Rivolta Mondata II - better tone than a Les Paul, with 24 frets!

This is a guitar where if I had the money for it, I'd buy this right now.

Rivolta is a brand from Eastwood Guitars. Ordinarily, when you think of Eastwood, you think of weird, wacky guitar designs that are more novelties than anything else.

However, Rivolta is not like that. The designs for this brand are much more civilized and just outright cool. And the Mondata II is not only a pretty face but a crazy-good sounding guitar.

This has "that killer Les Paul tone" that Les Paul players chase after but can never seem to quite get - and the Mondata II has it right out of the box.

Yes, it has a 24-fret neck. The vast majority of the time, if a guitar has 24 frets, the neck side pickup has to be pushed back and that totally wrecks the tone of the guitar. But the Mondata II's tone is still there. That's quite a feat.

It's true the guitar is not cheap (it's not insanely priced either, still lower than the cost of a USA Strat), but it's able to deliver two things that are very valuable. Great sound the moment you start playing it, and 24-fret access that's usable and not a tone-wrecker.

It doesn't get much better than that.

One of the ugliest guitars I have ever seen

I've seen some ugly guitars in my time... but this one... wow.

Yes, this guitar is really for sale at the time I write this. [Edit: No longer for sale, but enjoy the pictures below.]

There are more photos of this beast below, but before getting to that, I'll describe what this thing is.

It's a Telecaster copy that has what looks to be a body made 100% from acrylic. The front half is mostly clear, except for the horn on top which appears to be have been hand-shaped to a dragon with the first of two chicks seen.

The first chick is sitting on the dragon's back and holding a sword, so that's cool. However, she has webbed hands, and that's not cool.

The second chick is behind the bridge, and the ocean below her appears to have eaten her leg. How sad.

The rear part of the guitar has been shaped to resemble dragon scales. However, I cannot tell if those scales are painted or if each scaled has been shaped by the "artist".

On the back of the guitar, is there a third chick? No. It's actually the second chick where you can see the paint through the clear acrylic body. From this view we can see the guitar appears to have been wired properly, and the neck is a bolt-on, typical to Telecasters.

Lastly, this guitar supposedly lights up, although I can't be certain. The title of the instrument claims it's an LED. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't... who knows?

Someone needs to buy this guitar just for the goof of it... but that someone won't be me.

Enjoy:

Chender Yngwie Malmsteen Stratocaster

This is absolutely the cheapest way to get a scalloped fretboard Strat.

For those of you that have always wanted to try out a scalloped fretboard Stratocaster but didn't have the cash to do it, trust me, you can afford this one. If you can't afford an actual Fender Malmsteen Strat guitar, believe me, it is very easy to find very cheap alternatives.

Is it a China copy Stratocaster? Of course it is.

Will the guitar need some work once you get it? Probably. But even if it does need work, remember, you're getting the scalloped fretboard.

Put in really basic terms, the neck alone is worth the price you pay here.

Should Squier be offering a scalloped fretboard Strat?

I wish they would.

It's painfully obvious that you can buy an Asian built guitar with scalloped fretboard for very cheap. Most if not all Squier guitars are Asian builds.

I'm not even asking Squier to make a Malmsteen model. What I am saying is that they should offer something with a scalloped fretboard on it. Fender has a lot of freedom of design where the Squier brand is concerned, so if they wanted to, they could totally put together a Strat with an HSH pickup configuration and a scalloped fretboard. Alas, there isn't one.

Until Squier starts offering a model of Strat with a scalloped fretboard, people will keep buying the China copies, and often.

When you're sick of Strats, St. Vincent answers the call

If you wanted a guitar that's different, well, here it is.

There are two versions of this axe known as the St. Vincent. The Music Man version is over $2,000. The Sterling version is much more reasonably priced, and that's the one I'm talking about here.

Quick specs: Mahogany body, rosewood fingerboard, 25.5" scale, 9.5" radius, 22 frets, HHH pickup layout.

For anyone that says that they're sick and tired of nothing but Strat and Les Paul shapes, the St. Vincent is your answer if you want something different.

Although the St. Vincent obviously has a unique look, this is a guitar for Strat players that want a different shape, as you will find things here inspired by the Stratocaster guitar.

