The strap balance test is my favorite thing ever. It's amazing how literaly nobody thinks about doing this when reviewing guitars on videos. Extreme neckdive is a complete nono for me.
I remember a friend who has an Ibanez LP style guitar, white, stays in tune perfect, sounds very good. Once he asked me if I want to try it, and damn this guitar is so unbalanced...
Agreed. When I'm walking into a guitar store to shop, I take one of my straps with me. Every guitar gets test driven standing up because I'll usually be standing when I perform / rehearse / practice.
@@NubsWithGuns Hell yeah brother! Down with mother nature! Let's take our superduty down to the river and dump all our trash and household chemicals in too!
@@indyjones7841 honestly, I have to disagree. The access to the truss at the nut is so much more convenient, as long as the guitar company made the 3x3 string setup even in production. Now, if you're talking about a 6-straight string configuration, then yeah, you absolutely have to have the truss bolt at the bottom. Otherwise, you would barely be able to make 1/4 turns before reorienting the truss wrench. edit: Music Man does a 4x2 string orientation, to allow straighter break for the strings, so that makes sense.
Love the simplicity on this guitar! One pickup, simple no floating bridge, no pickup selector! I’m not sure about the finish tho, I love satin finishes but I hate they discolor so quick on the areas you touch them.
The shopping bag is actually a vinyl album bag for your vintage record shopping needs. The 2.950,00 € base price is insane for essentially a Parker Fly.
Its not a parker fly a parker fly still has a wooden body this is all just 1 piece of composite material parker fly is multiple piece just how the other 98% of all guitars are made
Composite materials are really cool, just sucks they haven't ever really been popular. Ibanez had their Ergodyne with their Luthite material and there was another company called Switch that used something called Vibracell. I own a Switch guitar that I picked up second hand pretty cheap and turned it into a test bench for trying pickups. Hope that stuff like this takes off as there's definitely an opportunity for some cool designs, innovation, and also longevity. Keep up the good work.
Would be pretty fun to see Glenn check out the higher end Schecter models, such as the SLS Elite and the Silver Mountains. They've been reviewed time and time again and we know they're amazing, but would be fun nonetheless
Hmmm, if I'd spend SO MUCH money for a guitar, then I'd expect much more options. Like a HSH pickup-setup, the possibility, to make the various options of the Fishman Fluence available by push/pull-pots, or additional switches. Not to forget a tonepot. I can't imagine to buy an axe with that price tag anyways, but if I‘d ever do, then not an axe with that minimalism, that's for sure! 😊😊😊 It's a matter of personal taste, I know! Thanks Glenn for another awesome video! Love you, dude! 😊👍
I absolutely appreciate that you were super honest about the volume jack Glen. For 3k, that shit should never be loose. I have a PRS McCarty from '98 that has never once had an issue with volume jack, because it was handled with proper QUALITY CONTROL.
Another thing I'd be weary of apart from the loose jack is the positioning of the bridge itself. You can see the low E is right on the edge with regards to intonation and you can see how the main bridge plate is scratched from setting up the intonation. But this is a showpiece/prototype so hopefully they will learn the lessons from it.
Cool vid. Two things: 1) Truss rod covers have an important role... most guitarists don't know how to safely adjust a truss rod. Just look on Reverb. 2) I'd like to hear the two modes of the pickup on a clean setting. Bet it's more noticeable of a difference.
Guitar built from top-quality aircraft-certificated epoxide material. That sounds pretty durable… and the sound of the guitar itself is quite astonishing too
I am a fan of guitar makers that use sustainable composite materials in their guitars. It’s important to be cognizant of our impact on our natural environment and preserve it as much as possible. Richlite fretboards really changed my mind on composite materials and I think it’s great that some manufacturers are taking the idea of using composite materials and building great guitars with them.
@@bikeman1x11 then wait 500 years for it to mature into a usable quality wood. We should definitely be planting trees, no doubt about it, but we should also be looking for ways to reduce the impact consumerism and manufacturing has on our environment. Composite materials are a good start.
Resins are not sustainable and they're blowing smoke up everyone's ass pretending they are. Epoxy resins are incredibly toxic, hazardous to handle and obviously bad for the environment in production and when "disposed". Richlite is "made from paper" they say, and gloss over that what keeps it together and makes it strong is the resin which is plastic polymer. They try to dunk on using wood, while bragging about using paper as a small portion of their plastic product? It makes no sense whatsoever.
The typing in between shredding was awesome dude! For 3k with one pickup tho, I'd expect an evertune on that beast at least. Everything looks great except the guitar greasing and almost shining where your hand rests on the bridge.
It's overpriced for sure but it's likely reason of tiny supply and perhaps just starting run. Once they reach something like "mass production", I would expect price to go down.
Woah, I wasn't expecting it to be so expensive honestly. I don't why but I thought it may be the cheaper side considering it's made in a mold. After reading what "Ruffaine" is on their website I still have no idea what "Ruffaine" is or why it's seemingly so expensive. I'm sticking to wood for now. It can be cheaper apparently and I'm not freaking Jesus.
It's cheap in the long run, but I assume they want to cover development costs and slot into the premium market. Perhaps there's a lot of afterwork on finish and stuff with this material. Who knows, but it's not all material costs. They got to make a living as well.
@@NuclearHeadshot Yeah I get they need to make a living. I wasn't complaining, just sharing my thoughts. Side note, I like the way wood looks so I tend to go for a clear satin or gloss.
I have a bass made from Luthite (Cort Curbow) but the neck is still wood (fretboard ois from ebonite). I like it very much. Joe Satriani's Ibanez signature guitar at one point was made from Luthite.
I wish more builders would explore building with alternative materials. Glen I’d love to see you try an aluminum guitar. I play Electrical Guitar Company guitars and have never fell in love fast with guitars in my life.
While it is nice to see more guitars using composite material, the selling price (3.6k€) is WAY too high compared to Aristides (2.8k€) who also has a lot more options (headless, multiscale...). I mean, if the selling point is a tuning stability that only match Aristides, i don't feel inclined to pay the extra bucks for less options and features.
