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@Mikkel: not 'relic-ed' so shinier, but these might Kluson prestige might work:
Thanks
Xmas?
They sound really good!
I used to have an H&K TriAmp which was lovely. Can't remember why I sold it now!
Been eyeing these up for a while - look like pretty good value (more so if you were in the States)...
https://deanzelinsky.com/
Got a tailpiece that a friend had lying around, so just done a quick test with some old strings to see if things line up and about to stick the neck back on myself as no way i got the patience to wait until lock down is over and then wait for someone to have the time to do it for me.
Wish me luck
Excellent! I can lose hours watching guitar restoration videos on youtube 🙂
Now I just need to learn how to play
You know that moment when you're jammimg away with your 80yr old landlord and he walks back in the room with his 1961 blonde tele he's had since new?
Oh my ****ing lordy!!!!!
Still not a fan of them but I felt a bit like Indiana Jones for a minute.
Last time he had it valued they said £17k. Probably three times that now.
There will be pictures over the next couple of days.
Looking forward to seeing the pictures eddie
Back in the land of 500e guitars I couldn't play my new acoustic bass without fear of it falling off because the strap mount/jack socket only has a shallow grove. So I got my drill, files and hacksaw out and made this:
Clever eh! The bit of shock cord threaded through acts as a lock.
@Mikkel, your project looks amazing. Right up my street. Please keep posting updates.
Next step will be to make a new bridge/saddle whatever you call it, as the one I got with it is another bodged job.
(If the neck is staying on tomorrow)
Clever eh! The bit of shock cord threaded through acts as a lock.
Nice work there. And you can take it off easily unlike going down the Grolsch bottle washer route.
Have a look at the bridge on a Gibson SG 61 with tailpiece, Mikkel, I reckon it would fit. You can get copies cheap on sites such as Thomann.
Edit: the bottle washer/plastic strap lock won't fit because the groove is too narrow, Eddie, that's why I had to think of something else
Good idea Educator, had not thought of that style bridge bit quite sure it will fit the style though
First attempt have failed.
Not enough clean wood to get a good bond.
Does anyone have any knowledge of aftermarket Fender necks? The frets on my 1990 MIM Strat are very worn - I'm not sure that a fret file / dress will fix them and the neck itself is not so special that I want to pay for a refret (Truss rod adjust in an annoying place and cosmetically it's not perfect). Looking at new necks but I don't really know what to look for. Fender American necks are pretty expensive (£500+) which is probably a bit more than I want to spend.
These Roasted Maple MIM necks look cool but there's something about Pau Ferro that's just not as nice as Rosewood. Or there's a Maple top one.
https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/electric-guitar-accessories/electric-guitar-parts/fender-roasted-maple-stratocaster-neck-22-jumbo-frets-12in-pao-ferro-flat-oval-shape
eBay / Reverb?
Warmoth?
Something else?
Back in the land of 500e guitars I couldn’t play my new acoustic bass without fear of it falling off because the strap mount/jack socket only has a shallow grove. So I got my drill, files and hacksaw out and made this:
Nice. Is that also an output jack? It's a strange shape.
War mouth has always been my go to bits company.
Yes it's an output jack, Superficial, bigger than any other I've seen.
I bought a 2012 Squier classic Vibe neck from France Guitar when they had exactly the one I wanted. They have a good range of Fender necks at sensible prices.
My son has a Warmoth neck and I've got two. Junior has a vintage style Tele neck with gloss nitro, stainless frets and a 10" radius, it's a delight. I've got two modern style with double expanding truss rods, 10"-12" radius, dunlop frets and matt nitro. One is a Strat with a modern C which is just like a Squier classic vibe. The other is sort of flat C Tele.
My two required a few hours work. Fenders have very rounded fret ends, sometimes too rounded and it's easy to lose the string over the edge when doing vibrato (my vibrato is clumsy). Warmoth leave the frets with angular ends unless you pay them to do otherwise - you will probably want to spend some time with a polishing mop in the drill bit to smooth them even if you don't fully round them (buy a fret board protector before you do so). You also have to clean the nitro off the frets youself and spend a few minutes with car polish on the back of the neck to make it really smooth. I lowered the nut slots on mine, junior left his standard. Fender drown their maple necks in thick varnish which mean that even their medium jumbo frets feel a bit low. Warmoth don't so the frets feel full size.
