New guitars in the house

I've been tempted by guitars again. I was at Fat Sound Guitars in Cary, NC last week and ended up bringing this one home:


It's a Thorn C/S. The pickups are made by Thorn and are Pasadena '86 both in the neck and bridge.

I was in the shop again yesterday when one of the new Grosh NOS Retro Classic models arrived. These are similar to the Retro Classic but built more to a classic Fender Strat spec. It has Grosh Custom 60s Fat Bridge / 60's Vintage Neck and RWRP Middle pickups.


RickT

Hey Rick. Good to see you post.

Congratulations on your new acquisitions. Don't know anything at all about Thorn guitars, but she sure is beautiful.

Wondering how the Grosh compares to your blue old faithful one (which I'm guessing is equipped with Fralins).
How are they alike, and how are they different?

Thanks, and have a great weekend (I'm betting you're going to enjoy it, even if it rains like hell!) - ed

that's the c/s 005? thorn makes some nice gits, i like the junior nineties and the so cals. i have played one of those grosh gits, and it was the second best guitar at pasadena guitars at the time, better than any of the fender cs masterbuilts.

...Wondering how the Grosh compares to your blue old faithful one (which I'm guessing is equipped with Fralins).
How are they alike, and how are they different?...

They've got different pickups. My blue Retro Classic has Fralin Vintage Hots and the new NOS has Grosh Fat 60s. The tone on the Retro Classic has more chime and is a bit glassier, especially in the bridge and mid-bridge positions. The NOS tone on the neck pickup and mid-neck position has more girth but still a great classic strat tone. The setup on the NOS is the best I've played. Grosh has really nailed it in the fret and set up department. There's a new six-point tremolo on the NOS that is supposed to be more stable than than the previous 2-point version. It feels a lot different so it'll take some time to get used to that.

My first really good guitar was a 1975 Sunburst American Standard Strat that I purchased new for all of $335. That guitar was the epitome of all that was wrong with the mid-70s starts. The string alignment from the nut down to the bridge was terrible. In fact the high e-string was not even on the fret board down at the 15th fret. The whammy bar was made of some cheap pot-metal and broke at the threads about 3 months after I purchased it. But, that was a great sounding guitar and even with all its faults, I learned to play it reasonably well and loved that guitar. That was my only electric for about 20-years and I played in numerous bands with it. The sunburst on the NOS reminded me of that guitar, but it has all the qualities that my original sunburst lacked. The color is what drew me to it right away.

RickT

that's the c/s 005? thorn makes some nice gits, i like the junior nineties and the so cals. i have played one of those grosh gits, and it was the second best guitar at pasadena guitars at the time, better than any of the fender cs masterbuilts.

It is the c/s 005 from Thorn's website. Stu had a pretty good selection of Thorns at one point but this was the only one left.

Stu at Fat Sound has been spec'ing Fender CS Masterbuilts and Grosh NOS with pretty much the same specs so it is easier to compare the two guitars. The Fender CS and Grosh's are pretty much neck-and-neck, pardon the pun, in a comparison. However, the Grosh prices out at a couple of hundred bucks less and I think the finish on the Grosh is a bit better than that of the Fender. Tonewise, both are excellent and it's really a matter of preference for which you think is your tone.

RickT