Guitarists of Singletrack…

Just things I don’t like, notably a Marshal AS 50 acoustic amp, artificial sound, not as much clean power as you’d expect from a 50W and the anti-feedback thing was useless. I just use a Fender Mustang electric amp on the “British Watts” setting and low gain, or plug direct into my PA which has chorus, delay and reverb.

Anyone else offloaded gear

Just putting another ad together. Got rid of a couple of OD/Distortions at the weekend.

Excuse the newb* question – how often do people change strings? A Google search suggests every few weeks but that seems crazy.

*I’ve owned a guitar for about 30 years but still can’t play so definitely still a newb 🙂

Three top e-strings in the last week on my Tele, all Jan Akkerman’s fault, a succession of bends on the e-string wears them thin in a few days and they break. The E, A and D on that guitar are still the originals after a couple of years. In short I change strings when they break except for guitars used on stage which get new strings before performing.

Greasy fingers kill the sound in the short term but can be cleaned.
Rust means you need to take your guitar to the guitar shop, give it back to them and never neglect an instrument again.
Playing, bending and whammying loads will affect the strings but if you are happy with the sound who cares?..

except for guitars used on stage which get new strings before performing.

Always my wife’s pet hate with her guitarists in the 70’s who didn’t know how to pre-stretch strings and spent the first 30 minutes out of tune.
I suspect you know how to do that though.

Depends how much you play and how sweaty and dirty your fingers are and if its an acoustic or electric. Acoustics are much more sensitive to string wear. For me acoustic strings lose their magic after a week but I’ll play them for a month. Electrics can last 2-3 months easy.

I suspect you know how to do that though.

Big bend, retune, big bend, retune… till it stays in tune does it for me.

Indeedy. Maybe even the pull away from the fretboard at the 12th fret, but always respecting the elastic limit. Thank you John Hooke.

For me acoustic strings lose their magic after a week but I’ll play them for a month. Electrics can last 2-3 months easy.

A week? Blimey.

In short I change strings when they break except

I can’t remember the last time I broke a string, I don’t really do big bends

but if you are happy with the sound who cares?..

Very good point 🙂

Ta for the input. I think that rather than regularly fitting new strings I’d rather save the money up and buy a Jazzmaster 🙂

Pre lockdown when I was a full time pro, then usually 3 or 4 gigs tops per set of strings. High profile gigs (few and far between for me) restring per gig. I gigged 6 guitars regularly….get through just under 50 sets of strings a year usually. Not restrung anything since lockdown!!!

get through just under 50 sets of strings a year usually

I suspect that I will get through fewer sets than that in my lifetime 🙂

if you’re playing at home and your hands are clean then they last better, I have dry hands and it seems to make the strings last longer but the trade off is that I seem to be unable to grip a bloody plectrum ! I’m going to try a wooden pick, if anyone else uses one please recommend.

get through just under 50 sets of strings a year usually

Wow that’s impressive. And presumably fairly expensive / environmentally questionable?

I don’t subscribe to the ‘change strings every month’ thing – unless you exclusively play one instrument, you’d be changing strings all the time. I’m no pro but I probably change strings every 2 months for the guitar I play most (my Baja Tele, since you asked) and less for the others. Having said that, I changed my acoustic’s strings recently for the first time in, oh, a year or so, and it did instantly sound a lot nicer…

I too have dry fingers, I lick my finger then rub finger and thumb together till they feel tacky then grab the pick before they dry completely. Not a good idea in Corona times I know. It works with most picks, I usually play with the Fender EXTRA HEAVY originals.

I’m not really sure how ‘environmentally questionable” it is?! It’s just part of the job!! If I didn’t change them that often then they’d break anyway! Stage lights/sweat/changing temps and humidity all wreck strings….it’s not the same as sitting in your bedroom and playing for 30 minutes, this is 2 hours plus on stage.

I did a tour of ski resorts last winter prior to lockdown, vast majority of gigs were outside…..coldest was minus 9 on stage…..I broke 3 strings in 2 songs at one point!

I change whatever strings are on a new guitar I’ve bought to slinkys and then never change again until they break or if I’m modding pickups or something

I hate the sound of new strings.

When I was gigging 3 times a week for years I never changed strings umless they broke which was I think 2 g strings over 3 years, never wiped them down.

They just seem to last for years with me. I did lend a few guitars to a work mates son and they would come back absolutely dead. very very strange

I use 1mm Dunlop pics and if I’m sweating I usually have a couple I’ve stuck a red hot needle through a few times to give a bit more traction.

I’ve joined in the clearout…..

Just got rid of an Orange Crush 35RT, a Palma plywood classical, a Behringer tremolo pedal, an NYC Big Muff Pi and a Vintage SG.

On the other hand, I’ve ordered a Big Muff Tone Wicker. It’ll take up less room on the board…🙂

Changing strings depends very much on how much i’m gigging. Right now i’m on the same set since just after the covid stuff started cos i can live with the crappy sound. But if my band are playing regularly they get changed a fair bit. Worn strings snap and standing on stage changing a string 3 songs in whilst everyone looks bored and the rest of the band get impatient is no fun whatsoever.

Nice interview with EVH about the early days.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/there-are-no-rules-eddie-van-halen-the-last-guitar-mag-interview

Maybe even the pull away from the fretboard at the 12th fret, but always respecting the elastic limit

I use the off centre pinch method up and down the string. Thumb and forefinger about two inches apart. Never really need to changle my strings.

Which is weird because i use my fingers. They don’t get grubby like some peoples do and don’t really rust.

