Quote:
Originally Posted by OddManOut
I mostly agree with this sentiment. The dry vintage tone creates a lot of tonal string separation. My WL-S gets brash and somewhat "hollow" sounding when pick strumming, less so when finger strumming.
In playing through Gryphon's stock of Waterloos over a couple of years, I found the amount of vintage "boxy tone" varied between individual guitars regardless of the model. e.g. I got two very different levels of boxiness from two different examples of the Scissortail model. I picked up my WL-S because the boxy thing was minimal, its punch was phenomenal and the overtones were a tad more present than other Waterloos.
They do open up! The first year the bass on my WL-S was fairly tight, but has since relaxed and filled in. It's a little attack machine. Playing "Scarborough Fair" on it is something of a comedy routine. 
Interesting Factoid: I was told by Collings/Waterloo that models listing "spruce" as the top wood (some/all models?) can have either Sitka or Adi. They wouldn't disclose (perhaps didn't record) specific species by serial number. This will make a difference in the tonal character of the guitar to be sure. A good picture of the top of a particular guitar might give you a clue if you're not buying in person. |
Thanks. Definitely a little attack machine that’s for sure. I love how Nathaniel Rateliff uses his. He has the Deluxe which I can tell the varnish calms the brash a bit. I noticed on my S the low E couldn’t keep up with everyone else and the A string was loudest of all. But even in the short time of playing it lots the low E got slightly better. It sounded fine with capo on 4. Then I barely had to touch it finger picking and the bass just rang.