November's Festivities

November's Festivities!
By Pappy

Every year I try to do Nablopomo (National Blog Posting Month) and every year I fail. The challenge is posting a new blog every day in the month of November. Now, you’re supposed to write AND post a new blog every day, but I’ve been solid in my “quality over quantity” stand for a while now and prefer to write the posts beforehand. I know it takes me out of the running to win whatever’s offered (I don’t even pay attention to that), but the challenge is still fun.

Fortunately there are two things happening in November. One is Nablopomo and the other is Movember. Movember is all about raising awareness for men’s cancers by growing a mustache. It’s ironic and funny, at least in the US because nobody likes mustaches here. I believe I read somewhere that the approval rate of a mustache (JUST a mustache, not a goatee, fu manchu or beard that happens to include hair above your lip) is something like 7% while in European countries it is MUCH higher (something like 78%).

I had never heard of Movember before last year, and Guitar Noize let me in on it by announcing that Marshall was giving away an amp to a Movember participant. Perhaps that will happen this year, I do not know at this point in time (as always, I'm writing this ahead of time) but that would be a cool thing to participate in.

And it’s so BORING being the only one to do something, especially when you want to stretch it out over a whole month, so here’s my proposal to you, dear reader:

I want you to participate with me.

You can do either Nablopomo or Movember, you can even do both if you want to. If you want to do Movember, you can send me a picture of your face on November 1^st, November 15^th, and November 30^th and I’ll post them the next day so that we can all look awful together (at least, I know I’LL look awful).

If you’d like to take part in Nablopomo, the way I’m going to handle it this year is we’re going to do the 30 Day Song Challenge (which lines up perfectly with the number of days in November!). If you would like to get ahead of the days in order to maintain posting integrity, go right ahead (that’s what I’m doing, after all) but be sure to post ONLY that day’s song challenge in the comments. The way I would do this myself is write a document with the day’s criteria, the song I chose, why I chose it, and leave plenty of space under each one so I know where the break is. Then I would save it to my computer and then it’s just a mere copy and paste that day’s song and explanation in the comments section.

That’s how I would do it, anyway.

I’ll be doing both and I hope you folks try either or both out with me and see how far you can get or how long you can last before forgetting a day or getting stuck.

Here are the song’s criteria for the challenge:

Day 01 - your favorite song

Day 02 - your least favorite song

Day 03 - a song that makes you happy

Day 04 - a song that makes you sad

Day 05 - a song that reminds you of someone

Day 06 - a song that reminds you of somewhere

Day 07 - a song that reminds you of a certain event

Day 08 - a song that you know all the words to

Day 09 - a song that you can dance to

Day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep

Day 11 - a song from your favorite band

Day 12 - a song from a band you hate

Day 13 - a song that is a guilty pleasure

Day 14 - a song that no one would expect you to love

Day 15 - a song that describes you

Day 16 - a song that you used to love but now hate

Day 17 - a song that you hear often on the radio

Day 18 - a song that you wish you heard on the radio

Day 19 - a song from your favorite album

Day 20 - a song that you listen to when you’re angry

Day 21 - a song that you listen to when you’re happy

Day 22 - a song that you listen to when you’re sad

Day 23 - a song that you want to play at your wedding

Day 24 - a song that you want to play at your funeral

Day 25 - a song that makes you laugh

Day 26 - a song that you can play on an instrument

Day 27 - a song that you wish you could play

Day 28 - a song that makes you feel guilty

Day 29 - a song from your childhood

Day 30 - your favorite song at this time last year

The more people that take part in these activities, the more fun they’ll be so join in and have fun. Together we can make this a wicked awesome November!

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Question for the Audience: Frugality

QFTA: FRUGALITY!!!
By Pappy












Sorry, whenever I think of the word "frugality" I think that this guy is saying it:

That's Shao Kahn from Mortal Kombat who likes to say things like "FIGHT!" "FINISH HIM!" "FATALITY!" "BABALITY!" and "ANIMALITY!"

When you play that game from 10+ years, anything that ends "ality" is pretty much screamed in a deep voice inside my head.

I come to you good folks with a question that's more of a poll.  Since Blogger doesn't have a poll option, though, I'll put it as a numbered list and you can comment with your answer's number and your rationale (if you like.  If you just want to put your answer's number, that's fine).

Here's the question:

What do you consider "cheap" when buying an amplifier?  We'll use US dollars because I know a lot of international buyers wish they could buy gear at our prices.  Especially Australians (they have ridiculous gear prices!).

1. Less than $300.00
2. Less than $500.00
3. Less than $700.00
4. Less than $1,000.00
5. Less than $1,500.00
6. Less than $2,000.00

Clip-On Tuners

Clip-On Tuners
By PT



Clip-on ties are never cool unless you are under seven years of age. But another clip-on crazy is sweeping the nation. Clip-on tuners!

Last month I reviewed the Snark. It was the first clip-on tuner I had ever seen, and I was impressed with the design and functionality. But this month when I opened up my Guitar Player magazine, I was inundated with ads for tiny tuners clipped to guitar headstocks.

Clearly everyone in the industry either reads the Fifth Fret (which I assume they do) or there is a high demand for clip-on tuners.

Guitar ads are a great way to gage demand - or at least perceived demand - for a particular type of product. And when there is a trendy device like the clip-on tuner, I find it entertaining to take a look at the ways various companies are trying to pitch their particular flavor of the hot new product.

Let’s take a look at a few of the Clip-On Tuner ads in this month’s Guitar Player and see what kind of curveballs the pitchmen are throwing.

The NS-mini headstock tuner from Planet Waves – this ad features a Strat style headstock with a diminutive tuner attached to the back. The text proclaims ‘actual size’.  So clearly Planet Waves is highlighting the small size of their tuner. Not a bad approach, but the odd font of the note on the LED screen makes it seem like this tuner might be hard to read.

The CT20 Tuner from Samson - A picture of Mr. Steve Vai with a tuner clipped to his JEM. He gazes wistfully into the distance. From the angle, he could either be looking at something off camera or at the boxy tuner jutting awkwardly from the headstock of his sleek guitar. The text reads simply ‘Tuner Envy’. But does Vai have tuner envy or is this ad supposed to invoke envy in us?

