Patrick Eggle Guitars
David Villano
Guitar Player and Guitar World away. Anyway, In the ads I saw Patrick Eggle
guitars which are made in the U.K. They look like an extreme copy job ripped
right off the PRS shape and configuration. (except for the blade pickup
selector). Anybody ever play one of these?? I own two PRS standards and IMHO
feel that PRS guitars are the best money can buy. Just wondering if they are of
similar quality. They appear to be high quality instruments by the appearence
and price. Any comments???
Dave
Michael.P.Hughes
model (the berlin) was criticised as bing too PRS-ish, until Guitaris magazine
took a photo of a Berlin and PRS together, and they looked about the same
as a Teleaster and Music Man EVH would. They ARE different. As to the Vienna,
yes, it's PRS-ish; a little wider perhaps but there's no excusing that one.
Ditto the Los Angeles (a superstrat in the mould of a Tom Anderson or similar).
However the other stuff - such as the New York - is original. And the Berlin
is occasionally the top-selling midrange guitar in the UK (straight after the
$200 beginners models). Besides, the PRS And TA infuences should be considered
in the light of the fact that high-end US guitars are HORRENDOUSLY expensive
in the UK...
Michael.
Robert Davy
: I have recently subscribed to Guitarist magazine from the U.K. Great Mag, blows
: Guitar Player and Guitar World away.
I agree totally.
: Anyway, In the ads I saw Patrick Eggle
: guitars which are made in the U.K. They look like an extreme copy job ripped
: right off the PRS shape and configuration. (except for the blade pickup
: selector). Anybody ever play one of these?? I own two PRS standards and IMHO
I played one, but I have never played a PRS. I guess I wasn't really paying
attention cause I can't remember much what they sound like (there are lots of
different models anyway) but I do remember excellent sustain and playability.
The guitars (I think) have quite a narrow body and are reasonably light.
Any U.K. people out there who own one? I get the impression from the mags. that
they are very popular.
--Robert
kevin patrick kretsch
blows away any guitar I have ever played. Quite honestly, I fell
in love with the neck straight away and have never quite felt the same
about any other guitar. If you get the chance to try one, don't miss out.
AND they sound great! The wilkinson convertible trem is better than any
Floyd and doesn't move when you bend a string. INCREDIBLE!
Kev.
--
kkre...@unix1.tcd.ie *|* My dream guitar; Birds-eyed
(Undergrad, 3rd year) *|* maple top, gold hardware,
Dept.of pure and applied physics *|* EMG's, rosewood fretboard.
Trinity College Dublin, Ireland *|* {Standard Disclaimer}
David Morton
In <kkretsch....@unix1.tcd.ie> kkre...@unix1.tcd.ie (kevin
patrick kretsch)
wrote:
> I played a Patrick Eggle and a PRS and the Eggle (Berlin Pro)
> blows away any guitar I have ever played. Quite honestly, I fell
> in love with the neck straight away and have never quite felt the same
> about any other guitar. If you get the chance to try one, don't miss
> out.
> AND they sound great! The wilkinson convertible trem is better than any
> Floyd and doesn't move when you bend a string. INCREDIBLE!
I still have a problem with the design: if Eggle are capable of making
such a good instrument, *why* make it such a blatent rip-off of a PRS? I
admire what PE has done in acheiving such success in so short a time (the
factory is about 100 yds from my brother's home, and they *need* jobs in
that area), but I'd have a lot more time for them if they hadn't pinched
the design...
David Wakely
: David Villano (david....@execnet.com) wrote:
: : Anyway, In the ads I saw Patrick Eggle
: : guitars which are made in the U.K. They look like an extreme copy job ripped
: : right off the PRS shape and configuration. (except for the blade pickup
: : selector). Anybody ever play one of these?? I own two PRS standards and IMHO
: I played one, but I have never played a PRS. I guess I wasn't really paying
: attention cause I can't remember much what they sound like (there are lots of
: different models anyway) but I do remember excellent sustain and playability.
: The guitars (I think) have quite a narrow body and are reasonably light.
The 'copy' tag certainly applies to the look of some Eggles (Berlin and
Vienna), if not all (the Los Angeles is a super-Strat, the New York is
an original that looks like Rickenbacker made a Les Paul Jnr.). Beyond that,
you're looking at fairly different instruments. I'll stick to a comparison
of a PRS and a Berlin (I've owned both, and sold both, but that's another
story).
