Guitars, guitars, guitars

[pwhodges]

The guitar thread has long passed the size that is comfortable for the forum software; please continue here.

[Kwaping]

Have you guys heard of Hanni El Khatib? The dude rocks! New discovery for me.

[TheCollyWolly]

Whoa, new thread. And that song is free on the Amazon MP3 store, or at least it was.

[warcabbit]

Guy I know started a band, if we can post that sort of thing, then.

[Patrick]

So at my new job, they were teaching me how to clock in/out, and it used a touchscreen interface. My Big Boss was remarking on how much more unfriendly the touchscreen was to me than to any other new person, and I told her, "I think it's because I play guitar and bass. All my fingers have calluses and that affects the conduction of bioelectricity, which, if I'm not mistaken, is what enables that thing to work." And she just looked at me and said "Those are some real big words for my small ears" and walked away.

I am going to get promoted so fucking fast in this store if this is what we have to measure up to. And after I buy a car, I want one of these bad boys to record (and possibly play shows?) with.

[KingOfIreland]

That just made me think: res-o-glas twin neck.

All the pro's, none of the cons?

[Patrick]

Just checked their site, they don't sell one as far as I can tell. That's a pretty big con.

[warcabbit]

My brain hurts.

[Bearer]

GUYS.  GUYS.  Does this mean I have outlived a thread I started?

Does that mean anything if it was the only thread I only ever posted in anyway?

[Kwaping]

Fuck Yeah Guitar Wolf

[IDMG]

They're thoroughly disappointing live.

[TheCollyWolly]

So would it be possible to wire up an AC15 so that I can use the speaker with another amp? I really like the Greenback in there now, and it would be nice to be able to run an Egnater or a Tiny Terror into it.

[KingOfIreland]

Yeah, dead easy.

I did that with my bass amp. All you need is a four pole switch and a jack socket. Also you'll obviously need to know the speaker's impedance.

What you want is a two pole changeover switch

Basically you want to wire it up so that the switch kills the AC15's connection to the speaker in every way. This essentially just means the wires to the speaker, although I guess you could just wire it to the on/off switch too. But if you wire it to the output, you have a switch you can use to instantly change amps while playing. Anyway, one side you wire from the speaker wires to the jack socket. Plug it into the corresponding impedance socket (or use the switch on the terror, I think that's how that particular amp handles things) on the output of your other amp and there you have it, a very heavy cab.

Oh yeah, and you'll have to drill two small holes in the controls section of your amp.

EDIT: extra info on impedance.
http://www.ronray.net/speakers/speakers.html

[doombilly]

So we finally drug that battery powered amps and the portable player (recrded drum beats/sequences) to the Subway and busked under Union Square (NYC) yesterday. It went well. People dug it. And we made enough to buy lunch in about an hour. Two MTA employees spied us and I thought we were going to run us off or ticket us. But they apparently were just curious. // on a guitarr-y note, I just used the ol' S8 Fender Mustang and no pedals.

[valley_parade]

Over the weekend, I visited a kooky little antique store in Brattleboro, VT.

While I was intrigued highly by the seemingly mint-condition Teisco with the pair of goldfoils, I think I was more interested in the selection of cigar box guitars from a local dude.

I might stop back up in a few weeks and buy one.

[Lummer]

It is genuinely scary how much I love New Standard Tuning.

[KingOfIreland]

Well, that certainly makes runs up and down scales more interesting. I'll have to try that out at some point!

[Patrick]

I read the Wiki article on it, and it said that it made playing pieces such as the Moonlight Sonata possible

I promptly told the article to shove it and spent the next 2 minutes learning the first several bars of it using drop D, and then went to bed.

[KingOfIreland]

I had the same thought, but then decided against it for reasons of sanity and exams.

[Eddie 88]

For Reasons™, I can't play a guitar. I hope I might be able to some day, though. Any recommendations where to get started learning, um, guitar stuff? Like, this is alienese to me...

"Jeph Jacques's guitar: 2-pc ash body, big 1-pc maple neck, bakelite pickgard, Lollar Imperial humbucker in the bridge, Lollar mini humbucker in the neck, toploader bridge, bone nut, reverse control plate, custom pickup ring."