The Pitchclip by Korg – My favorite ad of the bunch! This one evokes memories of the old Epiphone ads with the nerdy Strat player on one side and the badass Epiphone player on the other. Korg’s ad features a dude on the left side of the page with a bunch of balloons, a lantern, fuzzy dice and various other items hanging from his headstock. This is clearly referencing the Snark with its odd shape and protruding LED display screen. The other side of the page shows the same guy with an unobtrusive Pitchclip on his guitar. The text at the bottom starts with “Before you turn your headstock into a three-ring circus, grab yourself a Pitchclip”. It’s a funny and creative ad, but it overlooks the extreme variety of placement angles the Snark allows you, which I consider to be a positive.  As a side-note, it is interesting how the dude in this ad looks a little like the nerd Strat player in the old Epiphone ad. Nerd culture has taken over guitardom!

The StroboClip by Peterson – “There are tuners and there is Peterson”. This is text-heavy ad that highlights the quality and feature-rich design of the StrobClip. Clearly this is a high-end Clip-On tuner. It also invites the reader to go to YouTube for *ahem* clips of the tuner in action.

Today’s clip-on tuner shopper certainly has a lot of options. A more ambitious blogger than I should do a side-by-side-by-side comparison. Clip them all to the same headstock and let ‘em rip. In the meantime, I’ll just trust the ads.

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.


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The Perfect Relic? Yours!

The Perfect Relic?  Yours!

By Pappy

Dave had a great post on Monday about relics and I just couldn’t resist hopping on it with a post of my own.

Like he said, there are ways to make a bad-looking relic.  There are also ways to make amazing-looking relics that look like they were transported from the past, tucked away and only brought out on special occasions.  Stephen Stern at the Gretsch Custom Shop, for instance, makes an AMAZING 6118T relic that features VERY little checking and dings.  It looks basically new, but it has an old feel to it.  It feels vintage and I just love it.  He makes amazing guitars.

But relics are hit and miss for the buyer.  The reason they’re so unpredictable is that, ideally, you would want a relic that features wear where YOU would put it.

Take a look at a Roadworn Tele:

Photos Courtesy of Musician's Friend

See the wear above the pickguard?  No guitar of mine would ever have that.  I read somewhere that a lot of people used to store their picks there, part of them secured under the pickguard to keep them in place and this was the inspiration to put the wear there for the model.

But I don’t do that.

Also, that seems a little high, even for picks...

So even if I DID want to claim all the wear as my own (and who would do that?) I would need to come up with a reason wear is someplace I never touch, based on a technique I never use.

But if the wear matched you perfectly, well, you could claim it as your own and it would make sense.  It would feel a little more honest.  Perhaps you didn’t put the wear there in the first place, but at least it’s in a place that makes sense!

The sad fact is that companies don’t make relics to match YOU specifically and we guitar players differ drastically in our playing styles, our little quirks, even things that will matter more later on like the acidity or volume of our sweat and how often we clean our guitars.

There needs to be a relic that matches you, the player.  I think any player would feel better knowing that it’s made for them, not for the masses and, again, with wear that makes sense.

But have no fear for I am here to help you!

The best relic in the world is a result of a four-step process you can do at home or anywhere you like!  It’s SUPER easy, but the ease comes with the price of time-intensiveness.

It’s just playing the guitar.

Ah, but that’s not all!  You hear that a lot when you talk to people critical of relics (I am not one of those people) and they always say “I want to relic my guitar the old fashioned way” and blah blah blah.  They’re acting in a condescending manner thinking there’s value in dings and nicks.  Besides stories that would probably bore people, that’s just not true.  So I’m not going to leave you hanging with that one piece of advice.

No, my instructions are a little different and there’s two options:

Option 1) Buy a used Fender Highway One guitar and proceed to step two. 

Option 2) Read on!

Step 1: Buy a Roadworn Player Telecaster (or Stratocaster)

I know I was just going on about the Road Worn Series, but the Player Telecaster features very little wear on the body and is still wrapped in a lacquer finish.  Everything I’ve read indicates that both the Highway One (which has apparently (and sadly) been discontinued) which features a lacquer finish and no pre-wear and the Road Worn series have thin finishes so it’s easy to start the relicing process.

I like that.  It makes sense, really, that in order to make a relic yours, you don’t need to buy a relic that’s been trashed, but to buy a guitar with very little wear but thin enough protection to not prevent too much wear from getting on it.  You’re not DAMAGING your guitar, you’re merely choosing a guitar that will show the physical repercussions of your playing style faster.  No one can take that away from you with snide words and backhanded insults.  That’s YOUR wear - your HONEST wear.

And let’s talk about rumors here!  I hear (and it has never been verified by anyone in a position to give me an official answer) that Fender sprays their guitars with poly and THEN lacquer on every guitar that features a lacquer finish.  So if you wear it down to the wood it’s not really the WOOD because there’s a layer of clear poly separating the wood from the air.

Some purists don’t like this and I can see why.  It’s not how it used to be done and there’s the whole mythical need to “let the wood breathe.”

I like it though.  What it means to me is that even if I go right through the lacquer, my guitar is still protected from the elements and my sweat.  I look at it as a bonus.

Step 2: Buy a new neck

There is a problem with the Highway One and the Road Worn series is that the neck is poly all the way.  Now, contrary to popular belief, poly WILL wear, but it will look different, more stark and less natural.  In short, it’s not as nice to look at.  But poly does make for a comfortable neck, so you can decide whether or not the full relicing experience is for you or not.  If you want your neck to look like old Teles, a lacquer neck is kind of essential.  And as good as a poly neck feels (satin poly feels great), there’s nothing in the world like a worn lacquer neck.  It’s got that comfortable shoes / old pair of jeans feel to it where everything falls into the right place and you just feel comfortable.

I also like the fact that it displays what you do most often.  You’ll notice wear where your hands are the most, where your fingers are the most.  People will be able to tell more about you (if they’re guitarists) and it will mirror your body in showing off YOU and your wear rather than just wear for wear’s sake.

