Cool Jam

[MDLMUSIC]

Even though my Midwestern mini- tour fell by the wayside, I still have my heart set on picking up a lightweight travel guitar with a full- size neck. I sampled some of the Ministar models at the NAMM show and I really dug the feel and the look, which has just the right amount of weirdness factor.

Has anybody on the forum ever actually used one on a gig? If so, how did it do?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[stratocatblue]

Never gigged with mine, but I play it all the time at work, Great feeling neck, pickups sound good, plus the breakdown size makes it easy to tote and stash. My only concern with gigging with mine is the non- intonating bridge that makes chording on higher frets a little displeasing. Here's my work rig in action: http://youtu.be/z6o6XACSQ9I

[sfarfsky]

i have one and no. It has no body and feels akward

[daddymack]

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stratocatblue wrote:
Never gigged with mine, but I play it all the time at work, Great feeling neck, pickups sound good, plus the breakdown size makes it easy to tote and stash. My only concern with gigging with mine is the non- intonating bridge that makes chording on higher frets a little displeasing. Here's my work rig in action: http://youtu.be/z6o6XACSQ9I

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Very nice...I looked at a few other ministar vids, and the upper fret access appears to be amazing due to the lack of a body/heel joint. I do see what you mean about the lack of intonation, where you are using vibrato with a slight bend to get those flat notes up to pitch on the upper frets.  I would think this would be an interesting choice for someone who plays the two handed method a la Stanley Jordan were it not for the intonation issues, which I think could be overcome with a little redesign.

[stratocatblue]

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daddymack wrote:

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stratocatblue wrote:
Never gigged with mine, but I play it all the time at work, Great feeling neck, pickups sound good, plus the breakdown size makes it easy to tote and stash. My only concern with gigging with mine is the non- intonating bridge that makes chording on higher frets a little displeasing. Here's my work rig in action: http://youtu.be/z6o6XACSQ9I

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Very nice...I looked at a few other ministar vids, and the upper fret access appears to be amazing due to the lack of a body/heel joint. I do see what you mean about the lack of intonation, where you are using vibrato with a slight bend to get those flat notes up to pitch on the upper frets.  I would think this would be an interesting choice for someone who plays the two handed method a la Stanley Jordan were it not for the intonation issues, which I think could be overcome with a little redesign.

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I actually end up having to tune to one note (typically an "E") across the strings from high to low to somewhat compensate for intonation discrepancies in the higher frets.  It's not perfect after, but it's alot closer than if I tuned open strings to EADGBE.  Seems to work fine.  I know there was a retrofit bridge in the works from the manufacturer that had intonatable saddles, but alas I could never procure one for mine, so at work it stays ;(