Leaderboard

Put it all back together, polished it up and it plays just fine. What a bargain

I don't think I've posted here before - I'm a member of basschat.co.uk, but after playing bass for decades, lately I've been singing and playing mandolin and octave mandolin. I don't actually play guitar, though I have a couple of guitar-shaped objects in my collection - an acoustic guitar bodied octave mandolin, and earlier this year a local guitar builder converted a copy of a Gibson SG to mandolin for me. I'm currently working towards a Rock School grade 2 acoustic guitar exam... with a mandolin!

Decided to get the Epi Les Paul 60’s Standard in Bourbon Burst I had looked at PRS but decided this is what I wanted. Out of the box the quality, setup was spot on and amazing for a £500 guitar. Sounds excellent and pickups are very good and sounds great clean and overdriven They have definitely improved since I owned an Epi Les Paul Plus Top Pro about 10 years ago this is as close to Gibson quality you can get without the price tag ! Awesome guitar

Thinking that I ought to have a hollow bodied guitar for jazz I bought a Streamliner and have indeed given that Bigsby a wobble from time to time despite it being considered inappropriate within the genre.

I picked up a super cheap Ibanez S670 with a fake body for 1500RMB ten days ago and went about upgrading, fixing and customising it with chrome Gotoh hardware and Dimarzio Satriani signature pickups. I wanted to do a Chromeboy painted finish but it's not possible to do it well on wood bodies. The original Chromeboys had finish cracking and bubbling issues do to wood expanding and contracting with seasonal changes, the follow ups had bodies made of lucite not wood. So I did the next best thing - bought a load of mirror vinyl wrap online and found a friendly auto wrapping firm to do it for me after my own attempt failed miserably. The reflection isn't 100% sharp but only really noticable when you are standing closer than 5 meters. I'm planning on using the guitar for a show coming up on Jan 11. The good thing of vinyl over paint is that I can get it re wrapped if it starts to look a little worn.

To better appreciate this event, I would refer you to a previous post here, where the 'back story' is quite fully related, so doesn't need repeating here. Skip it if you're in a hurry, but you'll be missing out. Soooooo... I've just, in the past few days, taken delivery of a new (to me, but not quite...) guitar that has been on my 'bucket list' for over half a century. A fellow member of our sister site (Basschat...) passed me a link to a site where this quite rare guitar was for sale, in Sweden. After looking up my finances (it was not cheap...), I contacted the Seller I 'bit the bullet', and, after some tractation over acquisition of a hard case for shipping, it finally arrived, safe and sound, snuggling up nicely in a brand new case. 'OK', I hear you ask, 'but what guitar is it..?' You'll have guessed if you'd read the post in the link above; it's a Hofner President Thinline E2 Florentine, from the late '60s, the same model that I foolishly 'let go' in my stoopid youth. Yippee..! Here's the photos I hastily took as it arrived... Pleased..? You betcha; pleased as Punch. I'm now struggling to get back to where I was, all those decades ago, trying to play a chord-melody version of 'Misty'. By a horrible coincidence, I had trimmed my nails, on both hands, and will have to wait a while before playing that way, as I have done since year 'dot', with only fingers, so I'm struggling at the same time with the use of a plectrum. It's all good, though, albeit extremely slow going. I have a Chromebook for displaying a Pdf of the version I'm using (from a Sandy Sherman YouTube video; just about the best and most accessible I've seen...), but as soon as I think I've assimilated a few bars, I turn the page to continue, but have forgotten it when I turn back again. I'm using my usual method of learning the 'outro' first, so that I'll be working into 'known' territory as I move forward, but, for now (it's been only a few days, but...) I'm finding it quite a job remembering only these dozen or so bars. It'll come (it has to..!), and I find the neck of this guitar to be exactly fitted to how I play (perhaps 'muscle memory' from all that time ago, when I learnt on that first President...). Anyway, enough rambling; back to the Chromebook for another session. I'll see about better pictures if/when the weather picks up, for outdoors lighting. Bye for now... Douglas

Son(16) is a fan of King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Cheap Squier Bullet Strat from Cash Converters and a Most-Marvelous Inter-Fret Job by @Andyjr1515 fella who sits (slumps!) at the bar in the BassChat Arms... (Blah! Blah! and Pics in a BassChat Tech&Repair post) https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/496955-microtonal-fretting-microwhat-but-sorry-not-on-a-bass/?do=findComment&comment=5264843 When 12TET and 20 or so frets just arn't enough... go 24TET and over 40 frets to play with!

