Guitarists of Singletrack…

Blatant Plug time

If you are in Leeds on Saturday, the Dana Ali band are playing The Domino Club, if you want to hear a top quality guitarist then go and see them (I’m playing sax with them but you won’t be disappointed seeing Martin Chung he’s brilliant)

I have a fingerpicking question. How do people who actually know what they’re doing get crisp, clear sounding notes when they fingerpick? Mine always sound dull & muffled. Do they have long nails and use those rather than the end of the fingers? Any advise appreciated as ever 🙂

Martin Simpson, about the finest fingerstyle guitarist you will find, predominantly uses his nails for picking, but uses ‘silk wraps’ I believe to reinforce them, but I know nothing about nails…see twitter…

I use bare fingers and short nails. With time you get callouses just like on your fingering hand which improve the attack. I also play around with fingerpicks kind of like these but find them a bit harsh acoustically but it depends on the sound your after. You can also get plastic versions which have a softer tone. Getting used to them is tricky though if you are used to fingerpicking with fingers alone.

oh…and Richard Thompson uses fingers combined with a thumb pick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSShvmAxV90

Cheers @jca
I love Richard Thompson. He was the last person I saw live before covid shut everything down.

sounds fine Simon IMO

just waaaaaay too fast, chill. 🙂

Just a PSA.
If anyone is thinking of getting a Line6 Stomp or a Helix buy it NOW if there is one in stock.
Andertons have no Stomps in stock and the new price jumped up from £399 to £529 yesterday. Helix LT has jumped from £799 to £999.

That’s interesting – I didn’t see your post before I ordered a Stomp (less than a month ago), managed to get it for £399 but I see it’s now £508 on PMT. Apparently it’s a chip shortage of the slightly obscure chips they put in Helix.

Anyway, at first I couldn’t get to grips with the Stomp, then something clicked and I started getting great sounds – I loved it. Then I found myself wanting a few of the things the full-fat Helixes (floor/LT) offer – more looping options, more stomps and more DSP. I found a guy near me who was willing to trade a Helix floor for a Stomp + cash. So despite enjoying the Hx Stomp, I only owned it for about 3 weeks and I’m now the proud owner of a Helix Floor. I’ve only had a couple of hours playing with it, but it’s great so far – definitely feels like a more premium bit of kit compared with the Stomp.

I didn’t get a Stomp in the end. Picked up a Boss GT1000 Core. Totally in love with the amp sounds. The effects are pretty good too. Who’d have thought Boss made decent effects. Oh, right, everyone.
Only had it less than a week but it is pretty darn good to my ears.

Ooooh. The pots are CTS 500k already, so they’ll be decent. Switch feels cheap. Annoyingly I’ve got a CTS push-pull spare, and a fancy six way gibson style switch, but not a spare 3-way!

I’ll check out the wiring pattern, and give that a bash later on!

I ended up ordering some ’59 Brandonwound Humbuckers from the states. I’ve got his Wide Range fender ones, and they’re astonishingly good. I’m pretty impressed with the standard epi ones though.

The next question for all your noodlers!

It’s my 40s in a few weeks. The wife wants to buy me something.

I reckon something guitar-related that I’ll use a lot, so it means something and is useful.

What do you reckon? £200 max.

I have a fingerpicking question. How do people who actually know what they’re doing get crisp, clear sounding notes when they fingerpick?

Mine tend to sound crisp as long as my nails are all a similar length. If one breaks and is noticeably shorter than the rest then that will sound dull because I’m not picking in the right place. I normally then rim them all back a bit.

With time you get callouses just like on your fingering hand which improve the attack

Curious. I’ve never developed callouses on those fingers, regardless how much I’m playing. Currently I’m working through a blues book, learning techniques etc, playing for a few hours a night, and my l/h fingers are in bits from all the bending, hammering etc, but my r/h is exactly as normal.