Have replaced the plastic PU cover and truss rod cover with rosewood ones, I like it a lot better now
My continued idle thinking about something affordable and Gibson-shaped continues. I do like a Junior (single and double cut) but really want a bridge humbucker. (Or do I?)
I've randomly found the shortlived Les Paul CM from (the fateful Gibson year of) 2015. One humbucker, some had robotuners, and a black stained finish, but still a maple cap, so a 'proper' Les Paul rather than an all mahogany Jr or Special. Anyone try one? Only they seem to ebay for about £500, which is what the similar-vibe Jared James Nicols Epiphone goes for...
http://legacy.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/2015/USA/Les-Paul-CM-2015.aspx
That looks nice.
The Jr above us my first ever guitar, it got picked by going to guitarguitar and filtered the solid body guitars from low to high price and went down the list until I found one I liked the look of 🙂
Don't have to worry about sound yet as they all sounds bad when I play them lol
Just turn them up a bit more and they'll all sound great 🙂
That Junior is a great first guitar though. A proper guitar and nothing that'll break or date it in years to come.
Haha good advice but not sure neighbours will like it.
After all the gear chasing in the pursuit of tone last night I played my Variax into a Line6 Stagesource L2m FRFR speaker. And for the all important tone I programmed a few patches into my Korg Pandora PX3.
A 20 year old pocket sized FX unit. Gosh it was fun. The basic addition of a smear of reverb added to the acoustic guitars and for the electrics a couple of lightly distorted sounds fitted the bill.
It’s been used a couple of times a year over the last 15 years but I had forgotten how much fun it was.
Anyway 4 of us had a socially distanced jam in the Very quiet village local last night. It was great to be playing with mates again. We’ve done it a few times after lockdown 1 eased and I’ll be sad and will miss it. Emailing files to and fro isn’t the same.
Beer helps too.
And this great little mini amp build just came up on my feed
A question - bought a 2nd hand trem pedal and despite the power running through it and the signal through when on and off, the effect isn't actually generating - i.e. the knobs are not doing anything.
I've had the back off to check there isn't anything unplugged/broken and it all looks fine (it's one of those budget amazon ones so all PCB and nothing to go wrong)
I've tried a variety of cables and the same outcome - the power and cables work for other pedals i have.
the only thing I can think of is that the PSU isn't generating enough voltage to drive the pedal but that seems unlikely?
is there something else I've missed?
The input/output sockets aren’t the wrong way round are they?
I can’t think of anything to be honest.
the signal is running on bypass and when active so it's not the order, all the connections are solid, the light turns on and off... I'm stumped !
found the specs, which says that it needs 26mA which is nowt
If anyone wants a pedal to experiment 🙂
As it's an Amazon pedal, don't they have pretty good return/refund procedures? (Not that they'll fix whatever you send back...)
Doing the idiot check - you've got cables you know work, a guitar that makes noise, with the volume up... and you say the pedal works in bypass. So when connected, you get bypass tones and then when you engage the pedal, the sound cuts out (and the light comes on)?
Not sure what to suggest. Is it a two-knob job? That'll just be rate and depth, so there's not even a volume knob to not be working... Unless anything's obviously wrong (check the chip is seated if it has an IC) - then I think you're on returnsville... EDIT - Just seen it's secondhand. Hmm...
it's odder than that - everything fine in bypass, then when activated there is still sound to the amp but the knobs just don't do anything ?!?!
I'm not too worried as it cost peanuts (and I don't think the seller is trying to scam me fwiw just one of those things) so I'll have another fiddle with it and it'll either work or go in the recycling...
Oops! 2013 Les Paul LPJ is on its way inbound...
You just can’t help yourself can you? 😁👍🏼
Pics will be needed.
Nice!
I bought a 2010 Les Paul previously owned by Tez Robert's from Discharge last year. Took it on tour to the Alps the day after. Day three of ownership I did my first Apres gig with it at Cocorico in Tignes (awesome gig) Day four of ownership, got it out of the case at my next gig and the headstock was snapped off 😥
With people selling off their highend gear for peanuts I pickup a lovely 'new to me' amp
65amps Lil Elvis
I already have a 65amps ventura which is great and with this is stereo greater
Don't suppose anyone has a strat pickup for sale?
Looking for something to go in the bridge of mine that has a bit more oomph than the USA standard that is in there (5.5kOhm)
No, I can’t help myself. Always after the next hit... 😜
I’m on a one in, one out though these days. Anyone need a PRS SE Baritone soapbar?