You can buy a new neck (I priced out a maple/maple neck from the Guitar Mill for $350.00 that featured a bone nut and clear gloss lacquer finish.  I hate gloss, but it helps accentuate your wear later on and makes for a more dramatic feel on the back once you finally wear it in a bit.

I look at glossy necks like I look at jeans: they suck at first when they’re new, but they’re super comfortable once you break them in!

You can also find a place to refinish your neck.  A long time ago the Guitar Mill offered this service, but I don’t know if they still do.  If they do, that’s another option that should cut down on the price a bit.  You can also see if someone local can do that job for you.

I would print out new labels for the neck to make it look for accurate, but they would probably mirror the labels from my Fender neck exactly.  I don’t like naked headstocks, I bought the Fender and half of the guitar is a Fender, so hey, I don’t see a problem with this.  I’m also not planning on selling this, ever, as it is MY relic and my playing won’t match anyone else’s.

Step 3: Replace the hardware

Everything chrome must go.  Pick yourself up the exact same stuff in nickel.  I like nickel because it’s got a softer look to it at first and unlike chrome, develops a pleasant-looking patina fairly quickly.  In short, it will look vintage faster.

This is also the time to figure out any modifications you want to make, different pickups or bridges and all that.  I think it’s best to figure this out early and develop a fairly uniform-looking guitar rather than having one obviously brand new bridge on an otherwise old-looking guitar.  I would probably go for a humbucker-sized Wide Range pickup from the Creamery for my neck pickup, that way I can split it to single-coil mode or beef it up with humbucker mode.  I would also get a more vintage-styled bridge.

Step 4: Play, play, play

Here it is.  You’ve assembled a guitar that will show your wear in an aesthetically-pleasing way, gradually increasing in amount.  The important thing to remember here is that you shouldn’t baby it (guitars are tools, after all, and brand new hammers sure do look weird) but you should definitely not abuse it either.  Take the wear slow and don’t force it.  The more honest you are with your playing, the more honest your guitar’s wear will look.

Play the bejesus out of your guitar.  Start a band and take it with you making it your number one guitar.  Play with it every night in smoky bars or even in your bedroom.  The more you play, the faster you’ll wear it and the more relic-tastic it will look.

The wear will match your playing style, there may even be boring stories behind the dings and nicks and you’ll be able to say with a straight face that you made the wear the old-fashioned way, you just did it in a way that took less time.

I love the ideas of number one guitars, guitars that are with you all the time and I bring my Squier everywhere I go on business and it’s got the scars to prove it (that’s why I strongly recommend lacquer - the dings don't look good at all).  I like the idea of the guitar being an extension of the player.  I think THAT’S where the mojo comes from.  It can’t be bought, can’t be produced, but you can possibly speed up the process by following these steps and making your own relic guitar the old-fashioned way, just with a guitar that is more accommodating to a player like yourself who appreciates the well-worn guitar.

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Relic

Relic
By Dave MacLeod

OK so you've picked up your brand new shiny guitar. Congratulations! I'm guessing you're already a little disappointed because you couldn't afford that '54 Blackguard Tele or '59 Les Paul but you know what - with a few carefully applied techniques you can make it almost look like your guitar has been around for a few years. It is important that people should know you've paid your dues, with month after month on the road, in smoky bars and greasy diners, in the back of an uncomfortable van, with strangely needy young women and unconventional chemicals. Trouble is, this involves an element of deceit and you're basically a stand-up sort of guy aren't you? Well I have the answer - don't do a classy relic - do a really crap one like nearly everybody else. That way you can fool the stupid people into thinking you've gone the distance, but the cognoscenti will know that you're basically a decent person who is insecure enough not to want to play a new looking guitar.

OK, let's get going...

Body Wear


The number one tell tale sign of a dodgy relic is the body wear. You need to make sure you can see the body wood, especially in the forearm area. Develop your own special secret technique for doing this. It is a fact that, on every guitar forum I've come across, people are remarkably giving of their knowledge until it comes to the world of relics. They suddenly get tight lipped about their methods. Perhaps because, along with creating the illusion of "been there, done that" that goes with a relic, they also have a James Bond fantasy going on. Suffice it to say you need to get some sort of abrasive material and start rubbing at the points where you touch a guitar but don't tell anyone how you did it. Whatever you do - DO NOT GO AND LOOK AT ANY ACTUAL VINTAGE GUITARS. That will only divert you from your task. As someone who is interested in vintage gear I have spent many happy hours perusing the wares on London's Denmark Street. I've made two separate pilgrimages to the Mecca of vintage that is George Gruhn's shop in Nashville. During that journey I have seen literally hundreds and hundreds of classy old guitars. The one factor that they all had in common was that not one of them had the body finish worn through. Of course for your crappy version this points to the way forward - sand away like buggery.

Once you've finished that, your next job is to make the back of the body look like is has been owned by somebody who always wears a barbed-wire belt buckle. Yes, I know you take care not to wear particularly sharp/hard items when you pick up a guitar, but ignore this for now. Get yourself a mace and start whaling away on the back of the guitar.

Neck Wear

If you're anything like me, then when you pick up a guitar you'll naturally fall into certain keys that you know well. Perhaps you're playing in a blues band and there's plenty of stuff you play in A and E, Irish and it is all in G and D, play with a brass section and I'll bet you know your way round in B flat. Don't pay any attention to this fact when you're simulating the neck wear. Make sure that the wear on each fret is completely consistent, like you've spent your whole life only playing chromatic scales the full length and breadth of the fretboard. Even though the edges of the neck and headstock are more vulnerable to knocks and dings, don't take this into account - just do exactly the same as you would to the body edges.

Consistency

On a naturally old and well played guitar you would see a certain consistency across the instrument, the fading of the colour, the dirt, tarnish and pitting on the hardware, the dings, cracks, yellowing of the plastics. Don't bother too much about this - a bit of steel wool to knock the shine off the bridge and soak the plastic parts in either coffee or tea. That'll be close enough.

And there you have it - success - your guitar doesn't look new any more. Now it looks new, damaged and crap. Welcome to the relic club.

