Skinnyman

Hi RamblinAnd! Welcome to the forum

Reduced to £795 Up for sale is my Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster in Faded Cherry burst with a replacement pick guard loaded with Kinman AVn series noiseless pickups and new controls. Price also includes hard case and the original pick guard which contains the standard controls and the Fender N3 pickups that were originally on the guitar. It’s a simple job to swap back to the original - just two wires to connect. I bought this new from Coda Music in 2013. It’s a beautiful guitar and has the compound radius neck which is a joy to play. It also comes with locking tuners (labelled as Fender but they look very much like Gotohs), a good quality hard case, all the usual case candy (lead, Allen keys, setup manual, etc) and the aforementioned N3 pickups. I found the N3s to be a little lacking in “character” (whatever that is!) and so I built up a new (white) pickguard with the Kinman AVn noiseless pickups. I really like these as they give the guitar a real “bite”, particularly on the bridge pickup. More information about the Kinman pickups can be found here; https://www.mobile.kinman.com/products/stratocaster-pickups.php. As mentioned above, I’ll include the original “parchment” ‘guard and pickups in the price so the guitar can be put back to original spec if required. The guitar is immaculate with no marks, scratches or dings that I can see. The rear plate still has the factory plastic wrap on it.There are a couple of small marks on the case (see pics). I’d prefer a direct sale but if you have a trade let me know. There’s nothing I’m really looking for so I’ll probably decline but you never know.... I’d prefer not to ship this if possible and would rather hand over the guitar in person. PM me with your location and let’s discuss options. In any event, I would only consider shipping within the UK to long-standing forum (here or Basschat) members with positive feedback. Please PM me with any questions.

Hiya! Fleetwood, eh? I used to live in Cleveleys, just down the road! welcome

As Kiwi has gone to all the trouble of setting up this section, it seems churlish not to use it so I’ll ask the first question - and although I’m no longer an absolute beginner, it’s one that I’m not sure of the answer as I can see pros and cons of each. Anyway, my question to the panel is; What’s the best choice for a complete beginner - electric or acoustic or classical? Obviously, with an electric you have the added complication of an amp but I wonder which is the easiest for a beginner to get to grips with in the very early days when it’s all about learning some chords and getting your fingers toughened up?

Most of my YouTube favourites are, like Ezbass, bass related or are bands but from a pure guitar perspective I subscribe to this young lady’s channel https://m.youtube.com/user/Lloydieex besides her obvious photogenic qualities, she’s a damn fine guitarist and I used to work with her Dad so I feel like I’ve known her for years.

Along with his easy charm and matinee-idol looks*, the other thing I inherited from my dad was his essential tremor. This looks a bit like early-stage Parkinson’s but it’s not constant and only triggers when the hand is in certain positions (drinking the final drops of a cup of tea is a particularly messy one for me - watching my dad trying to carve a Sunday joint was a frightening experience for us all). Mine has been quite mild for most of my life but it’s effectively prevented me from playing with a pick. The frustrating thing is that most of the time I’m tremor-free and can play with a pick perfectly well - but randomly and without warning, my hand will suddenly start shaking and it’s then anyone’s guess as to what string I’m going to play and how many times. I don’t have an issue if I play acoustic finger-style or if I play the guitar like a bass - but neither method really lends itself to playing and soloing with any great speed or fluency. I’ve studied people like Mike Oldfield and Mark Knopfler to see if I can mimic their finger style but I can’t make either approach feel natural or intuitive. Caffeine makes it worse (triggered more easily) but nothing seems to help calm it down. Is anyone else having similar issues and, if so, how are you getting round it? *This is a lie. Both my father and myself have been used by mothers to show toddlers what happens if you don’t eat your vegetables.

What Dad and Ezbass say..... There are loads of re-stringing videos on YT but I found the Taylor one to be the most helpful when I first started doing my acoustic

Hi Wuggis! I suspect a few of us (certainly me, anyway) have had a similar journey - I had many false starts before I finally knuckled down to learning properly in my early fifties. You’re right about the availability and relatively low cost of gear these days - which, of course, is both a curse and a blessing as it’s all too easy to fall into the trap of buying, upgrading and customising rather than actually playing (guilty as charged on that one....). But as hobbies go, this one costs me less than my motorsport addiction did and I stay dryer than when I played golf.....

