Rasmus Guitars -- derived from John Suhr's family name of Rasmussen -- are currently being manufactured in limited quantities.
Built using North American maple and alder and Indonesian rosewood which are selected according to strict weight guidelines, the Rasmus line also uses the same German fretwire found on the US-made Suhr models.
To top it off, each Rasmus guitar is shipped to the US, disassembled upon arrival at the Suhr factory and then Plek'd -- an automated computer process that dresses the frets to extremely high tolerances, allowing for extremely low action. Final assembly and set-up is also done at the Suhr factory.
According to Suhr, it is this labor intensive involvement in the Rasmus line that is the reason for them being produced in limited quantities at the moment.
US-made Suhr pickups and Japanese-made Gotoh 510 or Gotoh Floyd Rose bridges are standard equipment. Each Rasmus guitar comes with a Suhr Deluxe gig bag.
I'm glad that John Suhr decided not to use the Suhr brand and logo on this line of overseas-manufactured instruments -- no matter how good the quality may be. Companies like Kramer and Hamer did so in the past with almost no regard for the integrity of their brand-name and paid the price in the end.
Go to http://www.rasmusguitars.com/ for more details.
Reason there is NOT A SINGLE demo, video, clip, soundbite of this guitar anywhere on the internet as of 2/20/11. Hmmm..maybe there is a reason? Cheap lowbudget guitars that Shur has stooped down to make....
ReplyDeleteI've wondered about the Rasmus's too. John Suhr is someone who takes a lot of pride in his work. The overseas manufacturer didn't deliver the quality he wanted perhaps?
ReplyDeletePlayed one at a Suhr dealer, and I can say first hand that the Rasmus guitars play every bit as well as their Suhr counterparts. Wood quality is not quite up to Suhr specs, and i cannot comment on the wood drying process or how they will hold up over time. But the one I played felt like a real Suhr, and at $1000 brand new, they're a hell of a deal.
ReplyDeleteThey're just really cheap LOOKING imo...
Thanks for this! I haven't had the chance to check out a Rasmus yet but your observations are exactly how I imagined these offshore Suhrs to be -- a little cheap in the finish department but great playing guitars nonetheless.
ReplyDelete