New 09 Malmsteen Strat – Quick Analysis Options

[Gary]

Bit of background on me. I consider myself a lower level intermediate player. Played in high school and then stopped for many years. Discovered this site about a year ago and began to pick up the guitar again. My only other axe is a 1979 American Strat that I actually purchased new when I was a teenager .

I was intrigued with the Malmsteen. One reason for this is that I have a bad habit of pressing too hard on the strings. I figured the scalloped fret board would help here as if I pressed too hard this would send notes sharp. I also surmised that it would be painful to press hard on strings when there is nothing behind to stop them (this assumption turned out to be accurate). Anyway I decided to go for it and was ready to buy from AMS or GC a few months ago, then Fender came out with that ridiculous 30% recessionary price increase (???) so I said forget it. Two weeks ago I saw a brand new one listed on EBay at the old price so I grabbed it.

My first impression upon taking the guitar out of the box was shock at how light it is in comparison to my old Strat. In fact I quickly became concerned that I had received a cheap Chinese knock off or something. The bottom line here is that my old Strat is a tank compared to the Malmsteen; and yes there is a reason for this, these are two very different guitars!

Upon further inspecting the Malmsteen I found the fit and finish on the guitar to be good. I have read some complaints regarding thin paint on some of the newer Strats but there is no evidence of this on my guitar (although it’s a bit more yellow than what I expected). The neck is straight and the fit into the neck pocket is reasonably tight. I did notice however that the high E string was very close to the edge of the neck. Closer inspection showed that up near the nut the distance from the low E and edge of the neck and the high E and edge of the neck were equal. However looking at the 21st fret, the distance between the High E and the edge of the neck is less than the low E. Thus as you move down the neck, the distance from neck edge to the low E increases while the distance from neck edge to the high E decreases. This means that either the neck is not mounted straight on the guitar or the entire bridge assembly needs to be adjusted up towards the top of the guitar body (not sure this is possible, so advice accepted if you have some). I will dig into this over the weekend to determine if the appropriate adjustment can be made. Kind of a bummer that the strings are not parallel to the neck on a guitar that Fender just raised the price to over $2,000 US .

The action on the guitar was fairly low but I will change the setup a bit. There was no fret buzzing out of the box but I changed the strings to 9's (came with 10's) and since this relaxed the tension on the tremolo unit a bit I now have some buzzing on the low E. One thing for sure, on a scalloped neck the strings feel much bigger. I have the same strings on both my Strats and on the un-scalloped neck the strings feel very small diameter, however on the scalloped neck they feel like rope. Not sure if this is just me or others have found this same issue?

One area where the Malmsteen excels in bending strings and vibrato. The feeling here is unrestricted and effortless. As far as speed I can see how this guitar could allow you play faster as very little pressure is required to sound notes. Due to my problem of pressing to hard on the strings I am maybe a bit faster on this guitar; in time though as I get used to it and work out this issue I think the speed difference will be more pronounced.

As far as the sound I really like it. Has a good deal of sustain and a nice tone on my small cheap amp. . I have yet to plug into my large amp so more to come in that area. I will say that when played unplugged it’s loud for an electric.

In the end my two guitars are very different. The Malmsteen seems a bit like a M3 Beemer, its light weight and it just feels tight and accurate. My old Strat.. well it still feels great, a bit heavy and lethargic though. I am working on getting used to the scalloped neck and adjusting my left hand pressure. Once this shakes out I will provide an update. Willing to answer any questions.

Cheers~
Gary






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This post has been edited by Gary: May 13 2009, 03:37 AM