Watching this channel has shown me the importance of practice (go figure, it’s important), you’ve came such a long way! Great content as always! I’m excited to see where builders take these composites. My house is an old farm house so I am adjusting my basses truss rods damn near weekly because of the rapid shifts in temp and humidity. A composite bass would be perfection.
I wonder how long the composite materials will last? Wood can be pretty finicky when it comes to humidity, but it does seem to stand the test of time (overall) as long as you take care of it. It would suck to have the material just break down over time with no way of stopping it.
That's a really good question...I imagine it comes down to the bonding agent used and how you treat it when it's not being played. If you can keep any moisture from getting in the body I imagine this would stand up long term
@@cynicalclockworks9857 absolutely agree on that one. They have R&D department and I guess tests have been carried out on this matter but only time will prove what’s the durability for sure
@@mariuszadamczyk7766 I'm still more concerned with one's ability to repair the thing if it breaks in anyway. It can be stronger and more durable than any wood guitar, but on the chance it does break in a way that makes it unplayable, what recourse do you have?
used to work there, if you really wanna see how bad it is, work there for about a month and youll never wanna package delivered from them again. (news flash. they are all THROWING your stuff. like not simple tosses, WHIPPING that shit onto belts hard lmao)
I also had a similar issue with US customs. Ordered a pedal from JPTR FX, and when it came to me in the mail it was delivered open. It looked like the mail carrier tried their best to keep it rolled up. But you could see where it was originally sealed, and where it was opened. Luckily my mail carrier knows me and isn’t an idiot or thief.
Nice guitar! There’s some pretty cool small builders out there just killing the big companies. Anyway, I fall firmly in the “Tonewood is bullshit” camp. But I have 2 Charvels, one made of Okoume (like mahogany) and one made from Alder. I love the Seymour Duncan Custom pickups so I bought 2 and put them in each guitar. And they sound totally different. Not just a slight difference from manufacturing tolerances, but COMPLETELY different as in they could be different pickups. I used all the same jacks, switches, pots and totally re-wired the guitars from the same rolls of wire. Yet they sound completely different from each other. It still doesn’t put me in the “Tonewood matters” crowd, but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.
The pickups themselves are hand wound at seymour duncan so no pickup will ever sound the same and the wiring in the guitar capacitors will impact the tone alot and no 2 caps sound the same either alot of electronics impacts the tone the only way to truly test to to switch you whole elc cavity and set the pickups at the same height with the same strings and see if they still sound dif
How about we get audio of these "completely different" sounding guitars? As a hobby luthier I made these comparisons in the past and could never get them to sound "completely different".
I've got a set of Fishman Moderns, and the difference between the modes isn't a frequency thing it's the amount of gain. The second mode is supposed to be more like a passive pickup in terms of the output.
Gibson did the composite body thing in 1970's. The Gibson Sonex was an entry level guitar made with a composite body material (Resonwood construction). I remember my friend looking at one in the 80's because it was cheap and gibson. As far as tuning stability, it depends on the materials 'Elastic Modulus'. My Rainsong carbon fiber 12 string rarely needs tuning, it is as stiff as an F1 chassis. Wood can also work if you hate tuning, but you need neck to be made out of an exotic like Bloodwood, Bubinga, Goncalo Alves, etc. Look on the 'wood database' for a material with an Elastic Modulus above 2.5 million lb/in^2.
The Gibson Sonex(tm) was made of Resonwood composite and priced at $299 in 1980. That was cheap back then. They weren't bad, we sold them at the shop I worked at in high school. No one wanted one though.
i checked out their website and in the configurator you can get an evertune for 50€ more :) other than that, i love the fact that some manufacturers are trying new alternatives to wood to build guitars, like aristides with "arium" and companies like halo guitars that offers carbon instruments. Thanks for the awesome review, even if i don't have the money to buy it, i'm looking forward to see more and more builders open up the dfferent materials concept to the public :D
I agree. Sustainability has to be a concern these days. Knowing that there are companies that are willing to take a chance on alternative resources to pave the way for the companies not willing to innovate is priceless
I think one counter-argument about composite materials is to know how easy would it be to make modifications? Like the glass guitar or similar, look amazing, but I don't think there is an easy way to install a kill switch. It would be great to know how this new materials compare to wood if you want to do some changes. The guitar looks beautiful, though.
Especially on a Warwick! (Saying that as an avid Warwick user myself). As the brand that markets themselves as "The Sound of Wood" and heavily focuses on their wood selections, I'd be SUPER curious to hear a synthetic body from Warwick.
Glen, tonewood isn't a lie... It just doesn't matter much when the guitar is electric. Even less when you start putting distortion and effects in the signal chain. If you were playing an acoustic with no effects, there is for sure a noticeable difference in how the different woods reverberate in the body. You have *something* of an argument for tonewood in full hollowbodies if you're playing clean, but in solid body guitars, no, It doesn't make a difference to the tone when the guitars are new. There is something to be said about how different species of wood age though. As wood ages, resins in the wood crystallize and harden over time. Higher quality woods age more uniformly, and so cheaper guitars with cheaper woods are more likely to naturally warp and crack as they age, especially if they aren't well taken care of. THAT for sure affects the tone and playability. But that's less about the "tone" of the wood and more about the durability and quality of the wood. The material your guitar is made out of is important, just not for the reasons that people think they do.
On the topic of smaller shops and guitar builders being on the show, would love to see a review of a Deviant guitar! Those are killer guitars worth checking out
I know it’s literally only one push pull pot, a battery and an output jack, but man the cavity on this thing is so fucking clean, it’s like wiring porn. The magnet system is soooo cool and I wish it would just became standard for more expensive instruments. It’s just well designed and cleanly executed and that makes me really happy. I am low key thinking about modding my basses to work the same way, just for the ease of it and the visual sleekness of pickgards and covers that don’t have screwholes.
