Should a £4K Guitar Be Perfect? - Nik Huber Krautster II
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- In today's video Paul Drew and Lee Abraham from The Studio Rats check out Pauls New Guitar Day Purchase a Nik Huber Krautster ii
This fantastic guitar is pretty much flawless and should be for the £4000 price tag, but in my opinion and many others it has 1 major flaw.
The Studio Rats are core band members Paul Drew on guitar/production/mixing, drummer James Ivey and Dan Hawkins on bass. They collaborate with singers and musicians to produce radio-ready songs.
I think the stock pickups in the Krauster are a great choice. You have that full sounding P90 in the neck and a higher output bridge pickup if you need it. In addition this guitar has as demonstrated a coilsplit on the humbucker which creates a much more open (tele bridge pickup) kind of sound so a lot op options for variation on that bridge pickup by itself. In addition this guitars has great volume pots with treble bleed so please use them..... With that you can dive into so much other flavors with fe less gain. Also just crank your amp and roll some volume back on either the P90 or Humbucker in full or split mode. The very strong point of this guitar is also in the middle position using both pickups. That sound is really awesome and just also use the HB split for variation together with volume change. Yes this guitar has a lot of output but it's just there is so much subtleness under the hood as well. Also you have to see this guitar positioned in the total range of other guitars that Nik Huber offers. He has many PAF based guitars so if your preference is in that direction buy one of his other guitars. I love the Krauster as is and would never change it.
Great to see Lee on your videos. He adds the working clubdate musician perspective that many of the watchers want to hear.
Always good to have Lee along
This is good because it shows that not every guitar, regardless of price, reputation and expectations, is for everyone. We all have different tastes and preferences and are really fortunate that there are so many guitars (and everything else) to choose from.
I just bought a 52 Custom Shop Tele after watching your videos on telecasters. Its heavy relic, super thick neck, weighs 6.2 lbs and is absolutely glorious. I'm glad I watched.
That’s a dream guitar, nice one!
Heck yeah, haven't even played it yet and I know it's gonna sound killer in your hands. I've been looking at Nik Huber guitars for the longest, but never pulled the trigger.
For the neck P90 I got some great results by removing the keeper bar. I own a Tokai R6 where I really liked the clarity of the pickups - especially for the neck PU. When I swapped the PUs for some Sanford Magnetics, I never got really happy. The sound was always too dark for me. Until I found that the original Tokai PUs had no keeper bars. Once I removed those from the Sanfords, they sounded also much clearer. Give it a try!!
Might want to get a Custom build Gordon Smith for less than half the price and very similar look and supply your own picks if you like,,although their own a really good. Built in Northampton, UK.
I must be hearing things, because those pickups sound glorious to me.
Awesome guitar. I want one.
It’s all a personal pref.
I've got a Krautster 11 and I agree about the pickups. It's a great guitar otherwise and I went to my preferred pickup people who are 'Bare Knuckle - no affiliation.
This guitar often comes with a 59 PAF from Haüssel, and god it's a brilliant PAF. Have tried other PAFs in this guitar for year, never found a better match. People buy it and make reviews of this model with the higher output pickups options proposed by Huber and then complain. If you want a PAF, buy a model with a PAF in it, good lord...
Also (watching more of the video), my first replacement was a Cream T BFG and NO, it was not a good replacement. These guitars are brighter than Les Pauls, and the BFG was way too bright and aggressive (it's a hot, very bright PAF). Alnico 4 or 2s are better at home in this guitar, except for the Alnico 5 Haüssel one that I mentioned in this comment.
I love my Collings 290 (with Amber P90s), the only problem with that guitar is that I love it so much, I don´t dare to bring it outside of the house. Bought a Reverende Sensei 290 for $565 including a case. Best of both worlds!
I'm not a wraptail bridge fan, but generally the added brightness acousticly, is caused buy the string load being dispersed less on only 2 posts as opposed to 4. Whether it transfers through the pickups any differently is debatable.
I owned two of them in the past, never got on with the pickups, and sold them. Great build quality. I should have kept one looking back and put different pickups in it. I can't wait to hear how it sounds with new pickups.