The Berlin is physically smaller, deeper and heavier. The neck joint is
different, and neck/body alignment also: the Berlin hangs much more like
a Les Paul (and plays much more like one too). The Eggle neck is more
'trad Gibson' in feel - chunkier and deeper feeling, certainly not a
'wide-flat'. I found tone varied between hard-tail and trem versions: the
hard-tail is quite Gibsonesque, although closer to an SG than a Les Paul.
The trem version (and Eggle use the Wilkinson trem that locks when not in
use - very simple and very clever) loses bottom end and some sustain, but
that's surely a common trem problem (I don't like trems, full stop, so
disregard if need be, but I found the Wilkinson as useable as as the PRS
and the locking stops any gargling dead in its tracks). The Berlin doesn't
offer you Fender impersonations, and doesn't offer as much tonal variety,
but I thought the build quality (and some components - trem, machines) were
better.
The New York I've tried, and a wonderful snarly r'n'b guitar it makes:
were I playing in a different kind of band, I'd want one (and they're
stupidly cheap over here too). The Vienna is a wider-bodied Berlin: both
this and the LA have been reviewed as sounding a bit 'thin', but working
wonderfully well with processors.
At the end of the day - try one. I rate the stop-tail Berlin as the equal of
a Les Paul or a PRS and a vast improvement on the guitars Eggle was making
5 years ago as the Climaxe guitar company.
David Villano
-> blows away any guitar I have ever played. Quite honestly, I fell > in love
-> with the neck straight away and have never quite felt the same > about any
-> other guitar. If you get the chance to try one, don't miss > out.
-> > AND they sound great! The wilkinson convertible trem is better than any >
-> Floyd and doesn't move when you bend a string. INCREDIBLE!
->
-> I still have a problem with the design: if Eggle are capable of making such
-> a good instrument, *why* make it such a blatent rip-off of a PRS? I admire
-> what PE has done in acheiving such success in so short a time (the factory
-> is about 100 yds from my brother's home, and they *need* jobs in that area),
-> but I'd have a lot more time for them if they hadn't pinched the design...
I agree whole heartedly. I don't doubt that these are fine guitars. They
certainly appear to be. However it is such a ripoff of PRS. They should have
come up with their own body design. I play a PRS standard, and I personally
don't feel that there is a guitar on the planet that blows it away. Maybe a
very few that feel and sound as nice. But I don't think that any guitar blows
away a PRS. I guess it just depends on what your looking for.
Just my $.02
Dave
Jonathan Egre'
>-> I still have a problem with the design: if Eggle are capable of making such
>-> a good instrument, *why* make it such a blatent rip-off of a PRS? I admire
>-> what PE has done in acheiving such success in so short a time (the factory
>-> is about 100 yds from my brother's home, and they *need* jobs in that area),
>-> but I'd have a lot more time for them if they hadn't pinched the design...
>I agree whole heartedly. I don't doubt that these are fine guitars. They
>certainly appear to be. However it is such a ripoff of PRS. They should have
>come up with their own body design. I play a PRS standard, and I personally
>don't feel that there is a guitar on the planet that blows it away. Maybe a
>very few that feel and sound as nice. But I don't think that any guitar blows
>away a PRS. I guess it just depends on what your looking for.
Patrick Eggle (the person) used to make guitars under the name "Climaxe".
As I recall, the "Climaxe" guitars looked less like the PRS than the Berlin
series do. Actually, if you put a Berlin and a PRS side by side then they're
not *that* similar; the Berlin has less wood behind the tailpiece, it has a
stubbier treble-side horn, etc.
I've read an interview with Mr. Patrick Eggle in which he answers the complaint
about his guitars looking too much like Paul Reed Smith's. His claim is that
if you set out to make a double-cutaway guitar with two humbuckers and an
arched top which is comfortable and balanced, then most of the so-called "PRS
rip-off" features fall into place automatically. He also says that similar
reasoning, and customer demand, is behind the new Vienna line - which is the
one that really does look like a PRS.
Those of you who think that Patrick Eggle only make "rip-off" guitars should
have a look at the New York model, which is at least as original as the PRS
in my opinion. Heck, the PRS itself is really just one person's idea of
how to cross the best features of a Les Paul and a Stratocaster.
