Leaderboard

I've recently bought a HB PB50 bass. I rolled the fingerboard edges and gigged it last week. £105. unbelievable

You may have seen elsewhere in other posts that I have been asking all sorts of questions ahead of a potential upgrade, well today I bit the bullet. After much research, asking questions and visiting several guitar emporium today I picked up a rather lovely Lag T88 electro acoustic for a bit more than I was planning to pay, however I am absolutely over the moon with my purchase. I hadn't visited this local music shop previously and I was delighted with the service, right down to the fact that my wife was offered a seat as she struggles to stand for too long due to severe arthritis in her knees. The sales guys listened to my story and then proceeded to thrust a selection of guitars into my hands and being as my abilities are limited took each guitar back and played the same pieces on each guitar so that I could hear the difference. I wasn't sure that I would hear much difference between guitars unless the difference in price varied by thousands rather than just a few pounds. My wife and I quickly discounted the lower price ranges around £200 and in the end plumped for the most expensive, and the clincher was that the difference between the last two was that the cheaper of the two was of natural satin finish and my final choice is gloss finish. I really liked the satin look finish but the gloss finish has a much fuller sound. When I told a guitar playing friend that I was looking to upgrade he said that you really need to hold a guitar before buying and that once in your hands you would know it is the guitar for you, these words are so true in my opinion. Finally back to the sales guys who offered me some advice on my playing and I may even book the odd lesson or two now.

I will do a build diary to document this when i get started, but am going to do a neck only p90 build. Going to use a humbucker size p90 so I don't need to increase the size of the rout on the body I have and to keep it flexible for the future. Will keep you updated.

Apex Music in Earley, Reading https://apexmusicshop.co.uk/

Ah, it is a fine balance between looking cool and being comfortable. ... there is a reason that a stratocaster has been around for over 50 years.

You lads are really kind, thanks so much.

Last night I decided to check the new neck out. I have had issues with necks sent in the past when they had a new guy working their production line. He recycled a discarded ebony board, basically flipped it over and glued the slotted side to the new neck and reslotted the blank front face then attempted to disguise the fret slots showing on the side with black dye - which I discovered after I cleaned the wood with meths. I didn't actually agree to them using a used ebony board either. It's a bit sneaky. However, using a set square on the frets revealed something more serious. The frets are inline with the square when checked from one edge but not when checked from the other. This basically means the frets are trued to one edge of the fingerboard rather than the centre and this will produce a guitar which can't be intonated accurately. So I got back to them and they've agreed to build a new neck. This could only happen in China but this supplier is honourable so it means mistakes can be corrected. It's the second time this has happened though. Once is a bit of a howler...but twice...? Still, it gives me an opportunity to correct a few other things, like asking for a little more flame on the maple. I also found a supplier of custom glass pieces. Normally he does optical glass but he's got 19mm thick glass which is enough for a sanding block for fret levelling. I use a steel beam already but glass is...well, one better...er, innit? And I'm determined to up my fret levelling game in these builds so I can sort out my other guitars too.

An excellent guitar, being sold by a well-respected member of our Forums. A no-brainer, indeed, and at a real bargain price, too. Jump on it; you won't regret it. (Good call, EZ...).

I’ve had an itch to go full circle and acquire a classical guitar. There’s something about the sound of nylon strings that always seems so pleasant to my ears. Then I had a couple of videos come up on my YouTube feed that featured jazz being played on a nylon strung guitars, which pretty much sealed the deal. I didn’t really know what I was looking for, but a cutaway seemed like a good idea and as I had a bass to trade in, that pretty much set the budget. A little browsing on local (for a value of local, still an hour+ driving, each way) guitar shop websites and I settled on trying the Alvarez AC65HCE. This a hybrid model where the neck meets to body at the 14th fret, instead of the 12th and the nut width isn’t quite so wide. Went to Guitar Guitar in Edinburgh , tried it, sounded and felt good to me, so rather than do due diligence by trying some others, I bought it. With the trade in it cost me a whole £40, so I’m well pleased. What’s that, where are the pics you say? Very well… Big shout out to the staff at GG, Edinburgh, who couldn’t have been more helpful if they tried. Even after I had parted with my £s, they were quite happy to shoot the breeze about guitars and players. I’d definitely go back, despite the journey.

Very nice. I also like the idea of a classical guitar after a few years of playing and loving the ukulele, but have been put off by the wide nut. This looks like a nice compromise. Enjoy!

