Kiwi

Just a thought but I'm wondering what you would recommend for the following 5 positions on a pickup selector switch on a HSH guitar: 1) Bridge humbucker - Satriani style rock (pull vol for coil split) 2) Bridge inner coil + middle - 80's strat quack 3) Bridge and Neck humbucker (pull vol for coil split tele twang) 4) Middle and neck outer coil - funky strumming 5) Neck humbucker - jazz archtop (pull vol for single coil strat kind of tone) I know it's a demanding and perhaps unrealistic request but I'm wondering how close you might be able to get.

What are you passionate about playing? I'm thinking that if you couldn't wait for the first opportunity to pick up the guitar and get into something you really enjoyed, you'd probably still be unstructured but practicing more often. Which leads to the next question about why structure is important if you can pick it up whenever the mood strikes? I haven't been playing much over the last 6 months and the other day I realised it was because I felt bad about the impact of practicing on others in the apartment. And I also felt a bit guilty about being self indulgent...despite working six days a week for no salary as I'm trying to get a business off the ground. So to address the first problem I bought a nice pair of AKG monitor headphones to plug into an old Zoom unit so I can practice silently. I'm hoping that'll also solve the second problem because noone will know when I'm practicing. I actually practiced last night for the first time in ages and for a solid couple of hours but it was mostly on bass. Mainly because bass is second nature and I wanted to make getting back into things easy. But I do have some learning goals for guitar including properly how to play: 1) Rosanna solo and outro - Steve Lukather 2) Heaven In My Hands - Alan Murphy 3) White Wedding - Steve Stevens 4) something by Def Leppard, maybe Hysteria or Pour Some Sugar 5) Surfing with the Alien or Satch Boogie - Joe Satriani (if I'm feeling particularly ambitious)

He seems like a nice guy, I wish him all the best too. It's a tragic situation to be in.

Assuming that you mean companies are looking for up and coming musicians to help them show the market that they can stay relevant? There's an aspect of that too but it doesn't invalidate my point. They exist alongside each other.

I came here thinking this would be a discussion about our ideal guitars. Still...I'm glad some members were able to help with info.

I think you'll be OK, at least until it breaks. Some of the cheaper Marshall amps with PCB based builds can be not worth worth the expense of repairing. Buy whatever cable you like but get one with neutrik or solderless jacks as they tend to break less often. Don't get sucked into the gold plating and oxygen free voodoo. The electrons don't care.

I nearly bought one of these as my first gig-quality guitar. I found an old Chandler Custom strat instead though and it was cheaper.

Top talent though, Mark Mondesir is a phenomenal drummer and Laurence Cottle is a bass maestro.

Given the extra information in your reply Sea Chief, I was going to say that the hump in the photos is just down to the effect of string tension on the bracing. It happens in some guitars if the bracing isn't robust enough. That it's stable just means that the instrument has achieved a level of equilibrium without breaking. I have a cheap 12 string acoustic with the same issue but the problem with mine is that they used a 6 string body with 6 string bracing for a 12 string model. So the bracing isn't up to scratch (it should be X bracing rather than straight). To fix this I bought a special brace from Stew Mac for a hundred quid delivered which has reduced the hump a bit and it's been stable over the last 3 years.

I'm not really a luthier but I've made a couple of instruments and have 2-3 more in the pipeline but made from parts. All traditional acoustics have flat tops. The other kind you mention are archtops and typically (but not exclusively) are associated with jazz. Traditionally the difference was due to construction preferences. An arched top doesn't need bracing whereas a flat top does and the kind of bracing is down to preference and intended purpose for the instrument. A 12 string needs the strongest bracing while a nylon stringed instrument has lower requirements.

This is a bucket list amp for some.

See if you can find a Mooer Ocean Machine - it was Devin Townsend's signature pedal. It won't replace a Lexicon PCM70 but for gigging and practice it's better than most multi effects pedals.

Yeah its been playing on my mind as well. But Shugang are actually headquartered in the city where I live so even if things get desperate I'll still be able to buy something.

Heh, three and a half years later my Ibanez TSA5 combos are wearing out from poor quality components. So I've replaced them with a pair of cheap hand made 5F2 5w combos which are almost certain to last longer. Plus there's the matter of the three preamps (Mesa, Marshall and Carvin) and the Marshall 20/20 power amp and the Princeton Reverb II...none of which I've actually laid my hands on yet because they're being looked after in the UK by friends. I've come a long way from the Mesia (!) combo I started off with in 2007.

Blimey...you're right! Odd that we've never noticed it before now...and that it's part of the default theme. Perhaps something happened with one of the updates...? @Woodinblack