Cheers everyone, looks like it’s Epi Les Paul time then. Now just got to talk myself out of the James Dean Bradfield style all white and gold custom I just spotted 😂👌
― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Saturday, 2 December 2023 18:18 (ten months ago) link
why would you talk yourself out of it?!?
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 2 December 2023 22:33 (ten months ago) link
this looks rather appropriate: https://reverb.com/au/item/69438004-epiphone-les-paul-custom-1989-2012-alpine-white
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 2 December 2023 22:45 (ten months ago) link
but if I was choosing I'd take this one, the 90s Korean made ones are just superb. https://reverb.com/au/item/64911200-epiphone-les-paul-1999-cherry-burst
― assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 2 December 2023 22:48 (ten months ago) link
I wanted this exact guitar so bad when I was 18, it looked like Billy Zoom's Gretsch (and I didn't know enough about guitars to know that Billy's was a Gretsch)
https://reverb.com/item/73944190-2001-epiphone-les-paul-special-edition-electric-guitar-silver-sparkle-flake-pro-setup
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 2 December 2023 22:49 (ten months ago) link
@ matttkkkk was mainly trying to talk myself out of it to save £725 ;). £450 is a lot more achievable, thanks for the heads up
― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Sunday, 3 December 2023 14:54 (ten months ago) link
majorairbro - thanks for the advice, I actually went to a store yesterday and see what you're saying, one Danelectro that was over $500 had that black plastic that covers the edge of the guitar pulling up off the guitar around the neck joint, seems unacceptable for a new guitar
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 3 December 2023 16:11 (ten months ago) link
The prices have gone up, but I've had a bunch of 21st c. Danelectros — 12-string, baritone, longhorn bass — and they've all been great.
― three of the doctor's valuable bats are now dead (broom air), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 02:44 (ten months ago) link
so I basically am so sick of all this gear that I have acquired since Covid, and went shopping this weekend....took a synth, an amp, and two guitars to trade. Intended to get a Jazzmaster but at GC I fell in love with an American Professional II Stratocaster that was marked down from $1699 to $1350, with all the trades I basically got out the door for the price of a used Squier.
I'm absolutely blown away by this guitar, the new V Moda II pickups are amazing, one tone knob is push/pull so you can add the neck pickup to the bridge and bridge + middle positions (basically the David Gilmour thing I think?)
This is the most comfortable guitar I've ever played by far, the neck is fantastic, it's just effortless. I've usually been a quirky/bargain guitar shopper I've never really owned an expensive top of the line model and this is pretty amazing.
At the end of the day I just think I like Strats the best, the body style and dimensions are the most comfortable for me to play.
Olympic white + tortoiseshell pickguard
https://i.postimg.cc/85B96bx5/PXL-20231205-153449537.jpg
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 15:48 (ten months ago) link
looks super nice
― infinite wiggles (Spottie), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 19:03 (ten months ago) link
nice. i was just thinking about how models go in and out of style (seems like offsets are back in right now, it was telecasters like 10 years ago, etc.) and how it makes sense to buy off-trend if possible. not like strats are ever really out of style.
― na (NA), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 19:19 (ten months ago) link
yeah I mean it's got a bit of tone attorney stigma but it's just a comfortable body style, that's why it's been so popular for so long
I like the neck on this - it's not a regular thickness, it's thicker down by the headstock for chording then gets thinner up and past the 12th fret, sort of like a compound radius but for thickness not radius
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 19:46 (ten months ago) link
congrats on the strat, looks really nice. and it always feels great to do some trading in and get something you really want out of it.
― call all destroyer, Friday, 8 December 2023 03:44 (nine months ago) link
When it’s right it’s right
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 December 2023 09:03 (nine months ago) link
I have felt that way about exactly one Strat, and then when my daughter turned 18 I gave her the pick of the rack, you know what happened next.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 December 2023 09:04 (nine months ago) link
@mississippi - wow, that's a beauty. the neck sounds very special. would love to hear how it sounds!
