Guitarists of Singletrack…

I’m really starting to make progress by having someone point out and correct all the things I’m doing wrong.

Post a video of yourself on a Facebook guitar group and you’ll have loads of people point out what you’re doing wrong :}

Wrong or different. As noted on this thread some people like to wrap their hand around the neck when playing some chords to either mute the E/A or make a chord, it’s “wrong” but works, and it if it feels comfortable why not? Earlier in the thread someone was saying you need the guitar in a particular position below your eyes or something, **** that, let it hang where it feels comfortable and don’t be afraid to move it around to make things easier – I lift the neck to play things with my thumb on the back of the neck and and drop it to play solos or with my hand wrapped around the neck.

Leaving the E string ringing when you’re not using it sounds awful so that is “wrong” but there’s no “right” way of muting it so long as you mute it.

Waiting on work to be mailed over I was browsing the web and found there was a major update to the firmware on my THR10-ii.
A quick install and it’s pretty ace. A new ‘Open” mode for the physical speaker cabs give basically 32 cabs to hear (but not on the digital output), a lot of amps have been reworked a bit, everything seems to sound good with all the tone knobs at 12 o’clock, there’s a new digital delay and you can record in Stereo with one effected channel and one dry so you can play around in your DAW.
Best of all a bluetooth MIDI footswitch can now control everything with a very easy setup via the app.
Brilliant stuff and obviously FREEEEEEEEE!!!!!

The MIDI assign page:

I only have a MK1 THR10, but it’s nice to see decent new features added. BT midi footswitch compatibility is a great addition

Bluetooth foot switching would rely on the THR app actually working reliably which IME it doesn’t at all. Mine probably works 1 time in 5, and then only for a few minutes before it crashes. Rubbish. And the same with both the iOS and Mac app. Seems to work over USB but that’s not very convenient.

Also the THR update made the wireless dongle useless until I disabled the new ‘eco recharge’.

I’m just ranting. Hopefully they’ll patch it soon.

Well I wish it even existed on the Boss Katana. I regret buying it as there appears to be no foot switch method of changing effects.

I’ve got two foot switches on the Mustang, one to change amp model and the other with a tuner/mute, stomp, modulation, delay, direct access and big jumps to amp models. Everything you need on stage under your foot.

Bluetooth foot switching would rely on the THR app actually working reliably which IME it doesn’t at all. Mine probably works 1 time in 5, and then only for a few minutes before it crashes. Rubbish. And the same with both the iOS and Mac app. Seems to work over USB but that’s not very convenient.

Also the THR update made the wireless dongle useless until I disabled the new ‘eco recharge’.

I’m uploading files to our printers and playig at the same time. All seems OK for me on Mac (Only running Mac El Cap 11.6 on this machine) and latest iOS ipad and current Samsung Android, so happy about that. It wouldn’t work if I had USB connected at the same time as bluetooth.
My wireless is via a cheapo set of wireless connectors and the only problem with them is the battery life is down to about 2.5 hrs on the transmitter end as I’ve used it so much over lockdown.

@edukator: If I can change between the 5 presets and turn off the delay I’ll be happy. Cant see a way for tap tempo but being honest its a little practice amp, not meant for gigging. I’d drag it down to the local for a quiet jam night but it wouldn’t work over any kind of drummer…

Well I wish it even existed on the Boss Katana. I regret buying it as there appears to be no foot switch method of changing effects.

Whicb model do you have? If it’s the 100w, artist or head then the GA-FC footswitch allows switching between patches and turning individual effects on and off, plus two additional switches can be added which are customisable, plus an expression pedal. Or two expression pedals and one additional switch I think.

For the 50W the GA-FC isn’t compatible (I assume deliberately by Boss to drive people to buy the 100W). You can use a MIDI controller apparently – there are some youtube videos on how to get that working – it sounds very complex though and I think most people would trade in the 50W for a 100W and buy a GA-FC instead – assuming that they like the Katana itself that is.

