Leaderboard

Put it all back together, polished it up and it plays just fine. What a bargain

Quick update to say I pulled the trigger on the Thinline Godin. It's new, coming from the States and even with delivery and taxes will be £300 cheaper than the best price I could find in the UK!

After a bit of work with fine wet and dry and a polish up with brasso, it transpires it's a Coxx Classix.

What a palava. OK so GC has been offline for a few days due to a mix-up in transfer of content from the old server (which was upgraded due to email notification issues on BC) to the new server. The old server subscription cancelled last week taking GC down with it. Then we had issues trying to get things set up on the new server. As you can see, we have managed to restore GC but the only back up on the old server was from January. Sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry to any of you who had made the effort to post detailed or lengthy replies during that time, I've personally lost at least one lengthy post as well. If you need to flame, go ahead. We had to unravel a whole load of secondary issues to do with databases not working quite right, upgrades not installing quite correctly, DNS and nameservers not being what they should be. However, thankfully, we have made it through the other side and GC is faster and more stable than ever. I don't expect this perfect storm to happen again and thanks in advance for your patience and understanding.

Coming from the light side (basschat) and after having a friend of a friend show me how to get the most from my hx stomp, the other week I picked up an electric to try and learn… it’s from 1990 weighs less than 3kg and has switches on both knobs that makes it sound different- learning needs to happen !

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!

J. Bright, The Law Suit, late 1700s: There truly is nothing new under the sun...

I missed the electro bit Yamaha Music London do the FX310A for £235

Yes to both, not helped by intermittent focus in my eyesight and a reluctance to take my reading glasses everywhere in case it brings on mid life crisis.

Or are your fingers too big?

I blame the advent of GPS. ...

We're stoked to announce that we've launched some new multipacks... https://www.rotosound.com/blog/product-news/new-rotosound-multipacks/ These offer our most popular sets in 3- and 10-set boxes for cost-saving and convenience. Starting from £21.95 for the triple pack and £69.95 for the ten-set multipack, they're available now from UK dealers!

Hah! Lucky I'd just swallowed my tea when I got to "Rickenwaffe" - not heard that one before! Yeah, they are more on the ball than anyone I've ever seen about their marks. Ric copies of any serious closeness only exist in Japan that I've ever seen... the very occasional one on ebay disappears almost immediately. I'd love a Ric solod body - a 4003 bass even moreso, but I'm resigned to the fact I'll never be able to afford one (and even then I'd struggle to justify the spend, tbh). Part of me wishes they'd do a diffusion line, A Rickensquierphone. They'd surely sell well, given their absolute nixing of the market for any other options if it's a Ric you want. (The Harely Benton options are about the only ones I've seen, and they're so deviated from the original - even if nice instruments in their own right.... you'll not see a Beatles tribute act playing them the way I've seen them use a Squier to recreate Rocky, let's put it that way...). Another part of me rather respects Ric for deciding they're happy as they are rather than just chasing the lifestyle brand market, or otherwise squeezing their property for every last penny. It was a remarkably late registration attempt by Fender - real stable door / bolted horse stuff. Trademarking a shape wasn't an issue for them in 1951 -or 1954 - as it wasn't until 1960 that you could trademark a shape in US law. The first registered US trademark shape was the Coca Cola bottle, a shape they'd been using since 1916, so I doubt Fender would have had any trouble registering The Tele, Strat, and other shapes then. As memory serves they had the foresight to at least trademark the shape of their headstocks, though.... Similarly, they were behind the curve in the UK as well, where shape-based trademarks became an option under the Trade Marks Act 1994. Gibson seem to have been more effective here, though from my casual awareness of their legal efforts (not least the PRS case), most of their real protection falls in the zone of lawfare.... i.e. Gibson can afford to spend a lot more than most of those they go after, and fighting a lawsuit will most of the time be far more expensive than just tweaking your design a little to make it go away. Smoke and mirrors to some extent once you see the eminently sensible decision by the Appeal court in Gibson v PRS.

