I did my work experience at Patrick Eggle in Coventry in the early 90s. Great bunch of people working there who really cared about the instruments. Was an amazing 2 weeks for a 15 yrd old!
I visited the factory once. I remember it being on an industrial estate, fairly modern and appeared well organized, plenty of machinery. It was definitely NOT a 'two guys in a run-down shed' type operation. I bought a key fob that was like part of a guitar fretboard, with several frets and a couple of dot markers. A neat little souvenir. Shame that the company in that form didn't last longer. I liked the New York model, that was a bit more basic than the Berlin.
I've never seen one of these guitars nor have I heard of them but I'm certainly interested now, it's certainly unique and I'm really not a fan of the whole Paul Reed smith-esque thing I guess but it's still a nice guitar. I have a Schecter and a Squier Strat from Korea from the '80s with upgraded hardware and Pickups and I'm really good at setting up instruments and working on them but I don't do it for a living like I used to but I can tell this guitar is certainly quality
Back in the early 1990's, one of my business colleagues (who owned and raved about his 3 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars) went to a guitar show at The GMEX Centre in Manchester. Apparently Patrick Eggle was in the back office of his company's display stand. My colleague had a brief word with PE and said that Patrick was looking for financial investors in his "young" company. PE was so keen that he was ready to discuss with interested parties, the purchasing of blocks of shares there and then! My colleague - as a loyal Gibson player, said that he was very impressed with the materials, build quality and playability of the guitars on the Eggle stand.
Absolute gem of a guitar with great attention to detail. Anyone else notice how similar it looks to the Crimson Scion? (no bad thing as they're gorgeous too)
I still have a 1993 Berlin standard left handed with sperzel locking tuners and Seymour Duncan pickups. Opted for a Schaller bridge. Still love playing it and it’s seen plenty of action! One thing I remember distinctly is that it didn’t work when it was delivered so they invited us to go to the factory for a tour and Patrick himself fixed it while explaining how he had a LH Tony iomi eggle guitar with upside down cross fret inlays. I do remember something significant, the fretboard was not flat on berlins and neither were the frets they were in some sort of s bend for reasons I can’t recall.
"The nth degree" comes from the phrase "that tenth degree", which was coined at a time when people hadn't figured out a number higher than ten. Over time, it mutated to "that nth degree", and eventually to the form in use today. This is similar to how "a newt" used to be "an ewt". ...and if you believe that, I have some excellent seaside properties in Birmingham you may be interested in.
I have this guitars baby brother - Patrick Eggle New York Standard. Bought it new when I was a student back in early 1994 (guitar, according to the back of the headstock, was made Aug '93). Absolutely lovely to play, and the NY is even more compact than the Berlin. Kent Armstrong pickups definitely the weak point though . Also had a slightly odd switching system with a two way switch (if you wanted bridge and neck you had to coil tap the bridge 'bucker). I had the pickups replaced with some modestly priced ones (Iron gear) and a more "normal" 3-way switch by a local luthier which improves the sound. Its currently stored in the attic... Might just pop up and bring down for a play 😁
I'm loving these teardown videos - fascinating to see how different guitars have been put together. Was interesting to see an interview the other day with Paul Reed Smith where he talked about how much he learned from repairing and working on a range of guitars in the years before he started down the path of designing and building his own.
Cool video Ben. A couple of years ago I visited the workshop of a builder called Harry Miller in North Wales. I seem to remember him saying that he bought Patrick Eggles frames/templates (whatever you'd call them) for acoustic guitars. Really interesting chap who happened to be big mates with none other than comedian Billy Conolley! But I expect you guys probably know each other?
My brother has a 90s era black Berlin. With Kent Armstrong pickups and the optional schaller bridge. Its a fantastic guitar even all these years later.
Hey Ben. Greetings from South West Florida. So thankful to be watching You again. Almost lost my home and workshop to Hurricane Ian. Just a couple days ago I got my Electricity and Internet back . At this point I'll take any hint of normalcy I can get.
I have a Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro in the same finish. The serial number is 12/92 1429 so will have been built at almost the same time as this one. I bought it new and still gig it from time to time. They are amazing guitars 👍
You should try and get a hold of a Yamaha YSG T2. It’s very similar to this guitar and was allegedly a PRS design before PRS started. About 30-50 were mistakenly imported to the UK. I bought the top range one with gold hardware, amber colour and decorative inlays - it was discounted in a guitar store in Glasgow and was my first serious guitar (I think I got it for £370 at the time in the late 80s). I sold it about 7 years ago to a collector in Japan. The guitar was immaculate and selling it is my 2nd biggest regret in life, just behind marrying my now ex wife. Should I start working again I will be trying to hunt one down
I have a lefty Berlin plus in Bahamian blue ‘93 build chosen in preference over a PRS at the time I bought it because it was the better guitar for less money, better sustain even with the pickups in mine which I am reliably informed are Kent Armstrong design but they were actually made by Eggle. Just upgraded the pickups to Seymour Duncan Invaders and replaced the pots, both of which had got pretty crackly, in the process I thought I’d see if I could quiet down the mains/rf interference when using the coil split(acceptable level plugged into an amp but unusable di’d in to a DAW) by shield painting the pickup bays, including the inside surface of the pickup mounts. Massive improvement! and the pickups have turned it into an absolute metal beast, always loved this guitar but love it even more now….
I had a friend who bought an Eggle Berlin in the early 90s after years of playing strats and most often his own partscasters. He kept it for a few weeks and then returned it, saying that "it did too much". My non-guitar-playing family and friends wondered what he meant, but having played it once, I knew. Compared to strats of the time, the neck was so easy and playable. Back in the day you really had to have a bit of masochism about you to prefer strats, but I understood that also - and still do.
I had a Berlin Pro as my main guitar for a few years in the 90's, one of the models with the Wilkinson Convertible trem which was an absolutely genius idea but an absolute pain to set up. Called the company to ask about the wiring, ended up talking to a chap who remembered my exact guitar because of the particular wood and colour combo. Loved the British Racing Green Hiscox case too, haha.
nice guitar, i like the carvings and the general shape... beautiful wood and color... this said, i would probably expected some (more) polished varnish...
I had a translucent red Berlin Plus once. Amazing guitar... very light, very comfortable. Had the pickups changed to Seymour Duncan custom custom (if I recall correctly) and it came alive.
I have a Berlin Vintage classic - essentially their version of a gold top - its lovely, I bought and sold an early Berlin and Berlin pro nice as they were - If you place a Berlin next to a PRS as I did you will see they are very, very different in body shape - its not obvious if you dont have them side by side
Who else remembers the design a guitar competition that TGM where Eggle judge and would build winning design? The winning design was called The Cherry Picker which was a semi solid Berlin with a Piezo. When Patrick left, TGM had Sid Poole (another blast from the past) to build it for the winner instead
@Chris Hopkins Bass. You may already know this. Sid Poole (RIP) made guitars for Barry Martin a.k.a. Snails Pace Slim of now retired band The Hamsters. Slim had a custom Sid Poole Strat style guitar which had cylindrical keys on the tuners. Apparently the "rotary" action is quicker and more precise. The headstock logo read "Hamstercaster"! I did read somewhere that Sid was a forensic scientist with the Police (maybe?) and went into building guitars when he retired. Stay safe and well.
