What is the deal with Nash guitars?

[Flump]

I've only played a Nash bass that my buddy bought. I'm not a fan of the whole relic thing, but it plays and sounds better than any Fender bass I've played.

 

[The Hoff]

I've only played a Nash bass that my buddy bought. I'm not a fan of the whole relic thing, but it plays and sounds better than any Fender bass I've played.

I do like the relic thing but I can definitely agree, really I'd like to get my Les Pauls setup and worked on by him!

 

[steve_k]

I've only played a Nash bass that my buddy bought. I'm not a fan of the whole relic thing, but it plays and sounds better than any Fender bass I've played.

I do like the relic thing but I can definitely agree, really I'd like to get my Les Pauls setup and worked on by him!

His Fender relics are built ground up from All-Parts stuff, or at least they used to be. The Les Pauls are actual Les Pauls that he buys, takes them apart, relics, ages and rebuilds the guitar into something more playable than the current offerings from Gibson. I came close to buying one, but missed it and they are hard to find. I don't think he does too many of them on spec.

Steve

 

[The Hoff]

I've only played a Nash bass that my buddy bought. I'm not a fan of the whole relic thing, but it plays and sounds better than any Fender bass I've played.

I do like the relic thing but I can definitely agree, really I'd like to get my Les Pauls setup and worked on by him!

His Fender relics are built ground up from All-Parts stuff, or at least they used to be. The Les Pauls are actual Les Pauls that he buys, takes them apart, relics, ages and rebuilds the guitar into something more playable than the current offerings from Gibson. I came close to buying one, but missed it and they are hard to find. I don't think he does too many of them on spec.

Steve

Wasn't sure about the All-Parts thing but yeah, I knew he did that to actual Les Pauls. I really regret not jumping on this Nash LP when I had the chance:

http://store.mesahollywood.com/lp026.html

So sexy

 

[grooveHT]

Makes sense, this shop dropped everything made by Fender Music Inc. They were a big Charvel and Jackson dealer as well before Fender found out about him carrying Nash.

Don't know if I agree with that model, I would think he could sell more CS fender stuff than Nash.

Yeah, Fender seems like a much better bet to pay the rent. Even if they are douchebags.

Meh, I dunno, making exact copies of Fenders could also be considered douchy.

I hear you. I have NO problem at all with them protecting their trademarks. To me where it crosses over into douchery is when they try to get a dealer to drop say a Suhr or Anderson because they make strat-ish or tele-ish guitars, even though there's no trademark violation going on.

If you're making a fender headstock (and worse yet putting a fender logo on it) then you got no room to complain...

Right there with ya, sir! Although, if you were Fender, and knew someone was going to whup you at a similar price point for your top-dollar stuff, it'd make fiscal sense to try to leverage them out.

 

[Digital Jams]

That is why fender went after GMW, even had lawyers calling in trying to order stratheads after the stop notices were sent. Lee imo was killing the charvel custom shop price wise for the same type guitar.

I believe T/A and Suhr have agreements with fender now.

 

[mikehickey]

i can confirm I have seen AllParts necks on Nash guitars.

 

[joepete77]

There was a quote from nash a while back on a tgp post where nash stated that he uses both allparts necks and bodies and the other big company which I cant remember right now. He also said that some are two piece bodies quite often. He said he selects the lightest bodies etc. They do have nice setups and play nice. I dont care much for the relic finishes these days as they just look to rushed and overdone although originally when he was still a small upstart the relics looked better. When they first came out u could get a nice one whichever spec and color and type relic finish for like $1200 which was a fair price, now they are close to 2k which is rediculous for a glorified parts guitar.

 

[killertone]

Andersons for me and all my Fender style needs, and then some. Superior in every way over a Fender. No relicing needed, I'll take care of that by actually gigging it.

 

[rupe]

I'm not a fan of relic'ing but I have played a few of Nash's builds and I was very impressed. Although he doesn't make his own parts, he's picky about the parts he uses and the end result is fantastic. When doing head-to-head comparisons of a Nash '52 Tele and '60-something Strat with their Fender Custom Shop counterparts, the Nash's blew the CS Fenders away in every meaningful way. The '52 CS Fender Tele was on my wish list until I played the Nash...I was shocked at how much better it was (lighter, more vibrant, clearer highs and lows...the Fender almost sounded like it had its tone knob rolled back when compared straight up).

