Guitarists of Singletrack…

Thanks @eddiebaby – I used to buy that mag religiously in the eighties/nineties but cleared them out when I moved. Picked a random download an found Hotel California! I’d better get practising… 🙂

“Not the Eagles man !!”

@chipps No problem. Seems useful seeing as the UK guitar mags have all published their last print editions…

Anywayts, yesterday I popped down to Haselmere and picked up this bargain.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54071897078_1ae47fd1f2_k.jpg

It’s a Hamer XT Special Jnr. Obviously Hamer’s take on the Gibson DC.

Great condition. At some point the veneer on the front of the headstock got damaged (there is a bit of wear on the very end of the guitar) so the headstock had a quick re-fin, but everything plays great. A change of strings and some dubbin on the fingerboard and it’ll be a good un.

Just need to source a Hamer decal. And maybe some black veneer to get it back to original spec.

That’s nice, @eddiebaby ! What’s the weight like? I’ve felt some chunky Hamers in the past. I do love a double-cut Junior though. I used to have an Edwards in TV Yellow, which was fab (and I regret selling…) – though it looks strange seeing a two-piece bridge on yours.

I do keep looking at the Epiphone versions of the Billy Joe Armstrong white single cut Junior… but then there seem to be a few Gibson Junior bargains out there too. (Not that I need more guitars right now…) 🙂

Had a look at the Yamaha F310 and Ibanez V50, both felt nice and sounded decent.

Any thoughts on either of the above?

The Yamaha FG310 has been around for years. They must have made and sold millions of them. Pretty much the quintessential beginners guitar and good value for money. Maybe look for a second hand one on Facebook Marketplace.

NGD!!! Loving it.  2nd hand ibanez ToD10n.  Slightly radiuseed fretboard and narrower nut than a regular classical makes it very fast to play and quite an “Inbetween” guitar.

That’s lovely!

Ok I’ve joined a band, on guitar; not my first instrument which will be interesting as I’ve done loads of gigs on saxophone over the years, but never gigged on guitar, will keep you posted on that score 🙂

It’s a band with a keys player and they have a handful of songs but need more to fill out a set list so suggestions welcome – Doors, Police, Chris Isaak already on the list but anything else?

Also I need a multi FX – the likelihood is I won’t need anything more than a valeton GP100 because it’s not that serious and I’m not that flush, has anyone tried one, or is there a good reason not to ?

Hello all. It’s dark and miserable and I’m not getting on the bike as much.  I wonder if it’s about time for another stw jam thing?  Any takers?  The idea is that I make a little chord progression and whack it on SoundCloud.  Then you each send a solo that matches and I combine them in a row.  Obvs I’ll collate and publish the result.  Who’s in?

Wow. Was 3 years since the last one.

No, there was another one since then – page 82!

Im thinking about upgrading my amp and guitar. Only looking at Gibson LPs, as im playing an Epiphone LP just now.

The choice of 2.

LP 60s Standard

or

LP Classic

Also looking at a new amp. Positive Grid Spark 2, ot Boss Kanata Gen 3 50.

So, the question is. Which ones would you have out of the both the Guitar and Amp choices, and why……

So in answer to my previous dilemma. Both questions now solved

Positive Grid Spark 2 and i went for the Gibson LP 60s Standard. Preferred the tones of the Standard over the Classic in the end.

Im thinking about upgrading my amp and guitar. Only looking at Gibson LPs, as im playing an Epiphone LP just now.

The choice of 2.

LP 60s Standard

or

LP Classic

Also looking at a new amp. Positive Grid Spark 2, ot Boss Kanata Gen 3 50.

So, the question is. Which ones would you have out of the both the Guitar and Amp choices, and why……

Nice! Guitar pic needed. 🙂

@SSS Are you looking just at new Gibsons? Or is there room for a secondhand one? And no looking sideways at PRS or anything?

Out of those amp choices, I’ve only really played the Katana, but they’re cracking amps for the money.

@Chipps I did look at used Gibsons and trawled the shops, ebay, gumtree etc, but there wasnt much that floated my boat, especially locally. There were some down south, but obviously seeing and trying was another thing.

So went into local GuitarGuitar store in Edinburgh. Tried the Classis, Standard and Custom Shop. And went for the Standard. The price was very keen too.

The Gibson was an itch I needed to scratch, but i did have a sideways look in any case. Possible for the nexy one! N+1….

@eddiebaby

Nice! And good to see a non-sunburst, too. I seem to have a very narrow/fussy idea of what a good ‘burst Les Paul should look like, but solid colour ones are all good… 🙂

I’m borrowing this for a few days and I’m loving it! Apart from the Floyd which is awful and useless for me. I’ve pretty much only played Gibson style guitars for the past 20 years, my only guitar at the minute is an SG with a fat neck. No more hand cramps on this, and the 25.5″ scale/wider fretboard with the thin neck feels less cramped and clumsy to play. Making me re-evaluate all my previous choice in guitars tbh! I just wish Jackson made a 22 fret hardtail version. I originally borrowed it as I’m looking for a guitar to keep in drop C and wanted to see what the Jackson neck was like, but now considering selling the SG for something similar as a main/standard tuning guitar as well.

Well two weeks on from buying my Hamer Special I popped down to Andover and collected this beauty. An immaculate 2012 PRS SE Bernie Marsden. Fitted with Iron Gear Hot Slag and Rolling Mill covered humbuckers it also comes with the original PRS pickups and cream mounting hardware, so i’m going to have toswapthem over at the first string change.

Sounds epic and I love it.

Got my warmoth wide neck for my strat and fitted it last night, so so much better and playable.