The Pro has the locking Sperzels, they're great too. I also have 2 basses from now defunct U.S. Masters Guitar Works with locking Sperzels, great on bass as well.
I've been playing Patrick's guitars since 1996, it's kinda cool see Ben getting excited about the guitars I've been playing all these years. Speaking of which, some of the early examples have single action truss rods, and in my case these have outlived their usefulness - would it be possible to remove the fingerboard and replace the truss rods with the dual action type? Is that something Crimson/Ben would consider doing?
Everyone immediately says ORS but IT WASN’T. I designed an electric at the same time as Patrick and it was my design I used in my interview for the London college of furniture, I was interviewed on the same morning as Patrick and sat next to him. I later spoke to him about the design influences and they were as near as damn it the same as mine. The body was a bastardised Musicman Silhouette and made more Gibson/Hamerish. Now I have said I believe PRS took a lot of design cues from Hamer.
There's a Berlin Vintage Classic (that a 10 thumbed oik like me has no business owning) hanging on the wall behind me. Exceptional guitar, substandard guitarist.
Not only does it have a deep neck tenon, it also appears to have an ABR-1 style bridge, with the posts screwed directly into the body, rather than into inserts. Just like the 50's legendary Gibsons. I have an early Eggle Berlin virtually identical to this (except for gold hardware and gold p/up ring covers), and it's a superb instrument.
would love to see you guys make a berlin style guitar , yes the prs looks like it but actually is different near the horns (theres a different stagger) and i like the headstock way better
Can't be done Doug, too few ticket sales, during first lockdown I did a twitter thing (don't use it now) with pictures of lefties, called "Lefty a day for lockdown" you should have a look, you'll find it interesting :o)
In 1994 we seen one in Windows Newcastle when the guitarist of the band was looking for a humbucker guitar and it was beautiful but the pickups sounded crap for the price [ I can't remember what it was at the time] and he was gutted because he loved the look of the guitar ( might have been the pro not the plus) and in the end he ended up with a 80s Japanese yamaha SG-rr that was a absolute beast and sounded epic!
I was only thinking about Patrick Eggle, Gordon Smith, JJ Hucke, Maverick etc and how they all just seemed to disappear. Great, British guitars that were superbly made. I remember watching a factory tour at Patrick Eggle on the telly, back in the early 90s. I'm pretty sure the guitar player from Asia was on it. Blast from the past that, Bun! Nice one mate. Carlo 👍🏼🎸
I definitely LOVE Sperzel Tuners, the really are incredibly well engineered. Unfortunately they seem to be getting very hard to procure at this point. Retailers have very limited models available, if any at all. I tried placing an order on the website; I filled out and submitted the order form and received no reply. Finally I called them direct and I placed an order for a couple of sets weeks ago; I was told they'd ship in a couple of days, but weeks went by my credit card never got charged and the order never got filled.
I wanted one of these from the moment I read the review in my new 'Guitarist' magazine (which I still have), and then somewhat gleeful when I saw that they made them lefty too! But, I was a single parent and definitely couldn't afford one, hoping that one day one would come up s/h, but, of course, being as good as they are, all the lefties were hung on to and I never saw one for sale. I got to play Tony Iommi's one at the BMF at Earls Court in the early 90's as he was an endorsee, but it was strung up with 8's because of his fingers and felt very different to what I was used to, so couldn't give it a fair appraisal, but nevertheless, felt so good in my hands. I really hope that a passionate youngster wins this amazing giveaway and keeps it forever!
Fret jobs I use 320 to remove file marks, 400, 600, them micromesh 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000. End result is like a mirror. Sometimes call it quits at 4000 and go to Autosol.
A volute is the one thing I wish my PRS had (2021 Zach Myers SE) I'm going to have to look up the story of the Eggle guitars now. They seem to be fine, fine instruments.
Great guitars Ben I did a couple of factory tours when they were in Coventry. I'd previously bought 3 of these 2 Berlins and a Berlin pro with the Wilkinson trem (for myself and my Sons) which my grandson now owns mine are pre- production (without the volute) and hand shaped. They were very innovative they built a multi copy lathe that turned out 10 necks at a time with volutes. I bought 2 New Yorks and a Los Angeles on that visit with Kent Armstrong pickups. I and my Son eventually sold them couldn't get on with the new type neck. The Berlins originally had a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates and a '59 PAF in the neck and and fancier tops than this one it still sound and plays great! Looking at this makes me feel sad cheaper Kent Armstrong pickups less figured top says a company struggling to survive. I think they just tried to get too big too quick.
In 1994 I got a new Berlin pro and it was advertised as a USA Celebration and included a back cover plate with the signatures in felt tip pen of Seymore Duncan, Patrick Eggle and Trevol Wilkinson. It was completely oil finish/wax (briwax, I think). It had a curious trem that sort of locked itself when not in use by a spring loaded section that locked into the backplate and I remember tehre was something about the trem not for sale in the USA due to some kind of patent or similar problem. It has a very stripey maple top and grainy mahogany body and neck finish and the magaizine article in guitarist was this exact model and I kept the article (somewhere) and it currently sits upstairs waiting to be played and was always my favourite guitar. I also had an Ibanez floral Jem and I liked the pickups (Di Marzio) so I gave the fitted PUs on the Berlin to a friend and replaced them with the Di Marzios. The wiring was as you say minimal length and like a bowstring. Sometime later I got a letter from the company asking me to contribute to their business expansion scheme ie invest money which I ignored and I think that's when Patrick Eggle left the company.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Could be as I think they moved from Coventry to Birmingham under the ownership of the big guitar store there (I've forgotten the name, was it Musical Exchanges?) then the store disappeared and did it become PMT guitars and no Patrick Eggle? It was outside the city centre then. The original guitars fizzled out somehow and for a while I remember they just made the Berlin. Also they stopped supplying retail shops and just did direct sales at some point. The letter I received was from Andrew Selby (?) who seemed to be the commercial force behind things. Any inaccuraces are my bad memory but that's how i remember it.
About 30 years ago, one of - if not THE first magazine about guitars I ever bought (probably cos it had articles about MetallicA and their 5th studio album in it), had a comparison piece pitting the Berlin Pro 2 against a PRS of relevant spec/pricing. I was a teenager in love with Explorers and V's, but the Berlin in that article just had "something....", and I spent as much time ogling the pictures of it, as I did the articles about MetallicA. Whatever PRS was up against it on those pages, it just lacked the same attraction. Thinking back on it now, 30 years later; it's like the PRS had no soul, but the Pro 2 just had this 'inner life' shining from those pictures. I quickly developed a guilty crush for Eggle's guitars from that moment on, and no amount of PRS's, or even Ed Roman's Quicksilvers would, or could ever compete with that original vision of beauty. (I say "guilty crush" because I was a thrasher through-and-through, and a Berlin simply isn't "pointy enough" to compete on that front hehehe 😆 ). I'm sure I must still have that magazine up in the attic... Perhaps I'll root it out one day 🙂
Somehow Ben didn't mention the Crimson Scion ... which is kinda like this mixed with a PRS. I can't work out how PRS thought the Berlin looked the same enough to get legal over. They are very different to me, and I prefer the Berlin but then I've been playing one for nearly 20 years.
