My Latest Acquisition - A Roland G-808

[Roland_G303]

Hi Everyone,

I'm sure you guys can tell by my screen-name that I'm quite fond of the Roland guitars.  I just picked up a Roland G-808 (although the traffic was really bad heading on 95 back from NJ to CT ).  It's a Fuji Gen build and it's similar to the Greco GO series.  It has a carved top and neckthrough construction as well as the functions of a guitar synth.

It plays real nice and I'm looking forward to plugging it in to my GR-300...now if I could just find a G-202 then it would complete my vintage Roland collection .

Patrick

[JohnS]

Patrick:

You got this in NJ?

Is this the model that Metheny plays?

[Mongo]

Very nice!
I remember a Pat Metheny video that looked very much like that model.

[Roland_G303]

Hi John,

It's not quite the model Metheny plays.  He uses a G-303, but the 808 was considered the Cadillac of the Roland guitar series.  There's a couple differences between the two models, most notable is the neckthrough construction on the 808.  I bought it in Edgewater which is less than 50 miles from where I am right now (Westport).

It's a really cool guitar and I can't wait to hook it up to the GR-300.

Here's a pic of my 303 for comparison purposes which is the one Pat plays (two Pat's to be exact ).

Patrick

[BCy2k]

Nice Patrick! Congrats!

[Roland_G303]

Thanks Bob!

Patrick

[aliensporebomb]

Cool cool.  I like it a lot.  Wish I'd never gotten rid of my GR.

[triumph]

I like the look.

What do these go for?

[Roland_G303]

I like the look.

What do these go for?

The price varies for them...

The G-303 and G-808 ranges from $1100-1500 depending on condition and functionality of the synth section.  But I foresee the prices to increase even more due to the fact that the GR-300 is now fetching roughly $1500!  That excludes the 24 pin cable that is necessary to link the two units, unless you have a 24-13 pin converter to allow for modern synth access.  The 24 pin cable is roughly $200.

The G-202, G-505, and G-707 roughly fetch around $500 and each excludes hex fuzz circuitry.

Hope this helps .

Patrick

[triumph]

Interesting info, thanks for taking the time to write that out. I like how it looks but don't know much about synths.

[Mongo]

I like how it looks but don't know much about synths.

OMG! 
Say it isn't so.

I was just about to PM you about some brain surgery.
Then maybe a few dialogs on Rocket Science... 

Judging by the flurry of wisdom you've regurgitated on us over the last 2 weeks, I thought you knew EVERYTHING!

[Roland_G303]

Interesting info, thanks for taking the time to write that out. I like how it looks but don't know much about synths.

If you listen to Pat Metheny's album, "Offramp", you can hear the G-303/GR-300 in it's full glory.

Here's one of the best examples of the GR-300 Pat Metheny sound...

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/W399CJ-PdcI&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/W399CJ-PdcI&rel=1</a>

It was also used on "Don't Stand So Close To Me" by the Police during the middle break.  The hidden beauty of the GR-300 is when you hook it up to a CV pedal.  The sounds are huge!  Here's a clip where Andy Summers goes over the CV pedal and it's application to the GR-300 as well as tuning it in fifths (the Roland part starts 5:30 into the video).  This is taken from the "Ghosts in the Machine" era.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/YFWj8JIPLI8&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/YFWj8JIPLI8&rel=1</a>

Patrick