Been looking at composites, being the temp and humidity fluctuations where I live has been complete hell on my guitars as of late. But composites are so damn expensive and the only two companies I know of are Aristides and this Ruf brand you just introduced to me.
I'd be more excited about this if we weren't swapping $2k plus tonewood guitars for $2k plus composite guitars. I appreciate the innovation and benefits, but at that pricepoint this is still completely irrelevant to most working guitarists.
I think alternate materials for making guitars would be pretty good to develop Seeing how wood doesnt renew so quickly, and it can become endangered, like what happened with brazilian rosewood im pretty sure
Those were rare woods. Things like alder and ash are a dime a dozen.. Also the problem is not guitar building but China building cheap furniture and other cheap crap.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Nope, decent wood takes a long time to grow. Just rememeber -- what ever it is you used to comment, it was most likley made in China.
@@keithsquawk there's "old growth" and farm raised basically...... a lot of common lumber comes from tree farms, the difference is the older the tree the tighter the grain hence more stable wood
@@keithsquawk it's actually really not nearly as hard to avoid Chinese made products as people make it out to be. I haven't bought a Chinese made product in almost 4 years 🤷🏻♂️
You know Glenn, I've seen a man produce the exact same soundwaves by mounting a bridge, tuning pegs and a pickup to two tables as a $2000 dollar Fender Telecaster. Tonewood is balls, pickups and amps matter.
People have blown the tonewood debate way out of proportion. Tonewood only really applies to acoustic instruments. Once you start plugging guitars into amps, the acoustic properties of the guitar gets lost. A lot of people still think they hear a difference because they can feel the way the guitar vibrates against their body and hands. However, when micing the speakers, those differences that the player can feel are not captured. Especially when we're talking about loud, high gain guitar tones.
Looks amazing. The shape isn't my cup of tea but the concept & execution are great. Gonna keep an eye out for some more stuff they put out. Thanks for the hint
I have 3 different guitars with the same duncan pickups, each guitar sounds very different along with differences in resonance. Different thickness and materials 100% make a difference in tone. Comes down to vibrations. However, the more gain you add, the less variation you will notice. Bottom line, different materials give different sounds, impossible for them not to, actually. But how much we notice and personal preferences depends on our ears unfortunately
From a physics or electronics standpoint the faraday cage might not be function as intended if a) the whole cavity is not shielded, unless the guitar itself is conducting material and b) the cage itself is not properly grounded. It can still work in some level, but for maximum efficiency you would prefer a full, closing faraday cage that is grounded. Still an awesome guitar.
One theory I have with Floyd Rose bridges is that a lot of tuning problems come from the reaction of the wood to tension differences. I've often noticed how the guitar is out of tune after a dive bomb but give it some time and it will mostly come back to pitch. Yes, there's other factors like friction in the nut etc. but there is a trussrod in the guitar neck to balance the string tension and keep the neck straight. Release all the string tension and the truss rod suddenly has nothing to act against, the neck becomes convex and needs some time to settle back when string tension is put back on. This would explain why very stiff necks (caramelized maple) or ones with carbon reinforcements work very well with trem systems. You really don't even need a locking nut in many of those cases, it's redundant. By the way, graphene in this application is pretty much the same as carbon fiber. Layers of graphite bound together.
Only bridge pickup, all black, comfortable to play, intonated and set up for eternity, stays in tune, 1 knob and it looks cool. Stainless steel frets, Hipshot, Fishman. Pretty much perfection.
First thing I noticed about the Ruf was intonation, great. I would load it with EMG and take advantage of the extra space in the cavity to install active add ons, like an old BC Rich. I hate not having inlays though. 9 out of 10
Jeez Glen, barely a couple years back you only played simple riffage and now you're just ripping out massive solos! It's amazing to see how much you've improve with the guitar work. Can you please make a video on your practice routine, that would help alot. Cheers!
My knee jerk reaction with the fishman fluence switch was that the second setting sounded more woofy and bassy. It wasn't a blind test, so fair enough, but that was my knee jerk reaction. I'm sure with less gain, those small difference in sound get bigger, but again, we're talking metal and Glenn World, so as you were. Anywho seems like a cool guitar. I hope new, more stable composite materials for guitar get cheaper and more widely available.
Just recently I purchased a brand new Ibanez S series and guess what. The input jack was loose. Not immediately but maybe after 10 times plugging the cable in it became loose and I had fix this. At least your Guitar had a good reasoning for this minor flaw and I expect you won't see this in sold models. But very interesting conzept Ruf is introducing to the Guitar world. My suspicion is that the production process ist quite cost intensive and there is more work involved compared with a big brand Guitar for 3K. In my opinion the asked price is way more justified for Ruf than for Ghibson or Fender.
In the 90's Remo invented a special material to make great sounding drums. Lots of drummer loved those, they were very sturdy, with a nice black finish on the inside and a very powerful sound. It was called "Acousticon", and was basically cardboard put through a blender with a lot of glue.
After playing Steinberger basses (4 string L2 and 5-string fretless XL) for nearly 2 decades as my mains, I still am a believer in epoxy composite guitars. After having a full endorsement deal with ESP and seeing what great instruments are available for cheap, I vowed never to spend over $1K for a bass or guitar again. 3Gs? No way!
Dude, I LOVE the chug on this guitar. IMO, the only instrument that beats it out isn't a guitar. It is the Wood Violins 'Viper'. Can any of you recommend more guitars that chug like these do?
That is a great looking Guitar! Nice concept also. Plus it's not the same old boring, stale brands every one seems to gravitate to. Has an exclusivity factor going for it. That body shape is really nice. Be interesting to watch the long term outcome.
Looking forward to you playing a few different genres with this guitar, to help us decide. How about classic rock, indie, pop, blues, jazz, reggae and funk?
I don't even have super hearing, just a $10 set of Sony in ear headphones from Walmart, but in your tone wood shootout there was a distinct difference. I was one of those who wanted the story to be bunk because it was irritating to listen to, now I'm a believer in tone wood because of your video! I also don't buy in that most audience members don't care about guitar tone, ripping guitar tone was what made me want to play guitar.