I used to be in a band with a chap who worked with Patrick. He had an old PRS, which was taken apart by Mr Eggle who used a lot of the measurements for his early solid instruments. I think his PRS was an ‘85, so VERY early, and apparently very different to more modern examples…
Really nice guitar and you've done her proud. Nice Ben. I like using a Dremel and a felt wheel to polish frets but only because it makes me pay really close attention to each individual fret. That may change as the years go by! Prep and learn😆
The term is borrowed from mathematics, where 'nth degree' equations and roots had been used for many years previously; for example, in The Monthly Review, 1794: One of the roots of this equation of the nth degree is The nth degree The 'n' in the expression derives from the algebraic convention for an arbitrary integer (often an integer which may be arbitrarily large, that is, tending to infinity).
Hi Allan, I'm lefty too, so I get what you're saying, and it is gut-wrenching to be marginalized all the time, no point in us going to a guitar show or trade fair, but Ben can't really raffle a lefty because relatively few tickets would be sold, and he may in fact lose money so we can't blame him, We're living in a bad time for lefties just now. In the 90s most companies would throw a few lefties into the mix even though it might have been a pain, I have two guitars that would not stand a chance of being produced these days, a lefty Roland GR707 synth controller (Darlek's handbag) that is unbelievably complicated to produce lefty, even the circuit boards are left handed, and a Steinberger GL4TA with a lefty TransTrem, it's truly staggering to think Ned actually made lefty TransTrems, I'm afraid those days are gone my friend
@@peejay6930 Wow what a collection! I am a very bad beginner and i restrung a little acoustic parlour guitar that i bought for forty quid! I must practice more.
@@allanfoster6965 The problem being lefty is you end up buying stuff simply because you think you'll never see one again, I'm not a particularly good guitar player, I just like guitars :o)
@@peejay6930 I know what you mean. I still hanker after a LH Marlin ( they're Welsh you know?) That i had when in my 20's. Gorgeous, but way too good for me!
The headstock is one of the best 3 X 3 configurations on the market because it has straight string pull instead of the Gibson non straight pull that causes binding in the nut. Looks like a PRS copy to me! I assume it was made after Paul's guitars.
One of my best sounding guitars (with regards to factory made guitars) has Kent Armstrong’s in it. Before dangelico switched to Duncan’s. It only comes second to a set of Lollars I put in a custom build.
My preferred method for fret polishing - until I started watching you! - was to use Silvo wadding (like Brasso but not…!). Is that something to be avoided, or is it ok? Always gets them nice and shiny!
I owned one from that period - a Plus model as well. They were a bit hit and miss quality wise. Mine had the neck too high off the body - something which I believe they subsequently corrected - as in the guitar here. Also, the fingerboard was made of two pieces and wasn't totally level. The neck dimensions were nothing like a PRS - more like an early 70's SG. The guitar had a lot of potential but it was never quite realised.
nth degree is a mathematical term coming from equations that would be evaluated sequentially to the power n. Where n is a variable that can range to infinity. These equations are a good bit of work but can be used to calculate area under a curve precisely. thus something being done to the nth degree means going all out and doing it properly.
On your last 2 vids you crown the frets etc without masking the board ( I get your sheer experience makes you unlikely to damage the wood through pressure or a slip). BUT you then mask anyway for the final polish - wouldn't it make for better practise to just mask in the first place? Curious is all :) EDIT - I seen on your site it does say recommend masking first haha.
"nth degree" I suspect comes from mathematics and approximations. In very very basic terms, any smooth and continuous function can be represented by what is called a power series, i.e. a sum of terms each having a higher power of x than the previous term For example eˣ = 1 + x + x²/2 + x³/6 + ... Truncating this power series at any point gives you an nth degree polynomial that approximates said function in the vicinity of a particular value of x (in our example, around x=0) For example a second degree approximation of this would be eˣ ≈ 1 + x + x²/2 The more terms you keep before truncating, the more accurate the approximation will be, hence an approximation to the nth degree is sometimes used to mean taking enough terms so the approximation becomes sufficient enough for our usecase
One of the most awesome guitars I ever played was an Eggle Berlin Pro.....didn't have the cash at the time but you can bet your ass I'm entering the raffle.
"To the Nth degree" is from maths (calculus?). Essentially N is a variable, and the phrase overall means that whatever you're referring to can be set to any value. It's sometimes misinterpreted as extreme (or infinite) values, it's actually more about the variety of possibilities, and absence of limitations. This misinterpretation may be due to its common usage, like in computer science "order of N" is used to indicate the complexity of a function, where the concern is extreme values, and you want the function to be able to handle a large amount of work (N) without taking too many cycles, or too much time.
Ben, I've been wanting to ask you this for ages... What will you do with old guitar strings and offcuts? Would there be a cool and creative way of reusing these?
I don't know why people talk down on the film capacitors, I've tested them against $15 oil/paper type and they sounded no better. You should do a blind shoot out video where you show them back to back.
Another great Teardown. Informative as always. Might I put one tiny bit of constructive criticism to your videos, (meant most sincerely). When you play these beautiful instruments at the end of the videos, the sound coming from that amp over the audio system you have is not 'selling' the amazing tones I am sure these instruments are capable of. As a showcase of these beautiful guitars, could we have better quality audio demos of these instruments.... In my eyes, you don't have to be the most amazing player... if anything, it annoys me when YT demos are done by highly skilled noodlers. I'd rather have someone like yourself demonstrate these instruments but with a dedicated sound setup that better reflects the amazing work you put into them... maybe even a before and after tone comparison to show the benefits of caring for an instrument. Look forward to visiting your stall at the London Guitar Show on October 30th, Kempton Park. Keep it up, you're winning at life!
Great seeing a highly skilled luthier at work. I had a Berlin Pro in the 90s but didn’t get on with it. This year I picked up a good example of a New York, absolutely love it. Kind of that guitar you have always been looking for sits, feels and plays great. Just need it setting up by this luthier, (sorry I don’t know your name), fantastic work.
You're not wrong about the name being squandered. I have a 2000-2001 Eggle wave, not the composite one, or the fancy carved top one, but an in-between one that's not specced like any they advertise. It's got an absolutely lovely neck, and looks pretty good, but there's so many things that were just wrong with it. It's a great guitar *now* but it took a while. Highlights: The routs on top aren't quite the right size for normal sized P-90 covers. For *no reason*. The pickups fit fine, just not the covers. The switching has never worked properly. I finally lost the rag and tore all out to replace it. All of it was branded Epiphone. A full loom pulled from an Epiphone There's some absolutely beautifully figured and bookmatched flamey sycamore. On the back. The top is almost completely plain. Like the blank got cut out upside down.
