EdwardMarlowe

Sounds a good ballpark to me. I remember when you could buy one for about £400. In those days a new MIJ was about £300, and a 70s US model went for about £300. Time change! Squiers in general seem to vary a lot in value as popular notions about certain series ebb and flow; I remember a time when you couldn't give a used Korean Squier away, now certain series like the ProTone are selling for £400 and up, similar money to their MiM Fender contemporaries. You do see a lot of 80s MiJ Squiers with some overly optimistic prices, but anything with a genuine JV series number tends to sell well, constantly. *Especially* these early Squier Series ones, which really were what evolved into MIJ Fender, with the Squier brand being later applied to a lower price-point guitar. The Paisley is definitely a rare birdy. I remember it being considered deeply uncool for a long time, even after James Burton's US built signature model came out. The popular view has really come around to it now, same as happened with Antigua burst. Be interesting to see if this happens with the Blue Floral (which was a contemporary of the original pink paisley Fenders, though I don't think it ever made it across to the Squier range).

The guitarplayer that made me want to learn was Marty McFly, guesting with Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, playing Johnny B Goode. True story! When I actually started playing a few years later, though, I started on acoustic and had recently discovered Dylan (yeah - Bob Dylan turned me acoustic, there's a definite irony in there!), and so that impact the way I play Still does thirty years later - I'm not much in the habit of fooling around with different pickup selections on any one guitar or even using the tone knob much. Just find the sound I like best and then vary that by how I hit it... Mick and Steve Jones with their respective bands had a big influence when I looked back at their influences, which led me variously to early Alice Cooper (so much better than the Trash era!), early 70s Bowie, and old rockabilly. now, though I can't yet sound anything like them, the guitarists I'm most love to sound like and who influence my guitar thinking, at least, are people like Link Wray (who is a huge influence on my liking for oddball guitars, even if most of mine are fairly conventional due to the limits of being a left hander), Joe Moretti (especially on Brand New Cadlliac - that's the Mick Jones influence once removed), the Johnny Burnette Trio, and - full circle - Chuck Berry. Of those, I only had the privilege of seeing Chuck Berry live, but the recordings are immortal.

This Vox is a *close* but just slightly too big for carry-on for me - the symmetrical body could be flipped left handed, though the controls would still be in the way: https://www.voxamps.co.uk/products/sdc1 Good body shape, though. And I like the idea of it being ready to play when I pop the case. I'm leery of the reliability of anything folding and affordable, and once you get into having to reattached and retune necks after travel, it starts to be a lot of hassle for something where I just want a grab and go that might get lifted for a few minutes here and there in a hotel room on a week long worktrip.

I often looked at the Traveler range, https://travelerguitar.com Ugly AF, BUT that's offset by practicality. Years ago, I bought a Steinberger Spirit for using as a travel option. Wouldn't have been my first choice. HSH is just about everything I hate in a guitar set up, but that was the only left handed model they did. It's an ugly guitar, but I really came to appreciate the cleverness of the design. The neck being full scale is a huge plus as that makes it feel like a 'real' guitar. But then they clamped down on sizes of hand luggage for all airlines, and it was just too big. It's largely collected dust ever since, and I should sell it on. It's one of the GU style that have a body shaped like a guitar rather than a paddle, from the Music Yo era. One of only two I've ever seen in the UK, as MY never officially sold here, and the then UK distributor didn't take any of the left handed options. I've considered other options over the years. Basically for a carry-on item, best as I can make out it now needs to be no bigger than a violin. I think the Traveler guitars are fractionally too big, and I wouldn't carry an instrument if I risked being told it was going in the hold. I would very much welcome an option ,though, as currently I'm reduced to taking a harmonic with me when I travel, and my harmonica playing is *even* *worse* than my guitar... The killer app for me, I think, would be something sized closer to a Ukelele, that was either six or 12 string and tuned like a guitar. Brandoni used to make 12 string electric Mandolins which were, essentially, a guitar neck that was tuned to and played like a regular guitar with a capo on the 12th fret. Something like that the right size - even a six string - would appeal as it could have a purpose when not travelling as well. Not trying to make it a full-neck guitar would mean you could avoid odd scale lengths and have it be something with its own character but which feels like a guitar. A solid body ukelele seems like a good solution for a travel item, but it's also a whole new tuning, set-up, chord pattern thing. Shorter learning curve for a guitar player, but still not quite a grab and go. Might also help justify the money to have something that is just different enough to provide something else at home too... As well as concerns about being hand-baggage sized, the Traveler is just expensive enough that I might think twice about taking it on holiday in case of loss or damage, plus its' not something I would lift to play in the house as an alternative to one of my other guitars. So... Maybe a six-string, solid body Ukulele which has a much beefier neck that feels like the top ten frets of a Strat and tunes an octave up from a regular guitar? Bolt on neck, one single coil pickup in the neck position. Or, better: a bottle-top style bugmount** that came with it would be grand by me as long as it was a reliable sound. That would also save significantly on production costs, as it would mean no need to rout the body for pickups or wiring, just give it a decent fixed bridge, something like a Junior style wraparound, though the fully adjustable Wilkinson style. And cut the body to a symmetrical shape. That way you don't need to have a separate left handed version for those of us that need that... If somebody could produce something like that than came in under £200, and for which I could also buy a hard case that was smaller than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm would be the killer app. Chosen those dimensions specifically because a] that's the max size for cabin baggage in Ryanair, the stingiest of all airlines (I'd rather swim, personally, but they're a good guide as to what the extremes are here). ** This sort of thing, though there are a lot of them on the market. https://www.webemusic.com/products/The-Original-Bottle-Cap-Guitar-Pick-Up-18336.html