Thanks everybody for your answers and contributions. Made some interesting reading, and some great model photos. Just before Christmas, I privately bought a Marshall amp. The owner asked if I would also take his old black and white Strat off his hands too for a meagre £30.... It was an exact double of the one in my original post with identical headstock and weight. Well...you can guess the rest! Cheers again for all of your input.

I think HB are great value guitars and worthy of modifying too...here is a Youtube video showing what I do to them:- Infinity Mirror Guitar v3 with hot rail pickup.

After a bit of work with fine wet and dry and a polish up with brasso, it transpires it's a Coxx Classix.

What a palava. OK so GC has been offline for a few days due to a mix-up in transfer of content from the old server (which was upgraded due to email notification issues on BC) to the new server. The old server subscription cancelled last week taking GC down with it. Then we had issues trying to get things set up on the new server. As you can see, we have managed to restore GC but the only back up on the old server was from January. Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry to any of you who had made the effort to post detailed or lengthy replies during that time, I've personally lost at least one lengthy post as well. If you need to flame, go ahead. We had to unravel a whole load of secondary issues to do with databases not working quite right, upgrades not installing quite correctly, DNS and nameservers not being what they should be. However, thankfully, we have made it through the other side and GC is faster and more stable than ever. I don't expect this perfect storm to happen again and thanks in advance for your patience and understanding.

On Saturday we had a work party where we provided the entertainment. About six weeks ago I rounded up a bunch of colleagues and proposed we do a song together. Below is the result: 52fb7b34b4790dbaf517c3d5cce802d3.mp4 It was my first time performing on guitar and I used the instrument mentioned here: All sorts of technical issues that I won't bore everyone with but the band had no right sounding as good as this recording suggests. I originally rehearsed with a 4U rack containing my beloved Triaxis and MPXG2 into a Marshall 20/20. But there were 60Hz hum and phasing issues so I swapped the rack for a Kemper and used a profile of the Triaxis instead with only marginal improvement (no more phasing). The Kemper went into two Hotone Loudster Class D power amps sat on a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs loaded with Celestion Neo Creambacks. The speakers struggled to disperse, but this shouldn't have been too much of an issue if we had been given PA support. Unfortunately the video stops just before I move up front for the solo guitar breaks. I did the thing though - one foot on the monitor. No hair in the wind unfortunately.

Hi there! I just joined a new band called Sons of steel. This is one of our singles: Let me know your opinion about it. Thanks!!

This year a Joyo "Oxford Sound" pedal. So far I'm very pleased with it - lets me go straight into our PA without lugging an amp around.

When singing a melody through, in your head or out loud, try to pick out the highest and lowest notes, when you get to them. That's when to pick up the guitar and find those notes, and only those notes. That'll determine where on the fingerboard the rest of the melody lies, so, having established the extremes, now find the initial, starting note, keeping in mind these extremities. Does this help..?

If you can afford it and it will make you happy then do it. I personally am a tight arse and even if I could afford a Gibson (I can't) I'd never buy one because I'm a klutz and it would be an expensive thing for me to damage, same goes for a Ferarri, I'd have door pockets full of crisp packets and I'd no doubt kerb the wheels parking it.

There is a chap on Instagram named Ohms in Hawaii and he posts beautiful guitars on the beach like this photo: There are hundreds of posts just like this one, these photos really warmed my winter mornings.

What about selling it and buying a nice gift for the donor, or explain to him that you aren't getting on with it and ask if he would mind you selling it. You could offer him all or some of the money minus any expenses.

Here it is, about to get treated to a good clean and some new strings. Setup seems spot on but I’ll check it all and set the pick-up heights to suit. The overall finish is superb - not just for the price but for a guitar of any price. The binding is lovely and clean with no gaps or flaws that I can see and the fret ends are super smooth (the frets need a good polish though). It needs a good clean up and some oil on the fretboard and I may swap the volume and tone knobs for black ones at some point but I do think I’ve blagged a real bargain for once

Apologies for the two months absence - super busy with life stuff! I hope anyone who's still around from last year are keeping well & have had a good start to this year! On my front.. bad news is I didn't have time to record updates or really progress much through modules... However.. good news is I still managed to put in circa' one hour practice pretty much every day which has just helped me further cement the early foundational stuff as well as the new things learned in the first module of grade two, which I've now completed between the start of Jan & now... in the next module I'm about to start I (finally) start taking a first look at the F.

Or are your fingers too big?

