Mass Resonator

Fender American Special Strat in classic Candy Apple Red

The Facts Jack

There was a lot of hype when we first heard about the new Fender American Special Strats and Teles - the series sounded good: American made, classic design, Texas Special pickups and less expensive - so what’s the catch? We set our own Jason Jones, Matt Christenot, and Matthew Khomsi to the task of checking these out from stem to stern.  Here’s what they had to say:

Jason: Aesthetically pleasing, the American Special series was a sensible move for Fender. These give you  many pro features with cost effective attributes that, all in all, create a great instrument for a reasonable price.  Borrowing the gloss Urethane finish from the American Standard series, and incorporating Fender’s most popular pickups, the Texas › Continue reading

Noise. It can be beautiful, and the manipulation of it is part of the essence of what it is to be a musician. However, when you are dealing with extraneous operating noise that can occur with tube amps, noise can become very frustrating. The tube amplifier itself will always have some sort of operating noise, but the severity is hard to denote without having a knowledgeable tech hear it in person. However, if you feel it is excessive, there are some things you can check on your own to reduce extraneous amp noise:

1) Take a pencil with an eraser, and while the amp is on and a guitar is plugged in, ready to play, take the eraser end and tap each of the preamp tubes (the smaller ones). If you hear an audible ping through the speakers, you most likely have a micro-phonic preamp tube. This can contribute to noise both when you are playing and not. Replace the offending tube and you should have less noise (and definitely better tone). We stock a variety of tubes here at Mass St. Music.

2) Make sure your amp is plugged into a power conditioner, or at least a surge protector. The difference is › Continue reading

Matt C, Jason, Eric and Matthew K rockin' the special Groshes

Tuesday morning Brent and Yoshi from Don Grosh Guitars stopped by Mass St. Music and brought some very cool one-off guitars and prototypes for show and tell (and some bagels). What a morning…more than anything else it just confirmed why we love these guitars – not only do they have incredible playability and tone but they are some of the coolest looking guitars around. In the photo below, John checks out the 293 – fully hollow. We’ve got a 193 in the store right now, and it’s phenomenal – come check it out while it’s still here.

John checks out the exquisite fully hollow Grosh 293

We also got a chance to check out the very first ElectraJet – › Continue reading

Ah spring! Incessant rain, purty flowers, hay fever and some cool new gear in the store. Here’s what we’ve been drooling over lately:

John Flynn - Don Grosh Retro Classic S Shape

This is a fantastic instrument and now that Birdseye necks are going to skyrocket in price, this is a great time to get one at the old price. This guitar plays and sounds amazing. Definitely a brighter “Robert Cray” type tone. The neck is super stiff and just has a great vintage feel about it and Don’s new pickups are just as amazing.

This Grosh has been taunting John - he can see it from his office

Isaac Flynn - Don Grosh Retro Classic S Shape

Like father, like son…Isaac had this to say on the RC, “It’s so easy to play, the Grosh pickups are the best I’ve heard, and the guitar just looks awesome!”

Eric Mardis - Ome Sweetgrass Banjo

This banjo is so gorgeous. The fit and finish are second to none, but the real payoff is when you put on some picks and let loose on this thing. Â The tone is bright without being an “icepick in the forehead.” Bright yes, but also full and pleasant at the same time. Â I’m truly impressed with this, our › Continue reading

We’ve already done a Fender Road Worn review and there’s been a lot of talk about how they compare with other relic jobs. Well, we’re lucky enough to have not only the Road Worn, but a real 1958 Fender Telecaster and the new Seuf OF-20 in the store at the moment and we couldn’t help but throw them all in the ring together for a battle royale and see how they compared. We’re a Nash dealer too, but we haven’t got any in stock today. We played each of the guitars through a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia and Eric, John, Jason and shop manager Mike went a round with each guitar. The winner? Well, depends on who you ask.

L to R: Fender Road Worn 50s Tele, '58 Fender Tele, Seuf OF-20

1958 Fender Telecaster $20, 499.

The vintage 1958 Tele

Note - this tele’s bridge pickup was rewound at some point by Charlie Davis one of ‘the’ Fender guys who probably wound it when it was made in the ’50s.

Jason: The sound on this is the best of all three - the bridge pickup…it has the most body, most bite. The neck pickup is › Continue reading

It took us a while to choose our picks for January - we were, uh, taking down holiday decorations….

Eric Mardis - Eastman AC320

Eastman AC320!

Anyone who hasn’t picked up on the value of Eastman guitars needs to pull their head out of the sand. Â This is a handmade all solid wood dreadnaught, with full gloss (lacquer) and › Continue reading

Fender Road Worn 50s Tele in Two-Tone Sunburst

After a few years of others “cashing in” on the popularity of Fender designs being “relic’d” and offered at a much cheaper price than the Fender Custom Shop equivalents, Fender is now offering the Road Worn Series, a new 2009 series of relic’d guitars and basses made in Mexico that sell for $949 (basses start at $1200). Christened the “Road Worn” series, they sport a distressed look, Tex-Mex pickups, and a thin Nitrocellulose Lacquer finish, and they give the more expensive (by at least $500) Nash guitars a serious run for their money in terms of quality, playability, sound, and vibe.

However, as the saying goes, There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. The only drawback to this slashing of price, is the slashing of options. Where for around $1500 one can purchase a number of Nash models with a plethora of available customizable options and aging levels, the Fender Road Worn series offers a straight up 50s Strat in two colors (Black and 2 Color Sunburst), a 60s Strat in two colors (3 Color Sunburst and Olympic White), and a 50s Tele in two colors (2 Color Sunburst and Blonde) with a relatively congruent ageing pattern throughout the different models.

In short, there is a warranted price disparity in regards to options and the Fender Road Worn series provides a relatively affordable, full sounding, nicely relic’d instrument for the guitar player with an eye on the past.