Welcome!

Roger Mayer Page-1

2010-06-15T08:26:00.000-07:00

I wrote to Roger Mayer, and asked him why the Page-1 pedals (which are really fantastic... that and my Way
Huge Red Llama are together on my board... with tons of BJFE pedals) are no longer in production... I mentioned
that I had heard online various rumors, including the 'lack of NOS parts to make them' and 'Jimmy Page doesn't
want his name used on the pedals'. Roger (on the far left in the photo above) wanted me to post this reply...
As usual the story is wrong.
We will be producing another run of the Page-1 soon.
It was only ever meant to be a limited edition anyway.
Please feel free to let people know this on the various blogs etc and to set the record straight.
There was never a problem with JP and we have plenty of NOS.

Custom BJFE Pedal

2010-02-05T11:37:00.001-08:00

Bjorn at BJFE Pedals (also known as the Mad Professor) cooked me up this little number... it is pure Punkrock for my mind. Somber and yet satisfying... tons of crunch. My favorite setting is volume cranked (11), distortion cranked (11)... and the treble set around half way (5). Absolutely no pretensions... just like Sid or Johnny would have wanted. What the doctor (professor) ordered, and more! This is all not surprising of course, since it did come from the mind of the Mad Professor, who has lots of practice working in his lab with his soldering iron. This is seldom true when purchasing other pedals though... how many times have we all been on Ebay, and seen some amazing looking pedal... maybe it has some acid etched design, or possibly it is sandblasted or even done in some groovy paint scheme. Such pedals are always described with superlatives such as 'Amazing Jimi Vibe', or 'Stevie Ray in a box'... or possibly 'Amazing metal crunch meets Slash of Guns and Roses'. So we order it, and wait the long days for our EBay purchase to arrive. And you guessed... we plug it in and .... that standard generic distortion that so many pedals out there have. Not so with this little black box. It's a 'keeper'... and is going next to some of my other pedals that are irreplaceable to me... like BJFE's LGW, his BBO (Baby Blue Overdrive), and of course my Red Llama, by Way Huge.... oh, and too many other BJFE creations to mention... but I might be doing so in future posts. (Almost certainly for sure!).

Mad Professor/ BJFE Wah Wah Interview

2010-02-03T15:20:00.000-08:00

FCSG: Wonderful to speak with you again Mad Professor. I heard the other day that you are modifying Rocket Ride Wah pedals for Custom Sounds in Finland. I have heard that having Tropical Fish Capacitors in Wah's is one of the ingredients to getting that Jimi Hendrix Wah sound right.

BJF: Tropical Fish... yes, those were known as 'Bon Bon' capacitors due to how they look (just like Candy). They were originally used in all types of consumer-grade electronics, including Wah pedals. If they are in your Wah it would indicate when it was made, judging from when this type of capacitor was an 'off the shelf' item. One thing to consider is that Tropical Fish capacitors are fragile at the ends where the legs join the body. Considering the way Wah's were generally used they could also lead to unnecessary noise, hum, radio interference and because of this they can also be troublesome.
Oh, I've just designed the modification for the Rocketride Wha aswell as other Rocketride Effects while I don't preform the modifications www.rocketride.com

FCSG: Wah's are discussed online, and apparently there is more than one way to build a Wah pedal... including a Vox Style Inductor-based Wah, a Twin-T Circuit, Multiple Feedback Opamp Active Filter Circuit and 'State Variable' Style Circuit like the Mutron 3.

BJF: Yes, there are many ways to make a Wah. We can get the Wah effect by a moving low pass filter with resonance (this means a filter that cuts frequencies above a corner frequency at a certain rate per octave, but at the corner frequency there is a peak... or a moving midnotch filter can also be used. The point of using a low pass filter would be to keep content below corner frequency relatively intact, or the sound can become thin. A similar sound can be achieved with a phase shifter since those operate by moving midnotches up and down and resonance can also be introduced. There are of course many Wah variants and circuits that don't use inductors. Avoiding the use of an inductor would of course be attractive since they are expensive, and are also a bulky component that is actually highly sensitive to magnetic fields.

FCSG: Of course I love Inductors. I personally would prefer a Wah to have a good inductor, and... of course... FISH!

BJFE: Yes, in fact... inductors of suitable sizes are rarely used these days in any electronic equipment anymore... as a sidenote, Aleksander Neimand of Tubewonder amplifiers told me they used tape recorder heads for inductors in Wah's many years ago in Poland since there was one head that had about the correct properties, and inductors were hard to find. These days though, if you want an inductor you can order a suitable one as there are specialty suppliers for this.
If you are looking at a Wah cicuit, and are wondering what parts to make an effort to put in, I'd recommend looking at the gain of the first transistor, and this can be adjusted via the emitter load, if necessary. Also look at the components around the feedback network of the first transistor.

FCSG: I was looking at Teese Wahs... but read somewhere that they can develop dead spots at either end of their travel... what can you say about this please?

BJFE: Dead spots along the travel of the pot indicate something could be wrong with the pot and this is also the part that wears out in the Wah first. Replacing the pot properly requires placing the cogwheel and the tooth bit so that there is a tiny/ minimal gap so there is no pressure to the rotor from the side, or the pot will soon break again. One can also place a small amount of grease in the gap to make the Wah run smoothly.
I think Teese would be most helpful in assisting anyone with such a problem. There are about ten Teese Wah's here in the shop, and none of them here have any signs of the dead spots you mentioned... with the internet, this type of thing can become overblown.

FCSG: My dream Wah would have been a brand new Clyde McCoy-like Wah... with tropical fish, and NOS inductor for instance... but now I might be inclined to consider making some changes (after all you have said...).

BJFE: Have you ever played a McCoy Wah?

FCSG: Yes, a friend of mine who spent his life playing the Blues with a Les Paul swore by them ... and I think he got one of the 'good ones' (I know it was hit and miss)... he let me try it out... I was a kid at the time, and thought one Wah sounded like another...

BJFE: Once more thing about the tropical fish... some 25 years ago or so, I'd walk down the street and buy some from the local radio repairman... I thought they were pretty...but if I built a Wah today, I would certainly use some other type of plastic caps/ films. They can do all Fish can do, and more. Fish were meant to be easy to read due to their color coding, although the last band sometimes got hidden. And as I said, the leg joint to the body is a bit fragile and some of those Bon Bon's therefore have expander bends on the legs, to absorb vibrations. Phillips made another capacitor that was orange but built in a similar way... but I haven't seen those in many years. The legs can come of these capacitors near the body due to vibrations in transportation.
The most common problem with Wahs though is worn down pots and switches. Of course, these are mechanical parts that see heavy use/ stress.

Most old effects for guitar use Pertinex circuit boards... which can also crack with time, and due to vibrations.
In the 1970's, glass fiber boards were twice as expensive, and only used in expensive equipment in those days... meanwhile, you hardly ever see anything anymore with Pertinax boards anymore unless it is something with very low life expectancy.

FCSG: Yes, when I was a kid in the 70's I had some Walkie Talkies, that had the glass boards in them. Is there anything else that breaks down in Wah's that you come across?

BJFE: I think, other than what I mentioned, maybe some jacks and battery clips, and sometimes electrolytic capacitors... and there is one specific one that if it dries out it turns a Wah into a swell pedal (!).
to build a Wah to someone's order is a very personal thing. It can be a very personal effect. There are many way it can be done... of course Aleksander lived near a factory that made the tape recorder heads, and there are none of those left anymore!
I can see that would work very well, due to shielding and also that the inductance was right spot on too.
I was at a guitar show a few years ago, and was asked to Demo some Wahs. I had to take a second to recall when I had last played a Wah publicly... and maybe it had been 15 years! Often I'd use a Bud Wah with a Strat due to the fact it is 'middy', but this particular day, I was sitting with my Les Paul*, and found the Wah's at my disposal were the Mollon Wah... which was more pleasing because of the tone... more Vintage, and thinner... as you can see, what guitar you are playing with the Wah can have a big effect.

