EdwardMarlowe

I had a Squier Standard Strat for a bit that I blocked the trem on. Decent guitar, one of the late 90s models. I just stuffed a synthetic wine cork between the block and the body; the difference it made in sustain and resonance surprised me a lot. My old 1994 US Std Strat does well on that front with the trem set up floating, though in recent years I've come to prefer my trems set flat to the body. I would love to try a fixed bridge Strat to compare to a blocked-trem. Apparently back in the eighties when Fender did the Clatpon signature model they did debate making it a fixed bridge, but Clapton wasn't convinced it would sound the same as a blocked trem. I'd love to see some hardcore research into trem blocks (anything on youtube on this? I've not quite found a good vid yet...). I've seen a lot of folks switch out the slim block in various Harley Bentons as a perceived upgrade, while others are very firm that it doesn't make the difference traditionally assumed.

Blue Ridge make a good looking instrument. Still got my fingers crossed they'll discover left handed players one day.

Off the top of my head, Keef, Dylan when he's in that mode, Joe Strummer, Johnny Ramone, Elvis.

This video from the Guitar Geek covers it pretty well. My own opinion is that Fender's target market for these is the player who absolutely will not consider a Squier, but who is on a tight budget that won't quite stretch to a Player.... basically the 2025 equivalent of those in the early 90s who couldn't afford an American Fender but would buy the bottom-rung Japanese Fenders because they were Fenders. (Easy to forget now that since they became much harder to get hold of in the West the MIJ/CIJ Fenders are highly sought after, but at one time they were "only" the MIM of their era.) Spec-wise, though, these are basically the old Mexican Standard spec, except with a two-post trem (I have a minor preference for the six-screw myself, but that stopped being a dealbreaker when Fender put the traditional-style saddles on the two-posts instead of the UAF block saddles like on my old American Standard. I've never wanted to switch them out on that because I've kept it all-original, but they really are ugly....) The 21 frets is great - I *wish* the Player series had 21 instead of 22. I never use the extra fret, and I don't like how it looks. Some (most of whom would likely never noticed the difference had they not been told) have sneered at the body being poplar, though Fender used that widely on its Mexican guitars from the mid nineties for about a decade. Looking at the elements of the spec on these that are different than the Squier, I think they're worth the extra - I'd likely buy one (though I'd maybe change the tuners for Fender's vintage-style drop-in replacements - Pro Gear? purely for aesthetics) but for the limitations of the range. The Squier CV is a great guitar and would be the obvious choice if the cash difference matters, and/or you desperately wanted a more vintage-specced guitar. The only thing stopping me picking up one of these Standards is that there are no left handers at all in the range. I'm actually more disappointed in this in relation to the basses. Eventually I'd like to be able to pick up a P and a J from the Player range, but the Standards would do just as well for me... plus the Standard J has the added bonus of a maple board with *dots* being an option. I'm well aware left handed guitars area minority sport, but it's amazing how many things Fender could have sold me over the years if they had been an option. As it is, I've increasingly been buying Fender-influences instruments from other companies.

J. Bright, The Law Suit, late 1700s: There truly is nothing new under the sun...

Oh, I always have my reading glasses to hand. I find it impossible to resist another accessory.... (plus I have one pair of distance glasses and two pairs of reading glasses for the price of a single pair with varifocals, which I firmly resisted despite (or more likely because of) the optician trying to give it the hard sell.

https://guitarbomb.com/klon-lawsuit-dismissed-bill-finnegan-behringers-zentara-overdrive And so it's all done.... the case has been dropped, "with prejudice" (i.e. they're not allowed to reopen it at any later stage), and no money changing hands. Ironically, the rare version of the pedal is now likely to be the Centara labelled phase, as Behringer recently started labelling them the Zentara, with a Z. I wonder if those will be worth anything in future, what with many buyers hoping to land a future collectable seeking out the first, Centaur labelled, run. Decent result, overall... Behringer have (very cheaply) further refined legal precedent on the limits to how far they can copy something that's no longer in production. It'll be interesting to see if the Klon people attempt to bring out a new line of "the real thing". As a postscript, Youtuber KDH (who is being credited at breaking this story which everyone else seems to have missed) flags that the AI search facility on Google denies that this happened. Now *there's* a bubble that can't burst fast enough.

I think it might be an age thing. I'm getting increasingly grumpy with technology this last couple of years...

Pool gigs. All the cool kids are doing them. In other news, aren't phone keyboards crap and too small?

Well played, Sir! Maybe there will be fewer acts late on now, though, if it's easier to fins the venues.

Thanks both, much appreciated. @Dad3353 - I discovered Ohmmage when look at hifi... I'm not the most technical of people and it still blows my mind a bit, but that's helpful to know! I do plan, though, to stick to just the one speaker to keep the noise down - if I ever have a house where I can go louder, I'll be looking at a "proper" amp. Mind you, it's impressive what you can get in a pedal form factor these days. Once they get past an inherently conservative generation of guitar players, I wouldn't be wholly surprised to see fewer and fewer bands using traditional maps on stage (save rich ones with roadies and a 'look' to maintain, of course...).

