Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2011 23:15:56 GMT
I recently bought a Michael Messer Lightning and these are my thoughts on it so far.
To put things in perspective I want to start out by saying I am not a guitar expert, just a player that does local pubs etc. I normally fingerpick or strum/pick as part of a duo playing things like Lindsay Buckinghams "Never going Back" . My slide playing is weak and I have never really tried My normal weapon of choice is my Fender Grand Auditorium cutaway which I have set up with a very low action for fast fretting. This is the first reso I have owned and I am probably aiming this at others thinking about getting a first reonator. Some of my comments concern the nature of old fashioned reso guitars and some are specific to the Lightning and I have tried to make this clear as I go along.
I doubt that it needs to said here but the Michael Messer Lightning is a brass bodied, nickel plated biscuit resonator with an authentic 30's feel.
Playability:
This guitar has an old fashioned neck, the C profile reminds me of older classical guitars. The fretboard is a little wider than I would normally select too; but this is all part of the authenitic character rather than a hinderence. Within a few bars I had adapted to it and no longer noticed it.
For me, the real beauty of the way the MM Lightning plays is the dynamic range and expression.You can make it play soft and sweet or bark and growl, it will go from haunting heartbreak to rocking overdrive. This thing is so expressive; it responds to the way it is being played as though it is alive and this was the point where fell for it head over heals. Where and how you pluck/strum/pick changes the sound more than anything else I have played. It is a real waste to think of the Lightning as just a "blues guitar", a "slide guitar" or one trick pony; it is incredibly versatile and has a myriad of voices waiting to be drawn out of it. On top of that, you can use the incredible attack and volume ranges to pick out particular notes so that they sing out above whatever else you are doing.
This responsiveness does have a downside, I find the lightning very unforgiving to play. Lazy fretting will earn you a muffled sound, you need to finger close to the fret the way teacher said. Buzzes, squeaks and sqwauks from fumbling fingers are reported loudly so remember to play it cleanly if they aren't part of your sound. Hammer ons need to be very strong to match the volume possible from a plucked string.
I asked for a low action. The action at the nut is very good. Further down the neck it is higher than I normally set for myself but as i said I tend toward an extremely low action. I am not going to change because if I ever play slide, this is the guitar I will reach for.
Tone:
Gorgeous. It punches well above its weight.
I was very reticent at buying a low cost metal bodied resonator without seeing it. Most of the ones I have got my hands on sound quiet, nasal, plunky and dead with a fair amount of saucepan and banjo in the mix. The Lightning is alive, loud and musical. It doesn't have one tone, it has lots of them and you select them as you play. There is also a purity available in single notes, this is a great contrast to the harmonica/overdrive sounds you can get with multiple strings if you give them some welly. The slide tone is obvious and well known but this guitar really does have far more to give.
It goes without saying that this guitar really excels when playing slide, I never developed any real skill with a slide but even I can make it sing.
The intonation was slightly sharp at the 12th fret so I tried to move the biscuit and cone further down the guitar. The biscuit is now right at the back of its aperture in the cover plate. This improved the fretted intonation but the tone shifted a tiny amount towards banjo-hood. I think that this is either because I allowed the biscuit to get off centre from the cone or the assembly needs to settle again. It is difficult to adjust the cone's position as it is completely obscured by the coverplate. I expect to have to fiddle around for a little while before I get this sorted out.
Finish and fittings:
My guitar is a "B Grade" instrument as it has some visual defects and I got a generous discount as a result. The "additional character" is very minor and doesn't affect the sound or playability - it says a lot about Michael and Busker that they will reject an instrument for such small imperfections. In my case the tuner slots in the headstock were set at slightly different heights and a small area on the back of the neck has evidence of sanding that hasn't been completely removed by finer grades. So far nobody has found the imperfections until I have pointed them out even though I told them there were visual imperfections, that is how slight they are. The end of the bottom E string looks to have caught the isnside of the tuner slot during stringing and left a sctatch as it was wound on.
