Leaderboard

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!

Hi! I was asked to make a version of this nostalgic song "Nuotiotunnelma" (Engl. Campfire atmosphere) from 1977 movie called Jäniksen vuosi. At the end I added some challenging finger picking part there to give different feel and climax. The basic theme is fun to play and works nicely on background music gigs. Video: Tabs: cheers, Mikko

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!!

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.

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

Thanks for the advice @randythoades. Just opened a bass chat account and will try there

Me giving it some full on A major stuff many years ago on my much loved and sadly missed Washburn HB35 that I got sent from America. UK only had, if I remember right red, natural , and black available. White wasnt an option here, but that's what I wanted. It got stuck at customs because I didnt know about import tax back then☹

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.

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.

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.

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

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, 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.

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

Added this to my collection but then changed the Marshall to the Orange Supercrush 100 combo which is a better amp PRS SE Swamp Ash

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

It's been five years and I managed to come into a bit of disposable income after cashing in a business venture and I discovered an popular app for selling second hand stuff. I kept finding really interesting gear at very attractive prices so resistance was futile for stuff that was within my reach. Number 1 (mentioned above): My favourite Yamaha MSG Deluxe is smooth sounding yet offers some girthy bite when needed. Think of the rhythm guitar on Rosanna by Toto. Yes, really. It plays like a dream - as good as any PRS but warmer. The bridge had a stripped thread in a fine tuner hole about a year ago and I was faced with a choice of either trying to tap a new thread in all the tuners for Floyd Rose tuner screws (which are larger in diameter) or looking for a second hand replacement. I ended up scoring a cheap black replacement trem and fitted it with no further issues than the need to replace all the hardware and pickups to match. I prefer the chrome pickups which had to be transferred to number two, the black ones are nice but don't have quite the same synergy. Number 2: The second Yamaha MSG Deluxe is lighter than number 1, has a less figured top and sounds a smidge brighter, it's also a transition model between the v1 and v2 MSG but now has the pickups that were in Number 1. Absolutely glorious neck pickup tone that reminds me of the solo on Wuthering Heights. Yamaha MSG Standard: This came to me in a right state but I bought it because I thought it might have a little more sustain. Thoroughly worn fingerboard and frets and I think it might have had a clear overspray at some point to make it more attractive for sale. After removing all the frets, I discovered the fingerboard was a weird 13" radius. So it was re profiled to 14" and the frets were replaced, levelled and dressed. I also installed some PRS Mira pickups which gave it a bit of midrange bite. It's used for classic rock, most often with the Marshall rack mentioned below. Chandler Custom Strat (mentioned above): My faithful workhorse is still going strong. I made and fitted a new neck from flamed maple with an ebony fingerboard and a nut width that matches the MSGs. I finished it in superglue and the whole guitar is pretty much now Valley Arts spec. I also added a semi super switch so position 3 is neck and bridge pickups, for funky tele chords. The neck is a little more sensitive to climate changes than the original but it feels much easier to play without getting cramped. This and Deluxe NUmber 1 are my two go to guitars. Al Knight Hitmaker (mentioned above): Still have it but it will probably go up for sale soon as I hardly ever play it now. I did toy with fitting a Stratoblaster circuit but after three breadboard prototypes worked fine on the bench, I couldn't get