Played a JET Today!

[Bengal65]

I got a chance to play two Earlewood JET guitars today. Awesome look; 6A quilted maple chambered archtop,Korina concave back, Ebony fretboard, 24 fret Maple neck, waining moon abalone inlay, flame maple binding, Duncan Blackback pickups and the workmanship is excellent! Perfect in fact. Awesome guitar! But the price tag???? $5,000. Most of the high grade tops run $5-5.5K depending on options. More inlay or piezo's more $. Gonna have to sell a lot of my gear to get one of those. [img]/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img] Oh and by the way, it was not at Ed Romans! [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img]

[The Eristic]

Re: Played a JET Today!

It's about time Jeffrey got out of his exclusive with The Gnome. Sick guitars, aren't they? Where'd you play it, if you don't mind?

[Bengal65]

Re: Played a JET Today!

www.infinityguitars.com. Randy Lutz is the owner and is located in Houston, TX. I was shocked to discover another dealer and in Houston no less!

[The Eristic]

Re: Played a JET Today!

That shop looks great, but I am becoming suspicious, thanks to a few possible Roman connections. He has more than one formerly Gnome-exclusive builder. JET, Jaros, and Gledura. It's also interesting that he shows Baker on his "Electrics" page, as the name Baker is currently owned, and the guitars themselves produced, by Ed Roman (Gene Baker has nothing to do with the company now). He carries Pearlcaster, too, another Roman-produced brand. However, he does have a couple builders that won't have anything to do with Ed, McNaught and Melancon. Weird. I sense a connection, but I'm unsure of its nature. [img]/images/graemlins/scratchhead.gif[/img]

[Bengal65]

Re: Played a JET Today!

There's probably is a connection. I'm not sure of the details of the relationship though, He did state that he had to convince both Ed and Jeffrey that another dealership was needed. I asked about the "exclusive" dealership that Ed has, and he said that Ed was the primary exclusive dealer. What ever that means? Maybe he made a deal to become a JET dealer by getting Ed to allow Randy (himself)to sell Pearlcasters, Bakers and other Roman generated guitars. Where's Jeff in all of this, I don't know?

[The Eristic]

Re: Played a JET Today!

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Maybe he made a deal to become a JET dealer by getting Ed to allow Randy (himself)to sell Pearlcasters, Bakers and other Roman generated guitars.

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That's very possible. That comforts me a little more, the thought that Ed isn't really running the show.

In case you haven't noticed, I tend have an almost allergic reaction to Mr. Roman. [img]/images/graemlins/poke.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[Bengal65]

Re: Played a JET Today!

What is it with Ed anyway? From his web site he appears very opinionated. I guess that's OK. It is his business. Do you know of anyone that has been mistreated dealing with him? Last year I sent several e-mails to his Internet sales guy, inquiring about several guitars by stock # and I got no replies. They must not be hard up for any sales.

[The Eristic]

Re: Played a JET Today!

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What is it with Ed anyway? From his web site he appears very opinionated. I guess that's OK. It is his business. Do you know of anyone that has been mistreated dealing with him? Last year I sent several e-mails to his Internet sales guy, inquiring about several guitars by stock # and I got no replies. They must not be hard up for any sales.

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I know several guys that have been treated terribly by him, he's known for making fakes (esp. BC Rich), modifying new high-end guitars to make them better (really just to make them whatever thinks is better), for being extremely pushy and insulting with builders AND customer, for being xenophobic and hypocritical (he tells people not to buy higher end MIJ guitars, but he'll gladly sell you a JEM... don't dare use any foreign-made hardware, either), for lying, for being an all-around ****, etc...

