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Guitars

Started by SteK, February 22, 2020, 04:59:16 PM

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Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: SteK on February 23, 2020, 06:45:45 PM
Me, with naked knees, with my own composition, on my bitzer Fender electric XII - built it myself from body and bastardised neck (replaced with maple fretboard), wonderful neck, so easy to play...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmQUVerSVVQ

And my attempt at REM's 'Time After Time'...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAuMykYWIUQ

I built constructed a Fender XII out of Warmoth Parts and Novak Pickups, probably cost more to make than buy one, I think they've reissued the XII now.

Everyday I'm racked with guilt about that Shergold Marathon fretless bass I sold when I moved house.

SteK

Quote from: OnlyRegisteredSoICanRead on February 23, 2020, 08:05:53 PM
I built constructed a Fender XII out of Warmoth Parts and Novak Pickups, probably cost more to make than buy one, I think they've reissued the XII now.

Everyday I'm racked with guilt about that Shergold Marathon fretless bass I sold when I moved house.

Thing is the Warmouth parts for the XII aren't exact, the offset isn't the same as the Jag/Jazz offsets, trust me! And the neck is narrower on those.

The reissue is ok, but lacks the 5-way switch, and no Candy Apple!

Pure guitar quality wise the Rick is eons over the rest, it's nailed on perfect everywhere - zero blemishes. Just the nut width is too narrow even for six, and I'm 6'4" with fingers to match.

Here's my lad just mellowing with it for me since I was in Ireland working and it was received in Leeds and I couldn't wait....

You can tell he's not a fan lol!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVW9AZUlWmg

Pauline Walnuts

Quote from: SteK on February 23, 2020, 09:12:21 PM
Thing is the Warmouth parts for the XII aren't exact, the offset isn't the same as the Jag/Jazz offsets, trust me! And the neck is narrower on those.


I think the Warmoth 12 neck is the same size as a standard Strat size, which as you say its a problem for a real Fender XII body. But it fits fine on the Warmoth Jazzmaster body. It's a bit off to a proper Fender XII, but then they don't come in satin finished burgundy mist with green pearloid pickguard. So an inspired by, not a replica of.

Quote from: SteK on February 23, 2020, 09:12:21 PM
The reissue is ok, but lacks the 5-way switch, and no Candy Apple!


4 way. Although mine has a 5, additional out of phase setting.

I'm still saving up to get a the rest of the bits for a fretless bass VI with Sustainiac, but it will take time...

SteK

Quote from: OnlyRegisteredSoICanRead on February 23, 2020, 09:38:30 PM
I think the Warmoth 12 neck is the same size as a standard Strat size, which as you say its a problem for a real Fender XII body. But it fits fine on the Warmoth Jazzmaster body. It's a bit off to a proper Fender XII, but then they don't come in satin finished burgundy mist with green pearloid pickguard. So an inspired by, not a replica of.

4 way. Although mine has a 5, additional out of phase setting.

I'm still saving up to get a the rest of the bits for a fretless bass VI with Sustainiac, but it will take time...

Checked. Mines a four way too, was hard to find that was....

As was the switch plate, special to this guitar, bought it from France, not too expensive, 25 quid I think, but still dear for a bit of metal with holes in it....

kngen

Bought this from a tour buddy because I just loved the two-tone wood aspect. It's a 1992 US Les Paul Studio, which was originally Burgundy Red, but he had the body stripped and varnished. Sounds great, too, but has a 50s neck, which is a bit unwieldy for my playing. This era of Gibsons seem to be increasingly sought after, too, which is nice. Not in any rush to get rid of it, however, even though I don't play it a lot.




Shit Good Nose

That's a REALLY nice looking guitar that.


Quote from: kngen on February 24, 2020, 02:21:18 PM
This era of Gibsons seem to be increasingly sought after, too, which is nice.

Yeah, the 90s is considered as the last decent wave across the Gibson board.  Everything since then has been decidedly iffy (apparently) and I think I'm right in saying that all of their guitars since then (except for the VERY top-end custom jobs, which are out of pretty much everybody's price range) have NOT been solid bodies, not in the sense of being hollow-bodied or semi acoustic, but they've all had small compartments hollowed out, presumably to save on material costs.  This has led to a lot of people saying that they just don't sound like Gibsons any more.

I've read and heard more than one pro musician say that if you want to buy a Gibson new these days, get a top-end Epiphone instead - you get a better guitar for a smaller price.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

#36
Quote from: kngen on February 24, 2020, 02:21:18 PM
It's a 1992 US Les Paul Studio, which was originally Burgundy Red, but he had the body stripped and varnished.

He made the right choice thats fucking lovely. To look at, at least! Playing might be another matter.

I've the same problem with my strat neck-wise.

