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I got one of these last year, seems to do the job but I'm sure there are cheaper options that would work too.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09B3LJVFJ
Well, my brief career as a French rock guitarist hero is back on ice again. Just had an apologetic text from the singer, saying that the drummer and bassist have put the band on hold and cancelled the gig in June. Presumably, they were worried that I wouldn't get to master all of the (complicated) tunes in time (I'm in the UK for three weeks right now, so obviously no time to rehearse with them). Boo!
Ahh well, it has, at the very least, forced me to do a great amount of playing practice, ear-learning a load of tunes and sharpening up my 'live' rig.
I'll just have to get out and find my dream gig elsewhere...
Anyone want to buy some silver sparkle platform boots and some Spandex trousers? 🙂
Oh that's a shame Chipps. Hope you find another one 🙂
I'm being badgered to play at an open mic on Thursday. Will see if I can find some confidence before then (or just drink a load of beer)
Where are you playing, Simon? I'm in Tod on Thursday/Friday... I can come along and cheer. Or play rhythm for you... 🙂
In other news... I'm shortly going to be ebaying my TC Electronic Plethora X5 and a Victory Copper V4 preamp pedal. Anyone want me to chuck them on the Classifieds instead?
I'm unsure if this has been asked here before, so I'll ask in case. Do you attach your strap to your guitar with the ladder lock facing out or facing backward?
I'm facing backward camp, so I, of course, think that is correct. It's deviant behavior to have it forwards 🙂
Alway back for me but I've seen so many permutation its what feel natural I guess
Having never considered this it's not surprising that on the first two guitars I checked out of curiosity provoked by you people one is forward and one back.
I'm going through an acoustic phase at present so don't have much to contribute here. Pick up, tune and play. I need a new bottle neck, having learned to play a tune with three fingers I need one for the pinky that doesn't flop around.
That was a tongue-in-cheek post. I don't care how straps are worn! But I've always worn it at the back because at the front, it tended to rub on my shoulder.
I'm in the final stages of a jag partscaster. The process has helped me learn a lot more than I expected. It's taken longer than I expected. And I don't think I'll try and make a pickguard again without a router. But even with the process yet to be finished, I'm keen to do another building project. It's been fun.
Been playinga lot but a change of role at work has meant I've moved onto the same work schedule of a fixed day off every week (Wednesdays for me) and alternate weekends off. Makes it hard to keep regular sessions with mates.
Been selling loads of gear that has been laying around unused and have really refined my gear to two pedal boards - the small one that actually gets jammed with and the occasional gig, and the enormoboard that never leaves the house.
I think I'm going to sell the Telecaster. It doesn't get played much since getting the PRS SE DGT and the final nail in the coffin was getting this
its a Strandberg Boden NX Standard.
Light, versatile, plays great and works for everything except judgemental blues gigs. Thats when the Goldtop comes out.
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53707603524_c00711eaae_k.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53707603524_c00711eaae_k.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2pPXvod ]In the wilds[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/146501625@N06/ ]John Stanley[/url], on Flickr
Back at the other end of the virtuousity spectrum, my guitar tutor suggested I replace the £4 G4M clip on tuner with a decent Korg one.
Roughly £16 later I was stunned by the difference between a guitar I thought was in tune and one the Korg thought was in tune.
Either I improved significantly or the sound of a reasonably priced 20 year old Yamaha acoustic did (ok it’s the sound of the guitar).
What’s the idea of the guitar with the tuners by the bridge? I can see it’s more compact (and looks cool!) but is there another reason?
When you do a bend the string slides in the nut and hopefully slides back to where it was when you release. On some guitares, notably Gibsons with high angle neck heads the strings stick and the things never stay in tune. The answer is a locking nut but that means you can't tune without releasing which is a pain on guitars which are sensitive to temperature change - anything without a balanced floating bridge. So put the tuners at the bridge.
You lose a lot of weight with a long moment around the co of g, so you can chop even more weight out of the body and still have it balance.
It weighs exactly 5 pounds.
The balance might be good but that long horn with the strap at fret 11 or there abouts feels cramped to me. the Tele strap is at about fret 16 which means a lot of neck sticking out that's comfortable to play without straining the wrist or bumping into the tummy, and I ain't fat.
A thinline Tele is pretty light with a heavy head and I don't find balance an issue.
Edit: I see you've removed the pic of the Renault Five green guitar so nobody knows what we're talking about.
Edit: pic's back, a glitch, not you
@tomparkin re flat wound strings. I use flatwounds on all my six string electrics. I play in a twangy alt. country, Dinosaur Jr , Neil Youngy Bigsby Tremolo style.
I usually replace the wound g with a plain though.
Olympia are good value and a good introduction if you want to give flats a try.
I also like Rotosound Top Tapes.
D’addario Chromes are okay but overpriced
Thomastik Infeld are my favourites but pricey. Low tension too.
This is the best access guitar I've ever played. The neck heel is practically nonexistent flowing into the body and combined with the endurneck it is stunningly comfortable.
Checkout the Strandberg website for a better description. And if you see one just grab a feel of the neck.