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

And it's done. Had to do a lot of routing to get the bridge located properly including plugging and redrilling one bridge post 1mm further way. The wiring was a challenge, I spent three days of eliminating possible causes to arrive at only one conclusion, the pickup selector switch was faulty. My midboost preamp didn't work and I wasn't going to spend a week trying to troubleshoot it, so I bought one only to discover that the guy who build it didn't include separate earth and -9v wires. So had to jury rig something up to provide the output socket with an earth connection, the boost is definitely warm but it lacks the glassiness I expected. So I have on order a genuine Demester Fat Boost (Tyler style) and at some point I will probably wire the switches so they are series, phase and parallel. Although they were fiddly to solder as well. However, after a fret levelling and proper set up, it plays very nicely and has more sustain than my other two strats. I have no idea why. It's quite a warm and loud sounding guitar as well acoustically. More aging is needed on the sides and back but I have other things to attend to in advance of being in the UK next month.

A common mistake is for folk to stick to the minor pentatonic when improvising, whether the key or chord is major or minor. Try and make sure you’re complimenting the chord by emphasising the 3rd note. A lot of players tend to play through the scales from one end to the other. Stand out from the crowd by making some interesting, intervalic jumps (Carl Verheyen is the king of this, check him out). Don’t be in a hurry to show your chops too early, build to a crescendo and release (the solo from Stairway is a great example of this).

Or, pretty much, exactly the same.

Wouldn't surprise me. The older I get, the more I realise 99% of the electric guitar market is about selling branding an intangibles far over the actual, physical product. It does seem to vary by location, though: players in the US on average still seem to be much more likely to be emotionally invested in the idea that a guitar made in the USA *must* be superior, or is somehow otherwise "the real thing". Which I suppose shouldn't be surprising given that's where the electric guitar boom started, and so there's a sense of "loss" that those aren't dominant in the market any longer - as opposed to being "only" another import product as they are for us in the UK.

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).

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

Gordon Smith, although better known for their Gibson types, also do a very nice Tele - https://www.gordonsmithguitars.com/shop/stock-guitars/blaggards/ TBH, though, I'm not sure that's how I would go. Clearly you're not looking for a more affordable alternative to Fender's US or CS ranges if you're thinking of spending that sort of custom money anyhow. Now, this is only a personal opinion, but.... for me it would depend a lot on what you want. A tele is such a utilitarian design that if what you want is the standard set-up Tele, it seems to me madness to spend custom-built money on it. If that's the only way - you want something really offbeat like the Jack White signature, or a Trussant Steelcaster, or you have an original 52 that you want to clone so you can leave the vintage piece at home and play a facsimilie out.... then, sure. But if what you want is "just" a Tele, it seems to be it's hard to justify spending vast sums on it.... I'd buy whatever MIM / Tokai / whatever you like and maybe rewired if you want, or track down a CIJ Fender that's good to go as is. (IMO, the top end Japanese Fenders are as good as anything form the US, typically wired the same with the same specs, and usually cheaper - nut much harder to find.) Unless you want something that's just not available otherwise, imo having a custom built Tele is a bit like having a Saville Row tailor copy a pair of 501s for you. They'll be an exquisite example, but....

Many thanks for the feedback both. Seems that what I want to achieve isn't quite in the remit of my amp. I might just go back to my comfort zone of 90s solid state.

I’ve learnt pretty all I know about Fender offset guitars from Mike Adam’s, AKA puisheen, on YouTube and Instagram.

That is indeed my plan. In addition to some fret and electronics work a new plate on the front should be involved.

In the end I was able to bag a nice Japanese Fender, which is now having some work done on it.

I went and looked it up: sorry, I think I was mistaken! It looks like, for the longest time, Strats have had tone controls for the neck and middle pickups, but not the bridge. Apparently - and I think this is where my confusion stems from - more modern Strats have the neck & middle wired to the first tone, and the bridge wired to the second. Which is...interesting...I can't imagine wanting to use that bridge pickup without being able to roll off some the treble!

Very nice. All the best with it.

Despite JH Skewes being somewhere in the process of potentially being wound up if they can't find a buyer (perf the wishes of the late John Hornby Skewes himself), they have gone ahead with the launch of their pedal range, all available here: https://ivormairants.co.uk/collections/vintage-effects-pedals I'm waiting for payday to pick up one of the delay pedals for a slapback echo effect. A naughty part of me, though, is sorely tempted to buy a tremolo, a reverb, a fuzz and maybe a nice overdrive as well to create an all-one-brand board. Madness, obvs, but ....

OK, well now I am tempted to try another...the Behringer does the job, but I wonder if a more faithful Big Muff clone might be closer to what I'm after!

