My Adrian Smith SDX

[MartinBarre]

I prefer 24 fret guitars but this has always been one of those guitars I loved since my teenage years so I decided to get one. All I need is a mullet wig and denim waistcoat and I'm all set.

The high E string does slip off, as reported many times on here, so I've ordered an R3 nut from a reputable seller in China. To be fair, it only slips off if you're hammering away on the first 5-7 frets, it's really not an issue when playing leads.
The pickups are, IMO, fucking brilliant. I've owned lots of import guitars over the years and ALWAYS find the pickups lacking. Duncan Designed or whatever - they all suck compared to genuine Duncans or Dimarzios. So I fully expected to have replace these but so far they sound really really good. The singles can scream or do that "Sultans of Swing" thing, while the humbucker is hot and articulate. I'm shocked, I have to say.
The Floyd Rose Special seems much better than the one that came on my old Charvel DST Star. This thing works nicely and you can do some of Adrian's "Somewhere In Time" style flutters without it going out of tune. And that's without even locking it at the nut!

Overall this is a great guitar for £270, which is what I paid for it on Ebay. Cranking "Caught Somewhere In Time" has never been so much fun.



Pics below!

[MartinBarre]

20160821_173239 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173221 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173700 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173559 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173526 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173450 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173426 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

20160821_173413 by stormwatch1977, on Flickr

[Number Of The Priest]

Great collection!

I love how you put the PC1 and SDX together. Phil and Adrian are two of my favorite players and were my inspiration to refine my slow wide vibrato technique. There is always talk on the internet about Phil being in Maiden and Adrian being in Def Lep. That would have been an interesting (yet unlikely) scenario. Wasted is probably the most Maiden-like Def Lep song (even though Phil wasn't on it) and Reach Out is probably the most Leppard-style Adrian song released under the Maiden banner (not counting his ASAP album).

[Force]

Great to see another happy SDX customer. It's a beautiful looking & playing guitar, surprisingly it sounds great too.

I've had to give mine a rest in recent times for fear of wearing it out, such an incredible axe for its price.

Congrats & enjoy.

[outlawten5]

Picking one up tomorrow with the rosewood board. Glad they are worthwhile

[VoiceX3]

I got one last week used at GC for $299. Whoever set it up must've been smoking crack because it was awful out of the box. Spent about an hour cleaning and setting it up and it is a really bad ass guitar, but that truss rod is a bitch for sure! Had to take the neck off 3 times before I got it perfect. It was pretty good only the 17th fret buzzed a little and would die out on bends.....just the 17th. 18 and 19 were both fine....added just a little relief and it's great.

I agree about the bridge pup.....kinda reminds me of a Super Distortion with a little more growl.

Mine is the white on white with rosewood and what looks like abalone dots.

[toejam]

Nice one! But why is the string retainer so close to the tuner?

[Number Of The Priest]

Wow, good eye toejam. Looking closer now, I see the PC1 has a longer Strat headstock than the SDX. On the PC1, there is a greater distance between the nut and the first tuner, allowing plenty of space for the string retainer bar. On the SDX, the distance is much shorter. Never noticed before!

[VoiceX3]

Yeah, I noticed that immediately when I got mine.......... I think it has something to do with the fact that truss rod adjustments are done at the base of the neck so they made the headstock a little shorter.

[Number Of The Priest]

Son of a gun, it's like that on my two Charvel So-Cal headstocks too. Truss rod access is at the heel.

What has been seen cannot be unseen.

[toejam]

Interesting. Steven's (MartinBarre) seems to be even closer, though.

[Nightbat]

Well, I gotta say, that shorter HS doesn't gel well with the stringtree and the first tuner
Seriously thinking about taking my string tree off, because it's a bitch when replacing the strings (especially low E)
and doesn't have that much use with a locking nut anyway

[MartinBarre]

Great collection!

I love how you put the PC1 and SDX together. Phil and Adrian are two of my favorite players and were my inspiration to refine my slow wide vibrato technique. There is always talk on the internet about Phil being in Maiden and Adrian being in Def Lep. That would have been an interesting (yet unlikely) scenario. Wasted is probably the most Maiden-like Def Lep song (even though Phil wasn't on it) and Reach Out is probably the most Leppard-style Adrian song released under the Maiden banner (not counting his ASAP album).

I think Adrian could have fitted in Def Leppard - he has the melodic thing and can sing a bit too. But Phil in Maiden? Nah. Can't ever see him writing a song like "Paschendale".

Yeah, guys, the headstocks are a slightly different shape. I noticed it as soon as I sat them side by side. Personally, I prefer the slightly longer PC-1 headstock but they both look great.

[MartinBarre]

Interesting. Steven's (MartinBarre) seems to be even closer, though.

Yeah, you're right. Maybe just down to the lower build quality of the SDX? I dunno, what are the USA versions of Adrian's sig model like in that regard? Anyone got one?

From Googling images of these, it looks like all the other versions have the truss rod bullet on the headstock? Was there a run that came without that, like mine and Voice X3's?

[Number Of The Priest]

No truss rod bullet on the headstock in this USA: