randythoades

I agree with @Dad3353. the Roland will cover a lot more options than the Marshall. It will do a Marshall sound as well as any of the other classic amps that you could wish for. Any of the modelling amps (Fender Mustang, Vox Valvetronix, Positive Spark, Blackstar etc) will more flexible and possibly sound better than the Marshall (I have had one of the MG series and it was 'ok', but moved it on quickly once I got a Fender Mustang).

This is what I meant, presented in a much more concise way...!!

Nothing wrong with major and minor pentatonic, but I suppose it depends on what material you are playing. If you have a search for the '7 modes of the major scale' that would give you a good start as well as the 'harmonic minor scale'. The modes work in a similar way to the positions of the pentatonic scale in that they are all parts of the major scale played in a different part of the neck, but it does allow you to play over different chords and give a different feel rather than always playing in your root scale. People such as Vai and Satriani use these types of scales a lot and often concentrate on one scale at a time to give a specific sound for an instrumental melody, but a lot of guitarists don't use scales as a limit, they use bits of them as a base to play something that sounds right to them. Although I did learn scales, I just worked out (what I believed to be) the relationship between the root and the remaining notes in the scale (the intervals) and the differences between each mode, and then played based upon that to form my own licks and style. Although still broadly mixing major and minor pentatonic I then throw in other notes (such as the minor 3rd, 7th, 9th etc) as I choose to make the sound that I want. So a solo broadly in the Chuck Berry style of pentatonic might suddenly have the flat 2nd from one mode combined with the 3rd from one of the other modes. Hence, I really couldn't play any of the major scale modes well now, I just have absorbed the information to suit my own needs. I effectively worked out the differences: Ionian = basic major + 2, 4, 6 Dorian = basic minor + 2, 6 Phrygian = minor + b3, b6 Lydian = major + #4 Mixolydian = major + 4, b7 Aeolian = minor +2, b6 Locrian = minor + b2, b5, b6, b7 If you were playing the major scale in C, then any of these scales would sound right over a C major progression, but it gets more interesting if you played the Dorian scale (still in C major) now based on a D minor progression (D minor being the second interval of C major). Although the progression might be D minor, a D dorian scale is still essentially playing in C major, but now gives a completely different feel. I am sure there are far more schooled theorists than myself who can agree or completely shoot down this information... and I give no guarantee that I am correct! Just have a google and I am sure there will be a YouTube channel dedicated to this information.

You would think that eBay themselves would be clamping down on this sort of practice. It undermines the platform really as people lose faith. Granted, people are free to charge what they like for things and it is up to the buyer to decide how good a deal (or not) that tis is. However, when you are looking at these sorts of instruments, lots of the buyers are likely to be beginners and more likely to be scammed. Real shame...

As @Dad3353 says, just because you can, doesn't mean you should. The speakers may or not cope with the power going through it (and I also remember old Carlsbro PAs being basic workhorses rather than particularly good), but it might not sound very good. You might just get the sound of your power amp coming through, rather than the Marshall sound which relies on the speaker to impart some colouration or break up. As @Dad3353 says. Try it and see, but start looking out for some nice Celestion speaker to replace them in the future.

That is very true, I certainly wouldn't advise NOT doing any other chord theory, and all players, whatever their genre most definitely have to know the basics in order to specialise if they choose... but a lot of metal music relies on the bass note to give gravitas and presence to the piece. With a lot of hard rock and metal, unless you have 2 guitar attack with one playing low inversions and the other playing higher, then it is difficult NOT to play a barre chords or power chords or have a drone note for large sections. You can still do lots of complex chords, highlights and arpeggios, but being able to do a power chord or barre chord opens up a lot of material that you would otherwise not be able to play easily. Although, to be fair, my metal experience was mainly 80s and early 90s, and is very power chord intensive.

Looks completely fantastic.

Rather than jumping in and playing songs, I would suggest you go and get a teacher who can structure practice patterns to play, or work through a normal guitar programme until you get competent enough to play Barre chords (moveable chord shapes). These are the bedrock of most rock and metal. Suddenly, playing along to everything from Nirvana and AC/DC to Metallica becomes in your sphere. I jumped straight into songs and realised after a year that all I could play were those songs I learned from the tab book, and had no idea how to apply that to anything else. I then spent another 3 frustarting year un-learning what I thought I knew. You need the basics before you can play anything else. Old school metal is pretty basic overall, so anything by AC/DC, Saxon, Motorhead, Sabbath would be in your sphere. A lot of modern metal is incredibly technical and would need a higher level of ability and repetitive practice. It isn't hard necessarily, just very precise and generally fast. The principle on playing fast relies on you being able to play slowly and build up the skill and speed by practice... You can't really change the fact that you need to know the basics. If online programmes are a bit boring to you then I will stress again... Go and get a teacher who can give you more interesting things to practice along to.