Addendum

Despite what may come across from the above, I have a genuine appreciation of a well reliced guitar. I wholly subscribe to the notion that it is just another finish option. I'm not going to acquire or make one myself because I would include the good relicers along with ice skaters, opera singers and ballet dancers: I am in awe of your skill but I can't quite understand why.

Dave MacLeod lives near Liverpool in the North West of England. Most of his spare time is taken up with building, modifying, playing and talking about guitars. You can follow his work at http://damacleod.wordpress.com/

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Funny Business

Funny Business
By PT

Last Saturday night, my buddy Jerrod and I were in Indianapolis for a conference, and we were looking for something to do. We had one guitar between us, so Jerrod did a quick Internet search for an open mic night. He found one at a place called ‘Locals Only’. Ignoring the name, we decided playing on stage would be fun, and we hopped in the car.

We arrived at ‘Locals Only’ and found a pretty good sized crowd inside the bar. After asking around, we came to the startling conclusion that, while it was open mic night, it was a Comedy open mic, not a musical one.  I sighed in disappointment and turned to go. But Jerrod grabbed my shoulder.

“Where you going?” he asked. “We are still doing this.”

See, I didn’t know it at the time, but Jerrod has long had a secret dream of performing standup comedy. He even had a standup routine half developed. And he knew I had some humorous songs I could play. Before I could say no, Jerrod had found the sign-up sheet and penciled us each in for a 5-7 minute set.

I have played plenty of open mic nights in my time, but never at a comedy club. My songs sometimes make people laugh, but I always assumed it was because they were there for music and had been caught off guard by the comedy. This was a completely new environment, and I was nervous.  I was so nervous that I knew I couldn’t sit there for 45 minutes waiting for my timeslot.  Shortly before show time, I asked the MC if I could go first.

“Yeah,” he said. “Nobody ever wants to go first, so the spot is yours.”

I took the stage, did maybe one minute of banter and then began to play.  My performance was terrible. I forgot the words to my ‘Leo Dicaprio’ song and had to skip a verse. But people actually laughed. And clapped. And when I came off stage, other comedians shook my hand and treated me like I was one of their own. Jerrod took the stage after me, and he killed. When he walked off stage, he was grinning from ear to ear.

 The moral of the story is that I allowed myself to be talked into trying something new, and I had an experience I will never forget. So step outside your comfort zone, play somewhere or something new. The worst that can happen is that you bomb, and even that makes a pretty great story.

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.


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Guitar Poster

Guitar Poster
By Pappy

It's a funny thing, the preconceived notions of guitar players and guitars.  GearGiveaway 365, a blog that I highly recommend you subscribing to (but only if you like the potential of winning a ton of cool stuff), recently published this picture.  If you really like it, you can buy it HERE.

I think it's particularly entertaining that my favorite shapes put me somewhere between "sort of a creep" and "St. Stephen."

Where do you fall in on this roster?

For the full-sized picture to look at for free, you can go HERE, but for now, here's a smaller version to check out!  You can click it to make it bigger!

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This post was brought to you by SixStrings.de, a German music-lessons website that offers high-quality lessons in the German language. I hear this is fairly rare, so if it helps a guitarist learn more with greater speed I am all for promoting it! Check them out!

Washburn WD20SCE Review

Washburn WD20SCE Review
By Pappy

I’ve only recently gotten into acoustic guitars and I feel like my life is much better for doing so.  There’s something awesome about cutting out a ton of stuff between you and the music.  If you pick up an acoustic you are no longer concerned with pots, switches, swapping pickups, different kinds of cables to different amps, the quality of the pedals between the two, the kind of speakers in the amp, etc. etc.  You’re just strumming or picking along and the music is coming out unhindered.

It frees the mind.

Now, that’s not to say that you can’t worry about some of the above things though.  Acoustics with an electric capability have the potential to make a player think about things like quality of cables, amps, and pickups, but it seems to me that people worry about this less when they play acoustics.

Or perhaps they worry about it more, but in a different way!  I hear electric guitarists often saying they want to change or shape their tone differently.  I’m one of these people.  I have only heard acoustic players say they want the sound of their natural acoustic, only louder.  There’s no shaping going on, merely amplifying in the true sense of the word, the natural beauty of their guitar.  Because it’s the acoustic tone they fell in love with in the first place.

But when it comes to acoustics, the lack of variable numbers doesn’t mean you’re worry-free.  The variables that do exist only matter more.  This specific type of wood sounds different than that one, this kind of bracing, body shape, scale, where the neck joins the body, string type, etc.  These only seem to matter more than on an electric guitar.

Suffice it to say, you can worry a lot about your guitar.  Generally though, I’m much more relaxed behind an acoustic.

The problem is that quality acoustics are expensive.  The budget models often feature uncomfortably high action, sub-par wood choices, an unpleasant tone, or at the very least, less beautiful aesthetic options.

A lot of budget acoustics (or just budget guitars in general) are very stripped down looks-wise.

At least, that’s how it used to be.

Washburn sent me a review unit of their WD20SCE and it’s a pretty sweet guitar.  It features a dreadnought shape with a cutaway, solid Alaskan Sitka Spruce top, scalloped bracing, rosewood sides and back, satin mahogany neck with a two-way truss rod, rosewood fingerboard, bone nut and saddle, a rosewood-capped headstock, and an onboard tuner and Fishman preamp system.  It also features binding all over the place and a very pretty rosette.

Photo Courtesy of USMC

In short, it’s a traditional guitar that is packed with a bunch of quality touches to make it look and feel much more expensive than it really is.  The satin neck feels great to play and the action is set low enough to make playing a breeze.  It can start to rattle a bit if you strum too hard, but that’s a small thing to worry about.  The sound is pleasant when played acoustically and overall it feels like you would expect when you close your eyes and think “traditional guitar.”  What you may not expect is binding around the neck, headstock and body but it’s there.  On my review unit, some areas of the binding were darker than others which might indicate a susceptibility to UV light and there were some areas where seams between binding spots were obvious.  At first, I expected more but then I noticed the price of the guitar.

If you do a search on Google for this guitar, it generally comes up with a price of $299.00.

My critical eye was blinded.

