NGD: EBMM 2016 St. Vincent

The story of this particular guitar borders on the realm of “impulse buy,” as I was probably in some type of emotional state. I had gone out of town in early July of this year to help my mother deal with my younger sister’s apartment shortly after she died. We were headed back home and decided to stop at a GC to look around and clear our minds before the long drive.

I’m looking around, and see this weird guitar shape, hung on the wall, almost near the ceiling. Eventually, I get a GC employee to put on an oxygen mask and climb the 50-foot ladder to retrieve this guitar from the clouds. The International Space Station sends their regards.

At first play, it felt pretty good. I put it through a few different amps, challenging the clean and distorted tones. I was not disappointed.

After about 15 minutes, I was going to put it back, when this other guy wanted to play it. I hate to admit it, but watching someone else play it ticked me off, so I asked for it back when he was done. Took it to the counter and bought it.

After I bought it, I realized that I had questions, such as WHO is St. Vincent? What is St. Vincent? I clearly had some homework to do. First step was to get on YouTube and binge watch as many St. Vincent music videos and interviews as possible.

So it was an impulse buy, but I bought it based on how I felt playing it, and not because it had a name attached to it. That made everything okay.

Listening to St. Vincent / Annie Clark play brought back memories of other music that I liked in the past [and still do!]. It shook up my listening habits, and that shake-up is still in effect.

There was also something about the shape that I liked, and at first I could not figure out what that would be. Then I remembered the Budweiser guitar.

The similarity is there, although the Budweiser guitar doesn’t look so good next to the STV. The look of the St. Vincent is very retro. I was born in the mid-60s, so I remember seeing things on television in the late 60s and early 70s about “what the future is going to look like.” If they featured a guitar back then, they would show the St. Vincent. The body shape and the knobs just scream retro, even though Annie Clark has said before that she has no use for nostalgia.

Enough about the look.

The STV plays very nicely. The middle pickup [it has 3] is recessed enough that I don’t worry too much about hitting it with my pick.

The trem is smooth, and the guitar stays in tune.

The neck is a lot like the neck on my JP6 Starry Night. It might be an illusion, but it does not feel as thin as the neck on my JP6. Still feels great, with no paint or polish to get in the way.

The fret markers on the board are unique. I typically like clean fret boards without any markers.

There are a few “cons.” The one that might be a big deal to some is a limitation based on design. The guitar has 22 frets. However, if you need to get up higher than the 19th fret, you’re gonna have a more difficult time when compared to guitars that are more traditionally cut in a way that allowed easier access.

The other “con” I noticed is that the guitar doesn’t sit very well in the rack, which accommodates the more traditional body designs. I have it hanging on a 2-guitar stand, along with my other guitar with a non-traditional body [Flying V]. This con is nit-picky and should not influence purchase of this guitar one way or the other.

Overall, I would recommend this guitar to anyone who isn’t concerned with the limited range of the fret board. Although my JP6 is my favorite guitar, the St. Vincent is not all that far behind it. I think that I’d like to get the all-black St. Vincent next.

Here is am IMGUR image gallery with some bigger photos.