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.

Thanks Douglas.

Off the top of my head, Keef, Dylan when he's in that mode, Joe Strummer, Johnny Ramone, Elvis.

https://guitarbomb.com/klon-lawsuit-dismissed-bill-finnegan-behringers-zentara-overdrive And so it's all done.... the case has been dropped, "with prejudice" (i.e. they're not allowed to reopen it at any later stage), and no money changing hands. Ironically, the rare version of the pedal is now likely to be the Centara labelled phase, as Behringer recently started labelling them the Zentara, with a Z. I wonder if those will be worth anything in future, what with many buyers hoping to land a future collectable seeking out the first, Centaur labelled, run. Decent result, overall... Behringer have (very cheaply) further refined legal precedent on the limits to how far they can copy something that's no longer in production. It'll be interesting to see if the Klon people attempt to bring out a new line of "the real thing". As a postscript, Youtuber KDH (who is being credited at breaking this story which everyone else seems to have missed) flags that the AI search facility on Google denies that this happened. Now *there's* a bubble that can't burst fast enough.

Yeah, you're covered

That works .

Absolutely, it's about selling dreams...as in 'buy this and get closer to living the dream'...whatever that dream is.

All change again !! I've been trying out the Hotone Ampero products, surprisingly very good !!

PRS SE CE24

I bet that very subtle change in the graphics really pisses Klon off, which makes me smile.

It's fascinating how commonly cloned the Klon is, down to its legendary status. Any number of them out there, really. I got an email in yesterday telling me my pedal from Thomann is now on the way - we'll see if it's the original version or something new. I kinda wish I had ordered a few now! According to online reports, this is the new version (which may be what I'll receive): https://guitarbomb.com/behringer-rebrands-klon-clone-centara-overdrive/ Same housing, slight change of name and logo. It strikes me with some amusement that if this doesn't settle the lawsuit, this could become an even rarer version (maybe we should bot order more of them.... if I had an original couple of Klons now, I'd be selling them to buy a Gretsch!). Legalities aside, it still feels to me that Klon are taking the piss suing over an albeit very close lookalike of a pedal they've declined to put on the market for seventeen odd years....

Anyone know any guitar teachers in the Bethnal Green area of east London and how much I should expect to pay for an hours lesson?

@Kiwi I only saw your comment just now, apologies. In the end I got a Vox MVX150C1; this is great, other than being a bit heavier than I'd like.

You can't go far wrong with an Ibanez, whatever the price point, and this model has an excellent reputation, especially as a starter guitar. There are many models on the market in this range of prices; this Ibanez has nothing to fear from such rivalry. A matt black finish may be subject to marks from use, rather more than a gloss finish, but that's about the only remark not in its favour. Ignore the 'hype', for this and any other that piques your interest, and try it out yourself. You're not likely to be disappointed. Hope this helps.

As Kiwi says, if you’re going for a trad, bolt on Tele, any tech can put one together for you, in fact, you could do it yourself if you have any DIY skills and just have final set up done by a tech (fret levelling, etc), this is pretty much what I did with my Tele: Squier neck & tuners; bound body from a UK supplier; DiMarzio pickups with the voicing I was looking for (DiMarzio were brilliant with their recommendations); Hipshot bridge; various other spares I had laying around. Everyone who plays it is blown away by the playability and tone (I was very lucky with the Classic Vibe neck).

Looks beautiful! (The Hofner, not the delivery guy)...

UPDATE: my Behringer SF300 has arrived. Does the job just nicely! Really useful having the three modes, too: I can see myself using the more "vintage" sound of Fuzz 1 the most, but the scuzzier tone from Fuzz 2 has been quite fun to play with so far. Popping the guitar into drop D with Fuzz 2 certainly gives a nice All Them Witches-type vibe! Thanks again for the recommendation!

Never really got on with Strats until fairly recently. I've had a few over the years which I didn't really connect with and ended up givig them away, but in the past year I got two which I do like and will keep. The first was a Sunn Mustang, which if you know anything about those, is a license-built Fender Strat made in India for the European market in the late Eighties. That's a very good guitar indeed. Finding that I liked that Mustang, it prompted me to get another Strat, a 1980 model which I relicked the living crap out of and tarted up with a few parts, and that one I really like too. You can see me playing that one through an MG15 here. I guess the moral of the story is, sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs.