randythoades

It's the same when a friend comes round and asks you to play something... or even worse, when they bring their child round who also plays...'Hey, you guys can have a jam...' I sound like complete toilet...

Well, my initial guitar heroes were Buddy Holly, Hank Marvin, Scotty Moore and the players from the 50s and early 60s so I had no ambition early on for 'Liquid runs' (that came much later)... and was more about clean, reverb drenched rhythm initially or purely melody (like Hank). Then I started to do both rhythm and lead together like Buddy. I used the flatwounds on a strat originally as they were the same strings I used on my first guitar (a hollow body ply wood thing with an action you could put a whole finger underneath). I did move from the flatwounds after a year or so on the strat to a 'standard' 10-46 for the next 15 years, but as RSI started, I went to a 9.5 set, then 9.0s, now on 8-38 sets. I don't find I get much of a different tone on my Esquires whichever string I use, although it definitely needs technique adjustment. I might do that though and set my current strat to a 'standard' setup and use that as a base.

As it happens I don't ... These days I am the only guitar player in our group of friends and the others I know in the area are are Gibson players. Used to be that every man and his dog played guitar, but I was always in demand because I also played bass. Now the other way round. We have another 5 bass players in our little area and I am the only guitarist who doesn't only play punk... I do know a good guitar teacher, so might take a visit to him to discuss the finer points of tone. I do still have a strat in the cupboard and without strings so I could take my stuff over there. He is a PRS player, and is very experienced played around a lot. My use of very light strings is relatively recent, only the last couple of years due to increasing discomfort with RSI. I used to use flatwound 12s and gradually got lighter and lighter over the years.. Maybe it isn't that the strat sounds bad, maybe it is because of the tone that I have in my head (which fits nicely with the Tele) that I am trying to get from a strat. Perhaps I am being a little unfair.

I agree that we don't all have to have all the abilities in all the genres in everything and I am sure there is a lot of goat sacrificing going on... !! I am not down on my playing necessarily, I like a Tele (well Esquire actually), it works for me and I like to sound the way I do... I manage to still sound like me (and get a sound I generally like) with an SG or LP junior or Gretsch, so why can't I get the Strat to work? I can understand that the overall playing experience, neck thickness, weight, bulk etc might put off players in droves regardless of the tones achieved (I don't play Les Paul for instance) but some players seem to manage to get some amazing sounds out a guitar that I struggle to get even a decent basic tone from. Due to the huge variances with effects, amps etc, it is just that one's technique? I will admit to being quite an 'angular' player in that I dig in deep and 'chop' at the string rather than smoothly strum or pick. I like the percussive snap that comes with it, even though I use a very light touch and use very light strings these days. Maybe that is why the Tele suits and the Strat not. Bit frustrating though... Maybe I need to buy another, just in case.

Thanks for this. I know the tele is the one for me, every time I play one it just feels right. But I look longingly at a strat and wish I could just make it work I just can't get it to sound good at all to my ears, it isn't even about playing experience. I just don't understand how people manage to get them to sound so fantastic...!!

In an attempt to gain some genuine insight (as well as to stir up a discussion that no side can win), I am interested in how people use and get good sounds out of a Stratocaster... I love a strat, for me they embody the epitome of guitar design, sleek and still look space age after all this time. All my favourite players played strats and coaxed amazing tones out of them. BUT, I have had (genuinely no lie) more than 40 strats of various makes in the 35 years that I have been playing, 10 Fender USA, 7 Mex, 6 Squier and 11 MIJ Fender and a splattering of other makes (Gordon Smith, Greco, Aria etc). I lust after strats all the time but cannot make them work for me musically. I can make a telecaster work in almost every situation I am in, but not a strat (hence my building my own tele in a strat hardtail body). I always find the neck pickup too muddy, the bridge pickup too thin and shrill, so I stay on the middle pickup for the most part but keep catching it with my plectrum. I have tried out every make I could find on after market pickups and wiring looms to no avail. The only strats I can get to work for me to some degree are single humbucker strats in the vein of EVH, when I play rock orientated stuff, but even that isn't really my style for the most part, they don't have the snap that I like. I have had dozens of amps (a lot of different era Fenders to be fair, with some Roland, Peavey and Marshall) and effects units, preamps into PA, software amp modelling etc but always the same issues however I try to tweak it. I feel like the strat is like the Emperor's New Clothes... so many players seem to love them and use them but they just don't work for me. I know that I am the common denominator here and it is something about my style and how I approach it, but really... what am I missing?

Wow, looking amazing!!

I really like the idea and will be keeping a close eye on things.

