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Get some wood. Kicking off with a Martin from circa 1840 with original hard case, but a dodgy newer bridge... which will soon replaced with an original looking one when I get some cash!

It just wouldn't be right not to ask this...

A topic for photos of folks' Builds. I'll start it off with a photo of the guitar built by Our Eldest, and finished (but are they ever really finished..?) the other day. It plays well, too... Over to you, then; show us your Builds...

Any excuse to post an image of my 66 Tele

I don't even play these bloody things.

I like Larry Carlton

Hi all, If anyone remembers the old usenet days of the internet then you might have come across me in the uk.music.guitar newsgroup. This GuitarChat forum looks like it might be a successor to the good old chats we had on UKMG way back in the days BF (Before Facebook). Been playing guitar for yonks, bought and sold more gear than is good for me, or anyone else, and just happy to chat about anything guitar related. I'm in the Heart of Scotland, Perth.

Andy has just dropped the guitar round and yes it is fantastic. The neighbours are gonna love me the next few days.

My 1991 ES175, neck break courtesy of my son. Bless him, he still apologises about it to this day, even though the accident was ten years ago and I’ve forgiven him. I think that’s what he finds hard. I didn’t get cross about it, said “Accidents happen, it’s ok” and got it repaired. It’s as old as he is. The amp is an early sixties Gibson GA100, all original. Amazing sound when cranked and paired with some P90 equipped beastie. Then there’s the custom shop tele (custom artwork on the scratchplate) and a Squier JV strat with ...50s spec Tonerider pickups, CTS pots, switchcraft jack, 5 way selector, full cloth wire, an original 1950s Astron Hymet wax/paper capacitor, on a custom shop mint green pick guard, strung with flat wounds - sounds and plays fab at a fraction of the cost of an original. I use the Fenders with the funk band and my Gibson R9 Les Paul with the swing blues band. I’d like to use the 175 as well but often find I don’t have enough space on stage! Main amp - Fender Blues Deluxe That studio of Octatonic’s is SO much tidier than my music room!

Guitars: Studio:

When i used to work in 'the shop', the amount of guys who'd come in saying how they started on these and are looking to go onto "something better... like a squier" Personally some varieties of this model line are far superior than some of the shit that's pumped out now at double the price. I've got much love for Yamaha for what they do.

Nothing, absolutley nothing, no way do I need anything else, no man don't tempt me. I'm back off to Bass chat

If the online guitarists I know all sign up then off topic will be just a big list of closed threads

Just a head up for everyone that the Feb 2019 issue of the revamped Guitar Magazine are giving away a set of Elixir Optiweb Nickel Plated guitar strings (10-46) when you buy the magazine John

Another Tele Tuesday - my home build assembly. Walnut body (weighs a ton) finished with gun-stock oil, flame maple neck with macassar ebony board, Lollar pickups and Callahan hardware. Plays and sounds way better than it has any right to given that I put it together

This place has given me GAS... I mentioned this in the Your Signature Model topic but it's turned from a silly idea into a real project! I've been looking at Ibanez Iceman & Fireman guitars for a while now, wanting one but knowing it wouldn't get used much, and anyway I'm meant to be trying to keep the total number of guitars down, for space reasons as well as money. But, I do have an Ibanez RGIB6 which I like and use every now and then, it's different enough to keep hold of with the longer scale, the low B string and the EMG pickups (which are surprisingly good for a clean sound). It's just got an RG body, nice enough but nothing special, so the idea came to me to get an Iceman or Firman body made for it. It'll have to be custom made because although you can get the bodies everything is in the wrong place for the 28" scale. I've found (via Basschat's recommended Luthiers page) a good luthier who's up for doing it, and liked the sound of it as a "bit of fun" project: http://jimfleetingguitars.com/ so the guitar is going over there next week! It's a crazy project really, the guitar cost about £300 on ebay and I doubt it will be worth much more when all the money is spent, but I'll have something unique that I really like. This is what I'm starting out with: and this is what the finished article will look like: It probably will have the scalloped edge (and back). That pic was done with the actual body shape that I've put together - I scaled the picture of the neck up to it's actual size (ins software) so I could do the body shape exactly right, and I'll do a trial paper fit to make sure. It's just slightly scaled up from the standard Fireman to suit the wider neck and longer scale. The finished guitar will be a bit longer than the original but that's fine. The look I'm going for is as if it was factory made like that, which might seem an odd thing to do with a custom body but it will suit that guitar. It'll be a while before it's done but it's not something I use every day anyway. Not everyone's cup of tea I know, but I can't wait.