I tried one for half an hour, reserved it and sold a bunch of pedals to pay for it, it spoke to me that clearly.
Ah, thanks! I'd forgotten I'd asked about this to be honest 😀
I not long since put a fresh set of strings on my main doom guitar, I seem to recall when looking before on places like Strings Direct that flatwounds were pretty dear, especially for heavier-gauge sets. The Olympia brand look like a good steer though, for around a tenner it's something worth taking a punt on!
You've got me interested in that Strandberg, Eddie. Having Googled it I realise you can screw the strap on wherever you want as it's on the back. The fan frets would make thumb over chords easier, neck shape looks odd but I see the logic. I'm beginning to think it's the perfect modern guitar. Next time I'm in Paris or Bordeaux (not many dealers) I'll have something to do. Given it's different in so many ways it's definitely try before you buy and make sure there's enough left on the credit card to buy before walking into the shop.
Another Strandberg (er, actually two of them...) owner here. To be honest, the neck shape and the fan frets are super easy to get used to - and I can swap back and forth with my other guitars without issue. Although I do notice the extra weight of even guitars I considered to be light...
I do a lot of sat down (on the sofa or at my desk) noodling and the lack of size and choice of knee-rests is great. It's also small overall, which makes it a no-brainer when driving somewhere - I can just chuck it in the boot in its gig bag.
@eddiebaby - it was one of Strandberg's ResQ models - basically paint/finish flaw models that get repainted in a limited edition colour and sold off cheap (a great idea, by the way) - I justified it by the fact that it's a trem model, and SSH, so completely different, right? 😉
An essential purchase in my view.
I think there's a new Res:Q drop coming soon. Hmm....
From experience, the tasty ones sell very quickly, so don't dither if you're tempted. The 'would have been a Plini' models and similar swamp ash jobs. Same with the 7-string (I just wrote '7 speeds...') trem models. The 'would have been a regular Boden NX' models stick around a little longer, but it soon gets into single figures and then gone - apart from the misjudged colourways with oddball spec... Anyway, as you know, great guitars! And I need to remember to write a story for this site about the fold-up one they've made, welded by Italian bike makers!
I’m off on holiday next month and was thinking (obvs) of taking a guitar. I realised that I don’t have an amp that’s either small or quiet. I can rig up something with a Helix Stomp and a Bose speaker, but I was wondering about the Spark Go amp thing, or the Blackstar Fly or something. Any suggestions?
I can recommend a fender mustang micro.
The Spark Go is pretty cool (but you need an iPhone as it doesn't work with android) - there is nothing that comes close to the modelling aspect of it apart from perhaps the Yamaha THR5 (which also runs on batteries but not an internal rechargeable like the Go) but is physically a lot bigger and more expensive. I'm not sure if you can use a phone with it either, maybe just a laptop - my THR5A acoustic amp only works on its own or with a laptop for more complex patches (which you basically don't need with an acoustic!) Beautiful amp though - sounds excellent.
My work colleague bought the Blackstar Fly for his son and it looked like a toy in comparison to the two above, very plasticky. Not sure what it sounded like though....
I can do headphone stuff already, but I was thinking that if I wanted to play along to tunes or even, gasp, play with someone else, I'm going to need a speaker. Or I could just take an acoustic, I guess 🙂
Change of topic now...
Oh lordy... The next Gardner Houlgate auction catalogue is out. 1500 lots! And if you can't find something that you like there, you're a liar 🙂
There's everything from '50s Gibsons, through JEMs and PRSs to Bernie Marsden's guitar and amp collection... Luckily the auctions are on in the daytime, so accidental drunk bidding is unlikely. Well worth a browse though...
https://www.guitar-auctions.co.uk/auctions
@chipps the spark go is great for practice as outlined above. Only note of caution is that the speaker is pretty small and the quality of the sound you get out loud is “ok” but not like playing through a decent proper amp. I suspect that’s down to speaker size and anything similarly portable is going to suffer that way too. Through headphones it sounds great!
The Spark Go makes a very nice holiday/travel practice amp.
Just don’t let someone else prat around on your phone while you’re trying to practice.
Oh lordy… The next Gardner Houlgate auction catalogue is out. 1500 lots! And if you can’t find something that you like there, you’re a liar 🙂
Chipps you are a bad man 😂
Try out the Spark before buying, I thought it sounded absolutely terrible. A few ok clean or high gain sounds, but everything in-between sounded rubbish to me. Maybe check out a Pod Express which is probably going to be my next guitar purchase - close to Helix level modelling with a few FX, and an audio interface in a nice compact box for £190. Or if you need a speaker rather than headphones or monitors, the Yamaha THR10 series always sounded good to me. I've been hoping for Line 6 to use that Yamaha tech to put Helix models in a small desktop amp but nothing yet, unless it's completely flown under my radar!
@eddiebaby nice Strandberg! I've wanted one ever since I played my mates Boden. For most of my 20+ years of playing I've been on Les Pauls and SGs with fat necks, so the ergonomics and weight are pretty much the polar opposite but I really loved it. Most of the time when I try a guitar out my response is meh, but that one really stuck with me. Been tempted by the Boden Essentials but feel like I should probably go the whole hog with fan frets if I'm doing it.
