polara Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Nathan and I did a little horse tradin' this week, and he will soon the the proud owner of The Swiss Cheese Sustainiac Chap I scored for cheap off eBay. In return I got The It's Green Eclipse.I've never been a fan of the Eclipse shape. It's like someone took a Special and did all the RIGHT things ergonomically - cut away the treble side for better access to the high frets, beveled the top and back - but they WRONG things aesthetically. Looks...lumpy.And then to make it all-mahogany with no maple cap, a wrap-tail, and mini-humbuckers... all cool features but unusual. Strip the controls down to master volume and master tone + a pickup selector, make most of the finishes opaque and/or metallic (was there ever a 'burst Eclipse?) and the result is unique. A little bit Gibson, a little bit Ric and all Hamer I guess.So I pick up It's Green. Medium weight, bordering on substantial. Typically terrific build quality, slinky-low action. Beefy ol' neck, a nice handful. A Real Man's Guitar, people. Plug it in...Sparkly, jangly, very articulate. Now, instead of the stock Duncan mini-buckers this guitar has Lollar Firebird-style pickups, which Lollar's site says are not constructed like mini-humbuckers but have their own thing going. I had a guitar with Lollar P90s once and the sound is not so different. I think Jason Lollar must like low-ish output, clear, balanced, very... detailed-sounding pickups.Very sensitive to how you play, and even with some gain on tap I hear each string very distinctively, no murk and thump, very tight low-end on these.I A-B-C-Dd it against my Giffin Vikta (Dimarzio P90s), the Hamer Studio (JB/59) and a Squier Strat I have for kicks and giggles. It fell between the Giffin and the Strat for jangly, chimey, clear sound. NOT a humbucker sound at all, and really surprising. I'll be curious to hear what it's like through the Valvetech at full volume this weekend.Anyway, Most Esteemed Missus Polara at first said she liked the Giffin's sound better, but upon reflection preferred the clarity of the Eclipse. Since the planets have aligned so that my favorite drummer in the world and my favorite bassist in the world are on board to re-start the band Missus and I had prior to her doing PhD coursework, I take this as a good sign. Maybe the Eclipse will be the guitar of destiny.
Disturber Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Nathan and I did a little horse tradin' this week, and he will soon the the proud owner of The Swiss Cheese Sustainiac Chap I scored for cheap off eBay. In return I got The It's Green Eclipse. I've never been a fan of the Eclipse shape. It's like someone took a Special and did all the RIGHT things ergonomically - cut away the treble side for better access to the high frets, beveled the top and back - but they WRONG things aesthetically. Looks...lumpy. The green ones are extremely purty. Very nice. Congrats! I would not say that they are ugly at all. But they take a little while to get used to perhaps. If you throw some Special, SS1 and SS2 bodies in to the tumbler and set it on high rotation for 15 minutes, the Eclipse is what would come out. I really like that green colour. It's bad ass and timeless. Works for most style of music, and with most hair styles, even a green dyed mohican.
Tres Aardvarks Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Can you post any sound clips you record?
G Man Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 I had one for a while, hope to grab one again someday. Probably one of the most comfortable guitars I have played. Congrats on a beauty.
Disturber Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Can you post any sound clips you record? The Eclipse is a super guitar to record with. It cuts through the mix but does not sound wimpy or thin. Like a mix of a tele and and SG or something. I have used mine on our last recordings a lot. I'll post as soon as we have the material mixed.
Ting Ho Dung Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 Can you post any sound clips you record? This is my friend, Skip, playing my eclipse live. Handheld smart phone quality too.
tomteriffic Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 That one was hard to let go of. I had kept it in favor of this one, a very cool blue from BadgerDave with a Pigtail intonatable wraparound a BCR-tweaked Gibson minibuckers: But I hung on to the red one's fraternal twin, it goes out on every gig and covers all the classic electric 12 tones just fine. From the Stevie Damn Clay collection:
analogsystem Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 I would love a black one. I'd put the Lollar Firebird pickup in the neck and route the bridge for a full size hubucker (probably a vintage hot type). That would be some tone.
