Guitarists of Singletrack…

Cool cheers 🙂
I might dig out my Powerball to do some wrist/forearm exercises too.

How many strings before it stops being a guitar and becomes a harp? 🤪😅

I just assumed he was bigging up his new mandolin.. 😀

I just assumed he was bigging up his new mandolin

This is going to sound like I have too many instruments (maybe I do?!), but I also have a Mandolin and a Bouzouki 😆

I’m going to count up all of my guitars + sundry stringed instruments now…

Electric guitars:
– PRS SE Zach Myers vintage sunburst (heavily modified).
– ALP AD-80
– Custom Tele/Muscicman Axis mash-up
– Hohner SE-400
– Larrivee LS-2
– Jedson ‘Les Paul’
– Aria Sinsonido AS-100S
– OLP MM1
– Modified Strat kit build (built in effects and midi-output).

Acoustic guitars:
– Takamine F400 12 String
– Washburn Monterey Custom Studio 12 String
– Epiphone SST Classic
– Yamaha APX-4

Bass guitars:
– OLP MM2 (Stingray copy)
– No name 70s bass – set up for 2 string slide bass 🙂

Other:
– Kala Baritone Ukelele
– Ozark Bouzouki
– Russian Mandolin (bought in the USSR by my dad in the 70’s)

Nice collection. An 8 string should fit in just fine…

Yes, it should feel at home 😉

I feel quite undergunned now.
I did have fun at the weekend doing pickup swaps.
Much easier in the Variax with just using mouse clicks in Workbench HD 😁

Much easier in the Variax with just using mouse clicks in Workbench HD

I’ve been on the lookout for a decent second-hand Variax for a while.
Got an ebay alert set up for local sales.

This is going to sound like I have too many instruments (maybe I do?!), but I also have a Mandolin and a Bouzouki 😆

I had a mandolin years ago, and always wanted a bouzouki as well. God only knows why!

Just the two acoustics here, and have never owned an electric so that needs to change this year..

I’ve asked kind of the same question on here before, but I want to get my Strat re-fretted. It’s got teeny frets that are flat in places causing notes to lose their sustain etc.

But what are the chances that a tech will do a terrible job and make it worse? It seems like the sort of job I could do badly but is it straightforward for a half-decent guitar tech and is there any advantage in getting a well-known pro to do it?

Ooh, Eddiebaby doing pickup swaps!
I’ve decided that I’m fed up with the hum my P90s make. So I can’t decide whether to go Kent Armstrong’s new noiseless HP-90 pickup from WD Music (not a real P90 and a straight swap) or DiMarzio DP209 (which is a Super Distortion in a P90 cover) from Andertons. The DiMarzio is a coil split humbucker so I’d probably need new pots (which I was thinking of doing anyway). What would be the forum’s recommendation? Given that the cost would get me halfway to the Squier Contemporary HSS Strat that has been raved over by those who’ve played it.

@Superficial
IMHO it’s a job worth paying someone decent to do.
Bit more involved than something a standard guitar tech could do.

On the other hand I know someone who got Manson’s in Exeter to refret their guitar, assuming it’d be a sterling job (they build Matt Bellamy’s guitars) and he got what could best be described as a Friday afternoon job.
We think they let an apprentice loose on it.

I’d go by word of mouth. Find someone by recommendations.

I did my first full refret recently, Superficial. I did a guitar that was almost worthless so had nothing beyond a bag of frets to lose.

I recommend doing the same. I got better at getting the old frets out as I went along. I started at 20 on the basis I never use it. One really didn’t want to come out, it eventually yielded to heat, bending the neck back and brute force but a good few wood chips came with it.

I got better at pre-shaping the frets. I was lucky with the first two then had two attempts at the third by which time it needed glue to hold it tight. I worked out they needed slightly over bending and inserting with a tool with a radius very slightly tighter than the neck then a final tap down with a copper hammer.

When I sanded the finger board I wasn’t careful enough to avoid a very slight round at the edge which required a bit of Araldite to fill later. It’s not easy to remove over 1mm in places, get the right radius and never angle the block beyond the radius required.

I’m delighted with my first attempt but know the second will be better. A pro who has done hundreds would hopefully do better.

Ben at Crimson had a series of videos on refretting an SG (and yes I am a Crimson fan).

Just be aware that Ben at Crimson likes to use traditional tools (he has a second business selling antique tools) which is fine but usually requires much more skill and experience than modern specialist tools.

For example, Been uses (and sells) traditional three sided fret crowning files. He is a very experienced and skilled luthier and therefore is very good with said tool. But it is a million times easier and safer to use a modern shaped diamond crowning file, no skill required!

But it is a million times easier and safer to use a modern shaped diamond crowning file

Agreed. Always assuming it fits the fretwire you are using, there again he is a perfectionist in his videos and does seem to be trying to make his viewers into Pro builders even if it is inappropriate to their needs.

