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NGD - 2011 R4

Stoj

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Joined
Oct 6, 2006
Messages
3,514
As many of you know I have had major GAS for an R4 for some time now, Thanks to forum brother Chris (Red Baron) :salude for putting me onto her & as an added bonus the guitar wasn't to far from me 30 mins up the road :dude:

Here are some pics, I'm taking her to band practice tonight so a full report to follow :salude









 

MWR

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May 16, 2004
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Congrats! My favorite LP combo wraparound tailpiece and P90s.
 

Red Baron

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Jul 14, 2004
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6,774
Great score Tony, glad to see you finally get yourself a nice R4. Well done! :salude
 

Stoj

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Oct 6, 2006
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Thanks Guys, Appreciate your kind words :salude

Here's another pic for the sake of it :)

 

Spudrok

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Joined
Apr 22, 2003
Messages
89
Me and mine:
100_384.jpg


IMG_738-1.jpg


I think that the R4 is the masterpiece. IMHO the later addition of the Tuneomatic bridge was arguably unnecessary. How often do you hear owners of Martin or Taylor acoustic guitars complain about intonation? Intonation on any guitar is a tradeoff, even with the Buzz Feiten modification. I am not cool with bad intonation at all... I just want my guitar most perfectly intonated down where I play open chords. On my R4 my intonation is very satisfactory. I feel that many guitar players and even "luthiers" are tunnel visioned on 12th fret intonation. To me it is FAR more important to have best intonation at the 5th fret and below because that's where "Cowboy Chords" happen with inclusion of unfretted along with fretted notes. When I play above the 5th fret I am playing Rock-N-Roll Barre Chords or playing whiddle whiddledy lead solos. It is a matter of priorities. I like my chords to be in tune. When I am playing most solo stuff I am bending notes anyway.

Btw, mine is a 2002 model, SN 4 2201.
 
Last edited:

Bluuzman

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Dec 26, 2002
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1,670
:2cool Congrats. I am sure, it sounds great :note. I prefer this gold colour to the newer greenish gold colour.
 

Red Baron

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Jul 14, 2004
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6,774
I think that the R4 is the masterpiece. IMHO the later addition of the Tuneomatic bridge was arguably unnecessary. How often do you hear owners of Martin or Taylor acoustic guitars complain about intonation? Intonation on any guitar is a tradeoff, even with the Buzz Feiten modification. I am not cool with bad intonation at all... I just want my guitar most perfectly intonated down where I play open chords. On my R4 my intonation is very satisfactory. I feel that many guitar players and even "luthiers" are tunnel visioned on 12th fret intonation. To me it is FAR more important to have best intonation at the 5th fret and below because that's where "Cowboy Chords" happen with inclusion of unfretted along with fretted notes. When I play above the 5th fret I am playing Rock-N-Roll Barre Chords or playing whiddle whiddledy lead solos. It is a matter of priorities. I like my chords to be in tune. When I am playing most solo stuff I am bending notes anyway.

Spot on :salude
 

Gold Tone

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Joined
Apr 2, 2002
Messages
6,825
Me and mine:
100_384.jpg


IMG_738-1.jpg


I think that the R4 is the masterpiece. IMHO the later addition of the Tuneomatic bridge was arguably unnecessary. How often do you hear owners of Martin or Taylor acoustic guitars complain about intonation? Intonation on any guitar is a tradeoff, even with the Buzz Feiten modification. I am not cool with bad intonation at all... I just want my guitar most perfectly intonated down where I play open chords. On my R4 my intonation is very satisfactory. I feel that many guitar players and even "luthiers" are tunnel visioned on 12th fret intonation. To me it is FAR more important to have best intonation at the 5th fret and below because that's where "Cowboy Chords" happen with inclusion of unfretted along with fretted notes. When I play above the 5th fret I am playing Rock-N-Roll Barre Chords or playing whiddle whiddledy lead solos. It is a matter of priorities. I like my chords to be in tune. When I am playing most solo stuff I am bending notes anyway.

Btw, mine is a 2002 model, SN 4 2201.

Agreed though I do play a hell of a lot of chords up to the 15 fret, top 3 or 4 strings depending. When those chords are sour. :-(

But yeah, it's a trade off. You never can get perfect intonation so it's more important to have a compromise where all chords sound sweet up the neck. Erring on the flat side when needing to compromise works best.

Oh and that R4...nice!!!
 

Spudrok

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Apr 22, 2003
Messages
89
Agreed though I do play a hell of a lot of chords up to the 15 fret, top 3 or 4 strings depending. When those chords are sour. :-(

But yeah, it's a trade off. You never can get perfect intonation so it's more important to have a compromise where all chords sound sweet up the neck. Erring on the flat side when needing to compromise works best.

Oh and that R4...nice!!!

Thanks Gold Tone. It came out of a back room at Chambers Guitars in the Cool Springs Mall area near Nashville (not there anymore). Chamber's had 2 other R4s out front and I was spending time trying to decide between them. When he saw that I specifically wanted an R4 over any of the other Historic LPs, he went and got this beauty from the back. The color was richer and the whole instrument just resonated wonderfully. THAT was the one! I will always be thankful to Joe Chambers for fetching this one out of the stash for me.
 

dylumph

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Joined
Apr 21, 2002
Messages
477
I've been gassing for one of these for several years. Seems like a higher power has kept me from aquiring one. We have a guitar show here in Charlotte, N.C. every year and for the last 2 years there was 1 ( a darkback and this year a natural). I played them each a good 30 minutes and loved every thing about the playability, neck, look & build. Both times the vendor didn't take cards. Both were priced around $2800. Too much for ATM action and always on Sat & Sun. when the banks are closed. Sweetwater, who I like wants $4700. Damn, I'm envious of you getting that beautiful guitar! I know you understand the Gas.
This year @ the show some other vendor saw me drooling over this guitar and started trying to sell me on a beat up, headstock repaired, green, wore out real 1954 LP standard for $15000.00. Then the young guy wanted to argue with me over old wood. I polietly told him that I play guitar and walked away. I was born in 1954 and I'd love a reissue of the guitar made that year. I still gig and I'll leave the real thing to the eccentrics!
 

Stoj

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Oct 6, 2006
Messages
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Tommy the neck profile is very close to my Bloomfield slightly more shoulders, but not as baseball batty of that on an R6 :salude

Very comfy, I've had the R4 for close to a month now and it's definitely been my go to axe, especially for gigging. I used to take 3-4 guitars to gigs, I haven't done that since I bought this guitar. It covers a lot of bases and very versatile I couldn't be happier :salude
 

Tommy Tourbus

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Joined
Jan 1, 2005
Messages
871
Tommy the neck profile is very close to my Bloomfield slightly more shoulders, but not as baseball batty of that on an R6 :salude

Do R4's typically feature slimmer necks than R6's? I ask because I've been wanting one or the other, but the huge neck thing puts me off
 

Stoj

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Oct 6, 2006
Messages
3,514
R6's definitely have big baseball bat necks at least they did up until 2010/11, They were the last years I played an R6.

I cannot speak for the newer years (2012 - Current), maybe someone can chime in & confirm :salude
 
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