...no idea what any of that means. I could google each individual thing, of course, but I'd just get useless technical crap like this: "A humbucking pickup, or humbucker is a type of electric guitar pickup that uses two coils to "buck the hum" (or cancel out the interference), induced by the alternating current in single coil pickups."

[valley_parade]

The body's two glued-together pieces of ash, with a chunky maple neck bolted onto it. The pickguard's made of bakelite, which is a material used on old Telecasters and knobs on old radios and whatnot. The pickups are both made by Jason Lollar, and the strings go through only the bridge instead of going through the bottom of the bridge and then the back of the body.

[Kwaping]

^^ I have a feeling that didn't clarify much, if anything.

You can get started learning guitar any number of ways, but they all start with "obtain a guitar". So, buying your first guitar...

My best advice is bring a friend who knows stuff about guitars. There is enough variation from one individual guitar to another, even of the same kind, that you can easily get one that is either better or worse than average. Now, if you spend a lot, like $1k or so, your chances of getting a good one are really high, and a bad one almost nil. However, I'm guessing you don't have that kind of budget for a guitar.

If you don't know anybody locally who can help you pick out a guitar, reply here with your budget and musical interests and we'll help you get started shopping.

[Patrick]

Agreed. Just put your hands on it. You didn't learn language by asking someone, you learned it by being immersed in it.

[Eddie 88]

The body's two glued-together pieces of ash, with a chunky maple neck bolted onto it. The pickguard's made of bakelite, which is a material used on old Telecasters and knobs on old radios and whatnot. The pickups are both made by Jason Lollar, and the strings go through only the bridge instead of going through the bottom of the bridge and then the back of the body.

What difference does any of that make? I remember early on in QC Faye mentioning that ash has a twangy sound, maple has a deeper, resonant sound. Or maybe it was the other way around.

What about the strings -- what difference does it make whether they go only on the bridge or through the back of the body?

Heh, I know bakelite from Evangelion :p

^^ I have a feeling that didn't clarify much, if anything.

You can get started learning guitar any number of ways, but they all start with "obtain a guitar". So, buying your first guitar...

My best advice is bring a friend who knows stuff about guitars. There is enough variation from one individual guitar to another, even of the same kind, that you can easily get one that is either better or worse than average. Now, if you spend a lot, like $1k or so, your chances of getting a good one are really high, and a bad one almost nil. However, I'm guessing you don't have that kind of budget for a guitar.

If you don't know anybody locally who can help you pick out a guitar, reply here with your budget and musical interests and we'll help you get started shopping.

I actually have a joint disease, I can't play a guitar. That's why I'm interested in learning about the differences in things like humbuckers or whatever just from somebody telling me. Because maybe someday down the line I'll be able to play a guitar, but I'm interested right now, I don't wanna wait for that day to start learning.

Is there maybe a really good guitar 101 blog or something? That'd be awesome, a blog with sound samples illustrating the differences that all these little, technical things make.

I can tell you my musical interests and intentions, but I won't unless you ask again -- I don't wanna derail the entire topic into "hey guys teach me guitars."

Agreed. Just put your hands on it. You didn't learn language by asking someone, you learned it by being immersed in it.

I learned piano by asking someone :p

[valley_parade]

What about the strings -- what difference does it make whether they go only on the bridge or through the back of the body?

Going through the body, they kinda latch onto the wood, stuff I'm not sure how to explain exactly because science, blah blah blah, notes sustain longer. See also: set-neck and neck-through guitars, where the neck is glued onto the body, rather than just bolted on. With the latter, the neck pretty much is the body, with "wings" glues onto the sides. The most prominent example of that is probably ye olde Gibson Firebird.

[KingOfIreland]

If you ever get a hagstrom, check out the electronics and fix them. It's taken me a year to get around to it, and it turns out one of the wires on the filter switch was shorting out.

Doubled the output and made it impossible to keep my valve from breaking up! Brb throwing out all my overdrive pedals.