Hah! Lucky I'd just swallowed my tea when I got to "Rickenwaffe" - not heard that one before! Yeah, they are more on the ball than anyone I've ever seen about their marks. Ric copies of any serious closeness only exist in Japan that I've ever seen... the very occasional one on ebay disappears almost immediately. I'd love a Ric solod body - a 4003 bass even moreso, but I'm resigned to the fact I'll never be able to afford one (and even then I'd struggle to justify the spend, tbh). Part of me wishes they'd do a diffusion line, A Rickensquierphone. They'd surely sell well, given their absolute nixing of the market for any other options if it's a Ric you want. (The Harely Benton options are about the only ones I've seen, and they're so deviated from the original - even if nice instruments in their own right.... you'll not see a Beatles tribute act playing them the way I've seen them use a Squier to recreate Rocky, let's put it that way...). Another part of me rather respects Ric for deciding they're happy as they are rather than just chasing the lifestyle brand market, or otherwise squeezing their property for every last penny. It was a remarkably late registration attempt by Fender - real stable door / bolted horse stuff. Trademarking a shape wasn't an issue for them in 1951 -or 1954 - as it wasn't until 1960 that you could trademark a shape in US law. The first registered US trademark shape was the Coca Cola bottle, a shape they'd been using since 1916, so I doubt Fender would have had any trouble registering The Tele, Strat, and other shapes then. As memory serves they had the foresight to at least trademark the shape of their headstocks, though.... Similarly, they were behind the curve in the UK as well, where shape-based trademarks became an option under the Trade Marks Act 1994. Gibson seem to have been more effective here, though from my casual awareness of their legal efforts (not least the PRS case), most of their real protection falls in the zone of lawfare.... i.e. Gibson can afford to spend a lot more than most of those they go after, and fighting a lawsuit will most of the time be far more expensive than just tweaking your design a little to make it go away. Smoke and mirrors to some extent once you see the eminently sensible decision by the Appeal court in Gibson v PRS.

A common mistake is for folk to stick to the minor pentatonic when improvising, whether the key or chord is major or minor. Try and make sure you’re complimenting the chord by emphasising the 3rd note. A lot of players tend to play through the scales from one end to the other. Stand out from the crowd by making some interesting, intervalic jumps (Carl Verheyen is the king of this, check him out). Don’t be in a hurry to show your chops too early, build to a crescendo and release (the solo from Stairway is a great example of this).

Or, pretty much, exactly the same.

Many thanks for the feedback both. Seems that what I want to achieve isn't quite in the remit of my amp. I might just go back to my comfort zone of 90s solid state.

Just browsing the web the other night and came across this and on looks alone I knew I had to have it. I watched the youtube reviews which were all really positive but was still cynical as I had fallen for the reviews on the Lava ME guitar which I though was a pile of trash. Anyway I pulled the trigger and bought from Andertons knowing I could send it back if it didn't work out. The guitar arrived the next day. It came in a lovely padded quality gigbag so first impressions were good. I got the guitar out and it was stunning ( I know this bit is subjective !) with the flip paint job and headless roasted neck. I tuned it up and it had been set up perfectly, the action was fantastic and intonation correct. I bumbled through setting up the app which controls it - the manual is very brief and does not give you anywhere near enough info, however from what I'd seen on Youtube I got it working. I played it through a newly revalved and Celestioned up HTR-1 amp using the wireless dongle straight into the amp. The guitar has fanned frets which I'd never played on before, but within minutes I didn't even notice them. So I've put it through its paces over the last couple of nights and it is truly phenomenal. The presets are brilliant and infinitely adjustable - none of the widdly robot sounds that you get on multieffects as filler. The modelling guitar feature definitely changes tone - whether it replicates a '58 LP I'm not sure but just scrolling through the models I could get some lovely tones. Volume and tone knobs are really responsive .The guitar has a built in looper/ drum machine which worked well - I subsequently stumped up for the wireless footswitch to make it work even better and was that impressed with the tones and flexibility even ordered the Prime P2 to use with my other guitars. In summary, this guitar might even be the best one I've ever bought and there have been lots , customs , Fenders, Gibsons, Ricky's - but none of them had ever been set up this well or had the OMG factor this one has Anyways it's nice to report something this good rather tha being underwhelmed.

here is the current board with some diys and some stock pedals. More diys kicking about and more Boss to add on a new board for part of my rebuilding the rig of my youth

The DSL20 is EL34 paired and I would say it’s more 80’s to modern day rock I have the DSL20HR and it’s a great amp and can run at home at 10w It will sound much better cranked of course when it really shines The Origin 20 head is better for 60’s 70’s rock and with a drive pedal in front would cover most ground. I had the Origin 50 head in my old band and it was a lovely sound. For home I think the DSL20 is a good choice as it can still gig or jam or play at home Boss Katana is a good choice too but I still prefer valves I briefly tried the Laney Lionheart Foundry 60 but it was poorly built and sounded boxy and average The current production DSL20 is a great small amp. Can be bright sounding but back off the presence and treble and it sounds great. I use a Standard Strat with single coils and play clean and rock

