ezbass

I like that Alvarez have their own, recognisable bridge plate. It shows a level of confidence in their own brand as opposed to copies of Martins or Gibsons. However, that’s just being really picky, especially from a bloke who recently bought a full on Hummingbird copy.

All three have market place plaudits and quite rightly so. However, Sigma and Alvarez are more acoustic centric. If it was my money, I’d be looking at those two. When I was recently looking for a dreadnought, I was very drawn towards Sigma for their Gibson replicas and that Martin tie up can’t be overlooked.

It’s a Samick JTR Linda.

Nope, a new one me. Looks nice though, not that that means anything in term of quality.

Hard to tell under a solid colour finish. There should be some identification on the back of the headstock. However, this may just be a sticker and could be missing. Providing it’s a reasonable price, you can’t go wrong with a Pacifica, no matter what model it is, they really punch above their price point, as do most (if not all) Yamaha instruments.

Everything in my being says I shouldn’t like that, but I just do.

The PRS and Fender trems feel quite different in use, despite doing the same thing in a very similar manner. Do a search for PRS style trems and there are quite a few options, many reasonably priced. However, I would imagine that a decent straight Fender replacement from the likes of Gotoh, Hipshot, etc would be an upgrade on the one fitted and give a better resulting feel.

Well done @Matt P, there’s always someone who can help with this sort of thing. Don’t be a stranger @Law.

I think you’d be ok with string through, I’m not sure string through makes such a huge difference (I know others swear by it, so YMMV). I’m pretty sure one of the Bigsbys I’ve fitted in the past was a licensed one and I’ve also fitted top spec too and I can’t say I could tell any difference. The Stetsbar trem I fitted to my Tele was very Bigsby like in action and tone.

Ah, that makes sense now. Sorry, I’ve never used one.

I assume that when you say you can't hit the first string with your thumb, you actually mean the sixth (low E) by wrapping your thumb over. If that is the case, although I sometimes do it myself, it is often frowned upon by guitar teachers, as anchoring your thumb at the back of the neck is the traditional method, as this gives better articulation/angle of attack to the fingers. Forgive me if I've misunderstood.

You could take a bit off of the saddle and loosen the rod if any buzz occurs.

I have a DiMarzio Area Hot T in the bridge and a DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues, Strat pickup in the neck. I bought them as P90 soundalikes, but they still sound like a Tele, just fatter.

339 & Coupé are the same size, the 339 having the centre block is the only body construction difference, IIRC.

Try an Epiphone Casino Coupé if you can. The smaller body makes the whole thing far more manageable and, being totally hollow, quite loud unplugged. The pickups are nothing to write home about but, otherwise, pretty good. For total clarity, I have one myself and have replaced the pickups and fitted a Bigsby. The 24.75" scale is way friendlier than 25.5", although the neck is quite chunky. All that being said, I'm a total Gretsch fanboy.

That was my first thought, but they’re 25.5” scale and spitefully expensive too.

Sounds like a very niche spec and I can’t think of anything at the moment. Have you considered headphone practise?

BOOM!

One thing to think of is whether you want your drive tone to come from the amp or a pedal driving the amp? This way you can decide if you need a twin or single channel amp. As Dad says, 100w valve amp would be ridiculously loud, I had a Fender Bassman ‘59 reissue, which was 45 watts or so and could stun small animals at only half volume! A good place to start would be to look at the tone of folk you admire and what amps they use, that way you can begin with one brand (no guarantee you’ll end up with that brand, however). Interestingly, you name Dimebag as an influence and, IIRC, he used solid state amps. That aside, some the folk you mention favour Marshall amps, so maybe start there.

It’s a different open C from The Rain Song, I think someone said C6.

Perhaps the f holes are a retro fit? They are available on eBay it seems.

Having learnt Zeppelin’s The Rain Song and come up with an arrangement that works as a shorter solo piece, I thought I’d learn this as the tuning sounds the same (it isn’t ).

It's a Stetsbar https://stetsbar.com/index.html I've since removed it and gone back to hardtail on that guitar, as my trem requirements are now fulfilled by the Bigsby on my Casino.