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I can only recommend the strings that I've been using for a couple of decades, now, on all of my guitars (solid electric, archtop or acoustic...). Slightly more expensive than some other brands, but they last far, far longer, keeping their tone and intonation, even if playing very regularly. Disclaimer : I have 'acid' fingers, that tend to leave marks and corrosion on other strings; I switched from Fender Bullets to Elixir for this reason, and no longer have this issue. Others may well chip in with other recommendations and experience ; this is mine ...

Thank you this is super helpful! When it comes to strings, what brand/gauge would you recommend? I'm still beginner level really and would prefer strings with a bit of a brighter tone. Cheers again

Every guitar player should have an acoustic in their arsenal IMO.

Whoa there, Tiger..! The starting point would be to get the guitar in the best condition possible, before thinking about upgrades. A new set of strings, obviously, and a good clean whilst the old strings are off. Slight traces of rust is very normal on the exposed pole pieces of pick-ups like these, and do no harm. A brush-over with a washing-up sponge will remove this discoloration, if it bothers you, and a dab of clear nail varnish once they're polished up will keep them rust-free. As for the frets... Don't even think of removing them..! If they, too, are discoloured, buffing them up will restore their brilliance. Try rubbing them with a hard pencil rubber; that will do a lot to clean them up. On stubborn cases, a fine wire brush (no, not the one used to clear rust from a car's underbody; a fine one..!), or 0000-gauge wire wool will do the job. Mask the fingerboard whilst doing this, and mask, too, the magnetic pick-ups, to prevent them from attracting any metallic dust or residue. Give the whole guitar a clean with a slightly-damp cloth. I can recommend, from personal usage, Dr Duck's Ax Wax... ... Only a couple of drops on a lint-free cloth will remove grime, finger marks etc, from the body, neck and hardware. It works very well, and a small bottle lasts years, as it is used so sparingly. Once all of the above is done, and the sparklingly-clean guitar is freshly strung up and set up with new strings, play it for a few weeks, then re-appraise any upgrades that may become apparent. I doubt that there'll be much; Tender Loving Care does wonders. Hope this helps.

I also have a Benson guitar, however it's seen some intermittent heavy use (with little-to-no skill progression hahaha) since my dad got it about 15 years ago. I've never maintained it or even replaced the strings. I get fret buzz on the G string and a couple of the pickups also appear to be very slightly rusting, as well as some discolouration on the metal frets themselves which will most likely also need replacing. I want to have a go at replacing most of the guitar but have no experience doing so and also can't really afford to give it to a technician (would probably be worth just buying another guitar in that case!). Would somebody be able to point me in the direction of a good source to get quality parts cheaply? And maybe any other advice on how to make the same guitar as OP better?

I’m sharing this backing track in the key of G# minor. It’s from a song I produced for a Spanish artist. You can improvise over the whole track using the G# minor scale. Hope you enjoy it!

Jack of all trades, Master of none..? It sounds as if you're doing very well, with a quite eclectic set of strings to your bows. I think, however, that it might be fruitful to stand back a bit, chill a little, and concentrate on one main 'work in progress', whilst still maintaining 'contact' with your current acquired skills. I'd suggest that a spell on the acoustic would be a Good Thing, in general, and will serve you in good stead for all the rest. You have a very decent stable of equipment (no real 'quality' issues with what you've described...); an acoustic will complement this, and give you something to make progress on, if you can keep your mind on the goal that you set yourself. I'm not a church-goer, myself, but an acoustic would fit very well in that setting, as an option over your other instrumental arrangements. If, by 'rhythm playing', you mean strumming chords from charts, that, in itself, is a very healthy skill to have. It can be developed into a whole host of styles, around picking, chord-melody, drop-two chords, alternative rhythms... The list is endless. Whilst waiting for reception of an acoustic, leave the Epiphone 'upgrades' and try thinking of playing it in a new style, as if it were an acoustic. Never mind the 'tone', just the approach to chord choice, right-hand techniques to try, new sets of substitute chords etc. Take, for instance, any church song that you know well, and look for substitute chords (replace any Major chord by a Maj7th, so 'C' becomes 'CMaj7' etc...)..? If such a chord repeats for a few bars, try moving for 'C' 'C' 'C' 'C' to 'C' 'Cmaj7', 'Cmaj6', 'Cmaj7' instead..? Find these chords at different position on the neck, to get different 'colours'..? There is so much that can be done under the heading of 'rhythm guitar'..! Hope this helps, a little.