The N'th degree is probably derived from algebra. N being a hypothetical degree to which something is comparable. Essentially it's a turn of phrase indicating that it will match up to anything you compare it to indefinitely.
"n" degree comes from maths....it's a general term describing the multiplication of a variable to "any required power". So unlike saying x-squared, or x-cubed, you'd say "x to the power n" or the "n'th degree", in reference to using whatever factorial power is needed....
my first real guitar was an early 90's patrick eggle berlin (i think it was a 'celebration') ltd edition. it the body is a lovely honey blonde. it cost me 1100 quid from slough music shop in a sale marked down from 1400 due to them moving to windsor. sadly its in the us with the ex wife along with my fender bandmaster amp.
Apologies if I am being redundant to a previous comment but nth degree likely comes from math where n is a general/unspecified number of elements in some set, series, or sample. So the nth term or nth degree is the last
I think that’s a very beautiful guitar, I think that guitar would be very awesome if you had active pickups like EMG or active Seymour Duncan pickups, that would be a kick ass heavy-metal guitar, if you did the right modifications, it would sound amazing and I think it’s beautifully built and well put together. I really like it! It looks like it plays really well so that’s definitely a good sign! I wish they would make more guitars like that, and have a huge production line of those guitars, and have some of them be brought over here to the USA because I would buy a guitar like that, or some very similar to it, because I would moderate with active pick ups and make it a killer heavy metal guitar!! I play guitar and bass so it would be cool if they could make a really kick ass rocking heavy metal guitar because I really think that some of these less popular guitar names need to have their names out there I like guitars that are not over priced yet I love a guitar that is very easy to play, “play like butter” especially my basses, i’m more of a bass player, but I think that it would be cool if they could come out with a line and have them imported to the US because that would be awesome. This name needs to be out there and competing with brands like Fender and Gibson, PRS, Schecter, Ibanez, Jackson/Charvel, ESP/LTD etc. thank you for showing us this amazing guitar. I wish that they could make more guitars like these to compete with the popular brand markets
Those tuners are very light @ 170g. I have Stienbergers which were the lightest I had seen at 177g. Thanks for showing off this guitar Ben. Edit, hang on a second ....... did you weigh the washer and nut?
I would love to see you get a super cheap guitar off gear4music or something for like £200 and do a tear down then build it back up better and a full set up/finish. I think it would be a great challenge for you
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Because of money being tight at the moment and young people wanting to get into playing guitar so it could be a great help for someone knowing any guitar with a decent set up can sound/play a million times better within reason ofcourse. I really enjoy pulling apart a guitar, seeing how it ticks and reassemble, it's almost therapeutic
I have a 1990's Boston Stage by Patrick Eggle, it has the same case as in this video. Build quality and playability beats my Gibson Les Paul Custom every day of the week.
I'm not surprised, one of the beautiful things about smaller brands is they have to work harder to get your money.. they care (or should care) more about final fit, finish and playability and Patrick Eggle was a perfect example in the early years
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Its seems a shame to let this go. Its a prime example of Eggle's craft when it was still his company and a milestone in British guitar building. Why not keep it for the museum ?
it wouldn't surprise me, we are all a sum of our experiences. That's why I am investigating other builders guitars right now.. I want to learn more and inform my own builds
Could this very guitar be built by Mark? I too went to Bailey Guitars for a course! I can clearly see Marks inspiration in this guitar because he uses the very same neck joint.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars I definitely commented the wrong comment on the wrong video for a second there lol. This guitar is so interesting looking and from a builder I'm not familiar with. I love the cut down PRS style body, it does look compact and I bet she's super fun to play!
"To the utmost, as in They'd decked out the house to the nth degree. This expression comes from mathematics, where to the nth means “to any required power” (n standing for any number). It was first recorded in 1852"
I did my work experience at Patrick Eggle in Coventry in the early 90s. Great bunch of people working there who really cared about the instruments. Was an amazing 2 weeks for a 15 yrd old!
I visited the factory once. I remember it being on an industrial estate, fairly modern and appeared well organized, plenty of machinery. It was definitely NOT a 'two guys in a run-down shed' type operation. I bought a key fob that was like part of a guitar fretboard, with several frets and a couple of dot markers. A neat little souvenir. Shame that the company in that form didn't last longer.
I liked the New York model, that was a bit more basic than the Berlin.
I am very envious!
I've never seen one of these guitars nor have I heard of them but I'm certainly interested now, it's certainly unique and I'm really not a fan of the whole Paul Reed smith-esque thing I guess but it's still a nice guitar. I have a Schecter and a Squier Strat from Korea from the '80s with upgraded hardware and Pickups and I'm really good at setting up instruments and working on them but I don't do it for a living like I used to but I can tell this guitar is certainly quality
Back in the early 1990's, one of my business colleagues (who owned and raved about his 3 Gibson Les Paul Custom guitars) went to a guitar show at The GMEX Centre in Manchester. Apparently Patrick Eggle was in the back office of his company's display stand. My colleague had a brief word with PE and said that Patrick was looking for financial investors in his "young" company. PE was so keen that he was ready to discuss with interested parties, the purchasing of blocks of shares there and then! My colleague - as a loyal Gibson player, said that he was very impressed with the materials, build quality and playability of the guitars on the Eggle stand.
Played one of these when I worked in a guitar store; super comfortable, played great and I loved the rotary knob selector. Sounded awesome too!
Absolute gem of a guitar with great attention to detail. Anyone else notice how similar it looks to the Crimson Scion? (no bad thing as they're gorgeous too)
I still have a 1993 Berlin standard left handed with sperzel locking tuners and Seymour Duncan pickups. Opted for a Schaller bridge. Still love playing it and it’s seen plenty of action!
One thing I remember distinctly is that it didn’t work when it was delivered so they invited us to go to the factory for a tour and Patrick himself fixed it while explaining how he had a LH Tony iomi eggle guitar with upside down cross fret inlays.
I do remember something significant, the fretboard was not flat on berlins and neither were the frets they were in some sort of s bend for reasons I can’t recall.
My father-in-law worked as QC for Patrick Eggle early on, so he has two of them. I love them SO MUCH. I really want to get one of my own :)
"The nth degree" comes from the phrase "that tenth degree", which was coined at a time when people hadn't figured out a number higher than ten. Over time, it mutated to "that nth degree", and eventually to the form in use today. This is similar to how "a newt" used to be "an ewt".
...and if you believe that, I have some excellent seaside properties in Birmingham you may be interested in.
I remember trying one of these at a show in the early 90s and being blown away by the comfort and playability. It was a shame how it ended
Am I right in thinking that some Patrick Eggle models featured fret markers that looked like a maple leaf falling down the board?
