Kiwi

I bought a cheap, Chinese made archtop jazzer, but it's in dire need of fret crowning, the pickup isn't close enough to the strings and the finish has a number of hardened drips that need flatting out. Typical really, and I told them so. I have a 5 string bass on order from them too. It has a maple/mahogany through body neck and alder wings, with supposedly stacked humbucker pickups and a 3 band eq. It was ordered in April and was due in June...it keeps being delayed and delayed and delayed. I suspect it's because the fabricators keep screwing things up. They don't even measure string spacing from the bridge, they do it from the end of the fingerboard...where's the facepalm emoji?

Just watched a vid with Paul Reed Smith and Tim Pierce where Tim reveals his master built PRS. During the conversation, Paul mentions that the semi hollow guitars have become quite popular with female guitarists. I know Paul gets a bit of a bashing sometimes for being brash and untactful but in terms of recognising the needs of both genders, he's did a pretty good job of hinting but not patronising...too much. lol Skip to 6:04.

https://www.juliensauctions.com/auctions/2020/Prince_Blue_Angel_Guitar/Prince_Blue_Angel_Flipping_Book/ A fascinating background story to all of Prince's cloud guitars is recorded above. Most interesting points are that his guitar techs never lasted long and while his guitars got a beating on the road, his luthiers had 48-72 hours to fix whatever needed fixing and get them back. Sometimes entire necks needed replacing, as the CT scans reveal. C2 eventually sold for just over half a million dollars and it's completely unplayable due to a snapped neck (again) and missing hardware.

I have completely different approach as I''m going for different things. The bass signal chain is set up around dry, effects/bass synth and arpeggiated bass synth. The guitar signal chain is set up around sparkling cleans, crunchy overdrive and midrange meltdown, with or without chorus, delay, reverb and wah.

This is America, I don't know what to believe any more. But Gibson haven't been known for a lot of things they've done, robot tuners for example.

it's a fiddly system to set up but reliable once done properly. I have an Steinberger R trem with the lever too, it's far less convenient than the VS100C

Wilkinson were THE OEM hardware company for a while in the US, it's not like they lacked profile. But there was a patent clash with Gibson in the US. Gotoh became the US distributor in a deal but I don't recall seeing the bridges being promoted much. Gibson didn't have their own alternative to offer. But the bridges were only restricted in the US, nowhere else and supposedly the restrictions were due to end sometime after 2007...

I'm still lamenting the lack of an equivalent to the NLA Wilkinson VS100C trem. Luckily I have four of these bridges stashed away for future projects after stumbling on Trevor's daughter selling off NOS on Reverb. Nothing else like them. The one change I'd make is to include a fulcrum/bearing based pivot point. https://www.axebition.com/bridge/wilkinson-vs100c-convertible

Just stop playing when your fingers get sore. Start playing again when they're not swollen. That way you'll build the calluses quickly.

Not by plugging it into a mic socket. What you need is a 1/4" to USB cable from Ebay. They're pretty cheap maybe five quid or perhaps less. The computer needs to see something digital in order to do something with it using software. If you have amp software already, then you'll need to set it up so that it takes input from the correct device in the software settings panel and sends output to your soundcard.

I have no experience at all with any apple products but there are bluetooth wireless systems available now. Previously they would have been difficult to use due to lag but perhaps the technology is better these days. Maybe you can pair the wireless transmitter to the iPad but I don't know for sure.

If you just want to make noise then plug the 3.5mm end of the cable into the mic socket. Any more than that and you'll have to spend some money.

No experience playing a Dinky but really, just choose pickups to suit your genre. My choice would be EMG or Lace Sensors due to the noiseless tech and your preference for high gain. But Di Marzio do signature pickups for Joe Satriani and Steve Vai, plus the classic super distortion model. or Seymour Duncan for more classic models like the Pearly Gates, Seth Lover or Antiquity models.

There are all sorts of reasons behind why a retailer will choose a larger margin. Some of them under their control, some of them not, some of them are about sales tactics and others are about simply charging what they feel they can get away with. There are a couple of vintage and rare shops around the country who will charge significantly more for an otherwise unremarkable (and not vintage or rare) instrument because people will accept higher margins in return for outstanding customer service. Sometimes shops will set their asking prices higher and allow themselves to be negotiated down...unless the customer is not that patient or discerning. Then it's all pure profit. And even if they are negotiated down, the agreed price may still be a few percent above retail price for other shops but often the negotiation process provides the shop an opportunity to explore the customers needs and background further giving them an opportunity to develop the relationship a bit more. Sometimes retailers (especially on Ebay or Reverb) will ask outrageous prices because people will then go on forums and give them free advertising by complaining how outrageous the prices are (Starbucks get names wrong on cups for the same reasons).

Welcome aboard - most of us aspire to do the same. Hope you find being here useful and helpful :)