Nichetastic but no.
But think of the Twin Peaks theme tunes you could play!
Edukator, What's the issue with your Kingsman's strap button? I haven't had any issue with my strap coming off at all.
But think of the Twin Peaks theme tunes you could play!
JTV59, baritone tuning and soapbars. At the flick of a switch. Drop D as well.
I've learned always to use straplocks, Lord. Change a guitar mid-set, and if the strap has rotated it'll jump off as soon as it's loaded. Start messing with the voice mic (two hands needed) and let the neck drop (the Kingman is neck-heavy) and the strap might pop off. I've had straps I thought were secure pop off so if there's any doubt I use a strap lock now. The strap grove in the Kingman jack socket is really shallow and I'd have dropped it sooner or later with no straplock.
If you know the strap is secure whatever you do it's one less thing to go wrong/worry about.
What do you think of the Kingman? I've only had mine for a couple of months. It's loud enough to accompany acoustic guitar and non-amplified voice and sounds pretty good plugged in. I can push my amp quite hard without feedback and the plugged in sound has a nice acoustic twang on the high notes. Downside is the very noticeable clatter of the strings - have you got round or flat-wound because mine is very noisy on slides and squeaks when I roll on and off strings (original strings).
I'll do a vid when Madame goes out to illustrate the squeaks and clatter.
Edit: the squeaks and clatter may be less apparent from the front so doing a vid will be useful.
I like it to have besides me at home to quickly pick up and play and not have to faff around with amps if I want a quick break from work. Like you say, it is very neck heavy, but I do like the short scale nature of it, makes it pretty easy to play. Got mine about 12 months ago
I don't find it quite loud enough with my playing style (fingers) at the folk club (in the function room of the local WMC) when i'm playing with 1...2..3..4....7 acoustic guitars (depending on how many join in.) Especially since during lock down when it's been acoustic only nights with everyone sat in a circle. I can't take a little amp like I normally would (or on electric nights, i'd plug into the PA) And I find that the tuner button gets knocked on when transporting it in the gig bag it came with and drains the battery down. Taken to taking the battery out when I don't need to plug in.
Am still on the original strings - Dont find too much of an issue with clacking strings, obs a bit more noise on sliding, compared to my main bass - which has (heavy!!!) flatwounds (50-110 - in standard E tuning)
Well recording myself tells me it's quieter and less clattery than I thought. It also takes some getting used compared with an electric bass as it's so light and moves around when moving up and down the neck.
I reckon it's better on 99 Luftballons than the arrangements I've tired to do for acoustic guitar though, the synth parts work quite well on it:
I like that. What's the scale length?
770mm, that's about 30" in your money. 😉 That's about the same as short-scale electric basses in the Fender range so it feels very familiar. I tried a Takamine with a 34" scale which felt huge even for a bass. The Takamine was a little warmer/rounder sounding and the Fender a bit punchier. The Fender won hands down in terms of playability with a neck similar to a Jazz or Jaguar and lower action.
I hadn't realised what a racket the 3-doors away neighbour's karcher was making.
Very good - I liked that!
Thanks, fellow tennis shoe wearing bassist, STW is the only public that will ever get, 80s German pop isn't considered cool in these parts.
In true blues style I woke up this morning. But then I deviated from the traditional path by doing some photoshopping.
After that I was back on track with the replacement Ditto X4 looper that arrived this morning after 7 weeks with TC trying to fix the old one.
What did we do before loopers?*
A simple acoustic groove in C, a sitar baseline and some resonator slide and the oodles of swampy jamming over top. All through the lovely THR10.
Life is good. As is coffee so I’m going to make some now.
Hope your day goes well too.
* Yes I had a Portastudio. And an 8 track and mixing desk. But loopers are just so instant. 😁
As requested - pics of the new purchase...
And good work on 99Luftballons... I struggle to remember the lyrics in English. One of my fave tunes from the eighties.
@chipps-schwiiiing!
@Edukator the song works so much better in German. The third verse especially has so much rhythmic emphasis (99 Düsenjäger, Jeder war ein großer Krieger, Hielten sich für Captain Kirk, Das gab ein großes Feuerwerk) that the english version lacks and makes it almost unlistenable in comparison.
Hi all, just found this thread, some beautiful guitars! Have a few knocking about just now, go to one being the Gristlemaster, such a fantastic guitar for the money.