*Oh and if we are going to be exact it wasn't my own Les Paul but one supplied by the distributor I was representing ;)
as a sidenote
I used the same guitar to demonstrate the LouderandMore amplifier at the same show, while that's neither orderable through Custom-Sounds. Harri has one though.
I mention it only because I do see it would seem that anything I design or make would be orderable through Custom-Sounds but that is not necessarily the case.

JM Rolph Pickups

2010-01-26T16:03:00.000-08:00

So what are the best pickups that I have found to date? I just put a JM Rolph humbucker into my Charvel guitar (yes, the EVH style single humbucking version). It (as Gearmanndude might say)....'Rocks my socks off'. The tone difference between those standard pickups that come with every middle of-the-road Les Paul is truly earth shattering. Why? I spent over an hour having a wonderful conversation with Mr Rolph, who gives his knowledge and his time freely, to those sincerely interested in what he does. He sources his own magnets (yes, the ones that go between the two single coils in a humbucker). He sources his own wire (he chooses a specific gage, which he has coated a specific way), and then winds them the way 'they used to', many years ago. A "way's back" there used to be magnet makers near where he lives, and that is just one of the secrets to why the old PAF's sounded so great... Mom and Pop companies making magnets (I guess in smaller batches than big companies do now). Well, JM still has a company to do that. Apparently, winding a humbucker takes planning, proper sourcing of materials, and then some hands-on attention to details. This means how the coils on those pickups are wound, the tension put on the wire during the winding process, and how you stack the coil with the wire. I am certainly sold on his pickups, and I know I am not alone. For me, they are the only ones for me... unless I find some old PAF's lying around in my attic somewhere...

Not the Same Bl**dy Piece of Wood...

2010-01-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

I was just reading a fantastic interview in 'Analog Man's Guide to Vintage Effects' By Tom Hughes. If you don't have this book, you should get it. Roger Mayer (Creator of Roger Mayer Analogue Guitar Effects) is discussing the problem with pedals and guitars, and how hard it is to achieve 'that' sound someone else (usually, famous) has. Have you ever purchased a pedal that was described as being 'Pure Jimi'… got home, plugged it in and… you guessed it… no goosebump effect. It might even be a mildly entertaining pedal, but almost certainly will be headed for EBay soon. Well, Mr Mayer (on page 235) says it all better than almost anyone you will ever come across. Mr Mayer used to play in bands and came to know people like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. He also ended up 'setting up' Jimi Hendrix; tweaking his pedals, guitars and amps to achieve that Jimi sound (but he says you still needed Jimi too, or no sound). He also did Bob Marley's guitars and bass. He makes some fantastic points… (to quote): "One of the things you might stress to your people is that when they hear a sound on a CD, that's a recording; it's got nothing at all to do with the live sound…not to mention that the sound you're actually hearing and trying to emulate is being heard on hi-fi loudspeakers. So someone hears a record and says 'I want to sound like Jimi'. No, what you are saying is you want to sound like the record'. This guy is great, because he mentions (amongst other things) that a reissue 'Jimi Hendrix' guitar might be aged to 'look' like Jimi's guitar… but it is a different piece of wood (he says 'It is not the same bloody piece of wood'), and the player will never play exactly like Jimi. He also mentions that a pedal that sounds great with your amp, with a mike in front the amp, which is going to a PA system, is going to be a totally different setup to getting that sound out of an amp alone… or the amp at a lower volume (for instance). He points out that making sound and effects is a lot more than just buying a box…it's a total package of Guitar, Amp, Pedal(s)… etc.. and the whole set up, and anyone who thinks otherwise is lost. Also, anyone who thinks one guitar can sound exactly like another guitar is also lost… the second guitar might sound fantastic, but… as Mr Mayer says…'it's not the same bloody piece of wood!" Anyway, buy the book, read the interview.. and learn a lot more.

Interview with The Mad Professor (BJFE)

2009-12-06T16:06:00.001-08:00

A few questions for Mr Bjorn Juhl....

FCS: I just bought a Little Green Wonder, and noticed that the circuit board is not
'Gooped' like some of your other pedals circuitboards.

BJ: Little Green Wonder never came with a gooped pcb for the very simple reason that I didn't think it much of a tradesecret and besides I wanted it to be possible for the user to change the chip and further more as a fun note at the time LGW was launched, there was another manufacturer that was known for making a gooped tubecreamer;)

FCS: I also notice that my LGW (Little Green Wonder) has no serial number written inside.

BJ: There is at least one LGW that did not get a serial number and I can still track down approximately when was made, even so I believe I once did one for a guy who collected 8 LGW's outof which one did not have a serialnumber. I have that somewhere......

FCS: I love the early MGMV (Mint Green Mini Vibes) you made.

BJ: Well, only the first two MGMV's were made in that shape of that box and using that type of knob.
Those boxes had to be manually sawed down and new holes drilled and new threads made for new type screws and the knobs were surplus from a factory that was closed and the widow of the late owner might possibly open the doors but only if there were orders for something like 100,000 knobs of one type or there would be no point in starting the machines again......
I believe I mixed the shade of green from tints and just as an experiment........
I believe both of those are in Finland... one bieng Harri's (Custom Sounds)and the other belongs to a guitarist of Finland's biggest band ever, Eppu Normali, which by an odd coincidence means something like Abby Normal or Abnormal and that is also is an inputchoice on the MP amplifier model CS-40.

Anyway, a perhaps fun note about the MGMV is that the demoguitarist for Dr Z amplifiers asked on what was the PRS forums and what is now TGP about MGMV and I sent him then a pm that there were no members that could answer his questions and there were too few units made but he ordered one and wrote the first review and then all MGMV's made up unitil 2003 were made in the same mintgreen as LGW and then later changed to become Mighty Green with gold letters and then various custom colours and also DLX versions.
Someone once ordered a mintgreen MGMV DLX which is possible to make.

FCS: I see you are also modifying Wah Pedals for sale. From my own studies I see that
some of the older McCoy Wahs are inconsistant, and it's not all about one or two parts in those pedals, but many things. In addition, those pedals are older now, and some are in need of repairs.

BJ: Yes it's a sum of many parts but it's a function of gain. Some of the old ones may use electrlytics that may have dried out so they have become volume pedals- I played one such once - a very boring experience- I got it on loan for a rehearsal and while it was the oldest Wah I have ever played it was also the weakest.

In my years as a servicetechnician I have come to see that Wah's are very personal to musicians and next to my workshop there's a store that carries all kinds of gear and the owner brught down all whas at one point since a customer had brought in a particurlarly good late 60's wha to compare and so I asked the owner how he played the Wah and he told me he'd grab the edge and prefer a rapid change towards the last 173 of range and a rather vocal response so I asked if he had a cheap Wah in his range and I'd do an experiment with that and see how he'd like that.

FCSG: Why do you prefer Wah prior to Fuzz (when stacking pedals)?

BJ: Regarding this question I personally prefer Wah prior to fuzz -I know those who definately prefer Wah after fuzz and there is no hard rule.
The reason I prefer Wah before fuzz/ distortion/overdrive is that then I still have a full range of sound while changing the resonance in the midrange and then in a mix the guitar takes about the same space.
I know many prefer Wah after say fuzz and mainly then because these two effects may not play well together dependeing on the makes of either and that can dictate Wah after fuzz while this is never the case with distortion pedals while then the distortion effect in itself can be so dense that the Wah effect drowns it if place ahead of the distortion.......

Again I'd tend not to use that amount of distortion though.

A trick to cut down noise when using Wah with heavy gain is to use an overdrive or compressor ahead of Wah and then a little less distortion after the Wah and thusly level through the Wah is higher above its noise level and amplification of noise after it is lower - this can be of importance at live high level settings and also with recordings and it wil reduce microphonics in the Wah as in sound coming from the shoe touching the rocker.

