Kiwi

I've heard other guitar made from bamboo and it sounded pretty good, although that could be down to the pickups. Pickups make more of a difference in guitars than basses I've found. I have a strat with a maple body and you would be hard pressed to tell it was anything other than alder thanks to the EMG's in it.

Here are the instruments in my collection: 1987 Chandler Strat: This one is a triggers broom. Bought in 2006, I had the muddy green finish stripped back to bare wood and everything else was replaced. Jon Shuker finished the body for me and I did the neck in tru-oil. Because I wanted this to make 80's session noises, it was fitted a prewired HSS pickgard with EMG 85 in the bridge and two EMG SA in the mid and neck positions. The electronics feature a mid boost control and the EMG85 is tapped by pulling on the vol control. Tuners are no brand locking type and work well enough. Unusually, the body is solid two piece quilted maple so the notes ring clear and unmuddied. The bridge is a Wilkinson VS100CV, these haven't been made for many, many years and offer the benefits of both vibrato and hardtail. The trem arm locks the bridge in place when not in use. I have another three VS100CV bridges stashed away for future use, one in gold and two in chrome. Finally, I got the chance to briefly meet Nile Rodgers on my birthday back in 2013 and he signed it for me before being whisked off by Acoustic Guitar mag staff. I tried protecting it with coat of acrylic but the acrylic has started flaking off and it made the signature a little smudgey. :( Speaking which, Nile Rodgers was the reason I decided to take up guitar. This is a replica of his Hitmaker strat made by Al Knight - made with Fender licensed parts apart from the body. The wear isn't quite the same these days but it features a thin alder body, Sperzels, Gibson speed knobs and a hard to find Kahler brass pickguard finished in chrome just like the original. Electronics are standard wiring with Fender Noiseless Vintage pickups. I'm pleased to say it gets satisfyingly close to the sound of the original! Being a big Al Murphy fan and needing something with humbuckers led me to this, a Yamaha MSG/Image Deluxe. I have two, one of them is the Mk1 and this one is MkII where the vol pot is slightly further from the bridge. All mahogany construction with a maple cap, I have since installed Armstrong PAF humbuckers so can extract some nicely jazzy sounds as well as a fat crunch. The pickups can be coil split and while I was aiming for a tele twang, the mahogany construction kind of gets in the way of achieving that. Still, the sounds are funky enough. Otherwise both are still stock, with a Yammie RM-Pro vibrato bridge. These are great guitars, seriously underrated. Finally - a Klein replica. I made the body with help, from NZ beech with a redwood top and the neck is an old Music Yo Steinberger jobbie. Bridge is a Steinberger R trem and a Fernandes Sustainer kit is fitted for infinite yowling. I'm not totally sold on the beech body, it seems to dampen the attack a little without reducing harshness so I may yet look for a replacement from mahogany or limba. Still gassing for an Ibanez Artcore AWD82-ATF for semi hollow sounds. Was going to make one but with this being nearly identical spec to what I planned, it's a no brainer. Assuming I can find one.

Been so tempted to get a tele but really have enough with my current collection.

Just wondering, nothing more. Would be keen to know your views just in case we are missing anything missing obvious. Cheers!

Normally it's us who are supposed to be the entertainment but sometimes that gets reversed. I remember one gig my band did at the King's Head in Crouch End where the audience took over singing and we backed them instead.

I haven't played many but the ones I have had a go on feel very nice. Hard to believe they have ply tops but there again so do ES335s.

I have a couple of 5E3 based Ibanez TSA5 combos for practice and they are great. I also have a Burman Pro501 which is ex Lindisfarne and a Fender Concert II (Rivera era). I'm curious about the newer Roland JC40 amps as I loved the sound of the original JC120. Also have a hankering for a Mesa Boogie Studio 22 if I ever tire of the Burman.

Alan Murphy (for his beautiful, hauntingly melodic solos) Steve Lukather (for his bombastic, balls out solos, quirky jumps and power chords) Nile Rodgers (because funk, baby) Both my feet are planted firmly in the early to mid 80's.