them to work after installation. Probably a short somewhere but I lost patience and shelved the modification. Super low action on this machine and it sounds identical to the guitar on the Chic albums - quite tight and thin. Kleinberger (mentioned above): I accrued the parts and then made a body for it in 2011 while living in NZ. For a while I thought it was a bit dull sounding but I fell in love with it after playing it through the JMP1 preamp. The body wood is from a NZ native tree and is a cross between cherry and mahogany. It filters out enough of the highs from the neck to give it a huge amount of girth but still leave it articulate or woofy. For a tiny guitar, it sounds like a beast and although not my thing, it really djents. A member of my team at work has his eye on it so it may not be here this time next year. The Clean Machine: I built this one Summer 2024 in Jon Shuker's workshop. It was inspired by the Aria RS Esprit but in a Yamaha MSG format and it kind of goes one step further. The original RS Esprit had electronics licensed from Alembic (but built by others) and in this guitar, I used a set of genuine Alembic Activators. The electronics in the RS Esprit were a pair of low pass filters with boost and Nuno at Lusithand kindly tweaked a pair of filters so they were more suitable for guitar frequencies. (Thanks Nuno!) A rare Wilkinson VS100CV bridge was also installed with Graphtec Ghost saddles connected to an acoustiphonic preamp. A rotary pickup selector chooses the piezos for a full acoustic simulation, or bridge/bridge+middle/bridge+neck/middle+neck/neck. Not ideal but the simplest solution in terms of controls. In high gain situations when the high frequencies are filtered a little, lots of interesting harmonics jump out. However the lack of crystalline brightness in clean settings has been a little disappointing and I suspect this is due to the neck woods (the maple is way too soft). Recently I found a guy in Guangzhou who has started offering his own graphite necks for knock off Steinberger M Series guitars for the domestic market. So I've sent him the neck of this guitar and he'll make a copy of the neck in graphite composite...but with a 43mm nut to match the MSGs and Chandler Strat. I hope the graphite neck is going to be rigid enough to brighten up the sound a bit but we will see. There's an ongoing power drain issue with this one that I need to sort out over the Summer. Ibanez S670 (highly modified): I'm not sure this was ever really a S670 as it doesn't have a mahogany body even if the neck is correct. The body wood is more like basswood but it only cost 130 quid and the trem was completely worn out. I looked into an upgrade but none were available so found a like for like replacement for about ten quid. Actually I think the replacement is better quality, the knife edges on the base seem more durable. I had some special order Dimarzio pickups a Mo Joe and a PAF Joe in chrome so thought why not turn it into a S series Chrome boy. I looked into painting and discovered that in the first batch of Chromeboys, Ibanez had used chrome based paint finish (on a metallic undercoat) and it cracked and split after a few years due to seasonal changes. So the more recent version 2 Chromeboys have bodies made of lucite, not wood. I figured another option was to use an automotive vinyl wrap, so I bought some online and got in touch with the city's best wrap specialist who took care of the body in three pieces one afternoon. I tried wrapping myself but discovered I really needed two pairs of hands to lay the vinyl without it sticking to itself. The neck also needed attention with a few frets that were worn from cowboy chords, so I replaced, levelled and dressed them and it plays effortlessly now although the neck profile is U shaped rather than the D I'm used to. The electronics were my usual harness of coil splits for the humbuckers and a semi superswitch which allows position 3 to select both humbuckers instead of the middle pickup. So it'll do stratty stuff as well as the more familar high gain. I ended up playing this guitar at a CNY gig in January and it did a fine job. The experience of installing strings confirm and endorsed my absolute hatred for double locking trems though. Ibanez AWD83T: Last but not least, I mentioned an interest a few years ago in an