Posted it before I think. Classic series 70s strat, put in some different pickups and a black scratch plate then it was the strat id always wanted but jesus the neck is a nightmare sometimes. Thicker than my last one and it has that 7.5" radius. Tried my mates classic series 50s strat and it's like a baseball bat on the bloody thing.

Keep meaning to try a Tele deluxe and see if the 12" strat neck on those is maybe the missing link.

I was umming and ahh'ing over getting a 90s studio les paul for ages , think I know what I'd do to it now if I ever cave and get one that's bloody gorgeous.

kngen


#38
Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on February 23, 2020, 04:51:24 PM
Fender partsocaster I built when I was 15. Fender wide range humbucker in the bridge, Gibson marauder humbucker in the bridge. Frankensteined together from various fender parts on a tele custom body from the '70s.
Either you typed 'bridge' when you meant to type 'neck' or that's one weird looking guitar.
Btw if that's a genuine '70s wide range Fender pickup then it's worth around £200-300.
The original Seth Lover designed wide range pickups used CuNiFe alloy pole pieces instead of the more common Alnico and production of CuNiFe alloy ceased in the '80s.
All the re-issue Wide Range pickups just use Alnico and apparently don't sound the same.

Quote from: Shit Good Nose on February 24, 2020, 03:32:21 PM

...they've all had small compartments hollowed out, presumably to save on material costs.
It's called chambering and it's done purely for weight relief. Removing wood costs them more money in man hours means an extra minute or two in the CNC machine.



I suspect they're doing it more often now because the old myth about heavy guitars having more sustain has been well and truly busted.


Spiteface

Gibson doesn't do weight relief on all their "production" guitars now.

Since last year's revamp, if you buy a Les Paul Standard, in either 50s or 60s spec, you're getting a totally solidbody LP, mahogany body, maple cap. The current Standards are basically what used to be the "Traditional" model under the previous regime. Except you get a choice of neck profile/pickups/finishes (60s Standards have slimmer necks and slightly hotter pickups, the 50s has the chunkier neck and offers a Goldtop with P90 in it if that's your thing.

If you get something in what they call the "Modern" collection, which includes Studios, Classics (confusingly, but the classics have fancy switching in them) and the fancy "modern" Les Paul with all fancy features on it, then you get the Swiss Cheese bodies.

Same goes for the brand-new Epiphone "Inspired By Gibson" range.

SteK

Rickenbacker - untouched by most of this dicking about....

Spiteface

Best is when a company tries to "Fix" something.

Fender keep trying to make "modern" Jazzmasters and Jaguars.

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/fenders-hot-rodded-modern-jazzmaster-is-its-most-contemporary-offset-yet

That could literally be any shape and the end result is the same.


kngen

Quote from: Spiteface on February 24, 2020, 08:11:07 PM
Best is when a company tries to "Fix" something.

Fender keep trying to make "modern" Jazzmasters and Jaguars.

https://www.guitarworld.com/news/fenders-hot-rodded-modern-jazzmaster-is-its-most-contemporary-offset-yet

That could literally be any shape and the end result is the same.

The relative sparseness of that makes it look older aesthetically than the originals, like an old 50s Danelectro. I suppose it's 'modern' if the Jaguar was post-modern.

PlanktonSideburns

Quote from: kngen on February 24, 2020, 02:21:18 PM
Bought this from a tour buddy because I just loved the two-tone wood aspect. It's a 1992 US Les Paul Studio, which was originally Burgundy Red, but he had the body stripped and varnished. Sounds great, too, but has a 50s neck, which is a bit unwieldy for my playing. This era of Gibsons seem to be increasingly sought after, too, which is nice. Not in any rush to get rid of it, however, even though I don't play it a lot.



amazing colours on that

Ferris

Quote from: Cortez the Surfer on February 24, 2020, 06:11:42 PM
Either you typed 'bridge' when you meant to type 'neck' or that's one weird looking guitar.
Btw if that's a genuine '70s wide range Fender pickup then it's worth around £200-300.
The original Seth Lover designed wide range pickups used CuNiFe alloy pole pieces instead of the more common Alnico and production of CuNiFe alloy ceased in the '80s.
All the re-issue Wide Range pickups just use Alnico and apparently don't sound the same.

You are correct! The wide range is in the neck. It's not an original, I think it's an '00s reproduction

Noodle Lizard

I've got an acoustic 12-string I bought fairly cheaply in Cambridge back in the day which is now apparently extremely rare but also in very little demand. So there's that.

famethrowa

Quote from: Spiteface on February 24, 2020, 08:11:07 PM
Best is when a company tries to "Fix" something.

Fender keep trying to make "modern" Jazzmasters and Jaguars.


That looks really boring. Isn't the good thing about Jazzmasters their special pickups and switches? Might as well play an SG.


famethrowa

Quote from: SteK on February 24, 2020, 07:41:04 PM
Rickenbacker - untouched by most of this dicking about....

