NEWS: VESICA VL neck for Strat
Have you seen VESICA Design’s stuff? They made waves recently with the Vesica Lead, a guitar which has a bunch of additional space on the fretboard so you can bend the high E string down towards the floor, the theory being that you can do some bitchen drone stuff and oblique bends that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Seems like a cool idea but I think it’ll take a bit of time and maybe a top-level endorser or two before it really catches on. Guitar players can be a conservative bunch, sometimes to our own detriment. I’d love to try one of these out some time. Hope they’re at NAMM in January.
Anyway, now you can buy a VESICA replacement neck for your Strat. Cool.
VESICA Design announces the VL Neck™ for Strat®
October 20, 2009
VESICA Design Inc. has introduced the VL Neck™ for Strat®, the bolt-on replacement neck for the Fender Stratocaster® that is a simple and cost effective way to expand the musical capabilities of your current guitar.
The VL Neck™ design was first introduced with the Vesica Lead™ electric guitar, now the VL Neck™ for Strat® provides the guitarist with the same expanded lead opportunities without any modifications to their existing guitar body.
The VL Neck™ for Strat® offers a semi-tone of outward bending capabilities in the upper register of the neck. This additional capability permits the inner strings to continue to produce sound while the outer strings are bending, a freedom of string movement designed for both traditional playing techniques and the creation of new licks, riffs and ultimately new music.
The VL Neck™ for Strat®
Features:
Maple VL Neck™
Rosewood fingerboard
Two-way action steel truss rod
22 medium frets: .092″ w .048??? c
Pre-drilled mounting holes
Clear satin polyurethane finish
Graph Tech nut
For more information, visit http://www.vesicaguitars.com.
8 Responses to NEWS: VESICA VL neck for Strat
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Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
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I'm so not into this idea, I never bend my E string downward and I find 7 string fretboard width difficult after 20 years of 6 stringin' so it would just feel awkward to me. Personally I don't think it will catch on.
I'm sure someone on this planet bends their high E towards the edge of the fretboard, but I've never met them. Why get a butt-ugly and pricy add-on to do something that doesn't offer any significant benefits and is completely counter-intuitive? Fail.
I dunno, I tend to do a lot of 1/4-step bends by pulling the B string towards the floor, and I could definitely see a use for being able to bend the E string while sustaining the B. And it would hugely increase the range of vibrato way up there at the top of the neck.
But would you buy one?
Not Me! I'm also in the habit of bending the E string up.
Kirk
I told a friend "If I had like a dozen guitars, I could see having this around, but not right now", and I'll stick with that. I can seen the idea, but modern high-gain music discourages double-stops.
I can’t believe all the people who say crap like “this won’t work, so I’m not going to try it”. I would love to try it — always looking for ways to improve or at least change my playing a little. My “problem” is that I sold all my Strats and don’t want another one. Will this be available for other guitars (obviously bolt-ons only, which really limits the options)?
Yeah but that’s Metallica’s original bass player, Ron McGovney, not his replacement, Cliff.
Mustaine is doing 5 songs with them tonight. Will McGovney be there? We shall see!