It has been a long time since I played guitar in a band, circa 2001? I'm having a meet up with some guys who want to play funky grooves, apparently, and are in to Vulfpeck. No material to learn, as it is a start-up. Wish me luck, hope they are decent players, and I'll be able to keep up! Sessionette and Eggle (with coil taps) for clean sounds. Maybe compressor and wah? Whaddya reckon?

On the flipside, it probably makes your signature guitar a lot more within your reach than for many! Nothing wrong with liking the classics, imo; some things are so popular as to become 'run of the mill' for good reason....

My Yammy SA2000. I really got into playing country and that semi didn’t seem ‘right’ at the time; what a mistake to make. Fender Ash Lite Tele. It wasn’t being played, but I should’ve just kept it as I pretty much replaced it many years later with a not as good model. My first ‘good’ guitar, an Aria lawsuit LP. I replaced the pickups with DiMarzio SDHBs and it was an absolute monster.

There is one guitar that I have some GAS for which is totally out of character because it is A] Vintage, B] Gibson, c] pointy and d] unobtainable..... Jimi's Black Angel custom flying Vee. Yeah, the actual one. Had a chance to play it (sadly not plugged in) once, and there was an undefinable yet undeniable magic in that thing. Normally hate Vs, but..... Not the only hero's guitar I ever got to handle, but the only one I could *play* (being a lefty). My GAS list is normally much less prosaic, focussing on stuff I can actually afford or might realistically buy, tbh - boring, I know. Currently it is: 1] Fender player Strat - maple board tidepool 2] Fender player p bass - tidepool & maple 3] Gretsch 5210 4] Godin 5th Av Kingpin (the non-cutaway, one-pup version) 5] Eastwood Surfcaster 12 string or maybe the Reveleation Jazzmaster-style 12string 6] Eastwood Mandocaster 12 7] Fender Tim Armstong acoustic with the cat inlays. Amps-wise, the new Vox ABS-bodied bass amp, and the little nutube head, the AC version (clean is too clean, while the 'rock' one sounds like a Marshall, which isn't what I want). Think that's about it. Not big on humbuckers or Gibsons generally. If Eastwood ever did their take on the Johnny Ramone guitar as a lefty, well then..... I tend to like guitars that aren't woody/flametop types, prefer solid colours, like oddballs but with areal retro sensibility; don't care for pointy metal guitars. Floyd Roses are dealbreakers for me.

I'm a man of (limited) wealth and (questionable) taste... I've been away from the guitar and bass for a couple of years, not much played or picked them up, but recent coverage of Fender's new Player series (including the elusive, affordable maple-boarded P bass I've wanted forever!) has tempted me back. Used to play out twenty-five odd years ago with a youth group praise band; did one gig with a spoof-grunge band as part of a show I co-wrote and played in at university, and was in a string of bands that never got out of the rehearsal room (The Horse Dentists actually made it to six rehearsals with an angry punk cover of Maggies' Farm that we planned to dedicate to Tony Blair had we ever gigged....). Used to post for years as 'Edward' on Harmony Central, but eventually a new revision of the site stopped accepting my Yahoo email address, and as I didn't want to use the work one.... A UK based site makes more sense now anyhow. Hope eventually to get organised enough to pick up a few lessons to improve my playing (self-taught, never was much of a lead player and have no real theory). got a few nice guitars - my old 1994 US Std Strat, 2006 CIJ 71RI Tele, Brandoni P bass that's basically a 62RI under the hood.... all staying. Few others that it's time to part with, including a couple of Westones (Thunder IA guitar and IA bass), and probably my 1998 Korean Epi flametop Les Paul. Got my eye on the Player series Strat in Tidepool (if it had a soft V profile on the neck it'd be close to my dream Strat), a Gretsch 5210, and something like a Godin kingpin or similar (one pup, no cutaway). Love to play out with a band one day for some fun, though being now fat, bald and middle-aged I'm the very anti-thesis of rock and roll cool.....

