Guitars, Guitars!

"Squire Stratocaster...replaced the weedy pickups with Dimarzio ones."

Obviously I can't comment on your specific guitar and some Squiers may well have weedy sounding pickups. Also, it comes down to personal taste. However, the various Fenders (including Jap Squiers) I've owned have had good sounding pickups, and it is often misconceived IMO to replace "weedy" pickups for "hot" sounding devices, especially the Dimarzios and Duncans of yore. I don't know what Dimarzios are like these days, but years ago they were the weapon of choice, along with brass saddles and nuts. Most of such modifications were eventually reversed when players realised something had been lost in the sound. Sure, the gain might be higher, but the inherent Fender tone (especially those lovely highs) gets lost for bloated mid and thrust.

BTW, love those old Vibrosonics with the orange JBL - they make a hell of a pedal steel amp too!

I WISH!!!!

P

Thomas

80's Tokai Strat (my everyday "hack")

60's Hofner Committee (all mother of pearl and bird's eye maple!)

60's Hofner Club 40 (bit of a state, but plays okay)

60's Baldwin Burns Vibraslim

60's Baldwin Burns Baby Bison

Hayman 2020 - not sure of age, and desperately needs refret :-(

90's Burns Marvin (one of limited run of 18 made by Jack Golder - extremely rare green sunburst)

70's Fender Telecaster - in rare white ash finish.

All these are used through a Marshall Valvestate 2000 AVT50 combo amp.

And I still want: room to display them all :-(

Chris L

quote:

---

60's Baldwin Burns Vibraslim

60's Baldwin Burns Baby Bison

Hayman 2020 - not sure of age, and desperately needs refret :-(

90's Burns Marvin (one of limited run of 18 made by Jack Golder - extremely rare green sunburst)

---

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

Tony.

PS Post pictures.

In fact, the main thing I'm waiting for is a digital camera, which I'm hoping will be delivered today or tomorrow.

Will post a link when the piccies are available.

Chris L

Chris' Guitars

Excuse the dubious quality, put it down to inexperience and an extremely cheap digital camera

Chris

Hope you get round to playing them all from time to time. I sold a rare 1936 Gibson (The Gibson guitar & banjo co)6 string guitar/banjo to Steve Howe many moons ago. His collection was so vast I don't believe that he played half of them.

Bob.

quote:

---

I once owned a very strange little Burns guitar

---

Could have been a Sonic, Vista-Sonic or a Nu-Sonic, or even a Flyte - all looked rather wierd, and had pretty low-power pickups, that were VERY prone to feedback - but not as much as my all time favourite: the early, four pick-up Bison! (I've got pics if you're interested)

Bob,
I don't get to play them as much as I'd like - for some reason these people that give me money every month seem to want me to work for them, or something - takes up a lot of my time

Chris

quote:

---

Shame I am such a crap player really ...

---

Na, the way to look at it is that you now have an even better way to pretend to play air-guitar, using a real one!

That's a nice axe tho'. I always wanted one of the 70's SG3000's, lovely guitars, and with the long term reliability and stability you from a quality Japanese instrument.

Ah well, maybe sometime.

Chris L

quote:

---

Well, I did it - I bought a Yamaha SG2000 at the weekend - you can see a photo at the www.machinehead.co.uk website...

---

Didn't notice the Yam, but I've just bought the Shergold Marathon fretless!

Cheers!

Tony.

quote:

---

Gosh, this shop must be doing well at the moment!

---

If the Marathon fretless is in anywhere near the condition it appears to be in the picture it is a bargain. I have had a wanted ad for one on the unofficial but brilliant Shergold site www.shergold.co.uk for ages, and have had a couple of basses offered to me as a result, all more expensive and in obviously worse condition (i.e. visible dings, no bridge cover).

This bass will go nicely with my standard fretted Marathon, a picture of which is earlier on this thread. I just hope they pack it well.

Tony.

There's a lot of tasty equipment out there in Naim land. What's everyone doing with it? Frustrated bedroom guitarists? Any gigging musicians? Who's playing what and where?

