A few questions.

[OSCAR ZOROASTER]

A few basic questions for someone with no access to TAG's.

How well balanced are the double cut and T on your lap, seated, without strap? Is one better balanced than the other? Does the shorter scale length make a difference? As an aside, I have a PRS McCarty that is a little back end heavy and wants to drift neck up, just enough to have an effect.

Can one get a birds eye maple neck?

Are there significant tone differences between the double cut and T otherwise set up in similar fashion?

Thank you all in advance. Dave

[tom]

hollow t's can get a bit neck heavy when they are super light. they tend to hang pretty horizontal, but do better when seated. classics and drop tops are very well behaved, hanging or sitting. we don't make anything that i would say is too body heavy. there is a slight difference in tone with the two shapes, but i would not let that get in the way of which you are more comfortable playing.

[tom]

sorry, we don't offer birds eye maple. i prefer the stability of the straight grained stuff.

[morty]

Birdsey maple neck is very nice lokking, but the stability is not as good as hardrock maple.

[dkaplowitz]

The original neck on my grandam lam looked a lot like bird's eye maple, very burled and darker than the hard rock maple that replaced it. Though the s/n description says hard rock maple, is it possible it was birds eye? It was made in Sept. of '90 and the neck was replaced in 1998.

[tom]

we offered birdseye in the old days, but we learned our lesson.

[OSCAR ZOROASTER]

Also, any sustain differences between T or double cut? Thanks for your responses Tom. I have read so many good things about your guitars, I look forward to ordering one soon. We have no access to a guitar within 200 miles, so it's nice to be able to get some info thru the net. Thanks, Dave.

[sonsop]

we offered birdseye in the old days, but we learned our lesson.

Tom,

Can you provide a little more insight on your experiences? How did you finally decide to quantify that birdseye was not a wood that you wood offer? For example, would you say that for every 100 birdseye necks that you made 50 came back?

I'm just trying to understand why you are opposed to building with that wood.

Thanks!

[sonsop]

Oscar,

What kind of music do you play? What's your amp? Other than your McCarty, what other guitars have you owned or played?

[tom]

we offered be for a andfull of years. it was clear after a few years that the only bad necks we got back were be. it has "uneven grain". not the best for stability. the fancier the be is, the more bizare the grain. you can also tell cutting it on the bandsaw, it is varies greatly in the same board/neck, between hard and soft, not the best for stability either. i can't give a ratio of good to bad, and there have been plenty good be necks made in the world. i just don't want to be responsible for them for the rest of my life.

[dkaplowitz]

we offered birdseye in the old days, but we learned our lesson.
Indeed, so did I:

http://gnat-notes.com/images/tag/09-06-90/headstock02_sm.jpg

[austin powers] Ouch, baby! Very ouch! [/austin powers]

[Stan Malinowski]

Ooouuuuuccccccchhhhhh!!!!!!

[tom]

that's a nasty one!

[Hollow Cobra S]

Oh my~ I too had bad experience with fancy maple neckes before.

[taclassic]

My experiences with Birdseye have not been happy either. They were not as bad as a broken neck, but I had a guitar get a very badly tweaked neck. I used to be a EBMM user before I got into Anderson guitars. I quickly learned how unstable birdseye could be. I had to get my guitar set up every 6 months due to temp changes (and I live in So Cal where the weather doesn't really change). I have owned a few all Maple Anderson guitars and have loved them. Never had problems with them. The only cool thing about my birsdeye maple guitar was that I sure learned how to do my own adjustments and set ups. Maybe that is why EBMM makes their trust rod adjustment so easy to get to. Needless to say I have never had to adjust my Andersons.

Just my 2 cents.

[OSCAR ZOROASTER]

I have a 62 Ri Tele and a Koch amp. I play classic rock, alt country, some blues.

[sonsop]

Cool gear. What do you think of the 62RI? Is that the American Vintage one?

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how much the bevel and contours on the Anderson's make the playing experiences that much more enjoyable -- playing and standing. I know your McCarty has a slight body bevel in the back but the carved maple top places your are in a different position than a non-carved top. I prefer a flat or the "forearm" bevel.

I love tele's and I think they are perfect guitars. TA makes a nice one, too!

[OSCAR ZOROASTER]

Are there sustain issues between the T and drop top?
Between trem bridge options?

SONSOP, I really like the tele tone. Still occ doubt the finish.

[tom]

i would not say there was a sustain difference between the 2. the 2 bridges have a different tone, but not sustain.