I have this guitars baby brother - Patrick Eggle New York Standard. Bought it new when I was a student back in early 1994 (guitar, according to the back of the headstock, was made Aug '93). Absolutely lovely to play, and the NY is even more compact than the Berlin. Kent Armstrong pickups definitely the weak point though . Also had a slightly odd switching system with a two way switch (if you wanted bridge and neck you had to coil tap the bridge 'bucker). I had the pickups replaced with some modestly priced ones (Iron gear) and a more "normal" 3-way switch by a local luthier which improves the sound. Its currently stored in the attic... Might just pop up and bring down for a play 😁
2 way switch!? Poop.. I'll make sure to get one of these one day, I would love to document that setup.. and if it's red I may well keep it lol
This is going straight in my favourites. I bought my 1992 Berlin Pro new for my 30th birthday (in 1992, obviously).
I'm loving these teardown videos - fascinating to see how different guitars have been put together. Was interesting to see an interview the other day with Paul Reed Smith where he talked about how much he learned from repairing and working on a range of guitars in the years before he started down the path of designing and building his own.
Cool video Ben. A couple of years ago I visited the workshop of a builder called Harry Miller in North Wales. I seem to remember him saying that he bought Patrick Eggles frames/templates (whatever you'd call them) for acoustic guitars. Really interesting chap who happened to be big mates with none other than comedian Billy Conolley! But I expect you guys probably know each other?
Brilliant stuff. Learning so much from this series. Pleased to learn of another British guitar company too. Thanks Ben. 😊
My brother has a 90s era black Berlin. With Kent Armstrong pickups and the optional schaller bridge. Its a fantastic guitar even all these years later.
I have a '93 Patrick Eggle Milan V bass that I got in about '96. It is and always has been my favourite bass 👍
Always wanted one of these and couldn’t afford it in the 90’s. Glad to see they’re as well made as I hoped. Eggle always has great taste
Hey Dave, that he does!
Hey Ben. Greetings from South West Florida. So thankful to be watching You again. Almost lost my home and workshop to Hurricane Ian. Just a couple days ago I got my Electricity and Internet back . At this point I'll take any hint of normalcy I can get.
I have a Patrick Eggle Berlin Pro in the same finish. The serial number is 12/92 1429 so will have been built at almost the same time as this one. I bought it new and still gig it from time to time. They are amazing guitars 👍
Hey Dave, I couldn't agree more. Damn fine guitars and I am 100% going to collect a nice set of them for the museum. Sad to let this one go tbh
You should try and get a hold of a Yamaha YSG T2. It’s very similar to this guitar and was allegedly a PRS design before PRS started. About 30-50 were mistakenly imported to the UK. I bought the top range one with gold hardware, amber colour and decorative inlays - it was discounted in a guitar store in Glasgow and was my first serious guitar (I think I got it for £370 at the time in the late 80s). I sold it about 7 years ago to a collector in Japan. The guitar was immaculate and selling it is my 2nd biggest regret in life, just behind marrying my now ex wife. Should I start working again I will be trying to hunt one down
I have a lefty Berlin plus in Bahamian blue ‘93 build chosen in preference over a PRS at the time I bought it because it was the better guitar for less money, better sustain even with the pickups in mine which I am reliably informed are Kent Armstrong design but they were actually made by Eggle. Just upgraded the pickups to Seymour Duncan Invaders and replaced the pots, both of which had got pretty crackly, in the process I thought I’d see if I could quiet down the mains/rf interference when using the coil split(acceptable level plugged into an amp but unusable di’d in to a DAW) by shield painting the pickup bays, including the inside surface of the pickup mounts. Massive improvement! and the pickups have turned it into an absolute metal beast, always loved this guitar but love it even more now….
You should do this process on a Westone Thunder guitar Ben.
I had a friend who bought an Eggle Berlin in the early 90s after years of playing strats and most often his own partscasters. He kept it for a few weeks and then returned it, saying that "it did too much". My non-guitar-playing family and friends wondered what he meant, but having played it once, I knew. Compared to strats of the time, the neck was so easy and playable. Back in the day you really had to have a bit of masochism about you to prefer strats, but I understood that also - and still do.
I had a Berlin Pro as my main guitar for a few years in the 90's, one of the models with the Wilkinson Convertible trem which was an absolutely genius idea but an absolute pain to set up. Called the company to ask about the wiring, ended up talking to a chap who remembered my exact guitar because of the particular wood and colour combo. Loved the British Racing Green Hiscox case too, haha.
nice guitar, i like the carvings and the general shape... beautiful wood and color...
this said, i would probably expected some (more) polished varnish...
I had a translucent red Berlin Plus once. Amazing guitar... very light, very comfortable. Had the pickups changed to Seymour Duncan custom custom (if I recall correctly) and it came alive.
I have a Berlin Vintage classic - essentially their version of a gold top - its lovely, I bought and sold an early Berlin and Berlin pro nice as they were - If you place a Berlin next to a PRS as I did you will see they are very, very different in body shape - its not obvious if you dont have them side by side
Who else remembers the design a guitar competition that TGM where Eggle judge and would build winning design? The winning design was called The Cherry Picker which was a semi solid Berlin with a Piezo. When Patrick left, TGM had Sid Poole (another blast from the past) to build it for the winner instead
@Chris Hopkins Bass. You may already know this. Sid Poole (RIP) made guitars for Barry Martin a.k.a. Snails Pace Slim of now retired band The Hamsters. Slim had a custom Sid Poole Strat style guitar which had cylindrical keys on the tuners. Apparently the "rotary" action is quicker and more precise. The headstock logo read "Hamstercaster"! I did read somewhere that Sid was a forensic scientist with the Police (maybe?) and went into building guitars when he retired. Stay safe and well.
That is a nice design feature on the tuner machines. Looks sounds and plays pretty nice.
was a very useful trick when I was making 4 and 2 designed headstocks.. I don't see many Sperzels now though for some reason..
The Pro has the locking Sperzels, they're great too. I also have 2 basses from now defunct U.S. Masters Guitar Works with locking Sperzels, great on bass as well.
A friend of mine had a Berlin. It was an absolute beauty. It was so much fun to play :)
Ok, this guitar is definitely one I'll enter the raffle for! I lusted after these back in the 90's.
I've been playing Patrick's guitars since 1996, it's kinda cool see Ben getting excited about the guitars I've been playing all these years.
Speaking of which, some of the early examples have single action truss rods, and in my case these have outlived their usefulness - would it be possible to remove the fingerboard and replace the truss rods with the dual action type? Is that something Crimson/Ben would consider doing?
Everyone immediately says ORS but IT WASN’T.
I designed an electric at the same time as Patrick and it was my design I used in my interview for the London college of furniture, I was interviewed on the same morning as Patrick and sat next to him.
I later spoke to him about the design influences and they were as near as damn it the same as mine.
The body was a bastardised Musicman Silhouette and made more Gibson/Hamerish.
Now I have said I believe PRS took a lot of design cues from Hamer.