EDIT: On the other hand, I can no longer get some of the more interesting sounds out of it. Coil taps and push pull volume pots here I come motherfuckers! Also need to find space for an out of phase switch

[doombilly]

Dang, I can't get the Soundcloudy player to show up here. Oh well, less fancy. New single mix of NEEDLE here.
https://soundcloud.com/illicitizen-1/needle-2013
Had to change 2 words to make it "family friendly" which is laughable considering the other lyrics. But hey...

[pwhodges]

Dang, I can't get the Soundcloudy player to show up here.

Can't see why:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/illicitizen-1/needle-2013[/soundcloud]

[valley_parade]

Someone was bound to do it. Nice to see Eastwood beat Gretsch to making a re-issue Astro-Jet.

[KingOfIreland]

Those switches look nightmarish!

[doombilly]

Dang, I can't get the Soundcloudy player to show up here.

Can't see why:

[soundcloud]https://soundcloud.com/illicitizen-1/needle-2013[/soundcloud]

Because I was not aware of the soundcloud tag/thingy. MY bad.

[pwhodges]

Soundcloud tag is the button under the Bold button in the reply composition form, next to the Image button.  I added it at the same time as YouTube.

[doombilly]

Soundcloud tag is the button under the Bold button in the reply composition form, next to the Image button.  I added it at the same time as YouTube.

yeah, I saw it after I posted. Thanks PW!
Needle now in iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/needle-2013-single/id663682580

[boneykingofnowhere]

Those switches look nightmarish!

In the best way possible.
I'm assuming two of those are toggles for the pickups. Is the third one for phase?

[Patrick]

there's a 3-way PU selector, a coil tap switch, and a kill switch. 2vol 1ton. Bigsby. It's the perfect instrument ω===D

[KingOfIreland]

I was referring more to the placement than the amount, god knows I love lots of options!

[Patrick]

You have a point there. Must be hell trying to palm mute. I wonder which is which, hopefully you don't whack the kill switch into 'off' mode or something by accident on that thing...

[IDMG]

The one without the bigsby would be cool if had some regular ass hum/mini-buckers in it.

[Patrick]

you know, depending what the knob immediately under the bridge does/how stiffly it turns, that thing could be pretty dang perfect for matt. I might even seriously try to talk him into it. :B

[valley_parade]

Re-adding a trans cherry, mid-70s Japanese LP Junior copy to my arsenal later this week.

This time around: Single cutaway! And sadly no neck pickup stuffed into the pickguard.

[valley_parade]

Of course, as soon as that will happen, this photo leaks from Fender, of the apparently new Modern Player series Mustang:



And 2 P90s. May need to start stashing money aside. There's also a Modern Player Jazzmaster HH coming out, because everything has to be HH these days.

edit: Who the fuck am I kidding, it looks badass, swapping in a new pickguard and JM pickups wouldn't be too bad.

[Lummer]

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

[boneykingofnowhere]

I don't care if I already have 2 guitars in that exact color of red. I NEED IT!

[Patrick]

Dear Fender,

Look I know you're trying to be Gibson but knock it off K? Make better reissue WRHPs and put them in your HH shit and I'll think about it.

Love,
Patrick

[valley_parade]

They did, they're in the Lee Ranaldo signature model.

[Patrick]

why do they not sell them separatelyyyyy

[valley_parade]

Because I think it was a one-time collab between like, Fender, Lee, and Jason Lollar?

[Lupercal]

Dear Fender,

Look I know you're trying to be Gibson but knock it off K? Make better reissue WRHPs and put them in your HH shit and I'll think about it.

Love,
Patrick

Well thankfully they gave up that robot guitar shit when they realised people didn't want to pay twice as much for a tuning that they could just...tune themselves. Gibson thought it was better to make a load of nasty guitars automatically tune themselves and have pretty LEDs behind the pots.

But I will agree, the offset wrangling is getting tired now. Anyway, aren't we all vying for the a Squier Venus Reissue?

[Patrick]

oh my fuck it has a 12-string version

FUCK YOU GUYS JUST TAKE MY MONEY

[valley_parade]

They popped up a really interesting thread on OSG a while back. I guess the guys who originally sold the design to Fender are trying to revive their own brand and start making new versions of them:

http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50431&hilit=Mercury