I, uh, ‘picked up’ a pro II Jazzmaster today 🤪

Oh it is a thing of joy and beauty; 3 colour sunburst and rosewood neck, so it looks like it should do…

Sounds good through the Princeton, even enjoyed it through the Soul Food…

Can’t really see me needing the 22nd fret though… 🤣

Dave Hill of Slade used the 22nd fret regularly live and did a bend on it for good measure. Things in Em, G, Am and C all give you scope to use it. Like Nod screaming into the mic between numbers I reckon he did it just to see the crowd wince.

What do you reckon? £200 max

For £200 I would either get something to record my own stuff on, or to enhance my recordings like a keyboard, somewhere comfortable to sit while playing… or some lessons.
No matter how good you are you’ll always get something from a good teacher.

needed a practice amp for home use, for playing along to backing tracks etc, but it needed to be quiet but still sound good. My Cornford Harlequin needs to be cranked up.

came away with a Boss Katana 100w 2×12. i know it sounds ridiculous but this thing sounds great even at conversation volume.

in answer to the fingerpicking question, with a steel acoustic i prefer to have long nails for a clear crisp tone. if im having a spell playing the nylon string more regularly then i prefer bare flesh.

@Edukator: I rarely venture past the 15th fret. Kind of A, D and, if I’m really letting it all hang out, E…

Jazzmasters historically only had 21 (hence my comment) 🤪

if im having a spell playing the nylon string more regularly then i prefer bare flesh.

much prefer the punchy “attack” nails give you on a classical…. just fantastic.

My fingerpicking video up ^^^ appears to have attracted a copyright claim on YouTube. I must be getting better! 🙂

@sailor74 I’ve got a Boss Katana MK2 50w. It’s an awesome little amp, loves to be pedal driven, and has a bonkers assortment of digital tricks with the tonestudio.

@sailor74 I’ve just picked up a Fender Mustang Micro, which I am incredibly impressed with. Super-light, with a really good range of amp models and effects. I’m using it for noodling/practising around the kids, so being able to stick headphones on, stream some music from my phone and just practice, it’s really nice.

I’m lazy. When I’m messing about in Ableton, I like to use my guitar to loop some bass lines, but can’t find a good octaver. I’ve got guitar rig and amplitube, but don’t like either of them octavers in there. Can anyone recommend a good vst that will do this?

@AdamT – when jamming in Ableton to get a quick bass line, I record a guitar phrase, loop it, abs then use the pitch control to drop it 12 semitones.
Works surprisingly well, especially if you then out the bass cab effect on it from the audio effects menu.

Yeah, that works well, but I was hoping for something for live looping and for ninjam, so need a live octave Vs a post shift.

Hi @eddiebaby how does the GT1000core compare to the Plethora x5? You still got that?
I’m thinking of getting an X5, I have the GT1000core already but possibly looking for something simpler for my modulation pedals. Have external drives a plenty.

Hey @Atomizer.
I love the Core but find some of the FX a bit lacking. I don’t have the X5 any more but I loved most of what it did. The delays in the Core seem to lack what I want from a tape delay and I find the Spring reverb a bit uninspiring. An APE with a Flashback does the tape thing and a Specular Tempus sorts out the lusher reverbs. The Flashback in the X5 is great but again I find the Tape echo lacking and I did like the Spring reverb in the X5 but in the end I didn’t go down the HoF route.
I think the X5 would be a great combo with the Core and would balance out the weak spots.
I love the Core’s built in drives and I think the Rotary modulation is pretty stunning but it’s the amp sounds that really appealed. Very glad I bought it.
Currently I’m trying to work out the cabling for my pedalboard based around the Core and then find a power supply that can drive the Core (9v – OK. 670Mah – not so easy to find.) It’ll all be fun though in the end.

Hi @eddiebaby

Thanks – useful info. I was maybe planning to swap one for the other but as complement could be even better!
I do like the look of that APE pedal.

My pedalboard is a mess but I keep trying out different combos:

GT1000core
Cheapo expression pedal for volume
Boss Looper
Behringer Super Fuzz
Homemade EQD/Sunn O))) Life Pedal
Homemade Coda Effects OECD and Black Hole Doom Machine

The GT1000core PSU powers all of these pedals with some daisy chaining.

