Dad3353

Good afternoon, Rob , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Good afternoon, Dusty, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share. Over 60, eh..? You young'uns..!

Just listen to the old fellow, harking back to 'the Good/Bad Old Days'..! In the '60s we had to make our own Fx with germanium transistors and zamac cases..! Tottenham Court Road was our source of ex-WWII chicken-head knobs, the electronic magazines carried articles on circuitry, and we longed for temperature-controlled soldering irons instead of lumps of hot copper..! Thems were the daze, indeed..! ...

Good evening, Variable, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Good afternoon, Ken , and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

What he said ^^

Yes, that's ^^ exactly what houses my Samick 335.

My Samick 335 has lived in her Hiscox case since acquisition, many, many decades ago now; it fits perfectly and has afforded excellent protection all this time. If the guitar is good, she deserves a good case.

This is the Taylor web page concerning strings for their guitars ... Best Strings for Your Taylor Guitar ...

For longevity, Elixir strings are very hard to beat, and sound fine (or rather better than 'fine', to me...). Their 'Nanoweb' phosphor-Bronze are ideal, as they tune up well and hold their tune, and keep their tone for much longer than others; in my view 'Medium' is the best weight (13-56...). Easily available; here's the Amazon offering, but there are many other sources... Elixir Strings ...

There's not much point, really, in having a carved solid top on an electric guitar if it has a block inside for the pick-ups etc. A laminated top will be better for feedback suppression in any case. A solid top is used often enough on acoustic or electrified arch-top guitars if they are truly hollow-bodied. There are exceptions, surely, but a carved table would be a waste on a 335-style instrument.

Good evening, Norm, and ... Plenty to read and amuse you here, and lots to learn and share.

Yes, synthetic wine often has that effect. ...

Our Eldest started his luthering by firstly building his bench; those vice parts look very familiar..! He's just finished his second, commissioned, Build (he's out right now, delivering it; I'll post photos when I can...), and his bench, and the vice, work very well. You'll not be breaking that any time soon..! Here's the lad micro-planing a part for one of my model 'planes... ... and here's the first guitar he built, for himself...

Short answer..? Yes, that's a fine guitar to learn on (as are many others...). Caveat... If it's second-hand, just be sure that there's no hidden flaws. As a novice, you may not realise what needs checking, so either be reasonably wary, or have someone check the guitar, preferably before purchase. This recommendation applies to any 'pre-owned' instrument, not just this Epi. Things to look out for..? A decent guitar bloke will know, generally, but things like working truss rod (difficult to fix; sometimes impossible...) wood cracks or repairs (most Les Paul-style guitars have a weak spot behind the nut, and many have been glued back after an 'incident'...), electrical faults (noisy pots, fully-functioning pick-ups, solid jack socket; mostly easy fixes, but can become expensive...) and more. If buying from a shop, all of this will be covered by distance-selling regulations, but one doesn't have this protection from a private sale. There, I don't mean to frighten you; most sales are genuine and work out well, but you did ask for advice. Good luck with the learning; buying the guitar is just the start, and is the easy part..!

Mmm..! Tea..!

Thanks for the 'Pask Makes'; I'll scour through that later. Meanwhile, I, too, am, sitting back, preparing the popcorn.

@Mike... Gear4Music have this model in stock right now, and could, presumably, send it to you in Ireland. Here's a link ... Gear4Music ... CandyAppleRed Guitars in Ireland offer it on their website, here ... CandyAppleRed ... ... as do Music Minds ... Music Minds ... Any use to you..? I didn't understand the use of a capo to raise 'dropped D' to standard tuning, and I reckon it'd be a pig to tune a 12-string down, then back up, between songs. It'd have to be either in open tuning or standard, I'd suggest, to be practical 'live'. Either way, tuning down a tone and a capo at 2nd fret would work, but I agree that it's always better to play without any accessories if possible. I have to stop now, but keep posting as this goes forward, the more long-winded the better..! Meanwhile... Keep well, stay safe Douglas

For my part, just about the last thing I think of when buying a guitar is the shape of the headstock, along with its 'copy' or clone effect and potential resale value. I like those that I have (obviously...), but if a 'pointy' one caught my eye, played well, and that I could afford, I'd buy it, whatever. I don't really consider Epiphone to be 'copies', either, just different makes for different markets. I know that there are those that will pretend they've a real Gibson, and even tart 'em up to appear so, but in my time I've come across superb Epi's and Gibson 'dogs'. I'd much rather one of the former than the latter. I have a Samick, 335-inspired that plays as well as most Kalamazoo originals, and have never really compared headstock shapes; never really thought about it. That's just me, though; others may well think differently.

Not all amps are designed equal. Have you tried an email to Boss, or their Forums..? There is more likely someone aware of Katana issues there, I should think. It's a fairly specialised, recent, amp, so not much experience gathered in the Wider World, perhaps. Worth a try..?

See my reply elsewhere...

I've no experience with either of these units (I'm very much more 'old school', and a drummer, to boot..!), but, in general, the Fx send/return would be used for 'end-of-line' Fx, such as delay, where the signal will no longer require extra treatment. I'd say that the best position in the chain of your Diesel pedal is between the guitar and the amp. That's how it was designed to be used; the signal level and impedance are matched to the anticipated input of a guitar amp, and may not suit the level and impedance of the 'send/return' jacks. I'm not at all sure exactly what sonic difference it would make to bypass the pre-amp stages of the Katana; I'm not enough of a guitar purist to offer any comment on that. Hope this helps, even if only slightly. Douglas

Good afternoon, Andrew... There's nothing wrong with your guitar, I, and many here, would have jumped at the chance of learning on a guitar of that quality..! The best advice I can think of is to recommend finding a good guitar teacher in your vicinity (where are you..?). From a Good Teacher, you'll get the best start, for tuning, playing position, avoiding pitfalls, and, if he or she is really good, interesting pieces and exercises to get you up and running playing in no time at all. It doesn't have to be expensive, nor a long-term commitment, but a few lessons to get going, then, maybe, refresher sessions every few months or so, depending on budget, progress made, ambition and so on. Guitar is not the easiest of instruments to figure out for oneself, and the rewards from Good Tuition far outweigh their expense, in my view. In any case, if it sounds bad at first, it's certainly not the guitar's fault..! Hope this helps. Douglas