Leaderboard

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

Quick update to say I pulled the trigger on the Thinline Godin. It's new, coming from the States and even with delivery and taxes will be £300 cheaper than the best price I could find in the UK!

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.

Coming from the light side (basschat) and after having a friend of a friend show me how to get the most from my hx stomp, the other week I picked up an electric to try and learn… it’s from 1990 weighs less than 3kg and has switches on both knobs that makes it sound different- learning needs to happen !

Hi! It seems I joined a while ago but forgot. I started playing guyitar when I was in my teens back in the early/mid 70s the moved to bass. Now bandless on bass, I am about to pick up a guitar again for the first time in many years and have a few questions. I have had a Mexican Fender Telecaster for some years, stashed away in its case, and just recently bought one of these for a few quid at a bootsale which now sports a Tonerider PAF pickup and some new tuners. Hope to find answers to questions!

J. Bright, The Law Suit, late 1700s: There truly is nothing new under the sun...

I missed the electro bit Yamaha Music London do the FX310A for £235

Yes to both, not helped by intermittent focus in my eyesight and a reluctance to take my reading glasses everywhere in case it brings on mid life crisis.

Or are your fingers too big?

I blame the advent of GPS. ...

We're stoked to announce that we've launched some new multipacks... https://www.rotosound.com/blog/product-news/new-rotosound-multipacks/ These offer our most popular sets in 3- and 10-set boxes for cost-saving and convenience. Starting from £21.95 for the triple pack and £69.95 for the ten-set multipack, they're available now from UK dealers!

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.

If anyone is interested there’s a massive guitar, amp and music memorabilia auction on 10th June in Corsham, Wiltshire spanning 5 days. Imagine owning 500 guitars!! https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalogue/5abe5b32c7710c2b409b15545ad1d718/0af8d24542e81eb9357e7ef448a6646f/the-guitar-sale-five-day-auction-including-the-gordon-gi/?currentPage=1

And it's done. Had to do a lot of routing to get the bridge located properly including plugging and redrilling one bridge post 1mm further way. The wiring was a challenge, I spent three days of eliminating possible causes to arrive at only one conclusion, the pickup selector switch was faulty. My midboost preamp didn't work and I wasn't going to spend a week trying to troubleshoot it, so I bought one only to discover that the guy who build it didn't include separate earth and -9v wires. So had to jury rig something up to provide the output socket with an earth connection, the boost is definitely warm but it lacks the glassiness I expected. So I have on order a genuine Demester Fat Boost (Tyler style) and at some point I will probably wire the switches so they are series, phase and parallel. Although they were fiddly to solder as well. However, after a fret levelling and proper set up, it plays very nicely and has more sustain than my other two strats. I have no idea why. It's quite a warm and loud sounding guitar as well acoustically. More aging is needed on the sides and back but I have other things to attend to in advance of being in the UK next month.

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.

Wouldn't surprise me. The older I get, the more I realise 99% of the electric guitar market is about selling branding an intangibles far over the actual, physical product. It does seem to vary by location, though: players in the US on average still seem to be much more likely to be emotionally invested in the idea that a guitar made in the USA *must* be superior, or is somehow otherwise "the real thing". Which I suppose shouldn't be surprising given that's where the electric guitar boom started, and so there's a sense of "loss" that those aren't dominant in the market any longer - as opposed to being "only" another import product as they are for us in the UK.

I am a musician and teacher based on the west coast of Ireland. I teach online lessons across Ireland, the UK and the rest of Europe. I play electric, Acoustic and Spanish guitar in a variety of styles. My influences are diverse, from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to John Williams, SRV, Rory Gallagher and Tommy Emmanuel. Music was my 2nd love, but it's the one that never left me. (a good line for a blues).

Steady on, it's not like some of them need extra reasons to slap a premium on a five quid set of parts.

Gordon Smith, although better known for their Gibson types, also do a very nice Tele - https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/shop/stock-guitars/blaggards/ TBH, though, I'm not sure that's how I would go. Clearly you're not looking for a more affordable alternative to Fender's US or CS ranges if you're thinking of spending that sort of custom money anyhow. Now, this is only a personal opinion, but.... for me it would depend a lot on what you want. A tele is such a utilitarian design that if what you want is the standard set-up Tele, it seems to me madness to spend custom-built money on it. If that's the only way - you want something really offbeat like the Jack White signature, or a Trussant Steelcaster, or you have an original 52 that you want to clone so you can leave the vintage piece at home and play a facsimilie out.... then, sure. But if what you want is "just" a Tele, it seems to be it's hard to justify spending vast sums on it.... I'd buy whatever MIM / Tokai / whatever you like and maybe rewired if you want, or track down a CIJ Fender that's good to go as is. (IMO, the top end Japanese Fenders are as good as anything form the US, typically wired the same with the same specs, and usually cheaper - nut much harder to find.) Unless you want something that's just not available otherwise, imo having a custom built Tele is a bit like having a Saville Row tailor copy a pair of 501s for you. They'll be an exquisite example, but....

