New Video with the Westcreek Revenge

[Narsh]

Sounds pretty darn good. Will more than likely swap pickups and put in some locking tuners but other than that, its damn good for $180.

This is it, played through my AxeFXIII, Crown XLS1002 and Harley Benton 2x12 v30 cab.

[toomanycats]

If the people at Westcreek were smart they'd send you a bunch of their guitars gratis so you could record a short video like this playing each one, because nobody is going to show off their product in a better light than you just did. Damn do you make that guitar sing! You just made me want to buy one.

I've also got to assume, given the level of technicality with which you're playing, that you've got the action set pretty darn low. Since I don't hear any buzzing or fretting out on the bends I'd say those frets must be pretty level out of the box.

I know everyone is particular about their tone, and that you even have your own signature Narshbucker pickups, but I think the stock pickups in that guitar sound fantastic. It reminds me of Carlos Cavazo's tone on Quiet Riot's Metal Health album. They have plenty of clarity and definition, there's enough air that they sing and sound open, and there's enough push to bring out the pinch harmonics without being overly compressed and one dimensional. I would have loved to have heard how they reacted if you'd rolled the volume knob on the guitar back slightly to show some edge of break up tones, you know, playing some of those killer blues licks we all know you've got up your sleeve.

I also want to comment on the extreme economy of your technique, especially your picking hand. There's so much going on yet your movements are so minimal, controlled and precise. There is zero wasted effort. Truly, it's a thing of beauty to behold. You make that insane shredding look effortless and I can only imagine how many hours of practice it's taken you to get on this level.

Do you still have a structured practice routine that you adhere to, with exercises and whatnot, or do you maintain your chops at this point just by playing and recording?

[Narsh]

If the people at Westcreek were smart they'd send you a bunch of their guitars gratis so you could record a short video like this playing each one, because nobody is going to show off their product in a better light than you just did. Damn do you make that guitar sing! You just made me want to buy one.

I've also got to assume, given the level of technicality with which you're playing, that you've got the action set pretty darn low. Since I don't hear any buzzing or fretting out on the bends I'd say those frets must be pretty level out of the box.

I know everyone is particular about their tone, and that you even have your own signature Narshbucker pickups, but I think the stock pickups in that guitar sound fantastic. It reminds me of Carlos Cavazo's tone on Quiet Riot's Metal Health album. They have plenty of clarity and definition, there's enough air that they sing and sound open, and there's enough push to bring out the pinch harmonics without being overly compressed and one dimensional. I would have loved to have heard how they reacted if you'd rolled the volume knob on the guitar back slightly to show some edge of break up tones, you know, playing some of those killer blues licks we all know you've got up your sleeve.

I also want to comment on the extreme economy of your technique, especially your picking hand. There's so much going on yet your movements are so minimal, controlled and precise. There is zero wasted effort. Truly, it's a thing of beauty to behold. You make that insane shredding look effortless and I can only imagine how many hours of practice it's taken you to get on this level.

Do you still have a structured practice routine that you adhere to, with exercises and whatnot, or do you maintain your chops at this point just by playing and recording?

Dude, holy hell, first off thanks for such a detailed post and the kind words.
The WCRevenge is very very similar to Firefly guitars in the sense that there is huge bang for the buck, specially if you want to do a few little mods like pickups, tuners, bridge etc. So I will say, out the box, it plays great! Pickups are not bad, a bit bright for my taste but as you said, they have the right bit of hair while maintaining clarity and the harmonics sing. I do find myself fighting the strings a bit. It came with 9's which were pretty flimsy. I threw 10's on it to hopefully tone down the brightness a bit and tune it to Eb but it feels a bit to floppy. So maybe I'll go with 9.5's or back to 9's of better quality than what was on there.
Frets are pretty level with the 10th fret buzzing just a hair, but so does my Jem so maybe a little truss rod adjustment will take care of it but it doesn't bother me too much, will let the guitar settle over the next few weeks to see.
I'll try and record a wider variety of tones tonight. Maybe a little tune to bring it all together.
I've been moving more away from the Mesa Boogie tone for leads and landing on the Marshall JVM410 with a Mesa 4x12 cab in the axe fx fronted with a Clon and a phaser in front. Really digging that right now and while I didn't have the phaser on for this video, it gives this guitar a mid focused singing tone while not being too shrill or icy for lack of a better word.

As far as the practice, I can't say I sit down and play anything repetetively. I mean, I pick the guitar up and start playing to warm up and eventually I speed up and kick things into gear. My left forearm was super tired when I recorded the video yesterday. I've been lifting in the gym again and the stamina just wasn't there. Earlier in the day it was locking up on me so I gave it some time to loosen up. It was ok but I wasn't at my best.
My picking really came from watching a lot of Frank Gambale videos back in the day, and trying to break the rules as far as which direction to start in etc. I just played what felt right. So you get what you see on the video. I don't pick every note, there is a lot of inbetween hammeron/pulloff going on that gives the illusion I'm "petrucci-ing" the hell out of the strings but I'm not.
In terms of hours, that's tough. I started when I was 12 and I'm turning 48 this month. I spent pretty much 5 hours a night from 12-20. No exaggeration there, I basically ate, slept and went to the bathroom with the guitar. So figure about 14k hours in my formative years and then at least 5-10 hours a week for the remaining 28 years. Its a lot of hours. The hardest thing is trying to not sound repetitive, but keeping my own flavor/style which I think I've gotten down. I'm happy with my leads sounding somewhere between Joe Satriani and Michael Angelo Batio which is what I hear in my head. I could be totally wrong, but am totally happy living in my delusion.

Again, can't thank you enough by the kind words they mean a lot.

[Rollin Hand]

Ah, eff it, I quit.



(Nice job BTW)

[tlarson58]

It's all fun and games until Ralph Matchup shoes up with a slide.

[Tiga]

That was great and thank you for reminding me I need to practice more LOL!