Hello everyone! My name is Dave Schmidt and I am the owner/operator of Guitar Adoptions Inc. I will be your host in this section, so sit back and relax as I tell you a little bit about us. Guitar Adoptions is the offspring of my love of music and beautiful guitars. What started out as a hobby many years ago has grown into one of the largest and most reputable musical instrument dealers in the United States. We are an Internet-based company with years of experience in the industry. Customer service is our #1 priority! We are a privately owned and operated business with a full stocking facility in Northwest Illinois.

Unlike a lot of “online companies” that work out of their homes and/or do not carry inventory, we are a company with a full stock of guitars, amplifiers and accessories you can order seven days a week. Additionally, almost all the photos you see here are done in our own studio so you can see the actual guitar or amp you are buying. Sound clips of guitars are constantly being added, so you not only see what you are buying but can hear it too!

We are not some large corporation that is only focused on the bottom line and pleasing its shareholders. We care about you--our valued customer.

We offer a little something for everyone here--always the best of its class. If you are looking for something in particular and don’t see it, just ask. It’s possible we carry it or, as is our specialty, can have it custom built for you. I appreciate you visiting our Web site, and hope that we have the op-portunity to work with you very soon.

Our Mission Statement is simple:To bring the finest quality guitars, amps and accessories to music lovers all over the World, while offering unequaled selection, pricing, and customer service.

About Guitar AdoptionsMeet Dave

Sixth IssueMarch Madness!!!

For our March Madness issue we are going to take in depth look at Flax-wood Guitars, a builder you may not be familiar with but you should be. We are also going to take a look at the launch of GuitarAdoptionTV on the Guitar Adoptions YouTube channel.

As always we welcome any feedback and comments at:

www.guitaradoptions.com

and check out our blog at:http://www.guitaradoptions.com/blog/

Flaxwood shoots and scores for a sustainable tone material that rocks...

A Wave of Innovation: A Look At Flaxwood and the Flaxwood Laine

Although it did not come across in a pack of cigarettes that will self destruct in 30 seconds, the message and the mission if I chose to accept, spend a day in the homestudio with a Flaxwood Laine. Well as any good guitar geek would do, I accepted themission without hesitation and more importantly with anticipation.

Some back story before we get into the review. I am the first to admit that, once upon atime, I am guilty of asking this very question, what’s a Flaxwood? Flaxwood is a maker offine electric guitars based in Finland. But more importantly flaxwood is at its heart awood-based, innovative new tone material that has been created by breaking the grainstructure of wood and injection-molding it into shape together with an acoustically sensitive binding agent. Exceptionally consistent in its acoustic properties, uniformly flawless in quality, and completely impervious to changes in humidity, flaxwood is a new ecological alternative to its peers that are slowly nearing extinction. That is all well stated and very cool sounding but what does that mean to you the player? What Flaxwood set out to do be using a sustainable technology combined with the tools and talents of traditional guitar building, was to build a high quality, expertly crafted instrument that would stand up against the enemies of traditional tone wood instruments such as temperature, humidity and environment all the while producing a tone and sound worthy of its fit and finish. Having set out to achieve this goal, you are now wondering if they have followed through? Well I was about to find out.

I know I am not alone in taking great pleasure in the moment that you open up a closed guitar case and get that first reveal of what is enclosed within that lined embrace of fiber glass. I admit that sometimes I hum a little of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy when I open a closed case. Flaxwood provides a nicely padded, fitted and locking case for each of the guitars in their line up. While not quite as sturdy as a flight case, it was built very well and I would feel very comfortable using it to carry the guitar from studio to gig. Going back to the open-ing sentence of this paragraph, I have had some great moments of surprise and wonder upon the reveal of the contents of a guitar case and I have had some moments where I swear that you have over bid riff from the Price is Right plays out loud and with a shrug the case is closed as quickly as it was opened. The first reflex that hit me upon opening the Laine was just a simple wow. Followed by a few more expletives that I’ll save for the late night version of the Guitar Adoptions Blog. The finish on the guitar was just impeccable. The Laine I was beholding came to me in their Sammal Greenburst finish and it was upon first blush, the nicest finish I have seen on a guitarsouth of $5k.

The Laine had me at hello and I was ready to plug her in and give her a go. The second round of joyful expletives came when I picked her up. I own and play Martin Dread’s, Gretsch’s, Gibson’s and Fender’s and I about tossed the Laine across the room when I pulled it from the case. Because of the flaxwood material the guitar is constructed from, it is a light as the proverbial feather but strong as an ox. What’s impressive is that it doesnot project the image of being so light. I had a few other people pick it up to just make sure I was not crazy, and they all agreed. Compared to the other guitars in the room, she was a svelte beauty queen. A distinctive look that will not be confused with any other maker.

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I know one should not buy a guitar based on looks or weight, but none of can say theyever truly dated someone just because of their personality. There needs to be someattraction and so far the Flaxwood Laine was looking very attractive to mine eyes.

I ran the Flaxwood through a Peterson Strobo Stomp 2 straight to a Kustom DoubleBarrel amp. My plan was to test the guitar without any additional effects through theclean channel and then through the overdrive channel of the amp first. The Laine comesfitted with 3 Seymour Duncan Lipstick pickups, a Schaller LP Tremolo, 5 position tone switch and a blender pot which gradually blends the neck pickup signal with that of thebridge pickup. Settled into to playing that first G chord, I took hold of the neck and lether rip. The third wow moment for me in the handling of this guitar and the above allelse point I will list as Flaxwood’s reason for being. The neck on this thing played likebutter, glass, a frozen pond on e beautiful winters morn, insert any other analogy here. Ihave grown fond of, out of habit and history, playing thick, chunky necks, but I could notstop playing the Flaxwood. Between the amazing feel of the neck and the superior action and feel of the fret board, I played for about 2 hours without even realizing it. From the factory this thing was set up to be played, and not put down.