My opinion about this topic is, that wood can affect the tone, but by the different way than many people thought. Normally, string has some harmonic content, and wood absorbing some unwanted parts of the spectrum. This process depend on matherial type and also body shape, type of connection between neck and body - these variables affects, which frequencies are absorbed and which not. That’s the reason, why Strat have different sound than LP, and LP has different sound than SG - even with the same pickups. And, this is also the reason, why composite guitars like this from the video, are working great with the perfect tone and play reaction. So, it’s about supressing of unwanted part of the sound spectrum, and preserving of needed part of harmonic content of string’s sound.
So what are your thoughts on Jim Lill's old bench coupled with a couple of engines sounding exactly the same as real guitar? Doing a really good job suppresing those bad frequencies, right?
I would love to see a singlecut-esque model or similar from these guys. I like the LP layout and the shorter scale and love the idea of one made from composite materials. Aristides got close with the 020, but I don't like the switch placement nor the fact it's master tone and master volume.
Even though some woods are brighter and some warmer it's very subtle for solid body electric guitar. Wood for a hollowbody guitar has a more noticable sound variation.
I really like it, I just wish it was priced more affordably. I'd definitely buy it at $1000-1500. I hope they can scale the brand and bring the prices down cause then I'd be in.
An acoustic guitar is a drum. That is how it amplifies sound. Naturally the physical characteristics of its composites will greatly affect the tone. An electric guitar has no drum to amplify sound. Its amplification is in the name. Wood is not microphonic. The physical characteristics of the materials used (excluding the electrical components) are important for other reasons. Structural integrity; and the way it feels-how it vibrates in your hands, the weight. The way it responds kinetically to the vibrations of the strings, how it translates energy will affect the way it feels in your hands which affects playing experience. I played an old reclaimed Redwood tele unplugged and that was sonically very cool. It did sound very unique to other guitars, it also felt like no other guitar. Plugged in, it just sounded like a tele.
This is a really nice looking and sounding guitar. I really appreciate that it is more environmentally friendly than traditional guitars. It's not crazy pointy, either.
Nice NIce Nice! I remember in the late 90s there was a company that played around with VibroCell?? Some kind of composite as well. Greeting from Michigan neighbor!
Dude throwing away some perfectly edible bubble wrap. I weep on behalf of the bass community.
😂😂😂😂
😂😂
The strap balance test is my favorite thing ever. It's amazing how literaly nobody thinks about doing this when reviewing guitars on videos. Extreme neckdive is a complete nono for me.
I remember a friend who has an Ibanez LP style guitar, white, stays in tune perfect, sounds very good. Once he asked me if I want to try it, and damn this guitar is so unbalanced...
Upper horn extending to the 12th fret makes it easy to balance.
@@rickc2102 this is the way
Yeah, we agree with that! 💪
Agreed. When I'm walking into a guitar store to shop, I take one of my straps with me. Every guitar gets test driven standing up because I'll usually be standing when I perform / rehearse / practice.
Good to see that more builders are starting to use composite materials after Aristides
Hell yeah! Aristides guitars are my favorite man! More guitars like em would be sick
But 60s og strat is ligth and resonant, but fiberglass guitars are heavy and poor resonant.
@@NubsWithGuns Hell yeah brother! Down with mother nature! Let's take our superduty down to the river and dump all our trash and household chemicals in too!
Ovation.
@@bambambam5663 Someone doesn't seem to know how electronics work....
Steve's hand feeling the case velvet made me chuckle 😂 Thank you for keeping that in there
t h i r d h a n d
Steve is a "Hand model". He should get hired for a photo shoot for a jewelry catalog! 🤪
For truss rod covers, I like the ones that screw in place, but then have a sliding access panel. It's the best of both worlds.
IMO Ibanez really knocked that one out of the park.
@@indyjones7841, and on acoustics.
@@indyjones7841 honestly, I have to disagree. The access to the truss at the nut is so much more convenient, as long as the guitar company made the 3x3 string setup even in production. Now, if you're talking about a 6-straight string configuration, then yeah, you absolutely have to have the truss bolt at the bottom. Otherwise, you would barely be able to make 1/4 turns before reorienting the truss wrench.
edit: Music Man does a 4x2 string orientation, to allow straighter break for the strings, so that makes sense.
@@sm5574 have you ever played an acoustic that had the truss adjustment bolt at the nut?
@@MrSneakyPants, no.
Love the simplicity on this guitar! One pickup, simple no floating bridge, no pickup selector! I’m not sure about the finish tho, I love satin finishes but I hate they discolor so quick on the areas you touch them.
The shopping bag is actually a vinyl album bag for your vintage record shopping needs. The 2.950,00 € base price is insane for essentially a Parker Fly.
Its not a parker fly a parker fly still has a wooden body this is all just 1 piece of composite material parker fly is multiple piece just how the other 98% of all guitars are made
This one looks amazing but the price tag is way to high right now. Make it 1500$ and this would sell real well.
Composite materials are really cool, just sucks they haven't ever really been popular. Ibanez had their Ergodyne with their Luthite material and there was another company called Switch that used something called Vibracell. I own a Switch guitar that I picked up second hand pretty cheap and turned it into a test bench for trying pickups. Hope that stuff like this takes off as there's definitely an opportunity for some cool designs, innovation, and also longevity. Keep up the good work.
Would be pretty fun to see Glenn check out the higher end Schecter models, such as the SLS Elite and the Silver Mountains. They've been reviewed time and time again and we know they're amazing, but would be fun nonetheless
Schecter is such an underrated brand and for the price point you get more on a mid range Schecter than some high end brands
That is a beautiful guitar. I like the minimalist set up.
And you can't beat that "new" smell. This is a nice guitar indeed.
Thank you! 💪
$3000 worth of minimalism lol
Gotta love the magic third hand copping a feel at 2:56 lol
love Glenn's videos but it does grate to hear a sound engineer of his experience call it an input jack on the guitar
What do you call it? Cause I've only ever heard it called that for 23 years of playing
@@joshuamiller441 its an output jack. the signal comes out of the guitar not into it. its an input jack at the amp end
@@steverussell1965but you stick something into it so it input
Steve! That cabinet video was epic. Your hard work is appreciated!