Still regret selling my Berlin many years ago. Lots of fun. Easy to play. Excellent build? Will enter raffle as I would love to have one again.
There's a Berlin Vintage Classic (that a 10 thumbed oik like me has no business owning) hanging on the wall behind me. Exceptional guitar, substandard guitarist.
I'm totally stealing "10 thumbed oik" to add to my lexicon.
I accept fuzz pedals as royalties 👍
😂😂😂 brilliant
Not only does it have a deep neck tenon, it also appears to have an ABR-1 style bridge, with the posts screwed directly into the body, rather than into inserts. Just like the 50's legendary Gibsons.
I have an early Eggle Berlin virtually identical to this (except for gold hardware and gold p/up ring covers), and it's a superb instrument.
would love to see you guys make a berlin style guitar , yes the prs looks like it but actually is different near the horns (theres a different stagger) and i like the headstock way better
Ben, please can you do a teardown of a left-handed guitar (maybe for the raffle)? Cheers fella.
Can't be done Doug, too few ticket sales, during first lockdown I did a twitter thing (don't use it now) with pictures of lefties, called "Lefty a day for lockdown"
you should have a look, you'll find it interesting :o)
Just play it like Hendrix did
The comical thing with playing like Hendrix is the number a right handed people who buy lefty strats so they can pretend to be him
In 1994 we seen one in Windows Newcastle when the guitarist of the band was looking for a humbucker guitar and it was beautiful but the pickups sounded crap for the price [ I can't remember what it was at the time] and he was gutted because he loved the look of the guitar ( might have been the pro not the plus) and in the end he ended up with a 80s Japanese yamaha SG-rr that was a absolute beast and sounded epic!
I was only thinking about Patrick Eggle, Gordon Smith, JJ Hucke, Maverick etc and how they all just seemed to disappear. Great, British guitars that were superbly made. I remember watching a factory tour at Patrick Eggle on the telly, back in the early 90s. I'm pretty sure the guitar player from Asia was on it. Blast from the past that, Bun! Nice one mate. Carlo 👍🏼🎸
A friend has a couple of custom built JayDee guitars - superb things. (Didn't John Diggins work for Gordon Smith?)
Gordon Smith Guitars company are still around and doing well.
@@ali2ndmail Yes, although now owned by Auden since John Smith's retirement.
JJ guitars are still going by the way.
Great video. Really informative and interesting. I now know the optimum depth for nut slots. Also I really want your voice on my satnav!
I definitely LOVE Sperzel Tuners, the really are incredibly well engineered. Unfortunately they seem to be getting very hard to procure at this point. Retailers have very limited models available, if any at all. I tried placing an order on the website; I filled out and submitted the order form and received no reply. Finally I called them direct and I placed an order for a couple of sets weeks ago; I was told they'd ship in a couple of days, but weeks went by my credit card never got charged and the order never got filled.
I wanted one of these from the moment I read the review in my new 'Guitarist' magazine (which I still have), and then somewhat gleeful when I saw that they made them lefty too! But, I was a single parent and definitely couldn't afford one, hoping that one day one would come up s/h, but, of course, being as good as they are, all the lefties were hung on to and I never saw one for sale. I got to play Tony Iommi's one at the BMF at Earls Court in the early 90's as he was an endorsee, but it was strung up with 8's because of his fingers and felt very different to what I was used to, so couldn't give it a fair appraisal, but nevertheless, felt so good in my hands. I really hope that a passionate youngster wins this amazing giveaway and keeps it forever!
Fret jobs I use 320 to remove file marks, 400, 600, them micromesh 1500, 1800, 2400, 3200, 3600, 4000, 6000, 8000, 12000. End result is like a mirror. Sometimes call it quits at 4000 and go to Autosol.
A volute is the one thing I wish my PRS had (2021 Zach Myers SE)
I'm going to have to look up the story of the Eggle guitars now. They seem to be fine, fine instruments.
Great guitars Ben I did a couple of factory tours when they were in Coventry. I'd previously bought 3 of these 2 Berlins and a Berlin pro with the Wilkinson trem (for myself and my Sons) which my grandson now owns mine are pre- production (without the volute) and hand shaped. They were very innovative they built a multi copy lathe that turned out 10 necks at a time with volutes. I bought 2 New Yorks and a Los Angeles on that visit with Kent Armstrong pickups. I and my Son eventually sold them couldn't get on with the new type neck. The Berlins originally had a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates and a '59 PAF in the neck and and fancier tops than this one it still sound and plays great! Looking at this makes me feel sad cheaper Kent Armstrong pickups less figured top says a company struggling to survive. I think they just tried to get too big too quick.
well u are a knowledgeable, intelligent man that shares with us ur knowledge! much appreciated
Always preferred the feel of these to the PRS. Lovely guitars!
In 1994 I got a new Berlin pro and it was advertised as a USA Celebration and included a back cover plate with the signatures in felt tip pen of Seymore Duncan, Patrick Eggle and Trevol Wilkinson. It was completely oil finish/wax (briwax, I think). It had a curious trem that sort of locked itself when not in use by a spring loaded section that locked into the backplate and I remember tehre was something about the trem not for sale in the USA due to some kind of patent or similar problem. It has a very stripey maple top and grainy mahogany body and neck finish and the magaizine article in guitarist was this exact model and I kept the article (somewhere) and it currently sits upstairs waiting to be played and was always my favourite guitar. I also had an Ibanez floral Jem and I liked the pickups (Di Marzio) so I gave the fitted PUs on the Berlin to a friend and replaced them with the Di Marzios. The wiring was as you say minimal length and like a bowstring. Sometime later I got a letter from the company asking me to contribute to their business expansion scheme ie invest money which I ignored and I think that's when Patrick Eggle left the company.
That letter sounds like desperation.. next time I see Patrick I'm going to ask him for the full story, it's a subject I have avoided up till now..
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Could be as I think they moved from Coventry to Birmingham under the ownership of the big guitar store there (I've forgotten the name, was it Musical Exchanges?) then the store disappeared and did it become PMT guitars and no Patrick Eggle? It was outside the city centre then. The original guitars fizzled out somehow and for a while I remember they just made the Berlin. Also they stopped supplying retail shops and just did direct sales at some point. The letter I received was from Andrew Selby (?) who seemed to be the commercial force behind things. Any inaccuraces are my bad memory but that's how i remember it.
such a great informative vid, thanks for taking the time to upload, I love eggle guitars, they are great.
Thanks for watching!
About 30 years ago, one of - if not THE first magazine about guitars I ever bought (probably cos it had articles about MetallicA and their 5th studio album in it), had a comparison piece pitting the Berlin Pro 2 against a PRS of relevant spec/pricing.
I was a teenager in love with Explorers and V's, but the Berlin in that article just had "something....", and I spent as much time ogling the pictures of it, as I did the articles about MetallicA.