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.

A few years ago I bought a Blue Ridge 12 string with the confidence that I would soon be able to remove my finger picks and apply my scruggs style technique to the 12 string and be able to emulate the one and only Leo Kotke.......... Well, it did kind of sound like him, if he flipped his guitar to lefty and played it with his bare feet. just had to get that off my chest. So sad

Same. To be fair, the 5 series are really, really good and the price difference between a 5420 and 6120 is huge and the law of diminishing returns says you’ll not be getting an awful lot more. 5420, plus some TV Jones pickups and you’ll be pretty much 95% of the way there, for a fraction of the cost.

Good evening, @danhkr, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Looks like a nice bit of kit. Hope you have fun learning on it!

That’s a very fine guitar, good choice.

Blinding call on the exact same Godin that I have but just Thinline... now to find a 'used' one!

Phase I instigated, just bought one of these. Looks just about as simple as can be and can't go wrong for under £40. I can't imagine taking my guitar playing on the road so just for home use. Nevertheless I have been using one of their wireless jobbies for gigging/rehearsing for 18 months or so and it has behaved faultlessly.

Yep, you won't go wrong with a Yamaha F-310. It's long been considered one of the best (and best value) acoustic guitars for beginners. I've had one for about 20 years and still play it.

Pool gigs. All the cool kids are doing them. In other news, aren't phone keyboards crap and too small?

IIRC the two jack sockets are for if you are hooking up another cab (I could be way off base here and I’m more than happy to be corrected by those who know better/for sure). However, just plug the micro amp into either socket, you’ll be fine.

Thanks, I'll check them out!

That's where I'd start. Seems a good idea to see if that one can be perfected first rather than going to the expense of another. Particularly given that buying from a brand with a traditional wholesale-retail business model is likely to end up with needing to pay about double what the HB cost to get something of an equivalent quality.

I figured it out. Sire T7. Nice.

Sad news indeed - I read somewhere that it was JHS’s wish that the company be wound up when he passed. Someone is bound to buy Vintage guitars - or at least , I hope so. Their reputation and history has to be worth something in today’s crowded market

I think Behringer just got a little too close to the original design. I am very much a fan of Behringer, by the way. I ordered mine from Anderton’s, as it was the only place that had them in stock, two days before the lawsuit was announced. I told my wife that they would start being worth more because of the lawsuit, and the lack of stock in many places (Anderton’s were the only ones that had them in stock and not back order) but that was to justify buying it… I had no idea that the prices really were going up. Maybe I should have ordered two? I certainly won’t be selling mine, it’s a excellent pedal. I suppose, what I could do, is build my own (which had always been the plan before the Behringer came out and all the massively positive reviews for it), and if it’s close enough, I could sell the Behringer.

They don't really unless they're just playing one bands songs e.g ACDC. Nothing wrong with SS amps though, the Peavey Bandit 112 has been a long held secret find and they're still available for peanuts. The Yamaha G series designed by Paul Rivera was one attempt at including a parametric eq on a guitar amp to help emulate different responses. But perhaps something ahead of it's time as well. The UK's own Session amps were well regarded even if the owner did occasionally go on anti-valve rants. Plus...with modellers or profilers becoming more popular, pedal board amps are experiencing some popularity now with any players who want to stay with traditional cabs.

I have the Silver Horse and would recommend it for anyone wanting an alternative boost to a TS. However I'm using an old Xotic AC Booster for that function these days, there's slightly more harmonic saturation available.

That looks great. Gordon Smith make superb guitars; I owned a single pickup Gypsy many moons ago, an absolute Gibson Junior killer.

They seem to be doing well enough to stay in production. They're not going to fly out the door as a cheap alternative - there's very little price difference. But I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they did start to catch on more broadly. It'll be interesting. I suspect there are a lot more ofc them out there being used on the road than we're aware of. You know the drill - established acts / operations who've had enough of the weight / hassle of a tube amp on tour, these look close enough the average punter isn't gonig to notice.... (on some scenes, the look is as important as the sound. I've seen acts get dismissed on certain scenes for not having the right look - can be especially so on the rockabilly scene where a lot of acts put out vinyl because some of their fanbase won't buy CDs). Younger kids now seem to have come up with a range of new bands that have gone beyond the "tube good, else bad" mindset, so we'll see what they go for. If that's amps at all, that is. We've speculated on this elsewhere on this site as well, but it's not unthinkable that amps as we know them could be out-evolved by alternatives. PAs now are better and cheaper than ever before. The old, macho idea of The Big Amp comes from the days hen you needed that be heard and PAS weren't great. That's no longer the case. I've seen a number of acts recently who used pedal format pre and power amps on footboards, and plugged right into the PA. In the West End musicals in London, a lot of the guitar players have been using stuff like Line 6 Pods for years (when Buddy was last in town, they had empty cabs out front for the look, and were all hooked up to Line 6 pods out of sight). Maybe if younger bands and their audiences get past certain visual expectations, we'll see bands arrive with pedalboards under their arms, and set-up / tear down becoming vastly quicker for everyone. If it still sounds great, I'm not at all opposed to it. My own next move no is, I think, gonig to be a small pedal board with pedals for reverb, gain, preamp, into an A/B box that leads to a headphone pedal amp and a Mooer Baby Bomb preamp. Thinking of tying one of those tweed JHS Vintage 1x12" cabs at about £100 with that, could end up being a solid rig for me as a home player. In the unlikely event I ever played out again, the cab could then go or not depending on availability of monitors. I could see that becoming a norm. The tech is already there - it just needs to convince guitar players who have a tendency to luddism.