FCS: Why did Hendrix put his Wah somewhere in the middle of his pedal stack?

BJ: If we'd look at Hendrix' system then he'd have a fuzz that would with in conjunction with his guitar form a filter that would cut high frequencies this due to the low impedance of the fuzz and the high impedance of the guitar.....if he would have put his wha here then the fuzz would have loaded the wha which would have made the wha travel faster and the sound brighter and also the volume lwer when the wha was engaged..........likely this was not desireable-unless amplifier was allready distorting and making up for this loss.......
It is highly possibly that many times Jimi may have run his Fuzz Face first for the above reasons- however he was not a technician but a musician and as such believed in magic and to some extent it is good to believe in magic because magic may also be the spirit that carries the notes and guides what sounds we actually like to hear.

FCS: I went to see the Black Crowes the other night at the Nokia in Los Angeles, and certainly was watching Rich Robinson's foot on his Wah... and noticed the range he used. This was after reading about how Jimi (Hendrix) liked his Wah's set up. On another note... have you ever thought of building pickups?

BJ: At ayoung age I made pick ups too but I could not afford to get a winding machine. I had as a friend a girl who's father made an invention of constant load on coilwinding that could be used for this and he sold it- You know at that age I wouldn't ask if I possibly could have a coil or two wound but I wound them by hand instead myself. Yes, winding is very time consuming and nothing I'd ever consider doing ever again but I was young once.
As a service technician though I have repaiered more guitar pickups than I care to remember. One day I decided I wasn't going to do anymore guitar repairs but only electronics so I sold all guitar parts. I think I may have a couple of spare pick ups but that's all- still come to think of it I have several guitars I have not finished setting up- thank you for reminding me of that.

FCS: I recently went on EBay looking at MXR pedals. The very early ones have become collectible and expensive.. and the circuit boards were silkscreened and prepared in fish tanks in small batches. Some of the originals are having problems with rotting foam inside too. I read in my Pedal Book (by Analog Man) though that someone picked up a lot of old MXR pedal parts, and has been selling assembled pedals on EBay, that may not even function properly. The book warns that if the pedals don't have proper pots you can date, then don't buy the pedal. Any comments?

BJ:

A Phase 90 would have a 500K Reverse Log pot. Yes well I remember MXR they were in many ways tanks in terms of guitar pedals when they came and many fine details like you could stand on the knobs- but the damned foam. The Ebay problem, well that's maybe because after MXR folded and a just a few years ago unused pcbs and boxes and what not was sold on e-bay and some people may have put those together.
One guy wanted an MXR envelope Folllower and had bought a pcb and it was damaged and therefore not used but you know I had not heard one of those in 20 years..I put that in an ecloser that looked nothing like an MXR and with no markings and it does not exist other than to the joy of the owner but there are those that make fakes from rejected parts like this and they may not even know how to get the circuits working correctly but they concentrate on getting it to look correct and like an original so they can get the most money for it .As far as the padding inside, I use neoprane as it makes a no tension no friction mounting. I don't know how well it will hold over 30 years but I'd think better than foam anyway that is what studies of the inner structure of the material shows. Neoprane is the same material as used in divingsuits btw.

Ah you'd laugh I eatch my boards in tupperware.. it's something I asked someone who went to such a party to get me but the tank has held since 1991.

I think MXR in some ways was an inspiration in terms of being indestructable- something they abandoned later in the Command series.
But BOSS took on that I felt though that sound was........well the more fun sounds came from things that were more on the edge of breaking down....

FCS: Yes, the Analog Man book mentions one of the Doobie Brother's MXR pedals was run over by a car, and still survived intact.
You also make MP (Mad Professor) Amps, that are played by some very well known artists. I love the idea of also one day owning a Dumble Amp. He is apparently still alive, and very picky about who he talks to.

BJ:
Right, well the only Dumble amp I ever worked on I serviced just one part or rather I rewired a reverb but promised I would not look at no other part in the am which I also didn't. Somebody asked me if I wanted to have a look but I told I would fix it if it was broken otherwie I was not interested and never heard back.
As a fun note I can tell you that two Dumble owners I have spoken with here each keep their amps one in his kitchensofa and the other in a wardrobe noneof them using them only having them for investment these days
It does seem a waste of equipment.
On another note the other day a guy came by and told he had the sound of his life but it was to heavy so he had to let it go.......
And so he asked me if I'd make him a pedal with this sound.
Considering a sound being so heavy that you would have to let it go when you have it I'd call that a challange......
What he had was a Riviera head one of the early multi channel types that weigh half a ton but he had read on records with artists he liked that played songs he liked with sounds he liked that those were recorded with Dumble amps so he got himself a Twin Reverb and searched for pedals...
This guy is a fun guy with a broad a quick smile and roaring laughter and maybe it is also much for fun a search but the sequence I just told above shows just how myths complicates things where sound would instead easily lead- like get the speaker that fits and the try blasting that with a poweramp and then add preamp- this specifically for this sound that was so heavy that one would have to let it go....
You know I thought maybe at one point I'd like to speak with Dumble and then I'd like to be able to say I never peaked into his amps nor copied him.

FCS: Well, thank you so much Bjorn...

Velcro-Be-Gone

2009-12-05T19:05:00.001-08:00

Ever wondered how to remove that unwanted velcro from your beloved pedal? Needle Nose Plyers... does the job every time! Carefully grab the edge of one corner of the velcro in the end of your plyers, and then begin rolling SLOWLY (I have found the edges of the velcro always have a little corner that is easy to grab to get started). Voila!

Cute Lepers

2009-12-04T16:06:00.001-08:00

(Hey... Ronnie Wood's a fan too)

Vintage Post from The Past....with all the Typo's

2009-12-03T11:49:00.001-08:00

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2007

Mike Nesmith

Met and spoke with Mike Nesmith yesterday. Also had Jury Duty. Live in LA, so rather than deal with the 1+ hour drive from West LA to Downtown the next day (for 7:30 roll-call)... I decided to get a towncar and stay overnight at the 'Standard'. Car came 8:15pm, and nice guy; 50-ish looking guy in a suit, tie, with short greyish hair, helps me get bag into car and drives me off. First off, I ask him if he has ever done Jury Duty... he says yes... he did it four times, once only had to call on the phone only, another time had to go to court, but was not called on a panel, and twice more went in.. but not chosen...even though he really tried to get on a case, and be agreeable. He is driving, and we go by Mary J. Blige's house, and I happen to mention that the car outside waiting in the road is for 'Mary J. Blige', at which point he mentions he used to be in a band in the 60's. I say... ok.. which band (expecting the usual... sax player for 'Mountain'...actually, Mountain are great... try 'Blood of the Sun'). He says...'Have you ever heard of the Monkees?'... I say...'The NEW Monkees?'...he says... 'No, the old ones...'65,'66 etc. So now I am worried.. I am being driven around in a car by a man with a identity disorder. 'Which Monkee?' I ask... and he replies...'Mike Nesmith'. Ok, next great question from me (a man being driven around in a Towncar by Mike Nesmith)....'Why are you driving a towncar?'. As we all know, Mike Nesmith's mother was the 'Liquid Paper' inventor, so unlike other '60's bands, he has no need to drive a car for a living. He also invented 'MTV', is a great success in Video production, and is the originator of Country-Rock as a genre...etc, etc, etc. He also wrote some of the most amazing songs of the past century. He replies...'My son lives in a Condo downtown, so my friend who owns the car company lets me take a car of his and do a run for him on the way downtown at the same time'. Now I am becoming convinced it is Mike Nesmith...sure as heck looks like a slightly older version. Fit and healthy though for his age... hmmmmm...old waves of doubt creep in again. Fate listens to you at all sorts of odd times... I prayed every night to get out of Jury Duty...still got it....meanwhile, three months ago, I told my session player friend on a whim (as we listened to Mike's song 'Joanne' on my iPod player)... 'Boy... if there is really someone I would like to meet..it's Mike Nesmith..but guess I never will.... I am still not telling him how he is one of my favourite musicians... because I am sure it is not really him. (Was there an episode of the Monkees/ Head, where Mike dresses up as a chauffeur). (I also later read about how he has been a prankster since childhood, and I also verified once I got done with jury duty, that this man was indeed Mike Nesmith). More tomorrow....and the end of the story...by the way... he is a really nice guy...

