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Thomann have the Guild Aristicrat, with P90's at £660...

Conversely, an Epiphone Uptown Kat, with replacement pickups is a potential route.

If you’re happy to consider a double cutaway, then the Casino or the Casino Coupé (if you can find one) is a fine P90 beast. This is my modified Coupé…

... and down the rabbit hole he goes ...

Blinding call on the exact same Godin that I have but just Thinline... now to find a 'used' one!

Ta for the reply. I've not checked yet but a lot of those 'look' to be larger in the body than the Godin and the P90's are a tone I like... need to investigate guitar pup differences (I could quote the bass pup bible inside out). The 'slim' Kingpin would defo appeal, off to see if I can find one (anywhere).

There are several; name your budget..? There is a 'slim' version of the Godin Kingpin, but may be harder to find. A quick look around some of the 'usual suspects' shows me a nice Hofner 4560Son Reverb, in Germany, priced at €745... ...or, at the Guitar Village, UK, an Epiphone Joe Pass Emperor II, at £599... From The Music Locker, I see a Thinline Hofner President for £895... Have a search yourself for 'thinline archtop' and see what comes up..? I found my 'bucket list' guitar through Reverb, from Sweden, a Hofner Thinline President, Florentine, but paid twice that much. Happy hunting; there are bargains to be had, but they have to be hunted down. Hope this helps.

I'm primarily a bassist but through necessity I've needed to strum guitar on occasion over the last 20 years. During this time I've bought a few guitars (aco/elec/elec-acou) but never had to play them much in a full on live setting; as such I've always just adapted/adjusted to whatever guitar I needed for the occasion. However, I find myself playing a lot more guitar live in a duo and I'm developing a feel for what I like. As such I've come to appreciate, like and favour, a Godin Kingpin x2 P90 guitar. The only downside I feel with it is that I find it a bit 'clumpy' and deep bodied. Is there a guitar not too dissimilar that is slimmer bodied?

TBH, rather than mess about with the wiring, I'd look at buying a complete loom that's ready to drop in and just needs pickups attached. This sort of thing: https://www.bloodstoneguitarworks.com/shop/telecaster-wiring-loom At some point I'm considering a second Tele type (most likely a HB TE52), and I'll probably have a new loom custom ordered so I can have everything working as "normal" but with a reversed plate... no reall reason other than a point of difference with the cij 71RI, which is standard Tele set-up.

Hi, I have a Yamaha FG331 which I bought second-hand from a friend in the late 1980s. I think they were made around 1977-1981 but I can't find the serial number anywhere on it. Can anyone help? Also, my daughter has learned on this but now I want to buy her her own guitar. The FG331 is slightly smaller than 000 size but bigger than a 3/4 size like the JR1. She won't be performing and just wants a cheap guitar to play in her room or for Uni projects. Is there any guitar comparable in size to the FG331 being manufactured now, or available second hand? Many thanks!

What a cracking little unit! I've not fiddled with it exhaustively but it is not overly complicated by any means. Intuitive controls mean it will be easy to change the presets to the tones I am looking for. Straight into my RCF ART 372A, which is what I have been using for my bass. £38!! How is this even possible? Anyone want to buy a Fender G-Dec 30? I'll stick it in the classifieds soon.

Phase I instigated, just bought one of these. Looks just about as simple as can be and can't go wrong for under £40. I can't imagine taking my guitar playing on the road so just for home use. Nevertheless I have been using one of their wireless jobbies for gigging/rehearsing for 18 months or so and it has behaved faultlessly.

Hi Paul!

That's my new plan! Perfect, thank you.

If you're not using, or going to use, the Fender (and it does seem to be rather, err... 'complex' to pilot...), maybe try to trade it for an Fx pedal you'd be happy with..? I don't know if there's a RichTone outlet near you, but they do offer s/h pedals, and invite part exchange. On looking through their site, briefly, I see a couple of Sonicake RockStage ùulti-Fx, at £39, s/h, which look to be simple and direct enough to do the essentials. See here... RichToneMusic s/h Multi-Fx ... They have several Zoom pedals, too, priced the same. Plenty of other fish in the sea, of course, but a decent s/h pedal would fit the budget, and a trade-in would maybe see you evens, too..! Just a thought, if it helps.

I am rekindling a love of 6 strings and feel I'd like to introduce some subtle and simple effects - bit of overdrive, reverb etc. I have, already, gathering dust in the loft a Fender G-dec 30 that has a plethora of built in presets and customisable things. I never quite managed to get my head around it when I bought it and don't expect to find it any more intuitive now. So I am thinking maybe an archaic Zoom or similar would be an easier introduction. Something old, elementary and cheap. Or would it? Are the older multi-effects any easier to untangle? Should I just grasp the nettle and deep dive into the G-Dec manual? Two things to bear in mind are a/ I am a cheapskate and dont want to spend much money and b/ I am not very good with technical things. Many thanks. Paul

Thanks Douglas.

Good evening, @Paul S, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Hi! It seems I joined a while ago but forgot. I started playing guyitar when I was in my teens back in the early/mid 70s the moved to bass. Now bandless on bass, I am about to pick up a guitar again for the first time in many years and have a few questions. I have had a Mexican Fender Telecaster for some years, stashed away in its case, and just recently bought one of these for a few quid at a bootsale which now sports a Tonerider PAF pickup and some new tuners. Hope to find answers to questions!

At least it wasn’t a bass, where that sort of thing can be a real bash to the wallet. You can still use those strings of course (if you can stop that slippage), you’ll just have to put up with poor intonation on the G string. That said, I’d just bite the bullet and get some acoustic strings, your ears will thank you.

So, after getting a nice shiny set of guitar strings for my Faith guitar last week I finally decided to fit them today, cleaned and polished the old girl before fitting as usual, but then I get to the G string....arrgh....I've only bought a set of electric strings so the G is unwound not the end of the World I know but I was wondering how many of us have done the same over the years? As it happens my high E has decided not to play ball now either by not staying in tune and constantly slipping (Think I've trimmed it too short and I've cocked the wrap up allowing it to slip) so a trip to my local Music shop tomorrow, kind of handy really as I want to see if I can do a deal with them trading my Blackstar id15tvp against a new Spark 2.

A 12 string without a warped top seems a very rare thing these days. I would go for a Rainsong but the used prices are a little nuts. None of the composite acoustic guitar makers here in China do a 12 string.

Listening to a lot of Simple Minds recently, Charlie Burchill definitely deserves mention in this respect.

I had a Squier Standard Strat for a bit that I blocked the trem on. Decent guitar, one of the late 90s models. I just stuffed a synthetic wine cork between the block and the body; the difference it made in sustain and resonance surprised me a lot. My old 1994 US Std Strat does well on that front with the trem set up floating, though in recent years I've come to prefer my trems set flat to the body. I would love to try a fixed bridge Strat to compare to a blocked-trem. Apparently back in the eighties when Fender did the Clatpon signature model they did debate making it a fixed bridge, but Clapton wasn't convinced it would sound the same as a blocked trem. I'd love to see some hardcore research into trem blocks (anything on youtube on this? I've not quite found a good vid yet...). I've seen a lot of folks switch out the slim block in various Harley Bentons as a perceived upgrade, while others are very firm that it doesn't make the difference traditionally assumed.