Moving on from what was declared to me, it is hard to find faults. Nickel plated guitars always look striking but the lightning bolt design makes this one stand out as something special. The plating looks faultless, no pinholes or blemishes. The etching of the lightning design is crisp and well formed. What I thought was a very light surface scratch on the body I now think is a handling mark on the brass under the nickel plate. This one small inconsequential mark was all I could find and it only shows up because of the mirror finish of the plating and it is microscopic - that is quite something on a big lump of brass that started its life in China.
The neck has a pleasant semi-matt finish which does not grab your skin the way some high sheen necks can. The white bindingand fret marker inlays look a little cheap. The marker dots in particular look very palsticy, probably a case of money saved to spend where it counts. The fret wires themselves have been dressed very well, I can't find any mis-alignment or any hints of buzzing. The surface of the fingerboard isn't the best I have ever seen, the grain isn't tight and there are some brush marks across the 12th fret (?) but is perfectly serviceable.
The tuners and headstock look right for a period instrument, more so than a lot of the competion. The small size of the tuner heads means that it feels like you are putting a lot of pressure on them compared to modern Grovers, but that is the nature of the beast.
Strings:
The guitar comes fitted with Michael Messer strings. The base strings are round wound and quite rough when sliding a note with your fingers. Sliding a finger along five frets and maintaining pressure is a bit unpleasant. My top E string has a tiny notch in it which bothers me as it must weaken the string. This notch hasn't been caused in transit by anything on the guitar as it is over the body well away from any frets, screws or other edges. I will be looking very closely at my next set of strings but for now I am assuming I have been very unlucky. I don't know how much these strings are contributing to the sound of the Lightning, maybe someone else has tried alternatives?
Service and support
I completely identify with Michael and Robin's approach. It reflects my own experience in a totally different field - the big players just don't get it and say its impossible, the enthusiasts are out there screaming for the same thing you are, but passion and struggle wins out in the end.
I had many obscure questions and they all got answered quickly. My guitar arrived when it was supposed to and feel very fairly dealt with. Best of all, you can deal with the guys that are responsible, not some disinterested employee. They clearly lover what they are doing and it is great to share in that and get a real players instrument into the bargain.
To put things in perspective I want to start out by saying I am not a guitar expert, just a player that does local pubs etc. I normally fingerpick or strum/pick as part of a duo playing things like Lindsay Buckinghams "Never going Back" . My slide playing is weak and I have never really tried My normal weapon of choice is my Fender Grand Auditorium cutaway which I have set up with a very low action for fast fretting. This is the first reso I have owned and I am probably aiming this at others thinking about getting a first reonator. Some of my comments concern the nature of old fashioned reso guitars and some are specific to the Lightning and I have tried to make this clear as I go along.
I doubt that it needs to said here but the Michael Messer Lightning is a brass bodied, nickel plated biscuit resonator with an authentic 30's feel.
Playability:
This guitar has an old fashioned neck, the C profile reminds me of older classical guitars. The fretboard is a little wider than I would normally select too; but this is all part of the authenitic character rather than a hinderence. Within a few bars I had adapted to it and no longer noticed it.
For me, the real beauty of the way the MM Lightning plays is the dynamic range and expression.You can make it play soft and sweet or bark and growl, it will go from haunting heartbreak to rocking overdrive. This thing is so expressive; it responds to the way it is being played as though it is alive and this was the point where fell for it head over heals. Where and how you pluck/strum/pick changes the sound more than anything else I have played. It is a real waste to think of the Lightning as just a "blues guitar", a "slide guitar" or one trick pony; it is incredibly versatile and has a myriad of voices waiting to be drawn out of it. On top of that, you can use the incredible attack and volume ranges to pick out particular notes so that they sing out above whatever else you are doing.
This responsiveness does have a downside, I find the lightning very unforgiving to play. Lazy fretting will earn you a muffled sound, you need to finger close to the fret the way teacher said. Buzzes, squeaks and sqwauks from fumbling fingers are reported loudly so remember to play it cleanly if they aren't part of your sound. Hammer ons need to be very strong to match the volume possible from a plucked string.