Ibanez AWD. I went off them for a while, in preference for a Yamaha SAS semi hollow to match the MSGs. However YT research suggested the SAS didn't sound as smooth and jazzy as I wanted whereas the AWD did. One day last month I was trawling a japanese auction site and discovered a rarer AWD83T (with a trem) for sale, put a bid in for less than 200 quid and won. When it arrived, the electronics were a bit dodgy, the trem arm was missing and it was covered in a thick film of nicotine - perhaps the guitar was part of an estate. Not sure, but the main thing was that the neck was good (as I have come to expect from Ibanez) and there was plenty of life in the frets. The electronics issue turned out to be just a poorly soldered earth connection from the pickups and that was sorted in a few minutes and a spare trem arm from a wilkinson V100 bridge fitted perfectly. It's a great value guitar, does jazz and Foofighters in the same breath. I might trial some pickups from my spares department over the summer and see how much of an improvement they make. Otherwise it plays sweetly and smoothly with low action. BQW Custom: And finally...I have found a luthier in northern China who makes instruments featuring some incredible workmanship and he can do pretty much anything including graphite necks. So I've been on a two year waiting list for a build of another Yamaha MSG style instrument but with a through body 3 piece mahogany neck with bound ebony fingerboard, stainless steel frets, lightweight sapele wings, a carved top made from a bicoloured piece of golden camphor and maybe a back from my stash of 42,000 year old NZ swamp kauri...or some 3A flamed maple. The electronics feature a custom HSH set of my favourite Armstrong pickups, a switchable EMG SPC midboost circuit and a Kahler trem. He's finally going to start work on it this month. Also in the planning is a build that will be a 5 string version of my Alembic Series 1 graphite, but that's another story. Ampwise, there's quite a bit of extra stuff. I'm now running four rigs without any real need for this much backline. Tweed Princeton 1x8 combos: These are good amps but I haven't played them in three years, apart from a wet dry wet experiment shortly after the PRII arrived. So they will be going up for sale. Considering they are hand wired and point to point with high quality parts, just like the originals and like later boutique amps, they go for criminally low asking prices but there's not a lot of other option. Fender Princeton Reverb II: This amp was part of a Paul Rivera supervised series that was Fender's attempt to compete with Mesa Boogie. The same series also featured the now legendary Super Champ popularised by Alan Murphy amongst others during the mid eighties. The PRII is arguably the second most coveted amp in the series because it was originally intended to be a Super Champ in a bigger box. It didn't quite turn out like that due to a few minor differences in circuitry but still a really nice sounding amp. The one I have is in near new condition and when pushed with The Xotic AC booster pedal breaks out into this harmonically rich but articulate gain. I replaced the Fender speaker with a Jensen N12K neo out of a Tone Master amp. Fender Concert (II) 1x12: I bought this amp before the PRII in 2020...but it didn't actually end up in my possession, due to various complications, until last month. The Concert II is renowned for it's blackface style cleans - David Gilmour had a wall of them behind him at Live Aid and continued to play them well into the early nineties. If I had written this yesterday, I would have said that it's not quite as tight as the PRII or as rich in the midrange. However tonight I gave it a blast and used a tactic popular with Mesa Mark amp owners...turn the bass down to zero. It worked a treat and while the gain might have been criticised online, I found my amp verged on 5E3 Tweed meltdown - satisfyingly rich and crunchy, like a Twix. Compared to the PRII, it's been gigged but well maintained. The original speaker has been replaced with an Eminence Patriot (almost a requirement for this series of amps, the OEM Fender speakers are not very good.) I also had a custom 1x12 extension cab made for it which has a V30 installed. The gain control needs a little attention but OMG it's LOUD when the master is pushed