Hmmm, if I'd spend SO MUCH money for a guitar, then I'd expect much more options. Like a HSH pickup-setup, the possibility, to make the various options of the Fishman Fluence available by push/pull-pots, or additional switches. Not to forget a tonepot. I can't imagine to buy an axe with that price tag anyways, but if I‘d ever do, then not an axe with that minimalism, that's for sure! 😊😊😊 It's a matter of personal taste, I know! Thanks Glenn for another awesome video! Love you, dude! 😊👍
I absolutely appreciate that you were super honest about the volume jack Glen. For 3k, that shit should never be loose. I have a PRS McCarty from '98 that has never once had an issue with volume jack, because it was handled with proper QUALITY CONTROL.
Another thing I'd be weary of apart from the loose jack is the positioning of the bridge itself. You can see the low E is right on the edge with regards to intonation and you can see how the main bridge plate is scratched from setting up the intonation. But this is a showpiece/prototype so hopefully they will learn the lessons from it.
Looks like a Hipshot bridge to me. Unfortunately my black one is scratched after intonating as well ☹️
It could just be the string gauge as well, a different string might sit more in the middle.
Coming back to this channel from time to time and I must say Glenn's playing is getting better and better :)
Ahh, that "new" smell. You can't beat it. That is a nice guitar!
man I bought a brand new Ibanez DTT-700 several years ago and whatever they used to construct the hard case stunk horribly
I miss that vanilla like smell of a new Gibson...when they were worth buying new, anyway.
Cool vid.
Two things:
1) Truss rod covers have an important role... most guitarists don't know how to safely adjust a truss rod. Just look on Reverb.
2) I'd like to hear the two modes of the pickup on a clean setting. Bet it's more noticeable of a difference.
Guitar built from top-quality aircraft-certificated epoxide material. That sounds pretty durable… and the sound of the guitar itself is quite astonishing too
That guitar looks and plays fantastic, I want one! And as an amp tech that works on LOTS of tube amps, I LOVE that shirt too!!
I am a fan of guitar makers that use sustainable composite materials in their guitars. It’s important to be cognizant of our impact on our natural environment and preserve it as much as possible. Richlite fretboards really changed my mind on composite materials and I think it’s great that some manufacturers are taking the idea of using composite materials and building great guitars with them.
Wonder how much impact these non-natural materials have on the environment? Oils, plastics, resins, glues.
I think its definitely more impacting than forest planning and harvesting!
anorther econut- trees are a 100000% renewable resource - cut one down and plant one
@@bikeman1x11 then wait 500 years for it to mature into a usable quality wood. We should definitely be planting trees, no doubt about it, but we should also be looking for ways to reduce the impact consumerism and manufacturing has on our environment. Composite materials are a good start.
Resins are not sustainable and they're blowing smoke up everyone's ass pretending they are. Epoxy resins are incredibly toxic, hazardous to handle and obviously bad for the environment in production and when "disposed". Richlite is "made from paper" they say, and gloss over that what keeps it together and makes it strong is the resin which is plastic polymer. They try to dunk on using wood, while bragging about using paper as a small portion of their plastic product?
It makes no sense whatsoever.
The typing in between shredding was awesome dude! For 3k with one pickup tho, I'd expect an evertune on that beast at least. Everything looks great except the guitar greasing and almost shining where your hand rests on the bridge.
It's overpriced for sure but it's likely reason of tiny supply and perhaps just starting run. Once they reach something like "mass production", I would expect price to go down.
Woah, I wasn't expecting it to be so expensive honestly. I don't why but I thought it may be the cheaper side considering it's made in a mold. After reading what "Ruffaine" is on their website I still have no idea what "Ruffaine" is or why it's seemingly so expensive.
I'm sticking to wood for now. It can be cheaper apparently and I'm not freaking Jesus.
It's cheap in the long run, but I assume they want to cover development costs and slot into the premium market. Perhaps there's a lot of afterwork on finish and stuff with this material. Who knows, but it's not all material costs. They got to make a living as well.
@@NuclearHeadshot Yeah I get they need to make a living. I wasn't complaining, just sharing my thoughts.
Side note, I like the way wood looks so I tend to go for a clear satin or gloss.
80s style layout with modern day build. I’m a huge fan!
I have a bass made from Luthite (Cort Curbow) but the neck is still wood (fretboard ois from ebonite). I like it very much.
Joe Satriani's Ibanez signature guitar at one point was made from Luthite.
I also have a Curbow and love it. That luthite has held up for m just fine.
I wish more builders would explore building with alternative materials. Glen I’d love to see you try an aluminum guitar. I play Electrical Guitar Company guitars and have never fell in love fast with guitars in my life.
While it is nice to see more guitars using composite material, the selling price (3.6k€) is WAY too high compared to Aristides (2.8k€) who also has a lot more options (headless, multiscale...).
I mean, if the selling point is a tuning stability that only match Aristides, i don't feel inclined to pay the extra bucks for less options and features.
Watching this channel has shown me the importance of practice (go figure, it’s important), you’ve came such a long way! Great content as always!
I’m excited to see where builders take these composites. My house is an old farm house so I am adjusting my basses truss rods damn near weekly because of the rapid shifts in temp and humidity. A composite bass would be perfection.
I wonder how long the composite materials will last? Wood can be pretty finicky when it comes to humidity, but it does seem to stand the test of time (overall) as long as you take care of it. It would suck to have the material just break down over time with no way of stopping it.
That's a really good question...I imagine it comes down to the bonding agent used and how you treat it when it's not being played. If you can keep any moisture from getting in the body I imagine this would stand up long term
In their website it reads that for the guitars they use a top-quality aircraft-certificated epoxide material. That sounds pretty durable…
@@mariuszadamczyk7766 yeah. So did asbestos. I'm not saying what they make isn't quality, it's more of a question of how time- proven the results are.