The tremolo system will be very familiar. Strings go through the body and out the back, and there is a removable plate on the rear with a cutout, just like a Strat.

You've got 5-way switching here, also just like a Strat - with the exception this is 2-knob instead of 3-knob. And that's fine since most players, myself included, prefer 1 knob for volume and 1 for tone because it's easier to deal with.

There is a contour cut on the back of the body, again just like a Strat but with the difference the cut is longer and larger due to the body shape.

The neck can best be described as Strat-ish, with the huge advantage that there is a truss rod adjustment wheel at the butt of the neck (something ordinarily only seen on high-priced Stratocaster models).

There is no single-coil hum on the St. Vincent since all three pickups are mini-humbuckers.

As for how this guitar sounds, the mini-humbuckers have good treble response and have that "sounds like humbucker" tone to them. This is basically what a Strat would sound like if it had 3 humbuckers in it. It's not the same "quack" as a Strat is, but if you can imagine a Stratocaster and Les Paul tones in the same guitar at the same time, that's more or less what the St. Vincent is. Yes, the guitar has a unique - and very usable - tonal character.

The best part about this guitar is that while it looks radically different, you do not have to learn the guitar all over again just to play it. It has good, thoughtful design.

Said another way, St. Vincent is different without being difficult, and it looks cool. I like it.

Guitar playing standing vs. sitting

I said in a YouTube comment reply recently that I always have to put my strap through the belt because it's the only way I can position a neck correctly....

...and this is why I don't have any problems with neck heavy guitars. More on that in a moment.

The standard advice given is that you should have your guitar in the same position standing as when you do seated.

I started playing guitar at 15 years old. Over the years, I have tried many different guitar shapes. Strat, Les Paul, SG, Jazzmaster, Jaguar, and so on. And I have never, repeat, never been able to get my guitar in the same position when standing as when I do playing seated. It's simply not possible.

No matter what I did, the neck was never positioned right. It does not matter what guitar shape or strap is used. I simply cannot get that neck in the same place standing as when seated.

This is not to say I cannot play standing. I can, but the guitar has to be lightweight and the neck must be shifted upward so I'm not straining my fret hand.

Where lightening the weight is concerned, the solution there is either a thin solidbody or a semi-hollow. At the time I write this, I own both types. The Ibanez GAX30 is a lightweight solidbody, and the Squier Thinline Telecaster a lightweight semi-hollow.

However, there is still the neck positioning issue. For that, my solution costs nothing. Put strap through the belt so the rear of the guitar stays down, thereby shifting the neck upward so it stays there. Problem solved.

Because I wear a strap the way I do, any guitar that is typically neck heavy is a nonissue for me. I can play guitars known to have neck dive standing such as the SG.

I did come to a realization however.

It is pointless trying to replicate the exact same seated guitar position when standing

Even for the Stratocaster - a guitar without any real neck dive issues to speak of - I still can't get the same neck position standing as I do when playing seated.

I realized that the two playing positions will always be different no matter what. I also realized that what I needed to do is to establish a standing position with the goal of comfort rather than "must be exactly the same position as seated".

Whenever I tried to replicate the seated position standing, the same thing always happened. I'd have to position my guitar ridiculously high on the body. Yes, the seated position was mostly (but never totally) there, but there would be strain on the shoulder no matter how light the guitar was.

When I found out that shifting the neck upward is what made my fret hand happy, that's what I went with...

...but now I had the issue of my picking hand not feeling quite right. I wasn't in any pain. My picking hand simply wasn't used to the position.

My solution? Just get used to it. Since there was no pain, I went through an adjustment period where when I play standing, my picking hand is in a different spot than I'm used to when seated, so just keep practicing and keep playing until the picking hand feels comfortable in its different position.

I did get used to it.

The only weirdness I have now is that there are some things I can only play seated and others I can only play standing. It's almost like I'm two different guitar players.

The GAX30 is definitely the most comfortable guitar I've ever played standing

So far I'm liking the GAX30 a lot, especially considering it is not a bother to play it standing while with a Telecaster it is, at least for my body type and arm length.

And who knows? This may lead me to actually getting an SG guitar at some point in the future. Or maybe another Ibanez...?