ezbass

Just wanted to share a little discovery I made. I've been playing my Epi EJ200 a fair bit lately, but I found that the Elixirs that I had on there were making my fingers tired and any string bending (especially the G) was a Herculean task. Therefore, I did a bit of research and discovered Optima Vintageflex, low, equal tension strings. I just fitted a set of 11-47s and they're great, easy on the fingers and easy to bend with just 19lbs (ish) on every string. There was a problem, however. You can buy these from Germany or the Netherlands, but both retailers want to send them via Fedex at a cost more than the strings themselves! I contacted Optima and they replied saying the UK distributor would be in touch, that was two weeks ago and so far, nothing. In the meantime, I ordered a set from Strings By Mail in the US for $20.73 including carriage, as opposed to €25.99 from Europe. This means that a set of strings that were manufactured in Germany, sent to the US and then sent to the UK are cheaper than a set which just went 'up the road' to a European retailer and thence to the UK. Madness! Anyway, if you've been struggling with acoustic guitar string tension, give them a go.

I’m a big fan of Tokai and have owned at least 3 of their guitars in the past (2 of which were LPs IIRC). However, Epi make a nice guitar for the money too.

The RG series has such good credentials, it’d be hard to go too far wrong there (I know nothing of the Ergodynes, but probably just aesthetically different). When looking to keep cost low but quality high, I’d always be looking at a Yamaha. However, there’s nothing better than actually getting you hands on a batch to choose what plays the best (pickups can always be upgraded).

There are plenty of multi fx that have amp sims, headphones and line outs. However, if you’re feeling flush Line6 Helix products seems to be very de rigueur at the moment.

GLWTS

This thread has me visiting YouTube and reminding myself how much I like this track. And this one.

Obviously not Charlie Tumahai because he died a fair while back. Robert Bryan (he played bass on Axe Victim)?

Nice, I like the understated circuitry.

Probably best known for his work with the brilliant Bebop Deluxe in the 70s (Sunburst Finish is one of my top albums of all time). However, he has recorded 100s (I think that’s right) of solo albums since. His solo stuff can be quite avant-garde IIRC.

Good call. However, if you do want to spend a good amount and with the chance of wanting to change in the future, the Tele will be a potentially easier sale if you do want to try something else.

Individually is the way to go, IMO. Slightly more hassle, but I think more folks will be certainly more attracted to pedals they’re after if they see them in the thread title.

No, I’ve not tried them, but when I was looking into HBs (quite some ago) these are the ones whose description seemed to fit my requirements at the time. DiMarzio’s descriptions seemed to be very accurate and not just sales speil.

At least you received an answer, there was just tumbleweed for me. As for recommendations, it all depends on what you’re trying to achieve. I wanted to give my Tele a P90 tone, so I asked the nice chaps in NY and they came back with the Area Hot T for the bridge and Heavy Blues Vintage for the neck. I remember the SDHBs being absolute monsters that ate Gibson PAFs with ease. If I was retro fitting a humbucker fitted guitar these days, I think my start point would be the Air Nortons as I like the description of them.

I’ve always liked DiMarzio, from my first SDHBs that I fitted to my Aria LP back in the ‘70s, to the Heavy Blues and Area Hot that I have fitted to my current Tele. Not only are their products top drawer, they are also the most helpful company to deal with. They answer email enquires quickly and really thoroughly (even the top guys there who deal with the likes of Satch, Vai and Johnson get involved), which is more than I can say for my experience with a well known, California based company.

There are so many variables viz: porting; cab size; voicing; efficiency; etc, that it’s probably best just to use your ears. I used to use 4x10” speakers in my bass rig, then 2x12, now I use 10x5. All have been tone and weight decisions. The best sounding guitar amp/combo I ever had was a Fender ‘59 Bassman reissue, a 4x10, small, open backed enclosure (loved those Jensen Blues).

Welcome aboard. It’s hard to go wrong with a Tele, so a good choice made there (for the sake of transparency, I’m a huge Tele fan and therefore biased). A lot of the guys here are also bass players who are also Basschat members so you might see a bit of crossover. Here, as there, photos of your guitar/s are always welcome/positively encouraged.

That neck is pretty much all that’s left of my Classic Vibe ‘50s Tele (the body is now a table).

If I say so myself, it plays and sounds great.

Your English is just fine. 240 bpm? Maybe, maybe not, I don't imagine it'll sound any good, Michael Angelo was always tuneless noodling IMO, I can't see this being any better.

Not a "Who Is Your Favourite Guitarist" thread, we already have one of those. No, this should be a sharing of players who have had an influence on your playing. Of course if your influences and favourites coincide, then that's fine. As a teenager, when I started to play, I was a huge Clapton fan (funnily enough not these days) and his influence could be heard in my playing (flat bends for instance, not necessarily a good good thing). However, I've never been a shredder so back then I was attracted to players who I could emulate, step up Paul Kossoff (a Clapton devotee according to sources) and Carlos Santana. Fast forward 20 or so years and I started to take my playing a bit more seriously and took an MI course. I then discovered Carl Verheyen and this introduced a more intervalic approach to my playing (if you're not acquainted with CV, check out his Garage Sale and Slang Justice albums). I also really got into Robben Ford and his jazzy take on the blues started to creep into my playing. However, the biggest influence and change to playing came from being ask to join a band for a one off gig (it turned out to be quite a few more than that), the band was ostensibly a rockabilly band, not something I'd played before. All of a sudden I was endlessly listening to Brian Setzer (his Dirty Boogie album is rock and roll plus big band loveliness) and his major scale with jazz tones playing came home to roost in my fingers, I even ended up with a Gretsch and Fender Bassman treated with slap back echo (long since traded for a MM SUB Stingray and other bits and bobs). So there are mine, what are yours?

Your welcome.

It looks like they were introduced in 2012. https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?threads/fender-custom-shop-fat-50s-pickups.1132302/ It looks like the 2011 had ‘Hot American’ or ‘Tex Mex’ p/ups.

The go to ‘jazz’ guitar type, is the big hollowbody type guitar (L5, ES175, etc. Think Joe Pass, Lee Ritenour, Pat Metheny for example). However, for every wide bodied player, there are those who go the more slimline path (ES335s, etc. I’m thinking John Schofield here). Then you have those who go totally solid (Mike Stern with his Yamaha Tele type). It’s more what works for you and helps you play in that style. For what it’s worth, the Epi 339 (and the Casino coupe) is a great guitar that ‘looks right’ for jazz. Good luck in your search.

I haven’t bought one in years, but I used to. Like most of this type of magazine, eventually they start to circle and repeat themselves. Of them all, I think I preferred Guitarist.

Puns on GC too? I can’t bear it .