Electric Guitars etc

Finally getting my act back together with the Fender Strat and Blackstar amp.  Producing some very agreeable sounds now. 

Had a few problems along the way.

It's remarkably easy to get the 'circuit diagram' wrong when using send/return loops (I use 2 - one involving a Boss NS2 noise gate, and one using the amp's send/return).  Get it wrong, and NO SOUND!

Found out that 3 of my old guitar leads were duff and had to replace them.  I've discovered that all guitar cables are NOT equal (should have guessed that from my Naim etc experience).  Some are more prone to hum than others.  More expensive leads seem better in this regard.

The Blackstar failed with a burnt out output board (now replaced), but I had it and the Stratback to the dealer a couple of weeks ago because of intermittent very loud buzzing/hum, which reduced when I touched any part of the strings or metalwork of the Strat or the lead.  I assumed it was an loose lead somewhere causing earthing problems.  They had it for 48 hours, tried various things, and needless to say could find nothing wrong with it.  While at the shop I messed about with various other guitars and came away with an ESP Ltd 256 (sort of a Gibson Les Paul clone, with coil tap), as I had a hankering after that 'fat' sound for certain genres of music.  Also humbucking pickups are less prone to hum, the ESP would perhaps be a partial solution to the hum/buzz problem?

Intermittent problems with amp continued, and I had a chat with Dan (one of the shop people), who also plays professionally, and he suggested various things that might be causing my problem. Turned out I had 2 problems which I cured as follows when I tried his suggestions :

1.  Moved the trailer socket supplying the amp an effects pedal power supplies much further away from the guitar amp.  There are 2 power supplies here.  One is for the Holy Grail Reverb box, and the other for a Boss power supply.

2. Experimented with different positions of guitar leads near the amp (there are 3 - two for the amp send/return loop, and one running into the amp input socket.  Most of my residual hum problems where solved by careful positioning of these leads, making sure they got well away from the amp as soon as possible.

Decided that I didn't really like some things about the ESP guitar, although it had sounded quite good in the shop.  It wasn't staying in tune very well (and yes, I DO know about stretching new strings etc!), and the coil tap was actually very awkward to use.  That works by pulling up on the Tone Control knob, but alas my fingers tended to slip off it when I tried to do it mid-song.   So, I had a grovel to SWMBO, and went back to the shop and listened to various other options.

They had a very nice Red Hamer Studio guitar (original American version), which sounded very good indeed, but in the end I came away with a PRS Paul's Guitar.  The coil taps on that are just 2 little switches, and there is NO DROP IN VOLUME LEVEL when using coil tap.  Absolutely superb guitar!   SWMBO wants to know why I am still keeping the Strat as well, but I think I have convinced her that the 2 guitars sound quite different.

Incidentally, the PRS came with an absolutely hideous (IMO) Paisley covered hard case, but to my surprise there was no little booklet (such as came with the Strat) giving hints on maintenance, string changing, and what the various knobs and switched actually do.  Must contact the shop to find out if it was supposed to have such a thing.

SWMBO says I am not allowed to buy any more guitars unless I 'lose' one of the ones I already have (spoilsport)

Isn't it nice to have hobbies other than HiFi?