True, but everyone is automatically going to say the hi gain pickups aren't as good as the old toasters. Do Rickenbacker offer that option nowadays?

I've got a black 330 with toasters and it sounds great, but noticeably less output than anything else.

Ferris

Quote from: famethrowa on February 24, 2020, 11:41:39 PM
That looks really boring. Isn't the good thing about Jazzmasters their special pickups and switches? Might as well play an SG.

I remember the pickups and switches making a disappointingly minimal difference.

I worked with a producer who fucking hated my Jaguar and called it "Mr Switchy" and bemoaned all the switches it had.

I still loved it anyway.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Cortez the Surfer on February 24, 2020, 06:11:42 PM
It's called chambering and it's done purely for weight relief. Removing wood costs them more money in man hours means an extra minute or two in the CNC machine.



I suspect they're doing it more often now because the old myth about heavy guitars having more sustain has been well and truly busted.

Quote from: Spiteface on February 24, 2020, 07:33:30 PM
Gibson doesn't do weight relief on all their "production" guitars now.

Since last year's revamp, if you buy a Les Paul Standard, in either 50s or 60s spec, you're getting a totally solidbody LP, mahogany body, maple cap. The current Standards are basically what used to be the "Traditional" model under the previous regime. Except you get a choice of neck profile/pickups/finishes (60s Standards have slimmer necks and slightly hotter pickups, the 50s has the chunkier neck and offers a Goldtop with P90 in it if that's your thing.

If you get something in what they call the "Modern" collection, which includes Studios, Classics (confusingly, but the classics have fancy switching in them) and the fancy "modern" Les Paul with all fancy features on it, then you get the Swiss Cheese bodies.

Same goes for the brand-new Epiphone "Inspired By Gibson" range.

Thanks both for the info.  It's all very confusing.

So does this chambering make any difference to the sound (and I mean sound in general, not just sustain) they produce at all? 


Quote from: FerriswheelBueller on February 25, 2020, 03:06:52 AM
I remember the pickups and switches making a disappointingly minimal difference.


Yeah I had a Jazzmaster and the switches were best left alone once any kind of useable tone was found. It was a Japan re-issue and the pickups were weaksauce which combined all the problems that come with the shitty bridge meant that although I loved the look of it, I never liked playing it. They aren't great guitars imo.

Pauline Walnuts

This is an argument that mahogany wood has changed from the old ancient wood used in classic Gibsons which is lighter to the more modern farmed wood, which is heavier, so they have to cut bits out.

Dunno if that's true or not.

As to chambered and solid?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6U6EV7jSyc

I think there is a difference between a true hollow bodied and solid electric guitar, the treble escapes the guitar F holes, and the sound on a hollow is more 'complex' often richer not as simple, and usually slightly tubbier. Different but not better. I prefer true solid bodied ones myself.

Of course, a quick tweek of the tone settings, Slap a couple of peddles on it, and such differences are moot.



Shit Good Nose

Quote from: OnlyRegisteredSoICanRead on February 25, 2020, 11:49:33 AM
Of course, a quick tweek of the tone settings, Slap a couple of peddles on it, and such differences are moot.

Indeed.  I'm just assuming that there are, no doubt, purists out there who want the true sound of the instrument rather than any sonic alteration with third party gadgets to make up for the (possibly imagined) difference.

As I gave up playing at the end of the 90s, I've never tried a modern Gibson - neither the chambered, modern weight relief nor new solid classic - so I've got no frame of comparison.

Rich Uncle Skeleton

Quote from: Cortez the Surfer on February 24, 2020, 06:11:42 PM
Btw if that's a genuine '70s wide range Fender pickup then it's worth around £200-300.
The original Seth Lover designed wide range pickups used CuNiFe alloy pole pieces instead of the more common Alnico and production of CuNiFe alloy ceased in the '80s.
All the re-issue Wide Range pickups just use Alnico and apparently don't sound the same.

Just googled this (not to correct you, I mean I didn't know about the difference in pickups) and it turns out they've just started making them again!

