EdwardMarlowe

I was just six months off sixteen when I first acquired Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex PIstols, which definitely was a life-changer, even though I already had a copy of No Future UK (Castle Records; a compilation of outttakes, rarities, b-sides and some of the Spedding demos that preceeded Bollocks). Another game-changer at fifteen was 'discovering' Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode being the record in question, which made me want to play guitar. Bob Dylan - The Times they are a Changin' when I was not long seventeen. Around the sx months eeither sie of me turning sixteen, I was turned ontyo a lot of great music by singles (re)released off the back of the Levis ads. Most notably, after Should I Stay Or Should I Go reached number 1 that way, the 1989 The Story of the Clash Volume 1 compilation was rereleased in 1991, and I remember that soundtracking my GCSEs. To this day, when I hear some of the tracks on that album I expect to hear next the song that followed it on the same disc.

Good point on the body shapes. I'm very keen on their Dirty Mustard DC junior type, which I know is different than the "rela" shape, but you only notice it when they are side by side. It's subtle. I kinds fancy the SC version as well (gives me memories of Ray Davies' SC Melody Maker that he was playing when I saw him on later, and I think TFI Friday, back in the 90s), but I'm wary of the body shape. Thomann seem to photograph their guitars at an agle which suggests they're much closer the original than might be the case. Not that I mind a bit of variation - if I was gonig to buy an LP type, actually one of my fist ports of call to consider would be an LTD/ESP type, as they do some models which are very much "could have been made in the 50s", but that sharp lower horn immediately screams what they are. I really like that they are so claerly not trying to 'pass off' as a Gibby at first glanc,e yet they also don't look "wrong". Some 'close to' LP shapes just look all wrong - the blunted lower horn on the later Agiles when they were all the rage, for example, looks just.... off. I wish they would just do a 'full frontal' shot on the website and then it's clear. The HB "Jazz" range looks really interesting - basically Gretsch styles. BE interesting to compare them to the 2xxx range Gretsches. Nonetheles, it's going to be interesting to see how long the buzz lasts. HB seem to be the latest 'cheap guitar craze' - I wodner if they'll be replaced like all the others, or if they will be like Tokai and stick around? A good range of cheaper guitars is essential to keeping the instrument alive, imo. I remember back in Belfast my guitar shop guy used to say the reason drummers were thin on the ground was that even the most basic of quality kits was four to five hundred, which in those days was enough to buy you a Mexican Fedner and and amp and a couple of pedals.... or not far off a used Les Paul (in late 90s Belfast, those used to sell all day for £600). Hek of al ot of kids who first asked about drums instead walked away with £150 worth of Squier and amp. Funnily enough, nearly bid on eBay on the DC a couple of weeks ago, guy selling a nice lefty one, but when I looked close he'd replaced the p90 with a HB. Do not like HBs, and Will Not PLay. Another affordable brand I have half an eye on is Slick Guitars. I really fancy one of the DC '59' models (bolt on maple neck, single p90, body the same shape as the symmetrical double cutaway Gibson Melody Makers). Greast reviews and write-ups, but as yet at least no left handers. I'd consdier converting and using a right angle jack if the socket was on the face, but fom experience having it on the edge is a pain in the bum.

I remember Malmsteen first appearing on the scene and being impressed by his obvious talent. Even if it wasn't my 'thing', I always rather enjoyed how he squeezed all that widdly widdly out of a (relatively) conventional Strat when he could have chosen any number of superstrat types that were arguably more suitedto his purposes. Much the same as if I were a great blues player, I'd go onstage with a Dean ML. Sometimes you have to stay within the parameters of audience expectation (no matter how good you sound, I know to the rockabilly set if you don't look the part, forget it...), but it can also be great to mix it up as well... For years, up to and including the "fooking fjury!" incident, I thought he was kind of an ass, but as I age I begin to wonder hoe much of that was playing a role. Wouldn't it be hilarious if he'd been trolling us all this time? (I once bought a leather jacket from the sound director who worked on the Sex Pistols' There'll Always Be An England 30th Anniversary DVD, and he told some fascinating stories of how Lydon switched between being an absolute sweetie who couldn't be nice enough to everyone to the Johnny Rotten persona assoon as the camera rolled.)

