EdwardMarlowe

AFAIK, my 1994 US Fender Strat uses the same set-up as a right handed guitar; the only difference it makes is with the pots. Because they taper the way they do, fitting everything in in mirror image (basically upside down to achieve that - you can't have the pup wiring running the opposite direction, remember, it won't fit), the numbers on the knobs run the 'wrong' way around - e.g. if memory serves (it's been a long time since I looked down at it, and my eyesight isn't what it was to notice this when playing....), the volume knob on mine effectively runs 10 to 1, loudest to quietist, opposite what it should. Never bothered me, tbh, though I am sure somebody somewhere probably makes a knob that just pops in and give it 'right'. If you're big on those volume knob 'violin swell' effects, the volume pot will run the other direction using a r/h loom on a let handed guitar, so you'd have to factor that in. The other thing, of course, is pickups. If you're using flat poles there will be no difference; 50s style staggered poles will end up the other way up from designed. Course, Hendrix wasn't exactly held back by that. Some will claim Jimi made that part of his tone, but tbh once you're amped and cranked, you'd probably need at least a touch of canine dna in you to notice the difference.

Heavy, though they had a reputation for good tone. I always get a kick out of seeing guitar snobs try to square that with the "tonewood" superstition. I always think of Switch when I see these. Switch were (are?) an electric guitar brand who came out about twenty years ago with plastic composite guitars. The body and neck were plastic, and the theory was that by altering the recipe, they could match the sound on individual wooden instruments with the sort of consistency that meant you'd never get a dead one - if you like one, the next is guaranteed to sound the same. Then they could, in theory, alter the spec to match different wood types or sounds, with guaranteed results. I loved the concept, but unfortunately they went for a very futurist / sci-fi superstrat look and tech that didn't appeal to my preferences (also don't think they did lefties). If I could have bought a bolt-in plastic body and/or neck with a Strat look, that would have ben interesting to try. It's a shame, really, that the market is so conservative when it comes to this sort of thing, otherwise we might have seen some very interesting developments. That said, the plastic guitar concept is probably environmentally unsound now, and there are a lot of interesting changes happening in the acoustic world at least with new, sustainable woods being explored.

You're making the right choice to play left handed, imo. If I had a fiver for every know-nothing right handed player who blew on at me in the early days about how I should learn to play the "proper" way, that guitar isn't really a "handed" instrument, and that I'd have an advantage anyhow by having my better hand on the fretboard (weirdly, they could never explain why by that logic right handed players don't play the 'left handed way' so as to have their dominant hand on the board, given the instrument was invented by a right hander while we lefties were still too busy being burned at the stake as witches to do much in the way of musical innovation....), I'd be *almost* as wealthy as if I had a fiver for every left handed kid who quickly gave up on guitar because they were pushed into trying to play right handed... (The Classical music world is even worse for handism, it has to be said). The anti-lefthanded bigotry has mostly disappeared from society, but as - as I like to think of us - the last, unrecognised minority, we're a small proportion of the market and a lot of brands inevitably have pretty poor left handed provision as a result. There are lots of guitars over the years I'd have loved but for the lack of a left hander. That said, the situation has improved enormously since I first took up guitar in December 1991. It's a rare brand these days that doesn't do *something* left handed, and even beyond that choice of finishes is no longer limited to "sunburst plus rosewood board" the way it once was. Needless to say, the more of us who play left handed, the bigger the market, so the more our options will be: I've come to regard lefties who play right handed as traitors to their people. That Yammy will be very decent for the price, they always have been a good brand at a fair price, and QC is very consistent. Also worth having a look around at what else is on the market - the range of very good acoustics available in that price band these days is quite something. Sigma (Martin's budget brand range) are nice, and Tanglewood has some cracking stuff too.