It actually surprises me that more manufacturers don’t make wide neck options, I am a big guy, but I am not a giant and it feels like I am getting sized out of the world in many ways, even the sony VR2 controllers were too small for my hands, I guess it is modern manufacturing restricting sizes to the ones they can sell most of without thinking of offering options.

Now I need to decide if I should keep the fender neck or sell it to try and recoup at least a little bit of the money, the wide neck pretty much cost the same as the whole fender mexico strat. I can’t see the need to progress from the guitar for many years if ever, but if I did I would probably want to transfer the wide neck to any replacement guitar (if it is replaced with just a better strat).

Well two weeks on from buying my Hamer Special I popped down to Andover and collected this beauty. An immaculate 2012 PRS SE Bernie Marsden.

Is everybody on STW on TFB as well? I’ve noticed plenty of duplicate threads from one to the other. Now it’s pics as well.  😀

Is everybody on STW on TFB as well? I’ve noticed plenty of duplicate threads from one to the other. Now it’s pics as well.  ?

Its my thread and I’ll post if I want to… 😉

Is everybody on STW on TFB as well? I’ve noticed plenty of duplicate threads from one to the other. Now it’s pics as well.  ?

It actually surprises me that more manufacturers don’t make wide neck options,

I don’t have big hands, but I do seem to like a thicker neck (’59 Les Paul or whatever) the opposite of _tom_ up there 🙂

I was trying to find a fatter Fender neck, but from that family, it seems that only the (expensive but nice) Phil Collen Jackson signature seems to have an overly big neck in the Fender stable, unless you get a ’51 Tele replica or something custom. I have found that the ‘mid-60s oval’ neck very nicely shaped and it feels as pleasantly oval as it sounds.

Anyway, I didn’t come here for that, I came here for some suggestions for ‘Great tunes you can learn in an evening’ – having just, finally, got round to going ‘I wonder how hard it would be to learn ‘Can’t Stop’ by the Chilli Peppers?’ and finding that it’s relatively easy to get to 85% accuracy in an evening. Go on, give it a try if you don’t already know it.

So… what’s next? Suggest me some satisfying riffs and not-hard-to-master tunes that you can bang out in an evening, please!

And now on to the experts:

Is everybody on STW on TFB as well? I’ve noticed plenty of duplicate threads from one to the other. Now it’s pics as well.  ?
Its my thread and I’ll post if I want to… ?

I’m not having a go, honest, I just think it’s funny that I keep seeing threads duplicated from here to there and then spotted your new guitar on there as well. It’s hardly surprising, though!

I did spot a friend on there, a poster on here, because I recognised his dog in his profile pic!

I did post this in the PSA but surely whatever you think of Chapman Guitars this is a bit of a bargain?

https://www.andertons.co.uk/chapman-ml1-pro-x-electric-guitar-deep-cherry-metallic/

and everyone loves glow in the dark side dots!

I have a Chapman Bea Baritone. It is as well made as my much lauded PRS SE guitars. The only downside to the Chapmans is that in my experience with a few the pickups really do let them down, unlike the SEs.
Glow in the dark side dots really need a UV light source on stage to keep their glow. Not just Chapman but my Strandberg too. I doo have a UV torch just to give them a quick refresh as well as checking AirBnB sheets…

Interestingly all 5 guitars I have here in Surrey are from SE Asia, 2 PRS SE (Korea and Indonesia), Chapman (Indonesia), Hamer (Korea) and Strandberg (Indonesia). All the USA guitars have been sold as I was picking these up in preference. The Strandberg and Chapman are next to go. No more than three is my mantra these days.

@eddiebaby Is it the green Boden 6 string you are selling? I could be interested.

Anyone for a Hello Kitty Squier Strat for the collection? Mailshot from GuitarGuitar today 😀

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/240610425026008–squier-limited-edition-hello-kitty-stratocaster-pink-maple-fing

@beej yes. I’ll pm you when I’m on the train.

Hey All

Can you help with some set up advice please?

The high E at the nut is vlow, I can’t slide a medium pick between the string and 1st fret, but the saddle is at its highest(in fact all the saddles are at their highest) The low E isn’t too bad at the nut end but at the body end of the neck the action is pretty high on the low E and indeed across all strings.

Neck relief must be playing a part here, but it doesn’t look (without any kind of measurement) too bad either way, so do I need a new “higher” nut ?

Ta

Hard to say without seeing it, but I suspect if all your saddles are at their highest, and the strings are too low at the nut, it’ll be a neck tension issue. My guess is it has a negative bow, ie far too much tension,  but you’d need measurements further down the fretboard to tell.

Have you got the right tools to sort it yourself? There are plenty of YouTube guides to setting up.

@SSS; I wasn’t tempted by the Strat but I did fall for the fuzz… 😀

without any kind of measurement

Fret the first and 12th fret on the low e at the same time. Tap the string around the 6th fret or eyeball the gap between the string and frets.

No gap = too much tension

Big gap = too little tension

Teeny gap = tension ok

BB … ta for that.

I’ve bought a cheapo FB marketplace Squier, to learn a bit of guitar tech/modding on. But I want to do things in a relaxed way and advice like yours is perfect. (It seems guitar tech can get super nerdy, or indeed techie 🙂  and I don’t want to go down that route)

All sorted … I ended up loosening the tension, which gave space to lower the saddles and strings in general, while it raised the space at the nut.

Next job is to replace the 1 ply flimsy pickguard. Thinking I might as well get a “loaded” one with Alnico pickups and do some super easy soldering…. Two connection on the jack, right? How hard can it be ?