About this time last year, I decided to try and build a strat. And before I had a workshop set up (which is a bit of a challenge in an apartment anyway). I found a few suppliers of after market strat bodies and figured maple necks on aliexpress. On delivery they were unusable crap. The roasted quilted maple necks were stunning but were over cooked and so twisted they rocked on a flat surface. Because I lived in the mainland, I had the option of sending the necks back and recieved a refund. I kept the bodies because they were remarkably lightweight and one piece. I also found a place away from Aliexpress that made necks and they could also accommodate custom requests. They sent a sample strat neck which looked good so I ordered two necks both with 44mm wide nuts. One had a 57mm heel to match one of the bodies the other had a 56mm heel to fit my Chandler Strat. (Because it has a quilted maple body, I had an aspiration to bring it closer to Valley Arts spec.) Cut a long story short there was some issue with the alignment of neck pocket vs bridge rout but I modified the bridge rout to allow for the neck angle and got the build sorted. But as I was finishing it off, I discovered the electronics cavity was out of alignment with the neck pocket. But I finished the build, dressed the neck and plugged it in anyway. Not to flatter myself much but it was simply the best strat I had ever played. A total revelation. OK so it had a rough looking body finish (deliberately) but it was very comfortable, had very low string tension and very low, buzz free action, playing was effortless. The Dimarzios gave it a mellow archtop tone on the neck pickup and a nice, thick overdriven tone on the bridge. It was everything I had been hoping for and then a bit more. All of this made the alignment issue even more irksome than if it had been a dog to play. The amount of faff and the uncertainty over whether re routing the electronics cavity would result in a final solution or make the problem more complicated lead me to trash the body (both bodies actually) and chalk it up to a learning experience. More recently I reconnected with the supplier of the necks to see if they could provide a couple of bodies...which they did and the neck pocket was in alignment with the bridge and control cavities. This was very encouraging. And the neck joint was perfectly tight - it passed the friction test. I also had them do a bit of drilling for anchor posts on the HSH body just to save me the hassle. One issue I've had here is finding drill bits (and drill presses!) which don't wobble! Everything I have bought so far seems like a factory reject. So the body supplier was set up to do the job more quickly (and cheaply) than me. I figured I would document the process of two builds here, maybe give some insight into the trials and tribulations of building using Chinese made parts and it might be a pleasant surprise to learn what might be possible. Build 1 (revision 2): The Mean Machine. (Build objective: Let's just see how many genres we can cover with one instrument and make it look as punk as possible.) HSH strat, sapele body (1.5kg), flame maple neck with 22 fret ebony fingerboard, Wilkinson VS100C trem, Dimarzio custom humbuckers (Mo Joe and PAF Joe plus no name RWRP single coil), super switch for both humbuckers on in position 3 (pull vol to split humbucker coils) hand made Clapton style mid boost (25dB @ 500Hz, push pull tone to activate), Machinehead locking tuners (Sperzel style), Graphtec nut. Everything apart from the bridge and Dimarzio pickups was sourced in China (although the pickups are available here). Build 2: The Scream Machine (Build objective: Tone hunting - let's see how close we can get to Phil Collen). HSS strat, sapele body (1.4kg), flame maple neck with 22 fret ebony fingerboard, Kahler X trem, Fernandes 401K sustainer kit, Dimarzio Dual Sound bridge hhumbucker (+ pull vol for coil split), super switch for neck and bridge pickups together in position 3, Machinehead locking tuners, Graphtec nut. Everything apart from the Dimarzio pickup was sourced in China. The body was a special order because it had a side mounted jack and no bridge rout. I needed to rout a cavity in the back for the sustainer PCB (which would interfere with the standard strat output jack) AND a top rout for the kahler bridge. (NB: I'll edit the above for a link to the build diary for the second build once it's under way.)

I'm no expert but what I do know is that it is a lot better than my older Hohner, and it was the best of all those that were thrust in my hands, both in feel and sound - it also happened to be the most expensive. None of those guitars were dogs by any means, which is a world away from my experiences some 40 years ago. After I parted with my cash the guys claimed that this £400 guitar holds its own up against more expensive guitars, and he was actually going to have this one for himself. I am extremely pleased, I just need to improve my playing!