To be honest, when it comes to an acoustic guitar, I'd be very leery of buying without trying - though if you're wanting to have one to play now during lockdown, that ain't much help... In this sort of price bracket, there are increasingly nice guitars around, and I find as long as you like the sound/ feel of the individual model, it's harder to go wrong than it might have been twenty years ago. A few things I'd consider that might help narrow down the choice: 1] a solid top is a big plus in an acoustic (they should pretty much all have it in this price band). The sound will develop and open up as it ages. The effect of solid wood elsewhere is more debatable. Personally I'm not convinced there's a huge tonal advantage to solid sides and back, and there is an argument that laminate sides can be more stable. 2] The look of the thing. If you hate the look of it, will you want to play it all that much? That might iron out a few options (certainly irons out most any acoustic with a cutaway for me). 3] Do you need electronics? It's become increasingly common for guitars in this price bracket to have pretty decent (Fishman and such) on board electronics. If you don't need those - i.e. it's not going to be a guitar you'll play on stage with a band - then you can either save a bit of cash by buying basically the same guitar without the electronics, or you might choose to buy one for the same price without them. IT's not *always* the case, but it *can* be that you'll end up with a better guitar as a pure acoustic guitar spending the same money where none of the 'cost' has gone into providing electronics (these guitars are all built to a price point, with a particular profit margin in mind - the more you put in, the less each component has to cost). 4] Nut width seems to vary a lot in this style between 43mm and 45mm. The difference in feel can be surprising - for me, nut width can make a bigger difference to playing comfort than overall thickness of the neck. A lot of electric players prefer a narrower nut with a feel closer an electric guitar. If you're used to the 48mmish norm on a nylon strung classical guitar, you might prefer 45mm on a steel strung acoustic. In terms of brand. Tanglewood are always very competitive. They started out back in the late 80s as a 'me too', cheap acoustics and electrics brand, but over time have really built up a reputation and now have a wide range of quality guitars, primarily acoustic (they've almost entirely dropped electrics, just one model in their range now). Always worth a look, and really quite stunning quality for what you pay. Some nice features - from quite low in the range, if my knowledge is still accurate, they're one of the few big makers whose designs include a neck volute, which significantly strengthens the headstock. Sigma I have no direct experience of, but I hear good things; they're basically Martin's 'Squier' line, and they benefit from that R&D expertise. Washburn I've always appreciated as acoustics. Any of the Godin brands are worth looking at: - Norman (across all price ranges) - Art & Luthiere (supposedly entry level and budget, but tbh I'd struggle to describe the ones I've tried as 'budget'; I've seen a few pro / semi-pros gigging with them very succesfully) - Simon & Patrick (all price ranges) - Seagull (all price ranges) TBH, I think acoustics are fast hitting the spot electric guitars did ten or fifteen years ago, in that it's not very possible to buy a very playable / gig-able guitar for much less than was the case twenty years ago. I'm idly keeping an eye on this sort of sector of the market myself, with the aim of eventually picking up something in a year or two to put in the time to learn to play like Robert Johnson; something with a pre-war look to it, sort of thing Johnson played, and/or that got beaten to death by proto rock and roll rockabillies in due course. Art & Luthiere cosmetically at least have a lot of nice stuff if you want to get away from that 'clean and simple, natural, modern minimalist' look in an acoustic that has (in my experience at least) dominated the acoustic market since brands like Lowden and Takamine made it fashionable back in the 90s. The A&L 'Roadhouse" model has a sort of proto-rock and roll/ Johnny Cash cool to it.

This is a paperwork thing. In terms of arrival of goods from the EU, the UK is now a third country like the US. If it had been labelled as a return repair or one of a range of exceptions, it would have been fine, but otherwise they will now assume it's a new purchase and you will be taxed. A big part of the problem is that because the fig-leaf 'deal' was so last minute (a week before the deadline), nobody had any time to get ready or knew what they were preparing for. In the next few months, it'll be come clearer, but don't expect there to be less bureaucracy or there not to be more expense than there used to be - that's simply the end result of not being part of the club any longer. TBH, I very much doubt it's going to encourage me to "buy British" on anything I wasn't already buying, as the reason I was buying from abroad in the first place was lack of availability locally either at a price I was prepared to pay or at all. A few years ago I wanted to buy a Steinberger Spirit as a travel guitar. The USD operation wouldn't sell me one so as not to undercut their UK distributer (who sold them in the UK at twice the then US price). The UK distributor wouldn't import or sell the only left handed model they did. Eventually I bought a used one somebody had managed to privately import, so neither of them got any money from me. I suspect I'm just going to start buying a lot less of everything, perhaps with the odd major purchase on holiday (where even with customs charges I can still being it home with less paid out than in rip-off Britain). I need to cut back anyhow....