Mine would be either a Suhr Modern Carved Top with a set in neck rather than a bolt on, mid boost and a Wilkinson VS-100C trem. Or it would be a Yamaha MSG copy with HSS pickups, through body neck of maple and mahogany (like the SG) and a Wilkinson VS-100C trem.

I think the answer is going to be no, to this question but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. Is it possible to wire neck and bridge pickups to the middle position on a vintage 5 way selector switch and retain all the other pickup selection positions as standard? I know its possible to do it by swapping a couple of pickup leads but it screws up the order of the other positions.

Rich Lasner designed the Pacifica 1412 and 1421 guitars which are boutique level quality (and sadly now, fetch boutique level prices). It's not possible to generalise about Pacifica models, they span the full range of price points. But yes, they're all well made. I like Yamaha guitars a lot.

Old Japanese guitars like Aria and Yamaha are worth a look. Yamaha's SC700 or Super Session for example. Or Aria's Pro series, all unfashionable stuff from the 80's.

They feel very nice. Low string tension when set up properly. I have a hankering for an Artcore AS93 at some point.

He's an incredibly expressive player! And it might seem like he's fairly laid back in interviews but when he brings it to the table, it stays brung.

Just my luck for the photo to be at an odd angle. Mine's pretty simple and set up about 80's sounds. The Amptweaker Tight Rock is at the centre of it all. The sidetrak channel goes into a Keeley Seeing Eye modded Boss DS1 (or sometimes a Joyo JF14 American Sound). Before the Tight Rock is (in order) an Xotic Wah, Effectrode PC2 Compressor, Empress Parametric eq (which may go back to the bass board it came from). The Tight Rock then goes into a Nux Chorus Core (featuring stereo tri-chorus) and then a Mooer Ocean Machine for reverb and dual delays. I still have a Lexicon MPXG2 in storage which may replace some of it one day. This board does everything I ask of it from funky chorussed, scratched clean chords in the 4th strat position to Highway To The Danger Zone type distortion.

Gibson actually made something pretty close, the Paul Jackson signature model (ES-346). But mine has more modern stuff going on.

I'm firmly entrenched in the 80's...Nile Rodgers, Alan Murphy, Steve Lukather, Joe Satriani, Billy Gibbons, Prince..perhaps Brian May.

Mine would essentially be a Yamaha MSG but hollowbody in a PRS McCarty style with HSH noiseless pickup configuration and Wilkinson VS100CV trem, binding, maybe some active electronics like SPC or EXG circuits.

I bought a 12 string acoustic for work a couple of months ago. It looked good on paper - sapele neck, spruce top, rosewood back and a truss rod. But the nut was an abomination...someone had cut it undersquare and attempted to correct the height with a bodge of glue. The finish leaves quite a bit to be desired also. HOWEVER I have not played any musical instrument as much as this in the last 10 years. I ended up downloading a pack of 12 string based chords - Give a Little Bit (Supertramp), Wanted Dead or Alive (Bon Jovi), Hotel California (Eagles) and play every day. I have carpal tunnel flaring up in my wrist though and my finger tip callouses are pretty thick now.

They're stunning instruments to look at but I've never actually played one...really wish that will change at some point in the future.

I have a 12 string with the same problem. Seller was a dick about returns and the problem was structural. Basically the manufacturer had mated a 12 string neck to a body that had been braced for a 6 string. That is, it needed double x bracing. Stewmac do a bridge doctor brace thing which attaches under the bridge and tensions off the tail block for US$22 so I may end up giving it a go.

Not yet, are they worth checking out? The market seems flooded these days.

I want to make 2 guitars: 1) A version of a PRS 509 but semi hollow with a bound neck and Yamaha MSG body shape. Limba chambered body, laminated flame maple and limba through neck. Not sure about pickups yet but i want to have a jazzy archtop sound in the neck, strat positions 2 and 4 and Les Paul in the bridge. Probably will get a set of custom wound Armstrongs. 2) A version of the Suhr Custom. Mahogany or limba solid body with set in flame maple neck, Lace HSS Sensors, TBX and EXG circuits. Both will have the ludicrously rare Wilkinson VS100C convertible trem, flamed maple carved tops front and back.