Left to right - Taylor GS mini - Westbury Standard - Shecter Nick Johnston - Reverend Gristlemaster - PRS Custom22 SE
I just bought another. After a year of bass twiddling and plentiful enjoyment but little 'progress' my attention has turned as well to the very cheap Strat copy that we got my son some years ago a bit on a whim.
And then based on this thread and other musings I thought something that looked a bit better, and was maybe made a bit better, so it would look nicer on the wall and encourage me to play that too...... I've just received a Harley Benton Les Paul copy.
I'm learning chords to strum, a little bit of soloing (but strings are far harder to find than my bass ones, so I'm very Eric Morecambe-esque right now) and also trying to figure out how barre chords work..... I should be able to do them but they sound tripe currently!!
The muscle memory will come with practice. Find yourself a few tunes with ALL the chords in (like House of the rising sun or Comfortably Numb) and you'll soon stop sticking your tongue out while aiming for chord shapes
Talking of Portastudios - apparently they're back in vogue again! You can't find one for under £300... Even though you can do way more digitally...
https://reverb.com/news/the-tascam-portastudio-through-the-ages
Find yourself a few tunes with ALL the chords in (like House of the rising sun or Comfortably Numb) and you’ll soon stop sticking your tongue out while aiming for chord shapes
Or join a Status Quo cover band.
Nice wall of guitars there @Brake-neck.
@theotherjonv nice looking LP there. I really fancy one og the Explorers they released earlier this year. They're a bit too raaawk! for me though.
Jonv - try not to press the strings too hard, a skill I have to keep reminding myself of 🙂 good old youtube (justin guitar) has lots of tips on getting changes smooth but regular practice helps the most.
Nice guitar chipps, I'm not a fan of white guitars normally but I like that you can see the grain 🙂
I'm not _that_ into white guitars either, but I realised I'd sold many of my colourful ones and was left with black and brown (and orange and purple) so I thought white might be a good shout. It's a super-thin, eggshell finish that seems to wear quickly, which I'm fine with.
I should be able to do them but they sound tripe currently!!I should be able to do them but they sound tripe currently!!
I you're playing chords on a Les Paul, theotherjonv, have a look how Billy Gibbons, Pete Townsend, Malcolm young and Steve Jones play them. You're probably using too many fingers and too many strings. 2-3 fingers and 3-4 strings, and mute the strings you're not using either with your thumb or the fingers you're using for the chord by nudging the string above and resting on the string(s) below.
Playing solos I find it easier if I rest my hand on the bridge/low E when playing high strings and tuck my little finger under the ash tray on a Telecaster or the pickup cover/high e on anything else. You'll soon find the strings.
I've already ordered a new wiring harness for the Les Paul - to replace the surprisingly(?) shonky PCB job that's in there. Booked it in for a set up too. I usually do my own, but I'm happy to share the love/cash over lockdown and my guitar tech guy needs the work. Plus, he's way better than me at it 🙂
Does everyone work on their own guitars? Or is it off to the shop for fitting new strings/pickups and the like? I find I enjoy the tinkering as much as the playing...
I usually work on my own stuff. If anyone sends their guitar to a tech for new strings then I really wonder what is up with them or their guitar.
I am very cautious about truss rod setup but beyond that I'll do anything short of a re-fret although I don't have fret files for some sizes so re-crowning isn't always possible and I can't be arsed to buy any more files.
And I cant find my nut cutting files so if I bought something secondhand now I'd get someone to do the nut work. On a new guitar I'd raise the question in the shop and would expect it to be set up by their in-house tech before I took it home.
Does everyone work on their own guitars? Or is it off to the shop for fitting new strings/pickups and the like? I find I enjoy the tinkering as much as the playing…
Happy to change strings but not done much else.
My Tokai 335 copy is in the music shop to gettheshonky selector switch sorted and full set up (so they will restring it this time... 🤪). My excuse being I don’t have a soldering iron...
Does everyone work on their own guitars? Or is it off to the shop for fitting new strings/pickups and the like? I find I enjoy the tinkering as much as the playing…
Yep, love working on guitars and have never taken one to a shop but then I have never taken a bike to a shop either. Fitted a push/pull pot last weekend to coil split a humbucker but I am crap at soldering and don't have a great understanding of wiring but that never stopped me.
Guitars are pretty basic things and pretty much everything can be done with a quick Google although saying that I probably wouldn't try a refret although I have done a refret on a bass to make it fretless and that turned out well.