Less than $300 and THIS guitar was the result?  This guitar felt like it was worth so much more – looked like it was worth so much more – played like it was worth so much more and in the end I found out it was affordable by just about ANY guitar player?

Ridiculous!  This guitar is ridiculously good for $299.00.  It sounds good, plays well, feels amazing thanks to the satin neck, looks amazing, and seems like it can stand up to live scenarios provided you remember it’s an acoustic and not a stronger, solid body electric guitar.  This guitar seems like it would be just as great of an option for bringing out on tour as it would be bringing to the studio.  It’s got THAT traditional tone that comes with spruce/rosewood combination and a dreadnought shape.

And it’s cheap enough to not worry as much about while you’re out and about.  If it gets stolen or damaged beyond repair it will be sad, sure, but you’re never too far away from being able to afford a new one!

Brilliant.

As a couch guitar, it’s a little big (it’s a dreadnought after all) but it will certainly do.  The volume is a bit loud so I wouldn’t advise playing it while you’re with someone who’s trying to watch TV in the same room, but that volume is a good thing when you’re alone or in front of people that want to hear you play.

AND it can be plugged in.  The control panel is a little large and the input jack isn’t as subtly installed as you would find on more expensive guitars, but the on-board tuner works (a blessing for those of us that forget clip-on tuners at home or you’re looking for a quick tuning while on stage), and the electric aspect of the guitar sounds pretty awesome as well.

In short, it’s a quality guitar that I figured cost somewhere between 800 and 900 dollars.  Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine such a quality guitar would cost $299.00.  That is laughably low and that makes this a solid deal for anyone who is looking for their first acoustic, a road warrior, a traditional-sounding tool for the studio, or just a nice guitar to sit on the porch with and play.

Want to hear it for yourself?  Check out these videos:

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This post is brought to you by Guitar Noize!  Guitar Noize is one of my favorite blogs. It's also one of the biggest guitar blogs out there offering readers news, reviews, giveaways, lessons, press releases, interviews, an ebook on expanding your skills and it's all wrapped up in a slick page design (seriously, guitar cords as borders? That's awesome). Check them out, put them in your RSS reader (like Google Reader) so you can read all the posts and stay up to date in the world of guitar.

Pro Tone Pedals BOGOF

Pro Tone Pedals Gives You Another Shot
By Pappy

Pro Tone Pedals recently had a weekend sale that flew in the face of everything that we as guitarists have become accustomed to.  Where most companies have been raising prices, especially boutique companies, Pro Tone Pedals said that for one weekend they could buy a pedal and if they recorded a five minute video with at least three minutes of playing - something that isn't difficult and you would probably want to do anyway to help any friends on their tonal journeys - he would send you a FREE PEDAL.

That's a great deal.

There was a problem with the sale though - mainly that it fell on a weekend when most people's rent was due.

So Dennis at Pro Tone decided to try again and THIS WEEKEND (right now) you can hook yourself up with this great deal.

Here's Dennis talking about it:

The rules are super easy.  You can buy a pedal (limited to two (2)), record your videos, and get up to two FREE pedals of equal or lesser value for your work.  No signature pedals for free though because the artist who's name is on the pedal gets royalties and it's tough to pay royalties from a free pedal.  But you CAN buy the signature pedal and have a good amount of credit for your free pedal.

So what about you folks?  Who thinks they're going to participate in this sale?


As for me, I've been saving for a custom Taylor guitar but this is a REALLY sweet deal and I don't know if I'll be able to resist it for a second time.  The Monster Fuzz was one of my favorite reviews and it's really been bugging me that I don't have one of my own, the Viking's claim of Marshall-in-a-box is pretty enticing as I cut my teeth on Marshall crunch, and the P.E. Delay and Harvey Trem both look and sound amazing and would cut down on my rockabilly footprint on the floor...

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By sheer COINCIDENCE, this post is brought to you by Pro Tone Pedals (in case you didn't notice, the sponsors rotate in order)!  Pro Tone Pedals make some of the most unique sounding and looking pedals I've ever seen in my life. His pedals will always stand out on a pedal board and when you click them on, there's going to be heads turning. They make high-quality, investment-grade pedals that have amazing sounds to match their amazing looks. Check out their site and take a look at the videos, listen to the sound samples and see what Pro Tone can offer you!

Mod Kits DIY Mod 102 Amp Kit Build Pt. 2

Last time, I documented the building process of the Mod 102 amp that was... unsuccessful at first, so I loaded it up, brought it to Bliss Stock and had pickup Yoda Clint Searcy, and 5th Fret contributor (and soul-mate in guitar construction fancies) Dave MacLeaod to take a look at it.  


Clint picks up where I left off!


-Pappy


Mod Kits DIY Mod 102 Amp Kit Build Pt. 2
By Clint Searcy


Yes, when Pappy showed up at Bliss Stock with his very recently built Mod 102 kit we were all excited to hear it.  When all it did was hum Pappy decided to leave it here and let me and Dave Mac try to sort out the issue. Pappy is a sharp cat so we were pretty sure there was simply a misplaced wire or some such small issue with the amp. I asked Pappy to send me the instructions. What I got was a PDF from MOD called The MOD 102 Trouble Shooting Supplement. I have to say these instructions are fantastic! Clean easy to follow drawings that are very easy to read and understand with no confusing schematics or terminology. If you have ever thought "I'd like to get into amp building but it must require a lot of training and special skills" this kit may be your thing. If you can work a screw driver, soldering iron, file and a multimeter you can do this.   

So anyway, After getting the trouble shooting guide I went about double checking the wiring to make sure there wasn't a mistake there. Very quickly I found the issue. There was a missing jumper on the preamp tube from pin 4 to pin 5. I fired up my soldering iron and fixed the issue and ran off to try the amp using the 8 Ohm Epi Valve Jr. cabinet. It worked!! Great sounding little amp and I jammed for about half an hour before the sound started to die off and the amp went quite again. RATS!