@Dad3353 Cheers Douglas, definitely open to noodling ideas. I've learned the Am chord... but I haven't learned the Bm chord. That one will be to come. Though I'm sure there can't be no harm in me taking a little gander at it in advance during these last couple of weeks freely messing around. @Crusoe Haha thank you! It does feel very distant when I think back to day one. Crazy to think it wasn't even 4 months ago. Gearing up for plenty more, though!

OK, then I recommend that you learn the Dark Art of guitar set-ups as soon as practicable, as you'll be needing those skills, to get the best from your new, or any other, guitar. Douglas

This weekend was a bit mundane. Coating, sanding and recoating one of the bodies in superglue. It works well as a pore filler but not as well as epoxy. Experimentation on both bodies so far suggests at least two coats are needed to fill the pores and it takes a lot of work to build up a finish for use as a primer, even when I use an accelerator. It might be simply more convenient to use two-pack epoxy. For the next buid, I'll check out pre-catalysed lacquer instead. But for necks it's worth using CA glue for a premium and versatile finish. I also broke out the new Makita orbital sander and it's doing fabulous work, so much more controllable than it's no brand predecessor. However when I ran a white base coat over the 2 point trem body, all sorts of bumps and sanding imperfections revealed themselves that I swear were invisible before. So note to self: Check the surface up against an oblique light source next time. The base coat turned out to be gloss rather than matt - I think they made a mistake with the order but no matter. I roughed it up with some 320 grit and after a few days to harden, hopefully should be good for the dayglo graffiti colour next weekend. I also marked out the location of the rout for the Kahler bridge which is taking the sustainer. That went a lot more smoother than I thought...I checked the markings, cross checked them and measured again, everything seems lined up as expected. I'm still bracing myself for some oversight. It makes the decision to rout a little harrowing. Over the weekend, I also dabbled in a spot of electronics. My preEB MM Stingray preamp opamp has died but can't be replaced due to being covered with epoxy. I have a replacement Retrovibe one coming but thought I might investigate the possibility of doing one myself. The cost of parts is peanuts here. The only issue is getting reverse log 1 meg pots, they aren't available in China. So I have ten coming over from Switch in the UK as well. Not cheap but...well, y'know. That experience also got me wondering about effect pedal circuits and then I found myself going down a rabbit hold trying to find a circuit that might get close to the Yamaha E1010 delay (with 4 BBD MN2003 chips). Nothing out there after a day of intermittent searching...

I have also heard that. I did have an Encore very similar to the one in the original post and it was very nice, certainly for a beginner guitar. I carried on playing it even after I had progressed onto a Fender, it was just as good to my inexperienced ears. I only sold it because I became embarrassed by playing it instead of my Fender. I am not as worried by that image now and take a great delight in playing my homebuild Strat with Squier neck and a couple of Vintage VZ99 Zip guitars from the mid 2000s, one like a Danelectro with lipstick pickup, and another the same but with a humbucker. Brilliant guitars, irrespective of price and I love it hen people turn their noses up at it and then I play it with the band and you get a grudging shrug of 'it's actually pretty good...'. So to sumarise, the Encore and Vintage brands are good quality overall and perfectly nice guitars.

Welcome aboard! Re: learning, go with music that you really like. Find a song that isn't too hard and explore how far you can go with it. See how close to the guitarist you can sound. Rinse and repeat ad nauseum. Most of us have followed down this path.

I know exactly what you mean. I have a lovely LP junior type with lipstick pickups. I love the sound of it for almost everything, but some things don't work under my fingers on it. But grab the StratoTele (in my avatar) and all fits into place for some reason. And the same in reverse. Must be something subtle about the size of the neck, the radius, scale length that just suits some tracks and not others. Although I have to say that the StratoTele covers far more bases than any of my others. If it had to be one it would be that one.

This is a repost photo from a version I found on a Jazz guitar forum when I was trying other genres to help me fall in love with a strat. This one uses a single coil humbucker in the neck for a more rounded jazz sound, but I think it looks fantastic without the dummy coils.

If it were me and I wanted to retain a dummy bridge and middle, I’d replace the neck pickup as planned and wire that directly to the volume and tone controls, taking the selector out of the circuit altogether. I’d even consider removing the selector altogether as it’s just something to catch your hand on/get in the way of the knobs. However, as above, I like the idea of a complete remodel, with just one pickup on the pickguard and two controls, making a feature of it. It’s the most expensive option, but it would make it yours.