Haven't decided what to do over the coming winter, but here's a couple of instruments I've messed with so far. The first is a 4/4 cello from ebay. It had a broken neck and the scroll had snapped in half. I also replaced all the black wooden bits with proper ebony and improved the finish slightly. The second is my one and only elctric guitar made from bits purchased on line. Nothing fancy, but it works and I like it!

With an instrument like this, it would be wise to take it to a reputable, competent luthier, to have it inspected, repaired/restored if necessary, and set up for how you'll be playing it. Think of it, not as a cost, but as an investment, as the guitar will be good for another half a century or so. It's quite normal for any quality instrument to benefit from a check-up now and again. A good workman will know exactly what to look for, and how to remedy any flaws. Just my tuppence-worth; hope this helps.

Good call, he really played guitar as the man said.

OK - here's one of my recent lightweight builds. Built for my sister-in-law at 25" scale length and 5lbs 3oz total weight. Amboyna top, oak back (from her late mother's mantlepiece), maple/purpleheart/mahogany neck :

Not much of a build, all ready made parts put together. I still like it though, and post this photo wherever I can....

Well presently, I am nowhere near where the guitar is but yes, Harry is going to borrow it when I'm back and see if it suits his needs

Hi, I have come over from Basschat as I also play guitar. Infact, I would say guitar is my first instrument, but gig in a busy covers band on Bass. I am only a bedroom guitar player, although did gig with guitar a long time ago. I like to build and adapt guitars and have recently got in to the weird and quirky stuff (think Seasick Steve). I have a build blog (link in my sig) and I think the next build will be a one string diddly bo..... Jas

Yes - I know. There's nothing wrong with the ranges of good quality but affordable acoustics starting to appear on the scene that are made affordable by dropping the binding. But as you say... Anyway, I chickened out of doing the binding for the back this afternoon and instead rock-hopped back to the neck heel. Still further shaping to do to make it look a little more elegant but I think it will work OK. This shot has also reminded me that the last job after the rest of the binding is finished, is clamping it somehow without crushing it and routing a flaming great big (and very accurate) slot to fit the neck tenon into. Oh joy...

Return it as soon as you can. Thats way beyond a bad setup... gotta be structural. Bowed soundboard or broken truss rod would be my bet without seeing it.

First!

Hi Guys, Another refugee for Bass Chat, though I have been playing bass for over 30 years and I consider it my main instrument, I've been been playing guitar as well for 20 of those years. These days I teach Bass, and guitar for a living, so I think the addition of this forum, if it half as good as Basschat will be great... its like having the full set

OK The thing I've done before is using decorative banding to bind the fretboard with. It gives me the advantage of looking like a multi-layer veneer demarcation without the faff and risk of wavy lines of trying to do that: The second thing is something I haven't tried before. Because the neck is from an offcut, it isn't deep enough to give me top of body to bottom in two pieces. And three pieces of maple stacked together could look a bit naff! So I've added a lump of decorative wood. To make it look like it was meant to be there, I've angled it. Won't know until I carve it what it is going to look like, but worth a try!

My Rob Williams custom set-neck. Made for me by Rob in 2013.

