The NYA by Portland, Oregon builder Jim Soloway is an unusual guitar to say the least. Its most noticeable feature is its 27” scale length neck. Although this scale
The NYA by Portland, Oregon builder Jim Soloway is an unusual guitar to say the least. Its most noticeable feature is its 27” scale length neck. Although this scale length has been used on baritone guitars before, most baritones are tuned anywhere from a perfect fifth to an octave lower than standard tuning. Jim, however, came to this design by way of playing a seven string guitar tuned to standard A440. Jim has used his tried and true Swan platform as a launch pad for his Soloway Swan, Not Yet Another (NYA). That said, the NYA represents both a refinement of and departure from his previous efforts. Jim was dissatisfied with the string tension and muddy bass response he was getting out of his seven string guitars. In his quest for a more suitable instrument Jim contacted fellow Oregon guitar builder Ralph Novak. After several lengthy conversations with Ralph, Jim decided they needed to take a new approach. The NYA is the result of six years of hard work, and it’s Jim’s personal statement of what he, as a player, wanted out of a guitar.
When talking about the NYA, Jim proudly states, “It was the first chance I’ve had to build something I really wanted rather than guessing what our customers wanted.” Jim also wanted to add that the NYA heralds a radical departure from how his previous guitars were made. It also sheds light on the future of Soloway guitars.
“I’ve just sold all of my swamp ash blanks that were under 13” and I’ve just bought about 300 board feet of new lumber and now, if possible, all newer guitars will use single piece backs and tops.”
Not only is the neck slightly out of the ordinary, the body shape is also somewhat unusual. Although the body is a “double cut” visually, you can see hints of Fender, PRS, Rickenbacker, and early B.C. Rich in its design. Turning the NYA over exposes a deep heel carve around the neck’s back plate and offers excellent upper fret access. Whether playing seated or standing, the NYA is an extremely well-balanced guitar and is light and easy to play, with minimum need of adjustment for your playing style. In fact, I found that with the added neck length, arpeggiated runs were far easier to play on the NYA than they ever were on a 24.75” neck. One of the things that Jim guarantees is that his guitars will never be neck heavy—an astonishing claim, given the fact that the NYA is crowned with six Hip Shot Grip-Lock tuners. The NYA also uses an unusual 16” fretboard radius. Jim points out that classical guitars use flatter fretboard radii than many electrics. Overall, the feel of the neck is similar to a late-eighties Jackson than to that of a more conventional jazz box. Some of that “feel” is due to the ultra-thin nitro finish on the neck and fretboard. I was convinced that Jim was using an oil finish because the finish was so thin, but he said that wasn’t the case at all.
Powering the NYA was a trio of DiMarzio Tele-style pickups with an Area-T in the neck and middle, and a Virtual Solo in the bridge. Jim took yet another unexpected approach to setting up his pickups in that the mid-pickup isn’t wired through any tone controls. Jim stated that it lent to a more usable pickup and didn’t muddy its tone. Revealing yet another unexpected twist, Jim had wired the traditional neck/middle combination to select a neck/ bridge selection with the five way toggle. “I personally find that to be a really useful and more Tele-like sound,” said Jim.
Clean is as Clean Does
Playing the Soloway NYA through my Princeton Reverb was a beautiful experience. The sound was lush, buttery and organic with a hint of a big box’s openness but without a lot of the boom associated with large bodied guitars. With the five position toggle and three Strat configured pickups, you may find yourself boldly going where no Strat has gone before. Your jazz and bebop lines will have never sounded so funky. While scrolling through the NYA’s pickup options, the middle pickup I mentioned earlier really caught my ear. Not only did it not exhibit any of the nasal like quality that so many Strat midpickups have it was so open and spacious that it almost sounded like playing a dreadnought with a high quality piezo through an amp. Although the NYA may not replace an acoustic guitar for a gig, you may just want to give it a try. Overall, playing the NYA back to back with a more conventional Strat is like the difference between playing a spinet and a concert grand.
Getting Dirty
Oh, the Mesa Reverb Rocket, you nasty junkyard dog of distortion… let me hear you bark!
