So Harley Benton CST 24 P90….

Anyone got a view…

Picked up a Martin North Street Edition D-28 Herringbone over the weekend

Its very nice

Only concern is mail order? Like to pick stuff up and at least try it

Harley Benton do seem to be getting a much better rep for consistency in their guitars. The recent buyers on here haven’t come vackveoth any horror stories and if you do have a problem Thomann do seem pretty good on replacements.

I’ve got a Harley Benton CST 24 P90, in black.

It’s a stunner. However, I had to do a bit of work to get it to this point. Some work necessary, some not so much. When I got it the nut was cut a bit high, the pickups were a bit noisy (50Hz hum) and the trem wasn’t usable as it kept going out of tune after it was used.

The changes I’ve made: A pair of noiseless P90s (Kent Armstrong, beauts, a bit pricey but I didn’t want to have to play in the middle position all the time). Locking tuners and a graphite nut. The neck is perfect, the action is spot on and the trem is completely stable. I’ve spent more on the mods than I paid for the it so instead of a £200 guitar I’ve got a £450 one, which is set up perfectly.

However, I don’t play it quite as much as the Tele I made from scratch from 3 planks of alder and maple which is why it’s in the background in this picture.

Thats nice currently building a partscaster that started with a Jim Root body.

Now then guitarists. I’ve a growing collection of pedals (partially thanks to @eddiebaby) and it’s getting a bit of a faff connecting them all up and tearing them all down each time I want to play.

So the obvious solution is a pedal board…

Any steer on what’s good and what’s not?

Chipps loaned me a massive pedal board and pedals but I decided I needed something smaller so picked up a 2nd hand pedaltrain board and put a few of the pedals from the big board onto it 🙂

It’s powered by a TGI powerbox mini which I’ve stuck to the underside with some velcro.

When the big pedalboard goes back to it’s rightful owner I will need to repopulate the board but this has given me a good idea of what sort of pedals I’ll make most use of 🙂

@oldmanmtb2
I had a cst. It was great after I changed the pickups, put new strings on and leveled the frets. It was totallu fine before I did all that, but it was very nice after that.

@tomparkin
I have a pedal train mini board and a massive harley Benton board. They are both fine. The pedal train bag feels alot more protective.

Gah! Typed a big reply and got the ol’ ‘Bad Gateway’ curse! Must feed the hamsters more…

Anyway, I’m sure you’ll miss those pedals when they’re gone, @simondbarnes – I know I do 🙂 That whole bottom row is probably all you’d ever need… Don’t be buying any new pedals, though, as I probably have a similar bunch of pedals in a shoe box here…

Incidentally, if you have a Pedaltrain, I can recommend getting the Pedaltrain App. It has outlines of all of the boards, along with ‘place and rotate’ images to scale of just about every pedal out there. Really fun, just trying to build dream pedalboards (and seeing if they’ll fit in the space you have…)

Good to see this thread always popping up…

Two votes for pedaltrain then! Thanks folks 👍

Edit: maybe three votes if I count @chipps app recommendation as a tacit endorsement 😂

Hi Tom. I have a Rockboard Duo2.1 and bag for sale. I put the velcro on but it’s unused other than as a pedal store. The small Thomann power supplies fit underneath and I fit this much on there. (This is the one I do use)

https://www.andertons.co.uk/guitar-dept/guitar-pedals/pedalboards/rockboard-duo-21-with-gig-bag

Hi @eddiebaby — sorry I missed your post, I’ll PM you separately 🙂

@tomparkin – I think I have about four Pedaltrain boards if that helps 🙂

The Harley Benton/Thomann own brand one isn’t bad, especially if you get one of it’s compact power supplies that fits underneath too.

I’d also suggest getting proper ‘Velcro’ brand, heavy duty velcro as it sticks (to pedals and then to the other velcro side) very well. If you read the forums, you’ll be tempted by 3M Dual Lock, which is awesome, but you seriously only need 1cm2 per pedal corner… it’s bonkers strong. I had to get some car trim removers (basically they’re plastic prybars) to get my pedals off after I’d overindulged…

Good call on the Thomann PSUs.
I have a 5 out and 10 out both have multiple voltages, useful as I have 3 pedals on the big board that need 18v to be at their best.
And the secret with 3m double lock is to only use it on the pedals and have the usual velcro on the board.
I find the Donner pedal board tape from Amazonbto be fine.