Flaxwood in their own words describes the Laine as the most Strat-like of their models and I would agree with this assessment having just spent the weekend with a Fender Deluxe American Strat. The Laine gave me the sparkle and shine I was hoping for, where it differed for me is in that when overdriven in the 5th position it gave my more growl then I could get out of a Strat and this I appreciated because I felt it gave me a moreopen tone pallet into which to play with and I did not feel as constrained as I would have with a Strat and trying to switch between the music styles I enjoy. I am not a trem user by nature but compared to the Bisgby on the Gretsch and the trem on the Fender used for comparison purposes the Schaller was smoother, and held the strings in tune better, no matter how long I droned on with Shine on Your Crazy Diamond. The Flaxwood Laine presented me with a wide dynamic range that held sustain for days as the kids say. I would also agree with their assessment that due to its design it comes from the box with an open sound that usually takes some breaking in to achieve. I felt comfortable going from John Mayer to Jimmy Page on the Laine and where as normally I would prefer to switch out instruments based on the song choices of those guitarists; I did not feelmyself wanting with the Laine. Given the Laine and nice set of FX pedals, I could easily see this being a single guitar in ones arsenal used to achieve a variety of music styles without hesitation. I do believe based on the pickup configuration it certainly suits one style of music better than others but it leaves enough room to get you where you need to go with other genres of playing.

The Laine came strung with Elixir 10’s, a gauge that I prefer on my electrics, although I am not typically a fan of coated strings I felt that the added to the amazing playability of the Laine and would probably keep using them on this particular guitar.

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http://www.guitaradoptions.com/g-l-rampage-jerry-cantrell-signature-blue-dress.html

The word Laine, translated means wave and as I packed up the Laine after the last moments of enjoying playing her, I felt of wave of regret of having to say goodbye. I had an expectation for spending the weekend with a $2k guitar and I was pleasantly surprised that the Flaxwood delivered on those expectations and then blew some of them out of the water. I applaud Flaxwood for their innovation and technology but most of all I applaud them for their commitment to maintaining the art of building the guitar with the sole purpose of providing its owner the possibility of making the very best of that sweet joy we call music.

I am not a professional guitar reviewer, I am just a geek for all things guitar for the last 20 plus years who sometimes forgets to turn of his you have written to much filter.

The Pros:The NeckFinish and build quality for the priceOverall playabilityDynamic range of toneInnovation in building materials and longevity that provides

The Cons: (I’m not a total suck up)The Weight (I like a little beef, personal choice)Smaller proportions took some time to adjust to

*(reprinted from the Guitar Adoptions Blog Feb 24 and 25)

Flaxwood Rautia (RA-T) electric guitar in Orangeburst

SKU SKU37833 List Price: $2814.00MAP Price: $1909.00DISCOUNT: See Website

Flaxwood Liekki (LI-T) electric guitar in Redburst

SKU SKU37945 List Price: $3242.00MAP Price: $2199DISCOUNT: See Website

Flaxwood Laine (LA-T) electric guitar

SKU SKU37740List Price: $3078.00MAP Price: $2089.00DISCOUNT: See Website

http://www.guitaradoptions.com/flaxwood-guitars/A sample of Flaxwood Guitars available at:

http://www.guitaradoptions.com/flaxwood-guitars/

Guitar AdoptionsTVGuitar Adoptions is pleased to announce the addition of Guitar AdoptionsTV to the Guitar Adoptions YouTube channel line up.

The program goal for Guitar AdoptionsTV is to provide high quality, well produced, in the studio, the home studio and in the wild looks at the various guitar and guitar related equipment that we carry at www.guitaradoptions.com. We will bring you hands on, first impressions plus history and background on all of your favorite builders and products. The inaugural episode from Guitar AdoptionsTV is in keeping with the theme of the March newsletter and is a look in the home studio of the Flaxwood Laine. The Guitar AdoptionsTV segments are shot in High Definition and an HD Quicktime file of each episode will be available upon request. Simply contact us and let us know which episode you would like us to send and you can always find them on our YouTube channel. Please let us know if there is anything you would like to see on an episode of Guitar AdoptionsTV.

http://www.youtube.com/user/GuitarAdoptions

For ordering or questions:www.guitaradoptions.com

or1-877-241-4580

Be sure to check our newest blog posts at:

www.guitaradoptions.com/blog/

From Our Pre-Owned Section:

Gibson SG Historic Reissue with MaestroSKU SKU19047 List Price: $4892.00Our Price: $2899.00DISCOUNT: $1993.00

Gibson Custom SG Standard Historic Reissue Electric Guitar with Maestro Features:

Solid mahogany bodyGlossy finishNickel hardwareABR-1 bridge and Maestro tailpiece1-piece mahogany neck with long neck tenon22-fret rosewood fingerboardAcrylic trapezoid inlaysSingle-ply cream binding1960 slim-taper neck profile24-3/4” scale length1-11/16” nut widthHolly headstock veneerVintage tulip tunersBurstbucker 1 and 2 humbucking pickups2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way selectorGibson Custom Shop hardshell caseIncludes Certificate of Authenticity and Custom Care Kit

Gibson Custom SG Standard Historic Reissue Electric Guitar with Maestro Includes:Custom Shop hardshell case and certificate of authenticity

http://www.guitaradoptions.com/gibson-custom-sg-historic-reissue-with-maestro.html