 

[Badronald]

What is this "blowing away" that people say other "high end" Fender "copies" do.

I'd LOVE to play one of these fabled guitars that "blow away" my American Stratocasters. All I can picture is the heavens opening and a choir of angels singing when I hit that 1st chord on a Suhr or Anderson.

I guess that didn't happen to a lot of guys based soley on the Suhr's and Anderson's for sale in the classifieds.

 

[rupe]

What is this "blowing away" that people say other "high end" Fender "copies" do.

I'd LOVE to play one of these fabled guitars that "blow away" my American Stratocasters. All I can picture is the heavens opening and a choir of angels singing when I hit that 1st chord on a Suhr or Anderson.

I guess that didn't happen to a lot of guys based soley on the Suhr's and Anderson's for sale in the classifieds.

I'll address this in two parts...Nash and "high end" Fender copies (I wouldn't consider Nash to be high end).

When I said Nash blew away the CS Fenders, it was based on lighter and more resonant bodies, better feel, better tone, and an overall better playing experience. The similar Fenders seemed "dead" by comparison. Obviously a lot of this is subjective but I think any experienced player would have come to the same conclusion given the same sampling of guitars.

As for "high end" builders vs Fender CS, I simply see more attention to detail. I have a '95 CS Strat (purchased new in '96) that I bought simply because of how great it sounded. I had to have the nut reworked and the neck shimmed to set it up properly...not things somebody should have to do with a custom shop instrument priced similarly to Anderson/Suhr IMO. I have seen far too many CS Fenders that had less than ideal fretwork, sloppy neck pocket routs, paint/finish issues, etc. I've also played some that looked like works of art but were somewhat lifeless tonally. I have never run across any of those issues with an Anderson (or Suhr but I've played far fewer of those).

Just my .02

 

[Metalhead]

Nash's kill Strats. That's it.

 

[Badronald]

What is this "blowing away" that people say other "high end" Fender "copies" do.

I'd LOVE to play one of these fabled guitars that "blow away" my American Stratocasters. All I can picture is the heavens opening and a choir of angels singing when I hit that 1st chord on a Suhr or Anderson.

I guess that didn't happen to a lot of guys based soley on the Suhr's and Anderson's for sale in the classifieds.

I'll address this in two parts...Nash and "high end" Fender copies (I wouldn't consider Nash to be high end).

When I said Nash blew away the CS Fenders, it was based on lighter and more resonant bodies, better feel, better tone, and an overall better playing experience. The similar Fenders seemed "dead" by comparison. Obviously a lot of this is subjective but I think any experienced player would have come to the same conclusion given the same sampling of guitars.

As for "high end" builders vs Fender CS, I simply see more attention to detail. I have a '95 CS Strat (purchased new in '96) that I bought simply because of how great it sounded. I had to have the nut reworked and the neck shimmed to set it up properly...not things somebody should have to do with a custom shop instrument priced similarly to Anderson/Suhr IMO. I have seen far too many CS Fenders that had less than ideal fretwork, sloppy neck pocket routs, paint/finish issues, etc. I've also played some that looked like works of art but were somewhat lifeless tonally. I have never run across any of those issues with an Anderson (or Suhr but I've played far fewer of those).

Just my .02

Cool. I get it. That's your experience. Mine has been different. All the Fenders in my avatar are stunning examples. I have not seen "sloppy" finish work on an American Stratocaster in a LONG time. Every example I pick up are very nice. "Better, feel, tone and playing" are subjective. Once again, my Fenders are stunning examples and I'd be shocked if you were able to show me an example of a Suhr that "felt" better than my Stratocasters. Tone? My Strat's all have aftermarket pickups as well as pots and locking tuners and blocked bridges, so it's a more apples to apples comparison.

I'm not trying to convince anybody of anything, all I'm saying is saying something like "blows aways" is silly. You plug your Nash into your amp, I'll plug my Am. Strat into my JTM45 at a gig and...............

 

[Badronald]

Nash's kill Strats. That's it.