Guitarists of Singletrack…

@chipps the spark go is great for practice as outlined above. Only note of caution is that the speaker is pretty small and the quality of the sound you get out loud is “ok” but not like playing through a decent proper amp. I suspect that’s  down to speaker size and anything similarly portable is going to suffer that way too. Through headphones it sounds great!

The Spark Go makes a very nice holiday/travel practice amp.
Just don’t let someone else prat around on your phone while you’re trying to practice.

Oh lordy… The next Gardner Houlgate auction catalogue is out. 1500 lots! And if you can’t find something that you like there, you’re a liar 🙂

Chipps you are a bad man 😂

Try out the Spark before buying, I thought it sounded absolutely terrible. A few ok clean or high gain sounds, but everything in-between sounded rubbish to me. Maybe check out a Pod Express which is probably going to be my next guitar purchase – close to Helix level modelling with a few FX, and an audio interface in a nice compact box for £190. Or if you need a speaker rather than headphones or monitors, the Yamaha THR10 series always sounded good to me. I’ve been hoping for Line 6 to use that Yamaha tech to put Helix models in a small desktop amp but nothing yet, unless it’s completely flown under my radar!

@eddiebaby nice Strandberg! I’ve wanted one ever since I played my mates Boden. For most of my 20+ years of playing I’ve been on Les Pauls and SGs with fat necks, so the ergonomics and weight are pretty much the polar opposite but I really loved it. Most of the time when I try a guitar out my response is meh, but that one really stuck with me. Been tempted by the Boden Essentials but feel like I should probably go the whole hog with fan frets if I’m doing it.

Cheers for the thoughts @_tom_ I have plenty of headphoney type amps (HX Stomp and a Quad Cortex(!)) but nothing with a speaker that’s less than 20 Watts. (Actually, I have an Epiphone Valve Junior, but that’s now in a combo with a 12in speaker…) – the Yamaha THR10 seems to be very popular around here, though they’ve always seemed kinda pricey. The wireless one appeals, though, as I do already have have a Line6 wireless, but I think I’m looking more £100ish than £300-400ish, so Blackstar Fly and/or Spark.

As for the fan frets on the Strandbergs, they’re not really that fanned – it’s only 25in scale on the short end and 25.5in on the long end for the six string and it’s barely noticeable. So, it’s a Strat on the bass strings and a PRS on the treble. The fan only starts at the zero fret, whereas if you get the seven or eight string, the ‘straight’ fret is at fret 7, so it’s far more of a two-way fan as the fan goes both ways from fret 7.

I’ve used a Line6 Pocket Pod for a long time, what with travelling to ships all over the world.

Really useful, but does need a ready supply of batteries.  UI is a bit of a puzzle to get your head around, but even I got it figured in the end.

I had the Spark 40. Through headphones it was great. Sounds were fantastic, loads of tones available. The jam along thing was great. Basically load tracks from Spotify and play along with chords shown in the app. For most popular stuff you’d also get specific tones for each song.

The downside was the sound without the headphones. Unbelievably bassy. Impossible to dial out with the built in eq. They added a virtual eq pedal which did sort it,.but it used up one of the available FX slots. The app was also very temperamental. Didn’t function logically. For example you’d be browsing the tone catalogue thing, find one you liked, play it for bit then decide to maybe navigate back to the main screen. At that point it stopped the tone you were playing and reverted to one of the four savable presets. An utter pain. Also if you happened to maybe look at an other app on your phone, the Spark app basically closed and you had to reopen it when you swiped back to it. It was very clunky.

The app problems will still persist on the smaller Go device and I did hear some comments about bass being prominent but won’t be as bad as the 40.

I sold the Spark a few months ago and haven’t regretted it once

Anyone here ever collect famous plectrums? OK, just me then… 🙂
I did a LOAD of small/medium gig going in the late 80s and would try to meet the band if I could and would always ask for a plectrum if I got the chance. Other times, they were thrown out in the audience and I would be the one scrabbling around on the floor 🙂

Anyway, I found my (not very glamorously mounted on a bit of kitchen paper in an IKEA glass frame) collection when at my mum’s house last. Some are forgotten, but some are still very treasured…

Top row: 1. Mark Knopfler (yeah, I know, but he did use it live for 20 seconds of one track live in Shepton Mallet in 1985 and dropped it on the stage and I (hoarsely) asked the roadie for it off the stage.) 2. Jack Sonni, same Dire Straits gig. Wombled off the floor. 3. Jeff Healey. Met him after a Hammersmith gig. What a gent…

Row 2: Billy Bragg – saw him four or five times in the eighties and nearly always got to meet him and ask for a pick.

Row 3: Yngwie Malmsteen… Waited outside the gig in sub-zero temps, resorted to banging on the dressing room window until someone opened it… Got a plectrum – and probably hypothermia…  The other two, I’m not sure. I think one might be Diesel, the other IDK…

Row 4: Phil Guy (Buddy’s brother), and Neal Schon from Journey, who I bumped into in a guitar shop.