For instance, he trashes McInturff guitars on his website. "I've been dealing McInturff guitars for several years now..." BS. I'm friends with Terry. He sent Ed three or four guitars in maybe '97, then refused to deal with him because of his attitude and business practices. He basically told Terry that his guitars would only be great if he changed his designs to include ebony fretboards, 24 frets, and high output Seymour Duncans (they came with Seth Lovers or custom-made Dimarzios). Pissed Terry off, as that's not what his guitars are supposed to be, you know? I'd have to say that Terry understands what makes a great guitar. ;^) Ed's tried it on several other builders, too, including Melancon and McNaught (who actually had an exclusive w/ Ed at one time), and they finally got so fed up with it that THEY dumped Ed. Now Ed has Moonstone make almost exact copies of McNaughts, all the way down to the unique neck attachment. [img]/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Ask on various forums, you'll hear some horror stories. Ed does sell a lot of guitars, because he's such a pushy jerk that many people interpret it as being knowledgeable. I've talked to maybe three people who've had decent experiences with him and probably 30 who won't even consider dealing with Ed at all, based on past experiences.

[Bengal65]

Re: Played a JET Today!

Ah, OK. Yea, that seems to what I've heard. I heard from several people he will try to sell you something you don't want. Just like you were indicating, sell you an instrument and think he's an expert. That's a real shame. Back on the subject:
I tell you the workmanship on the JET's are unreal and look fabulous, but I don't know if spending upwards of 5-6K or more for an electric guitar is worth it ( as compared to an acoustic box guitar). As an example, when using a tube amp or solid state for that matter, with distortion or effects the "Tone" is not really any different than say a Jackson with Duncan humbuckers. Acoustically unplugged there is some pretty good resonance and I noticed a "tingling" feeling in the neck. It seems the neck is picking up some of the resonance or vibration. This seems to be a good thing as the entire instrument is vibrating like a tuning fork. I'm trying to talk myself into getting one. Interesting though. I love the flame and quilt tops! [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[The Eristic]

Re: Played a JET Today!

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Acoustically unplugged there is some pretty good resonance and I noticed a "tingling" feeling in the neck. It seems the neck is picking up some of the resonance or vibration. This seems to be a good thing as the entire instrument is vibrating like a tuning fork.

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That's indicative of quality woods and superior construction. The neck does transfer vibration via the joint, thereby affecting the sound. Most luthiers would agree that solid neck attachment is critical to achieving great tone. Basically, the goal is to get the guitar to resonate as if it were all one piece of wood. You can tell when that goal has been achieved if you notice the things you mentioned. The guitar rings like a bell. When you get such a guitar up to stage volumes, you'll be amazed at the difference in feel, compared to the average production guitar. You can feel and hear the guitar reacting beautifully to every nuance and technique you throw at it, while any such subtleties would be wasted on lesser guitars.

As you said, though, if you're using a lot of distortion or fx, you may not notice many tonal differences between a JET and any other quality guitar. If you play mostly clean or with mild-to-moderate amounts of dirt, though, you can really hear the unique voice of the guitar come through. That's part of what you're paying for... the voice. If that voice suits your needs, go for it. If not, I'd pass, unless you fell in love with the neck or some other feature. You could always take comfort in the fact that JETs are ridiculously well-built.

They list too high by about a grand, imo (it's just a way to make everybody go "ooo, look, expensive!"), but street prices really aren't too bad for what you get.

[Bengal65]

Re: Played a JET Today!

T. E.,
Yes, I agree with all of the above. Well stated. The guitars do have a voice and the use of woods and construction are awesome, especially that flame maple all wood binding! You can cut about $700 or so off the $ 5K price tag, going with mahogany for the body wood. Randy was telling me the Korina and the mahogany sound real similar. His most recent customers have been going with Korina, finished naturally for the looks. He said the Korina natural and a natural maple neck blend real well, while using the transparents for the tops. He has one of those on the Website in the "sold" category. I think I will be ordering one in the near future. He said the build time is 3-4 months. Not bad for one man shop! Compare to Jackson with a much longer time.

[The Eristic]

Re: Played a JET Today!

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Randy was telling me the Korina and the mahogany sound real similar. His most recent customers have been going with Korina, finished naturally for the looks.

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Korina/limba is the current "trendy" body wood, just like koa and spalted maple for tops. It looks great, but it does sound pretty much like mahogany, though maybe a little more "open" in the midrange. Personally, I'd go with mahogany and save myself some money. A good piece of Honduran never goes out of style. When you get one, post pics! [img]/images/graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/drool2.gif[/img] [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]