Nathan of Brainfertilizer Fame Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 I will miss "It's Green" on some levels.There was not a dang thing wrong with it at all. Balanced, low action, great tone. Very nearly a perfect guitar.But not *my* perfect guitar. I just don't get into 2-pickup guitars very much. Not sure why, but I like 3 pickups...the B-Way Mercury Head came in and just dominated in tone, so It's Green became superfluous for me.Plus, I needed a Chap to round out my Hamer superstrats (sort of...the Big 4/5 of Californian, Centaura, Diablo, Chaparral, and maybe Vintage S), and I really wanted to get a sustainiac in the stable again. So I get another guitar that will get some playing time, and It's Green gets to be played more.I'm glad you appreciate it. Clearly it went to a good home!
md9255 Posted December 4, 2014 Posted December 4, 2014 New to the forum here!I'm a big fan of the eclipse. Love the mini buckers, love the transparent cherry, love the feel of the neck, love the wrap tailpiece.Never had the opportunity to play one in a band setting though. Need to find a way to make that happen...
G Man Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 Total Eclipse: Is that an import with a string thru setup? Will wonders never cease.
butcher Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 '94 USA w/ black Baby Grand bridge and Kent Armstrong PUs
tomteriffic Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 Beat me to it. Nice to read you Al! Long time!
RobB Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 I used to be indifferent to Eclipse’s, filing them in the “Hamer Red-haired Stepchildren” file. That is, until I bought a 95 Eclipse 12string from a member here. What an outstanding, resonant and fukkin-JANGLY guitar. Stomps the crap out of any Ricky I’ve played in every respect. I really like the SD minis in this guitar. They give it a nice grunt and COMPRESS beautifully, especially in the middle position.Mine is the metallic blue/green. It reminds me of a ’67 Mustang. I replaced the tuner buttons with pearloid minis and had the first 3 three frets replaced and a PLEK...godly, you may believe.Now I wanna get a 6 string!
Disturber Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 New to the forum here!I'm a big fan of the eclipse. Love the mini buckers, love the transparent cherry, love the feel of the neck, love the wrap tailpiece.Never had the opportunity to play one in a band setting though. Need to find a way to make that happen...Welcome to the HFC!!You know you need to rock that Eclipse out!
G Man Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 '94 USA w/ black Baby Grand bridge and Kent Armstrong PUsThat makes much more sense. Dig it!
jwhitcomb3 Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 Ah, the poor, deformed Eclipse, with its anemic little stump for a lower horn, and only partially developed humbuckers. This is what happens when Specials have abortions.And my last Hamer standing. Love it to pieces.
sixesandsevens Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 Congrats polara! I think your guitar made me an Eclipse fan at the last jam that Nathan and El Duave's threw at Rocketeria a while back. Rock it in good health!
Frogburger Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 I love the Eclipse, stump and all! Here is mine. The pickups are SD Antiquity, which I love. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with the originals, but HFC-induced GAS got the better of me at one point.
DaveL Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 I like em... nice neck profiles (fuller than the 93 specials) low key, cut thru the mix, but niceoutput, they rock....
Disturber Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 I love the Eclipse, stump and all!Here is mine. The pickups are SD Antiquity, which I love. Mind you, there was nothing wrong with the originals, but HFC-induced GAS got the better of me at one point.The originals are fine. But the Ants makes it much more versatile and it covers more ground. They have a wider tonal spectrum about them. The originals kinda does one sound, but they do it well. With the Ants you can cover a lot of musical styles with one guitar. They go from country, jazz, funk to hard rock, no problem. Also not potted, which I prefer as it ads another layer to the tone.
mrjamiam Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 Ah, the poor, deformed Eclipse, with its anemic little stump for a lower horn, and only partially developed humbuckers. This is what happens when Specials have abortions.And my last Hamer standing. Love it to pieces.Actually, I was kind of thinking along the same lines, except that it's an adolescent Special - body not quite filled out, horns and humbuckers still developing, that sort of thing.REALLY impressed with my first few days with mine.
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