Row 5: Not sure. Philly? Tempted to say G. Love, but I’m not sure. The black pair, I think are the two guitarists from Saxon. Graham Oliver and, er, the other one.

Anyway, just wanted to share… 🙂

I’ve got a Derek Smalls signature Spinal Tap plectrum from the Royal Albert Hall gig. To be fair, he chucked hundreds into the crowd and, afaik, didn’t even play with one!

I bought a pedal through facebook marketplace yesterday and saw the guy had a you tube channel so I thought I’d check it out, thinking it would be the normal pub band stuff – he’s sooooo much better than that.

Check him out: Romain Axisa

Nice tunes there! And 70-odd thousand followers on Spotify… one to watch then!
And that’s a tasty Epiphone, too. What was the pedal, out of interest? 🙂

Nothing exciting Chipps – a Joyo Ironman Wooden Sound (acoustic sim). He cycled to my wife’s work to drop it off for me though so he’s obviously one of us!

He’s local to me so I’ll watch out and see if he’s playing anywhere

@chipps yep I have a fair few famous picks. Work for an MI brand with someone who knows a lot of guitar techs which makes it a bit easier I guess! From what I remember I have Slash, Yngwie, Kerry King, Jim Root, Mick Thompson, Dan Hawkins, Paul Gilbert, Joe from Halestorm, Korn, Kirk Hammett, probably some others lurking around!

@_tom_ I loved the Boden so much after just 20 minutes trying it that I went home and ordered it after 2 hours of thinking I couldn’t justify it.

After 3 weeks of owning it I now want another. Tried a swamp ash trem version yesterday but it didn’t connect in the same way. If I can sell the Tele I’ll get an NX Standard 7 string. Probably sell the baritone too…

Edit: While I was in Andertons I bought a Keeley Halo. Stunning and versatile echo.

My picks ae mostly older but

Ritchie Sambora supporting kiss
Stevie Salas
Andy Taylor – Duran
Danny Wilde – The Rembrandts
Mick and Dan TPS
Paul Warren- Richard Marx first UK your band

I have hundreds over the years but these seem to be the only ones I have left, definitely had Neal Schons at one time

I may be looking to trade my amp for something if anyone here might be interested in a Marshall Studio Jubilee 2525H? It’s in excellent condition, did a few gigs with it before my last band broke up and it’s just been sat in a cupboard unused for about a year. Probably not going to be in a band again any time soon so would be nice to swap it for something useful!

Very long shot as it’s so specific, but would love to swap for a nice 54cm road or gravel bike. Other than that, something nice that’s LP, Tele or PRS-esque could be cool. Or possibly something digital like a Helix LT.

On Tuesday I went along to Crimson Guitars and was confronted with this:

A “SRP” guitar kit for their three day course. Semi finished neck, body and a bunch of bits. Body was sycamore top, sapele bottom. Reasonable flaming on the top.

First was fret levelling and crowning, then finishing

Then lots of sanding, drilling, sanding, more sanding on the body.

To bring out the flaming, first there was a black stain, which was left to dry and then sanded back to leave this.

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Then the main colour – green middle, blue outer. Neck fitted (with help from one of their luthiers to get the height correct), then off for a satin top coat.

Rubbed down with paper to flatten, then electrics, pick-ups, bridge, tuners. Oh, making the nut too. Then set-up – something new for me – and finally…

Loved the course. There were a couple of people there doing a 3 month course, one of which was over from the US. Two people on a two week course making quite complex guitars, and one on a five day making a basic tele from scratch. I learnt a lot about how a guitar is put together and the set-up skills will come in handy.

Nice! I enjoy watching Ben’s stuff on YouTube even though some of his creations are a bit much for my tastes 🙂

How much was the course?

£1200 including the kit. About £260 on the hardware, but can be cheaper – I went for the more expensive end – then I supplied my own pick-ups. Gotoh locking tuners, 510FX bridge (through body stringing), Schaller pick-up surrounds.

So not bad for a unique, carefully finished, properly set-up guitar. Except the front strap button, that should have been further over but I never play standing anyway.

Loft find whilst clearing out a departed relative’s attic.

Suzuki 9705 “Hummingbird”.

Started to clean it and new strings are on order.

My daughter has already claimed it.

Excellent discovery. She’ll love it.

I know this is going to strike a low tone on this thread, but our younger son who is learning guitar at school, told us about two weeks ago that he was going to be playing American Idiot at the school’s end of year concert.

As the bassist.

Apparently he’d found a bass guitar in the school music room, taught himself to play in a few weeks and with a couple of mates was going to get on stage.

Which they did last night.

I’m not going to claim it was dripping with virtuosity and skill (or even a decent mix on the sound) but the punk attitude and energy was spot on.

His first time on stage. Proud dad.

Ace 😁

Top work!