My gear consists of Fender American Deluxe Strat, Fender Mexican Standard Strat (only a cheapo Mexican but recently set up and plays a treat), Laney 15watt valve & Spider 50watt combo's, Hohner acoustic, Pearl export kit, Ludwig 6½" brass shell snare, lots of Zildjians (10"-20"), Yamaha electronic practise kit.

Used to take the whole thing very seriously when I was younger but the pressures of own business and children have over the years driven me into the spare room or the odd, occasionally very odd, noodling along to the hi-fi.

Cheers

Dave J

quote:

---

There's a lot of tasty equipment out there in Naim land. What's everyone doing with it? Frustrated bedroom guitarists? Any gigging musicians?

---

I did a fair bit of this kind of stuff years ago (mid 80s - early 90s), I was in a obscure indie band which got to the stage of supporting half decent bands at uni gigs all over the place / put a couple of records out / got some Peel play, but we didn't really get further than that. I later started doing bizarre dance and techno stuff (we sampled Can!), almost got signed a couple of times, but didn't. During all this time I financed myself largely by working in studios, buying and selling rare vinyl / analogue synths, setting up guitars, in fact anything I could blag my way in without having to get a "real" job.

I later set up a project studio as a half assed business venture with a friend (who has managed to stay in the industry), but after a year it wasn't making as much money as we wanted, so I bailed out and started working in IT and my friend went and got a sound technology degree.

I'm now a totally happy and non-frustrated bedroom bassist - I really don't fancy getting out and gigging anymore. I've done my time rattling about in the back of a Transit van for hours with drums and amps falling on my head just to play to 17 bemused students 200 miles away… (though I wouldn't have missed it for the world!).

Tony.

I have never played a fretless without fret markers before, boy is it scary adapting to that! My ability to play off key and out of tune is now almost limitless. By saying that, even though I’ve only had it since last night I feel I am slowly getting the hang of it – there are dot markers on the binding so I’m not flying completely blind. This bass brings a whole new meaning to playing by ear, the left hand has to be so accurate, missing by a tiny amount really sounds out. Means you don’t have to tune up to a record though! I recon learning this will really improve my playing generally, the extra precision can’t but help.

Any other fretless players out there? Any playing tips?

Thanks once again for the Machinehead link, I’ve been after a fretless Shergold for years, I never imagined I would land such a good one.

Tony.

I sold a Martin D18 some years back to justify buying TWO HiCaps for the 82 I had at the time.

Trouble is that now I think I'd like another acoustic, but one that plays like the 335. And that would mean selling the 335.

Any suggestions for a fast acoustic?

Regards, CB

quote:

---

Any suggestions for a fast acoustic?

---

I'd suggest you take a look at Takamine acoustics. I've never owned one, but I've played several, and they were all easy to play, even for me, and I've only owned electrics for the last 15 years.

Tony,
The fretless looks very nice, I bet you're chuffed!

If you're interested in some Burns info, take a look at:
Burns Guitat Museum

Some good stuff there.

Chris L

quote:

---

Any suggestions for a fast acoustic?

---

The fastest acoustic guitars I've played that didn't sound thin and feeble were made by Yairi. I think they're a fairly large Japanese company, but they manufacture to very high standards and many of their models include a rather decent pick-up system.

Thomas

quote:

---

Any suggestions for a fast acoustic?

---

From what I can tell the majority of current guitars are pretty well made, and can be coaxed into playing very well. I am pretty competent and experienced in setting guitars up, whilst I am certainly not a guitar repairman I know how to do a pro setup well enough for many people to have paid me to do it to their guitars. I have a Epiphone AJ10, this is the cheapest acoustic in their range, it is made in Indonesia, and costs about 110 quid new. It is a nice budget guitar. When I bought it the shop had a few on display, I checked them out and all were pretty good, but I obviously bought the best. With just a little fiddling with the bridge height and a tiny nudge to the truss rod I have got it to play evenly without any buzzes or rattles with a string height of 3/32nd at the low E and 1/16 at the high E measured at the 12th fret. This actually puts it at the lower height end of the Martin factory setup spec! I use light strings (10s) and it plays really easily despite my being far more used to playing an electric.

My basses are both a fraction less than 3/32nd on the E string without buzzes!

I would recommend taking whatever guitar you buy to the best guitar tech in your town and get a pro setup job. It can transform many instruments from total planks into something really quite special.

quote:

---

Great news that your bass is as good as you hoped it would be. The guys seem to be a very professional and friendly outfit. Wish I was on commission!

