Thinking of Ordering an H-137

[kidsmoke]

Thanks Man! The invitation is always open to you, Monica, and Gio to get your butts to Chicago's Central Station, catch Amtrak and come on down to Bloomington/Normal for a jam! It's a cheap, 2 hour trip! I'll even offer to throw some red meat on the grill if you guys decide to make the trip!

 

I'd love to get out of town. sounds like this needs to happen one way or the other, soon.

 

don't forget there is talk of a Jan 18 Independence Heritage Jam here in Chicago. Great opportunity to drag a few of those out for some lovin'.

[bluesgolfer]

Thanks Brent. I was hoping to hear from you before I ordered it though since it sounded like you are the resident expert on mahog vs Korina. I even sent you a pm. I ordered the Korina as you can see but can always order a Mahog also, although I have a Mahog Les Paul and a 157 on the way.

 

My Mahog over Korina? Thanks

 

 

Brent:

 

I meant to ask, why Mahog over Korina?

[bigsbytp]

I vote for the H137 as it is - no binding. As #8 said, the beauty is in the simplicity of it all.

 

I had one just like the 2 pick up sun burst pictured earlier in the thread and it was great. I thought is was a duplicate sound of my H-150 so I sold it.

 

If you want the flash, you can get a H-150 with soap bar P90s like mine:

 

Adding binding to that neck and head stock would make sense..I think that the binding addition to the right guitar is a stunning addition ..(should sell gold top too).

 

Good luck with the new guitar purchase.

John

[brentrocks]

 

Brent:

 

I meant to ask, why Mahog over Korina?

for the premium price you pay for korina, i dont think the tone advantage is that great or mahogany...that just my opinion

[bluesgolfer]

for the premium price you pay for korina, i dont think the tone advantage is that great or mahogany...that just my opinion

 

Thanks for the response Brent. Received the new 2009 Korina version. There are some cosmetic defects in it that I have to have taken care of. One is very small on the top but should be easily fixed with nitro drop fill. One is about one inch long on the underside curvy area which will take more work. Otherwise, the Korina is beautiful. Although I wasn't wild about having the gold knobs as opposed to black knobs on it, the gold actually looks pretty nice in person.

 

The neck isn't as large as I expected it to be. It's just a little on the chunkier side of average but nicely shaped and very comfortable, even though I usually like larger. It plays really nice and the P90's produce sweet tones.

 

The nut was cut wrong, however, with a lot of space between the 5th and 6th strings which ends up with less space between the first four strings. So I'm having the nut replaced by a local very well respected luthier, Mike Koontz. Koontz also recommended replacing the bridge with a PRS SE wrap-around fixed bridge. He said the stock bridge on the H-137 was intonated for a wound g string. I did notice some notes out of tune as did a professional buddy of mine who listened to me play it. My buddy and I just thought I was fretting too hard in some spots causing the notes to go out of tune. Koontz pointed out that it was just inherent in the stock bridge so I'm replacing that with the PRS SE fixed bridge and some TonePros compression studs, a combination which Koontz said will produce better sustain.

 

What surprised me about this guitar in terms of tone was the tone I was able to get out of the bridge pickup, fat, warm, and punchy.