McIntyre Guitars...any opinions?

[NJE]

Hello all just a quick post regarding Chris McIntyre and his basses.

I discovered him after seeing Sikth bass player, James Leech playing is basses. I was just wondering if anyone on the forum had a bass from him or had ever played one? I know he used to build for sei, but was just curious why no-one had a bass from him. Im contemplating a custom build and his guitars look superb, just wanted any info really.

Cheers Guys and Gals

[Veils]

After seeing Sikth on a fair few occasions, I can tell you that Sei's break down a lot and McIntyres don't James prefers his McIntyre.....

[OutToPlayJazz]

Just looked at the site... Finishes are beautiful... Don't know anyone who plays one, but they certainly look fantastic for the relatively modest price.

[Russ]

Chris is a fantastic guy (got to know him well during his Sei days), and will build more or less anything you want - he doesn't just do basses and guitars based on the classic shapes. He's also quite reasonably priced compared to other builders. I say go for it.

[Dood]

+1 for JL and Chris McIntyre.

I have had a 'tinkle' on James' basses and have to say I was rather impressed with them. Having spoken to and emailed Chris in the past, I would say he was helpful and defintely one to look into.

[largo]

[quote]I can tell you that Sei's break down a lot and McIntyres don't[/quote]

Have to disagree with you on this quote. Other than James Leech's Sei bass, and I'm not sure what problems he's had.
I haven't heard anyone else have their Sei break down on them. I'm happy to be set straight though !

S

Edited September 5, 2007 by largo

[NJE]

thanks for the input, I saw the prices and thought they looked pretty reasonable as well, especially now sei have apparently put prices up. I have to admit James Leech having a couple is partly the reason for looking at them. He is a great player but as mentioned he does work them hard at shows so they must hold up......descisions descisions.....I still love all the shuker's on here as well, guess i will have to come up with the spec I want and make some calls.

thanks again.

[BigRedX]

Can someone post a URL please?

A quick Google didn't reveal it....

[Bloodaxe]

[url="http://www.mcintyreguitars.com"]http://www.mcintyreguitars.com[/url]

[BigRedX]

Ta.

Actually I'd come across this web site before, but as replicas of other maufacturers instruments don't really appeal to me I hadn't bothered book marking it. Also does anyone else think there's something wrong with a site that gives over more screen to show of the 'web designers' skills than pictures of the instruments themselves?

[Russ]

90% of Chris' customers are guitarists, and guitarists are almost always interested only in the classic shapes if they want a custom instrument. The site is tailored to that market. If you go down to see him, he's got pictures of various non-traditional custom instruments he's done, including basses.

[beerdragon]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='56378' date='Sep 6 2007, 09:00 AM']Ta.

Actually I'd come across this web site before, but as replicas of other maufacturers instruments don't really appeal to me I hadn't bothered book marking it. Also does anyone else think there's something wrong with a site that gives over more screen to show of the 'web designers' skills than pictures of the instruments themselves?[/quote]

The sites not a great advert for his instruments, difficult to navigate i thought., i gave up after a while.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='Russ' post='56533' date='Sep 6 2007, 02:27 PM']90% of Chris' customers are guitarists, and guitarists are almost always interested only in the classic shapes if they want a custom instrument. The site is tailored to that market. If you go down to see him, he's got pictures of various non-traditional custom instruments he's done, including basses.[/quote]

In that case it's a pity he's not put any up on the site. Over the last year I've been building up a collection of bookmarks for interesting guitar and bass manufacturers and luthiers. Unless you know them personally these days the first point of contact is the web site and this should give a flavour of what they are about. Chris' web site says he can build you a very nice instrument based on traditional designs. For me when there's so many other sites flaunting their weird and wonderful ideas for instruments, it's unsurprising that after a look around at the 5 or 6 conventional looking instruments on show, I moved on to other (for me) more interesting sites.

[ped]

Can we have a sneak peek at your list so far matey? It must be HUGE!!

Cheers
ped

[BigRedX]

There's about 100 (although some are guitar only -as I'm a guitarist too). Of course it's ever changing as some new ones turn up and other luthiers seem to leave the business. Maybe I'll post a top twenty cooling looking (but obscure) basses over the weekend if I have time?

[NJE]

I would love to see a list of bass luthiers from the UK, I love looking at guitars, and quite possible I may have missed someone great...(would hate to get a bass built and then see a cooler one) please please publish the list

[BigRedX]

I think there's only going to be a couple from the UK in my list. However just look through the build diary section in these forums. You'll find that there are one or two more UK luthiers than Shuker... ;-)

[ped]

Why not make a list of bass guitar manufacturer websites as a thread, and have each post only contain a list of links. Would be fun to check some out ;0)