Whatever PRS was up against it on those pages, it just lacked the same attraction. Thinking back on it now, 30 years later; it's like the PRS had no soul, but the Pro 2 just had this 'inner life' shining from those pictures. I quickly developed a guilty crush for Eggle's guitars from that moment on, and no amount of PRS's, or even Ed Roman's Quicksilvers would, or could ever compete with that original vision of beauty. (I say "guilty crush" because I was a thrasher through-and-through, and a Berlin simply isn't "pointy enough" to compete on that front hehehe 😆 ).
I'm sure I must still have that magazine up in the attic... Perhaps I'll root it out one day
🙂
A ground screw to the shield? That sounds like something I heard about before. 😉
You can use Teflon pipe thread tape to snug up loose bolts
Great vid. Im currently looking at a 1992 standard. How much different is the build quality to the plus?
Superb video. Thank you. What is the radius on these Berlin’s?
Somehow Ben didn't mention the Crimson Scion ... which is kinda like this mixed with a PRS.
I can't work out how PRS thought the Berlin looked the same enough to get legal over. They are very different to me, and I prefer the Berlin but then I've been playing one for nearly 20 years.
I used to be in a band with a chap who worked with Patrick. He had an old PRS, which was taken apart by Mr Eggle who used a lot of the measurements for his early solid instruments. I think his PRS was an ‘85, so VERY early, and apparently very different to more modern examples…
Really nice guitar and you've done her proud. Nice Ben. I like using a Dremel and a felt wheel to polish frets but only because it makes me pay really close attention to each individual fret. That may change as the years go by! Prep and learn😆
Same. Mainly as I don’t have a buffing wheel…
@@paulneeds I do but, I still use the Dremel for frets!
Great stuff as always.......love that guitar, never heard of them before. Cant wait to see what's next.
The term is borrowed from mathematics, where 'nth degree' equations and roots had been used for many years previously; for example, in The Monthly Review, 1794:
One of the roots of this equation of the nth degree is The nth degree
The 'n' in the expression derives from the algebraic convention for an arbitrary integer (often an integer which may be arbitrarily large, that is, tending to infinity).
Hey Ben, will you be doing a lefty guitar at some point? I am sure i am not alone in feeling left out of all the fun and the raffle. ❤️
Hi Allan, I'm lefty too, so I get what you're saying, and it is gut-wrenching to be marginalized all the time, no point in us going to a guitar show or trade fair, but Ben can't really raffle a lefty because relatively few tickets would be sold, and he may in fact lose money so we can't blame him, We're living in a bad time for lefties just now. In the 90s most companies would throw a few lefties into the mix even though it might have been a pain, I have two guitars that would not stand a chance of being produced these days, a lefty Roland GR707 synth controller (Darlek's handbag) that is unbelievably complicated to produce lefty, even the circuit boards are left handed, and a Steinberger GL4TA with a lefty TransTrem, it's truly staggering to think Ned actually made lefty TransTrems, I'm afraid those days are gone my friend
@@peejay6930 Wow what a collection! I am a very bad beginner and i restrung a little acoustic parlour guitar that i bought for forty quid! I must practice more.
@@allanfoster6965 The problem being lefty is you end up buying stuff simply because you think you'll never see one again, I'm not a particularly good guitar player, I just like guitars :o)
@@peejay6930 I know what you mean. I still hanker after a LH Marlin ( they're Welsh you know?) That i had when in my 20's. Gorgeous, but way too good for me!
@@allanfoster6965 Nothing is ever too good for you mate :o)
I haven't come across LH Marlin guitars
I had one just like that - really regret letting it go!
The headstock is one of the best 3 X 3 configurations on the market because it has straight string pull instead of the Gibson non straight pull that causes binding in the nut. Looks like a PRS copy to me! I assume it was made after Paul's guitars.
One of my best sounding guitars (with regards to factory made guitars) has Kent Armstrong’s in it. Before dangelico switched to Duncan’s. It only comes second to a set of Lollars I put in a custom build.
They certainly made some very good pickups, I've used them myself, but the vast majority of Kent Armstrong pups are very basic and hit or miss sadly
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars that’s unfortunate. But not surprising.
My preferred method for fret polishing - until I started watching you! - was to use Silvo wadding (like Brasso but not…!). Is that something to be avoided, or is it ok? Always gets them nice and shiny!
I LOVE PJE. Were PRS first, or was it synchronicity?
What a beautiful guitar.
these are great guitars! very under rated...
I agree wholeheartedly..
I owned one from that period - a Plus model as well. They were a bit hit and miss quality wise. Mine had the neck too high off the body - something which I believe they subsequently corrected - as in the guitar here. Also, the fingerboard was made of two pieces and wasn't totally level. The neck dimensions were nothing like a PRS - more like an early 70's SG. The guitar had a lot of potential but it was never quite realised.
nth degree is a mathematical term coming from equations that would be evaluated sequentially to the power n. Where n is a variable that can range to infinity. These equations are a good bit of work but can be used to calculate area under a curve precisely. thus something being done to the nth degree means going all out and doing it properly.
On your last 2 vids you crown the frets etc without masking the board ( I get your sheer experience makes you unlikely to damage the wood through pressure or a slip). BUT you then mask anyway for the final polish - wouldn't it make for better practise to just mask in the first place? Curious is all :)
EDIT - I seen on your site it does say recommend masking first haha.
"nth degree" I suspect comes from mathematics and approximations. In very very basic terms, any smooth and continuous function can be represented by what is called a power series, i.e. a sum of terms each having a higher power of x than the previous term
For example
eˣ = 1 + x + x²/2 + x³/6 + ...
Truncating this power series at any point gives you an nth degree polynomial that approximates said function in the vicinity of a particular value of x (in our example, around x=0)
For example a second degree approximation of this would be
eˣ ≈ 1 + x + x²/2
The more terms you keep before truncating, the more accurate the approximation will be, hence an approximation to the nth degree is sometimes used to mean taking enough terms so the approximation becomes sufficient enough for our usecase
That looks like a fantastic instrument... I'm sure my wife won't notice one more guitar in the house 😁
😁fingers crossed!
if u could aloborate on Nick's is it better a one piece or 2 or 3 piece? love ur work! from we the north Toronto Canada
As the owner of a Vienna pro loved the vid :)
'nth' is typically like 'etc.' for a set or progression or function implicitly. Ex: 30°, 60°, 90°...nth° can all be functionally divided by 3 or 30...
One of the most awesome guitars I ever played was an Eggle Berlin Pro.....didn't have the cash at the time but you can bet your ass I'm entering the raffle.
Hey Dave, I'm not surprised, they are very very nice guitars.. good luck in the raffle
"To the Nth degree" is from maths (calculus?). Essentially N is a variable, and the phrase overall means that whatever you're referring to can be set to any value. It's sometimes misinterpreted as extreme (or infinite) values, it's actually more about the variety of possibilities, and absence of limitations. This misinterpretation may be due to its common usage, like in computer science "order of N" is used to indicate the complexity of a function, where the concern is extreme values, and you want the function to be able to handle a large amount of work (N) without taking too many cycles, or too much time.