For some reason I thuoght he was already dead. Maybe confused him in my mind with Gary Moore (who, of cours,e for many years owned the Peter Green LP). Green was not directly to my tastes, but his skill was undeniable and it was a terrible shame that he suffered with mental illness, especially during such an unenlioghtened period as to how that was dealt with in the seventies. (My partner's late father suffered from severe schizophrenia which first manifested in the late seventies, and the way this was dealt with throughout the eighties and even into the nieties to some extent is heatbreaking to hear about.) While I can't claim to have listened to his newer material, thewre was something triumphant about the fact that he was able to return to performing later on, and gave so much pleasure to others from his music. I hope he at peace now - though I certainly also hope he's playing the hell out of some sot of ethereal guitar. Requescat In Pace.

So true. I remember when I started in 1991, all the guys weho'd been playing twenty years and more mavelling about how much cheap guitars had improved since their early days.... Now I'm donig the same thing. Seems to me the thing you have to watc h for these days is fast coming down to attention to detail in the build often moreso than quality of ingredients. It's also been interesting seeingb the plethoa of smaller brands forcing thed big boys to up their game at the lower end too.

Stringing I can do.... I've always shied away from anything where I needed to set the bridge in the right place for intonation and such (assembled and disassembled a couple of Stat types - easy peasy once the holes are all there!), but I can sure tune one! I've put that on my wishlist, hopefully when birthday timerolls around...

Started on nines, kept snapping the high E, so for years I played every guiitar I owned with a set of nines except with the high E substituted with a ten. WEventually switched to tens and have staqyed with them ever since on both scale lengths.

Interestingly, watching eBay, the bottom end Harley Bentons don't seem to lose much at all on their purchase price when selling used. Maybe a lot of folks want one, but want somebody else to set it up?

Pics of the new house you've had to buy to fit all these in?

Looking fowad to seeing your review. You could well have a future collectable on your hands there too, as the Original Band is well known for playing serious hardball with "copyists". I go back and forth on the Original Brand.... I tend to lose interest in the design of pretty much anything (not just guitars, and especially clothes) much after 1959. That black 12 string, though..... I'll always rmeember Keef saying that the best way to really make a guitar sound breath is to add an extra tack of clean guitar- I think he said 12 string? - subtly in the mix. Not that I've recorded anything yet, but I plan at some ponit to do a bit, just for fun.

All I can offer is it's a clear lift of a Hofner design from the 50s / early 60s, right down to the 'Fender' logo on the body where the 'Hofner' would be. But for the additional inside labelling I'd suspect it was a Hofner with just the Fender badge stuck on. Would love one of these if lefty. It also reminds me a lot of the guitar in photos of Macca I've seen from the era when Stu Sutcliffe was still on bass and Paul was the third guitar player in the Silver Beetles when they played the Reperbahn.