Eeps. Be interesting to hear what it sounded like.... if he'd played it anyhow and it had sounded good, the web wold be full or people arguing about how best to melt the wax in your pickups, and what tonal difference it made to do it with them still in the guitar, whether to let the wax stay on the sound board because mojo tonez....

They really are great. It's a shame they shot up in price when the business changed hands, though I gather they have upped the detail in the finishing process and as instruments they remain as great as they always were. I believe they still have the secret process by which they make maple, one-piece necks with no skunkstripe.

They seem to be doing well enough to stay in production. They're not going to fly out the door as a cheap alternative - there's very little price difference. But I wouldn't be entirely surprised if they did start to catch on more broadly. It'll be interesting. I suspect there are a lot more ofc them out there being used on the road than we're aware of. You know the drill - established acts / operations who've had enough of the weight / hassle of a tube amp on tour, these look close enough the average punter isn't gonig to notice.... (on some scenes, the look is as important as the sound. I've seen acts get dismissed on certain scenes for not having the right look - can be especially so on the rockabilly scene where a lot of acts put out vinyl because some of their fanbase won't buy CDs). Younger kids now seem to have come up with a range of new bands that have gone beyond the "tube good, else bad" mindset, so we'll see what they go for. If that's amps at all, that is. We've speculated on this elsewhere on this site as well, but it's not unthinkable that amps as we know them could be out-evolved by alternatives. PAs now are better and cheaper than ever before. The old, macho idea of The Big Amp comes from the days hen you needed that be heard and PAS weren't great. That's no longer the case. I've seen a number of acts recently who used pedal format pre and power amps on footboards, and plugged right into the PA. In the West End musicals in London, a lot of the guitar players have been using stuff like Line 6 Pods for years (when Buddy was last in town, they had empty cabs out front for the look, and were all hooked up to Line 6 pods out of sight). Maybe if younger bands and their audiences get past certain visual expectations, we'll see bands arrive with pedalboards under their arms, and set-up / tear down becoming vastly quicker for everyone. If it still sounds great, I'm not at all opposed to it. My own next move no is, I think, gonig to be a small pedal board with pedals for reverb, gain, preamp, into an A/B box that leads to a headphone pedal amp and a Mooer Baby Bomb preamp. Thinking of tying one of those tweed JHS Vintage 1x12" cabs at about £100 with that, could end up being a solid rig for me as a home player. In the unlikely event I ever played out again, the cab could then go or not depending on availability of monitors. I could see that becoming a norm. The tech is already there - it just needs to convince guitar players who have a tendency to luddism.

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....

Lovely job on that. You clearly had the patience to go gently with the clean-up, especially on the headstock, and it has paid dividends.

The 6xxx 'Professional' series are the dream, but they're also crazy money. If the big lotter win came in, of course, I'd tart with a White Falcon, a trad 6120 and maybe of the Brian Setzer Hot Rod types... More realistically, the 5xxx series are great guitars, and fully, imo, capture the spirit of the Gretsch sound. The 2xxx series are nice if, imo, a little more generic in sound. That of course will appeal to some folks if they want something that's a more mainstream sound. If you wanted something that you already new you'd be rewiring and changing pickups in, I'd go for a nice, used 2xxx.