Regarding picks, I find jazz 3 carbons nice and grippy. Lots of ridges on them….. And they’re carbon! 👍

I need some advice regarding gear, I’ve been playing about 11 months and have now found a drummer and a bass player. We’re currently getting a set together The Who, Squeeze, Free, Santana and other great works and also working on some original stuff. At the moment we’re looking towards some outdoor gigs so need to know what gear is essential, drummer has full kit and bass player has a 35w amp, I have an electric and acoustic with a pathetic practice amp.
Hit me with some wisdom on gear because once we hit superstardom I probably won’t want to mix with the little people 🤣😊

There’s two ways to do it.

If you’re playing a gig that has a full PA (that has enough channels/mics/power/speakers to amplify all the instruments), then you don’t need very powerful amps for your instruments – just enough to hear yourself on stage (this can be supplemented by foldback monitors – wedge shaped PA speakers pointing back at you). You might get away with the amps you have.

But if the gig just has a PA for the singer and requires you to make up your own sound, then you’ll need more grunt than practise amps. Outdoors requires more power than indoors too (no walls to bounce the sound back on). Essentially, you need to be a similar volume to your drummer.
While there’s a few variables there, you’d be looking at around 50W for the guitar amp (through a least 1 12″ speaker), and 200W for the bass amp – with a couple of 10″ speakers or a 15″.

Mind you, with the modern way things work I’m not sure there are that many people that even use foldback monitors these days – it’s all in-ears. Individually adjustable mix so no competition about which instruments need to be higher in the foldback mix.

If you are looking at running your Electric and Acoustic then you can have problems as both need different amp solutions.
For my Variax the electrics go into a valve 25w thats loud enough for a small pub gig and the acoustic sounds go into a powered pa speaker that has a mode for acoustic guitar input.
If you only have one amp for both then consider some of the modelling amp/FX units from companies like Line6 and Roland and then run that into a FRFR (Full Range Flat Response) powered PA speaker.
That way you can set up a bunch of presets for electric and acoustic and switch between them as needed.

Yes, I had a bit of a purge early lockdown – sold a fair number of guitars:
John5 Squier Tele
EVH Wolfgang
Gretsch 5240T hollowbody
Squier 51
and my lovely PRS Swamp Ash 25th.

Bought loads of pedals instead. (Actually @eddiebaby… I now have er, four – maybe five – loopers. I did sell a Ditto though) and also bought a 5150 Lunchbox 2 amp, which sounds very fun (passive volume control and noise gate in the FX loop for the win)

And now, like many people on here, I’m looking at one of those Barefaced cabs… 😉

I do still have a hankering for an(other) Explorer for some reason. Obviously playing too much hrrrrock!

Just the 5 loopers eh?
I’ve only got three. Well one dedicated and 2 in multiFX.
I’m just about to do a big clearout of amps and pedals ready to move back to a simpler a setup.
I’ll post a message here when they are in the classifieds.

If there’s a JC55 or maybe 120….or a Vintage Pro Reverb in there, let me know!

Two (I think…) Dittos, a big BOSS RC-50 (the three channel one) and an Akai Headrush. Wait, there must be more – I do have a TC Flashback X4 but that’s been on loan for a year and who knows if I’ll see it again.

I had a big simplification last year – down to only using a Blues Jr, one guitar, a Flint, tuner and overdrive, but it’s been creeping up again as I’ve joined a ‘dad rock’ band (which arguably only needs a two channel amp) and the justification is there for more gear (or getting more back out of the cupboard).

As Tom-B says, let us know when sales are pending 🙂

I use keyboards to create stuff to play along too and would like to get a bit better.

Is there the equivalent of Justin Guitar for Keyboards ?

Cheers

Bazzer

Noone is using IEMs unless you’re bringing your own PA and sound engineer to every gig, and I doubt that is likely for Twinw4ll

You clearly need a new amp @chipps I’ve really never liked the Blues Junior!

I do, don’t I? 🙂

I ended up buying a new ply cab and speaker to re-house the amp in, to see if I liked it better. It’s OK, but it’s not really amazing. I found after rehearsal, that I had the treble on zero and still found it too bright. And the reverb is great, if you keep it under 1.5…

I do have several other amps, but I’m currently exploring the world of mid-power heads to see where I end up…

Yep been through all of that myself, as have many others I know. Much better to just buy what you’re trying to make a Blues Junior sound like in the first place was my take away!

A better buy is a secondhand Peavey Classic 30….not stupid heavy, or stupid loud, but sounds like a Blues Junior should!!! They’re dirt cheap second hand

My recommendation to those looking for gigging amps is to get a second hand Marshall DSL50 head (£300-ish) and a 1960a 4×12″ (£200-ish used) or 1936 2×12″ (£150) if the 4*12 won’t fit in your car.

The DSL50 has been around for yonks and it is just “right”. Enough pre-amp gain and tone control to work well at any level from rehearsal room to an outdoor gig and with a totally perfect right down the middle “rock” sound with 2 channels. The Marshall cabs are ubiquitous for a reason – they just work and the two are designed to work together.

So, £500-600 and you’ll have a pro level rig that you could sell for exactly the same money 10 years from now.

I also have a 1936 2×12 cab, which is great, but I don’t think I’m ever going to play anywhere big enough to justify it (or have room on stage for it!) but I think it was £150 ten years ago and it’ll go for that if/when I sell it again. (It’s currently a suitable stand for a JCM800 head…)

Gigrig G3

£1100 for a box that makes no sound of its own

and yet one of the most desirable toys I’ve seen in a while

Ordered a G3 Atom as that has everything I need

If anyone is interested I have some effects and bits in the classifieds under the Technology classification.
Amps will go up later this afternoon.