And so to shaping the braces (basically parabola shaped to retain the strength but reduce weight) and tweaking the shape of the braces to get the top to resonate with multiple harmonics at as many of the required frequencies as possible - tap tuning. For anyone interested in this black art (which I only scratch the surface of personally - I know when it's right but I don't know how to get there other than by accident), this is a long but very instructive video. The last 15mins or so has him actually doing the tweaking and by golly you can hear the difference at the end!: https://youtu.be/Ei5-DkVTrEE Mine has ended pretty much where his began (then again, he sells his guitars for many thousands of pounds) but is certainly more resonant that when I started with a number of distinctly different notes, with at least two harmonics, ringing out when various parts of the top is tapped. On this dry fit, you can see that some of the non-structural braces disappear to nothing - and where that happens matters!: The straight brace at the top and the long cross braces are structural and will extend into the kerfed strip, which needs cutting away: As will be seen later - the outside join will actually be cut away! So the glue joint of the kerfed strip itself has to be a good one - but remember, the top and back are curved. So they need sanding at an angle to provide a good gluing surface and tight internal join: While I can see both sides (ie, before the top is glued on), I need to similarly prepare the back. First a purfling strip is set into the join line: That is scraped smooth and then the back braces are put on. The back has a 15 foot radius spheroidal curve so has its own radius dish. The bottoms are radiused to fit the 15' dish in the same way the top braces were radiused to fit the 25' dish: I pre-shape the parabola so use spruce offcut strip to act as the pressure beams for the go-bar struts to press the back into its proper shape in the dish: And then the dry-fit tweaking of the back join is done in the same was the top was: Thread is ALMOST up to date. Next post is gluing the top and back onto the sides which is where I've just got to.

I love a good build thread!

I thought it would be cool if we could share our favourite YouTube channels for backing tracks. I mainly use MyDarnJamTracks and Elevated backing tracks on YouTube. I think those are the two most popular and their tracks seem to be very well produced. Well, share what you have!

Hello! I'm mainly a bass player, but I also play a bit of guitar at home. I have a nice CIJ Fender telecaster '72RI thinline and an Eastwood Warren Ellis Tenor guitar which I use for recording.

They are excellent players. Most Yamahas are.

That's his real name! How could you be so mean?!

It's not all mine.

Hello, I came here from theFretboard.co.uk because I thought it would be cool to be part of the famous basschat.co.uk. Well, nice to be here!

Bert jansch... Hands down An incredible musician, arranger and song writer. (maybe not a great singist tho) If I were to be able to play the guitar like anyone, it would be him.

I believe this is around how the site handles https. Theres a setting somewhere but i cant get on at the moment. Ill see what i can do

Maybe a right handed one

Many will have seen my presence on Basschat, so I thought I would join in over here too. Started out on guitar, and have alternated between guitar and bass in bands for years, though latterly, only playing bass in bands and guitar, at home on my recordings,c and one or two bits that my guitarist can't manage on our recordings. The band is Charms Against the Evil Eye. I do setups and some amount of electronic fixing- guitars, amps, pedals. Some of my job is surface mount electronic rework, so I can tackle a lot of that type of stuff too. Guitars: 74 SG Special (mini humbuckers), 93 Eggle Berlin Pro, 96 Squier telecaster, Godin Solidac, GS-1 12-string, Art+Lutherie Ami parlour. Amps: Sessionette 75 retro-tone mods, Trace Elliot Super Tramp, Ashdown CTM15

Just signed up here then went straight back to Basschat to check that I haven't just changed my BC avatar to 2 telecasters.

Hi everyone, As you may have seen, items listed in the GC marketplace will be completely FREE OF CHARGE until the 5th of November 2023 (remember remember!) After that, we'll move to our subscription model used on Basschat since 2012. Why? Well, first of all, we want to spread the word. Secondly, we have found the subscription model used on BC has resulted in a very safe, secure and reliable marketplace with very little in the way of scamming and fraud, due to the small contribution made by the members to use the marketplace. Once the subscription model launches, a £20 sub will work on any of our sites - so if you play bass and guitar, only one sub is needed. Enjoy and we hope you like the new site.