Full disclosure, I'm automatically a bit biased against the stat as I hate humbuckers in Strats. (Truth be told, I don't think I'm humbucker person at all, but....). I have a MIA 1994 US Strat standard (burst, rosewood), and a CIJ 71RI Tele. I plan in the future to buy a Player Series Strat (SSS, Tidepool, Maple), and a Squier CV50s Tele, with the intention of rewiring the latter as a Broadcaster. (All my guitars are left-handed - as, indeed, am I). I'm very much a Fender-type guy - totally over Les Pauls, despite many of my guitar heroes playing them. THat all said.... I think the Strat would be arguably more versatile, (especially if you were to replace the HB with one of those Seymour Duncan P-RAils buckers and an appropriate microswitch for its HB/sc/p90 emulations). THe Tele will be a much ballsier sound, though. Don't forget that Jimi recorded Purple Haze with a Tele, not a Stat. Led Zep 1 - thinking of heavier stuff - was mostly Tele, and, indeed, with al ot of the earleir stuff nobody can tell whether Page is playing a Tele or a Les Paul, and he doesn't remember. I've always found a Tele can equal that monster LP sound in a way a Stat doesn't quite reach. Something ot do with the Tele bridge. For me it ultimately comes down to whether you feel the need of a trem or not, I think. Note also that the Tele will have the three saddle bridge, which means a cetain levle of compromise on intonation, though tbh I've never found it a problem, and I'm convinced it makes the tuning more stable (superstition, maybe...). The Start Trem will be stable enough, though, especially if you don't abuse it too hard, and set it up to sit flat to the body (limits your vibrato from the bar to going down in pitch, but you can always finger-bend to raise it). Otherwise maybe look at a model with the Fender two-point trem. Despite still having the ugly af block saddles that were standard when I bought my 94 new back in the day (they use more taditional saddles in them now, and they look so much better!), I can't quibble with the design. Mine is set up to float, and it can take all the abuse I can throw at it (never felt the need for a Floyd - now *those* are ugly). Within your price range,. it might also be worth considering a used Fender Player Series guitar. Same / similar options available there, but a bit nicer. Starting to see those hit the used market at around £400, and I suspect buying one of those usedwill mean it'll retain more of its purchase price on the open market than buying a new Squier should you choose to sell later on. Of course, the used Squier could do similarly well, proportionatley in the long term., though from what I see it's surprising how many of them seem to sell on eBay for within £50 of the new price - in which case, unless money is really tight, I'd be more inclined to go with the security of buying new. The CVs are probably too numerous to ever be aq colectable on the level of the first run of Japanese Squiers from the JV 1982 series, but their quality iswidely recognised and I think they will hold fairly solid as used sellers over time. A good buy still, in other words. Amp-wise, the Vox Valvetronix or Boss Cube series are great if you like modellers. I think the Boss Katana is within your budget - not played one, but hear good things. There are also a range of 5 and 10watt tube amps around these days - Joyo, Fame, Sub Zero, Harley Benton .... that seem pretty cool for a starter. The 5w Harley Benton tube amp is switchable down to 1watt, and comes in at around £120 new. A lot depends on whether you want loads of variety of sounds and built in f/x from your amp, or one, good staple sound and add pedals... Lots of cracking cheap minipedals around these days so you can try out most tpyes of effect for around twenty quid.

Gear 4 Music has acouple of 3/4 scale Statalikes at budget prices. Not played one myself, but: https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/3-4-LA-Left-Handed-Electric-Guitar-by-Gear4music-Sunburst/2CM3 £89.99 https://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/3-4-LA-Left-Handed-Electric-Guitar-by-G4M-Sunburst-Nearly-New/3EAV £64.99 Not too much of an outlay if she doesn't stick with it.

A friend had one of these; both being lefties, we went out to Holiday Music (when it was still in Leytonstone) one Satuday afternoon about twenty years ago. I believe she paid about £89 them for it, second hand, so the price sounds about right. (I've long regretted not buying that Eko Ranger 12 string that I played that day too... especially now they sell for so, so much more than it was priced at. Anyhow...) Hunting round the web I see that model up for sale anywhere between £100 and £199, so £100 seems fair on that basis. Friend's guitar was a nice thing to play. It was clearly a cheaper guitar than the Epi Std of the day (comparing directly to my 98 MIK), but it was also priced at a full retail of something like £189 back in the day. Played nicely and sounded pretty good, though. As a general rule, Tanglewood electrics were pretty nice, and at least as good as equivalent model Epiphones. I always found them well set-up, rarely rough frets. It'll be very rare the model that will have any collectible value in years to come I suspect, but if you like it it's well priced for what it is, and it has a bit of the "Melody Maker" type charm. Don't pump a huge amount of money into anything that's not reversible (i.e if you did switch the pups, keep hold of the originals in case you ever sell - modded guitas rarely make their money back).

