Soledad

Is this Brasted as in Kent, near Westerham?? That Brasted?? Can't find any other in UK according to google. Just happens I'm in Sevenoaks, like 6 mins away!! My few guitars and basses are all behaving well at the moment, but if you ever go near* valve amps we need to meet! * I mean inside 'em, with hammers and the like

100% agree with @Dad3353. Slow with metronome will show you almost immediately where smooth transitions on beat are falling over. It allows you to examine hand and finger movement and work on the harder transitions that are breaking the rhythmic flow. Use the 'slow gets you fast' approach to look at economy of movement - how far you lift fingers, pivot fingers that stay on that string and act as the reference for the other fingers to find their way... etc. Same with picking hand - developing economy picking (least possible movement) or the same principle if finger picking. Even if you aren't chasing blistering speed (I don't) the slow to fast approach is golden. Had it hammered into me many years ago studying flamenco. If you can't play it really well slow, you'll never ever play it well fast.

Minimalist board. Uses an Amoon power supply fitted to underside. All cables routed and clipped - I gigged this board with my bass so 'stage safe' is good. Current set-up is for my Tele into the Fender Champ, but exact same board works very well indeed for fretless bass. The Hall of Fame is a very recent addition replacing a cheapo HB vintage delay (which was surprisingly good). The Hall of Fame is really excellent, I know there's a V2 now but the original seems to do all I want and more, very well. (70 quid off Basschat ) Anyone interested I recommend the Amoon power supplies, 8 outputs (9v), ultra quiet, never faltered at all.

Impressive. Like the quality of woods - neck maple and super-dark board. And what must be a nice thin nitro finish - I'm fairly convinced the modern poly finishes (which are variously rather thick) act as a damper on the body and knock some ring off the sound. This guitar sounds very alive. Nice.

Given what you say about adjusting / sorting action, I'm surprised you are finding your nylon-strung causing problems with fingers. It does take a while to build up the fingertips but nylon strings are way kinder than steels. I'm wondering if you are pressing too hard on the fingerboard. As a guide just enough is enough. Any more than that just cramps the hand and can sharpen the note. One basic bit of practice is to develop the minimum pressure feel - ease pressure until the string is starting to buzz or sound dead - the ideal pressure onto board is a tads more than that. You need to develop that feel on all 4 fingers. And the next trick is minimising finger movement. Lift off just enough, teach the fingers to be ready for their next note position. And on we go - it's like climbing a mountain with no top. My favourite nylon strings btw: La Bella Flamenco hard tension - not actually that much higher tension but have a fabulous crisp attack when required, then go lovely mellow sweet when you play into body, rest stroke, appoyando - that thing. Enjoy, persevere but watch for unneccessary pressure and hence tension in the fretting hand.

Quick search - seems not much being said about picks. Thing is I just met a player who introduced me to Dunlop Prime Tone - he gave me a couple to try (12 quid for 3!!!) - these are pricey but so far I'm really impressed - great grip, good profile, clean sound. I've tried the .73 & .88. My new favourites. Previous first choice was the Dunlop delrin Prime Grip. As a bass player I've had to almost relearn how I hold and use a pick for guitar anyway, so still experimenting. It's amazing I think that a change of pick can change the sound so dramatically. I mean huge differences in some cases - way more than a quick p'up swap costing £150 would give me. Or the jump from a MIM to a US; an Epi to a Gibson... whatever. Anyone alse interested in this? - techniques, grips, pick gauge : string gauge; economy picking, best Youtube pick vids...

Just sold the Tele, one more to go!! Guitarchat exclusive - reduced to £500. I have a pressing 'need' for a blackface Princeton. So, a '96 Fujigen MIJ Strat - absolutely original and in very good condition. There are a few small dinks in body paint but no chips at all. Slight neck wear (laquer on back) and light fret wear but loads of fret left and action is low with no buzzing. Had a new vol pot fitted as original was noisy - new one is a CTS (Fender US spec) and all is now good. Has the correct trem arm - sorry not shown in pics. This guitar is serious quality, the rosewood neck is dark, dense and wonderful. Fit and finish is excellent - that's what the Fujigen guitars are famous for. Price is very slightly elastic - prefer to deal with the Basschat/Guitarchat community. The few others on offer are all listed 750 upward so this should be worth a look? It has a gigbag - packing to ship would be difficult so local or maybe meet up? Only trade: Fender blackface Princeton, cash your way.

