Matt P

unfortuntely on this guitar (a very early tanglewood semi) there isn't much spare cable on the pickups so they would need to be cut fairly close to the pickup which isn't ideal, i've grown to love the pickups that are fitted now, the Les Paul suits better for the higher gain parts and the semi has had some flatwounds fitted for a more mellow tone. I'm also wary of cutting and re-connecting coaxial cables, i tried it when i was young and it never worked well so i've just avoided it ever since! Matt

I've not come across an Epiphone ES335 with coil taps (but this doesn't mean that they don't exist), all the Epiphone humbuckers i have come across have been 2 wire as well so not possible to split them. it's also worth pointing out that 335 style guitars are possibly the most difficult guitars to work on when it comes to electronics as they generally have no back plate so the pots and switch have to be loosened and then fed back through the f-hole to be worked on, certainly my least favourite job and the reason I never swapped out the pickups on mine even though I had a set of seymour duncans in my parts drawer (they got fitted to an Epiphone Les Paul instead) Matt

I've swapped out a few humbuckers over the years and always end up using the Seymour Duncan JB, just seems to work for me, can roll off the volume for a cleaner sound or full on for some grit. As @ezbasssays there are very good sound demos on Seymour Duncan's website, I imagine dimarzio etc have similar demos on their websites. Matt

hello and welcome! that's a great looking guitar. It's not totally clear from the photos exactly what is going on but it should be easy enough to decipher the problem there are excellent wiring diagrams on the seymour duncan website HERE you will need to convert the colour codes on the seymour duncan site to the jackson version, there is a great page HERE with all the different colour codes on. i would follow the wiring for each pickup and see if it differs anywhere, it is most likely just a bad connection or a loose wire. do you own a multimeter? if the wiring looks ok then checking the resistance of the pickup is the next test. if you don't have the kit then it's time to find a tech, fi you give us an approximate loation then someone might be able to suggest one, or even offer to look at it for you. Matt EDIT - the switch is another possible issue, they are prone to getting dirt/corrosion on the contacts, give it a good few switches and see if that makes a difference, it might be worth cleaning the contacts, just pulling a strip of brown paper through them can be enough to get them working again.

If you have a good guitar shop locally I'd give them a call and see what they have in stock. I'm not familiar with the exact guitar you have but from a quick google it looks like a smaller boded guitar, similar to a APX Yamaha? My personal preference for hard cases is Hiscox, they publish internal dimensions on their website HERE Hiscox cases are not cheap but they are robust and lightweight, you might find that a perfect fit case isn't available but a bit of rolled up towel usually takes up any extra space and is useful to wipe the guitar down before putting it away. I've had good luck buying Hiscox cases secondhand from facebook and eBay, getting the seller to take some internal measurements or asking exactly what guitar it was used for previously helps to work out if it's the right one. Another place to look is Thomann, they often publish internal dimensions for their cases. Matt

i've never heard of Insect damage to guitars, Have you tried moving the guitar to another room and see if the sound follows it? Acoustic guitars will pick up and amplify sounds very well, I'd put my money on this being the case here, the ticking was always there (a clock or watch probably) but the guitar has amplified the previously inaudible ticking enough that it's now noticeable. Matt

I have both, as far as i know they are both still in production? the difference is that the silver has a switch to go between soft and hard clipping. It's been a while since i played with them so I can't give any comments on the sound. Matt

I have one of the JTM622 2x12 combo's, bought it back in the late 90's used (i think it's a 1997 model). It's been pretty reliable, it was my main amp for about 10 years, mostly playing in church and the occasional gig, lent it to a friend for a series of Blues gigs and it performed very well. I replaced all the valves once and had to re-solder the input jack once. I did have a few issues with it losing volume and the tech had trouble diagnosing the issue, but i think it was more that the tech wasn't that good. It's currently in the back of the cupboard as i'm not playing guitar much and have bought a little Laney LC15R which is more suited to the type of playing i am doing but i have not intention of selling the JTM as it sounded great, i now know a much better tech so as soon as i have a good reason i'll get it re-commissioned and it will be my main amp again. the tones were more blues than rock, one tech described it as AC30-esque and raved about it. Matt

if i were in your position i wouldn't put anything on the fretboard, find a reputable local Luthier and take it there for the new frets, (taking the other one along as a reference is a good idea) normally a maple neck is lacquered to protect it (Musicman being the major exception to that rule) the wear is a sign that you've really played it and presumably enjoyed playing it, i would leave it as a badge of honour, people are paying extra to have that kind of wear faked on new instruments. if you give us a general idea of wher you live (rough area is enough eg north London or just the county) then we might be able to suggest someone locally that can be trusted with the re-fret . I certainly can suggest a couple of people local to me in the north east of England. Matt

I'd probably want to play it before handing over any money but i do like a budget guitar. my main acoustic is a McIlroy (northern Irish handbuilt by the ex head of the Lowden workshop) so has a hefty pricetag (about £3k now i think) but a cheap chord travel guitar gets almost as much use (got it free from a local facebook group as it needed a setup to get it playing well) and the McIlroy just doesn't work for playing the blues so a Gretsch Jim Dandy with 13's is brought in for bluesy stuff. I've been looking at the recording king guitars as well, i really fancy one of the resonators buy don't have the space in my house for another guitar. Sometimes a cheap guitar can really surprise with a great sound, and equally i've played some big name guitars with huge pricetags that felt totally meh (most of them Taylors) Matt