I cracked it open again and found another issue I had over looked before.  There were a few places where the leads from the components were touching things they shouldn't.  Mainly the lead for the .42Mfd tone cap was shorted against the case of the Bass control pot.  I just bent the wire around to make clearance between it and the pot and double checked all the other wires to make sure there were no more shorts. Once I was satisfied that there was no inappropriate touching going on I plugged the speaker into the amp and the amp into the wall. Boom! We were rockin again. 

Then I get an email from Pappy asking if I would like to work with him on this review for the collaboration show. "Sure! " says I.  Let me fire up the amp and get some sound samples for the review.  So off I go. I turn on the amp and let it warm up a bit while playing the SG through it. Then it starts to fizzle a bit and cut out. I wiggle the knobs and the jack and it comes back on. Then it dies again all together. "damn!".  I open it up again and check to make sure there are not other issues with shorting. I don't see anything. It all looks good. Figuring the previous issues may have shortened the life of the tubes I swap them with the valves from my Epi Valve Jr. Still nothing. I sit and think.... and think.... I don't know what's wrong. It looks like the power tube isn't even lighting up. While trying to get a better look at the tubes with the power on I inadvertently touched one of the screws in the chassis. The tube lights up. I move my finger away and it goes out again. Bingo!! We have found the issue. Every one of the 6 terminal strips in the amp use the chassis as a common point of ground. This is done by using one of the terminal lugs as a bolt tab for bolting the terminal to the chassis. Thus, any wire connected to that lug will be connected to ground. This is common practice by many amps makers. The problem here is that the MOD amp chassis is finished in a very tough type of high quality paint which should be sanded off at each of the bolt holes to insure a good path to ground. When I touched the screw head and the chassis handle at the same time my finger provided the path to ground and the amp came on. When I removed my finger the path was broken. I opened the amp back up and removed the offending bolt. I used the tip of a dry wall screw to scratch away all the paint around the hole and then put the bolt back. The amp has been rocking ever since.     

So given all these issues how would I rate this kit? Well the amp sounds great!! I mean really great tube break up that wont blow your windows out. Put a TS9 in front of it and you really have a lot of fire power for very little money.  The components and the chassis are high quality. The trouble shooting guide I was sent is very good. If you understand a few basics about electrical work, take your time and double check your work you can end up with a killer 5W amp for about $215. 

The three problems that came up with this build are all user error. Pappy would have figured out the first issue easy just by double checking the work. The second and third issues, not letting uninsulated wires such as those coming out of a capacitor or resister touch anything and sand the paint off the chassis at every bolt hole, are the sort of things a novice would not know if it were not explained in the instructions.   

Stay tuned for some sound clips!

Clint 



Many thanks to Clint for trouble-shooting the amp and getting it back in running order.  Also, thanks for the write up!


Now let's talk sound samples! 


Clint originally recorded two sound samples and did a great job (they're below), but what he did after that was go above and beyond and record a video with the amp set at the same settings, using the same riff, with a TON of different guitars so you can hear how transparent the amp is and how much of your guitar is going to shine through.


That's super awesome.


Tele Sample:


 Tele Kit Amp by Fifth Fret 


 ModKits DIY Mod 102 Kit Amp With Les Paul by Fifth Fret 





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This post has been brought to you by ModKitsDIY.com. They provide kits for building your own pedals or amps and they come with clear and easy-to-follow instructions. If you do happen to get stuck, they're always there to contact and walk you through whatever trouble you may be having. Save yourself some money on your next pedal or amp by building it yourself with a kit from these fine folks.

ModKits DIY Inducer Release

PRESS RELEASE:

NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2011

New Limited Edition Kit from MODTM Kits DIY, “The Inducer”– for Beefy Vacuum Tube Distortion

The Inducer is a Limited Edition tube distortion pedal kit designed around a New-Old- Stock 6189W JAN (Joint Army/Navy) Philips vacuum tube. This 6189 is a premium grade 12AU7 that was ruggedized for reliable operation in military mobile, shipboard, and aviation communications equipment, making it ideal for use in an effects pedal. This tube is characterized by reduced microphonics, excellent linearity, and long life. When driven hard, as it is in this Limited Edition pedal, it produces beefy distortion.

The Inducer uses the same classic circuit as the MODTM Persuader Kit, but the 6189 gives the Inducer rich distorted fuzz. There will only be 30 of these Limited Edition kits made and they are sure to go fast. Each has a hand designed box will be the envy of all your fellow musicians.

MODTM Kits are designed to give novice and experienced musicians the opportunity to build their own amps and effects pedals. All kits come with easy to follow instructions and use point-to-point wiring. A pre-drilled enclosure and all parts are included. All you need to provide are hand tools, a soldering iron and solder. The effect pedals operate on a 9V battery; for a longer lasting option, a 9-volt adapter can be purchased separately.

For a complete listing of kits available from MODTM Kits DIY visit

www.modkitsdiy.com 

Mod Kits DIY Mod 102 Amp Kit Build

Mod Kits DIY Mod 102 Amp Kit Build

By Pappy

Want to know something I love? Legos. I always have. This love allows me to enjoy all sorts of things that are strange or off-center for a typical guy my age like Project Runway and assembling amplifiers.

What does Lego have to do with Project Runway and amps?

The draw of Legos is that you're limited by your imagination and you are building something out of nothing. You're taking small blocks and making whatever you want from them. How is this not appealing? It's this idea - this creation of something from nothing (or very little) and making something usable/beautiful/practical/astounding/amazing that makes me see the fun in making clothes on project runway or why I had so much fun hunched over a file cabinet (my makeshift work desk) in my office spending just over seven hours making this amp kit.

So what is the Mod 102? Well, basically it's a lower-powered, easier to build version of the big brother known as the Mod 101. The Mod 101 is a big amp, power-wise offering up a whopping 60 watts and also giving the builder thirty-two circuit variations to make sure that they build the amp they want to play.

After only a couple instructions, it already starts to look like an amp.

Having butchered an amp build from an unnamed company previously, but having successfully assembled a pedal (also from Mod Kits DIY), I knew that wanted more of the fun of the pedal and to conquer my own fear of putting together an amp. I wanted to start easy though. I needed low power (5 watts) and no circuit options. I also needed great instructions.