What I find really interesting about all of this is that Patrick Eggle gets
insulted for making a guitar which is vaguely like a PRS, yet there are
hordes of manufacturers who copy Fender and Gibson designs, and their design
sense is never insulted; some of them are called "cheap clones", but never
"rip-offs".
Patrick Eggle (the company) is making the most serious attempt at guitar
production in this country in the last twenty years. Frankly, there are only
so many ways to design an electric guitar which will be popular, and almost
all of the features we see today were around before Mr. Eggle was born.
Do you think that, because of this, he should sell insurance for a living?
Or perhaps people would be more polite about him if he made accurate copies
of Stratocasters?
Jonathan
(I've no connection with Patrick Eggle, I've never even played one of his
guitars. I'm just getting a bit irritated by the double standards that
some people have when it comes to "originality".)
--
jona...@mantis.co.uk == Jonathan Egre' at Mantis Consultants, Cambridge, UK
Cambridge (UK)-based guitarist/bassist seeks other musicians
to jam, form a band or whatever. E-mail me if interested.
Mr. M.P.Hughes
|> -> I still have a problem with the design: if Eggle are capable of making such
|> -> a good instrument, *why* make it such a blatent rip-off of a PRS? I admire
|> -> what PE has done in acheiving such success in so short a time (the factory
|> -> is about 100 yds from my brother's home, and they *need* jobs in that area),
|> -> but I'd have a lot more time for them if they hadn't pinched the design..
|>
|> I agree whole heartedly. I don't doubt that these are fine guitars. They
|> certainly appear to be. However it is such a ripoff of PRS. They should have
|> come up with their own body design.
Anybody out there seen Ibanez guitars? Their RG's and GEMs? I mean,
Strat rip-off or what? I don't have any time for them myself. Can't they come
up with their own design or something? (Oh yes - they did. The Iceman. Pity
no-one bought it.) And Hamer - Strat and LP Juniors to a man! And Tom
Anderson or Valley Arts - sue 'em all!! Ripoff! Ripoff!
The above statement is plainly stupid.
If you want to split hairs, about the only original guitar since 1958 is the
Steinberger. Every guitar is derivative of something. The world and his
dog has labelled PE a copyist and is crucifying him for it. The Vienna
I would accept, but if you've ever seen a PRS and Berlin next to each
other they ARE different. But by far the stupidest comment is slamming
the New York for looking like a "cross between a Rickenbacker and a LP junior".
It's like criticising the PRS for crossing a LP and a Strat. If guitar companies
had to come up with totally original designs the world would be full of
Gibson RDs and Ibanez Icemen. And guess what? We'd all be playing old guitars
because all the decent designs would have been done 30 years ago.
Michael.
Dave Carr
I like Eggle guitars (I've got a Berlin).
I agree with previous comments that no-one seems to slag off exact copies
(such as Blades, Tom Anderson, Schecter et al), so why slag off guitars
which are only similar? Eggles play and feel completely different to PRSs
(the Berlin is more like a Les Paul to play).
I do think that the Patrick Eggle company missed an opportunity though
when they called their *Acoustic* model the "STRATford" ß^)
*Dave
gary_watts
I consider my self pretty aware of various companies out there in music
land but haven't heard of Patrick Eggle. Information on where they are located
(the company) and some dealers that might carry them on the west coast.
Also, what price range are they in (I assume high end given the comparision
brands).
Gary
David Wakely
: I consider my self pretty aware of various companies out there in music
The company is based in Coventry, in the West Midlands region of England,
so I've no idea about West Coast dealers. Prices in the UK are medium - high
(cheapest Berlin is around 500 pounds and the range goes up to around 1000
pounds: this makes them considerably cheaper than Les Pauls or PRSs at UK
~~~~~~~~~~~~
prices, but import duties/costs may make it a different picture in the US).
Dave
Sam Cooper
The reason you probally haven't heard of them, although I don't know why, is because they are based in Coventry, England. I live about ten minutes away from their factory so many of the shops around me stock their guitars which are excellent. My personal favorite is the Berlin Pro. As for dealers on the west coast I'll leave that up to people closer to you!
Sam Cooper (sxc).