Veelah La Vita

Say hi to La Vita!

This is a Veelah V1-GACE. GA stands for Grand Auditorium and CE means that there is a cutaway. So let's say for a Dreadnought with a cutaway, it will be V1-DCE. Now I prefer the sound of the Grand Auditorium than a dreadnought. A grand auditorium, to me, sounds more open, bright and clear. Dreadnought has a darker and warmer tone. I would go for the brighter tone. I don't know how else to explain. I just like grand auditoriums or jumbos.

Veelah has 4 different series, V1, V2, V3 and V4 with V4 being the most expensive tier and V1 (of course) the most affordable tier. 

One way to bring down on the cost and making the V1 affordable and yet not compromising quality specs is to strip down on cosmetics. If you've seen my guitar, V1-GACE has no bindings at all. None on the fretboard, none on the top or the back of the guitars. Binding can be expensive. There is no fancy roselette as well and not even inlays. Inlay-less fretboards look attractive to me. How much simpler could a guitar get? Oh yes, this pores on the wood are open and this is no gloss finish. Sonically, it adds up more to the mids. Imagine speaking through a mask and without one. That would be the difference between open and sealed pores.

What I get in return is a solid top and the following:

Graphtech NuBone Parts

I think having a quality nut and bridge is as important as changing the strings when they go dead. Graphtech Nubone synthetic bone bridges and saddles. If I'm to get the separately, at cheapest, they would cost me SGD 40 or about a thousand bahts.  So this is a plus for Veelah, for providing even its V1 range of guitars with these parts instead of plastics. You will also find that Swing acoustics do come with Nubone parts as well!

Fishman iSYS-T

 This is a very simple yet useful preamp there. iSYS-T (T stands for tuner). It isn't a ground-breaking awesome preamp but for a default preamp, this is definitely awesome. I played this through a VOX AGA70 and I was sold. That was when I decided to buy the guitar. You don't see any EQ knobs or sliders on this so the colour of the tone is fixed. Well, of course you can readjust the EQs on the acoustic amp or the mixer if you want. It comes with phase and contour buttons to add some colours to the tone. Simple enough? 

 The fretboard of the guitar is dry, a condition you would expect to see for a guitar stored away in the warehouse. So I'm not surprised.

 So I pampered this baby with some Ikea SKYDD. For anyone who's new to this, it is a wood conditioner. And yes I got that from Ikea. Safe to use on instruments? Safe enough to use on open pore fretboards like rosewood and ebony. Maple? I don't know. Most maple are finished and the pores are all sealed up and thus doesn't require reconditioning.

One problem is yet to be solved though. The action is too high. For acoustic guitars, I normally wouldn't adjust the truss rod myself. I would find someone experienced in this. Acoustic guitars can get really messy.


Price: THB 6300
If you are looking for this guitar in Singapore, check with SV guitars!

The 'Pot' & 'taper' story

Someone once told me that all the pots in Fender and Squier guitars are audio tapered. My nature is not to believe in something until I see it for myself. So I looked for the stock parts of my Squier and decided to give the pots in it a closer look.

If everything is supposed to be audio tapers, all the pots there should be A500K. But see the B500K there? That is a linear taper and it must have been the volume pot on my Squier. That is usually the case anyway. Now we know that not all Squiers have audio tapered pot in it. 500K pots on a Stratocaster with all single coils? It is not a very good idea as it will make sound very bright? But my Squier is made of Agathis, a lineage of mahogany. So it has some characteristics of mahogany. So I guess it balances out.

The saddles story

Here is what I mean by my bridge being rusty. The picture says it all.

So all the rusty saddles are removed before cleaning the bridge plate. There is hardly any rust on it though. Just a few scratches and rust stains from the saddles.

This is where the stuffs (to my mom, they are rubbish) I retrieved from the dustbin come in handy. After cleaning all the saddles, they look as if they are new. I prefer this type of saddles more than the vintage-style stamped bent ones. I find them easier to play palm muting with these saddles.

After all the installation done, I went back to check the damage done by the rust. The springs are all deformed thanks to the rusting.

So, I guess the below are the real rubbish. (not the clip! That's supposed to be a present for a friend.) 

Or maybe not. The saddles are not too rusty and still usable (as long as you have the screws and the springs). If anyone wants it, do let me know. I won't mind giving them away. I hate to throw stuffs away. But I think it is better to get new ones though. Each saddle costs about $5-8. 

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Math today was a total screwy.

Dissembling

I changed my Squier's bridge to Wilkinson WVCSB when I broke my tremolo inside the bridge (I know that sounds stupid). That was 3 weeks after I got my first electric guitar, which is the Squier. It used to be white like this (in case you are interested).

I found the old bridge in the dustbin today. Apparently, my mom thought it was some junk and she stepped onto some screws. So she dumped them in the dustbin. I retrieve it and try to scrape as much useful pieces as possible. After all, only the bridge block would be the one which I won't be using.

Just when I need to change my saddles (the old ones are rusting), it saves my day.. and my $30 dollars. And a few other parts will save $4 to $5 I guess.