to 70%. Pedalboard: It's fairly constrained, consisting of an Xotic XW-1 wah into a Keeley C4 comp, then a Zoom MS70CDR for pre-gain modulation into an Xotic AC booster and Amptweaker Tight Rock. Sitting in the side chain of the TR is a Nobels ODR and a Joyo American Sound JF14. The TR then feeds into a Mooer Ocean Machine for reverb and dual delays before hitting the amp. If I am using the Concert II, I'll run the Ocean Machine into the series effects loop at the back for less colouration. I really love the combinattion of the AC Booster and the ODR, its harmonically rich and articulate without getting noisy. The AC Booster makes pretty much all of the other gain pedals sound better if I'm honest. I trialled a Line 6 M9 for post gain modulation but it proved to be a bit of a tone suck so put the Ocean Machine back in. There is also a Crowther Hot Cakes to swap out with the Joyo if I get bored. I'm also going to play about with an Empress parametric eq and boost to see if I can get it to do the same job as the AC Booster at some point. But otherwise really happy with this board, it makes all the right noises. Mesa rack: This started off as a single 4U rack but morphed into two in the last 4 months mainly because there was a lack of volume with the original rack and I had rack gear to spare so...why not? The Mesa rack is based around a Lexicon MPXG2 (with R1 foot controller) that switches a final version Mesa Triaxis preamp inserted in the side chain. The MPX sends a stereo signal into a Mesa Fifty/Fifty power amp which then goes into a pair of Joyo 1x12 cabs each fitted with a Celestion 12" neo creamback. The Fifty/Fifty is a later model, optimised for the Triaxis and it features a 15/50W power switch which almost makes the Marshall 20/20 redundant for practice needs. I later bought a second Triaxis as back up although it has the recto mod in Lead 1 so not quite a direct replacement. Marshall rack: The second 4U rack is based around a Marshall JMP-1 into a Rocktron Intellipitch and then into a Marshall 20/20 power amp. A Rocktron 300A comp evens out any harshness before the signal hits the preamp. It sounds like a Marshall head but can be a little shrill for my taste. The 20/20 power amp made it possible to dial in Marshall-esque tones in the Triaxis's Lead 2 setting. This rack gets used for ACDC and Def Leppard but the MXR Rockman X100 might make the entire rack redundant at some point. The cabs are the same Celestion loaded Joyos shown above. Kemper Stage Profiler board. I had a Kemper before the Mesa Traxis and it sort of became surplus to reqiurements afterwards. The one great thing is that on the largest Ghostfire pedal board, it still weighs less than a 4U rack so its currently first choice for any gigs even though it doesn't quite feel the same as having the real thing blasting away from the back of stage. My favourite settings on the Triaxis, Mesa Studio, Carvin Quad X and Burman GX3 preamps have been profiled as well, for posterity. The signal chain starts with a Shure wireless then a Digitech FreqOut for feedback effects before going into the Kemper. In a loop of the Kemper sits a Line 6 M5 for modulation effects that the Kemper can't do like Dimension D. Out of the Kemper the signal goes into a pair of Hotone Loudster Class D power amps each pumping out 85W into the Joyo cabs. All the profiles loaded into the profiler have the cabinet simulation removed. The cabs used are the same Celestion loaded Joyos as mentioned above. While the cabs are rated at 60W and the output of the Loudsters is rated at 85W, the speakers seem insensitive enough to deal with the extra power without too many issues so far. I gigged wtih this set up and the Ibanez S Series Chromeboy mentioned above. Maintaining this lot keeps me pretty damn busy and then there are the basses, more preamps and other rack gear on top of that too. So there are plans for a clear out soon, some of which driven by the need to make space and some by the sheer fact that keeping this lot maintained takes a lot of time. So once the BQW is complete, I'll be making plans to let the two MSGs go, the HItmaker, the Kleinberger, the chrome wrapped Ibanez S670, the Tweeds, the Marshall rack, the Carvin Quad X (not mentioned above), the Mesa Studio pre (also not mentioned above) and a load of pedal and rack effects.