It’s the Katana Air which as far as I am aware has no options at all

This guy demos the foot switch on a THR for those interested.

It’s a shame there’s no looper capability built in, otherwise it would literally do everything.

The new app and firmware make it a lot easier. Open the app screen I screenshot posted above, tap the function you want to control and then operate the MIDI switch or slider you want to control it with.

If you have the THR30 with the separate outputs you can feed those into your looper and then run the looper back into the Aux input on the THR top panel so it will record your playing with all the effects. As it is going into the aux input it won’t play through the amp/FX section a secondtime but you can keep adding layers with different effects if you want.
Pretty smart. Doesn’t work on the 10 though. #sadface

@Superficial I’m reading assorted reports that the iOS app doesn’t play nicely with anything other than the latest iOS 14.3 on the iPad.

Not the best guitar or vocals but this video and twist on a a Christmas song, is something I knocked up.

Snowman

Edited to add, how do you embed youtube ?

Don’t knock yourself, that’s great, if a little sad.

Edit to add: copy paste the url into the forum just like pasting a line of text and it will work.

Don’t knock yourself, that’s great, if a little sad.

Thanks I really appreciate it, yes came out a bit sadder than I expected 🙂

I quite liked it too. I’m trying to improve my singing, so impressed by anyone who can sing and is happy to put it on the internet! 👍👨‍🎤

@bazzer I liked that. It is a melancholic song, but still fantastic. FGTH are underrated IMHO. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers guys for the positive feedback, I was more chuffed how the video came out. I wish I had recorded it for longer as he melted even more 🙂 Its sped up and then processed into an animation.

@AdamT I appreciate you kind workds on my singing, I am always happy for people to hear me play. I am really embarrassed about my singing so it means a lot 🙂 My voice has got stronger with practice, but still warbles off a fair bit 🙂 I bet Holly Johnson also did a fair few takes to hit it all on the record 🙂

Two Girls, 2 guitars. One Christmas song. A great end to the year.
Have a great break folks.

Is anyone into guitar fettling to the extent of fretwork, and are there any suggestions for sourcing luthier tools other than Stewmac who are both expensive (but I assume high quality and “worth it”) and charge a lot for shipping to the UK ?

I ask because I’m considering learning how to do this – fret levelling, recrowning etc as I quite enjoy doing this sort of thing and it’s where my current skillset / confidence runs out and it’s frustrating to have to go to a luthier to sort out the odd high fret etc.

Initially this would be practicing on scrap / cheap ebay guitars, then gradually building up until confident to work on my own guitars. The cost of the tools would hopefully pay for themselves over time – but that’s a long time at Stewmac plus shipping (and I guess import duty) costs.

I’d get onto the fretboard for that level of advice. Maybe a more likely audience?

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/categories/making-modding

@markwsf
Check out Crimson Guitars, their tool shop and their excellent videos on YouTube on building stuff.

https://www.crimsonguitars.com/

Yep, Crimson will sell it. I watch the Crimson channel as I appreciate and am interested in what Ben is doing but I never actually like the guitars he makes!

I went for bits and bobs from eBay.

My Harley Benton had a few frets that weren’t level. It was cheap enough to have a go at.

It wasn’t hard. Just a load time spent carefully following instructions and slowly using files.

The most expensive bit was a diamond file with a bit of wood stuck on it.

In hindsight, I should have spent more time masking the fretboard as I scratched it in a few places.

I ended up with level frets that were a bit rough. The solution to this was 3min per fret with some very fine micro mesh cloth. That’s 3×24, which is a lovely job and the frets are very smooth, it would have taken a lot let time if I had sprung for some slightly less fine micro mesh and worked my way up.

I watch the Crimson channel as I appreciate and am interested in what Ben is doing but I never actually like the guitars he makes!

Me to. I really like the way Ben comes across and I’d love a guitar from him. His craftsmanship is excellent but I find some of his finishes ‘challenging’.
Still always tune in to his 3 videos a week.

