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Topic: Wilcox guitar for beginner? |
Jim Pollard
From:
Cedar Park, Texas, USA
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Posted 2 Dec 2021 7:47 am |
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| Hi ya'll. I'm finally looking to make that jump from lap steel to pedals. There is a guy close to me selling a Wilcox SD-10 3x4 that looks like it might be a good option. I'm a little leery of getting into a guitar though that I may spend more time working on than playing. My understanding is that Wilcox are guitars that are hand built. Which on one hand sounds very nice, but on the other hand also makes me think "potentially quirky". For what he's asking I'm in the neighborhood of a Justice Jr. 3x2 (though of course there is a wait) Any thoughts? |
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Jon Light (deceased)
From:
Saugerties, NY
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Posted 2 Dec 2021 8:12 am
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I have never seen one in person. I have seen many photos.
The story that I've picked up via the forum is that Mr. Wilcox learned as he went and his steel building improved over time.
I have seen pictures that looked absolutely awful -- something to be proud of doing as a home project, maybe, but not something to accept money for. There are accounts of unhappy owners of these.
And then I have seen pictures of steels that didn't look bad (I'm not talking about cosmetics -- I'm talking about parts that looked decently made vs. hack-saw cutouts). So I would suggest that if you look at the underside of this steel and it looks crude, you might want to think twice.
This is strictly my semi-educated opinion.
edited to add -- I'd think long & hard and probably not post this at all if Mr. Wilcox were still with us, out of a sense of decency. But the guitars are now his legacy and withholding straight info and advice would be a disservice to people in Mr. Pollard's situation. If anyone thinks this should have been a PM rather than a post....I thought about it. You may be right. |
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Dave Mudgett
From:
Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee
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Posted 2 Dec 2021 8:59 am
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Jon, I think it's appropriate to state things as you see them. Chet acknowledged a number of times on this forum that some of his early guitars were, shall we say, works in progress. I haven't played one of his guitars, so I won't go further than that. I think there is a general sense that they got better as he got more experience. Still, I think it's an appropriate caveat to look carefully at a Wilcox guitar before pulling the trigger. I think I'd want to play one first. YMMV.
Personally - for the money, I'd grab a Justice Jr. without hesitation as long as I was OK with an S10 no double-wide body. I'd say unless you're tall (as I am), there would be no problem. No, I haven't played one, but the reports have all been good and when they moved to a 3+3 all-pull changer, it just seems like a no brainer to me. I don't know how Justice cranks out a nice guitar like this for the money. |
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Jim Pollard
From:
Cedar Park, Texas, USA
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Posted 2 Dec 2021 9:39 am
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| OK. Thanks ya'll, for that sanity check. Off to the Justice website soon.. GULP |
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