Thanks - looks like something I might dabble with. I'm hoping in the next couple of years to buy a Player; I already want to do a tiny rewire (I'm veering between a seven-way switch for ease of fitting, and adding a separate mini toggle for a bridge pickup on/off override as an easier playing approach); this could be another option worth looking into for that.

About ten years ago I'd have said Fender MiM and PRS SE were good there, though increasingly their new price is pushing higher and pulling up the used price with them. The new Fender Standard series have been much-mocked by people keen to write them off as rebadged Squiers, but that's grossly unfair. The Guitar Geek did a video comparing one directly to a Squier CV Series Strat, and they are different beasts - different factories, different innards. Now whether somebody wants to pay the extra for them might be another matter, but.... They've clearly been introduced for a specific target market, that being players who can't stretch to the price of a Player Series (street price, I'm very rarely seeing those new for under £600 nowadays), but looks down on a Squier. I have a feeling these could be a sleeper that will be a great buy when they start to filter onto the used market. While made in the Far East, the specs are basically a rerun of the pre-2018 MiM Standard Strat that was replaced by the Player Series - poplar body, 21 frets, 9.5 radius, 42mm nut, slightly hotter pickups, full size pots. If they did a left hander I'd be seriously considering one of the 'Candy Cola' models with the maple board... as it is, if one came up used stupid cheap, I'd buy and Hendrix. I wish they would do one of these with a six-screw trem and a big headstock... then I'd *definitely* be looking for a Hendrix project. Harley Bentons I love.... but would be wary of buying used. I've seen one too many "optimistically priced" on eBay, at well over the new price. Those that do sell seem to go for so near the new price that unless it was a model that was out of production (like the 25th Anniversary limited edition Jazz Bass I really wanted, but lost the chance to buy when our then dog needed her tail docked after she bit the end off it, bless her), I don't think it's worth going used. Squier are always worth looking at used, especially the Classic Vibe series - which, yeah, I'll stick my neck out and say are Fender's purest realisation of Leo's concept of an affordable, giggable guitar that can be cheaply maintained and repaired. Not the very *best* *guitars* Fender have ever made, but in terms of VFM as a working player's tool.... I've seen very good deals on the 2xxx series Gretsches used. They tend to be just a *little* more generic in sound, a little less the distinctive Gretsch difference than a 5xxx or especially the Professional 6xxx series, but they are great guitars in their own right, and they have that very cool vibe going on - immediately different from yet another F or G style. JHS's Vintage brand tend to go surprisingly cheap used, and for the money are an excellent buy. If you like the Gibson styles, their earlier models tend to be just a little closer the "real" shapes, especially the SGs. Their SG style ones are a real hidden gem. Their Fenderalikes tend to look much more like the real thing in the body, though if you can try before you buy as the necks aren't for everyone. They tend to favour a US-style 43mm nut over a more vintage 42mm nut. Some folks find that matters, others don't. MiM quality, selling used for Squier money. The 'Icon' series can be a nice option if you like the relic look buy don't want to pay out the big money. Up close they're not the same as the Fender relics, but thy have the general look from a few feet away, and if you like the relic vibe, they're a bit of fun, affordably. As long as you're not left handed you're gold - they're as piss poor as Squier for lefty provision.

I remember back in the early 90s seeing ads in the back of UK guitar magazines for a pedal that supposedly mimicked the root bass note of the chord you were playing. Wish I could remember the name - it was somewhere like Award Session that sold it. Never tried one, though, so no idea if it lived up to the hype.

Interesting - does that fit a Fender cavity? Any change in the sound (wondering if a bit more mass adds anything sonically). Are they the standard springs the guitar had? This year just before Christmas I bought myself a Joyo American Sound. Been a few years since I got bought any guitar bits, but that's ok. The only bits I really need / want now are amps and guitars - sort of thing I wouldn't expect anyone else to buy me.

Firewood - Les Paul, V, any old Gibson with humbuckers. Whatever has the biggest body, I supposed, and would burn longest would be ideal, but something with humbuckers and a burst with super-fancy top would be the best as it's a look I've grown to dislike so strongly that I'd have no guilt consigning it to the flames. Weapon? A Telecaster. I hear the pointy metal argument, but there's a lot to be said for the sort of blunt force trauma that something as solid as a Tele can inflict. Player? Wait, I already have the Telecaster, so....