If her natural inclination is to hold it left handed, she's a left handed player. DO NOT be bamboozeled by right-handed know-nothings in guitar shops who will tell you a load of lies that "oh, it'll be easier for her with her strong hand on the fingerboard" and other such rot (were that actually true, they'd all be playing what is considered "left-handed" now). Very little is available for left handers in half size. Might be worth considering a travel guitar - https://leftyfretz.com/left-handed-travel-guitar-bass/ Travel guitars tend to be much smaller in the body in paticular (saves luggage space...), and that should make it more wiedly for a small person. Another option might be a 3/4 scale, like a Fender Mustang or Duotone - Squier versions of these are around £115 - but I think (being a left handed player myself and having searched these) you'll find it very hard to find a left hander in those - might need to do a Hendrix / Cobain,. i.e. have it set up 'upside down' for a left handed player. My first electric guitar was done that way and it didn't limit me. It's a cheaper (and more easily passed on) way of donig it as long as the yougn ladyt is comfotable with the guitar that way round. (EAsily tried in a store). THomann has a page about (acoustics) for children beginners: https://www.thomann.de/gb/classical_guitars.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3s_4BRDPARIsAJsyoLPMupFGAD7sFPm0TJPFFohkMar5pv-8gOkw-lgKBMulRYVgUiXLzUcaAnvLEALw_wcB

Took me asecond look to recognise these aren't That Brand, but This One. Look nice. I prefer the black, I think, though if the Original Brand's midnight blue colour is available, that's what I'd go for.

Just watched a video of a Godin LPalike fitted with a pair of those Seymour Duncan P-Rail pickups that give a p90, HB and sc sound. Not head them back to back with the real thing, but the range of tones on the Godin were impressive. I'm not sure I'd finda use for as many different options as they give, but that said I also think it could be a very cool pickup to drop into a single pick-up guitar to give that range of tones. Say, for example, that Blink 182 fella's Strat sig model. While it wouldn't exactly mimic an LP junior or an Esquier, it would ceetainly g osome of the way in temrs of braodening the sound beyond the limitations of the SD Invader that comes as a norm there.

Let's be realistic: no matter how many enthusiasts work for a guitar company, no matter how much they love their job... it has to work as a business. Guitars are a cunsumer druable the same as cars or washing machines once hte money comes in. In that sense,. a celebrity endorsement isn't a bad thing necessarily. A lot of folks think it's selling out to have signature gear or endorse it. To my way of thinking, if a guitar player has an input into the design or production of a particular product, why shouldn't they get something out of it, from their name on it, their royalties, or a free insturment... Probably only Slash (with his AfD era counterfeit LP!) has sold more LPs than Stve Jones - white customs especially, but Jonesy has never seen a penny fom Gibson. Given that the reality is big name guitar pplayers will always influene fans' hocie of gear if they play themselves, it seems only reasonable that players should get a slice of the profit from their 'advertising' through endrosement. As long as it's legit, of course. I find it a bit naff to see musicians endorsing gear they wouldn't play in reality. And I've got no time for the guitarsnobs who whine about whether a particular person is "deserving" as a musican. No matte how good you ar,e if your name can't help sell a guitar, you won't get your name all over one. Back to "it's a business". A lot of players have also doen really cool stuff - I love the look of the Earl Slick 'Slick Guitars'; if they only did lefties, I'd definitely have at least one of their 59 dc Melody-Maker shaped models with the single. A lot like an LP JUnior, but even better becasue they have a bolt-on neck.

If it's all ready just to screw together, that's fine. Wasn't sure from the look of those box kits whether they needed more work than that.....

Found some great photos of the reqal Black Beauty here: http://www.electrichendrix.gobot.com/photo2.html Clearly thebody is less reliced than the Vintage o than in the photos I saw befored (which I now realsie were a replica - an overdone one, clearly!), so probably won't go the VS6 route here. Nice detail: the cut-out Jimi put on the plate so asto be able to reach the truss rod adjustment srew without taking it off. Must remember to add that. I have afeeling I might just have to go all-out and order a neck to get the right spec, but we'll see what trusn up: I'm not in hurry to have this done just yet. I think I've figured out where I'm gonig to gte most bits, though - just got to wait patiently for the right donor boy and neck.