I asked for a low action. The action at the nut is very good. Further down the neck it is higher than I normally set for myself but as i said I tend toward an extremely low action. I am not going to change because if I ever play slide, this is the guitar I will reach for.
Tone:
Gorgeous. It punches well above its weight.
I was very reticent at buying a low cost metal bodied resonator without seeing it. Most of the ones I have got my hands on sound quiet, nasal, plunky and dead with a fair amount of saucepan and banjo in the mix. The Lightning is alive, loud and musical. It doesn't have one tone, it has lots of them and you select them as you play. There is also a purity available in single notes, this is a great contrast to the harmonica/overdrive sounds you can get with multiple strings if you give them some welly. The slide tone is obvious and well known but this guitar really does have far more to give.
It goes without saying that this guitar really excels when playing slide, I never developed any real skill with a slide but even I can make it sing.
The intonation was slightly sharp at the 12th fret so I tried to move the biscuit and cone further down the guitar. The biscuit is now right at the back of its aperture in the cover plate. This improved the fretted intonation but the tone shifted a tiny amount towards banjo-hood. I think that this is either because I allowed the biscuit to get off centre from the cone or the assembly needs to settle again. It is difficult to adjust the cone's position as it is completely obscured by the coverplate. I expect to have to fiddle around for a little while before I get this sorted out.
Finish and fittings:
My guitar is a "B Grade" instrument as it has some visual defects and I got a generous discount as a result. The "additional character" is very minor and doesn't affect the sound or playability - it says a lot about Michael and Busker that they will reject an instrument for such small imperfections. In my case the tuner slots in the headstock were set at slightly different heights and a small area on the back of the neck has evidence of sanding that hasn't been completely removed by finer grades. So far nobody has found the imperfections until I have pointed them out even though I told them there were visual imperfections, that is how slight they are. The end of the bottom E string looks to have caught the isnside of the tuner slot during stringing and left a sctatch as it was wound on.
Moving on from what was declared to me, it is hard to find faults. Nickel plated guitars always look striking but the lightning bolt design makes this one stand out as something special. The plating looks faultless, no pinholes or blemishes. The etching of the lightning design is crisp and well formed. What I thought was a very light surface scratch on the body I now think is a handling mark on the brass under the nickel plate. This one small inconsequential mark was all I could find and it only shows up because of the mirror finish of the plating and it is microscopic - that is quite something on a big lump of brass that started its life in China.
The neck has a pleasant semi-matt finish which does not grab your skin the way some high sheen necks can. The white bindingand fret marker inlays look a little cheap. The marker dots in particular look very palsticy, probably a case of money saved to spend where it counts. The fret wires themselves have been dressed very well, I can't find any mis-alignment or any hints of buzzing. The surface of the fingerboard isn't the best I have ever seen, the grain isn't tight and there are some brush marks across the 12th fret (?) but is perfectly serviceable.
The tuners and headstock look right for a period instrument, more so than a lot of the competion. The small size of the tuner heads means that it feels like you are putting a lot of pressure on them compared to modern Grovers, but that is the nature of the beast.
Strings:
The guitar comes fitted with Michael Messer strings. The base strings are round wound and quite rough when sliding a note with your fingers. Sliding a finger along five frets and maintaining pressure is a bit unpleasant. My top E string has a tiny notch in it which bothers me as it must weaken the string. This notch hasn't been caused in transit by anything on the guitar as it is over the body well away from any frets, screws or other edges. I will be looking very closely at my next set of strings but for now I am assuming I have been very unlucky. I don't know how much these strings are contributing to the sound of the Lightning, maybe someone else has tried alternatives?
Service and support
I completely identify with Michael and Robin's approach. It reflects my own experience in a totally different field - the big players just don't get it and say its impossible, the enthusiasts are out there screaming for the same thing you are, but passion and struggle wins out in the end.
I had many obscure questions and they all got answered quickly. My guitar arrived when it was supposed to and feel very fairly dealt with. Best of all, you can deal with the guys that are responsible, not some disinterested employee. They clearly lover what they are doing and it is great to share in that and get a real players instrument into the bargain.