@matttkkkk - that must've been heartbreaking! i hope she's doing justice to it. my dad's got a stunning MIJ strat from '86 or something and every time i pick it up i yearn for it
― tremolo, Friday, 8 December 2023 09:46 (nine months ago) link
I love that she has it. She loves it too. Squier Japan 1982 JV sunburst, just alive in the hand.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 December 2023 09:49 (nine months ago) link
oh man, i've heard great things about the 80s squiers. i really do rate japanese guitars - i have a 1994 "black label" MIJ jazz bass (from the fairly obscure "squier series" - basically a fender neck and body with cheaper electronics" and it is soooooo nice to play. i just wish it was a p bass tbh
― tremolo, Friday, 8 December 2023 10:02 (nine months ago) link
I recommend you search out a Tokai “Hard Puncher”, they can be found cheaper occasionally and it is the most P bass I have ever encountered. Kills 70s Fenders dead.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 December 2023 10:39 (nine months ago) link
i will! thanks for the tip!
― tremolo, Friday, 8 December 2023 11:25 (nine months ago) link
Seconding the MIJ love. Nothing to add though.
― ; Powell (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 December 2023 12:51 (nine months ago) link
UMS, I got an American Professional II Telecaster a couple of years ago and it is about the best combination of "easy to play" and "sounds amazing" that I have ever had access to. Anyone I let play it agrees. Not really a big gear person, I am probably not qualified to really speak to these things beyond being a guy who has played in bands for a lot of years, but yeah it rules. I imagine the Strats are great too.
― grandavis, Friday, 8 December 2023 15:29 (nine months ago) link
i bet the tele is great too, i feel like this series hits the perfect mix of staying pretty traditional but with little smart improvements
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 8 December 2023 16:43 (nine months ago) link
The Dano 12s sound amazing, I have one-though it's not that balanced. very curious what the new humbucker one sounds like.
― campreverb, Friday, 8 December 2023 16:53 (nine months ago) link
I went to this crazy store in Maryland called Chuck Levin's, which carries like every new model of every big brand. I played about 10 telecasters and the neck of the American Pro II was simply too good to pass up. About the best feeling neck of any instrument I have ever played.
― grandavis, Friday, 8 December 2023 17:04 (nine months ago) link
For anyone “12 curious”, do NOT sleep on the Squier Paranormal Jazzmaster XII. Insanely well made and easy to play.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 December 2023 20:42 (nine months ago) link
Grandavis, Chuck Levin's has been an institution basically forever. Given the amount of money I have spent there, I would like them to name a new wing after me (but they probably will not).
Glad you connected with an instrument. Hope it serves you well.
― ; Powell (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 December 2023 20:52 (nine months ago) link
It was very nice to go to a non-Guitar Center-like environment and really get to try out the guitars. Much different experience than most stores like that I have gone to, and yeah that telecaster has been great so far. A real joy to play.
― grandavis, Friday, 8 December 2023 20:56 (nine months ago) link
If you get down to Virginia try Action.
There are comparatively few independent stores put there these days.
― ; Powell (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, 8 December 2023 20:59 (nine months ago) link
*out
mattk thanks for putting that Squier on my radar!
― campreverb, Friday, 8 December 2023 22:05 (nine months ago) link
I’ve heard mutterings that Fender is testing the waters for raising Squier’s price category, hence the stellar reputation-building quality of the Classic Vibe and Paranormal ranges. No complaints here, some of the best guitars I’ve tried for about half the price I would expect, but it can’t last.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 8 December 2023 22:12 (nine months ago) link
I've also tried out the Jazzmaster XII and it's pretty nice and not too expensive. Jazzmasters without vibratos though.... eh. In a perfect world they'd just keep the last reissue of the standard Fender XII around though- that's a classic model on Led Zeppelin and Velvet Underground records.
The 80s Squires are very nice and if you were blindfolded, you simply wouldn't know.
Strats are awesome. There's only a tone attorney stigma if you have the SRV pickguard.
― Reeves Gabrels' Funko Pop (majorairbro), Saturday, 9 December 2023 04:24 (nine months ago) link
Quick update, my Tobacco Burst Epi Les Paul Standard 60s arrived this morning. Can confirm it shits on my previous burner guitar (an atrocious plywood ‘AXL Tiger Pro’ pointy Ibanez clone) from a great height. Definitely wasn’t expecting the insane amount of sustain I’m getting out of it. V happy with it so far :)
― Agnes, Agatha, Germaine and Jack (Willl), Friday, 22 December 2023 19:36 (nine months ago) link
As the tail end of purchase follies in 2023 I received a box of stuff in the mail earlier in the week. A fantasy baseball project, combining things I love:- Jazzmaster bodies- Tele Custom pickup configs- Telemasters / offset Telecasters- 70s black-on-black-on-maple aesthetics- the necks and vibe of 70s Greco Fender copies.Therefore: a Telemaster Custom as if Greco had made one in the 70s.Ingredients: a used 2019 Squier JM HH hardtail, and a 70s Greco neck that was covered in weird gunk and so was about 1/4 the price they usually fetch. I was able to chip it off with a careful razor blade, which took a while. It came up pretty well except the area between frets 3 and 4 was scraped to wood sometime long ago.Laying out some parts to figure how it will go:https://i.imgur.com/uSghpUw.jpgbut maybe a Jazzmaster neck pickup to offer something different from my beloved Squier Tele Custom:https://i.imgur.com/eNSa5CH.jpgMaybe a black cover tho? Who knows, it'll take a long time to sort out a pickguard and a nicer bridge.