It's likely going to take some time, but.... Looks like the tricky bit is going to be finding the right neck at a not too steep price - I want to keep the overall spend to sub £400 all done, as otherwise I might as well just go out and buy thed CIJ 68RI Strat. Got my eye out at the minute for a deal on a Vintage VS6 Icon in Boulevard black - surprisingly, looking at photos, thougfh that guitar is designed to replicate Blackie (obvs), the fake relicnig on it doesn't look a million miles away (per the rule of "from six feet and without looking for it specifically' ) from the wear patterns on Jimi's. Body on the Vintage is poplar rather than alder, but at least on screen they seem close enough as won't matter... Unless I stumble across something else in the meantime, a used VS6 might end up being a great donor base, with the advantage that the pickups are probably going to be worth considering keeping (or saleable, given the Wilkinson name; I'm liking to look of the GFS 60s pickups).

For years, I've been toying with the idea of building a partsacaster, especially since the likes of GFS now do very affordable, pre-loaded pickguards that would make it so much easier. The idea would be to build it out of bits I can easily buy, second hand,. keep the spend down..... but for a bit of fun, here's the twist: I want to make a reasonable replica of Hendrix's black 68 Strat with the maple neck. Not looking to spend a fortune, but part of the fun will be in finding something reasonably correct - like a 21 fret maple neck without a skunk stripe, right shape machine heads and such. It'd be *nice* to also have the "correct" routing under the guard, but to keep it affordable I'll probably compromise on details like pick-guard screw placement and body wood- type as necessary. Money no object, I'd do it all perfect, BUT then money no object I'd probably just phone Fender and have them build me a CS of the whole thing.... This is intended just to be a bit of fun where I can get pretty close to the right look (think if you were going to go out with a tribute band, though if I ever play to an audience of more than one it's more likely to be cause I got the cat and the dog to setlle in the same room...), but keep it on a budget. A big part of the attraction is that I am a lefty myself (one reason Hendrix was always an influence) and it'd be fun to for once not have that be a limitation as it normally is when I go guitar shopping. So.... looking for suggestions on any great websites out there that really break down the 68 so I can get an idea of what's involved in it. Also interested if anyone's aware of soecific models that could be a good source of bits.... like the Blackie-esque "Vintage" brand Strats (though I think that's way more reliced than Jimi's 68 was by 1970).

I've intrigued by the kits, but I'm not sure I have what it takes for the assembly skills... Do you know if those gyus do #em left handed, by any chance? I suppose it'snot much to Hendrix one of these, but I still prefer the socket on the correct side...

TBH, my professional opinion (as an academic lawyer and something of a specialist in defamation), unless you're in a position like Chapman's and you're advised that there's an actionable defamation, I wouldn't consier it necessarily wise to acknowledge that sort of criticism publicly. Rather than a rebuttal, he'd probably have been better off playnig the bigger man and telling his own online following to leave the kid alone, a la Mary Beard.

I don't much care for effects with bass.... too prog for me! I'm not quite as minimalist with guitar - I like the option of reverb (if it's not in the amp already) or echo (*echo*, not "wanky eighties delay"), and a trem pedal for occasional use. Otherwise, it's two or three boost / drive pedals, as for whatever reason I've realised I prefer to use a saingle channel amp set either ot claqn or edge of breakup, and add dirt to taste with one of two or three pedals over a multi-channel amp. I have flange and wah, but unless or until I decide to do a regular cover of voodoo chile slight return, I don't really use the latter, and the former is for the ocasional raygun noises. As a rule, I tend to prefer pedals(other than drive/ boost) to be much more subtle than "Oh, what's the effect they're using there?". I'll use flange or phase about as often as Steve Jones did on Never Mind the Bollocks (once, from memory, in Liar).