ezbass

Jeff Beck at the Hammersmith Odeon on the There & Back tour in the early ‘80s, with the Climax Blues Band in support. The JB ensemble of himself, Tony Hymas on keys, Mo Foster on bass and Simon Phillips on drums were so on their game that night. Mo broke a string, something I’ve seen since or before, Si’s drum solo was literally jaw dropping, where he got the energy from to maintain that intensity for so long, I don’t know. Tony did his job of bringing it al, together and Jeff was Jeff, brilliant in every way. After seeing the Climax Blues Band, you could have gone home well satisfied, but to have them followed by Jeff & Co was a sight to see. Never bettered.

From my own annals, the moment that sticks with me most is one of slight embarrassment. I was playing the Crystal Palace Bowl, which has a huge stage. Going for my ‘Woodstock moment’ I ran across the stage (as you do) only to hear a ‘pop!’ as I pulled my lead out of the amp . Fortunately, I managed to get back to my amp and plug in again just in time to play the lead riff of the song. There is a recording of the event and you can hear what happened quite clearly .

Artec or Wilkinson are a good place to start as they're not expensive. However, they most likely won't be calibrated for 3 pickup style guitar and you'll need to buy either 2 bridge or 2 neck pickups and sort out the output later. https://www.northwestguitars.co.uk/p90-pickups/

Tune to the chord of your choice (major or minor) and then if you barre anywhere on the neck, you have that mode of chord at a different pitch. For instance, tune your guitar so that it plays an E major (E B E G# B E), then barre at the 3rd fret and you have a G major and so on. Keith Richards is well known for taking off the 6th string and tuning to open G (G B D B D), although you can leave the 6th on and tune it to D. Play a straight barre anywhere, then play a Amin7 shape and then release it; instant Stones and great for slide.

I'd leave them alone. It is not uncommon to have rusty or discoloured pole pieces. Unless it's shedding rust onto the pick guard and into the pickup housing, it's just aesthetics. Adds a bit of mojo to the look for me.

I'd be more into rubbing those frets over with some 1000 - 2000 grit paper and a micro mesh cloth.

My go to position on the first steps of guitar acquisition is always, you can't go wrong with Yamaha at any price point. They always seem to be of good quality and not just for the price point. Either electric or acoustic, it's normally just a matter of seeing what is available for your budget and deciding on aesthetics.

As Soledad says above, this really is the golden age of 'budget' guitars. Gone are the days of the the unplayable, finger shredders, it seems that the manufacturers realise that there is no future in making bad instruments, because you won't buy their brand again.

The best way forward, as ever, is decide your budget and get out, if possible, and try some. Even at the early stages of playing, you'll have an inkling as to what feels and sounds right, although this will keep on developing as you progress.

1 hour ago, randythoades said:

Also, just something to bear in mind:

I had the champ XD and swapped out the speaker (to an Eminence Legend) and within days replaced the original speaker. The problem with modelling type amps is that by their nature, they need a relatively bland clear speaker in order to give a wider range of tones put out by the preamp. So I think it is purely the modeeling putting out the drive rather than the speaker, it is designed to cope with the various tones, both very clean and very distorted, and wouldn't be great if it distorted quickly. Mine stayed clean pretty much up to max, which I preferred.

I agree with Dad3353, you could try a power soak pedal/solution between the power amp and the speaker,, or you could just spend the time on the Fender FUSE software and create your own amp models to over ride the ones you don't like with just versions of the patch you do like but with different gain levels.

Tried a Jensen speaker in my Super Champ, with the same outcome.

14 hours ago, Dolando said:

Thank you. Been playing it most of the weekend.

We need to hear it too!

Quality work, Sir. Well done

Thoughts on your set up? Seems fine, not too loud and a versatile guitar, should bang on for home use. Strings are a personal thing, it’s all a matter of what feels right for you. However. FWIW, I’ve long been a fan of D’Addario XL 10-46.

DiMarzio Area T Hot.  Very much a P90 in a Tele, bridge pickup housing. Humbucking too.

50 minutes ago, velvetkevorkian said:

I like a 1mm Stubby personally.