Hi Gregg, good to see you round here. Will there be a showroom anywhere? I'm actually rather keen on the STE SSS in Daphne Blue - a left hander; pending the sale of a lot of stuff, I'd love to try one of these in the Autumn when we can all go out again!

I've seen an ad on TV where a windscreen repair company claimed to have some sort of goop that could invisibly repair a stone chip on a car windscreen. No idea about this, though... I'd probably leave it alone, as presumably any extra holes won't be seen either with the current pg or the original pg replaced (assuming you still have it).

Is there anything on it to indicate it's a Fender at all? I'm guessing it might be something "lawsuit" as it would be odd for the Fender logo to be removed. If it were a more recent Korean or Chinese copy, I would have been fully on board with the idea of putting that lovely neck on a wood body, but this Japanese model would be worth looking into further. I don't recall ever seeing a Fender with "Special made" on the headstock; I suspect that might be a rewording to get the overall look right but not violate Fender TMS, a la Tokai's "Love Rock" or "Rocking Better" instruments. FWIW - and I make no claims to knowledge as to whether this other seller is grossly over-valuing theirs or no - it looks remarkably similar to yours: https://reverb.com/item/33431199-clearsound-stratocaster-copy-c-1975-clear-lucite If somebody wanted yours for that kind of money, it would go a long way towards a new guitar!

Blueridge guitars are gorgeous - unfortunately, it seems they have only very limited left handed models, none of which are the small-bodied, very pre-war looking guitars, which is a shame because those are the really distinctive ones in their brand, imo.

I've yet to try Pao Ferro; for me, the maple preference is cosmetic, really - as I think you're implying for yourself too, given the "'''or whatever". I still like a dark board on some guitars; as much as anything, I think my developing preference for maple stems from its relative rarity for me - at a time, it was almost impossible to find an "affordable", left handed guitar tat wasn't rosewood. I was never sure why, I could only assume the maple was somehow more expensive. Funny to think that Leo just used whatever wood came to hand - pine, alder, ash.... maple, rosewood - but now it's a whole "tonewood" mojo thing... I've often wondered whether "tonewood" is a product of superstition, guitarists like Eric Johnson with dog-level hearing, or just damn good marketing...

Interestingly, I've changed, like Hendrix, over the years. Started out preferring rosewood on a Strat, the 62 vibe, but I've come now to much prefer maple. Every so often I'm tempted to buy a Fender 50s soft v maple boarded neck for my old (1994) MIA Strat, but even if a 42 nut would suit me much better than it's 43mm, I'm a bit superstitious about changing the neck on a stock guitar like that let it's never the same again... The Big Plan over the next few years is to buy a Tidepool Player with maple, and *maybe* (if I can try one and like it before they get popular and shoot up in price!!) a Shijie in Daphne Blue with their baked maple neck... covers all options. I was impressed when the Player series was launched and they seem to have what I particularly have always wanted on a neck - glossy fingerboard, satin back. I've been tempted to have the rosewood on my 94 glossed, like a French polish or something, but I've always felt the need to keep that guitar all-original. I even still have the ugly-as-sin square saddles on it!

Another lefty here. About twenty years ago I bought a Tanglewood TW15NS all-solid dreadnought. Sound has only improved with age. I want a smaller acoustic with a pre-war, Robert Johnson type vibe in the future; Tanglewood will be on my list to try alongside some Ibanez and Martin models. TW were considered "budget" when I was first playing closing in on thirty years ago, but they really have established themselves well, and they are better than many brands in terms of left-handed provision.