Plugging the NYA through the Mesa Reverb Rocket’s Lead and Contour channels was a wild ride. A lot of semi-hollow body guitars I’ve played through the Mesa’s particularly nasty brand of distortion either are able to make it across the junkyard unscathed or are mauled by its jagged teeth. I am happy to say that the NYA escaped without a scratch, a little sweaty and out of breath maybe, but alive and well. The NYA sounded huge through the Mesa and absolutely menacing when tuned to dropped D.
The Final Mojo
Perhaps I’m looking for a different rating scale for a guitar that’s so different. Jim’s carving of the top of body for the NYA model is a master builder’s tour de force. Playing the NYA after an even good Strat style guitar will make you realize how muddy and indistinct your guitar is. The NYA may not be for everyone, but for those who are willing to take a chance, the NYA is a wonderful instrument. At one time Jim lent his considerable guitar playing skills to JazzKat amps, but even he is surprised by the stylistic directions other people have taken his creations. For players who can think outside the box chord and who are willing to take a chance, the Soloway NYA is a beautiful guitar that will open up new channels for your playing. Unconventional? Yes, but in all the right ways.
Buy if...
you''re a risk taker with your playing and want a "big" sounding guitar.
Skip if...
you think the evolution of the guitar stopped before 1960.
Rating...
MSRP $3000 - Soloway Guitars- jimsoloway.com |
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On our season two finale, the country legend details his lead-guitar tricks on one of his biggest hits.
Get out the Kleenex, hankies, or whatever you use to wipe away your tears: It’s the last episode of this season of Shred With Shifty, a media event more consequential and profound than the finales of White Lotus and Severance combined. But there’ll be some tears of joy, too, because on this season two closer, Chris Shiflett talks with one of country music’s greatest players: Vince Gill.
Gill’s illustrious solo career speaks for itself, and he’s played with everyone from Reba McEntire and Patty Loveless to Ricky Skaggs and Dolly Parton. He even replaced Glenn Frey in the Eagles after Frey’s death in 2017. His singing prowess is matched by his grace and precision on the fretboard, skills which are on display on the melodic solo for “One More Last Chance.” He used the same blackguard 1953 Fender Telecaster that you see in this interview to record the lead, although he might not play the solo the exact way he did back in 1992.
Tune in to learn how Gill dialed his clean tone with a tip from Roy Nichols, why he loves early blackguard Telecasters and doesn’t love shredders, and why you never want to be the best player during a studio session.
If you’re able to help, here are some charities aimed at assisting musicians affected by the fires in L.A:
https://guitarcenterfoundation.org
https://www.cciarts.org/relief.html
https://www.musiciansfoundation.org
https://fireaidla.org
https://www.musicares.org
https://www.sweetrelief.org
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
New RAT Sound Solution Offers a Refined Evolution of Distortion
ACT Entertainment ’s iconic RAT brand has unveiledthe Sterling Vermin, a boutique distortion guitar pedal that blends heritage tone with modernrefinement. With a new take on RAT’s unmistakable sound, Sterling Vermin delivers a new levelof precision and versatility.
“The Sterling Vermin was born from a desire for something different — something refined, withthe soul of a traditional RAT pedal, but with a voice all its own,” says Shawn Wells, MarketManager—Sound, ACT Entertainment, who designed the pedal along with his colleague MattGates. “Built in small batches and hand-soldered in ACT’s Jackson, Missouri headquarters, theSterling Vermin is a work of pure beauty that honors the brand legacy while taking a bold stepforward for creativity.”
The Sterling Vermin features the LM741 Op-Amp and a pair of selectable clipping diodes.Players can toggle between the traditional RAT silicon diode configuration for a punchy, mid-range bite, or the BAT41 option for a smoother, more balanced response. The result is a pedalthat’s equally at home delivering snarling distortion or articulate, low-gain overdrive, with a wide,usable tonal range throughout the entire gain spectrum.