Very nice indeed. Nothing at all wrong with Epiphone and Marshall gear, more than suitable for playing at home and jamming with friends. Good result.

I have done exactly this, as well as just purchased necks on eBay as they sometimes have tuners included. Got a great Squier Korean maple neck and an even greater Aria XL neck 9with sharkfin inlays) in this way. Don't have to worry about varnish then either.

I agree, very nice, and practical... but not sure what benefit a solid colour version offers over electric guitar? Why not just use solid body and solve all the potential issues. There is a Fishman Neo soundbuster pickup which is a magnetic pickup built into a soundhole plug: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Fishman-Neo-Buster-Humbucking-Soundhole-Pickup/2H2L?origin=product-ads&gclid=CjwKCAjwvpCkBhB4EiwAujULMjYCxOzAyfdm1bOGgwKz1QVIH_tusb2qokIj4P5SwFTvNUSLvAdIVBoC6qcQAvD_BwE But, as you say, if the aim is to look acoustic, whilst sounding aggressive and heavy, then the natural seems to be the only colour choice! My own situation is to look acoustic, but sound more like an archtop hollow body Gibson for rockabilly and blues. I don't have the skill to sound different enough on songs with technique alone so rely somewhat on amp sims and subtle effects to give variety to the set. Whether the audience ever notices the difference I don't know, but it certainly helps me.

Although I don't use distortion much, I do use a soundhole pickup and often run my acoustic through my effects pedals into either the front of my acoustic amp or into my active speaker with no problem at all. I particularly like the soundhole pickup as it gives me the acoustic 'visual' that the venue and public expect, but I can still change the tone and provide different amp models / EQ / boosts / reverb and delay effects etc for different songs when we play. I also use electric strings on my acoustic to lower the volume of it's natural acoustic tone and aid in it's compatibility with effects. I think it works well overall, but unless you want it for a particular reason (I want an electric sound but like the acoustic aesthetic), just pick up the electric if you need that sort of tone.

Good one. Really nice when the children are interested. Niether of mine interested in guitar at all, but my son was keen on learning my upright bass and settled eventually on the accordion (of all things), so at least we can have a minor jam...

That sounds like a great idea, we could do a GC build workshop! My plan for semi retirement (still a few years away) is to do one of those longer 3 months courses, where you learn literally everything and end up building several instruments to get up closer to the skill level needed to build a custom guitar like this. My personal choice would be a lightweight, thinline esquire / LP jr / cabronita type arrangement with a single Gretsch pickup or p90. But there is a place down in Sussex (www.guitartechcourses.com - Guitar Tech Courses) that offers a shorter weekend course to build F styled guitar using various parts. I did their Pro Setup course (a present from my wife), which has to be the best money ever spent on guitar pursuits, so I suspect the building course would be a similar level of quality. I am comfortable now mixing and matching but never attempted frets or carving anything!

Quite an interesting question... probably mirrors questions about styles of music you like and what guitars you probably chose to own. I bought guitars that I saw in the hands of my favourite players until I found out what I liked and what I didn't. Very few of my favourite players used Gibson guitars so my journey pretty much started with a red strat, then a black strat, then a sunburst, back to a red one...kept repeating for 25 years with the odd left turn into Gretsch. But I know what you mean. I always associate certain players with certain guitar, despite them playing other plenty of other models too, but not signature guitars: Hank Marvin - red Strat Chuck Berry - red Gibson ES355 Eddie Cochran - orange gretsch Brian Setzer - orange gretsch Carl Perkins - LP gold top with bigsby Billy Gibbons - that furry esquire type thing...! Dave Gilmour - black and white strat Buddy Holly - sunburst strat Clapton - black and white strat Knopfler - red strat SRV - sunburst strat

Good point, but I think they are on the way to becoming the minority now with the advent of digital PA mixers. A group that doesn't care enough about their levels and being able to hear each other properly seems a little blinkered in these days of fewer venues and stricter sound meters. They will eventually lose out to those who have invested in a different way of doing it. And ultimately, slicker, more consistent setups, soundchecks and take downs after gig save time, effort and money. We have even had some venues ask about whether we all go through the PA or use amps, they were very twitchy about on-stage volume annoying the neighbours and were very pleased that it all went through the PA and became a little more controllable. As it happens, I do use IEM at gigs where I can, and have made an effort myself to have all the appropriate PA equipment myself so that I know that I can do this, but understand that not everyone would be willing to buy or store this. We don't tend to so IEM when rehearsing as it is a pain to chat otherwise, hence why I tend to use different setups for jams, full rehearsals and gigs. I would like to be able to use just one setup for every occasion so I know what to expect. As an update, following general advice from @Kiwi I have managed to get a Behringer V-amp Pro rackmount processor and am beginning to test this out. Considering it is probably 15 years old tech (or even older) I am actually quite impressed so far. I am going to try to set up 2 or 3 sounds and take to a rehearsal with my active speaker and see how I get on.

