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[Fordman65]

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[Steinmetzify]

Sick! Do some research on the BF tuning, it doesn't work like normal tuning.

Man I love that finish!

EDIT: saw you're keeping your '71. Good move, sir.

 

[Metlupass2]

Sick! Do some research on the BF tuning, it doesn't work like normal tuning.

Man I love that finish!

EDIT: saw you're keeping your '71. Good move, sir.

You can tune just like you normally would and it's fine. I've got it all my TAs.

Did you buy it from the guy that was selling on the Anderson Forum who was selling cause he bought Kirk's actual gold one?

I had an original 80's black and white one (in my outdated avatar) but sold it last year and bought a newer blue bowling ball.

You're going to be spoiled now and want more. Join the TA forum and Tom will answer anything.

 

[neilli]

That's awesome - Kirk mk2!

 

[Dave L]

Congrats on the awesome guitar and the awesome wife! Both Tom and his guitars are the best in my book, I´ve had a 1993 Drop Top as my main player for about seven years now. The classic line of pickups aren´t for everyone, though, but I really dig them.

 

[gibson5413]

Congratulations! Love my Pro Am and this looks great!! The H3 is my favorite bridge humbucker from Tom. Hope you enjoy it!

 

[Drew]

Nice looking guitar!

 

[xzyryabx]

Noice!

 

[Big Daddy B]

My guitar! First let me say your wife is awesome. She was really worried you were going to find out before your BDay so I had to give her some tips to sneak it in the house and get it climate acclimated. I don't think mine would ever buy me something so expensive.

Second, glad you are enjoying the guitar. The only reason I got rid of it was because I bought one of Kirk's actual ones. Your wife told me you liked the rest of my collection. I have a KH-4 coming in a couple of weeks and a KH3 being built right now as well.

Metlupass is correct. You should come over to the Anderson board as well. It's a small but very nice community and Tom is very active on the site as well.

 

[Harley90]

Very nice, never seen a finish like that. Cool guitar!

 

[Deleted member 13074]

Loving that. A throwback to the early TA guitars.
Feiten tuning is a bit of a pain, although you have the right tuner and can flip it between Feiten and regular. You'll be tied to that tuner as a result.
You can tune it normally, but as the nut is slightly further from the bridge it won't be quite right although not everyone hears it enough to care.
When it is on, it rings truer through chords and is perfect with keys/piano.
It has fallen out of favour with some makers although Anderson have stuck with it.
I had a Feiten guitar, and he doesn't use it on his own guitars, which is surprising.

 

[LWD]

As far as tuning for Buzz Feiten. A Peterson strobo stomp has a Feiten setting. That's what I use. I also have a TC polytune. Anyone know if that can be set up for the Feiten tuning? The Pererson is so sensitive it's kind of a pain in the ass to use.

 

[flash6969]

Worth spending some time looking into BF tuning - the effort will pay off.
Essentially you need to tune every string to the same note - I used to choose E.
Make sure every string you play the E note & tune to that note - despite previous advise, do not use "standard" tuning techniques.
BF website states:

If you use a tuner other than the Korg DT-7, you can simply tune to all "E's" i.e.

1st E
Open 2nd B - 5th fret
3rd G - 9th fret
4th D - 14th fret
5th A- 7th fret
6th E - Open, 5th fret Harmonic

 

[Big Daddy B]

Thanks for working with her. Total surprise on my end.

You have a nice collection man. At one point I had a lot of met SIG's, but decided to downsize. My forum signature is up to date with what I currently have. I may look to get back into collecting them again at some point. How does the Hammett sound? I'm digging the TA pickups. Very different from my other 2 guitars.

The Kirk Pro Am has a little thinner neck. Less shoulder even though it is supposedly the same profile name. I asked Tom about it when I dropped it off for a checkup. He said that is a pretty common feel for Pro Ams of that era. The guitar sounds great. His was a Basswood body. The electronics were a mess when I got it. I had Tom reinstall an EMG 81 into the bridge. The switcheroo back then only had 2 position mini-toggles so it is wired that each pickup (EMG S in the neck and middle) has an on/off and then the blower switch is wired to work as well.

Sound wise, the output is super high. It clips my amps way before any of my ESPs. Personally speaking, I don't really care for the EMG S's that much. They sound harsh and brittle to me vs the SA's. I have SA's in my reissue strat and like those a lot better but alas, I am trying to keep this as Kirk had it. I did recently pick up up a set of Ultrasonic pickups on eBay to keep in the case should I ever decide to revert it to it's original pickup config, though it may have had an H3 in the bridge to begin with.

From my research, Kirk bought his 2 Pro Ams off the rack at Lab Sound in Orange County, CA back in the late 80's. I met the guy that sold them to him on the Anderson board. So there shouldn't have been anything special done to them before they left the factory. It is just a great guitar. Kirk did go back and had Tom build him a Grand Lam made of lacewood. Tom also says he has records of a honeyburst one as well but I have never seen a picture of that one.

Your Pro Am has fantastic sounding pickups. Tom personally recommended the SFs to compete better with the H3 int eh bridge. I love the way they can even approximate humbucker sounds with only a single coil.

Let me know if you get back into SIGs. The black KH-DC has your name on it! I sent you a friends invite but your wife has my direct email if needed. I just put down a deposit on a custom shop White Zombie.

 

[Pushead]

I personally think Fordy would prefer my RRR Quilt top to the KH-DC.

 

[Big Daddy B]

I personally think Fordy would prefer my RRR Quilt top to the KH-DC.

Maybe but I got a big purchase to pay off, lol.

 

[Big Daddy B]

The TA wasn't exactly cheap.

it was cheaper than it should have been. I'm a sucker for romance, hahaha!

 

[Big Daddy B]

You should join the Anderson forum now. Tom is unveling pics of a new model call the Bobcat later today. I actually saw the prototype last may when I toured his factory. That's when I got the spec booklet autographed by him and his sidekick Roy.

As far as pricing goes, it's kind of all over the board. Kind of like ESP, they don't really hold the high price they sell for new. The bowling balls are pretty rare though. I think Tom told me they only do a handful every year. They all get outsourced to a guy named Pat Wilkins who does the paint work. He has done every one since the 80's. That adds a few hundred bucks and a month or two to the wait time. Given the condition, you saved a boatload in money and time

Distinctive Guitar by you in Milwaukee is the only dealer I have seen sell any new bowling balls recently. They were listed at a grand higher. However they were some sort of special edition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the original bowling balls. 1 was H/S/H, the other 2 were S/S/H and all had some commemorative engraving and Tom's sig on the back of the headstock. Those were all basswood and yours is swamp ash which is also an upcharge. I went swamp ash because I didn't have any other ash guitars and had heard one of Kirk's was ash but wasn't sure which one. The one I got is Basswood. The Ash is supposed to sound more sparkly but on your particular guitar, it really surprised me. it was very focused sounding with a lot of mid and low range. I wasn't really expecting that but it gave the guitar a lot more punch!