@@cynicalclockworks9857 absolutely agree on that one. They have R&D department and I guess tests have been carried out on this matter but only time will prove what’s the durability for sure
@@mariuszadamczyk7766 I'm still more concerned with one's ability to repair the thing if it breaks in anyway. It can be stronger and more durable than any wood guitar, but on the chance it does break in a way that makes it unplayable, what recourse do you have?
GLEEEN you waited for too long, the Gallien Krueger MLE review is needed there's nothing on the internet and you're the only one we trust
ngl the best part of Glenn's videos lately is his confidence with his playing. we talkin bout practice man
Fed Ex is just the worst. I hunt for deliveries that they just leave in random places on property.
For real
used to work there, if you really wanna see how bad it is, work there for about a month and youll never wanna package delivered from them again. (news flash. they are all THROWING your stuff. like not simple tosses, WHIPPING that shit onto belts hard lmao)
In the rural US they often just drop it at the post office. No lie.
@@ericstearns170 yea that's true, the post is the only thing that will hit some parts so they definitely do that
Think of it as a scavenger hunt lol.
I also had a similar issue with US customs. Ordered a pedal from JPTR FX, and when it came to me in the mail it was delivered open. It looked like the mail carrier tried their best to keep it rolled up. But you could see where it was originally sealed, and where it was opened. Luckily my mail carrier knows me and isn’t an idiot or thief.
Nice guitar! There’s some pretty cool small builders out there just killing the big companies. Anyway, I fall firmly in the “Tonewood is bullshit” camp. But I have 2 Charvels, one made of Okoume (like mahogany) and one made from Alder. I love the Seymour Duncan Custom pickups so I bought 2 and put them in each guitar. And they sound totally different. Not just a slight difference from manufacturing tolerances, but COMPLETELY different as in they could be different pickups. I used all the same jacks, switches, pots and totally re-wired the guitars from the same rolls of wire. Yet they sound completely different from each other. It still doesn’t put me in the “Tonewood matters” crowd, but I’ll be damned if I can figure it out.
scale length, string gauge, string age?
The pickups themselves are hand wound at seymour duncan so no pickup will ever sound the same and the wiring in the guitar capacitors will impact the tone alot and no 2 caps sound the same either alot of electronics impacts the tone the only way to truly test to to switch you whole elc cavity and set the pickups at the same height with the same strings and see if they still sound dif
Setup and Pickup Height are identical between the two guitars?
Bridge, tuners..?
How about we get audio of these "completely different" sounding guitars? As a hobby luthier I made these comparisons in the past and could never get them to sound "completely different".
I've got a set of Fishman Moderns, and the difference between the modes isn't a frequency thing it's the amount of gain. The second mode is supposed to be more like a passive pickup in terms of the output.
Gibson did the composite body thing in 1970's. The Gibson Sonex was an entry level guitar made with a composite body material (Resonwood construction). I remember my friend looking at one in the 80's because it was cheap and gibson.
As far as tuning stability, it depends on the materials 'Elastic Modulus'. My Rainsong carbon fiber 12 string rarely needs tuning, it is as stiff as an F1 chassis. Wood can also work if you hate tuning, but you need neck to be made out of an exotic like Bloodwood, Bubinga, Goncalo Alves, etc. Look on the 'wood database' for a material with an Elastic Modulus above 2.5 million lb/in^2.
The Gibson Sonex(tm) was made of Resonwood composite and priced at $299 in 1980. That was cheap back then. They weren't bad, we sold them at the shop I worked at in high school. No one wanted one though.
i checked out their website and in the configurator you can get an evertune for 50€ more :)
other than that, i love the fact that some manufacturers are trying new alternatives to wood to build guitars, like aristides with "arium" and companies like halo guitars that offers carbon instruments. Thanks for the awesome review, even if i don't have the money to buy it, i'm looking forward to see more and more builders open up the dfferent materials concept to the public :D
I agree. Sustainability has to be a concern these days. Knowing that there are companies that are willing to take a chance on alternative resources to pave the way for the companies not willing to innovate is priceless
Yes, my friends. I wish this company, and others, well in their endeavors. It's a very real concern that needs to be brought into the mainstream.
They demand * 400 EUROS* for an *EVERTUNE* not 50, dude! SLIGHTLY different, isn`t it? Look again in the configurator, but this time sober !
I think one counter-argument about composite materials is to know how easy would it be to make modifications? Like the glass guitar or similar, look amazing, but I don't think there is an easy way to install a kill switch. It would be great to know how this new materials compare to wood if you want to do some changes.
The guitar looks beautiful, though.
A composite spector or warwick bass would be pretty rad
Especially on a Warwick! (Saying that as an avid Warwick user myself). As the brand that markets themselves as "The Sound of Wood" and heavily focuses on their wood selections, I'd be SUPER curious to hear a synthetic body from Warwick.
Glen, tonewood isn't a lie...
It just doesn't matter much when the guitar is electric. Even less when you start putting distortion and effects in the signal chain. If you were playing an acoustic with no effects, there is for sure a noticeable difference in how the different woods reverberate in the body.
You have *something* of an argument for tonewood in full hollowbodies if you're playing clean, but in solid body guitars, no, It doesn't make a difference to the tone when the guitars are new.
There is something to be said about how different species of wood age though. As wood ages, resins in the wood crystallize and harden over time. Higher quality woods age more uniformly, and so cheaper guitars with cheaper woods are more likely to naturally warp and crack as they age, especially if they aren't well taken care of. THAT for sure affects the tone and playability. But that's less about the "tone" of the wood and more about the durability and quality of the wood. The material your guitar is made out of is important, just not for the reasons that people think they do.
Hi Glenn, more videos like this man ❤️ that guitar looks killer!!!
On the topic of smaller shops and guitar builders being on the show, would love to see a review of a Deviant guitar! Those are killer guitars worth checking out
It seems like a nice workhorse guitar but the most ruf thing about it is the price, especially for only one fishman fluence
it's just and option, you can choose from a variety of setups. Check out the configurator on the website.