Thank you!!
Ben, I've been wanting to ask you this for ages... What will you do with old guitar strings and offcuts? Would there be a cool and creative way of reusing these?
I don't know why people talk down on the film capacitors, I've tested them against $15 oil/paper type and they sounded no better.
You should do a blind shoot out video where you show them back to back.
Another great Teardown. Informative as always. Might I put one tiny bit of constructive criticism to your videos, (meant most sincerely). When you play these beautiful instruments at the end of the videos, the sound coming from that amp over the audio system you have is not 'selling' the amazing tones I am sure these instruments are capable of. As a showcase of these beautiful guitars, could we have better quality audio demos of these instruments.... In my eyes, you don't have to be the most amazing player... if anything, it annoys me when YT demos are done by highly skilled noodlers. I'd rather have someone like yourself demonstrate these instruments but with a dedicated sound setup that better reflects the amazing work you put into them... maybe even a before and after tone comparison to show the benefits of caring for an instrument. Look forward to visiting your stall at the London Guitar Show on October 30th, Kempton Park. Keep it up, you're winning at life!
I bought an old Mustang recently, when I cleaned the fretboard I used a toothbrush and a very weak solution of fairy liquid!
Don't give Ben's formula away! 😁
I so want to win this guitar in the raffle. Always loved the Berlins!!
Great seeing a highly skilled luthier at work. I had a Berlin Pro in the 90s but didn’t get on with it. This year I picked up a good example of a New York, absolutely love it. Kind of that guitar you have always been looking for sits, feels and plays great. Just need it setting up by this luthier, (sorry I don’t know your name), fantastic work.
If you are anywhere near us we would be happy to set her up for you.. and thank you for watching!
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars where are you based please? I am in Somerset. Thanks
You're not wrong about the name being squandered.
I have a 2000-2001 Eggle wave, not the composite one, or the fancy carved top one, but an in-between one that's not specced like any they advertise. It's got an absolutely lovely neck, and looks pretty good, but there's so many things that were just wrong with it. It's a great guitar *now* but it took a while.
Highlights:
The routs on top aren't quite the right size for normal sized P-90 covers. For *no reason*. The pickups fit fine, just not the covers.
The switching has never worked properly. I finally lost the rag and tore all out to replace it. All of it was branded Epiphone. A full loom pulled from an Epiphone
There's some absolutely beautifully figured and bookmatched flamey sycamore. On the back. The top is almost completely plain. Like the blank got cut out upside down.
The N'th degree is probably derived from algebra.
N being a hypothetical degree to which something is comparable.
Essentially it's a turn of phrase indicating that it will match up to anything you compare it to indefinitely.
Check out Chris Alsop. He is from the UK and makes the best luthier tools in the world, IMO.
Does Crimson also sell the small blue masking tape? I have been searching for that for ages...
Not yet, but we are working on it.
Also coil splitting, I’m much more into semi-split these days. Makes the split sound not as thin.
"n" degree comes from maths....it's a general term describing the multiplication of a variable to "any required power". So unlike saying x-squared, or x-cubed, you'd say "x to the power n" or the "n'th degree", in reference to using whatever factorial power is needed....
my first real guitar was an early 90's patrick eggle berlin (i think it was a 'celebration') ltd edition. it the body is a lovely honey blonde. it cost me 1100 quid from slough music shop in a sale marked down from 1400 due to them moving to windsor. sadly its in the us with the ex wife along with my fender bandmaster amp.
Owning both a few early eggles and currently a 99 swamp ash prs, I have to say the Eggle is hands down the better guitar.
Apologies if I am being redundant to a previous comment but nth degree likely comes from math where n is a general/unspecified number of elements in some set, series, or sample. So the nth term or nth degree is the last
I think that’s a very beautiful guitar, I think that guitar would be very awesome if you had active pickups like EMG or active Seymour Duncan pickups, that would be a kick ass heavy-metal guitar, if you did the right modifications, it would sound amazing and I think it’s beautifully built and well put together. I really like it! It looks like it plays really well so that’s definitely a good sign! I wish they would make more guitars like that, and have a huge production line of those guitars, and have some of them be brought over here to the USA because I would buy a guitar like that, or some very similar to it, because I would moderate with active pick ups and make it a killer heavy metal guitar!! I play guitar and bass so it would be cool if they could make a really kick ass rocking heavy metal guitar because I really think that some of these less popular guitar names need to have their names out there I like guitars that are not over priced yet I love a guitar that is very easy to play, “play like butter” especially my basses, i’m more of a bass player, but I think that it would be cool if they could come out with a line and have them imported to the US because that would be awesome. This name needs to be out there and competing with brands like Fender and Gibson, PRS, Schecter, Ibanez, Jackson/Charvel, ESP/LTD etc. thank you for showing us this amazing guitar. I wish that they could make more guitars like these to compete with the popular brand markets
There was a metal-focussed variant of the Berlin much as you describe, EMGs and all.
Those tuners are very light @ 170g. I have Stienbergers which were the lightest I had seen at 177g. Thanks for showing off this guitar Ben. Edit, hang on a second ....... did you weigh the washer and nut?
I don't think I did! So the Steinberger wins :)
I would love to see you get a super cheap guitar off gear4music or something for like £200 and do a tear down then build it back up better and a full set up/finish. I think it would be a great challenge for you
That is something that we will do at soon point. Just for fun!
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Because of money being tight at the moment and young people wanting to get into playing guitar so it could be a great help for someone knowing any guitar with a decent set up can sound/play a million times better within reason ofcourse. I really enjoy pulling apart a guitar, seeing how it ticks and reassemble, it's almost therapeutic
I have a 1990's Boston Stage by Patrick Eggle, it has the same case as in this video. Build quality and playability beats my Gibson Les Paul Custom every day of the week.
I'm not surprised, one of the beautiful things about smaller brands is they have to work harder to get your money.. they care (or should care) more about final fit, finish and playability and Patrick Eggle was a perfect example in the early years
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Its seems a shame to let this go. Its a prime example of Eggle's craft when it was still his company and a milestone in British guitar building. Why not keep it for the museum ?
I learnt to build guitars from Mark Bailey who once worked for eggle - interested to see if any of this build carried over to my build...
it wouldn't surprise me, we are all a sum of our experiences. That's why I am investigating other builders guitars right now.. I want to learn more and inform my own builds
Could this very guitar be built by Mark? I too went to Bailey Guitars for a course! I can clearly see Marks inspiration in this guitar because he uses the very same neck joint.
What a cool looking instrument!
I agree, thank you for watching!
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars I definitely commented the wrong comment on the wrong video for a second there lol. This guitar is so interesting looking and from a builder I'm not familiar with. I love the cut down PRS style body, it does look compact and I bet she's super fun to play!
"To the utmost, as in They'd decked out the house to the nth degree. This expression comes from mathematics, where to the nth means “to any required power” (n standing for any number). It was first recorded in 1852"
How do I enter the raffle?
Link in the video description to the Raffall website