PRODUCT REVIEW
Liquid Metal Guitars
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neck/body-frame combinations that
attached to hollow wooden bodies
and Travis Bean, who used a similar
approach, fusing aluminum necks with
solid wooden bodies in an effort to
improve tuning stability and provide
more consistent neck relief. Other
companies such as Veleno and Tokai
have used aluminum as the body
material, exploiting its tonal properties. Liquid Metal chose the latter
option, using the material for its harmonic purity. Phil let me know that
the majority of their initial sales were
to studios and producers, due to the
instrument’s ability to stay on task
with the fundamental note, making it
an obvious choice for D.I. recording
and re-amping. Its unplugged tone
substantiates his claim. It’s huge – big,
loud and pure.
for this guitar and I’m sure had a lot
to do with its focused warmth and distinctively vintage tonality.
Moving up to the neck pup provides
plenty of jazzy warmth, and compared
to the hyper-articulated bridge pickup
sounds, seemed almost too warm,
bordering on muddy. There isn’t a ton
of difference between neck only and
neck-plus-bridge positions, but busting
out the pick again adds needed definition to the forward positions.
Now for the big surprise: plugged
in, this guitar has a fundamental like
a nice, dry, decades-old Strat, combined with the quick initial attack of
a LP Junior or a Telecaster. Yeah, I
didn’t see that one coming either.
The last thing I was expecting was a
traditional sound from this instrument.
Call me prejudiced, but I was thinking
more Parker Fly than O.G. Fender. Of
course, all of those delightful overtones caused by the Strat’s tremolo
bridge and ensuing springs are nonexistent, replaced with an immediate,
pure tone that is the sonic equivalent
of riding a fixed gear bicycle.
Another minor criticism is the neck
profile. I usually stay quiet about stuff
like this, because it’s so subjective, like
arguing that blue is a better color than
green, but I need to find something
wrong with it, and to make it perfect it
would need to be about a pound-and-a-half lighter and have a deeper neck
profile from front to back.
The Final Mojo
I walked away from the Liquid Metal
guitar thoroughly impressed, and
would recommend it to studios as well
as to pickers looking for a guitar with a
super-pronounced fundamental tone.
Buy If...
You want something unique yet
functional.
Learn more at HEAROS.com
Plugging into a vintage tweed Pro
produced more than a few “Holy Shit!”
moments. This thing easily captures
enough old school tones to belie its
House of the Future appearance. On
the bridge pickup with a heavy pick
attack and just a smidge of dirt it was
incredibly easy to achieve that kind
of barky, chunky-yet-articulate thing
Chris Spedding always seems to pull
off, displaying an attack on par with a
set neck. Losing the pick yields a kind
of hyper-focused but still warm coun-try-ish sound familiar to J.J. Cale fans,
but with more articulation and veering
back into bolt-on country. Adding in
additional dirt is thoroughly enjoyable
due to the guitar’s focus, lending itself
well to high-gain situations. It can push
a ton of pedals and effects too, all the
while retaining its personality. The TV
Jones pickups were a perfect match
Skip If...
You need a prop for the next
Goldfrapp video. This thing’s too
nice.
Rating...
4. 5
Liquid Metal Guitars
MSRP $4288
liquidmetalguitars.com
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