cobrahead1030
Well-known member
I tried my best not to give in with all the Black Friday sales etc. going on, but I finally caved on one. I'd been look at Kauer banshees (their firebird style guitar) for a few years now, always drooling over the great looking examples they post on social media. I've came across a few of their guitars in the wild & always been impressed with their quality. Then earlier this year the guy who sold me his R7 let me play one he had it's been on my mind ever since.
So I jumped at this stripped down rock machine, new from their in stock selection on the website. All Spanish mahogany, 24.75 scale, chunky neck, wide nut, Wolfetone P90, wenge fretboard, 12" radius, Jescar 47095NS frets. I wanted something that sits nicely in between a telecaster and les paul, which is exactly what I got. Light weight, around 6.5 lbs, and super resonant. The small'ish frets suit this guitar very well and it feels great to play, upper fret access is quite nice. The fretwork is really spectacular all around, that's one of the things that really stood out on the last Kauer I played, and this one is equally great. I like look/feel of the open hipshot tuners a lot, and the black binding is also a nice touch.
I plugged into my DRRI and Mesa Fillmore combos in stereo, and proceeded to run through the obligatory 70's dad rock riffs. It's a little twangier than I expected, but not in a bad way. Rolling the tone knob bad to around 7 had me feeling right at home. The pickup gets big and mean, but is also very touch sensitive & cleans up nicely with the volume backed off or just picking a little lighter. For my taste, it really excels at dirty tones but the cleans are surprisingly nice especially with a little hair on them. Going a little darker on the tone control and picking up closer to the neck & the sweet spot is found easily enough.
Having just the one pickup opens up a lot of possibilities for where to keep my pick hand, which I really like. I spent a few hours today playing it through my Mark V 25, while I got some really cool sounds in Ch 1 pushed mode, I mainly dialed up the gain with it. I enjoyed how expressive it sounds & how well picking dynamics come through with the gain pretty well cranked, especially with an amp that tends to make most guitars sound pretty similar. Moving my pick hand around & working the controls a bit, I could get it to sound warm or twangy as needed.
It's a little on the pricey side for what it is; more than an equivalent Gibson standard but well below a custom shop. I'd say it's definitely comparable to CS Gibson in terms of quality, and overall I'm pretty stoked about it. The included gig bag is also very nice, not quite as bomb proof as my expensive Mono, but certainly a few steps above what most guitars come with. I'm trying to cut down on my endless pile of hard cases, so frankly I'm glad it didn't come with one.
So I jumped at this stripped down rock machine, new from their in stock selection on the website. All Spanish mahogany, 24.75 scale, chunky neck, wide nut, Wolfetone P90, wenge fretboard, 12" radius, Jescar 47095NS frets. I wanted something that sits nicely in between a telecaster and les paul, which is exactly what I got. Light weight, around 6.5 lbs, and super resonant. The small'ish frets suit this guitar very well and it feels great to play, upper fret access is quite nice. The fretwork is really spectacular all around, that's one of the things that really stood out on the last Kauer I played, and this one is equally great. I like look/feel of the open hipshot tuners a lot, and the black binding is also a nice touch.
I plugged into my DRRI and Mesa Fillmore combos in stereo, and proceeded to run through the obligatory 70's dad rock riffs. It's a little twangier than I expected, but not in a bad way. Rolling the tone knob bad to around 7 had me feeling right at home. The pickup gets big and mean, but is also very touch sensitive & cleans up nicely with the volume backed off or just picking a little lighter. For my taste, it really excels at dirty tones but the cleans are surprisingly nice especially with a little hair on them. Going a little darker on the tone control and picking up closer to the neck & the sweet spot is found easily enough.
Having just the one pickup opens up a lot of possibilities for where to keep my pick hand, which I really like. I spent a few hours today playing it through my Mark V 25, while I got some really cool sounds in Ch 1 pushed mode, I mainly dialed up the gain with it. I enjoyed how expressive it sounds & how well picking dynamics come through with the gain pretty well cranked, especially with an amp that tends to make most guitars sound pretty similar. Moving my pick hand around & working the controls a bit, I could get it to sound warm or twangy as needed.
It's a little on the pricey side for what it is; more than an equivalent Gibson standard but well below a custom shop. I'd say it's definitely comparable to CS Gibson in terms of quality, and overall I'm pretty stoked about it. The included gig bag is also very nice, not quite as bomb proof as my expensive Mono, but certainly a few steps above what most guitars come with. I'm trying to cut down on my endless pile of hard cases, so frankly I'm glad it didn't come with one.