I’m really trying to get away from daisy chaining and also only want one power line going into the board so if I get a loop switcher I’ll need 8 lowish current 9v supplies and one high current, plus probably a couple of spares as if I get the Morningstar loop switcher that I really DON’T need I will have a spare loop and enough realestate free on the board to fit another pedal or two on there.

Any info on the Sunn))) pedal?

Hi @yourguitarhero
It’s a PedalPCB Parentheses Fuzz –
https://www.pedalpcb.com/product/parentheses-fuzz/

Octave Fuzz, RAT and Boost all in combination and it is pretty evil!
Not a difficult build but I built the two Coda Effects ones first to get my hand in.
Hand painted by my daughter – a Death’s Head Hawk-Moth apparently.

Oooh! Looking tidier. My first proper pedalboard ever.

Cables and power sorted tomorrow.

Finally got around to posting up photos…

New guitar day!. First one for 18 months.
Say hello to my Vintera Road Worn Strat in Surf Green.
Very comfortable to play, a beautiful aged aged nitro finish with a decent amount of checkering and a fairly minimal base level relic-ing that will soon get more authentic as it gets played.
Very happy with it and expect to be even happier as it ages.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/uCk9kj96WkmBdR466

Very nice 🙂

That’s nice.

I’ve been looking at Strats again. Proper nitro finishes are really rare these days. I finally took mine in for its long-threatened re-fret and I can’t wait to get it back. Hopefully it’ll feel good enough that I can stop yearning after a new one…!

I’m coming back guitar after a 12 month break. I’ve struggled before with bad posture while practicing sat down, resulting in neck pain and tension. Having just sat on the chair I used to always sit on whilst practicing, I’ve realised how uncomfortable it is! Any recommendations for a supportive, comfortable seat for practicing guitar on?

No idea on the chair, I like playing wandering around, mattgee.

Lovely Strat, Eddie, vintage almost everything from the pic. I note You’ve not threaded the string tree, presumeably to cut friction over the nut so it stays in tune.

I’ve been playing my Mexican Strat a lot recently, lovely to play but the pickups are a bit hot for my taste, one day I’ll change the pickups for something more vintage.

Actually @Edukator I’d forgotten to rethread it as I’d just popped the neck off to adjust the truss rod.
It all seems pretty nice but the high E string is a bit close to the fingerboard edge so I need to tweak it a bit. The bridge feels a couple of mm too far towards the treble side. I will sort it though. Very vintage feel, probably more so than my Custom Shop 50s Relic that has a larger board radius but it feeling different is no bad thing. The satin neck and the very light relicing on the fingerboard mean I can play with it a bit. The fingerboard is smoothly rounded at the edges without trying to be too worn, but at this narrow vintage width it would be easy to overdo it and make it less playable. I’m still working on the truss rod, action and spring tension to get the bridge feeling right and there is fair bit of adjusting to do as everything is interconnected. And of course I have to fit in actually playing the beast.
On that front I’ve finally got the miniboard sorted (still working on the big board power routing – planned for this weekend) the Mini board is great for the real world where finessing about little bits Of tonal tweaking will never be noticed by anyone in the audience. So out goes the Ape/Flashback and flanger and elady and boost.

Works well through most amps/PA/FRFR if I set the output IR on the GT1000Core to suit.

@mattrgee I struggle at home to find a chair the correct height when playing in different rooms – but I went for my 1st guitar lesson the other day, and the tutor had a height adjustable foot rest. Allowed me to get in the right position, regardless of the chair. I might get one for home for when I get banished to the dining room etc…

That’s an interesting setup, @eddiebaby. I was a bit underwhelmed using the THR as a speaker for my Helix – it just didn’t sound as full and intricate as either the THR built-in amps, or the Helix via headphones. I haven’t had a proper play, though. Any tips for getting it right?