Let's be honest here: if you don't have good instructions for an amp kit you essentially bought a gigantic waste of space and money. most parts can't even function as paperweights because they're too light. The chassis and transformer, maybe, but everything else? No way.

Mod Kits DIY packs their kits with instructions that are second to none. I have never seen better. This isn't to say that some parts of the instructions are a little odd. Toward the end of the build I found myself wishing I had used bottom connectors that would have had the same result instead of the top connectors because now space on the pins is at a high premium and my fingers can only do so much.

Feeding all the wires through and realizing I put the tube sockets in upside-down.

The other thing that was odd about the instructions was the parts list. The parts list and inventory used certain values for some of the resistors but those were different numbers than what was actually written on the resistor. That wasn't such a hard issue to resolve, it took one trip to Google and I wrote down the conversion next to the picture on the parts list and moved on.

EDIT: ModKitsDIY has since changed the parts list and instructions to reflect the values printed on the actual part.

By the end of the build I wanted to get my hands on another one to try again to see if I could build it cleaner and faster, but I DID finish the build and everything looked OK. I felt pretty satisfied and discovered that no-one but another person who has messed with amps will appreciate the work that you put into it. I don't know how many times I tried to explain to my wife that what I did was awesome, but it doesn't matter. Every time she would look at pictures, her eyes would glaze over indicating a lack of knowledge of what she's looking at and - somewhere just under that - another look that said she didn't care.

Beware. I don't think this is uncommon.

I spent a lot of time on this one little area so when it was time to move on I felt pretty proud.

Here's another great thing about the instructions: they tell you everything to do. Not just how to assemble it, but what to do before and after assembling it. For instance, you have to file away the paint in every hole to make sure you have a good ground connection. Do this before you build. I would encourage using a real tool to do this. I used a bunch of thin nail files (because my wife doesn't see the point in investing in metal files or rarely-used things like multimeters) and spent a good hour trying to file away the paint and this didn't work out so well.

More on that later though.

The amp's guts are starting to take shape!

Then AFTER the build it said to go through every connection and test it out with a multimeter. Building amps is a very dangerous hobby. You can hurt or kill yourself. Find ONE amp kit maker that doesn't include this somewhere in the instructions or website and I will show you and amp kit maker that has opened themselves up to a lawsuit.

But I did not have a multimeter because, as I covered before, I have a very cheap frugal wife who rules this land with an financial iron fist. So I just looked at the connections, ran through the instructions again and decided everything looked OK, like it wouldn't kill me.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS IN AN ATTEMPT AT QUALITY ASSURANCE!

One more section being completed

I decided to leave it alone until Bliss Stock, a small convention of Six String Bliss listeners and us hosts where more experienced people would be who would actually have multimeters (contributor Dave MacLeod actually brought one all the way from England and told me I could keep it!). I posted on Facebook that the curiosity was bugging me and at the prodding of Satellite Amplifiers builder Adam Grimm, I decided to give it a whirl.

With every electrical warning running through my head and having witnessed first-hand the destruction it caused my brother during an electrocution he endured, I plugged in my guitar but left it on the stand so it wouldn't, you know, be ON me if my wiring skills would reveal lethal powers, and turned the amp on using a Doc Martin sole.

That looks really weak when you read it, but I was just being as safe as a crazy guy could be.

It sounded awful. There was a hum in there, you could hear power but there was no sound from my guitar.

I turned off the amp and whined on Facebook and Adam said that a hum was better than no sound at all and to go through with a multimeter and check it out.

Almost Done

Ha.

I would have to wait until the weekend of Bliss Stock to see what I had done wrong building it. I was sure the blame lay with these hands and not with Mod Kits DIY.

Until the weekend though, I was able to sit and look at it. The chassis is a tough piece of metal that is not messing around. It's also pretty spacious considering the amount of stuff you're putting into it. This doesn't mean at times you won't be wishing you had even more space, but I honestly don't think a chassis of any size would be big enough for a first or second-time builder to feel totally comfortable in the confines of.

The amp could be classified as a lunchbox amp if you lost the lid of your lunchbox. The transformer and tubes sit on top of the amp proudly and I think it looks really cool that way. It comes with metal handles you bolt to the side of the amp for easier portability too.

The gray of the chassis looks good as well.

All done with wiring.  Now I work on aesthetics!

I think the best part is that, just as it was with the boost pedal I built, you can see where Mod Kits DIY cut corners and it's exactly where you would want corners to be cut. While there are (oddly enough) amp kit makers that charge boutique prices for YOU to put together their amp, chances are you would like to save some money by doing the labor. Mod Kits DIY gets that. The decals are printed on stickers of questionable quality and after putting them on, I may even be inclined to take them off again and just write what they represent with a sharpie, giving it even more of a homemade look. The rubber feet are also adhesively applied, not screwed in like you would find on high-end amps or pedals and this is just fine with me. I think there's a place for all those little touches, but that place is most definitely not in a 5w amp kit that sells for a measly $215.00.

If a company is going to cut corners I would MUCH rather it be in areas that I don't care about like labels over knobs or the rubber feet it stands on than in the quality of the transformer, tubes or cord. I most definitely want quality in those areas.

It's refreshing to see a company that has their priorities in order.

All done.  Now it just needs to be trouble-shot.

So, the amp looked good to me, but I couldn't make it sing. I had to take it to Bliss Stock where my buddies Clint Searcy and Dave MacLeod would take a look at it with me. Dave was only going to be there for a couple of days so it would probably be Clint doing most of the work if there was a lot of work to be done (and I hoped there wasn't) and I was just getting to the Tennessee border before I realized that in my packing I forgot one thing.

The instructions.

This was going to be a fun weekend.

Check out PART TWO where pickup yoda Clint Searcy explains his take on the Mod 102 and his experiences in trying to fix what I messed up. -Pappy


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Playing Sincerely

Playing Sincerely
By PT

This morning I listened to a great interview with magician/comedian/outspoken-guy Penn Jillette on the podcast ‘The Nerdist’. It was long conversation, but I’ll share just one thought from the interview. Penn was talking about how the things he says and does are sometimes interpreted as sarcastic. He said that he really dislikes that perception. The real enemies of great art, in his opinion, are sarcasm and cynicism.