I've had similar experiences. The feel (sometimes even the look - all psychosomatical...) of a different guitar leads me subconsciously to play in a different way or to play different things... By extension, I suspect that different things just feel 'right' on different guitars... What was it recorded on originally, do you know? Something with a similar neck shape (so it - irrespective of the player - 'feels' better on the type of neck / guitar feel it was written / recorded on... Not sure I'm articulating that so well, but you know what I mean?

Several people have converted their strat to a single pickup setup, both just bridge or just neck (including myself on occasion - and I like the idea myself of just middle as I rarely use bridge or neck pickups), but I am not sure I see the point in your case.. If you are going to just leave the other pickups there as 'dummies', just leave the switch in neck position and everything functions as you want without modifying the wiring or functionality. If you want to make a real point of it, just rout out a blank scratch plate without the other pickup holes and a single volume and tone so it looks like a single pickup version (neck in your case). If you have the other pickups in place no one would know the difference.

You don’t know us yet. Seriously, folk here are more than willing to help if they can.

I did the upside strat many years ago. Sounded great but upper fret access was terrible. Sold it to a lefty handed mate in 1990 and he still uses it now

Ha..! The way I play guitar, any guitar, it's instantly recognisable as 'my own', however 'distinctive' it may be..! Fat chance of being taken for Brian May, using a 'Red', still less Hendrix with a Strat, or Alvin Lee with a 335..! Quality will out, and those players have qualities that I do not. I stand out in any crowd of players; just maybe not for the right reasons..!

While in the office today I popped out for lunch and just happened to pop into a music shop and there are lots of lovely shines things in there! I am now both really confused and tempted it's all too much. Think I need to do some serious research and seek advice from some experts before any test drives. Watch this space.

Lots of fun, but probably complicating matters.

I cannot get the front plate off. So I opened the back. I perhaps should have mentioned that I have an Fernandes Sustainer pickup in there. I think I will take it to a grown up.

Hi folks. I am having a hard time choosing my next amp. I think I have dialed my choices down to these two amps: Vintage 1963 Supro (Valco) “Super 1606” Mezzabarba Z18 I have tried a Mezzabarba, and it was extremely good. But they cost over $3.000, so I don't think that is an alternative. Yet. There isn't much info on the web, so can anyone help me out here? Other amps are also welcome I havend decided if I wanna go digital either, when I think about it. I have looked at the new Quad Cortex and a bit at Kemper and Helix too, but I don't know. There all these menus, and you can scroll forever. Also, people says that you have to pay for good amp simulations and so on, so it's even more expencive. And I need a cab too... x2 for playing in stereo... I like to see stuff visualy so I know what the knob is set to. Then Kemper is the way to go. But its old. Maybe wait for them to come up with an answer to quad cortex? So I guess this is a double topic: tube vs amp modeller and two tube amps against each other

I’ve been in the audience when the guitar players were using Kempers and they sounded great. However, I have heard that on stage experience can be ‘off’ as they lack the ‘feel’ of a valve amp. For my part, I used to use a lot of Tech21 gear (still use their preamps for bass) and never felt that they were lacking in on stage feedback, so I’m I do wonder if a lot of players do a lot of hearing with their eyes. The downside with valve amps and especially vintage ones is the maintenance and their susceptibility to damage when being lugged in and out of vans, etc. in addition, eventually the supply of valves will dry up, I understand, that with the current situation with Russia, valves are harder and, therefore, more expensive to acquire. If it were me, I’d grasp the current modelling nettle and get the box I felt most at home with. This is tinged by having a buddy who uses a Kemper for guitar and bass duties and he loves it. Either that, or find a solid state amp that I really liked the sound of; YMMV.

I’d put the univibe before or after the trem pedal and the GE7 after those. As to the comp pedal, that rather depends on if you’re using as an effect (Summers/Gilmour vibe) or just to even things out. If as an effect, after the wah, if as ‘smoother’, just before the delay. But that’s just me, it’s what sounds good that matters and how all the fx play with each other.

Gutted, just found out apparently they close thier doors for the last time on Christmas eve, owner retiring.

I am now thinking that this might be an interesting build to do. I have come to the conclusion that I just don't really like my strat and have a spare tele and hardtail strat body that I haven't used yet. Rather than do yet another Esquire build I might try this first and see how I like it. Just need to decide whether to use a strat sized humbucker for a little extra body like the photo, or maybe even a p90 instead of a normal strat neck pickup. I have most of the parts and will use the neck of my current 1979 Aria strat so that I can re-instate the original body if required.