My version of a beautiful number composed by Swedish songwriter, guitarist and singer, Lennart Clerwall. https://youtu.be/q4B_Saa6bPk

Zombie thread time . The Gretsch GAS welled up again to almost unbearable proportions, but I reined myself in, realising that I’m only playing to please myself at the moment and the Casino Coupé is a more than capable guitar. Since the OP, I have fitted new pickups, changed the knobs and made a couple of other aesthetic changes. However, just like the factory fitted Bigsbys on other guitars, with the same break angle over the bridge, tuning stability is questionable. In order to keep the GAS at bay and address this tuning shortcoming, I bought a drop in replacement, roller bridge. Why, oh why did I not do this at the get go? I can attack the Bigsby without fear of a discordant result on return to the resting position. The cost of this miraculous upgrade, less than £22, including delivery. Happy days!

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.

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

This year: A book on jazz guitar comping concepts.

Ordered a pair of matched JJ EL34 tubes and swopped out the Marshall stock EL34 ( will keep as spares ) Replaced V1 and V2 with JJ ECC83S Pleasing results as it sounds warmer, fuller and less harsh at high gain which the better JJ tubes seem to be helping A nice easy upgrade

For me it has to be Ritchie Blackmore and his stratocasters. As far as I can tell he has at least two - one which is a pale natural wood finish, and another which is painted an ivory colour.

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

Ah. For this, I'd refer you to my usual words of encouragement that I often dish out, when subjects such as this arise... 'It's the first forty years that are the worst, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly better.'

Hello and welcome. Plenty here to learn from and chuckle at. Frustration and patience are your biggest hurdles by the sound of it. You Tube is great, but no replacement for a proper teacher and I would heartily recommend visiting one, even just for a few months to even out your technique. I would also counsel against changing the songs to make them easier, if you only play the stuff you can already play you never progress. Changing them to fit your voice is one thing, but trying to avoid chords just because isn't doing you any favours long term. But also, don't get too hung up on playing them exactly as the records, most of us here can't play everything and do simplify songs to a degree. At the end of the day... just enjoy the journey!

I'm not sure that there are any guitars that are excluded from playing 'metal', but if I take that to mean roughly Strat-shape, with a pointy headstock, I'd start by looking at the Thomann B-stock offers. 'B-stock' means that someone ordered one, then sent it back, normally, but they are perfectly sound, and carry the same guarantee as others. It's a way of getting a bit off the price. Here's a link to some I'd suggest fall into your criteria (between £200-£300...)... Thomann 'Bargain' ST-type guitars, with no vibrato, UK prices ... Feel free to play around with the filters on the left, to see what else is on offer. There's nothing wrong with Tele-style, Les Paul-style, SG-style etc guitars either for metal (maybe avoid archtop though, as a beginner...). All of these guitars hold their tuning, and can be used in any style, including metal, of course. There are many other suppliers than Thomann, but this is an easy way to see and compare what's on the market, from the comfort of one's own home. Nothing beats trying out various instruments at a music shop, once one has an initial idea of what to try out. My personal choice would be a Squire Affinity Tele Deluxe (I prefer humbuckers...), like this one ... Thomann Squire Affinity Deluxe ... ... or this one ... Thomann Harley Benton Fusion T-HH ... Spoilt for choice, now, eh..?

SRV by Eric Johnson. Took a me ages to get the main parts down and I don’t have the chops to nail the main solo. Still revisit it occasionally, which then becomes also a feat of memory, as alluded to by @Dad3353.

Hi all if I tuned down half step… where would a capo go if I wanted to get back to standard tuning? The first fret?

I'd suggest that any reasonably-popular guitar, made by any reasonably-popular maker, from any reasonably-popular supplier will be fine for any beginner. There can always be a flaw in any manufactured item; guitars are no exception, but they are rare. If any guitar purchased could be vetted (played by...) a decently competent guitar-playing buddy, to check that it's all working (and it will be...), there's little chance of anything seriously wrong happening. What some reviewers might describe as 'absolutely terrible' could be really insignificant details, that don't affect playing, and wouldn't be noticed by most folk. Any described as 'absolutely fantastic' could, by the same token, have been written by someone paid to give a glowing review. Ideally, you should try out any instrument yourself, or with a competent chum, in a reputable store, and decide what's good for you and your budget. If you must order through the web, there is ample protection against bitter disappointment, and, of course, the normal legal guarantees for any faults. In short, trust yourself more, and go for whatever you like the look of, that will inspire you to learn and play, and is in your budget, from any reputable source, the closer to you the better. If we all gave a list of what's 'great' and what's 'rubbish', you'll not be more advanced. It's all good, as long as it inspires you to learn and play it. Hope this helps. Douglas