Your leads are really coming along Glenn! Someone has been practicing.
I noticed the same thing. Very happy to see that.
I know it’s literally only one push pull pot, a battery and an output jack, but man the cavity on this thing is so fucking clean, it’s like wiring porn. The magnet system is soooo cool and I wish it would just became standard for more expensive instruments. It’s just well designed and cleanly executed and that makes me really happy. I am low key thinking about modding my basses to work the same way, just for the ease of it and the visual sleekness of pickgards and covers that don’t have screwholes.
Been looking at composites, being the temp and humidity fluctuations where I live has been complete hell on my guitars as of late. But composites are so damn expensive and the only two companies I know of are Aristides and this Ruf brand you just introduced to me.
I'd be more excited about this if we weren't swapping $2k plus tonewood guitars for $2k plus composite guitars. I appreciate the innovation and benefits, but at that pricepoint this is still completely irrelevant to most working guitarists.
That's definitely interesting!!! Look forward to the follow up videos
I think alternate materials for making guitars would be pretty good to develop
Seeing how wood doesnt renew so quickly, and it can become endangered, like what happened with brazilian rosewood im pretty sure
Those were rare woods. Things like alder and ash are a dime a dozen.. Also the problem is not guitar building but China building cheap furniture and other cheap crap.
@@chaptermasterpedrokantor1623 Nope, decent wood takes a long time to grow.
Just rememeber -- what ever it is you used to comment, it was most likley made in China.
@@keithsquawk there's "old growth" and farm raised basically...... a lot of common lumber comes from tree farms, the difference is the older the tree the tighter the grain hence more stable wood
@@keithsquawk it's actually really not nearly as hard to avoid Chinese made products as people make it out to be. I haven't bought a Chinese made product in almost 4 years 🤷🏻♂️
@@keithsquawk not made but assembled. Some stuff are made there but far from everything
You know Glenn, I've seen a man produce the exact same soundwaves by mounting a bridge, tuning pegs and a pickup to two tables as a $2000 dollar Fender Telecaster. Tonewood is balls, pickups and amps matter.
Speakers
Speeeaaaakerssss
People have blown the tonewood debate way out of proportion. Tonewood only really applies to acoustic instruments. Once you start plugging guitars into amps, the acoustic properties of the guitar gets lost. A lot of people still think they hear a difference because they can feel the way the guitar vibrates against their body and hands. However, when micing the speakers, those differences that the player can feel are not captured. Especially when we're talking about loud, high gain guitar tones.
I mean you're wrong but that's ok.
@@joshuamiller441 I mean you believe in bullshit but that's ok.
Looks amazing. The shape isn't my cup of tea but the concept & execution are great. Gonna keep an eye out for some more stuff they put out.
Thanks for the hint
I have 3 different guitars with the same duncan pickups, each guitar sounds very different along with differences in resonance. Different thickness and materials 100% make a difference in tone. Comes down to vibrations. However, the more gain you add, the less variation you will notice. Bottom line, different materials give different sounds, impossible for them not to, actually. But how much we notice and personal preferences depends on our ears unfortunately
From a physics or electronics standpoint the faraday cage might not be function as intended if a) the whole cavity is not shielded, unless the guitar itself is conducting material and b) the cage itself is not properly grounded. It can still work in some level, but for maximum efficiency you would prefer a full, closing faraday cage that is grounded. Still an awesome guitar.
This isn't a Faraday cage, he doesn't know what he's talking about. This is just simple shielding. But it still works.
One theory I have with Floyd Rose bridges is that a lot of tuning problems come from the reaction of the wood to tension differences. I've often noticed how the guitar is out of tune after a dive bomb but give it some time and it will mostly come back to pitch. Yes, there's other factors like friction in the nut etc. but there is a trussrod in the guitar neck to balance the string tension and keep the neck straight. Release all the string tension and the truss rod suddenly has nothing to act against, the neck becomes convex and needs some time to settle back when string tension is put back on. This would explain why very stiff necks (caramelized maple) or ones with carbon reinforcements work very well with trem systems. You really don't even need a locking nut in many of those cases, it's redundant. By the way, graphene in this application is pretty much the same as carbon fiber. Layers of graphite bound together.
2:23 yea well... imagine sending a +- 3600 euro guitar in cardboard box only... One of the sexiest guitars I've ever seen/ Bloody gorgeous/
Only bridge pickup, all black, comfortable to play, intonated and set up for eternity, stays in tune, 1 knob and it looks cool.
Stainless steel frets, Hipshot, Fishman.
Pretty much perfection.
First thing I noticed about the Ruf was intonation, great. I would load it with EMG and take advantage of the extra space in the cavity to install active add ons, like an old BC Rich. I hate not having inlays though. 9 out of 10
Agree on the inlays. How are you going to teach your band mates that new insane riff?
@@fifteen8 You can order one with inlays, but I think it bumps the price up. A simple Ruf like the one in the vid starts at 3K lol
Jeez Glen, barely a couple years back you only played simple riffage and now you're just ripping out massive solos! It's amazing to see how much you've improve with the guitar work. Can you please make a video on your practice routine, that would help alot.
Cheers!
Already done! Check this out: How I got BETTER on GUITAR!!!
ruclips.net/video/HRnzp6vvFBg/видео.html
Fun fact: Peavey was making composite guitars back in like 2014
My knee jerk reaction with the fishman fluence switch was that the second setting sounded more woofy and bassy. It wasn't a blind test, so fair enough, but that was my knee jerk reaction. I'm sure with less gain, those small difference in sound get bigger, but again, we're talking metal and Glenn World, so as you were. Anywho seems like a cool guitar. I hope new, more stable composite materials for guitar get cheaper and more widely available.
Man your playing is definitely getting better!
GLEN are you BLEEPING OUT THE CURSE WORDS NOW?!??! AWESOME!!! Now I can watch when my kids are around!!! Thanks!