PlanktonSideburns

i have an embarrasment of instruments, my favourates being




burns barracuda (fender bass vi knockoff)
that slightghly knackered old tick-tock baritone bass sound is my absolute favourate thing in the world, which this thing does something lovely. makes a good bass too - just got given an EHX pog to go with it, and they are a match made in surf-country heaven. makes some great modern metal sounds also


stunt bass guitar made from an cheap 'musician's friend' brand bass, head sawn off, new body with guitar tuners underneath made from cherry. one pickup, on/off switch instead of a volume, no messing


fretless bass made into a sort of baritone electric bouzouki. three doubled courses and very low action make it make lots of mad sitar-like MWAA sort of sounds. pickup is on a sliding rail made from two tent pegs for tone adjustment


another space saving guitar made from some old shelves and an old burns guitar neck (mad burns fan) two strat pickups, accidentally wired out of phase, and a recessed pickup switch, so you can lob it about without fear



Hodson converted bassvi style jazzmaster copy thing
bought this from a pawn shop, and converted it to a Bass VI - tunes down to F#, and has seriously nice ticktock twang, but not as punchy in bass frequencies as the burns. for recording, this and the barracuda are absolutley killer. it has a seymour duncan jazz bass pick up in the neck, the P90 below it is just a drawing of one so it dosent look weird


home made fretless sub bass guitar - goes an octave below bass guitar E, for better or for worse. make dizzymaking, fear inducing and impractical noises plugged into speakers, made a couple of interesting metal records with it, more of a fun experience than a musical instrument maybe


tanglewood resonator - one of the nicest necks ive ever played on this - been meaning to make it as a two output guitar - piezo out and pickup out - (p90 from this is from the hodson) but never got round to it


quackacaster - squier tele with a 'sitar-izer' bridge and some sort of dimarzio lace thing in the bridge. makes a strange sharp quacking sound, so my mum pirographied a celtic duck motif onto the thing.


Hohner bass from the 90s, found at a stall at the hay on wye festival. neck was knackered so bought a cheap replacment. tuned it BEAD, really like the sound of it, but havent found anything creative to do with it yet


unknown brand les paul copy - this has a really weird and wonderful neck, really thick but narrow, and the frets are almost imperceptible - really nice sound, hardly any sustain, has reverse phase option - sounds pure funk nuggets. was donated to me by a friend when i recently joined a band and needed a non stupid fucked up sounding guitar to do normal guitar stuff with. at some point he has covered the thing with gold leaf, but didnt bother sanding it down or anything, so it looks like someones wrapped it in sweet wrappers. definatley the dumbest looking guitar i own

Quote from: Rich Uncle Skeleton on February 25, 2020, 07:32:43 PM
Just googled this (not to correct you, I mean I didn't know about the difference in pickups) and it turns out they've just started making them again!
Looks like if you want one at the moment you have to buy one of those teles though I suspect that when sales start to tail off the pickups will magically appear as a pricey aftermarket part.
Funny thing is those WRHB pickups weren't well regarded in the '70's and I've seen a few youtube guitarists trying them and being a bit underwhelmed.

Interestingly (to me anyway) Fender recently re-issued the WRHB equipped Starcaster model under the Squier brand (the cheaper ones having standard HB's with the top of the range Classic Player fitted with a version of the modern Alnico based WRHB's), so now I'm wondering if Fender are testing the market to see if re-issuing a high end period correct Starcaster will make them a few quid.

Apparently Johnny Greenwood used an original '70's Starcaster on several Radiohead albums and the bloke out of The Killer plays one and this has led to them becoming quite sought after by indie guitarists.





Pictured: The bastard offspring of a Jazzmaster and a 335.


Ferris

I got my fender widerange out of a friends tele thinline. We went halves on the Gibson marauder pickups. He has the neck one in his tele. I have his neck tele widerange in my tele partscaster and the marauder in the bridge. That's why I know it's a reissue

easytarget

Quote from: famethrowa on February 24, 2020, 11:41:39 PM
That looks really boring. Isn't the good thing about Jazzmasters their special pickups and switches? Might as well play an SG.

You've got a point, but I fucking love my stripped down, no frills riff machine Jazzmaster:


Rich Uncle Skeleton

#58
Quote from: Cortez the Surfer on February 25, 2020, 11:11:00 PM
Looks like if you want one at the moment you have to buy one of those teles though I suspect that when sales start to tail off the pickups will magically appear as a pricey aftermarket part.

Exactly, that tele's RRP is nearly 1700 quid, those sites that buy guitars to gut them and sell the parts will probably be able to name their price for a while til fender inevitably start selling them separately.

Quote from: Cortez the Surfer on February 25, 2020, 11:11:00 PMFunny thing is those WRHB pickups weren't well regarded in the '70's and I've seen a few youtube guitarists trying them and being a bit underwhelmed.

Haha yeah they're not something I'd heard about before so thought I'd check out a telecaster forum. Rather than losing their minds a lot of them were just saying it's only the rarity of the originals and people previously wanting what they can't have/wanting the bragging rights that's getting them worked up now.

So that's good to know, personally. my plan to get a mexican Tele Deluxe then put in some different humbuckers[nb]not set in stone but most likely the WRHB from the creamery, not played with a set myself but most demos I've heard sound brilliant[/nb] and replace the 250k pots still seems to be the way to go. especially if it's less than half the price of some period correct reissue that's bound to surface in the next year or so.