---

Its way better than I hoped it would be! I owe you several pints worth of commission!

Tony.

Clive: I'll take the 335 I played one saturday. I'm in love.

quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There's a lot of tasty equipment out there in Naim land. What's everyone doing with it? Frustrated bedroom guitarists? Any gigging musicians?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm recording a lot with mine. We're doing a new Henry Fool album this year and I'm doing another Fire Thieves album and various collaborations. I moved from the bedroom into the attic

I. like Tony paid my dues in the Transit van (the we had a bus) the difference being that I left my band just before they were offered a deal as I hated the industry so much. One PR woman asked me ' Great songs, but could't you write more about love?' But again, like Tony, I wouldn't have missed it for anything. I now make the music I want, how I want, when I want.

Regards

Stephen

[This message was edited by Stephen Bennett on MONDAY 14 January 2002 at 12:25.]

quote:

---

I. like Tony paid my dues in the Transit van (the we had a bus)...

---

We dreamed of having a bus...

Tony.

[This message was edited by Stephen Bennett on TUESDAY 29 January 2002 at 09:29.]

Yamaha Pacifica 12 string
Fender Squire P-Bass
Yamaha AXP-7 acoustic
1980's Japanese Fender Squire Stratocaster

congrats on the marathon fretless - it looks awesome, bet it sounds great too.

'never did get that J-Bass we talked about, although from the depths of our storage locker sprang my old Cort Steinberger Bass copy. Hey - it's a thru-body, which is kind of surprising. Oh come now what did you expect in a copy - composites? It's fairly weighty, the sound doesn't seem so lightweight (as you'd expect, for the mini-bod, at least)... and the twist in the neck isn't as bad as I remember. Plugged it in to the Trace and I was pleasantly surprised. The pots feel of good quality, not light and rattly like most cheap giutars I've looked at. The finish is a deep, rich black, with a couple or three character dings.

Now I must learn to play it. On the tech side I also need to look in to the wiring etc - seems one of the pickups is awol (it has a P and a J pickup)... the strings aren't so bad either (they might be rotosounds, although not sure if they make ball-end strings) - not bad after all for NZD100 four years ago. Oh, and sort out the jack - seems a bit loose. I have not forgotten those tips you gave on how to set up, so will spend a morning on it in a few weeks time.

Rico - SM/Mullet Audio

quote:

---

congrats on the marathon fretless - it looks awesome, bet it sounds great too.

---

It is fabulous. I'm really starting to get the hang of playing it too. Physically it is really easy to play, Shergold necks are stunning, so I have the action really low and fast, it’s the thinking in a new way that slowed me down at first. A fretless forces you to listen more, you don't just have to hit the right note, you need to hit the note right. I love the thing, so I have been putting in at least an hour or so each night.

I'm thinking of buying a Line 6 Bass Pod…

quote:

---

'never did get that J-Bass we talked about, although from the depths of our storage locker sprang my old Cort Steinberger Bass copy. Hey - it's a thru-body, which is kind of surprising. Oh come now what did you expect in a copy - composites? It's fairly weighty, the sound doesn't seem so lightweight (as you'd expect, for the mini-bod, at least)... and the twist in the neck isn't as bad as I remember.

---

Is it actually a direct copy? I remember Cort producing a lot of Steinberger influenced instruments, but all with a bit of their own "style" thrown in! One of my friends had a Cort which was a kind of Steinberger meets Strat kind of thing that I thought looked horrible beyond belief, but it actually played really well and sounded rather good too.

Describe the neck twist - I assume you mean the first fret and last fret are not parallel when sighting down the neck? If this is the case it is obviously not good, but can possibly be corrected by an experienced guitar repairer (it is out of my league). If you are referring to either front bow or back bow then a gentle tweak of the truss rod can bring the neck into correct relief.

IMHO (and there are many differing views on this) with a bass you should be able to slide the playing end of a light gauge pick under the string at the 12th fret when the string is fretted at both the first and last frets. Much more relief than this and you fight the thing when playing, any less and it will almost certainly buzz. You can get away with an almost totally straight neck on a fretless.

Tony.