That’s the Les Paul, Strat and Tele now sorted. The only thing that’s still noisy is a K-Line San Bernardino which has P90s in it. I might see if DiMarzio have a similar fix for that

Fitted a pair of Area T pickups to the Tele and can’t believe the difference! Completely hum-free and a gorgeous tone - I really like the tone of the bridge pickup. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hi Ed and welcome! Thats a nice collection - what’s the Les Paul-shaped beauty?

Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant! Please tell me you have a YouTube channel? Edit: found it. Subscribed!

I realised that just after I’d posted. D’oh!

This was meant to be a challenge and make people really think - and it seems to have worked! I completely understand and agree about Lester and Leo and their influence - but the question is about guitarists so they can’t make the final cut. If we do get round to a poll then I’d rather keep it to 3 candidates from everyone so how about ranking them in order of importance and influence to you?

After a little bit of googling I think I’m going to go for a set of the Area T’s. Will update with progress once they turn up

I’m liking this idea - I get to fix the hum, let off some GAS at the same time and get a bit of a project as well! Win-win, I say!

Hi Colin, welcome to the forum! There are a lot of good online resources but I’d also suggest that early on in your journey you arrange at least a few one-on-one lessons with a tutor (albeit it’ll have to be online in the current circumstances!) just to make sure you start off with good habits and technique from the off. I assume that as a complete novice your first steps will be learning chords so I’d suggest an acoustic to start with - plenty of time to get electrified later when you move on to picking - and there are loads of good entry-level guitars around at pretty good prices. From personal experience, I can recommend Adam Black guitars as good entry-level instruments. Also Faith and Takamine as well as the big players such as Fender, Squier and Epiphone. Good luck with the first steps - if you need any help or advice and you can’t find it already on the forum then don’t be afraid to ask! There’s no such thing as a daft question

Thanks, Dad, that makes a lot of sense. Having eliminated all the other sources (poor shielding, dud cables, bad amp grounding,etc), then I guess it has to be environmental and a “feature” of single coils. I managed to eliminate it on my Strat by fitting Kingsman hum cancelling pickups (which are excellent) but, as you say, doing the same with the Tele is going to lose the twang. I’ll just have to live with it I guess

Now that’s a band I haven’t listened to for a while. They're going on the turntable right now....!

Following on from my success at getting rid of the hum from the Les Paul, I’ve been giving similar treatment to a couple of other guitars with equal success - and then I can to the Telecaster. It’s a bog standard MIM telecaster which has always hummed a bit even at low gain/volume settings. The hum doesn’t alter at all when I touch the bridge or strings and it hasn’t gone away when I’ve shielded the pickup cavities and the cavity that the controls sit in. It’s not the amp or the lead as I’ve tried different guitars, leads and amps in all combinations to conclusively prove that it’s the guitar. So now I’m out of ideas. Could this just be a question of “they all do that, sir”? Is this an inherent feature of a telecaster? Or am I missing something obvious?

As the title suggests, who are your top three guitarists? Not necessarily “who’s the best” as that’s a much bigger question - who are your favourites, the guys (or girls) who’ve influenced you or had the most profound effect? My three; Andy Latimer (Camel) Pat Metheny Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd) Once we have a decent selection in I’ll create a poll of the candidates so we can decide who’s the most influential/respected/liked guitarist out there

I think this is something we’d all like to know but it’s probably a subject that’s better discussed in its own thread in Off Topic....... This may be a good time to start such a thread?

I saw Camel live on the Pressure Points tour and it’s just a regular Les Paul that Andy Latimer plays We were on the second row and my then wife slept soundly through the whole performance Ive got a GR55 which I use from time to time - its a fantastic piece of kit once it’s set up for the guitar you’re using. I just wish I could find more use for it (I’ve used it mainly with bass but it’s far more flexible on guitar)

Greetings David and welcome! Metal and neo soul? Interesting Look forward to seeing some of your material - we never stop learning!

Hi Patrick and welcome. That Gretsch is lovely You suggest you don’t play it? Is that because it’s “too nice” (I have a couple like that) or because you’re concentrating on the acoustic? Its too good to sit on a stand and not be used - get it played!