So... I have a Mooer Baby Bomb pedal power amp (which I'll be using alongside a Joyo American Sound and a reverb pedal). The plan is to pick up a speaker I can for using with this at home. I do already have a Vox 2x12" cab which might well get sold owing to it being probably too much for home use in a small flat; also looking at one of the Vintage 1x10"s. Both flavour have these two sockets in the back for speaker input: For reference, the BabyBomb has this, single output jack: What sort of cable do I need to connect this to the socket on the pedal? I can find lots of quarter-inch jack speaker cables for sale online, but they all have one lead at both ends. Does that make a speaker with two sockets unsuitable, or do I just use one of the input holes on the speaker, or....? All steer gratefully received. I've only ever used a combo amp before (the 2x12 came in a deal as a matching price with my Vox AD120VT, but I've never used it as the Vox itself is more than loud enough on the 1 watt setting...).

For electric, there's all the obvious Harley Benton options. I'd suggest, unless he has a strong preference otherwise, something F oriented rather than G style for sheer durability's sake if it's gonig to be lying around a shared space here it might get knocked over... For acoustic... there the price difference will be much more noticeable, though all the same imo there are a lot of very decent acoustic out there at the budget end, especially if you're willing to spend as high as £300. Sigma are Martin's Squier, in effect, so might be worth considering from that pov. I've long been a big fan of Tanglewood acoustics, and the Vintage brand have some very nice acoustics around the £300 mark. May be some sale bargains there if the brand are being wound down. Just a thought, though... Might be worth considering something a little left field here. A very decent, single-cone resonator can be had for £500. That's something different than the Martin when he comes home, and a brass or steel bodied resonator might just prove a lot more durable in some comedian at a dorm party thinks they're John Belushi. Not exactly a 'silent practice' option, but nor is any other acoustic really.

I bought a Crybaby about thirty years ago. Like a lot of my pedals I've never seriously used it (I've somewhat moved away from anything more than the odd bit of Tremolo, echo/verb, and decent drive options. Still can't bring myself to get rid of any of my other pedals just in case, though.... and I'm still a bit tempted by that Joyo... they do nice pedals. I picked up an American Sound last year to use with a head phone pedal and a Mosky Baby Bomb 30w pedal format power amp. Very nice pedal for a silly low outlay. That looks interesting - how durable is it? I remember being tempted by a Dano one that looked like an old Cadillac, but it was a plastic body that made me leery. I looked at Vox back in 1995. Nearly bought one, but the Crybaby was significantly cheaper and I wasn't sold on the difference between them. I paid £75, if memory serves, for the Crybaby, while the Vox was £100 - those in 1995 prices, which would in real terms be twice that now. Looks like Vox, like a lot of players, have made it cheaper over time.

Hah! Lucky I'd just swallowed my tea when I got to "Rickenwaffe" - not heard that one before! Yeah, they are more on the ball than anyone I've ever seen about their marks. Ric copies of any serious closeness only exist in Japan that I've ever seen... the very occasional one on ebay disappears almost immediately. I'd love a Ric solod body - a 4003 bass even moreso, but I'm resigned to the fact I'll never be able to afford one (and even then I'd struggle to justify the spend, tbh). Part of me wishes they'd do a diffusion line, A Rickensquierphone. They'd surely sell well, given their absolute nixing of the market for any other options if it's a Ric you want. (The Harely Benton options are about the only ones I've seen, and they're so deviated from the original - even if nice instruments in their own right.... you'll not see a Beatles tribute act playing them the way I've seen them use a Squier to recreate Rocky, let's put it that way...). Another part of me rather respects Ric for deciding they're happy as they are rather than just chasing the lifestyle brand market, or otherwise squeezing their property for every last penny. It was a remarkably late registration attempt by Fender - real stable door / bolted horse stuff. Trademarking a shape wasn't an issue for them in 1951 -or 1954 - as it wasn't until 1960 that you could trademark a shape in US law. The first registered US trademark shape was the Coca Cola bottle, a shape they'd been using since 1916, so I doubt Fender would have had any trouble registering The Tele, Strat, and other shapes then. As memory serves they had the foresight to at least trademark the shape of their headstocks, though.... Similarly, they were behind the curve in the UK as well, where shape-based trademarks became an option under the Trade Marks Act 1994. Gibson seem to have been more effective here, though from my casual awareness of their legal efforts (not least the PRS case), most of their real protection falls in the zone of lawfare.... i.e. Gibson can afford to spend a lot more than most of those they go after, and fighting a lawsuit will most of the time be far more expensive than just tweaking your design a little to make it go away. Smoke and mirrors to some extent once you see the eminently sensible decision by the Appeal court in Gibson v PRS.