankenstrat2 · #2 February 10th, 2005

I just met Jim Soloway at the NAMM show. He had one of his guitars on display and available to play at the Fuchs Amplification booth. We talked about them and I played it briefly. Jim is a talented Luthier. He mostly plays a 7 string himself, if I recall the conversation correctly. I'm sure his guitars would be beautiful for slide, although not particularly my first choice.
I was into pretty guitars for a while, but came to the conclusion that I didn't really want to play anything that I couldn't ding, drop, sweat on or spill stuff over. But if you like websurfing for pretty guitars, Google any of these luthiers
Scott Heatley
Ron Thorn- (check out his inlay gallery)
Rowan Custom Guitars
Moonstone Guitars

I'm also fascinated by James Trussart's creations.

allthumbs · #3 February 10th, 2005

truth be told, I like the sound and the 27 inch neck. I am not sure how I feel about the look. It's not reallly my taste. I hear what your saying abot dings. I have already dinged my srv special more than once.
allthumbs

Frankenstrat2 · #4 February 11th, 2005

I also recall Jim Soloway playing his guitar tuned down, perhaps to D.
The long scale means higher string tension.
I've have enjoyed fighting my strats and teles for years, but I'm not sure I would want even more resistance for those big bends. I also wonder what the long scale would do to the accuracy and intonation of playing slide?
Jim's guitar was too pretty for me to start banging my slide against the frets to find out, although I'm sure he wouldn't have minded.
b.

allthumbs · #5 February 11th, 2005

you may be right. I took a second listen to his sound clips. no bends at all. Not that big a deal to me since with the heavy strings I use, i don't bend much on my slide setup so it would fit my style of playing. I think I would still like it for fingerstyle. I have other guitars for big bends. I don't expect one guitar to excel at all things. I guess I really should have said this is a good guitar for me rather than in general. Thanks for pointing that out.
allthumbs

Jim Soloway · #6 February 11th, 2005

Hi guys. I came across theis thread doing some maintenance on my site and I thought it might be useful if I ceared up a couple things about our guitars.

First of all, these guitar were designed to be played primarily in standard pitch using normal string guages. My 7-string, which is my main instrument, is tuned to standard using a set of .011's plus a .060 for the low A. On a 6-string I do tune to open D a lot, but that's only because I've been playing 7-string for so long that I tend to get hopelessly confused when I play 6-string in standard tuning.

Second, the only reason why there are no bends in my clips is because I'm the one playing them. My playing is what I would describe as "piano-like". It doesn't realy matter what guitar I'm playing, what the scale length is, or what the string guages are, my playing is still going to be your basic no-bend zone. If you check out the clips by Scott Lerner, he bends on the Swan just like he does on any of his other guitars. We've done a lot to make these as easy to play as possible and while I know its hard to believe until you've tried one, for most people, a Swan with .010's tuned to standard pitch feels very similar to a Strat.

As for being "too pretty", as a working musician I really do understand that one and I don't disagree. I didn't originally set out to go in that direction, but very clearly we've drifted that way with fancy woods and nitro finishes. Our earlier guitars were a lot more utilitarian with poly finishes and simpler wood combinations. I played over 150 gigs in one year with my first 7-string including a lot of outdoor gigs in crummy Portland weather. It was strictly a working guitar and when I sold it the sweat and coffee splashes all just wiped off the poly finish. I certainly couldn't do that with my new nitro finished guitar.

I have no plans to make the guitars uglier, but I do have plans to offer some more "player-oriented" guitars. It's not on the web-site yet, but poly finishes are available again along with solid colors and more all-ash bodies.

If you have any questions, please feel free and I'll do my best to give you some answers. And if you're curious about what our guitars feel like, just give me a call. I usually have a demo model that I ship around for test-drives. The old demo sold a while ago,but I plan on having another one available in about 6 or 7 weeks.

Frankenstrat2 · #7 February 11th, 2005

Wow Jim!
You must have a webcrawler bot out there just hunting for any reference to your fine instruments.
I can't believe you turned up over here at this sleepy little undersubscribed Bottleneck Guitar Forum!

Thanks for the explaination. Believe me, my comments were in no way intended to disuade anyone from an order.

My screen name reflects my personal preference for beat-up junker partscasters that I can abuse on a guilt-free basis.

By the way, it was a pleasure meeting you at NAMM.
I hope you had some success at the show.
See you over at TheGearPages.net

Jim Soloway · #8 February 11th, 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankenstrat2

Wow Jim!
You must have a webcrawler bot out there just hunting for any reference to your fine instruments.
I can't believe you turned up over here at this sleepy little undersubscribed Bottleneck Guitar Forum!

Thanks for the explaination. Believe me, my comments were in no way intended to disuade anyone from an order.

My screen name reflects my personal preference for beat-up junker partscasters that I can abuse on a guilt-free basis.

By the way, it was a pleasure meeting you at NAMM.
I hope you had some success at the show.
See you over at TheGearPages.net

My website admin tools give me the source of every link into our site and we're small enough that it doesn't take many hits for a link to become obvious.

It's hard to say whether it's a result of NAMM, the JazzTimes review, or just general word of mouth, but sales have really taken off in the last month, at least within the very limited perspective that I live in. We've sold 7 guitars in 3 weeks, by far the best stretch we've ever had.

And like I said, I really do understand the idea of playing guilt free. I've played way too many gigs in tight quarters and around drunken customers to disagree with you. As a player, I've never been into snob appeal guitars for myself and your comments came just a day after we had exactly that discussion. We really do need to include guitars for the road warriors, not just the boutique collectors.

allthumbs · #9 February 11th, 2005

thanks for clearing that up jim. How about a comment on using the swan for slide . I too play in dropped D , by the way.
allthumbs

Jim Soloway · #10 February 11th, 2005

Here's the best answer I can give you the slide question. I recorded this clip a few months ago with a koa swan. It wasn't set up for slide and as usual, you'll probably find my playing to be on the antiseptic side, but it should give you a better indication than any hype I could throw at you.

http://www.jimsoloway.com/TascamDemos/MotoSlide.mp3

BTW, this clip was probably the first time I'd played slide for more than 1 or 2 bars in about 10 years, but I guess it's kind of like riding a bicycle.

allthumbs · #11 February 11th, 2005

thanks Jim.It sounds good. My strat for dark slide and a swan for the brighter stuff. Your playing ain't bad for someone out of practice.
allthumbs

manwithaplan · #12 February 12th, 2005

Im amazed that an undersubscribed Slide Guitar Forum has an amzing guitar builder in it

Im really looking into your guitars and I hope to get one in the near future.

allthumbs · #13 February 12th, 2005

hold your horses there manwithaplan. Give jim a chance to put out a workhorse guitar for alot less money. I have already asked for a price range so it might be a good idea for you to email him and let him know there is more interest in a cheaper ding resistant version. 2800 u.s is a big ouch.. I don't care what it looks like, i just love the tone.
allthumbs