Just in case you’ve got a mani-esque itch to scratch…

‘Excluding vat‘

https://www.thomann.de/gb/rickenbacker_4005xc_af_90th_anni.htm

She’s here!

Just had a play.
Set up is amazingly good out of the box, no fret buzz, neck looks spot on, low-ish action, intonation seems good, fret ends are all well finished.

It does need a fret polish and neck oil through. Doing bends you can feel the frets are a bit scratchy, and the fretboard feels/looks a bit dry.

Awesome!

First time on fan frets, feels surprisingly normal.
The width of the neck is weird though 😆

I know a few people on here play Tele’s. Has anyone done the 4-way switch mod, which adds the additional position with the pickups in series? Is it a noticeably different sound to the normal middle position?

Or should I just get a Les Paul…

That 8 string looks lovely. I struggle with accurate fingering with 4 fat strings though. I’d have no chance with that 🙈

Just seen the price of the 8 String.
That is a total no brainer. Good call.

Just seen the price of the 8 String.
That is a total no brainer. Good call.

Yeah I know. I own more expensive shoes!

I bought a b-stock one for £128, and they seem to have forgotten to charge me Vat on it 🤨

According to the website, for purchases under £135, Thomann invoice you the Vat before finalising the sale. But as I paid by PayPal, they didn’t do this.

I was expecting the UPS guy to hand me a vat invoice, but nope, just dropped it at the door and left.

So we’ll wait and see if anyone works out what has happened. I’ll keep schtum until they do 🤭

I’ll keep schtum until they do 🤭

And we’ll do the same as long as you let us borrow it. 😉

Woke (early) this morning and after bleeding the central heating the house got toasty and outside looked awful so I set about the guitar. Strings off, thorough clean and oil of the fretboard new Ernie Balls on to replace the D’Addarios that have been on there for a couple of months and then tweak the truss rod, action and intonation.
Damn! Does anything feel better than fresh strings on a well set up guitar? My mood would be even better if I didn’t find 2 of the new strings had the ball ends missing from the ends. Luckily there was enough length to twist in a couple cut off the old strings. First time that has happened to me.
Anyway a quick ride out for an hour and then a shower and some playing.

Have revisited Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were Here this afternoon. I desperately need some lessons so could really do with covid **** off! Did try using Chipps’s Ditto Looper so that I was playing the solo over the chords but my timing is awful and it sounded even more dreadful that when just on it’s own!

Sounds more than good enough to me Simon.
When recording the backing chords to the looper can I suggest a metronome app for your phone or tablet?
I was OK on short sequences but found I was prone to wander a bit over more than 8 bars.
Someone on here recommended the Soundbrenner app that has a great free version. Crank the volume up loud or stick a little bluetooth speaker on it to get it even louder and away you go. Timing and rhythm needs as much practice as playing the right notes.
Even when not recording loops have the metronome running at a pace you feel comfortable playing the piece at. You’ll soon notice the places where you slip away from proper timing.

Thanks, I’ll try and give it a go 🙂

I tried practicing with a metronome for the first time last week. Very distracting! I really struggled with it at first but could see the benefit once I locked into it.

Yeah, personally I couldn’t play along with a metronome as it was too CLACK – CLACK – CLACK for me. It was an old school wind up one mind.

I ended up buying a drum pedal (Mooer Micro Drummer) and that’s brilliant. Having a more authentic drum loop seems to absolutely fine in not being distracting. 🙂

@simondbarnes sounding pretty good there! Chapeau for posting up, you’re a braver soul than I am 🙂

I was bored, so I made this. Zebrano and flamed maple truss rod cover for my PRS SE. I never liked the plastic one it came with.

That’s nice. 👍🏼

Good shout. If you have an iphone or ipad I suppose a Garageband loop would work.

If you have an iphone or ipad I suppose a Garageband loop would work

Better still, the virtual drummers in Garageband. They’re fantastic to play over and really easy to tweak the drums to whatever you want

@benman Yup, I’ve got a 4-way switch in the tele I built. Very simply, just do it. There’s definitely enough difference in tone to warrant the faff – it’s great for leads.

Better still, the virtual drummers in Garageband.

Never even tried them before. Excellent advice. Thanks.

There’s definitely enough difference in tone to warrant the faff – it’s great for leads.

It’s not the same as they are virtual pickups but I’ve been trying that on the Variax. Also interesting what a difference playing with pickups and pot and capacitor values can do. Not the real world sounds but definietly more for the tone palette.
Currently having fun with tunings and killing strings with the flick of a switch. Going from Standard Tele to 5 string Open G instantly.
Ooly works if you are playing loud or through headphones as the acoustic sound of the strings clashes so much with the pitchshifted sounds.
All fun and just another excuse to actually not bother learning to improve my playing. 🙁

I so want a JTV-59 and its all you guys fault 🙂