Alligator Arms

2009-11-29T09:11:00.000-08:00

Tell me this is not the best thing ever! I went to a Black Crowes concert last night at the Nokia theater in Los Angeles... and this little box was sitting on top of an amp, right behind Rich Robinson. And even if Brian Setzer is not your thing (he achieves the same sound this little box provides), this is a must-have Christmas request from Santa (but he has to have deep pockets... not alligator arms... when it comes to buying it), since they run around $1080.00.

Clip for the Day

2009-11-28T17:00:00.000-08:00

Stranglers....

Drunk Gorilla's

2009-11-22T08:55:00.001-08:00

I am fairly new to this... having previously owned an all-in-one pedalboard that came with built-in wah/ volume control, and more sounds than a drunk gorilla at the zoo. The correct way to line up your pedals on your new, hand assembled professional pedalboard should be as follows... Line in > Tuner (a Boss tuner is apparently what most people choose) > Filters or Wah (since it works off the signal attack from your playing) > Compressor (put as early as possible due to increased noise level) > Overdrive (which is placed before modulation, therefore not fed modulated sounds) > Modulation ... (like Flangers, Phasers, Chorus and Trem) > Volume (last... since it then will not alter the signal level.. will keep the tone, and allow the delay to finish the job after the volume has been minimized.... finally, reverbs and delays are hard to tame and octave overdrives can produce spikes... so taking all these details... and the noisy gorilla... into account, pedalboard layout should be well planned and properly laid out. If you don't take the time, you risk stifling your board.

Pop Song for the Day...

2009-11-20T08:45:00.001-08:00

Youtube.

BJFe Stack #4

2009-11-17T15:36:00.001-08:00

PGC>BBOD or DRD>HB is another stack mentioned by Bjorn (or BJFe pedals... and DRD stands for Dyna Red Distortion). I'll let him comment from the interview (link in previous post) ... "PGC (Pale Green Compressor) is used to keep approximate level and mainly restrict the peaks lightly and thus add more gas to the engine, while HB (Honey Bee) is used to put a limit so that the harder the system is hit, the more it distorts.. but it can clean up by a mere touch of striking force. HB is also used as an inverse boost, setting a limit to protrudeness of main overdrive distortion. This can set the sound from soft to protruding leads and thus place the guitar back and forth in the sound landscape. HB is also used by itself to give distortion at will, but softer than the clean sound used". I would listen to Bjorn... he probably knows more about pedal effects electronics than most in the business.

BJFe Stack #3

2009-11-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

Directly from Bjorn....'BBOD > DRD > BPB
Using the Master Volume amp analogy - we can set the BBOD to a setting similar to preamp over drive (saturated drive at low level)
and the DRD at lower distortion but raised level so it has more punch and dynamics like a high headroom power amp....
and then use the BPB at the end to simply raise the level of either or both drive pedals......giving us the BBOD by itself , the DRD by itself and the combination of the two and then a straight level boost of any of these or the straight clean signal from the BPB' (I have a RRB... Red Rooster Booster in last position for now... updated photo soon).

BJFe Stacking #2

2009-11-16T14:48:00.000-08:00

Here she is in bad photoshop for all to see (visually) ... what Mr BJFe (Bjorn Juhl) describes as one of his personal favourites... PGC>LGW>DRD. As he says...'PGC is mostly used for clean sounds and DRD provides moderate distortion that can be worked from the volume control while engaging LGW into DRD gives this very easily played "hero" sound. It is great fun, as it has very high gain but is still well defined enough that any chord sustains for the longest time. This sound combination is quite different from just turning up the distortion of DRD. Depending on the which amp is used... add Sea Blue EQ or HB (Honey Bee).... some salt, paprika and maybe a little other seasoning.

I Know You Wanted It....

2009-11-15T16:51:00.001-08:00

Following the advice given by Bjorn himself, in the interview here, with Six String Soul, I am going to Photoshop (not meant to be picture perfect) the stacking setups of his pedals that he recommends. He says that "stacking" is a craze to some gearheads, and that the above combination (described in the interview as: PGC>MGMV>EGDM>LGW) is known as his "Green Sound". He says the PGC (Pale Green Compressor) is used to give a hint of sustain and keep control of peaks, so exact distortion levels can be set accurately. MGMV or MInt Green MIni Vibe (I quote) is used to give just a flickering of vibrato at the tail of phrases. LGW (Little Green Wonder) is there for just a tad of breakup as controlled by PGC. EGDM is finally set to give moderate distortion of it's own but in conjunction with the other pedals it adds just a protruding upper midrange to the LGW sound... just enough to make it standout. The 'Green Sound' allows several levels of distortion with or without compression as well as straight sound. I thought it would be nice to decode the descriptions for one and all (newbies) and lay them out visually as Bjorn describes it... so you can actually see what he puts together visually. Next up.. visual of: PGC>LGW>DRD. (Just for giggles and ....)

Bed Spins

2009-11-14T15:54:00.000-08:00

So... are BJFe pedals worth all the hype and all the money? I just saw one of his compressor pedals that sold on EBay in September 2009, it came from the Doobie Brothers. Yes... I probably missed my chance to get a nice compressor pedal. Granted, the Doobie's can most likely afford the $$$, and they are going to buy a pedal for tone, not as pedalboard candy. I see lots of posts referring to money being better spent for rent, than on a BJFe pedal. Truth be told... BJFe's are some great pedals. They are also hand made and hand tuned (if you can find one) by Mr BJ himself. He is a fanatic and very talented. He is obviously driven (as is gearmanndude) to make a world contribution to tone. BJFe pedals are well constructed, and yes... also very attractive. They have a certain look about them... the boxes are very compact, and attractive. They currently sell used on EBay in the $400 to $500 range. That's 5 Fridays at the bar buying rounds of drinks for your friends... even for those making less than others, it is all about priorities. That's ok... and BJFe pedals don't lead to bed spins either... or chucking up in an alley somewhere... in addition, buy a set for your pedalboard, and maybe your guitar still cost you more.

Home Cookin' Good

2009-11-13T15:08:00.001-08:00

I just purchased a BJFE Candy Apple Fuzz. It sounds truly home grown, home cookin' great. That said, I went out and also purchased a Harman Germanium Fuzz pedal too. I read a great review here... Karl (the author) points out that though he is crazy about the BJFe pedal line, he still opted to keep his Hartman Germanium Pedal(Steve Stevens is a lover of Hartman pedals too), and sell the BJFe. To quote Karl " I’m told that pedalboards are about tone, and that I should be keeping the pedals that sound the best. I’m seriously wondering right now if I shouldn’t just be picking the coolest-looking, rarest, and most handmade-looking-magic-mojo pedals. Would my rig be less toneful? Maybe. Would it be cooler? Absolutely". The BJFe is a boutique pedal, and so are Way Huge .. another great pedal (I like the originals from the 90's)... There is no doubt BJFe makes amazing pedals... they cost more than some other pedals... and yes, great eye appeal and that neat handwriting on the front by his wife and the great paint jobs is the first thing you see. I just spent $400+ on my BJFe Candy Apple Fuzz... and $187 on my Hartman Germanium Fuzz. I would say you could certainly put them in a boxing ring together and they can duke it out (like Gearmanndude does with his pedal collection). The BJFe sounds amazingly warm and original and might benefit from some stacking too (Bjorn recommends stacking). Many well-known artists stack BJFe's on their pedalboards and use them to come up with tones that define their playing. I will keep both ... and sell something else I own, not musically useful. Check them out for yourself though...Hartman Germanium.. and BJFe... and you decide. I still also love the smaller size of BJFe pedals too, as many other guitar pedals are bigger on your board... whilst Mr Bjorn's pedals are short and compact... and as I said, very well made. You can get them at CustomSounds (in Finland) who love to ship to the US.