Ah gad, I have started watching YouTube videos with titles like “Five Myths About Pedal Boards”, and am steadily upselling myself on the importance, nay, utter imperative necessity, of things like high-quality low-profile right-angled jack connectors at £5 a pop…

Keep off youtube, otherwise you end up with stuff like this. And I still have another 9 pedals and a looper. Plus the Kemper Stage.

At home I’m often just noodling though a few ripped off the bigger board or the spares shelf stuck on a bit of plastic trailer lighting board and running into the THR10ii.

And then you’ll need a second pedalboard to hold your ‘spare’ pedals, that ends up being a whole ‘nother pedalboard to find enough cables for… It’s a slippery slope. I currently have four shoe boxes of pedals that I’m not even using right now. That’s in addition to two ‘active’ pedalboards and one that Simon Barnes has of mine…

Hey, it’s cheaper than speedboad racing, I guess… 🙂

Right.
I’ve been thinking about this overnight and had a moment of sanity.
I’m going to keep the 9 pedals that really do sound different and work with the Kemper and the rest are going along with a pedalboard the GT1000 and few guitars.
I’m keeping the Tele and probably the Strat (Although I love the Baritone.) but two guitars and the bass are going.

Loving this thread but just lurking as very much a novice. Interested in how you all became good players. Did you take one to one lessons? Youtube? Apps? mix of any?

I have been learning for quite some months and loving it but aware I am not making great progress.. I am getting on a bit but I dont have any real aspirations other than to be able to confidently play some easier tunes etc. I love Jazz and Funk but I think even the easier stuff looks beyond me. Anyway what where your learning routes and what do you recommend??

Thanks

Bit like Eddiebaby – let a modeller do most of the work and add in a few pedals which complement it.
And then keep adding and realise you have more pedals which defeated the object of buying a modeller and then start selling again!
I think I have this cracked now…

I so nearly bought a Helix LT just because it would work so well with my Variax. Line6 make some great gear.

Interested in how you all became good players. Did you take one to one lessons? Youtube? Apps? mix of any?

Started playing in 1990. No lessons. My dad played but I didn’t learn from him. Obviously well before the days of apps or youtube.

My lessons were sitting with vinyl records, learning to play bits, lifting the needle and replaying a section again until I got it right. I had an ancient book of chord shapes that I used.

Very rarely, I’d buy a book of sheet music from the local music shop.

A different era entirely. Anyone picking up a guitar for the first time nowadays is so massively spoiled with resource.

I don’t really improve unless I play with others.
Should take music lessons (rather than guitar technique lessons) but I’ve left it a bit late.

Interested in how you all became good players. Did you take one to one lessons? Youtube? Apps? mix of any?

Im not a good player, very average indeed but id suggest finding very simple songs you like and learning to play them well (you tube / ultimate guitar etc) and then slowly (and i mean slowly) adding in slightly more complex stuff just to stretch yourself.

I have a number of mates i who bought their first guitar and then picked up the stone roses songbook, only to get nowhere and quit. The key for me is playing along with others or the actual record and simply enjoying it. keep it simple.

Interested in how you all became good players. Did you take one to one lessons? Youtube? Apps? mix of any?

I was given a guitar when I was 11-12, over 40 years ago. Not sure whether I asked for one or not, but I learned the most basic chords and got a better guitar when I was 18. I always had one around to play but was terrible, only having learned from some basic tutorial books and not having a particularly musical brain. I pretty much stopped playing when my first daughter was born – she’s 19 now – probably just losing interest because of lack of time and energy. I actually lost the guitar for a few years, packed behind something else in a back room.

Then, early in first lockdown I decided that I needed to learn how to play blues competently and ordered a new guitar. (Immediately finding the old one!) The amount of stuff available on the net these days is mind blowing. It’s also amazing how much I remembered from before my break, once I got over the rustiness.