As a musician, that idea really struck a note (PT said unironically).  I play guitar for a lot of reasons. It relaxes me. It is fun. It is a great way to connect with my musician friends. But rarely these days do I play with the explicit goal of expressing my sincere thoughts and emotions.

I look back on all the songs I wrote in my teens and early twenties. There were a lot of them and they were terrible. Reading the lyrics induces spontaneous cringing, and I blush at the thought of all the friends, relatives and even strangers I subjected to performances of those cliché-ridden tunes. At the same time, there was an openness, a heart-on-my-sleeve vibe to those songs. I was writing, singing and playing from the heart.

These days I play sarcastic covers of Madonna hits at parties and write smarmy songs about super-heroes and Leo DiCaprio. I know that humor has its place, and just because something is funny doesn’t mean it isn’t emotionally honest. I am proud of my more comedy-driven stuff. But at the same time, I miss the PT who wrote those terrible songs so long ago.

Is it possible to get back to that passion? Life certainly doesn’t seem as filled with drama and gravitas as it did in my teenage years. But maybe, just maybe, it is possible to reclaim youth to some small extent through our music. What do you think?

PT Hylton is the co-host of the guitar talk podcast Six-String Bliss. He also writes fiction and has been known to throw a little disc golf. He lives in the birthplace of country music.


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This post was brought to you by Shanghai Music & Sound! It's a great shop where you can get all sorts of gear from your favorite companies at great prices. The website needs updating so call or email to find out if they have specifically what you want or if they can order it for you and if SO, how much it is. A lot of music companies are adopting MAP (Minimum Advertised Price) so you have to call or email to get the REAL price.

Second Hand

Second Hand

By Pappy

For those that don't know, there's a store called Gamestop. Gamestop has a pretty brilliant business model where they sell new video games but also accept trade-ins of games people no longer want. They give a certain amount of store credit (no cash, that I know of) per game and you are going to use it in the store to buy a new game. The odds of you trading in games of enough value to buy one brand new game are pretty slim, but even if you did, Gamestop just got a bunch of games for the price of one.

Then they turn around and sell the used games at a much higher cost than what they paid for it.

The genius of this business model is that Gamestop gets 100% of the profits when they sell used games. All money is kept in-house company-wise. There are no royalties being shelled out somewhere along the line to the company that published the game, the firm that designed and produced the game, the writers that wrote the script, the testers, the graphic artists, etc. etc. ALL of the money goes into Gamestop's coffers.

The difference in savings is usually minimal too! A new used game is usually about $5.00 cheaper than a brand new one. I know five bucks is five bucks but when it's five bucks in savings off a $60.00 game, you can see how the difference isn't very staggering.

I began to question whether $5.00 in savings was enough of a savings to warrant buying a used game and giving ZERO to the company that made the game in the first place.

Seemed a bit wrong, honestly.

Then I started thinking about guitars and the popularity of the used guitar market. It's wildly popular and obvious why. Like video games, guitar models are only available for a certain time, so used may be the only option and there's always the fact that we guitarists LOVE the vintage stuff for whatever reason and vintage is basically just used stuff.

As a community, it seems like guitar companies are merely producing gear that we will want in twenty years, not necessarily what we want right now.

I don't BLAME the guitar community. I mean, besides the above reasons, the economy is tough, we're all generally broke, and some guitars just had better years than the newest one.

Still, there is something wrong with this mentality, if only just a little. How many times have you heard someone say they really want a new guitar, but it's just too expensive right now so they'll wait for someone to buy it, the honeymoon period to wear off, and then they'll snatch it from them on eBay for a much lower price?

I hear that ALL the time. And when I do hear that I think that the company producing it will have no idea just how popular the guitar is or how much it's desired in the guitar community. They'll just see low sales figures and discontinue the model. And who does that benefit? I mean besides the people who buy guitars and never play them, instead preferring to shove them under beds and treated like large retirement assets.

And who wants to support THEM?

There's a middle step though between brand new and discontinued and it's an unfortunate one as well. The shops that have the guitars in stock are forced to reduce the amount of money they're selling it for and lessen their profit margin, possibly putting them out of business.

I tell you, when you really think about it, the used market is a real bummer!

My idea for a better guitar world? Buy more new stuff. I don't mean to say ignore the used market entirely. That would be hypocritical of me. I've bought and sold used stuff, love going to pawn shops, look for deals, etc. But if there's something that's really awesome and you think it's fairly priced (perhaps on the high side of "fair"), perhaps you should invest in the guitar.

In this case you wouldn't be investing in the guitar itself, but in the company that made it. You're showing more support, voicing your love of the model and essentially "voting with your dollars" as my dad would always say.

This seems ESPECIALLY important when buying boutique. I don't think I've met a single boutique builder that is rolling in the dough. Every sale matters and the used market seems like their biggest competitor. Not the company offering a similar item, but the buyer who is selling them second-hand either because they're unsatisfied with their purchase or (more disturbingly) because there's a waiting list for the item from the manufacturer and people see the opportunity to make a few bucks off the business of the company.

For giggles, search on eBay, GBase or Craigslist for a Tim pedal and then go look at how much they cost if you order from the company and accept a waiting period before you get it. The numbers between the two fluctuate, but generally, I've always been shocked by the difference.

Hmmm, writing this, I can see how some would say I'm against capitalism. Really, my sights aren't so grandiose, I just don't want my favorite companies to go out of business because people are sitting on their hands, waiting for the guitars, amps or pedals to go to the used market so they can save a few bucks and feel good about themselves.

Somewhere between buying new exclusively and buying used exclusively, I believe there's a middle ground that will keep you as a buyer happy and the guitar companies happy too.

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This post is brought to you by Guitar Noize!  Guitar Noize is one of my favorite blogs. It's also one of the biggest guitar blogs out there offering readers news, reviews, giveaways, lessons, press releases, interviews, an ebook on expanding your skills and it's all wrapped up in a slick page design (seriously, guitar cords as borders? That's awesome). Check them out, put them in your RSS reader (like Google Reader) so you can read all the posts and stay up to date in the world of guitar.