So many reviewers would big this guitar up. But not you Paul. You give honest reviews regardless of brand or cost. This guitar is tremendous but those pickups didn't tick your box and you stand up and say. Brilliant 👏Same with the Chapman review recently.👏
Cheers Dean, much appreciated
Hi Paul, I have a Nik Huber Dolphin 2 with the same bridge problem and replaced it with a low wound P90 and all is absolut fantastic now.
I played one of these with a Lollar Imperial in the bridge and it sounded great.
Though I think it likely that a change of pickup will result in a less pleasing split sound. I don’t think it’s possible to have the best of both worlds.
Another alternative would be to to wire the the pull switch up for series/parallel.
I don’t like the Häussel pups either, so I changed them out of my Krautsters. I’ve got a Monty’s PAF and a Monty’s Underspun in them now and it’s a million times better.
Good shout.
From my experience, overwound humbuckers sound good on since coil tap! While good Paf humbuckers have a very thin sound on single coil tap.
I decided to buy an Oswald guitar instead of a Huber because I got to pick all the specs and it was less. That’s a beautiful guitar but I think the Oswald was the right choice.
I fucking love Lee! Just comes across as a humble dude that doesn’t get bought into hype stuff or the belief that because gears expensive it must be great! You can deffo tell you are a gear snob Paul, much like myself 😂 sometimes he gets dead excited over a bargain hes purchased and you can tell it’s genuine. I love that quality and wish i was more like that
Had to stop myself from buying a sire yesterday crazy spec for the money 😂
I love when you buy a new expensive guitar. Enjoy it Paul. Please continue to do so. Don’t forget if you go to say GuitarGuitar to take us through video. 🎸👍
Cheers Jack. I managed to get this used for half price, still expensive, but I couldn’t have bought it new full price with those pickups.
Man i hear strong mids but im just not hearing the bad nasal that i hear on some les pauls? I dont know im loving the tone of this guitar it's looks are ok but i love the tones you guys are pulling!
Cool guitar. On another note, does it make it slightly easier to tolerate negative comments knowing that their efforts are helping the algorithm of the channel? 😅
I hate negative comments but I guess you’ve got to accept that people have different opinions, and that’s fine. Unfortunately some people are negative in nature and there’s nothing you can do but hope their lives get better.
@@TheStudioRatsI don’t think a lot of players realize you are the cream of the crop. A session guy. That’s a dream job imo. You do a Utube channel on the side. And btw you can buy whatever you want. I see the anger and negativity as jealousy. That’s the only thing I can think of. Im always thrilled to watch as I’ve said numerous times every time you buy something new or do a high end trade. You already know you do not owe anyone an answer. You have tough skin I think. You enjoy what you get. And please keep doing it. Take care Paul. I love the channel. FYI I change my name a lot but I’ve been here the whole time. You’re the reason the quad was so easy to set up because you’re also a great teacher. Cheers 🍻
What makes Lee a great guest is he plays an expensive guitar but just says “yeah”. He has such a practical perspective. Some high end guitars are just the brand and are way over priced, you can get a lot for your money nowadays with mid range guitars IMHO
Absolutely
that bridge sounds like a SD JB and if i remember right you chnaged the JB in another guitar a while back because you didnt like it: too nasal, hot ...etc.
Yes it does, you’re right.
check the volume pot.nick might use 250k pot in order the humbucker sound more like single coil when you use the push/pull switch.
Had one in gold finish…but finally sold it (sadly) because of the too thin nut for me ! The guitar I had dreamed of and never took the time to feel it….awesome guitar 😢
I think you would like seth baccus guitars Paul. Top uk builder 👌love to see you try one!
Interesting comment about stability of thick necks. My Musicman JP15 has a very thin neck (suits my Arthritic fingers. !! ) and it is the most stable guitar I've ever owned .
Does the music man have carbon fibre reinforcing rods in the neck though? I know some models do. That really adds to the stiffness and stability
I didn’t get on well with the pickups once I first got my Krautster but then it clicked. I almost never play the bridge pickup in HB mode with fully on volume and tone. Please give it a try with tone and volume rolled back. It stays clear and you can get nice crunchy and clear tones. E.g. tone 4-5 and volume 5-7.