Sounds like a real bargain. I had a quick look on Reverb and other Cox Classix electric guitars are selling from about £150 second hand. Obviously, they aren't covered in stickers with repainted headstocks, but your is now in the same condition after a little work. Well done.

A good point indeed; there is certainly a risk. Since then I have used it at some jams and it had plenty of volume on the clean channel even with the attenuator on 1/2 power.

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.

From what I've read, Vox think that it is indeed a sort-of direct equivalent. I'm not sure if it's catching on, though. Recently, I purchased an MVX150C1 (Nutubes in preamp and power amp) but I think they're discontinued; the one I got was the last in stock at PMT and at a discounted price. I've not had chance to try it at a jam, gig or rehearsal yet but the tone seems good to me and I'd guess that it would be loud enough (150W class D 1x12"). Whilst they were generally available they didn't appear to be very popular, as far as I can tell. I've also got a VX50 GTV (Nutube in the preamp) and this has proven to be loud for its size and very portable.

Best and certainly cheapest option would be the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz, which is a shade north of twenty quid new, or about fifteen quid used (and there are a lot of them about). Like many Behringer pedals, it's essentially a copy of a Boss pedal, in this case their FZ2 Hyper Fuzz, which being discontinued, is hard to find in good nick for less than three hundred quid. The Boss FZ2 is sort of a copy of the Univox Super Fuzz, and an original one of those would be hard to find in good nick for much less than a grand. So, for the price of a round of drinks in a pub, you can get that classic Hendrix Univox Fuzz and the Big Muff sound as well as more subtle overdrive and level increases with the Behringer SF300 Super Fuzz. Thus you can get more modern tones such as Chilli Peppers, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins etc as well as that Sixties and Seventies stuff by changine the modes and tweaking the control knobs. A lot of people get hung up on Behringer pedals being housed in ABS rather than metal cases, but don't let that put you off, ABS is very tough; you'd have to be a right lead-footed clumsy git to ever break a Behringer pedal case (and even if you could manage to do so, you've broken a twenty quid pedal), which is why I'm happy to have four of the nine pedals on my board be Behringer ones, because they are decent, reliable and as noted, most of them are basically knock offs of Boss pedal circuits with a few additional whistles and bells added, but for considerably less dosh. Although the sounds out of the SF300 are good and very versatile, it does have one slight downside compared to the Boss Hyper Fuzz, and that's the control knobs, which are a tad smaller than those on the Boss and a bit more closely grouped together, but they kind of had to do that becuse the SF300 has an additional three-position mode select switch which gives you a choice of Fuzz 1, Fuzz 2 and Boost, making it a bit more versatile than the Boss. The Boost means you can sort of use it as an overdrive-ish type of pedal as well, so it can even be a bit Klon-ish. However, be aware that the size of the knobs makes it perhaps less than ideal in a gig situation for quick changes on the fly on a dark stage mid-song, but if you are happy to set and forget it for each tune and either kick it on or off as needed, it's not really a major issue, and for 'bedroom' playing or home studio use, this is a non-issue. So for twenty-odd quid, you really can't go wrong with something offering you all those options in one pedal.

The pictures don't do it justice. The guitar looks impressive out of the box. The fender pre-wired pickguard looks amazing I have to say, it's creamy, not white, which will match everything better with a more pronounced vintage vibe. Colour scheme apart, the guitar is actually very good, above my expectations. The only real problem is that the pocket won't fit the neck like a glove. The neck was out of alignment by a couple of mms and I had to fix that, relying on my eyes and the distance of the strings from the edge of the neck. Question: is the loose pocket a big critical issue? However, half of the Strat pocket is not even there by design hence the pocket will never hold the neck very tight and always have to rely on the bolts. Also I went mad today and I took the guitar apart to the smallest screw to rebuild it tomorrow. It's an ugly duck in need of love but all in all it's a very solid purchase, with lots and potential and most importantly I love it very much. Anyway I will go through all of this when I write my review. The tremolo is set from factory not to work (so they can save time in balancing it with the strings etc) and the electronics were very noisy. More to come on HB... stay tuned.

Behringer HB01 Hell Babe... ... for value for money. Works for bass, too.