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My next birthday, in a few weeks, I'll be 75, and I am still very much a learner. Ain't it just fun, though..?

Good morning, @Noctua69, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. Please allow me to congratulate you on your wisdom, getting the right help from Someone Who Knows. Well done. May I also offer my standard words of encouragement..? 'It's the first forty years that are the hardest, after which things sometimes tend to get slightly better. '

Oh Lord! I will be 110

With a 70th birthday approaching I have decided to learn the guitar! At the moment my practice consists of hurting my fingers but the toughening up process is the first challenge to be overcome, or so I have been told. I went to my local music and instruments store (shout-out to Intasound Music of Leicester) accompanied by a guy who has been a touring pro guitarist for years and came away with a Cort G200 + amp & accessories for a very reasonable price. My friends view, not a great guitar not a terrible one but eminently suitable for a learner. It sounded good to me when he played it in the shop! Recently I have been gifted a Squier Classic Vibe '60s Precision Bass. I think I have more the temperament of a Bassist, possibly? Once become proficient at holding down the strings I will be looking for a local teacher to give me lessons. That's my introduction. KTF!

Sadly the offering isn't quite the same standard as normal. Lots of starter or budget guitars. Last auction saw some Mesa kit sell for VERY reasonable prices but I expect shipping charges dampened the enthusiasm of bidders.

Hey folks, Here’s a short original I composed for classical guitar, called “Wait.” Wrote it during an anxious time — waiting to hear if I was losing my day job. The tension shaped the piece, but there’s a thread of hope in there too. Hope you enjoy. Video Tabs Cheers, Mikko

Update: The JMP-1 sounds a little harsh compared to the Amptweaker so it's a pedal only gain section and I'm probably going to put the JMP-1 up for sale. As it stands, some fine tuning between the 3 signal paths on the mix can get me about 60-70% of the way there depending on how the mix is controlled with the mixer levels AND the mix settings in each pedal. I'm not getting a lot of smear yet though so the Boss RV500 settings suggested by Deep Seek aren't quite delivering yet. Maybe the pre delay needs increasing. In any case it would be a fragile balance to maintain if I were to ever gig with this set up. Over the weekend I caught a Dann Huff video where he revealed he used tri chorus into a Dimension D in his rack for the modulation stages if applying in post. Skip to 55:40 for the good good. He says most of the sound is in how the top end is handled so the Effectrode Parametric Eq is going to be pressed into service and inserted in the side chain of the Amptweaker for eq fine tuning. This revelation about the Dimension D was welcome news as it offers a potential alternative to the SPX90 symphonic patch but with no MIDI control or requirement for AC power. If I'm honest, Huff's tone sounds less cheesy too so a TC Electronic Dimension pedal is on the way to try out. The Line 6 M5 also has a Dimension patch if MIDI control is needed. However one of mine went phut last night after I fired it up for the first time in three years and now the screen just strobes when powered up. Another component replacement job for my tech...sigh. The Hot Cake has replaced the Big Muff for the time being in the Schmooboard, the Muff is great for singing solos and brutal power chords but it can lose definition with anything more complex. The Hot Cake doesn't sound quite as intense for solos but chords have more articulation so is probably a better match for my playing style.

Mine have to be big, triangular and 0.50mm. Nothing else works.

Shame, but there are plenty of other brands and designs out there. For me, the hunt is often the best bit.

After posting this, I tried out a few Gretsches and didn't get on with them.

Geordie Walker from Killing Joke was the first guitarist that I ever noticed. I was lucky. Being exposed to that sort of creativity and power early on, it definitely affected how I play.

If anyone is interested there’s a massive guitar, amp and music memorabilia auction on 10th June in Corsham, Wiltshire spanning 5 days. Imagine owning 500 guitars!! https://www.easyliveauction.com/catalogue/5abe5b32c7710c2b409b15545ad1d718/0af8d24542e81eb9357e7ef448a6646f/the-guitar-sale-five-day-auction-including-the-gordon-gi/?currentPage=1

Welcome Chris, from the Belfast direction.

Steady on, it's not like some of them need extra reasons to slap a premium on a five quid set of parts.

Good evening, @Chris Wood, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Hi. I can't help out with Bethnal Green, but I can offer some online lessons if that interests you.

I am a musician and teacher based on the west coast of Ireland. I teach online lessons across Ireland, the UK and the rest of Europe. I play electric, Acoustic and Spanish guitar in a variety of styles. My influences are diverse, from Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd to John Williams, SRV, Rory Gallagher and Tommy Emmanuel. Music was my 2nd love, but it's the one that never left me. (a good line for a blues).

I'm offering online guitar (and bass and ukulele) lessons from the comfort of your own home. I have been teaching for over 20years. All lessons are tailored to each student, and you can start out with a free lesson, where I will find out how you play already and what music or songs you may be interested in learning. I can play a broad range of styles and I gig regularly in my local area. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Acoustic version of Whitesnake's Sailing Ships brings me back to the youth. It has recognizable style of 80's/90's hard rock riffs on that fingerstyle part. Video Tabs: Cheers, Mikko

I can recommend the Orange Supercrush 100 with a few pedals Two channel and using a boost pedal ( solos ) and EQ pedal the drive channel is as good as many tube amps. Delay sounds great in the fx loop which is where I run my EQ and boost too. The Supercrush has a very nice reverb and clean channel as well Awesome amps

Well, due to underwhelming demand, this is the finished pedalboard, got my schmo-jo working at last. I dialled in a Lexicon style reverb on the Boss RV500 this evening and the Pigtronix already has a factory patch that emulates a Lexicon PCM so I'm riding with that for the time being. Signal goes into a Big Muff which is a guest pedal and takes turns with a Hot Cake but I'll probably put the Mosky Silver Horse in most of the time for boosting the Tight Rock. The muff goes into an Amptweaker which has a side chain which I use for the Empress Para Eq to make the cleans a little cleaner. The Tight Rock goes into a Keeley C4 comp and that then goes into a TC Mimiq which does a doubling effect. The one gripe I have with it is that it drops the level when turned on. The Tri parallel mixer is being used as a splitter, on the left are the time based effects in a loop and on the right is the modulation. I was going to get a Yamaha Magicstomp and then discovered they only run off AC which is a PITA for a pedalboard. So I pressed into service the Zoom MS70CDR and set up a detune patch using three of the four slots. Two for micropitch detune (+/-) and one for ambient chorus. The Free The Tone Tri Avatar is a stunning pedal, studio quality sound and really easy to use. There's also a dry signal going straight to the mixer from the gain block of pedals to preseve some definition. At some point this week I will replace the whole gain section with a Marshall JMP-1 preamp and see which I prefer. The Marshall should be more authentic but the Tightrock is my fave gain pedal.

Pick up manufacturers charging more for special tone wax

I can believe it. It gets just as hot as Saudi where I live although perhaps not as often. Any guitar left outside either direct in blazing sun or inside a container or case in direct sun is going to heat up to 40-50 degrees easily.

I don't want to piss on your fire but many have tried and failed. They're very niche instruments and invariably there is some compromise between convenience and adaptability. I would suggest taking a look at Michael Spalt's designs, they're beautiful in their own way and their construction was a little ahead of its time with the collapsable body bouts. In your position, and as someone with a career in design, I would probably use his ideas as an aesthetic inspiration and make them collapsible on both sides AND headless. I would also investigate whether pickup swapping was an idea as well, this has been done by other makers. You would need to design a cradle to allow standard pickups to be used. I guess you could also look at a bayonet style or latching neck attachment, especially if it was an aluminium (or carbon composite) frame dampened by wooden inserts.