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I totally agree with this; my Takamine is fitted with these ... ... I have 'etching fingers', which rapidly turn steel or nickel-steel strings to red rust; these 80/20 bronze strings suit the guitar perfectly, with the added advantage of being the same gauge as my electrics and semi-acoustics, all fitted with nano-web sets. They last, for me, much longer than any other make of strings; I previously had to change in less than a year, but these were fitted over a year ago now, and are as good as when fitted, although I admit that I don't play my acoustic every day. It's a joy when one finds the right set for any guitar or bass; I'd even extend this to establishing the best heads for an acoustic drum set..! I used Remo Ambassador heads for decades, but the later choice of Evans Genera and G2 heads made a world of difference..!

I agree with this too. I have had both US and Jap models as well a custom shop one too, but get bored with instruments quickly so have always had a high turnover of buying and selling. I defaulted to Mexican in the end. I found the build quality just as good and to be honest I found it more consistent too. I have found some USA (and MIJ) built shockers and passed on them, but not found any poor instruments in the Mex range. Again, my suggestion is just choose the one you like the look of. The electronics can be changed easily and cheaply if necessary.

In all honesty, I haven’t actually played a jaguar before! But I have numerous guitars both electric and acoustic that have similar or even shorter scale length (which all suit me well since I’m not a very tall person) so I’m confident I’ll enjoy the feel of a jag. One of my 2 main guitars on tour is a Mexican tele and it’s brilliant. It’s got bare knuckle pups and electronics as well as better tuners but build quality and woods are just as good as my vintage and custom shop strats. But I do definitely prefer the classic jaguar with lead and rhythm circuits and individual pickup switches as opposed to the new stripped back player series ones. If I found a Mexican one for sale with standard layout I would really consider it

Yep, sounds like a partially pinched harmonic to me. You may find that part of the thumb or finger, holding the pick, are choking off the note and creating a false/pinched harmonic. This can be used to good effect, if you want it and that’s your thing, Billy Gibbons and Zakk Wylde are noted exponents of the technique.

You give no inkling as to time scale here; are we talking days, weeks, months, years..? 'Plateauing' is a well-known phenomena in the learning process (not just instruments; it occurs in many other fields...). How to avoid it..? Difficult. What to do..? Work through it. For how long..? No idea, as it varies even for oneself. One or two tips, however... 1 - Practice little and often, rather than super-long sessions. Two bouts of fifteen minutes each, per day, are worth more than any two-hour stint. 2 - Little..? Did I say 'little'..? OK, but regularly. This is key; every day, with no exceptions. 3 - Start again: Pick up your very first method book, or first lesson notes, or whatever you started out with. Go through it, from the beginning, as if you're starting again. Do the exercises diligently (no cheating..!); it'll get you back, rapidly, to where you are now plus a bit more. 4 - Pick up your instrument as a 'leftie' (or 'rightie', if you play 'leftie'...); that how it felt when you began, and shows that progress has, indeed, been made. 5 - A bit more difficult, but essential... Arm yourself with a big bucket of Patience; all players, at all levels, need this, and need to fill it up regularly. Learning is a Long Game, and never finished. Just when you think you know it all, you realise that you don't. This is Normal. 6 - Set yourself achievable goals (targets...). A song to learn, a technique to attempt, a genre to bring on board... Give yourself a decent time scale for it, and add it to your practice schedule. Go through the basics, go through your next lessons, then have a go towards this target. Every day in short sessions, going back now and again over older stuff. It'll work; we've all been there. Now for my tried and tested 'words of encouragement'... 'It's the first forty years that are the hardest, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly better.'

Hi Crusoe, Dad33..., EZ and Randy!! Nice to meet you all!

Faceache turned up a G4M 12 for not a lot... cleaned up rather nice

I struggle to tune 6 strings accurately. Don't think I would manage 12...! Looks nice though.

I agree with this statement. Plus, there are a whole host of differently voiced humbucker replacements out there, maybe more than single coil options.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have experimented with the Ultrabass setting on my Behringer V-amp and it does drop the lower strings without seeming to affect higher notes. It is an octave divider by another name. However the sound coming out of the octave down strings is pretty much a fart, if you’ll pardon the expression. I think I’ll just live with no bottom end.