@tall_martin it must be a bit worrying taking a file to your precioussss the first time. My Floyd equipped beast has a couple of worn frets and I’m trying work out the best way to sort it. I’m thinking I’m going to have to go down the partial regret route at least.

Thanks! This looks like potentially quite a deep rabbit hole…

I went on Crimson’s site for the first time after a mention on here from guitarhero. I looked at the tool section as I like tools. Ten minutes later my cart was nearly up to £300 just from thinking “oooh, that looks useful…”.

Just spent a few hours with ‘just’ an Ipad, a THR10ii and my JTV.
Someone up there said how good modern gear is. Even with a couple of beers in me I was getting better sounding results with far less fuss than the Portastudios and pedals of my past.
Golden times.

Just spent a few hours with ‘just’ an Ipad, a THR10ii and my JTV.

I suspect a THR10ii maybe my next significant purchase.

I spent just a few hours with my Katana and a Windows 10 laptop…
Lots of fun making noises that weren’t really music, but I hit on one bugbear.
The input through the USB to the laptop is really low. Unless I whack the output of the Katana to 200% and have it in a loud setting it’s really quiet when recording into Audacity. To record my acoustic I just strummed it and used the laptop mic. This came through about 30 times louder than the USB.
I’ve heard this is a known issue with windows 10. Has anyone found a workaround? Installing drivers, that sort of thing?

I suspect a THR10ii maybe my next significant purchase.

I doubt you’d regret it.
Mine gets used every day, usually several times as it sits to the computer I work on. It sounds pretty great at low volume and is so easy to get great sounds from. I’m getting rid of gear before moving back to Weymouth and my much loved DT25 will go before the THR.

I’ve fixed my problem with the low input through the USB port; I downloaded Equalizer APO, a bit of free software, and I’ve now got a complete home recording set-up on the cheap!
I’m amazed by the number of sounds and effects I can find on the Boss Katana 50 II, plugged into my old Core i3 laptop. I’m just using Audacity and headphones which gives the ability to lay down a click track plus a number of other tracks. Even my acoustic comes across sounding quite real.
There is one major problem: just like nobody likes hearing the sound of their own voice, hearing my own terrible playing is truly terrifying!
More time spent playing guitar, less time playing with the tech is definitely needed.

Just spent a few hours with ‘just’ an Ipad, a THR10ii and my JTV.

Out of interest, what were you using / running on the ipad?

GarageBand normally. I also have CubaseLE3 but haven’t tried that yet.

My mate has just let me know he has a new guitar. An acoustic guitar. With a built in amp/speaker. And multi fx. And a looper.
I sniggered a bit until I saw this.

@markwsf I’ve recently leveled and re-crowned my three guitars.

In terms of tools the only special tool you really need is the correct size diamond crowning file. I started with a three sided crowning file from Crimson and it was bloody hard getting any reasonable shape. Diamond crowning file just does the job, don’t bother getting any other crowning file!

I also wouldn’t bother with the abrasive rubbers, I didn’t find them all that effective. I got some varying grades of emery paper (400 to 2500) and just worked up through these to get pretty polished looking frets.

The process of leveling and crowning is quite easy, just take your time, don’t rush it, and make sure you tape up the fretboard well!

Oh, and if you want advice, post on a forum of crusty old guitar dudes and brace yourself:

TDPRI thread

There’s a Kevin Bacon fronted look at the electric guitar over the years. A bit of a generic documentary but it passes time.
If you have Prime it is on there.
If you haven’t it is free on IMDB TV if you have an IMDB login (also free.)

https://www.imdb.com/tv/watch/tt1112291?ref_=tt_wo_fdv_1

Trailer:

BBC had a great series on drums, bass and guitar. Not available currently but I’m sure it’ll be on again

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00024k9/episodes/guide

Yep, I downloaded them. Pretty darn good. Stuart Copeland on Drums. Lenny Kaye Guitar and Tina Weymouth talking bass.

I see a lot of people saying they wish that they had a better understanding of music theory, could someone please suggest some good reference books on this or other resources that might be helpful.