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 5 January 2024 22:10 (nine months ago) link
Looks great, Greco neck matches body well.
― mirostones, Friday, 5 January 2024 22:33 (nine months ago) link
It's a little loose in the pocket, which I'm choosing to view as "authentic 70s Fender".
― assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 5 January 2024 22:40 (nine months ago) link
Shims.
― lethbridge-pfunkboy (hardcore dilettante), Saturday, 6 January 2024 19:45 (nine months ago) link
Lol. Two shims, I guess.
Bout to pick up this girl on my last day in Tokyo tomorrow https://i.postimg.cc/GmhL5j6N/IMG-4426.jpg
125000 yen. Pretty girl, plays wonderfully, very excited
― H.P, Saturday, 6 January 2024 22:44 (nine months ago) link
ooh! nice!
― call all destroyer, Saturday, 6 January 2024 22:55 (nine months ago) link
The Shims, one of my favorite bands. Chutes Too Marrow, right?
― CthulhuLululemon (Ye Mad Puffin), Saturday, 6 January 2024 23:06 (nine months ago) link
Haven't bought a guitar pedal for so long but I'm real tempted by this -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Y61ZVGqzE
― papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 20 January 2024 10:28 (eight months ago) link
seeing the temu thread just reminded me - lots of decent enough chinese clone pedals out there now, and most are boringly-enough pretty standard fare, but here are a couple of really fun ones i've picked up recently off aliexpress for supercheap, both at the weirder/more interesting end of things while still being pretty useable:
Movall Falling Star modulated delayhttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006162312833.htmlSuperb memory man clone with those lovely lightly-distorted modulated repeats, think of the sounds that the edge was getting in early U2 stuff e.g. 'A Day Without Me'. Really it sounds awesome, no tap tempo or any pattern options but maybe just maybe my favourite delay out of the ones i have atm
Ginean Ringmod Modulatorhttps://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005774060602.htmlA clone of the legendary DOD Gonkulator from the 90s that Digitech themselves reissued recently for ~$100 more. Really musical for a ring mod, you can easily tune it to the key you're playing in and get some great metallic gong-like sounds. It also has a nice distortion circuit based on the DOD Grunge which you can blend with the ring mod or just use by itself
don't really get how Ali works but you might need to click about a bit to get the best price. i paid about £30 for each? both well worth it imo
https://i.ibb.co/hBF1Mpy/20240122-202810.jpg
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 22 January 2024 20:35 (eight months ago) link
not the ugliest things either which is very much a bonus
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 22 January 2024 20:37 (eight months ago) link
I needed a bridge and pickup for the project above, saw some apparently decent stuff from China on eBay, figured I'd give them a punt.https://i.imgur.com/evRD4SL.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/NdpNnKH.jpgThey look absurdly high quality for a total of $37 US delivered. I'll be interested to know how they sound.
― assert (matttkkkk), Monday, 22 January 2024 22:09 (eight months ago) link
yeah looks very solid
I did a fun/cheap little thing, changed the pickguard on my Jazz bass from white to tortoiseshell to class it up a bit. cheapie from Amazon, looks good, but did have to take a metal file and grind it down in a couple spots to fit.
https://i.postimg.cc/pX2xDC48/PXL-20240112-045706209.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/0NLKQFt7/PXL-20240112-210459431.jpg
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Monday, 22 January 2024 22:20 (eight months ago) link
essential upgrade, first thing I did on my sunburst jazzmaster
― blazin' squab (NickB), Monday, 22 January 2024 23:46 (eight months ago) link
xp that okko pedal is really interesting, i totally hear what they were going for and i'm not sure what other pedals are doing something similar.
― call all destroyer, Tuesday, 23 January 2024 02:04 (eight months ago) link