Cheers for the tip.
Awesome Vid - Awesome Guitar! 😎👌
This is the thing.. when you get to your level of experience, unless it's custom shop..
The Manufacturers pickup choice is likely never gonna be your first choice.
Same with the budget guitars 😜
I'm not in the room, but reckon the resonance could be coming from that unique neck/body coupling 🤷♂
Cheers Steve
Interesting why LP Junior style guitars can be so resonant. You should try my Fano Alt De Facto TC6 non bolt on mahogany neck/body with TV Jones Supertrons & tele style bridge… might be just the ticket for a tele inspired LP junior style guitar ;-)
I'll check it out cheers.
If i had that guitar, i wouldnt dare take it out of its case - it is that Nice. Phenomenal wood working on that specimen
What do you have in your chain - amp> OX> apollo ? this guitar sounds incredible and i liked the pick up it rings and rings man
Cheers it was the guitar into a kernom ridge then into a Amplified Nation Overdrive reverb.
Lee, you’re not fat. Like me, you’re a gentleman of superior build.
Great guitar! Did you already swap the pickups? Cheers Alex
A handmade archtop, classical ... could justify their price. Solidbodies, especially the Strat and Tele variations, going for $3000 and up drives me absolutely insane. Some overseas manufacturers are going toe to toe with the "big boys" and in some cases, besting them - For less than half the price! Quality materials and construction throughout and if you believe they're gonna' be landfill at some point well then ...
Since you change out every pickup on every guitar you acquire, I need a middle and neck pickup for a Strat.
Funny enough I rarely change pickups on any guitar. I really like Sunbear Strat pickups, you can’t go wrong with anything they do.
Best sounding guitar you have
I’m sure the craftsmanship is A+, but aesthetically it looks a bit like a modern Gordon Smith model. Not sure if that is a good thing given the price differential?
That’s interesting, I never saw the Gordon smith thing till you said it but yeah.
Andreas Kloppmann „profiles“ pickups since more than 20 Years. He has one of the biggest data archivs of pickups in the world. So it is not really a new idea……You should have mentioned if the Krautster has a mahagony or a cedar body. I don‘t like Häussel Pu‘s at all, but if you order the guitar I think it is not a problem to order different Pu‘s.
I did say it has a mahogany body.
sorry I missed this..
How is the weight balance on these guitars? Does it have neck dive? This is my main concert, other than that, it sounds killer! I also like the bright character of the stock PUs.
Its is perfectly balanced
Yes, a 4k guitar should be totally flawless. Actually, already a 2k guitar should be flawless. The extra 2k should go to fancier woods and such.
its the old argument . i have a jet Telecaster . its got 3 basic sounds . its about 80% of this guitar . my feeling is its a better spend at £160 .
Yep you can’t go wrong with those Jet’s
Well that looks dangerously close to PJD Carey but with more than a double price tag
They do look similar.
The prices on some of these guitars is crazy high. I know cost is subjective, but there are so many more guitars out there now that are less expensive and just as good (if not better). It must be great being able to purchase these high end guitars, but they don’t play any better than guitars at a fraction of the cost. They just don’t.
They just do
Have you tried one so you can categorically say they don’t play better? Or just watched RUclips videos of others playing them?
I agree, you can get great guitars for a fraction of the cost. I always buy my guitars used, the great thing about expensive guitars used is that they don’t loose money.
Lee legend 👍
I think that your guitar could be Weight relieved. With resonance cavities. Could be why you have a 👍 great 😃 sustain. Helmholz once again.
I might have it doesn’t say on the specs.
@@TheStudioRats I think that Nick does it on that particular model. Check out the video 😄 with Henning Pauli or the famous guitarist from White snake , Bernie, God rest his soul. Anyway your model construction is on one of the Videos 😄. All the best for 24 . John. I'm just over in Germany at this moment. Nick Huber is somewhere around Frankfurt. I'm on Quest to the Holy guitar land 🎸 Burgerbach . 🙏 Thomann, it's like a crusade to ⛽ GAS central of Europe. Best regards 😸. John.