With lockdown right now, it's a killer for getting out and trying new things, but certainly if I was spending that kind of cash, I'd want to try in person first. At the end of the market, it's really about what you like rather than 'better'. If you can wait til there's a chance to try all in person, spending that kind of cash I would. It's a rare thing (seemingly much more common with acoustics rather than electrics, for whatever reason) to have the luxury of a significant budget and walk into the shop ready to try a range of stuff and see what works. I always wanted to do that one day with 'Lefties' @Holiday Music in Leytonstone, but alas they are long gone now.

For my money the Epiphones are now getting to a price where I'd probably rather buy a Gibson Les Paul Tribute if that's what I was going for. Be interesting to see how retail price on the top end Epiphones shakes down over the next few years.

To my mind, the only shame was they went from the dot inlays to the crowns. I preferred the dots. The unbound fingerboard is a lovely thing, though - probably because I'm much more of a Fender man, but I much prefer the feel of a well-shaped, unbound neck.

That was it, yeah! Big fan of kilts. Just have to remember to shift yer sporran to the side so as not to get in the way of the guitar...

That's the joy of giving them a new voice/ form. Does its former musical life imbue it with a certain mojo that makes 'pianowood' the new tonewood? These look and sound great. I've really taken to slightly offbeat ideas these days - it's much more interesting to me than yet another luxury re-imagining of a Les Paul. The Strat cum Tele is well cool.

Nice stuff!

Last week, someone I know in Washington DC was scrapping an old piano. 100 odd yeas old.... it seems after a certain point, age is no factor in the value of a piano. Which really made me think about the viability here of what you're doing with turning the wood into new instruments.

Very cool. Is the body-shape a nod to Burns? I like the carbo top. Interesting to see new materials being explored.

Your tartan is MCLeod of Lewis, I believe... I rather like it. Also known in some corners of Edinburgh's Royal Mile as "McLeod of Loud". Considering a kilt to match? Used to be a young shredder type that got a lot of coverage in the US guitar mags around the turn of the 90s, Blues something - Blues Saccercho, something like that? Had blue tartan guitars as he wanted a visual signifier people would associate with him. He kept insisting on calling it "plaid", though - Yanks, eh? Looking forward to seeing the rest of this build.

Nice work!

I have a vague memory from the early 90s of Gibson doing an HSH configuration in a Superstrat model - the M3? - They also did it in a Les Paul studio too... Those were wired if memory serves to allow amixof tapped and HB tones.... basically, Gibson were trying to sell a guitar that would also cover the Fender sounds... Yes, here we are: https://www.creamcitymusic.com/1992-gibson-les-paul-studio-lite-m-iii-hsh-translucent-blue-finish/ Something like that could be interesting, though obvs rearrange for SHS. The standard 3HB Gibson operation is a three way switch which offers neck, bridge and middle, and bridge. I remember John Squire's Seahorses guitars were two LP 3HB Customs; at least seeing them live, I never noticed any marked difference between the sound of those and a regular LP. Always been pretty convinced Gibson just put in three on those to compete with the Strat. Middle HB & BridgeSC would, I think, be the stand-out sound on what is being proposed here. Be interested to see it. Always fun to see something different. One of the Thin LIzzy guys - Brian Robertson, was it? - played a Strat with a SSH - standard sc bridge and middle, and a big, chrome PAF style HB in the neck position. I love it when somebody thinks outside the boxlike that. When I started, in my crowd, we all played almost exclusively on bridge pups. I was esoteric in preferring the bridge and middle on my Strat. Only really in recent years I've become more interested in how I use the pups as part of how I play.

Thanks. If and when, I'd probably pay to have it done rather than risk myself, but yeah, a new pickguard does look like probably the best option if I don't want an "unused hole". Either that or I suppose leave the switch in unwired. Thr push/pull post and standard switch might be the more practical option in the end - and I could always add a killswitch separately.

I'm something of a fan of the GFS / Guitar Fetish stuff. Had a few, been pleased with the service. THeir new Kwikplug system is pretty cool - that and the low price would tempt me to try two or three with very quick and easy changing (plug, screw & go). https://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-Guitar-Pickups_c_7.html