Conference napalm::guitar

    I played a Heartfield Talon III at lunchtime today and I liked it so
    much I thought I should write about it.
    
    This model has a stylized Strat shaped body with a rosewood fretboard
    and a hum/single/hum pickup configuration with a Floyd Rose type
    tremelo.
    
    The neck felt very similar to the Ibanez necks I've played recently.  A
    wide, flat fretboard with giant frets and a thin front to rear
    thickness.  An excellent feeling neck!  I felt instantly comfortable
    playing it.  It also has a rounded body heel where the bolt on neck
    join is, giving excellent access to the upper frets.
    
    The pickups were Dimarzio's and seemed to have good output and from
    what I could tell sounded good (I was playing it though a rig that I
    hate and couldn't tell too much).
    
    The body was well shaped, fairly light and felt very comfortable.  It
    was very well balanced when played on a strap, and I would expect the
    same if you were sitting (although I didn't play it sitting).  The fit
    and finish of the instrument seemed to be pretty good.  The one I
    played had a pearl white finish on the body with a black pickguard.
    
    My only negative observations about it were that it looks kind of
    "generic".  Hard to describe, but it's not an especially striking
    instrument and just seeing it from a distance, it might appear to be
    any of your standard cheap clone types (like Hondo etc).  
    
    The second complaint was that I didn't like the feel of the tremelo,
    which was a knife edge locking system made by Kahler.  It was recessed
    into the body nicely and set up correctly, but the arm itself sat too
    high (the vertical piece of it was too long) and was a little short for
    my tastes.  
    
    Overall, however I was very impressed with this guitar!  If I were
    looking for a guitar right now, I would highly consider this one.  I
    really like the newer Ibanez models, and I believe the Heartfield is
    right up there with them in terms of playability and feel.  Check it
    out, it's worth your while!
    
    Greg
                               

       I don't remember if they were "made" by Fender, but I knew they were
    "distributed" by Fender for Heartfield. I may be wrong though.
    I was looking into their five string thru the neck bass at one time.
    
    /J

    My initial reaction was that they are Paul Reed Smith Clones. At least
    some of the Heartfield models seem to be. They seem to offer nicely
    figured maple wood on some models. 
    
    I believe most Heartfilds are well over $1K.
    
    Mark
    

    Well, I've seen two different models and neither reminded me in the
    least of a PRS.  This one I played (Talon III) was kind of a generic
    Strat clone looking thing (Kramer, Charvel, Jackson, Ibanez, they all
    made something like this).
    
    The other one I saw was kind of a smaller body that was a wierd shape,
    kind of like a potato.  Hard to describe...
    
    All the ones I've seen have had opaque colored paint.
    
    Greg
                                                   

    Heartsfield is made in Japan for Fender.  It's a name change like DOD
    going to DigiTech to trick people into buying it where as if it said
    "Fender" on it, people would say, "Aw,that's old hat stuff..."
    
    From the price tags I've seen so far, they actually are up there
    inprice with the premium USA Fender models.
    
    						Brian

    I've got my eye on a Heartfield DR4 bass that I'd love to buy, but I've
    gotta sell my peavey first. The DR4 has bolt on neck with big frets, a
    light weight alder body and active tunable frequency boost. They want
    $699. for it which I guess is 30% off. This one is a blue painted
    finish. I've also seen the same bass in natural woods but for a lot
    more money. Has anyone seen this bass in the Boston area?