Just my opinion, but I'd go for a Mexico tele, second-hand. Not the one you mention but a quick look around should find one locally and it is a buyers market at the moment. Reasons I say this are I agree you won't hear the difference at first but you probably will later on. The MIM guitar will see you further forward. But the big reason for me is there are so many mint (hardly played) MIM Teles around and if you decide for a change any time later you get almost all your money back. I'd say a near mint MIM Tele, target £350 (with gig bag) a basic tuner (the excellent Corg CA50 or similar around £20) and a small practice amp around £30. My favourite hunting grounds are Facebook Marketplace and Ebay, maybe Gumtree. Enjoy the hunt, it's part of the fun!

Just a straight down the middle Tele. 2016 'pro' US built. Have a MIM Vintera which is very good but as a self-confessed Fender nut, in the end it had to be a Corona. Went on the hunt for an ash body, maple neck and found this fairly locally at a fair price (I'm sure the market is soft at the moment). I reckon the ash is great for me - a tads lighter and the balance improves a bit, plus there is a ring to it (unplugged) which the alders have a little less of. Through the amp (Fender Super Champ all-valve with a Celestion Greenback 10 in it) it does seem to me to ring a little more, and warmer. I think the ash adds brightness but not the cutting top the back p'up does in shovels anyway, more a bright presence. Basically loving it - it's a keeper. Tried a Strat for a while but personally prefer the Tele on a number of levels, the honest simplicity, the ergonomics (!), the rather 'workingmans' image, and the range of sounds which greatly exceeds what many players expect from a Tele. Particularly fond of the neck p'up with treble rolled back a bit. Add a bit of reverb and chorus and we have Johnny Marr / John Squire (Stone Roses) and shedfulls of Fender chime. That'll do

Need to chip in on this. Richard is clearly very enthusiastic, and the store is probably great if you are buying an item from stock. My experience was awful. About a year ago I decided I wanted a Dowina hybrid (nylon-strung, single cut). They make a very nice one and I contacted them directly. Erika there is brilliant and I specced the guitar exactly to my taste. Minor changes really, delete all fingerboard markers, choice of inlay band down back centre, I'm sent pics of top and rosewood back etc. Erika sent me a build sheet, all exactly right. Then asked would I buy through Richards. That's when the trouble began. Richard personally started interfering with the spec, talking me up to a different rosewood (not convinced it was any better), do I want to add electrics? (No!). They have a system where they publish your build spec online and you approve it and pay a deposit. My Richards build spec was very wrong and it took a lot of to-and-fro to sort it - back to how Erika had done it in the first place. Finally paid a deposit Dec '21. By June '22 I'd heard nothing at all so requested a deposit refund. Richard then went ballistic, threatening legal action. His problem was he never confirmed receipt of the deposit and their terms clearly state they have not accepted the order until they email an order confirmation. I used to get emails from him at 5 in the morning, 9 at night. he was clearly very stressed about this and his behaviour to a customer was atrocious. I did get the refund of course. I have huge respect for Dowina guitars, Erika Marinova at Dowina. But Richard has positioned himself as effectively sole importer of Dowina and that is a very bad move for them. SO, buy off the shelf, but avoid any custom order through them.... in my experience. Here's the Dowina I tried to buy! Still quite fancy one

Talking acoustics here. Couple years ago picked up a Furch OM31 SR (spruce/rosewood) secondhand. A seriously good guitar. I've played similar size Martins and I reckon a decent Furch can give a Martin a close run. I do like & rate Martins (and some Taylors) but i reckon we have to pay a huge premium for the name, even worse in UK due to £/$ rates etc. The other maker I rate very highly is Dowina. Not as established as Furch yet, but making some really fabulous guitars at sensible prices - I mean they are high-end guitars so still a grand plus, but excellent value for fine materials and craftsmanship. I very nearly bought a custom order Dowina recently (til I fell out badly with Richard at Richard's, Stratford). I may try again but deal with Erika at Dowina direct. Anyone considering, I urge you to speak direct to Erika - she is brilliant. So any other owners of Furch, Dowina out there - experiences?? Here's a pic of my Furch:

