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I’d forgotten how rewarding it can be to fit the right strings (for me at least) to an acoustic guitar. New strings on an electric are fine, but fitting a new set on an acoustic just makes it sing or, at least, can do. I bought my Inspired By Gibson, Hummingbird a fair while back. The strings it came with (12s) were fine, but a bit heavy for me. When I bought it, I picked up a set of D’Addario 10s and fitted them straight away. Nice guitar that it is, it didn’t have that Goldilocks thing of being just right with those strings. I refitted the original 12s and it was better, but still heavy for me and I’ve stuck with them for a fair while. Whilst buying something completely unrelated on Amazon, the other day, I remembered that the strings on my other, steel strung acoustic are really nice and that I bought them from Mr Bezos’ online empire. I checked my order history, to check what they were again, and I bought another set of them for the Hummingbird, DR Rare 11s. Just finished fitting them (complete with the inevitable puncture wound in a fingertip ) and what a difference! Yes, it sings because of the newness of the strings, but there’s something else, full bottom end (ooh, er, Mrs!), singing highs, supportive mids, properly loud and the tension is just right, I have achieved that Goldilocks balance of tone and playability. Therefore, if you have an acoustic that’s not delivering what you want, just try changing the strings for something you know works on other guitars, or take a punt on a previously untried brand/type of string, it might just be the thing you’ve been looking for and is cheaper than buying a new guitar (not that buying new guitars is bad, but needs must and all that).

Got a guitar playing friend who will choose picks to buy by bouncing it on counter on its edge and listen for that magic, "thonk" or whatever the sound is that "chosen" picks make. Anyone else do this?

Interesting idea. New to me, but I like it. My pick journey started with cheap, flexible nylon Jim Dunlops. In my first few weeks playing I had a couple of those in .6 (neon orange) before settling on the .46 (neon yellow). A few months later, I discovered Tortex picks, very much enjoying the way they hold their shape rather than bend. Over time, I moved to a .6, through .9, then eventually to a preferred 1mm. Still have a few of those, though more often I nowadays opt for the 1.14. The reason I made *that* switch was a lot more arbitrary than your friend's drop-test - I just prefer the purple colour they are. I'd probably have gone *down* from the 1.14 to 1mm if that's what I'd been using, for the purple colour had they been the other way round. Sometimes I use those Dava picks with the flexible middle (great for acoustic).... there are days when a change of pick can be a fillip to how I feel about playing as much as a different guitar, pedal, or whatever. That I've never questioned, as it's a lot cheaper!

This just in.... the head plus 1x12" is gonig to win. It'll probably be the Summer before I'm ready to order (this is set as a reward for myself when I get our spare room cleared out and turned into a proper home office, which will also then be where I'll have my guitars kept; also need to sell a few bits to fun this and other new stuff), but I fell in with an ebay deal on one of those Mooer Baby Bomb 30w pedal preamps, which would combine nicely with the Joyo American Sound as a preamp - the idea being if I want a louder sound or ever play out of the house again, I can take the pedals and a speaker box rather than cart a heftier amp about. (Also allows for the 15watt head at home with the same speaker if ever I move to a house where that's an option).

There's something odd looking about the serial number. the Z2 looks to be in a different typeface to the rest of it.

And Facebook has just popped up a memory that I took possession of the tanglewood 16 years ago today! (3 years after first agreeing to buy it.)

I have friends that bought some Mosky overdrives and they're good. But I can only attest to owning the Mosky Pure Buffer and it's a good buffer, so good that I moved my two VHT Valvulator 1's to my rack. My friend bought the Golden Horsie and it is just as good.

If, as you say, it's minimal, I wouldn't worry about it at all. There are many guitars (even acoustics...) that are not symmetrically balanced anyway, so even if the wall mount was 'plumb', the weight could well be offset. I've never heard of a guitar neck being affected by being hung this way; they are pretty solidly constructed. If it's only an aesthetic thing, I'd leave it alone. It would be possible to redress things a little, without taking the wall mount down, by winding a piece of cloth onto one side of the mount, as packing, to have the guitar 'plumb'; I'd surely not bother. Hope this helps.

Far too much over-thinking here, I'd say. Any decent (for whatever definition of 'decent'...) pair of headphones would be fine. It won't, and will never, sound like a guitar playing in the room (and that will change, depending on the room...), so define your 'decent' and play away. For reference, my 'phones, used for every thing from listening to ISIHAC on R4, mixing whatever genre I'm working on (along with other monitoring methods...), playing guitar, bass, keys etc are Superlux HD669, 32€ from Thomann. Your 'decent' may be different, but not by much, I'd suggest. Hope this helps. Douglas

This does not necessarily answer the question but: headphones, including good expensive headphones colour the sound. That's good, that's on purpose, and that's part of their selling point. I have the Sony wh1000xm3 and I love them. Lovely warm sound, the bass guitar in songs can be heard very clearly, though maybe a bit at the expenses of the drum sometimes, and it can get boomy. Now, when I play instruments - mainly the bass - I do not want any of that. I want headphones to give me a flat response, with minimal to no alteration of frequencies. Sames as a sound engineer would do. The sound is already coloured by amps and pedals that are designed to enhance my instrument specifically. If I go through headphones that alter the sound, I end up making choices in terms of amps/pedals settings in response to that, which I guess would not give me the sound I have in mind in other contexts. So in that sense I do nof find the expensive sony to be good. And I find some cheaper ArsTechnica I have to be better. So, flat response, clarity and detail even at high volumes would be my idea of headphones for a musician. I can imagine somebody triying to make headphones to make the guitar sound "better" but what's the advantage of that? Headphones are meant for practice and learning about tone. And how do you define "better" anyway?