I tend to sit in the intermediate levels when I look at tutorials. I’m pleased that these days I can look at a tab and work out how to play most songs in some way and can sound reasonably good at fingerpicking. But I am a two trick pony – basic strumming or decent fingerpicking. I am learning constantly, and every so often will please myself by incorporating a new technique. I find new stuff on the net, books, mags, anywhere, and play every day for anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours. This last is perhaps the biggest change – lots of noodling around, even if I’m not learning something. I have never owned an electric guitar and this needs to be my midlife crisis. 😀

TLDR : I’d barely describe myself as a guitarist, just a guitar owner. 😀

Two things have helped my improvement in playing guitar. One is finding a pub which holds a weekly session of people sitting around with acoustic guitars and taking it in turns to play and sing a song while the others all strum along. There are 3 or 4 places nearby which each have a slightly different feel. One is welcoming and non-judgmental (which is both good and bad), one has high standards and you get up to do 2 numbers to an audience. It doesn’t half sharpen you up!
The other thing is getting lessons from a professional. If you choose the right one where you can work on the things you want to, but at the same time be guided into areas where you need improvement that’s great. And you have a strong incentive to practice well for the next lesson. That works much better for me than Justin Guitar and other online resources but I like to dip into those too, especially Paul Davids and (although my tolerance of his manic style is limited) Dave Simpson.

Thanks for all the advice. Some things for me to explore 👍

Bought the most expensive guitar I could at 19

Had a job at sellafield for 1 year with literally nothing else to do

Waited for top of the pops every Thursday and stole a technique every week and played that new thing all week, much of this I still use today

After 2 years of ‘using my ear’ to play along to records I found a teacher that I liked

I learned theory not songs and worked really hard understanding the theory

Bought a rudimentary sequencer and plugged in a blues progression, within 3 months I’d learned all the blues cliche licks, by practice and error, never looked at a book and way before computers were a common home product. I was however using full major scales not blues or pentatonics

Carried on playing along to songs but now with theory.

There are many things that can improve where you currently are but for me it’s fundamental time on the instrument

For the first 2 or 3 years I never tuned my guitar nor did I know how to, I didn’t know any chords but I did know that if I could get my hands moving then that stuff would bolt on easily, which it did

So, for the longest time I’ve been able to learn any song in 20 mins, convincingly solo in the key of that song and then completely forget it until the time I need to play it again

A great piece of advice I was given was play in front of a mirror on the basis that it stops you looking down at your hands. And if you can see your self in awkward positions you will know straight away and not get into quite so many bad habits

In short

Time
Get your fingers moving
Theory

Some advice if I may please? We were looking at getting Jnr (13 and progressing nicely) a Yamaha Pacifica for Xmas. However my wife spotted a (Fender) Squier Affinity Strat bundle on offer direct from Fender.

Is this ok for the money, to ensure it’s not a wasted dream and perhaps he can upgrade at a later birthday? It’s for practise, lessons and jamming to a rock / blues back catalogue.

https://www.fender.com/en-GB/special-offers/affinity-series-stratocaster-hss-pack/0372821469.html

The Fender Squier package would be very nice for someone that isn’t going to let it just gather dust.
Thoroughbred kit at a decent price.

Yamaha Pacifica every time

The nicer the guitar the more chance you have of surviving the ‘oh this is hard work’ bit

‘Thoroughbred kit at a decent price’ not at all

I bought an Affinity Strat a few years ago as it was cheap and I wanted to mess around with pickups and wiring on it. Turned out to be a fantastic guitar out of the box.

Mike Rutherford of that Genesis has got into Squier Strats too… https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/high-flying-mike-rutherford-loves-rock-bottom-squier-bullet-stratocasters

I bought and modded a Squire Bullet Mustang a few months ago, very good base guitar.

I was impressed tbh. Frets, neck, body, pickups all excellent.
Hardware was a little cheap, but definitely playable as is.

I’ve learned some 7th chords so am trying to put them to use in a song. This one sounded easy enough but is proving tricky!

The lessons are paying off Simon.

Thanks for the feedback ^^, appreciated.

Cheers Eddie

@Kryton57 – make sure it’s one he actually wants. The best guitar in the world will be no good if it’s the wrong colour / shape.

I hope this link is helpful to some if not all. There’s a whole bunch of jam tracks on Youtube but I really like this guy’s format where he puts up all of the scale positions for the track across the whole neck ( after about 1:30 in this one). Great for switching between the scales and discovering the different modal tones. I find it really helpful even after 40 years of playing. Enjoy jamming folks……

Happy Jamming