Months ago when I walked into the shop, that nocaster was the first thing that caught my attention!
I've tried my different neck profiles, it was like a soft-vee with a bit more meat on the side, probably 1 of the most comfortable profiles ever. No kidding because I'm super picky about neck profile. It was nicely relic, not overdone in any way.
Since it has vintage frets with vintage radius, how do you manage to play it? What style of music do you play? I bend a lot and just can't handle vintage frets, which is why I sold my 52ri tele, many years back.
Another question, you also changed your stock ac4 speaker to wharfedale? Where did you get it? How does it sound? I'm seriously considering to order a alnico blue weber speaker for my ac4.
Yeah, the relic job was one of the better ones I've seen, but sadly, it ain't no Cunetto!
Official specs list the neck profile as a 'U' shape, but as we all know the actual size of the neck can differ between models. The Nocaster is notorious(or in my case, famous) for having the thickest one of them all.
I found that little fact to be a boon actually, as my first real electric guitar was a Les Paul, so I'm actually quite used to thick necks. The 7.25" neck radius and vintage frets did throw me off initially, as I'm used to playing on like 12" radius necks with jumbo frets at least. I just did some subtle adjustments to my left-hand technique and I was good to go! I play blues and hard rock mostly, with some metal on the side when I'm in the mood, so I would consider bending notes a mainstay in my playing as well. Fretting out is a valid concern with the 7.25" neck, but so far I've managed to keep it 'under control', even when doing BB-style bends.
Yeah I swapped out the stock Celestion VX12 speaker that came with my AC4TV cab, more for experimentation than anything else, to see if a speaker swap really makes that much of a difference(sorry, I'm a bit of a skeptic when it comes to these matters). Turns out that it did! The AC4TV is known to be somewhat lacking in the bass department; the Wharfedale took care of that easily. I suspect that the heavier magnet was responsible for this. Another crucial thing to note: my amp is on a stand, which believe it or not, affects bass frequency projection as well. If you put it on the floor, it's gonna absorb most of the bass. In regards to the speaker, I got it off a fellow softie(forgot his net handle) who was selling a set of 4 he extracted from a VOX 4x12. The speakers were already broken in, and for $25 it sounded like a pretty good deal. Furthermore, Wharfedale is actually a VERY reputable UK hi-fi brand, so I'm always surprised by how some people like to immediately swap them out of their ACs for Blues instead. The consensus I've found so far agree on the point that the Wharfedale NEEDS to be broken in before it starts to sound good, and personally I agree! The GSH12-30 is supposed to be Wharfedale's take on Celestion's G12H, so you can expect it have good bass definition, meaty mids and a clear but less harsh top-end compared to the VX12. The heavier magnet allows it to handle distortion better too(less fizzyness at higher volumes), without compromising any of that clean chime VOX amps are famous for. One thing though, the VX12 speakers come with 4 mounting brackets, whereas the Wharfedale comes with 8. It's a non-issue really, but I feel that I should just point it out.
I actually did consider putting a Blue Pup in there as well(Alnico Blues too expensive!), but to be honest, you might wanna reconsider, seeing that the V112 cab comprises of mainly MFD and particle board. Not the best of cab wood choices. If I were you, and if I could find a used Blue Pup for a really good price, I would go for it. But brand new? Hmmmmm... Not too sure man!
@pedal-itis: Nice Nash! The quality on those are seriously on par with Fender CS! Btw, someone mentioned to me that my Nocaster might have belonged to you originally. Is your name by any chance Eugene?
(whew, super-long post. On an iPhone some more!)