Thank you @Dad3353, I'll get it changed ASAP. Would it be worth having a banner across the top of guitarchat like the one on basschat so that people know to change both? Matt

hello, I saw the warning over on Basschat about security and promptly replaced my password, i then signed back into Basschat using the new password (on pc and my phone) when i then came onto this site my new password didn't work (i managed to lock myself out for 14 minutes!) i've just managed to log back in using my old password (the original Basschat one) are the passwords shared across the two sites or are they separate? (do I need to create a new password for Guitarchat as well? Matt

that's one handsome guitar, has a finish been decided on yet? gloss/satin, how much do you expect the alder to darken? i'm loving the curves of this one. Matt

i looked into loopers a couple of years ago and came to a similar conclusion as @velvetkevorkian that a multi button pedal was easier to use. I went for an AKAI Headrush 2, picked it up on ebay for about 60 quid i think, with it's power supply. the 2 button arrangement is very easy to use and it has can be switched into delay/echo mode as well, the ojnly slight downside is that it's a big pedal but it is very robust feeling. If you go for something secondhand then if it doesn't suit you or you don't find you are using it enough then you should be able to sell it on without losing any money. there are lots of options from most of the big name brands, picking up one of those would be my pick (personally i quite like TC electronic and Electro-Harmonix pedals so they would be high up the list, I've yet to bond with a Boss pedal so they don't really appear on my radar) Matt

if you are prepared to look secondhand then the Laney LC15R is a good bet, I have one and it's got a good blues-rock sound. they can be picked up for 100quid or so. the Laney VC15 is a good option too for a bit more money. My LC15 has the better Celestion speaker and i've fitted Harma retro valves which suit it very well. I had one of the Bugera 5 watt valve amps and it was pretty good but the Laney seems more grown-up and the build is a bit better.

Subscribed! Always a pleasure to watch one of your build come together (even when it's not for me!) Matt

I've owned and played a few Vintage branded guitars and they've all been rather good, they tend to get a bit overlooked compared to Squier and epiphone but the les paul copy i had was an absolute peach (i only sold it as i needded to make room for another bass.) I've played through some of the small Marshall amps as well and have always been impressed, this setup should sound excellent. as for strings, i started out on 9's on a Fender scale guitar and went over to 10's soon after, i just found the 9's a bit to light. for Gibson scale instruments i sometimes go to 11's especially if i'm playing lead. Matt

I bow to the Knowledge of Dad and Soledad, I just get paranoid after witnessing damage to guitars that were otherwise in fine fettle, For the strings i'd echo the advice of going for light gauge or lower tension, if you don't mind the extras cost then Newtone make the heritage strings which are lighter tension and designed especially for older and lighter built guitars or those people who just like the lower tension, I've been using the 12's for years and the tensions are lower than most 11's whilst still having the tone of 12's. as a bonus I find they last about twice as long as the D'addario's i was using previously whilst not costing twice as much cracks can be repaired, look up twoodfrd on youtube for some examples of how it's done. Matt

was this originally designed for steel strings? with the slotted headstock and the way the strings sit in the tailpiece this looks like it might have been designed for nylon strings, is there any sign of a truss rod (usually visible inside the guitar at the neck join) another giveaway is that a nylon strung guitar will have a flat fingerboard with no radius at all. if it was built for nylon strings then there is a danger that the tension of the steel strings will cause damage to the neck. Apologies if you already know all this but i've seen the damage that steel strings can do to instruments that weren't built for them. Matt

that's a very good looking guitar, I'm not usually a fan of gold hardware but that looks perfect! such a nice colour combination. Matt

the Pacifica guitars are fantastic (not just for the money) they can be had very cheap secondhand as well. where in the uk are you? I know of a red Pacifica just like the one you linked to that is surplus to requirements and needing a good home. Matt

hello, the link doesn't seem to work (it just links back to this page.) Matt

I've not tried a PRS trem but a while back i swapped out the trem on a very cheap Encore strat copy and used a Wilkinson trem, they make one that has slightly diffferent mounting, rather than 6 round holes it has one round hole and 5 slots, this gives more of a smooth knife-edge feel, it seemed to work quite well, we went for the steel block version as well which may or may not have made a sonic difference (can of worms there) the only thing to note is that the hole spacing for the screws is not standard across all trems, the trem didn't line up with the squier strat we tried it on, and for the encore we had to fill the original holes and re-drill. This was the one I fitted (although I swear it was about half that price when i bought it) they make more modern style ones though with the same 5+1 fitting style. full range HERE Matt

i'm not sure which of the guitars you mean as i see an acoustic and a semi acoustic in the vides but Equipboard has quite a list of instruments that they've used before, Rusty Cage | Equipboard As a guess, the acoustic is the Little Martin LXM as the headstock appears to be the classic martin squared off shape and the body looks right too. and the semi acoustic is probably a Jay Turser, there are 2 on the list but from the video i'm not sure which exact model it is as i'm not familiar with that brand. Matt

i've just got the standard Mex ones in my Tele (factory fit) when I was shopping for pickups years ago for another guitar I used the sample recordings on the manufacturers websites, ended up going for a Seymour Duncan JB which has become my all time favourite guitar pickup (fited in 2 guitars with another in the cupboard just in case i fins something to fit it to) many of the aftermarket makers have sound clips to help with the decision. Matt