So it is a really a quality take on the Guitarele? Tuned A to A? I am very intrigued and interested...! Would make just a brilliant travel guitar too. I like the feel and size of a tenor ukulele, although I am not that good at uke and really like the idea of the ukulele/guitar hybrid. A baritone uke is partway between the 2 as guitar tuning and 4 nylon strings, so that would probably be my first choice. There are a couple of different brands around (I think Yamaha is the main one, then a few by G4M and similar Chinese brands), but I haven't ventured beyond searching eBay.

I thought that the GDI21 was a guitar sim with DI in it's own right? I have one and have always used it as such. Not sure it will react properly with the Pod going into the front end, it isn't designed with that in mind. You will always be running the amp sim from the Pod into the amp sim on the GDI21. As you say, just try it and see... If you only need 2 sounds, I would just have 2 GDI21 (or 2 different amp sim pedals) on a board and turn on or off as needed.

Very nice. Always been interested in parlour guitars but not owned one. I seem to gravitate towards dreadnoughts and always seem surprised with the overpowering bass...

Absolutely lovely. I love that it isn't plastered all over with abalone highlights. Good luck with the sale.

Thanks Graham, that's really helpful. I have ended up buying a used budget one (Stagg) in the hope that it will give me enough of an experience to see if I will like it, should be here in a few days. I am also a little worried that my guitarist sausage fingers will struggle on the smaller fretboard, they certainly did on smaller ukuleles. According to one of the manolin forums, anything under £1000 seems to be classed as budget and I am not prepared to spend that much. I will have a look for the mandola, that sounds like it could be a good option too.

The Blues Cube does indeed have onboard attentuation, but it isn't great. The sound doesn't really stay the same at the different attenuation levels, it just reduces the gain the higher towards full power you get and increases the treble (just as you would expect to happen with a valve amp). So, you can get slightly crunchy at lower volume which becomes ear piercing treble and crystal clear at full volume. Also, the 'Line Out' isn't great either into PA. It is ok, and certainly good for sound re-inforcement, but not fantastic. You can get it to sound properly great at any of the volume levels, but it is just too much like a valve amp (as I think it is designed) so involves a lot of tweaking which I don't really want to do, I just want to set and forget. I use it as my amp at work for noodling when I get the chance. If you like a valve amp and are just looking for a lighter and easier package then it is fantastic, just wasn't the way I wanted to use it. I wanted a volume or attenuation to merely increase the overall volume level. I went back to using my Fender Frontman or my Joyo.

I agree. I did spend decent money and got a great 'halfway' solution in the Roland blues cube, but it is too closely modelled on a valve amp. I could get some great tones, but struggled to get a consistent sound from home to rehearsal to gig. I still have it because it does sound great, but rarely use it now. I would have thought though, that Fender could use the Mustang amps as a basis for the TM series and just tweak it with decent components and speakers to make it a much better proposition with minimal cost implication, but to have it at double the cost for a 10th of the functions seems a bit steep. So my current solution (although not gigging at the moment), is the Joyo American sound, delay and boost on a small pedal board. But, following suggestions from @Kiwi, I am now trying rack mount system to remove all the variables and just have good consistent sound from XLR into PA or small powered speaker at home. Having the no-amp situation though creates just as much stuff as you need IEM or decent monitors in order to hear yourself, so not sure how much of a better solution it really is.

I will be honest, I have tried and I will save you the disappointment. You will need to get a guitar to USB adapter/interface and run the gauntlet about whether it is compatible (despite what they say on the box...). I tried several which all professed to work and really struggled. There are certainly more options available to the iPad user. You need third party apps for the recording and sounds, but it is difficult to get the routing properly for you to use guitar amp app and then also a recording app. I spent many nights in frustration trying to get it to work. I could eventually get clean sound with no effects or amp into recorder, or play with sound and effects but not record. In the end I just gave up and bought a zoom h4 off ebay which allowed me to plug in my normal mic and normal effects board in and record 4 tracks. After that it was just an easy step to a full hardware 16 track recording desk and then again onto PC. If you have a PC (or mac) would suggest that one of the free DAW programs like Cakewalk by Bandlab would be an awful lot easier (if not less convenient to carry around) to get you going with the free demo versions of some of the amp software, otherwise a digital portastudio (Tascam / Zoom / Boss all do small, almost pocket sized multitrack recorders for reasonable cost) with enough tracks to do your project. You will save time and frustration and get laying down your music.

I agree about the valves argument. I do like valve amps but can't work out any way to use them effectively at different volume levels, so I have always been drawn towards solid state and modelling for both the benefit in weight and also that once I set my sound I just use the volume knob (on both guitar and amp) to actually control the volume level and not just add gain. But, like @EdwardMarlowe I only use one or two sounds, rarely use effects other than on board reverb. My ideal would be similar to above. I really like the look of the Tonemaster series, but it seems a huge amount of money to pay for a modelling amp. A smaller Tonemaster Champ with a decent XLR simulated out for PA, 3.5mm line in and headphone out would suit me perfectly, even better if it had some digital reverb and a slapback delay. I do use the Blackstar Fly for pretty much all my home practice and it sound ok for home, so almost a 'quality/boutique' version of this that I could use as an interface into PA as needed would be very nice.