Pickups are probably the weakest part of the guitar, with some nice characterful Throbaks like Collings does, all this should be over. The same applies to older PRS guitars really: beautiful build, not so great pickups.
Naaaaaaa! Give Paul a little more time and it’ll be gone 😆 The man will never be satisfied. Me? I would block off the humbuckers to never come on until I was playing something that needed that gain performance. Pretty easy fix. I thought the P90 sounded great not to mention the coil split. Tell him Lee!!! I’m so mad I can’t say anymore 🤣
4k for a guitar is just overindulgence. There's just no need these days in my very humble opinion.
Simple, yes, a 1500 dollar guitar should be perfect, especially with the machines used today
This is not about machines, it is about Nik´s passion and love he‘s putting into the grain of the wood! 🤘🥰😎✌️
In 2024 a $1000 guitar should be perfect. $ 4000 is stupid to pay. If anyone wants to believe the ' hype ' go for it. Don't even get me started on Gibson!
4k guitar and the pick up sucks🤣
I own three Nik Huber guitars (Orca, Surfmeister, Piet) and I bought them for the quality of the woods, the wood work, the fretboards and necks. These are the areas where NH bests PRS (and subsequently everybody else). On all three guitars I had to change the tuners, the entire electronics (noise and completely dysfunctional treble bleed) on all three guitars, and we are talking about a 23k Euro investment here) and, immediately, the pickups. This overwound Haeussel crap is complete junk and destroys all dynamics and detail these guitars are capable of. To be fair, the Filtertron-style pickups in the Surfmeister are not that terrible, just meh and lack character. The Haeussel humbuckers and P90s are not even a match for those in a 600 USD Sire guitar... no idea why NH is so obsessed with this garbage. I replaced the humbuckers in the Orca with proper Throbaks, the P90s in the Piet with Lollars, and the FIltertrons in the Surfmeister with Mojotrons (by Mojo UK)... all three guitars improved by several 100%.
Funny...I just bought a Piet and really like the sound so far, especially the Haussel Tele neck (and I don't like Tele neck pickups)
@@davidbier7518 Great if you like it! I can't say anything about the Tele-style neck pickup in the Piet since mine is a custom order with 2 x P90 (in that goldfoilish enclosure) and the Mastery bridge and vibrato. I love that guitar to death, but really only since I put the Lollars in 🙂
Today in 2023 the guitar building technology is all over the world..I have seen $500.00 guitars that are just as good in quality as a $4,000 guitar and if you say no you're lying through your teeth...
I couldn’t agree more there are SOME great cheap guitars out there. It’s the same argument with cars, sure a Hyundai will get you from A-B but there’s a difference between that and a Mercedes. There’s also the resale value, you could buy a Gibson today new and in 5 ish years time you’ll sell it for more than you bought it for. Personally I’d rather buy quality and it be a great guitar in 50 years time as opposed to land fill.
Please tell me what 500 euros guitar is like 5k ones and tomorrow I will go to guitar shop!
Have you ever tried a Krauster 2 ? I think you sadly did not….Most amazing guitar I ever had ! And sold..🥳
@@belo1971 I'm saying to share a 500 dollars guitar that sounds as good as a 5000 dollars guitar, as the first comment suggested.
@@G.InBlueshe eats 💩, he knows it but he doesn’t have the money 😂
The guitar snake oil strikes again why do you buy these guitars ? 4k and you don’t like the pick ups ? Is it a vanity thing ? I love your channel but come on go to the shop spend a day there pick a guitar job done .you don’t even gig do you Paul ?
Judd it’s a RUclips channel that reviews guitars and guitar products. This was a used guitar, and who said I don’t gig?
Allways the same. One trick ponyng. Always the same sound, allwajs the same lick, always some overpriced guitars. And everything should sound like telecaster.
Looks like someone needs a cuddle?
Same haircut too!😆
@@TheStudioRats Your sarcasm wil not make you less one trick pony, bragging with expensive gear.
@@VanjaSpirinwhy are you watching? If you know what you're going to get, why are you here?
@@jeremyjohnston592 Not any more. First I liked those videos, an graduately they started to appear more and more snobby ("This is 5k PRS, but it doesn't sound like tele"). So, I don't follow them any more.