There is nothing low about that!  Anybody that gets up in front of an audience to play an instrument, sing or do something creative like slam poetry or comedy gets a round of applause from me. Its on my bucket list to achieve and I’m 55. I just wish I’d realised how important it is to DO this type of stuff as well as watch it earlier in my life.

One of my daughters friends fronted a band as the singer live for the first time at the weekend and it was so cool – NOBODY was taking notes on technique! Its all about the moment.

Three weeks without a post, we can’t let this thread die! I’m still trying to make my fingers do fingerpicking. I still go to shit whenever I start recording!

Ok I’ll play…….

Hard to believe this song 30 years old. Near story about the effects on the actual recording – two tapes playing the same solo, one randomly slowed by hand to give the flanged effect. No idea how you get closer with a pedal!

https://youtube.com/shorts/1UkQVT3xyt8?si=5JEQ0nrbkf_192Ft

Anyone got any experience of amps that can be used for both electric and bass guitar?

I’m considering buying an amp modeler pedal so I can travel more easily to and from prospective practices. Does anyone have any recommendations?

The Nu-X Amp Acadamy looks like a lot for the money but seems to have longevity issues. Strymon seems like a good option, but it is rather pricey and slightly limited in features. Boss IR-2 maybe?

How about the new ToneX One? Two different amps in a pedal and enough variation to go from clean to dirt and back. Definitely on my ‘next tiny pedalboard’ list…
Or the Mooer Micro Preamps? Pick the amp sound you’re after and (I think) you get two versions to switch between.

The other guitarist in the band I play in uses UAFX pedals into an Orange Pedal Baby.  He has two different ones but I think it’s usually the Lion 68 that gets used for this band.

The UAFX stuff isn’t overly cheap but it does sound good!

Well as it was a topic of conversation last week.

I made my debut at the local open mic night a few nights ago….. I was shocking and cleared the pub !! lol

Well maybe not that bad but the first song wasn’t great, guess l got better as I went very very quickly along lol

Loads learnt and I enjoyed it (including the run up to it, had been practicing my 4 songs pretty hard all week)

Going forward I’m going to dial the guitar difficulty back and do “boring” 3/4 open chord songs, so that I can concentrate on the “singing/performance”. Then once I don’t feel like a rabbit in the headlights, I’ll revisit songs that I really want to do.

Well done for getting out there @Ro5ey what did you play in your set?

Anyone got any experience of amps that can be used for both electric and bass guitar?

I bought a vox modeling amp to play guitar on. It has been up to practice room and gigging levels a few times with no ill effects. I mostly play guitar and bass through the fender bass man emulation. 

Cheap-£50-£100 second hand

vox moddlery- something like this. I have the single 10 inch speaker version. This 2×10 would be easily enough for gigs

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256441410003?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=UlieuNSwSya&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=a9M6NJdMTVq&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Pricey £1500

https://www.fender.com/en-GB/guitar-amplifiers/contemporary-digital/tone-master-bassman/2274504000.html

”Anyone got any experience of amps that can be used for both electric and bass guitar?”

Line 6 PodGo – with more than you’ll ever use and some great Bass amps on there

Well, I pulled the trigger on the Tone X one. It seems like it would be a good option for my existing distortion pedal and give me what I need with an overwhelming number of amp options to program in!

Reading Ro5ey’s comment above!

Most Tuesday nights I pop down to a pub where a bunch of us sit round tables with guitars and take turns playing and singing a song.

Last night I forgot to pack my music sheets. I used to think I only used them as a gentle prompt – how wrong I was. I was absolutely lost without them. I had to struggle to turn up UG Tabs on my phone, which I’ve not done before. I found a couple that fit on one page though so not all was lost. I did the slowest ever versions of Blueberry Hill and Pigs on the Wing to keep in time with the scrolling! Amazingly the “soulfulness” of them was quite a hit.

I need someone to tell me the best way for an old guy who’s starting to forget things to learn songs by heart!

Because people join in with others’ songs – usually good accompaniment, bit of bass, bit of noodle, somebody doing the chords up the neck, I’ve set up one guitar with Nashville tuning. Might take that next time (even though it’s a solid with P90s and an Amplug. Nobody will mind…

Does anybody know any songs in open d tuning that I can try and learn? I haven’t nailed Velvet Ring yet so don’t want to go back to standard tuning!

Got a slide, Simon? How about ‘Dust my Broom’ by Elmore James. Pretty sure that’s open D.

And with amazing timing, look what showed up today. Impulse buy (which took probably a year to make, so not that impulse…) from Thomann. The cheapest on display, steel (not proper brass, but whatever) shiny resonator guitar. No pickup, just acoustic. Nice MOP fretboard dots, nice pearloid headstock face, lovely art-deco tuners.
It’s loud, it’s very heavy(!) it’s trebly and so far it’s been great. I’ve got it set in Open E and I’ve got a fat brass slide to go with it. Wish me luck (or time to practice…)

(I also got a ToneX One pedal, but that’s for another time. Haven’t had time to look at that one yet…)