Not Tone Sucking Vampire

2009-11-11T11:55:00.001-08:00

Here she is... the Hilton Low Profile VP (Volume Pedal).
It can go on your pedalboard... or not. Usually the cons to a VP on your pedalboard is the space they can take up... at least this one takes up less, and is top of the line. You do not want a passive VP (without a buffer)... since it apparently sucks tone like a vampire. With an active VP this doesn't occur. (When a passive VP sucks the tone, it does it mainly on the high end). But hey... one guy says on-line that he has been playing without ANY VP for 15 years. I guess it all depends how good he is whether I should listen to that. A VP is a useful application... and place it last on your pedalboard. It's main plus is that you can adjust the volume with the VP to achieve good saturation with your pedals at lower volumes... I am still having trouble making room for one right now on my overcrowded little pedalboard... which is more crowded than the last lifeboat off the Titanic.

Newly Minted Pedal Geek

2009-11-11T09:54:00.000-08:00

I just ordered
a Divided By 13 Dyna-Ranger Pedal.... go here on youtube to check out how this little number sounds (courtesy Wild West Guitars). Go here also for more info on Divided By's site. Apparently used by none other than Mr Clapton. What I especially liked (as a newly minted pedal geek) is the original glass Mullard OC44 transistor in this puppy. It is also used by David Gilmore, Tony Iommi and Brian May. Going from position 1 to 5, it goes all the way from traditional treble booster to lower Sabbath tones (this straight from their site). It is the perfect sounding boost/ drive pedal... and I am a convert from hearing what they can do.
If you really want to go crazy... you can add extra resistors to your order (SKT275, CV7003, Metal OC44's) since there is a socket for the transistor, allowing you to swap them around... wow.

Vox Clyde McCoy Wah

2009-11-11T09:14:00.001-08:00

When you go to heaven and put together that legendary pedalboard... yes... the one you have always dreamed of, it will certainly include one of these... a 1967 Vox Clyde McCoy Wah .. made in Italy, with the script writing on the back.. Hendrix and countless other famous musicians have used them.

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

2009-11-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

I have just purchased another pedal on Ebay... as you can all see, on the Hierarchy of Needs Diagram, this is perfectly allowable. Pedals are more important than Food or Safety... hence the latest purchase of a Baby Blue Overdrive made by BJFe (with the little drawings by Mrs BJFe). It appears that Gearmanndude has not evaluated one yet from what I can tell, so have to send you here...In Bjorn's own words 'Baby Blue Overdrive, that is a pedal that would rather give overdriven sounds to a clean amplifier than further push an amp. Many blues, fusion, and country players like this one and it gives the necessary complexity of distortion at control of the fingertips to a clean amp. Its range of distortion also allows heavy sounds'. Meanwhile, my Wah-Wah Pedal and assorted connecting cables and Voodoo power box will have to wait.

Rocket Science

2009-11-09T14:03:00.000-08:00

My attitude is... most stuff IS rocket science. If you approach everything professionally, with the attitude that
it's rocket science, it not only becomes easy, it becomes cool. Take a professional pedal board and matching case...
I just went down the hill in Hollywood, to A&S Flight Cases... and picked myself up my first pedalboard and case. If you are going to assemble a nice little collection of high-end (or low) pedals, why not protect the tools of your trade? And just like
gearmanndude says... get a nice Voodoo Lab Pedal Power 2 to power it all up.

Way Huge....

2009-11-09T10:11:00.000-08:00

Way Huge™ pedal (from the past) on the way... more info soon....

GEARMANNDUDE...

2009-11-08T16:04:00.001-08:00

Whether you think Gearmanndude is Jack Black or not (some of his ... or maybe MOST of his famous youtube videos seem to have his voice-overs, in any case this guy has some seriously great humor... you can watch 'em all for some great entertainment, and learn a lot about guitars and pedals too) I just bought his 'custom painted' version of the 'Lutherdrive Overdrive'... based on the vintage TS-808 Tubescreamer cicuit. The Luther circuit is modified to have a tighter bottom end (in the demo's I've seen...it DOES), and it DOES have better clarity too... and all the artwork to boot....anyway... check 'em out.... more on it when I get it.

Lovepedal 'Toxic'

2009-11-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

I have a Lovepedal 'Toxic' on the way... it's secondhand, with the chips to prove it...it has been described as 'way unique'.. and even with just one knob, is 'not a one-trick pony'. One reviewer said 'turned all the way up the toxic wants to rip my head off with massive, raging distortion/fuzz'. I'll have more to say when she arrives....

Little Green Wonder

2009-11-07T12:24:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest addition to my growing pedal collection...made by BJF pedals. They are made by Bjorn Juhl... apparently his pedal genius started with his father ... who told him "What you need you can make yourself". This led to Bjorn using his mother's radio to build his first amplifier. His naming of the pedals is based on 'Adjective + Color + Device Function'... hence other pedals like 'Baby Blue Overdrive' and 'Dyna Red Distortion'. The 'Baby Blue Overdrive' gives overdriven sounds to a clean amplifier... for blues, fusion and country players. My 'Little Green Wonder' is for people who don't like TS Type Pedals (Tube Screamers... like the Ibanez Tube screamer which is an overdrive effect pedal with light distortion similar to the sound created by an overdriven tube amp... and sort of bluesy). Bjorn describes the Little Green Wonder as having high headroom overdrive and a stackable TS of sorts... and it's very much up to overdriving distorting amplifiers, but can also be used on it's own as a smoothing pedal for fuzzes or bright amplifiers (he says... ). Anyway, go to the link to read more about his 'Honey Bee OD' and 'Blue Berry Base Overdrive' too. Also his 'Dyna Red Distortion', 'Emerald Green Distortion Machine'.... 'Candy Apple Fuzz'...'Pink Purple Fuzz'... 'Pale Green Compressor'...'Red Rooster Booster'...'Baby Pink Booster'....hmmmmm...and all the drawings on the inside are made by Eva Juhl.... (Mrs. Bjorn)....my sister-in-law is Swedish, so I totally get all this.

Neat Pedal- Love Pedals

2009-11-06T16:08:00.001-08:00

I found this Little Darling pictured on line... if she sounds as good as she looks, I bet she's worth the price. (I know this isn't a swear word... just the technical term for my dog). Go to Love Pedals to see what they currently have...

ZENKUDO

2009-11-06T15:56:00.001-08:00

I was checking my bank account today, and found that I might (currently) be a little short on cash to afford the $55,000.00 to get a nice Dumble Amplifier head... but 'No Worries'... there is always ZENKUDO...Toshihiko Tanabe manufactures these pedals in Japan as a hobby, and you can order them directly from him. The Dumkudo (overdrive) is better suited to what I play (Telecaster with a singlecoil pickup)... so I am readying my $330 in a pile so I can get my 'Dumble' in a box. There are 3 modes.. LED RED = Marshall mode, LED BLUE = DUMKUDO MODE, and LED GREEN = DUMBLE MODE. And hey... I just saved $54,700, so I am going out for dinner tonight. Seriously though... check them out.

Dumble?