Just crying out for an inappropriate double entendre.  

Locking tuners are only part of the system, the saddles, nut slots and trem spring consistency are potential areas of instability. I had Sperzels on Gretsch, they were fine, the Bigsby at the other end was where the problems lay, however. But I love Bigsbys, so I came up with ways to ensure a reasonably reliant return to pitch: lubricated nut slots; roller saddles and a little up pull on the bar when things slipped. On classic trem designs, I tended to use 4 springs and have it flat loaded for downwards movement only, but not always.

57 minutes ago, Chaz SIB said:

Appreciate this guys, I play with it in front and its easily heard by the audience, shall i put it behind me or like you say change the angle ?

 

Yes, move it behind you and raise it on a crate, or something similar, before getting an angled stand.

What kind of amp is it and how powerful is it? Raising the amp will help and you can get stands that also put it at an angle, which helps even more. Can the guitar be heard out in the audience area is the important thing. If it can’t, than miking it up and putting it through the PA is the way to go as you can then choose to also have it in the monitors, or in a set of in-ears.

My Tele is (or should I say was, I've made numerous changes) a Classic Vibe. Even before messing about with it, it was a great Tele and not just for the money, just great. The neck was the winner for me and still remains unchanged. A 2nd hand MiM is a solid choice, given the resale values as pointed out above, sell the Ebow on and spend that on things you need.

I have various, including a Prime Tone and am always happy to try something new. However, I always seem to come back to Dunlop Jazz 3s.

3 hours ago, Soledad said:

Just a straight down the middle Tele. 2016 'pro' US built. Have a MIM Vintera which is very good but as a self-confessed Fender nut, in the end it had to be a Corona. Went on the hunt for an ash body, maple neck and found this fairly locally at a fair price (I'm sure the market is soft at the moment).

I reckon the ash is great for me - a tads lighter and the balance improves a bit, plus there is a ring to it (unplugged) which the alders have a little less of.

Through the amp (Fender Super Champ all-valve with a Celestion Greenback 10 in it) it does seem to me to ring a little more, and warmer. I think the ash adds brightness but not the cutting top the back p'up does in shovels anyway, more a bright presence.

Basically loving it - it's a keeper. Tried a Strat for a while but personally prefer the Tele on a number of levels, the honest simplicity, the ergonomics (!), the rather 'workingmans' image, and the range of sounds which greatly exceeds what many players expect from a Tele. Particularly fond of the neck p'up with treble rolled back a bit.

Add a bit of reverb and chorus and we have Johnny Marr / John Squire (Stone Roses) and shedfulls of Fender chime. That'll do

 

Very Bruce Springsteen; nice.

I don’t know the model number I’m afraid. If you could post a photo, I’m sure some of the folk here will be able to add something.

I’m assuming that you mean your right hand (for a right handed player). The simple answer, as Dad says above, is practise, pace (start slow) and patience. When I took lessons as a young boy, when dinosaurs walked the Earth, I was taught arpeggios and pattern picking and I still have those under my fingers 50 years later. However, anything that doesn’t fall under those ingrained patterns has to be practised over and over to get right (yes, you, Jimmy ‘bloody’ Page! I’m looking at you and your weird, ever changing patterns in Bron Y Aur). My point is, the actual mechanics don’t really become much easier, you just know that these things take time, better than you did when first starting out.

Mic your cab up and use the PA for support. DG will definitely be doing this. Small amps have thankfully become the way to go, rather than massive 100w beasts with numerous 4x12s (always ridiculous down at The Dog & Duck) but the trade off is less power onstage. PA support is the easiest solution and will only cost you the price of an appropriate mic and lead, rather than more/bigger cabinets, which might not cure the problem, as you can only do so much with the power being supplied to them and then there’s the logistical problem that goes with more, big boxes.

Oh yeah, .

An interesting point, it certainly wouldn’t hurt.

Sounds like a quite crunchy distortion/overdrive with lots of treble and reverb. Not sure I hear a 12 stringer in there though but, then again, my hearing isn't all that bright.

Nice, something a little different from the norm.