That's an 'unfret' surely? 🙂
I'm stil a total beginner at playing but love working on the old mystery guitar I bought, currently waiting to get it to a pro to refit the neck but doing everything else myself
And being tempted by a kit to build a semi hollow electric at the moment.
That’s an ‘unfret’ surely?
I typed defret but the auto spell corrector keeps changing it, usually to "secret"
I'll do basic stuff like string changes and action and changing the tuners is pretty simple (usually the worst thing on cheap guitars) but I don't own a soldering iron (!) so I leave the electrics alone. If it has cheap switches and pots I'd get those done and set up by a pro because it's like a good mechanic at an LBS, contributing to the economy, and the time spent doing other stuff.
I do everything except make the parts. I've done a partial refret on a rose wood acoustic but I'm not sure I could face a total refret on a Maple fret board, especially when Fender/Warmoth necks are such good value for money. I file my nuts lower than standard, barely higher than if it were the next fret.
I have a strong preference for bolt-on necks because they are so easy to set up. I have an acoustic which is an example of what I don't like about glued neck joints. It's warped slightly, not surprising on a 30-year-old guitar what with string tension and living in a humid climate. Once the action and neck relief are set right the deck height is too low, and I don't fancy trying to get the neck off to correct it. Sounds great, plays shit, not worth enough to get fixed by a luthier, firewood?
Might be worth a quote though. I've had a couple of guitars I liked, that didn't play that well transformed by a luthier. My Japanese Strat had a 7in (or even tighter) radius rosewood board and skinny frets. I got it refretted and the board sanded to a 10in radius - it's now a fantastic guitar and well worth the money I've sunk into it. Yes, I could have sold it and put that £200 and the £200 refret money towards a new guitar, but that wouldn't buy me a great sounding '90s Japanese Strat...
To my mind and skill/tool set guitar fettling / maintenance is quite binary.
Fretwork of any description, anything to do with the nut, any ungluing = give it to a luthier
Everything else = easy, adjustable (mostly) reversible including electrics, acoustic bridges, strings, hardware etc.
This means that the stuff I am happy doing is probably what's useful 90% of the time. The other 10% requires expensive tools and practice.
Having said that I want to make my own guitars and it feels like a cop-out to just buy a neck so one day when I've got more time etc etc..
Does anyone else have a Trio pedal ?
I'm loving mine and would love to hear of anyone's tips, tricks etc.
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I'd be happy to invest in a Japanese Strat, my acoustic is an 80s Sigma-Martin dreadnought. Sanding the neck is one of the things I've considered, it's got plenty of meat in it and needs the truss rod far too tight to get the relief right. Taking a few mm off the head end and sanding flat with the truss rod tight would help both issues.
Edit: just had another look at it, this thread is motivating me.
There's a good video on That Pedal Show where Mick and Dan get their fave guitars fixed up. Mick ends up sanding the fingerboard on his Strat and suddenly it's playable again. Worth a watch.
markwsf - I had one of the early Trios - without the looper. It was probably the difficulty of setting it up with a looper that made me sell it again, so you're one step up. I currently either loop or just noodle to Youtube backing tracks...
I did some work on my bass yesterday - much better now
And for those of you lefties - Andertons are doing a run of Danish Pete Telecasters
I currently either loop or just noodle to Youtube backing tracks…
I'm having fun playing over the recent Paul Davids track that he had those ten guys do a short solo. You can download a long version of the backing track free from his patreon site.
I think I learnt a lot for working on the stuff the assorted guys laid down. Chris Buck even does a guide on how to play his solo and includes a tab for the bits I couldn't work out. Always good to try to copy someone elses technique and see what you can steal.
I'm a bit late to this party. Hardly ever look in the Chat forum. Primarily a bass player but started many years ago on guitar and still occasionally pick it up. Used to play Bouzouki and Mandolin in a folk band but spent the best part of the last twenty years playing bass and backing vocals in a Grunge/Alt Rock covers band. Do most of my own set ups and repairs unless it requires the skills of a proper luthier and tinker with basic amp repairs.
Any thoughts on audio interfaces to use on a Mac with Garage band? I’m thinking of setting something up to record me playing so I can hear where I need to improve.
Was thinking about something like this
Behringer UMC22 Computer Audio Interface https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FFIGZF6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_Wj.RFb5411HQP
Alternatives?
That Berry unit looks fine for what you want.