... I shoulda watched the entire video before commenting
Just recently I purchased a brand new Ibanez S series and guess what. The input jack was loose. Not immediately but maybe after 10 times plugging the cable in it became loose and I had fix this.
At least your Guitar had a good reasoning for this minor flaw and I expect you won't see this in sold models.
But very interesting conzept Ruf is introducing to the Guitar world.
My suspicion is that the production process ist quite cost intensive and there is more work involved compared with a big brand Guitar for 3K.
In my opinion the asked price is way more justified for Ruf than for Ghibson or Fender.
BLEW MY MIND!!! KIKIN ASS & TAKIN NAMES! EVERYTHING YOU NEED, NOTHIN YOU DONT! Good job Glen ! Killer tool. Great vid as always.
Thank you so much for putting Tonewood snobs in their place
In the 90's Remo invented a special material to make great sounding drums. Lots of drummer loved those, they were very sturdy, with a nice black finish on the inside and a very powerful sound.
It was called "Acousticon", and was basically cardboard put through a blender with a lot of glue.
After playing Steinberger basses (4 string L2 and 5-string fretless XL) for nearly 2 decades as my mains, I still am a believer in epoxy composite guitars. After having a full endorsement deal with ESP and seeing what great instruments are available for cheap, I vowed never to spend over $1K for a bass or guitar again. 3Gs? No way!
was not a fan of your at first........but now I am really digging your knowledge sir! thank you!
Very interesting instrument. I was surprised to find out that they are from my homecountry, Poland. Go Ruf!
Ruf are so expensive. I'd like to see more affordable composite guitars
Dude, I LOVE the chug on this guitar. IMO, the only instrument that beats it out isn't a guitar. It is the Wood Violins 'Viper'. Can any of you recommend more guitars that chug like these do?
That is a great looking Guitar! Nice concept also. Plus it's not the same old boring, stale brands every one seems to gravitate to. Has an exclusivity factor going for it. That body shape is really nice. Be interesting to watch the long term outcome.
Use an angled jack and an Evertune ,that would be perfection.
Looking forward to you playing a few different genres with this guitar, to help us decide. How about classic rock, indie, pop, blues, jazz, reggae and funk?
I don't even have super hearing, just a $10 set of Sony in ear headphones from Walmart, but in your tone wood shootout there was a distinct difference. I was one of those who wanted the story to be bunk because it was irritating to listen to, now I'm a believer in tone wood because of your video!
I also don't buy in that most audience members don't care about guitar tone, ripping guitar tone was what made me want to play guitar.
The differences between the voices is the signature active attack. I don’t like the active thing, but those moderns are killer
Cool, distance of thehumbucker to the bridge. Attack like hell. Lasse Lammert has such a guitar too.
My opinion about this topic is, that wood can affect the tone, but by the different way than many people thought. Normally, string has some harmonic content, and wood absorbing some unwanted parts of the spectrum. This process depend on matherial type and also body shape, type of connection between neck and body - these variables affects, which frequencies are absorbed and which not. That’s the reason, why Strat have different sound than LP, and LP has different sound than SG - even with the same pickups. And, this is also the reason, why composite guitars like this from the video, are working great with the perfect tone and play reaction. So, it’s about supressing of unwanted part of the sound spectrum, and preserving of needed part of harmonic content of string’s sound.
So what are your thoughts on Jim Lill's old bench coupled with a couple of engines sounding exactly the same as real guitar? Doing a really good job suppresing those bad frequencies, right?
I'm always curious as why bass doesn't get new models yearly or even cool designs. It would really cool to see what gear is out in bass land.
it gets. But the plastic bubble is eaten before the shipping, so it breaks in the way and no one recieves it :/
It’s all in the paint job, just bringing out a new tone paint for your cabs
Love it! That double pinch squeal was dope too 🔥
Thank you very much!
Of course man!
I would love to see a singlecut-esque model or similar from these guys. I like the LP layout and the shorter scale and love the idea of one made from composite materials. Aristides got close with the 020, but I don't like the switch placement nor the fact it's master tone and master volume.
Go ahead Glen sounding good. Nice guitar. Cool video. Thanks for your time sir.
Even though some woods are brighter and some warmer it's very subtle for solid body electric guitar. Wood for a hollowbody guitar has a more noticable sound variation.
I really like it, I just wish it was priced more affordably. I'd definitely buy it at $1000-1500. I hope they can scale the brand and bring the prices down cause then I'd be in.
The pickup selector...has no effect? Wild. 😂
Great playing Glenn. I need to practice now
2:55 Glenn's third arm needed to feel that case!
An acoustic guitar is a drum. That is how it amplifies sound. Naturally the physical characteristics of its composites will greatly affect the tone.
An electric guitar has no drum to amplify sound. Its amplification is in the name. Wood is not microphonic.
The physical characteristics of the materials used (excluding the electrical components) are important for other reasons. Structural integrity; and the way it feels-how it vibrates in your hands, the weight. The way it responds kinetically to the vibrations of the strings, how it translates energy will affect the way it feels in your hands which affects playing experience.
I played an old reclaimed Redwood tele unplugged and that was sonically very cool. It did sound very unique to other guitars, it also felt like no other guitar. Plugged in, it just sounded like a tele.
No screws to strip out? What will I do with all these toothpicks and wood glue? They've ruined me. Ruined I tell you!
This is a really nice looking and sounding guitar. I really appreciate that it is more environmentally friendly than traditional guitars. It's not crazy pointy, either.
My thinking when it comes to the choice of wood is the denser the wood the better sustain and the look of the grain when choosing a wood finish.
On an acoustic.
exactly.
Nice NIce Nice! I remember in the late 90s there was a company that played around with VibroCell?? Some kind of composite as well. Greeting from Michigan neighbor!
It's great to see some competition for Aristides guitars :)
This is more than the Mustaine V? Good lord man. Guitars now days are just absurdly expensive.
Nice. Not just a neck through build - the whole guitar is "one piece." I'm geeking out here.
3k?! Yikes. I guess I’ll stick to my EC 1000. Great review Glen!