Considered Mexican? I spent years selling Japanese and Mexican reissue Fenders in London, the difference was so negligible or random between track country. Some Jap gear that gets rave reviews, while being good, is sometimes hyped up far too much. Have you played a Jaguar btw? Just checking you’re cool with the smaller scale length? Some players find a Buzz Stop is really helpful on models with a vintage style bridge, as it stops strings popping off the saddle if you hit hard. The Mex one is definitely Alder btw, could be nice with a good set up and new pups - https://www.fender.com/en-GB/electric-guitars/jaguar/player-ii-jaguar/0140580518.html

Ooh, you’ve asked the wrong question for me as I’m a Gretsch fanboy. Worst thing I ever did was let my old customised Streamliner. If it were me, I’d get a Electromatic 5420, with a Bigsby (well set up, they’re pretty stable and definitely add something to the sound of the guitar) you don’t have to use it, but it’ll be there if you fancy a wobble.

Taking up any musical instrument is a permanent learning journey, there’s always something new to take on board, be it a scale, chord, technique , whatever. However, as Dad says, it should be enjoyable. When I first picked up the guitar as a youngster, I was taught some chords and I had a book or two, but what I did most of all was learn tunes that I liked and wanted to play and I didn’t get too bogged down with scales and theory. This may not have been the wisest course with regard to musical proficiency but, 50 years on, I’m still playing and playing tunes that give me pleasure, not what some book, course or latest internet craze tells me to. What makes you smile, when you’re playing? Do that more and the other things you want to learn, but give you trouble at the moment, will become easier. You may not ever perfect everything to your personal standards (who does?), but you will perfect some things and that’s not bad.

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 might call me Fender Fluid lol

I'd have to have friends and the ability to socialise to do that also frustratingly I can't drive which limits my location options a bit. This is something that makes me want to find people I can play with, support, encouragement, and some accountability to keep practising when I want to give up. I think that is something that would really help me. This gives me pause for thought. I do have a few physical restrictions that I've taken into account, but keep thinking I might be able to overcome to a degree. I've never really thought about not trying to play in every style. I kinda felt that in order to be good and happy with what I can do, I'd have to be good at every style and know all techniques, etc and not just a few. @Dad3353 I'm having weekly lessons and he is a good tutor, teaches in schools, which probably helps him deal with me as I have the intelligence of a small child. He has played professionally in the past. The last two lessons I've bought up that I'm getting worse and struggling more and he had noticed so we went through some different bands that I like to find songs that I may enjoy learning and I was given the tab for them to practice. I've also download yousician in the hope it will give me a bit more structure to my practice. Thank you for the help and for taking the time to read through my post. I really do appreciate it.

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.

Take a look on Reverb or eBay to see what sort of prices they are going for. Beware that on eBay, the asking price isn't always what they will sell for.

I bought myself a semi acoustic Ibanez Atcore to get the "in between" sound that I like. It also has the vibrato arm if you want a bit of shimmy. I love it but my better half doesn't as she can hear me practise, even when I'm wearing headphones (obvious to guitarists but not to her indoors who thinks that headphones should eliminate all the guitar "noise"!) I also got a Nu-x Mighty Plug headphone amp which can be used with any electric guitar to add effects and power wired headphones, earbuds and a small powered or battery amp/speaker such as the Marshall MS-2C. There is an app called Mightier that upgrades the Nu-x for use with a bluetooth phone for allsorts of tuneable effects.

Some of the Guitars cluttering up the house...

There is precedent for removing the bridge pickup and associated electronics, both Pat Metheny and Tuck Andress did/do this. Try it and, if it's still not right, put it back as was and move it on for something that you get along with.

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.

This great number was composed by Kevin Romang and is copyrighted by Duo Astral Plane (Kevin Romang and Silvia Plegniere). I played this using my Fender '56 NOS Stratocaster with the neck and middle pickups (Fender 57/62's) both used together, into the excellent Vintage VST Host software produced by Christian Boileau, available absolutely FREE at - https://vintage-sounds.freeforums.net/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMjwxi8HDlU