100 hours officially completed... couldn't help but put together a little compilation. Still rubbish but on we march!

Hi there, if anybody wants some tabs email me here [email protected] we can trade and stuff i've also been mesmerized with forums so its pretty cool to be apart of one, although im guessing its not gonna last long. We'll see

Lovely guitar. Health to play. What shop was it?

The Squier Classic Vibes are really good guitars and not just for the money, in fact I think they punch way above their price point. As to whether a Jaguar or Mustang, you hubby has clouded the water with the pic. Both are good and around your budget. Based on the ability to upgrade the hardware in the future, I’d go Jaguar, as they are more readily available and a wider range of upgrades. Also, the Mustang body is quite small and can feel a bit toy like at times (I use a Mustang bass, which is the same body size, and am 6’ ). You could rib him a bit about sending you the wrong photo/giving it the wrong name, if you want to get some clarification. Who are his guitar heroes? This is often a good way to find out what someone wants:Johnny Marr - Jaguar; Kurt Cobain - Mustang (sort of). Hope that helps.

Those Zips were a nice guitar and refreshing look, even though still basically an LP Junior.

Yeah, the dear old Strat is a design I keep coming back to. What I love so much about it is it's so iconic, and yet the design was, in the first instance, very much about form following function, which produced such a beautiful form. Says a lot too how it's been so adaptable over time for all sorts of different tweaks (chamfered neck joints, different trems and pup combinations, and all the rest of it), yet still remained identifiably a Stratocaster.

Hi all So thought I'd introduce myself here, have recently started guitar with my teenage daughter, both totally new to this and hadn't even held a guitar until 3 weeks ago. Recently picked up a harley benton explorer for the daughter(metallica fan!) and amp, then grabbed a squier strat affinity for myself, both second hand but in amazing condition from a local to us place. Look forward to trying to make a noise that sounds like a tune!!!

That is it exactly. I love the Esquire, much prefer it over a standard Tele. And I love the shape and look of the Strat but struggle to get tones I like from it, so I took apart my Hank Marvin Squier and used the neck on a hardtail strat body which I sprayed satin Fiesta red, no laquer so that it will age more and get dinged. Love it. Although, now I see the prices that the HM squier are up for on eBay, I often think that I might have made a mistake, but I love the neck to pieces, so comfy...!

Sounds like standard LP-type wiring?

Good morning, @Redt4, and ... ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Thought I'd give a quick update. I've not really done much with this since I first got it, I only tinkered with it and didn't really know what I was doing, however watched a couple of videos over the weekend on YouTube and printed a copy of the instruction book and have had a play. It's amazing what a little bit of knowledge and a few weeks of progress in my playing. I linked a couple of 12 bar blues riffs and then played various links etc over the top, it was all very basic but has given an appetite for more it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Last weekend I was playing my Ibanez AS73. When I I picked up my Harley Benton TE62DB, I actually felt something like relief. I do love the Ibanez, but the body is just so big, it can feel awkward, plus the neck is a bit fatter - the HB neck just felt... right.

I know how you feel! I shied away from Hendrixing a Strat for years because those comparisons would..... not be flattering.... now for that very reason I'm tempted because there's no way anyone could accuse me of sounding like him.

It just needs a clique of people to use this site as a meeting place online regularly. Communities like this tend to grow based on what everyone contributes.

As much as there are neck profiles that are more comfortable over others, it’s often the body shape that can cause a guitar to be uncomfortable. Slab bodied, or at least uncontoured, instruments can dig into ribs or forearms. Also some designs can make the first fret position an uncomfortable stretch (Firebirds for instance). To this end, I’d look at a Strat shaped instrument, or at least something that has a forearm and rib contour. My normal recommendation for any instrument is a Yamaha and, given your budget and my suggested body shape, the Pacifica 212 would fit the bill nicely (cheaper versions are also available) https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/search/?Query=Yamaha+212

i know what you mean. I started a thread about needing a new amp. As the amp I have is cheap, I don't think it would be worth repairing (or if it can be repaired). I have a bass amp and a Positive Grid Spark Go I can use. I would only need a 1/8" to 1/4" adaptor for headphones for the bass amp (I have two of them, but I'm buggered if I can find them) and could use my pedals through it, but I've seen the Fender Mustang LT25 and am seriously considering getting that.