My Guitar Comparison Videos - AJL 503 XO, Stringphonic Advanced 503, Altamira M01F

geese_com · January 2019

I recently pickup an Altamira M01F and a Stringphonic Advanced 503, so I decided to shoot a comparison videos of the guitars.

I am interested to hear all your thoughts on the various guitars.

Also, please excuse the crappy playing and the pick drop during the Stringphonic video.

The videos are as follows:

AJL 503 XO - New Strings
AJL 503 XO - Old Strings
Stringphonic Advanced 503
Altamira M01F

AJL 503 XO - New Strings:

AJL 503 XO - Old Strings:

Stringphonic Advanced 503:

Altamira M01F:

Buco · January 2019

AJL has the most pop in the single notes. Altamira has an interesting quality of tone, lots of midrange, it probably helps it project and be heard in a jam. Stringphonics didn't stand out in any particular way, I'm sure it's a good instrument.

vanmalmsteen · January 2019

I’ve been curious about the Stringphonic, thanks for posting

Jose · January 2019

What is your string height at 12 fret (stringphonic)?

geese_com · January 2019

Jose wrote: »

What is your string height at 12 fret (stringphonic)?

About 3mm for the low E and 2.5mm for the high E.

Jim Kaznosky · January 2019

Thank you for playing the same material for comparison.

geese_com · January 2019

Jim Kaznosky wrote: »

Thank you for playing the same material for comparison.

No problem. It just made sense to me to play the same material. Makes it easier to compare. I didn't play it very well.....but at least we get some idea of how each guitar sounds.

The settings on the camera were the same for all the clips and I did not do anything (i.e. processing) to the video other than just upload it to YouTube.

mac63000 · January 2019

vanmalmsteen wrote: »

I’ve been curious about the Stringphonic, thanks for posting

Buco wrote: »

Stringphonics didn't stand out in any particular way, I'm sure it's a good instrument.

I had the chance to play the base Stringphonic model and was really excited when I picked it up. But when I started playing it was very underwhelming. They are very light and look great, but the tone just wasn't what I expected. I've watched a ton of videos of people playing them and they get high praise, but for me there were better sounding instruments in that price range. Played it against the base Dupont ($200 more) and the Dupont blew it out of the water. I'd be curious to hear other peoples' thoughts because they appear to be quite popular. Maybe it's a setup thing?

geese_com · January 2019

mac63000 wrote: »

vanmalmsteen wrote: »

I’ve been curious about the Stringphonic, thanks for posting

Buco wrote: »

Stringphonics didn't stand out in any particular way, I'm sure it's a good instrument.

I had the chance to play the base Stringphonic model and was really excited when I picked it up. But when I started playing it was very underwhelming. They are very light and look great, but the tone just wasn't what I expected. I've watched a ton of videos of people playing them and they get high praise, but for me there were better sounding instruments in that price range. Played it against the base Dupont ($200 more) and the Dupont blew it out of the water. I'd be curious to hear other peoples' thoughts because they appear to be quite popular. Maybe it's a setup thing?

Have you had a chance to try the Advanced version of the Stringphonic? I wonder if that is the one that gets more praise since it has the pliage that are similar to the old Selmer.

I am having a hard time picking between the AJL and the Stringphonic. They are both great guitars but are different enough from each other. The Stringphonic is definitely louder. It does not have that "broken in" sound that the AJL has, but the Stringphonic is brand new and has not been played much. The AJL has hundreds of hours on it. I am leaning a little more towards the Stringphonic right now.