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Hello everyone, I am an oap who just loves old guitars, I like to get hold of cheap nasty things and turn them into descent looking, playing guitars. I am not really a guitarist but can put a tune or two together and enjoy it. About ten months ago I picked up a Yamaha DW 7 12, I think the serial number is, G701677220, The guitar was never played but used as wall art, the problem is that it was hung above a heater and full tension was left on the strings and the neck lifted, it didn't lift alot but enough to crack the top at the sound hole and along the side of the frettboard. My brother who is not a luthier but a first class joiner, 60yrs, sorted this for me, it didn.t take much to get it level again and to make sure of a good fix he spliced a strip of hardwood where the worst crack was to make sure. Because the splice was visible, not too bad, I made another pick guard that covereed it. What I then did was to put new strings on and have left it fully tuned for the last nine months, I didn't tune it down but tuned to normal pitch and in that time it hasn't moved at all and is still in tune. What is the opinion on guitars with neck sets, do you think that it is worth selling on to someone who can enjoy it, or shall I just hang it up to look at? it still looks nearly new. Thanks for taking time to read this and I'm looking forward to some replies.

Hi, recently committed to trying again to play. Bought an electro acoustic and a small practice amp. Enjoying the JustinGuitar lessons while I look for a local tutor. Are there any other sites or online resources I should try?

Pedals are probably the best route - tube screamer clones are available pretty cheaply these days. If that doesn't quite do it, there's a whole host of preamp pedals which you could comfortably run into the Yamaha. Joyo, Caline, and others do budget clones of the Tech21 "character" series, which I've found very serviceable for recording and/or getting vintage tones at sociable volumes! Do you have the tube amp already? Might be worth looking at load boxes / power soaks if you want a way to run it at lower volumes (or even into headphones). Thomann do a pretty good one in their Harley Benton range.

The 'real' overdriven sound of a valve amp comes, not from its pre-amp, but from the power valves, which produce those pleasing overtones when pushed hard. That's why valve amps are cranked loud, if that sound is required. The only way to get it 'really' is to have a valve amp and turn it up a lot, into a very good, solid cab or cabs; this can result in shattered windows, and buggered ear-drums. In the '60s, we knew no better, but there's no excuse these days. Either buy a very good modelling amp, or use a 'Tube Screamer'-type pedal. It's much, much lighter, eats far less electricity (and so is good for the Planet...) and 'that' sound can be had at reasonable volume levels. As it happens, I'm not a fan of disto, dirt, crunch et al; I like a nice clean sound, so my valve amps don't get pushed in that way. Our 'trick', back then, to get that sound without going deaf was to put the 4x12 cab flat on the carpeted floor, speaker side down, so as to allow the amp to be turned up and not go deaf. Yes, a cranked valve amp can be glorious, in the right hands, but it's a very expensive game. The previous answer is correct; you can't play a valve amp without its speaker load (unless it's been specially designed for that, which is rare...), and it's impossible to get 'that' sound as an input to a solid-state amp. Get a pedal; start with a Tube Screamer (the clue is in the name...). Hope this helps. Douglas