2009-11-05T17:00:00.001-08:00

What is a Dumble Amp? I have heard a lot about these amps over the past couple years. He is rumored to build amps that cannot be discribed in
mortal words... I never really followed up on what Dumble was all about... until today. He has been building his amps for
many years. If you go to this link here... you can read a lot of rumors. Stories include odd clauses in your build contract (when you order the amp) that specify that if you call Mr Dumble before he is done building your amp, he keeps the amp. There is also another story that you must make your own shipping arrangements, and then send someone to Mr Dumble's door with a specially built box to pick your amp up (when it is ready). Prices are spoken of in urban-legend-type-tones... and supposedly range from $2500 (if you don't mind waiting... probably a long time)... to $5000 (for faster service... maybe, I am guessing, still in your lifetime)... to $15,000 (rumored... but possibly untrue). Wikipedia says his amps are now worth roughly the price of a condo in Florida, and there are still only a few hundred out there (to date). Since the 1980's he has been sealing his circuitry in some sort of 'goop' to prevent people trying to copy his secrets. Someone joked online that you have a better chance of making friends with John Mayer (who owns most of the Dumble amps out there supposedly)... and having him randomly give you
a Dumble... that of actually getting Dumble to build you one... As you know (if you read my posts) I am a follower and player of Louis Electric Amps, and own an early KR12, and a Buster Amp. I find my Louis Amps all I could ever want... but who knows... maybe one day I'll also have a Dumble (as long as I can resist calling him of course, before it is ready).... I guess I should also start saving. Someone on-line says that your best bet (remaining in reality here folks) is to get yourself a Kelley amp if you can find one, if you love the sound of a Dumble (and probably John Mayer).... also apparently try Two Rock Amps... they managed to get the 'goop' off a Dumble and find out what goes into them... apparently John Mayer agrees... he sent them his credit card. Buy a Two Rock 'Jet' Amp here. For further Dumble research... you can go here. Also, if you really want a Dumble, but lack 55K lying around your house.... maybe buy a Zendrive... for more info on these great pedals known as "Dumble In A Box" go here.

The Strength of A Gorilla

2009-11-03T08:28:00.000-08:00

Higher gauge strings (ie. "thickerer" strings) can rock your world. I have .09/.11/.15/.30/.42/.52 on my Tele right now. I was having fun with The Black Keys "Thickfreakness", and noticed that thicker strings, and bare fingered playing... led to some really enjoyable tone. It seemed to feel much better having more string to play. Higher gauge strings supposedly result in slower attack and increased sustain... but that would depend on how strong your hands are, and how you play, but I guess it is all relative. If I use the same force on lighter strings (still playing Thickfreakness) they vibrate too much. Some claim that heavy strings have a clearer and more lively tone than lighter strings too... they also sustain longer, and have more effect on your pickups (same as moving your pickup closer to a light string). Some say they have stronger harmonics, more compressed attack, and a higher output, which I would agree with. Other ways to get compressed sound is through the use of a pedal... but the a pedal will not give you that great thick-string feel when you go play (if that is what you crave). You can also put a higher output pickup in your guitar... if that is what it is all about... or move the one you've got closer to the strings (as mentioned).
Heavier strings are more uncomfortable to play for some, but that would depend on how you like to play. If you have the strength of a gorilla, it's only going to feel better with thicker strings. If, on the other hand (no pun here) you begin to get signs of carpal tunnel syndrome.. you're not the gorilla you thought you were... so back off on the string gauges.
As we all know, Stevie Ray Vaughan loved heavy strings, and is rumored to have put Crazy Glue on his finger tips, to make it more comfortable to play those big cables.... anyway... give it a shot (but don't forget to have someone file your nut slots to fit those new strings!). Go here for more on this topic.

Build-it-yourself...

2009-11-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

Why not build your own pickup? Alright... maybe you got a lot of things to do... like make a living, and don't want to save the $80 for someone else to do it for you...but if you want to learn how it goes together, and rejoice when it actually works... go here.

Step Away From the Amp and Put the Tube Down!

2009-10-30T14:39:00.001-07:00

"Welcome to a world of numbers. A world where one false step can lead to a fall into an abyss... "... alright, I can only go so long trying to emulate Rod Serling. Did you know that in the world of Tube Amps, an EL34 is the same thing as a 6CA7? Did you know that my Groove Tubes™ 6CA7's are also marked as GTE34LS's? Groove Tubes also seem to be 'chubbier' in size, compared to the stock/oldstock EL34's I also have, so size (apparently) is not necessarily a good guide to matching tubes. I noticed one of my power tubes (an EL34/6CA7/GTE34LS) was giving off a metallic buzz when I cranked up my distortion on my Louis Electric KR12. (I spoke to Louis today.. he is great to talk to). One thing I found out was that it is not that uncommon to have tubes that are microphonic. Whether you want to change them out, and not put up with the buzzing seems to be up to you. My boxes of Phillips™ EL34's (two of them, plus one labelled GZ34, which comes in the same box, but is a different tube) came with a giant warning "REMEMBER-YOUR AMP MUST BE REBIASED BEFORE INSTALLING YOUR NEW POWER TUBES TO AVOID PERMANENTLY DAMAGING THE TUBES". Whenever I hear those two words... "PERMANENTLY" AND "DAMAGED" I get worried... and so should you. My Dad used to own an old amp from the 1950's, and I remember as a kid, whenever one of those little tubes got too dark, and didn't give off that mellow amber glow anymore, we would go through a big box of tubes, and I would help him find the one we needed... then we would just plug her in.
Don't do that (with your power tubes). Spend the few dollars to take your high-end beloved tube amp (and any spare new tubes...) to a professional who can make sure that amp is rebiased... and save yourself spending more than the small fee he or she is going to charge you...

Call 911

2009-10-23T16:15:00.000-07:00

Does anyone else out there live in fear of the following:

* Strange Noises coming from the Amp
* Buzzing Strings
* Hey... that crack wasn't there yesterday!

Let's deal with #2... Buzzing Strings.
It eventually occurs... one of your strings starts buzzing, expecially when you strum it a little hard. Does that
mean it's time for a new nut? Maybe that fretboard is giving you problems, and a truss rod adjustment is
in order... or, possibly there is a loose fret. Maybe there is also nothing wrong. If that buzzing doesn't make
it to the amp (and it generally doesn't)... who cares? There is a well-known 'T-Style' guitar maker out there
(not Fender, otherwise I could have used the word Telecaster)... and he says he sometimes sends out brand
new guitars with strings that have a little buzz on the first couple of frets. Customers call him with worries
that there is something wrong with their new guitars. His reply is to 'go plug it in. Does it still buzz through the amp? If it doesn't, then the guitar is fine'.... no need to call 911. Wait until it falls off the stage to do that...

ToneQuest Report

2009-10-22T15:26:00.001-07:00

I just found out about this... the Tonequest Report... go here to get a free sample issue (or two). There is a really great article I read there... I was fascinated to find out that a lot of modern vintage reissue guitars have Polyester paint as an undercoat (you can read about this, and more, in the free issue download on their site). The manufacturer might put good old Nitro on top of the poly... but the poly is still there. The manufacturers put it on real thick too... because it fills all the holes in the wood, and there is then no need to use any wood filler. In addition, that stuff cures in only a day... it also sucks out all the tone in the wood, and can make it sound as acoustically fine as a piece of concrete. Just one more reason to save up a little longer before you go and buy that guitar of your dreams... the higher-end ones probably don't have the poly... polyester paint for me is about as attractive as finding Polydent in my grandparent's medicine cabinet.

It's Alive....