Slightly random question, but has anyone got any experience on the Harley Benson mandolin offerings (or any other beginner brand really)? The reviews of the HB look pretty good and the price certainly tempting. I have always wanted to play mandolin, but as a complete beginner I don't really know how good they are or how much I need to spend. There seems to be quite a jump in cost between the beginner end and intermediate instruments. I am trying to get more into bluegrass and could just stick with either the upright bass or flat picking acoustic, but I have friends that do those too that I could call upon, and fancied a challenge of trying a new instrument. Similarly to a guitar, I don't want to get a box of crap and give up in a matter of days, but on the other hand, I don't want to spend a fortune on a solid carved model to leave it sitting on a stand for months at a time (like my beautiful Flight ukulele that for some reason I just never play).

I have always been happy with the Wilkinson hardware for my home build strats (although I always use a blocked trem), and they make several sizes to fit what you already have without modifications if needed. But, as @ezbass asks, why would you need to swap it out? I haven't had any problems with the trem in any of the Fender or Squier strats that I have had (and that is about 60 to my shame....). If it is just to replace the bloack, then loads of aftermarket options will fit.

Very true. To my mind, as long as the body and neck are comfortable and reasonable then I am happy to mod the rest if necessary. I have even gone down the road of just buying neck and body (or even just a wood blank) separately and making up my own to my own spec, but it ends up costing quite a bit more than buying something akin to a Squier Classic Vibe. The only bit I would struggle to do in a build is the neck itself, so have used the same necks on several different projects. But by the time you have bought new bridge, machine heads etc you may have well just bought something mid range and keep those parts, just upgrading electronics etc, but the Squier CV in particular (as well as other mid range brands - Vintage, Yamaha, Cort, Ltd etc) are actually pretty good and don't need a lot done except for personal taste. And although they are not getting actually cheaper necessarily, they are when you consider inflation. And spending £400 on a mid range guitar today gets you something you could only have dreamed of 20 years ago for the same money.

There are definitely some great guitars now for reasonable cost with the advances of manufacturing. I assume manufacturers also realise that there is a huge market there for reasonable instruments to get players hooked and invested in a brand. But the principle is the same as it always was, it is a case of diminishing returns and you still get premium guitars from all brands that just make everything just that little bit smoother, nicer, better compnents and with more character (and a lot more money). For those gigging every week, those more premium guitars still make a lot of sense, but the lower and mid priced guitars are great options as backups or for us beginner or intermediate players and can be a great base with which to uprgrade as you go along. For myself, I have done the custom order and US Fenders path but realised that using a different instrument gets me excited and forces me to experiment with other styles and licks that I wouldn't have done, so rather than one or 2 premium guitars I now have 10 reasonable ones in different styles. I still spent the same money but now have more choice and more to store...!

Afternoon Mia Welcome and congratulations on starting the guitar. There are a bunch of friendly and knowledgable people of here, so any problems, just ask and someone will be able to help.

In a very strange thing, but I picked up another of my (woefully underused) guitars last night that has 10-46 strings on (Les Paul scale) and I found it really difficult to play after a few months playing the 8s. My very light touch just wouldn't cut it... I need to replace them! Although I did like the way that it gave me more attitude striking and bending the strings more.

Wise words... It was a challenge moving down to 8s from the 10s that I had played for years and did require significant control and concentration on clean technique for a couple of weeks, but now I don't notice any difference except the ability to play for longer periods. But as said... standard 10-46 strings are standard for a reason, they suit most styles and most players and any reason for change is purely a personal choice.

I agree with @Dad3353. If you are bending strings whilst forming chord shapes, it sounds more like a slight technique issue which really needs nipping in the bud before you progress too far. It should take very little pressure to press the strings and thus, the string gauge should come down to a preference to the feel rather than correcting inadvertant bending. As said above, a few lessons with a tutor should put you on the straight and narrow. I have repeated bouts of arthritis in my fingers, so I actually use very lightweight strings (D'addario 8-38). I can't discern any appreciable difference in my sound, but means I play with a very light touch and don't have any issues with bending notes unneccessarily. Chuck Berry, BB King, Tony Iommi and Billy Gibbons all supposedly use/used very light strings, plenty of players used heavy strings (SRV for instance). But I think you will find that most players use either 9-42 or 10-46 and they can get it to work ok...