Cheers for the thoughts @_tom_ I have plenty of headphoney type amps (HX Stomp and a Quad Cortex(!)) but nothing with a speaker that's less than 20 Watts. (Actually, I have an Epiphone Valve Junior, but that's now in a combo with a 12in speaker...) - the Yamaha THR10 seems to be very popular around here, though they've always seemed kinda pricey. The wireless one appeals, though, as I do already have have a Line6 wireless, but I think I'm looking more £100ish than £300-400ish, so Blackstar Fly and/or Spark.
As for the fan frets on the Strandbergs, they're not really that fanned - it's only 25in scale on the short end and 25.5in on the long end for the six string and it's barely noticeable. So, it's a Strat on the bass strings and a PRS on the treble. The fan only starts at the zero fret, whereas if you get the seven or eight string, the 'straight' fret is at fret 7, so it's far more of a two-way fan as the fan goes both ways from fret 7.
I've used a Line6 Pocket Pod for a long time, what with travelling to ships all over the world.
Really useful, but does need a ready supply of batteries. UI is a bit of a puzzle to get your head around, but even I got it figured in the end.
I had the Spark 40. Through headphones it was great. Sounds were fantastic, loads of tones available. The jam along thing was great. Basically load tracks from Spotify and play along with chords shown in the app. For most popular stuff you'd also get specific tones for each song.
The downside was the sound without the headphones. Unbelievably bassy. Impossible to dial out with the built in eq. They added a virtual eq pedal which did sort it,.but it used up one of the available FX slots. The app was also very temperamental. Didn't function logically. For example you'd be browsing the tone catalogue thing, find one you liked, play it for bit then decide to maybe navigate back to the main screen. At that point it stopped the tone you were playing and reverted to one of the four savable presets. An utter pain. Also if you happened to maybe look at an other app on your phone, the Spark app basically closed and you had to reopen it when you swiped back to it. It was very clunky.
The app problems will still persist on the smaller Go device and I did hear some comments about bass being prominent but won't be as bad as the 40.
I sold the Spark a few months ago and haven't regretted it once
Anyone here ever collect famous plectrums? OK, just me then... 🙂
I did a LOAD of small/medium gig going in the late 80s and would try to meet the band if I could and would always ask for a plectrum if I got the chance. Other times, they were thrown out in the audience and I would be the one scrabbling around on the floor 🙂
Anyway, I found my (not very glamorously mounted on a bit of kitchen paper in an IKEA glass frame) collection when at my mum's house last. Some are forgotten, but some are still very treasured...
Top row: 1. Mark Knopfler (yeah, I know, but he did use it live for 20 seconds of one track live in Shepton Mallet in 1985 and dropped it on the stage and I (hoarsely) asked the roadie for it off the stage.) 2. Jack Sonni, same Dire Straits gig. Wombled off the floor. 3. Jeff Healey. Met him after a Hammersmith gig. What a gent...
Row 2: Billy Bragg - saw him four or five times in the eighties and nearly always got to meet him and ask for a pick.
Row 3: Yngwie Malmsteen... Waited outside the gig in sub-zero temps, resorted to banging on the dressing room window until someone opened it... Got a plectrum - and probably hypothermia... The other two, I'm not sure. I think one might be Diesel, the other IDK...
Row 4: Phil Guy (Buddy's brother), and Neal Schon from Journey, who I bumped into in a guitar shop.
Row 5: Not sure. Philly? Tempted to say G. Love, but I'm not sure. The black pair, I think are the two guitarists from Saxon. Graham Oliver and, er, the other one.
Anyway, just wanted to share... 🙂
Nice tunes there! And 70-odd thousand followers on Spotify... one to watch then!
And that's a tasty Epiphone, too. What was the pedal, out of interest? 🙂
Nothing exciting Chipps - a Joyo Ironman Wooden Sound (acoustic sim). He cycled to my wife's work to drop it off for me though so he's obviously one of us!
He's local to me so I'll watch out and see if he's playing anywhere
@chipps yep I have a fair few famous picks. Work for an MI brand with someone who knows a lot of guitar techs which makes it a bit easier I guess! From what I remember I have Slash, Yngwie, Kerry King, Jim Root, Mick Thompson, Dan Hawkins, Paul Gilbert, Joe from Halestorm, Korn, Kirk Hammett, probably some others lurking around!
@_tom_ I loved the Boden so much after just 20 minutes trying it that I went home and ordered it after 2 hours of thinking I couldn't justify it.
After 3 weeks of owning it I now want another. Tried a swamp ash trem version yesterday but it didn't connect in the same way. If I can sell the Tele I'll get an NX Standard 7 string. Probably sell the baritone too...
Edit: While I was in Andertons I bought a Keeley Halo. Stunning and versatile echo.
My picks ae mostly older but
Ritchie Sambora supporting kiss
Stevie Salas
Andy Taylor - Duran
Danny Wilde - The Rembrandts
Mick and Dan TPS
Paul Warren- Richard Marx first UK your band
I have hundreds over the years but these seem to be the only ones I have left, definitely had Neal Schons at one time