MF Stupid Deal of the Day Silver Creek T170 1st Impression..

kydave

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... Is VERY good!! All 15 minutes worth.

Saw the UPS truck outside the office as I was just getting ready to go home for lunch Thursday. Got my box, drove home (I live close to work & go home for lunch every day), ripped open the box and inspected first for damage. None jumped out at me. Good!

Leaving the cardboard debri in the garage, I ran the guitar up to the house and tuned it up. Nothing flew off and it made a very nice sound first strum. Good!

Went into the room with best light and put on my reading glasses for close look: NICELY book matched top (really tight even grain - I think it might be Engelmann) AND back (pretty rosewood!). VERY GOOD!

Looking closer I saw what might be either a finish crack or wood split in the wider bout on the back, very minor though. I'll look inside tonight (I'm back at work).

Played it a bit more with fingers and pick. Not bad at all, and will improve with better strings.

The only thing I saw on it during my 15 minute once over that bothers me is an idiosyncratic thing that I see on other guitars nowadays, including Martins - the grain on the mahogany on the back of the headstock sweeps to one side. In my guitar making class we were taught not to mess with a neck whose grain wasn't straight. But I see that on lots of guitars now, so I won't whine too much.

Best $199.00 new guitar money ever spent!!! (I say "new" because of that $50 1962 fleamarket Strat years ago...)

Woo hoo so far!!!

Dave

Soundclip: http://www.davidtrabue.com/SILVRCRK.mp3

Home now and took some pics. Specs below.

This outdoor shot doesn't exhibit the two tone top that many pics show. Shows some nice silking!
SilverCreekFront.jpg


Back rosewood with lots of reflection... sorry.
SilverCreekBackOut.jpg


Headstock.
SilverCreekHeadstock.jpg


Shows what I think is both runout and book matching, but also gets silking and a bit of bearclaw in there...
SilverCreekrunout.jpg


More bearclaw...
SilverCreekBearclaw2.jpg



Silver Creek T-170 Acoustic Guitar Features:
Body Style: Auditorium
Top: Solid Spruce
Back & Sides: Solid rosewood
Neck: Mahogany
Scale Length: 24.9"
No. of frets: 20, open 14
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Inlays: Mini Dots
Headstock Overlay: Rosewood
Headstock Inlay: Silvercreek logo with Flower & Vase Inlay
Nut width: 1-3/4" Neck width at body:
2-3/8" String spacing at saddle E-E: 2-5/16"
Binding: White with Black/White Purfling
Rosette: Ringed
Bridge: Rosewood
Pickguard: Tortoise Shell - NOT - no pickguard included?
Width at Upper Bout: 11-3/8"
Width at Lower Bout: 15-1/4"
Maximum Depth: 3-7/8"
Finish: Gloss
Tuners: Chrome
 

capnjuan

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Hi Dave; very sweet! Made in Asia somewhere? The headstock inlay very reminiscent of the fine work of Vietnamese artisans on several of BBer Marc Ellis' guitars ... Cool guitar and a killer price. John
 

kydave

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Hi Capn,
It's a Chinese made guitar, in the similar construction style of the Recording Kings. Surprisingly nice little guitar at it's normal price and a steal at the Stupid Deal of the Day thing!

I sat around this evening filing the nut slots ever so slightly and playing it with the new strings from last night. Very sweet sounding guitar and nice neck feel, even though I'm not used to 1 3/4". I think I might take the saddle down just a hair tomorrow and it'll be all set.
Dave
 

capnjuan

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kydave said:
Chinese made ... similar construction style of the Recording Kings...
Hi Dave: Can you tell if it has a poly or nitro finish? One of the frequent criticisms of Guild's GAD line - justified or not - is the use of poly thought to maybe overly stiffen the top slowing the break-in process. I wonder if poly might be more resistant to thermal shock than nitro. Anyway, I knew about this Recording King. A link embedded on the page goes to this Acoustic Guitar article in which the guitar is characterized as a Gibson. Interestingly, Recording King's current PR page says Recording King was Montgomery Ward's in-house brand name in the '30s. Somehow Monkey Wards seems more Faheyesque than Gibson but you never know.

In 2007, eBay was flooded with Chinese knock-off LPs and ES335s; "The most honorable musical instrument you buy!" ... $4.50 for the guitar ... $300 for the air freight. It was hard to tell which was more bogus; the guitar or the offer. Plastic nut/saddle/pins in your Silver Creek? If you like the tone and for what you have in it, without too much more you might be able to take it up a notch. The shape if the headstock ... is ok, no? :wink: Cheers. John
 

kydave

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LOL! Yep, they got the headstock shape right.

Poly finish, but not too gloopy. A little sloppier than the RKs I've seen and own or owned. But the only place it really jumps out is around the neck extension. Poly definitely seems to take a lickin' & keep on tickin'!

Pins are definitely plastic, which isn't a bad thing. I used the stock pins on my D-28 for most of it's 38 year life. Never saw any need to switch until recently as the old ones were dying.

I just took out the saddle to lower the action a fraction and it is definitely bone. No mistaking that smell when you start sanding! I suspect from appearance that the nut is also bone.

Put a strap button on yesterday - a must have! Probably the only thing I'll do now is order a pickguard. 000 or OM, I'm not sure which yet... I've got some buffalo horn pins lying around so I might try those. Or I could temporarily take the bone pins out of my D-50 and try 'em just to see if I want to order some.

Sounds and plays really nice!

Dave
 

capnjuan

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Nice touch on the bone saddle ... I guess there's a good chance the nut is bone too? Yes; poly is tougher. I'd be curious to know how much uptick you get with bone pins. Sounds like you got your money's worth and more. John
 

kydave

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At least four of us over on the Blueridge Forum saw the alert and ordered them. Four for four good/great reviews so far, which is not a bad thing!

This little guitar has a huge sound. I'd like to sit down with a GAD-30R and A/B them, because I've been consistently impressed with that import Guild. From memory, though, this guitar is in the same league. Of course, it could be that it was made in the same factory by the same people with the same materials. LOL!!!

It's a po' boy's 000-28EC!
 

capnjuan

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kydave said:
.. Of course, it could be that it was made in the same factory by the same people with the same materials.
Hi Dave; not out of the question, practice can make perfect. Pics of highest-grade FugiGen Gakki, Matsumoku, and other Japanese mfr's guitars from the late 70s to the early 90s sold under Greco, Tokai, Orville, Burny, and other names. Not completely certain but I believe that FugiGen became the source of MIJ Fenders. If the Chinese aren't making fine guitars now ... they will be in a few years.
 

kydave

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They are making some FINE guitars in China now, as well as some very good ones.

I've got three of the very good ones.
Blueridge BR-260, solid Sitka spruce over solid Brazilian rosewood dread.
Recording King RD-26, sunburst solid Engelmann spruce over solid mahogany dread.
Silver Creek T-170, solid spruce over solid rosewood 000.

Some of the solid wood, nitrocellulose finished Recording Kings are approaching FINE guitars! Unfortunately for me, so far those are in small body 12 fret slotheads, not my cup of tea. But I've played them when they were in the prototype stage and they are high quality instruments for sure!

Same with the Loar mandolins made by the same parent company as Recording King. They have their own plant in China making only their products and the nitrocellulose finished instruments they are coming out with, both guitars and mandolins, are incredibly nice instruments at great prices.

I also have a Kentucky KM-750 mandolin from China that is an extremely nice mando, kinda like a po' man's Sam Bush model.

There are folks over there who've been making good Western style instruments for decades now, and know what they're doing. Give 'em the right management, direction and factory and you bet your bippy they are making some nice stuff!
 
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