2009-10-19T09:44:00.001-07:00

You work in an area that is not the safest in the world... Welcome to being a working musician. I am not one (yet)... but know that is where I am going. Junkies, hustlers and pimps are going to be your equivalent of other working people's elevator-door-holder guy, lunch/commissary worker and Starbucks coffee person. They will know your comings, goings and probably exactly how much change you are carrying. Quiz most musicians about whether they have ever had gear stolen from them, and yes... whether it is a cable, an amp, or a beloved guitar... things have (at one point or even more often) 'grown legs'. David Gilmour lost one of his early guitars this way, and countless other well known and not-so-well known musician's too. So (to come to the point)... you work in a pretty bad area (where all the hottest clubs are), and you want to bring your favorite ax with you, because you always want to sound your best. There might be future band-members, producers, or other connections watching and listening from that dark area out in the audience... so why sound bad? Why even sound mediocre? Mediocrity never got you into a great band. But if you carry that $9000 guitar with you (yes... admit it... most musicians have instruments... eventually, that are the most valuable thing they will ever own), eventually...that hustler out on the street will know it... and he will pick the right time to jump you outside one night for it. But you can't go out after all this practice and experience and get a $99 Made-in-TJ Guitar. The frets will cut your fingers, the neck will be bowed the wrong way, and it will probably sound (at best) substandard. The anwer: 1.) Rent... a rental-ax has to sound reasonably good... and you can put in the extra work to sort through them and find one that does... the value can also be on the lower end in case it gets stolen. Option 2: Go on ebay, buy some cool parts, and get out the old soldering iron. That pickup you have been saving in your desk drawer can now find it's voice. You can get the guy down the street to shoot the body red sparkle like you always wanted, and you can also choose your own neck and make sure it has some nicely dressed frets... you can also make sure it is set up perfectly to your liking. Total cost can be kept low, but the guitar will probably play great, and sound (at very least) good... and in your head, you will know, like Dr Frankenstein... you made it... and "It's Alive!!"

Still Fretting?

2009-10-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

Did you know if you refret your guitar with wider frets the tone will probably change? In general, a refret will make the tone of your guitar slightly 'brighter' (ie. treble with bass and mids supporting). Sometimes a neck is also stiffened by a refret, which can also affect tone... even changing your tuning machines can affect tone. If you put keys that are heavier on your guitar, it can also change the balance, and make your headstock heavier (as in when Dickey Betts replaced his standard Les Paul tuners with Grovers... I owned a Dickey Betts copy, and it actually sounded great). If you decide to go with stainless frets (to prevent wear) they are harder than nickel silver ones... they will also not oxidize, and will have a slicker feel... and also a much longer service life. I personally don't like stainless frets. Apparently they will change the tone a little compared to nickel silver frets... but still less than changing the saddles or pots on the guitar. If you currently love your tone I would suggest a refret (when absolutely necessary) with the exact same size frets as you currently have... also make sure not to get cheap here... get the best luthier you can find to do the job. Also, you might want to note for future reference that excessive fretwear can be avoided by playing your guitar with a lighter touch... I tend to wear out my frets almost every 6 months (with daily playing), and have found that I can actually move my hands more swiftly on that neck when I lighten up my grip a little... and don't use my hands like a capo.

Proof...

2009-10-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Just in case anyone (from reading my previous post a few posts back) did not believe me when I said that neck and bridge humbuckers have different pole spacings... when it comes to humbuckers... a neck pickup is a neck pickup, and ...well, you can guess the rest...

I've Got that Melting Feeling...

2009-10-13T08:44:00.001-07:00

Remember when you were a kid, and you had to finish your ice cream cone before it melted down your arm? Or maybe you were the type that bit the end off the bottom of the cone and liked melted ice cream down your arm. Now that most 50's Gibson and Fender guitars are getting into their late 50's, melting plastic is on my mind. So far, it seems it is only Gibson's and not Fender's that are a real melting problem. Vintage Guitar Magazine just republished a piece about Kluson 'Keystone' and white oval-type tuner buttons on Gibsons that are deteriorating. The problem also extends to bindings and pickguards. In Dan Erlewine's book "Guitar Player Repair Guide" Mr Erlewine says "Some plastics used during (the 1950's) are ticking time bombs with 30-year fuses". He mentions that some guitars (like Fender from my research) used different types of plastics, so do not suffer from this "melting" problem. According to Mr Erlewine, the causes of this melting come from solvents and plasticizers used when the plastic was manufactured. If a guitar that is susceptible is left in it's case for many years and these gases cannot escape, these solvents and plasticizers can result in damaged finishes and wood, corroded metal parts and also a sticky smelly mess. Not that leaving your guitar out of it's case all those years would necessarily avoid the plastic pieces deteriorating... you might however avoid the secondary effects the gases can have on the rest of your guitar. The only real solution is to replace the parts before they melt.

One of these things....

2009-10-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

One of these things is not like the others... remember that Sesame Street song? (Thanks to them for this photo of the Cookie Monster)...But I bet you can't tell which one it is...(see the photo that is not the Cookie Monster).

The pickup on the left is an exact copy of an early 50's Tele/Esquire pickup... the one on the right is an actual early 50's Tele/ Esquire Pickup. The copy was made by Illusion Pickups... 6.5 Ohms, constructed the same way Fender did back then, 1:1 reproduction parts, including Zinc coated baseplate. They also warn "Please don't purchase this with the intent to sell as original vintage to unknowledgeable buyers". Are you "knowledgeable"... probably not... unless you really know a lot about pickups... give that copy to a professional, and have them "age" it with some dust and dirt... and scratches, and you might end up paying $1000 or more too much for the copy... meanwhile, you might still enjoy getting one for $94.99 from Illusion Pickups.

... and if you want the real thing, make sure you know and trust the seller...completely... whether you trust the blue guy above or not to make the choice for you, that's up to you.

'Buckers

2009-10-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Does anyone out there REALLY know how a humbucker pickup is put together? Did you know that the pole pieces should be a little closer together for the neck pickup? That is because the strings converge, from the bridge up to the nut... hence, you might NOT want to get creative and put a neck humbucker near the bridge (or you might... go ahead and try it). As far as windings go... the more windings on the pickup the greater the DC resistance...if you used #42 wire, the following resistances would yield similar results to what follows (for both coils together)... 3 to 6k ohms DC resistance = clear tone, 6 to 9k ohms DC resistance = medium tone, and 9 to 14K ohms = loud and heavy tone. Skinny and tall coils will generally produce a clearer sound than shorter and wider coils. The 'bobbin' is the top part of the pickup you see with the pole pieces (6 of them) visible through the top. Learn more about making you own home-made humbucker (if you like) here... or at least understand a little more about how pickup is made!

Tone Punch & Playability

2009-10-07T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's true... guitars can get better as they age. Granted, in 1954, when Stan Hope picked up his brand new Tele in Luskin TX, and
walked home to plug it in his amp... one of two things...ok, one of three things... happened. 1) The tele had amazing potential and sounded great... Stan played it, and (like most of us) traded it down-the-line to a talented musician somewhere. Said musician then played it (not unlike a concert violinist who adds mojo to a great violin) and today it is amongst the best of instruments for tone, punch and playablility. Option 2). The guitar sounded like a toilet seat with strings, and Stan put it in his closet. Stan got older, and last year his nurses-aid cleaned out his closet, and found the guitar. A collector just paid big $$$ for a mint and unplayed original 1953 Tele (Stan bought it in '54, it was a '53). Option 3). The guitar sounded mediocre, Stan played it anyway, and traded it back to the original store he originally bought it from, for a new Les Paul. Stan got better at his playing, and got to know Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. The guitar was passed from musician to store to musician, with dealers adding expletives...in order to sell it... like ... "wonderful player" and
"great C-shaped neck".....truth be told though, a poor instrument will likely never wake up from it's coma, and a great instrument will only get better through being played, just like fine wine.

Your One...and How To Hit the Jackpot

2009-10-05T16:14:00.000-07:00

In The Black Strat book on page 126 it says... "The Black Strat's return to prominence was during the Pink Floyd rehearsals for Live8. The favoured red Strat had been used for the first two days of rehearsals at Black Island Studio, London. During the third day it was suggested that David should try the Black Strat, as he had used it on the original recordings of these songs. He put down the red one and began playing the Black Strat.
David's guitar sound instantly ascended to what can only be described as 'another level'. His body language changed, becoming animated and interacting with the guitar as if he had just dicovered an old long-lost friend."
I cannot make up a better example why one should go to your local guitar store, and play and test out different necks and guitars, for as long as it takes, to find the set-up that fits you. Only when you find this guitar that is specific to you, will you understand what it is like... to find 'your one'.