Hello chaps. I'm a very occasional poster here, although I lurk a bit from time to time - please be kind! I'm trying to work out what direction to take my playing and I'm looking for advice. I've been trying to learn electric guitar for about the last 4 years. I've been doing pretty well and am approaching an "intermediate" kind of ability (at least in rhythm playing), but I know I still have practice to do / things to learn before I can properly back that up. For example: I've been able to play a few services at my local church when they've had no other instrumentalists available, but I'm not always particularly comfortable doing it. I'm usually their bassist and often in the "just me" situations I'll still sometimes play piano in preference to guitar, depending on the music. I also sometimes play rhythm in a little trio I've got going with a couple of mates, but again, they really prefer me to play bass, as do I. So, mostly with the church thing in mind, I started looking at the start of the year for an electro-acoustic, thinking that having one would probably be another string to my bow as far as church band goes. Some of the repertoire just seems a more suited to acoustic tone (although I have a Helix and various other bits and pieces for tone shaping, so an acoustic would be a nice-to-have rather than a necessity). Not liking the size of a dreadnought (or anything large) I picked out a nice Alvarez parlour guitar and put a deposit down on it, started saving up etc. Due to delivery / customs issues, it won't be here before October, but I thought I'd use the time to ponder whether I really wanted to spend the money and I'm in no particular rush. I even put some 11's on my LP to improve my finger strength a bit in anticipation of its arrival (it's working so far!). Obviously the waiting time has given me space to think about other things. The main thing is obviously whether spending £400-500 on a(n acoustic) guitar is the best use of the money - a decision made harder by my choice last year to upgrade my other guitar - a strat. Moving from a cheapo £100 strat copy to a Fender Player was something of an eye-opener. Before that purchase I was again concerned whether it would be a wise use of the money - would I end up with the same thing at 6x the cost for the name on the headstock? Afterwards, I saw and felt the difference: playability, tone, tuning stability etc. - all vastly better (even on a MIM) than anything I'd ever played before. So now I'm sitting here wondering whether, rather than buying that acoustic, I should be looking to upgrade my current LP - an Epiphone Stuido LT (pickups Warmanized) instead. Up until recently, I've always been really happy with it. In fact, even post-new-strat, I've tended to use it in church as the tone is fuller and it just seems to work better in lots of songs. But it does also have it's annoyances - tuning stability has never been great (which a new nut didn't cure) and although I've made one or two aesthetic modifications, it was always "what I could afford" rather than "what I wanted" (or at least, "could justify"). On the flip side, it's got some humbucker-sized P90's in it and sounds amazing with the other kit I have. Having moved away from humbuckers, I'd worry that I'd be going back in a direction I'd tried and disliked if I upgraded to a better quality Epiphone (or simillar) that had them. And if I put the P90s in a new guitar, why am I upgrading at all? I'd also be giving up - at least for the foreseeable - the prospect of developing my playing into acoustic guitar and learning the styles and techniques for that. So there's a bit of new kit desire going on, but also a wider question about developing as a player and whether it's better to focus more on what I'm doing already, or branching out into something new. I'd appreciate hearing any experience / opinions. Thanks.

Nearly a year since your last bump, still not found a buyer for this beauty?

Well, I changed them they were originally p bass style Matt black and had grub screws. those are the knobs from my old squire jazz bass.

Those control knobs look like the electrics are aftermarket.

From my research Antoria is like Ibanez as they’re guitars was made in the same Japanese factory and then had they’re guitars imported to the uk. I know a bit about the 628-12 models and how it’s a lawsuit guitar (a copy of the Gibson. -45) but I don’t recall it ever having an electric variation?

I went for the Orange Supercrush 100 combo ! Superb sounding amp and loaded with a Celestion Redback

Yep the Katana is too digital sounding which is no surprise as that’s exactly what it is I’ve now got the Orange Supercrush 100 and that sounds very good

that custom looks totally legit to me probably has quite a thin neck, like my '89 Deluxe

I wanted to try making whole version of Sunny for fingerstyle guitar. There's some quite challenging chord voicings and fast runs, one of which I'll show in detail in this video. I hope you like it. Video Tabs:

Apologies if this a bit late but I keep getting caught by cable issues when testing my rig. I have a habit of chopping up unreliable cables into shorter leads and then ultimately to patch cables but without ever chasing the location. I've changed that tactic now but with old leads I still get caught out sometimes.

I shared a stage with another guitarist who was going through a Katana 100. He was absolutely deafening, I had to turn him down to 50w setting just to balance us out a bit (I was playing through a pair of 85w Class D floor amps at the time). Great cleans but it kind of sounded like an profiled amp through a computer plug in. But at the time it didn't matter so much as we were playing without PA support for the backline.

Hi guys thanks for all the help. I’m sending the guitar back to Epiphone and they’re going to fix it.

Hi DecepticonVibez glad to have you onboard.

Taylor Big Baby

Pop this into your Search engine ... 'guitar repairs hull uk' ... Inspired by any of the responses there..?

I live near Hull in England.

If you give us your location, maybe someone could recommend nearby source of expertise..?