If weight is the issue then you probably need something different. A hollow body isn't usually any lighter than a standard solid body because they are significantly bigger. Probably lighter than a LP custom but not really than a Strat or Tele. If a hollow body is really the thing though, I concur with @Crusoe, the Ibanez hollow body are really nice throughout the range. The higher range ones have nicer decoration and pickups, but I think the lower range still really good workhorse guitars and I also chose the AS73 for a time. But I still found it too heavy for me. Weight is definitely an issue for me so I made my own tele and strat using replacement bodies made from Paulownia (which is much lighter - the wood that the high end Sandberg Superlight basses use), and also managed to find a couple of Vintage (brand) VZ99 Zip guitars. Les Paul junior type but build like a Danelectro and hollow inside. Incredibily light but still a great powerful sound when needed. Or maybe a different strap might help? I have tried the various Slinger Straps (https://slingerstraps.com/) on my Aria basses which certainly redistribute the weight well, but now on guitar I use a really odd, but really good strap which is the Fender Weigh Less stap (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fender®-WeighLessTM-Tweed-Guitar-Strap/dp/B07T75B4XH). It is effectively elastic and really supports the weight well.

Wow...! Just been reading this through. Looks like an amazing project and done with such skill. I would like to do something like this when work and family pressures begin to take less of my time. Just for myself really. I have built several 'custom' guitars but always been 'partscaster from a variety of bits' type projects, so nothing as major or personal as this. Most I have done on the woodwork side is using a complete body blank (strat) to add a hardtail tele bridge and pickup cavities, and that was scary enough! Fantastic job.

done

I do love the look of a Gretsch (I am a rockabilly player anyway, so I always lusted after the Brian Stezer and Eddie Cochran look), but I just can't get on with them as a player, I am very definitely in the Fender camp. But this is so lovely that I would get this just to hang on the wall and gaze at for hours!

Thanks again for your input. I think the Kemper may initially be out of price range, but I like the idea. I might try a halfway house of something along the lines of the Pod Pro or Eleven Rack to see if I could work with this overall as a concept. And then I can use whatever I get as a portable backup to plug into PA should I need to.

Done

Thanks @Kiwi. Very much appreciated for such a detailed response. I have to be honest, I have considered jumping into the whole Kemper or rack mount world. I could use for recording, practice and live. Good to know that it works for bass too actually. The cost has put me off in reality, but I could sell a lot of gear to fund it and seems to do far more than I would need. I really only need maybe a handful of amps (maybe clean / crunch / dirty amp for guitar and 1 bass) and a volume/booster function for solos. Also, the rapid change in technology prompts my reluctance, knowing that I could spend nearly £2k on one, just for it to be outdated in 5 years. Maybe it is time to start looking again...!

And, an excuse to buy another amp that the wife doesn't notice, can never be a bad thing...!

Thanks @Kiwi. I have been using the Zoom into active Yamaha cab for rehearsals and monitoring, but I still have that feeling of slight disconnection with the sound, it is better with the American sound, but that just feels like a bit convoluted to get it all into the PA and the IEM for those that use them. And a general pain to just get it out to play at home. I just thought that an actual amp on the pedal board might be best of both worlds, I could lose my amp sim pedal and use it like a regular amp for rehearsals. To be honest, if I am realistic, I suppose I want more of a convenient home / rehearsal setup which I can easily use live if the situation arises. At the moment, I have both setups taking up room. With bass I just have a small GK MB200 amp, 112 cab, with DI into PA so I use one solution for all situations, but guitar amps with effective DI seem to be a little thin on the ground unless you want the full modelling experience (but I don't need or want all of those options). I do have a Roland Blues Cube Hot which has a line out for PA (which is just about OK). It stays clean pretty much the whole way up for rockabilly, but an amp that will do the country slightly crunch tones without a pedal would be handy. The bigger Blues cube does have 2 channel, which could work, but I don't really need the 100w output.