A shout out for the remaining dealers in Denmark Street. They're slowly being edged out - a crying shame London is very close now to losing Tin Pan Alley. Recently visited looking at US Strats (for a friend). Saw a mint 'pro' (2016) in No Toms on Denmark Street. Ticketed at £1295. After a multi-stage haggle, walked out with it at £1000. That's a proper good deal, great service, nice crowd. Feel like you belong when you go browsing in Denmark Street. Sad days losing the real shops, I mean the specialists, independents. The big chains are just commodity supermarkets and that's about all we'll have left soon. Well, there is Richards in Stratford u Avon, but in my experience he's a bit of a nutter

No question at all. Used. But you need to know a bit about what to look for. You can think of the used market as a library. Once you have the entry £ to join said library, provided you buy reasonably well you'll sell that one on at nil or very little loss, hence funding the next one. My view is lease cost, I mean a MIM Strat might be say £450 (mint, used). Say I sell it a year later for £400 (a bargain I'd argue). It's cost me a quid a week. From my experience (with basses too) I'm astonished how many mint quality guitars and basses are around. Hardly played, almost always 'set up by a luthier' and almost always needing basic set-up - truss-rod in particular. Why are most owners shit-scared of truss rods?? My key points are: learn and know enough to buy the right one, and instead of concerning yourself with the purchase price, think about the ownership cost. If you buy well you should not lose much at all if/when you decide to move on. And the true cost is the loss, if any at all.

I studied classical guitar for some years a long time ago (at The Spanish Guitar Centre) - must say it did feel a bit of a closed 'club' and some players frown on other styles. The main thing I discovered over time was the quite limited repertoire available, and the fact that everything is learned from written pieces. Whilst that improves reading it takes away any broader learning - I mean what you learn by exploring chords, scales, inversions, melodies inside chords etc. It does very little to help you really learn the fingerboard 'roadmap'. It is also very stiff from a technique pov - the one correct way. Through classical, I discovered that I really loved flamenco (still do) so went off and studied that for a few years. That is liberating because nothing is written down - any tabs etc are are pseudo representation of a music that is heard, felt and passed from player to player. So I kind of agree- the classical community likes to be left alone, tends to consider itself superior, and feeds off a limited choice of repertoire and an obsession with technique. Freedom to create?... next door down.

A mint 2022 Vintera Tele. Fiesta red, maple one-piece neck. Upgraded the saddles to Gotoh compensated (which greatly improves intonation up the neck), also fitted a 5 screw (period correct) mint scratchplate, but original white is included. The 3 ply plate was introduced late 50's but so was the Fiesta red, so the Vintera seems to take various 50s features and blends them together. I've played this quite a bit (at home) and have been delighted with it, but a US 'pro' ash body tele came along and I'm happier just owning one of something so this is for sale. Fitted and set up for 10-46. High quality fitted hardcase from new (an optional dealer upgrade from the standard gigbag). Come and see it, play it. Or will ship UK at cost (around £16). Trades - cash your way for Fender Blackface Princeton or Deluxe. Do not need any guitars! Offered elsewhere at higher price - this is a special for Guitarchat & Basschat community. Just over half cost and way below any other asking price around. Any questions let me know.

Totally agree. I had a uke for a while but got bored with it. Also even my tenor (slightly bigger than standard) was too small to ever be comfortable to play. But I find going from my electric to a steel string acoustic to my nylon-strung flamenco... is really good. I pick up things on one and they travel to the other. If you do fancy a uke worth noting the tuning is equivalent to the top 4 strings on your guitar (4th, 4th, maj3rd, 4th): GCEA (uke); DGBE (gtr) - so the higher string chord shapings are the same.

Hi all, long-standing Basschatter but new here. Always think of myself as a bass player, but spent some years studying and playing classical guitar, then flamenco. In recent years been playing acoustics and now electrics. I'm a Fender nut so always played Precisions (occasionally tried Jazz basses). A quick buying spree got me through a MIM Tele Vintera, then a MIJ Strat (Fujigen '96), then what feels like my personal keeper - a US 2016 'pro' Tele with ash body. A Fender Super Champ valve combo with Celestion greenback 10 and that'll do for me (well the odd pedal maybe, I have Boss chorus and an HB vintage delay which is remarkably good given it cost very little. Anyway, that's the intro - I'll be listing 2 guitars for sale but will definitely particpate in the forum, always lots to leardn. cheers all, Douglas