The pedal also features CTS pots and oversized knobs for even, responsive control that affordsa satisfying smoothness to the rotation, with just the right amount of tension. Additionally, thepolished stainless-steel enclosure with laser-annealed graphics showcases the merging of thepedal’s vintage flavor and striking design.
“From low-gain tones reminiscent of a Klon or Bluesbreaker, to high-gain settings that flirt withBig Muff territory — yet stay tight and controlled — the Sterling Vermin is a masterclass indynamic distortion,” says Gates, an ACT Entertainment Sales Representative. “With premiumcomponents, deliberate design and a focus on feel, the Sterling Vermin is more than a pedal, it’sa new chapter for RAT.”
The RAT Sterling Vermin is available immediately and retails for $349 USD. For moreinformation about this solution, visit: actentertainment.com/rat-distortion .
$149
Marshall 1959 Super Lead
The very definition of classic, vintage Marshall sound in a highly affordable package.
There’s only one relevant question about Marshall’s new 1959 Super Lead overdrive/distortion pedal: Does it sound like an actual vintage Super Lead head? The answer is, simply and surprisingly, yes. The significant difference I heard within the voice of this stomp, which I ran through a Carr Vincent and a StewMac Valve Factory 18 kit amp for contrast, is that it’s a lot quieter than my 1972 Super Lead.
The Super Lead, which bore Marshall’s 1959 model number, debuted in 1965 and was the amp that defined the plexi sound. That sound is here in spades, clubs, diamonds, and hearts. Like the Super Lead, the pedal is easy to use. The original’s 3-band EQ is replaced by a single, rangeful tone control. The normal dial and the volume, which together mimic the character created by jumping the first and second channels of a plexi head, offer smooth, rich, buttery op-amp driven gain and loudness. And the high-treble dial functions much like the presence control on the original amp.
The pedal is sturdy and handsome, too. A heavy-duty metal enclosure evokes the classic black-with-gold-plate plexi look and a vintage-grille-cloth motif. Switches and knobs (the latter with rubber sides for slip-free turning) are ultra solid, and—refreshingly—there’s a 9V battery option in addition to a barrel-pin connection. Whether with single-coils or humbuckers, getting beefy, sustained, historic tones took moments. I especially delighted in approximating my favorite Super Lead head setting by flooring the high treble, normal, and tone dials, and turning back the tone pots on my Flying V, evoking Disraeli Gears-era Clapton tone. That alone, to me, makes the 1959 Super Lead stomp a bargain at $149.Two guitars, two amps, and two people is all it takes to bring the noise.
The day before they played the coveted Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, the Washington, D.C.-based garage-punk duo Teen Mortgage released their debut record, Devil Ultrasonic Dream. Not a bad couple of days for a young band.
PG’s Chris Kies caught up with guitarist and vocalist James Guile at the Blue Room to find out how he builds the band’s bombastic guitar attack.
Brought to you by D’Addario.
Devilish Dunable
Guile has been known to use Telecasters and Gretsches in the past, but this time out he’s sticking with this Dunable Cyclops DE, courtesy of Gwarsenio Hall—aka Jordan Olds of metal-themed comedy talk show Two Minutes to Late Night. Guile digs the Dunable’s lightness on his shoulders, and its balance of high and low frequencies.
Storm Warning
What does Guile like about this Squier Cyclone? Simple: its color. This one is also nice and easy on the back, and Guile picked it up from Atomic Music in Beltsville, Maryland.
Crushing It
Guile also scooped this Music Man 410-HD from Atomic, which he got just for this tour for a pretty sweet deal. It runs alongside an Orange Crush Bass 100 to rumble out the low end.
James Guile’s Pedalboard
The Electro-Harmonix Micro POG and Hiwatt Filter Fuzz MkII run to the Orange, while everything else—a DigiTech Whammy, Pro Co Lil’ RAT, and Death by Audio Echo Dream 2—runs to the Music Man. A TC Helicon Mic Mechanic is on board for vocal assistance, and a TC Electronic PolyTune 3, Morley ABY, and Voodoo Labs Pedal Power 3 Plus keep the ship afloat.