Spotted a Chapman ML3 modern on facebook marketplace at a good price last weekend so pulled the trigger and absolutely loved it. So much so I bought an ML1 Pro this weekend ( I really do need a bigger house !) This is one of the best looking and playing guitars I've owned (it's so bassy !)even when compared to custom build territory like my Ambler. Now I need the green sparkly semi - hollow one and a baritone to complete the collection !

Hi Everyone! I am new here and this is my first posting... Just a Dream Theater guitar solo in my studio room... Hope you all like it!

UPDATE: my Behringer SF300 has arrived. Does the job just nicely! Really useful having the three modes, too: I can see myself using the more "vintage" sound of Fuzz 1 the most, but the scuzzier tone from Fuzz 2 has been quite fun to play with so far. Popping the guitar into drop D with Fuzz 2 certainly gives a nice All Them Witches-type vibe! Thanks again for the recommendation!

That is a Fazley Midas FLP318GT. Fazley is Bax Music's own in-house brand of guitars; they are pretty decent guitars for the money, and that one sounds great. Mahogany body and neck, poplar fretboard. I was considering swapping the P90s on it when I ordered it, but when I plugged it in, the P90s surprised me with how good they sounded, so they are staying. I will be putting some Grover tuners on it though and I might stick some upgraded wiring, pots and switches in, but for the moment it's doing okay as it came.. Considering they are 143 quid new (I paid a 126 quid for that one because it had a minor blemish on it), you can't really go wrong with them. I paid a ton for a second-hand plywood Columbus Les Paul copy with a bolt-on neck nearly forty years ago, so it just goes to show how far we've come these days in terms of bang for your buck. :

Originally, resonator guitars were invented for just this reason : cut through against competition from the brass section, without an amp..!. Worth a try, especially if the repertoire is suitable. One or two points to consider : many players use a reso guitar like a lap-steel; these models have a square neck profile, unsuitable for 'standard' guitar playing position. Look at models with a rounded 'C' or 'U' profile instead. Some models have a piezo mic built in, but more rarely with a pre-amp, which makes amplifying a little trickier, as either the amp has a piezo input, or an external pre-amp is required. The reso part of the guitar is fragile, so a stout case is needed for anything but home use. They're louder than a folk guitar, especially in the 'medium' frequencies, but won't fill a large hall unaided just the same. Trying a few models would be recommended; proces start at around £300 and go up quite quickly. On the other hand, it's not uber-effective, but a piece of felt over the accordion grill could be tried to mute it a little..? Some folk remove the grill, line the inside with masking tape or similar, then put the grill back. Choice of register has an effect, with some 'bassier' registers being less strident. Other than that, it's just playing technique to play with less volume. Hope this helps; sounds like a nice project.

A few tips that I may adopt for my playing/practice I think! It's good to see others progress and to be able to see that I am not alone and am having the same progress and struggles as others. @ShawnE thanks for sharing your progress it is inspiring and encouraging. Alan

No they are not, they are just not posting clips of them playing badly. For all you know, the clip of them playing it well which they put online, might have been the 400th take.

It's 4/4, but unlike most typical western 4/4 rock and pop, it doesn't have a typical snare drum hit on beats two and four, instead it has an accented guitar strum on two and four, which in part at least, is akin to reggae, where the guitar chops on the two and four beats. Reggae then has the snare (or sometimes a rim shot) on the third beat. Your tune differs in having the main drum beat on one. Listen to it and imagine it's a reggae song and you'll hear what I mean.

It's just practice and experience. I can assure you it will all come good if you keep it up. But one very important thing with practicing stuff to remember, is that what you are aiming for, is to have things down so well that you're pretty much on 'autopilot' when playing. The key to this happening with any song, chord shape, picking pattern, strumming pattern or whatever, is to have the thing so ingrained in your muscle memory that you literally could not play it wrong unless you actually made a conscious effort to do it wrong. You won't be surprised to learn that the trick to that, is to practice at a speed which is slow enough for you to become really accurate with your finger placement and movement, then when you are accurate, pick up the tempo a bit, rinse and repeat. If you do that, when you speed it up, your fingers retain the muscle memory of the movements and you remain accurate. Conversely, if you practice sloppily, your muscle memory will then be sloppy and it will be hard to 'undo' that, so in short, concentrate on getting it accurate and worry about the tempo later. Honestly, it's nothing more complicated than accurate repetition which is the key to progress.

A present for myself : a piezo_pre-amp kit to install into my acoustic (holes to be cut into the sides, and the capteur to be fitted under the bridge...). I'll then be able to record without recourse to a mic.