Necks Again

2009-10-05T08:36:00.000-07:00

The ex-Rich Robinson 1955 Esquire I have has the perfect neck for me. It is amazing how when you find
the correct neck dimensions that fit your own hand how a guitar really 'connects' to your body.

I have never had a guitar do this for me, and always thought it was more a matter of whim, rather than any specific
'magic'...

I just read about David Gilmour (of Pink Floyd) and how
he picked up his old Black Strat again after many years... and how his playing suddenly went to a 'new level'. Recall,
it was Mr Gilmour who originally put this guitar away, for another one.

This connection with a guitar seems to have less to do with specific guitar mojo, and more to do with how
that guitar 'fits' an individual person.

That said, I now am in touch with FIMC (Fender) to copy that neck for me. I have no idea what neck radius this neck is, what year it might really be representative of or
similar too, I just know I like it.

Nothing But Looks

2009-09-28T15:37:00.000-07:00

I was driving today and came around a corner only to be greeted by none other than John Cameron Fogerty jogging in the other direction on my side of the street. I would never had known this if I had not seen a photo of him jogging in some magazine the other day, while I waited to get my hair cut. He actually had on the identical outfit he did in the photo... for descriptive purposes...a bandana, t-shirt, and shorts. He played guitar in one of the bands I remember from my childhood...heck, he helped make my childhood. Creedence Clearwater Revival (1967-1972) had hits such as Susie Q, Proud Mary, Have You Ever Seen Rain, Fortunate Son, Bad Moon Rising... ok... too many to mention. Mr Fogerty wrote all the songs for the band. His first guitar was a Silvertone and a 5 watt amplifier which he (of course) got at Sears using money from his paper route. After that, while with the Golliwogs, he played a Fender Mustang.... then a Rick '325 with Bigsby. His time with Creedence was spent playing a Gibson ES-175, then afterwards two Les Pauls. His amp during this period was a Fender Vibrolux silver, a Fender Concert, and a Kustom (which was the main amp for performances). I'll end here, and say that the quilted sparkle padding on those Kustom amps make them amongst my favorite amps... even if some say it's nothing but looks.

Button of Choice

2009-09-26T12:16:00.001-07:00

I found out today that my 1955 Esquire has been modified... just a little... to the tune of those little buttons (two of them) that are used to attach your guitar strap to the guitar. Somebody wisely added Schaller strap locks. Apparently, if you are a collector, this is not good. I am not a collector (hence none of my cases are correct for any of the years of my guitars). But if I was... to find replacement 'buttons' is not as easy as it seems. The button in the photo above, on the blond guitar, is a 1950-1951-style strap button...or the 'first type'... the original 'steel rod' is nickel plated with a sharper top edge and a flat base (apparently). I have illustrated some later strap buttons, including the 1970's ones... with 'fatter' dimensions. What does this mean to the sound or feel of your guitar? Apparently nothing. It also means the thing doesn't fall off your shoulder though.

Je Ne Sais Quoi?

2009-09-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

Like the song says... "Who Do You Love?"... I have two wonderful, amazing guitars... both owned by very successful
musicians before me. Each musician would have said their guitar was amongst his favorites (when he owned them). I have taken each of them away with me and played the heck out of them. One seems to be like an extension of my own body... each string resonates, and each minute I get to play that guitar is heaven... meanwhile, my wife says that the other one is the best sounding guitar I have ever owned... but the second guitar doesn't yet feel like an extension of my body. The one that sounds so good to me is a joy to play, and I would happily pay for each minute I have with it... just like that girl in 12th grade you never got. It must be some je ne sais quoi ... in addition to a basic, great sounding guitar... that makes for this magic. I can understand why BB King felt he had to name his guitar Lucille. The musician that has never felt like naming a guitar, has never met his or her true love yet. (ok... blech!...as Mad Magazine used to say). People say "sell me that guitar that sounds so good in Keith Richard's hands", but a lot of that mojo may still stay with Keith. I can't explain why the last three or four guitars only sounded great when I got it all just right... right time of day, right mood, right amount of being tapped in... and yet, this current guitar sounds so great at any time of day. UPDATE: Finally got used to the neck and specific sounds on the second guitar, and now can say I have two to love.... everyone should be so lucky (as they say).

Don't Hold Your Breath...

2009-09-18T13:47:00.000-07:00

There is nothing new in the world. I just got done chopping a tele bridge, so I could use another pickup (other than the usual Telecaster bridge pickup) on the guitar. I thought I might have stumbled onto something totally new and original... heck, maybe there would even be some way to one day do it for other musicians. My neighbor is the one who mentioned that nothing is new in the world. He also mentioned that if you take a Cadillac and customize it... and call it a Schmaddilac, it is really still a Cadillac. You can't go around and sell Schmadillacs to people. OK... you make your Caddie look fantastic.. maybe you chop the roof and add one of those searchlights on the drivers side... you know, the ones cops had on their cruisers in the fifties... the ones you can turn on and direct from inside the car. Maybe you hang some curtains inside all the windows, with those little pom-poms on them... And add a baby Jesus on the dash. It's still a Cadillac. Can you market it, and sell it as something else, to other people? Well... you can't patent it or trademark it... but maybe your neighbor suddenly wants you to Schmaddilac his Cadillac for him too... and then another guy in the next town sees one of your Schmaddie's, and he wants you to do one for him too... maybe yet another guy in another town starts making them (to compete with you)... but his aren't as good as the ones you're turning out... so you are up to your ears in orders for Schmaddie's...and making a living at it... maybe... just maybe......but don't hold your breath.

Tampa Red

2009-09-14T09:01:00.001-07:00

Tampa Red/ Hudson Whittaker was born in Smithville GA in 1904. He was an orphan who went to live with his grandparents in Tampa. His nickname came from his red hair. He was a guitarist and a singer who moved to Chicago in his early twenties. He had an amazing talent with slide guitar, and was often referred to as a 'guitar wizard'. He was one of the first big stars of the Chicago blues scene. He was also a prolific composer and wrote many memorable songs. He was good friends with Big Bill Bronzy (more about Big Bill in another post). Tampa Red was very kind to musicians less fortunate than him, and would offer them a meal and a place to sleep. He performed throughout the great depression. Unfortunately, he was a drinker, which he attributed as a cause of his health problems. He died in a nursing home in Chicago in 1981, at the age of 77. He left a great legacy of music available on iTunes™... including some really great guitar on 'Things 'Bout Coming My Way'. You can also imagine the Stone's doing a version of his 'When things Go Wrong with You'... still as pertinent today as it was back then. For more information on obscure Blues greats, go to the Blues Trail.

Necks ... and How I remember them.

2009-09-11T14:33:00.001-07:00

I just had a person on EBay contact me to ask what the neck radius was on a guitar I am selling. I tend to classify my necks less mathematically, more tactilely. I know the feel of a '50 Broadcaster neck... baseball bat sanded into a U-shaped V, really meaty... and (of course) those odd bevelled edges on the side of the fretboard. I know the feeling of a 52 or 53 Tele/ Esquire neck... (I have owned 4 or 5... one was sprayed totally metallic green, and otherwise mint... in it's thermometer case... thermometer cases came with Tele's from 50 to 53). The 52/52 Tele's still have that 'bat' neck, but not a Broadcaster neck (these are not my favorite). Then comes the 55/56 Tele, with a neck everyone describes as anything from a thick baseball bat neck, to a large and chunky 'V'. I love my 56 Tele... and it has a neck similar to a 58 D-Shaped neck... which (by the way) is what Fender puts on most of their reissues now. It is a little thicker than a 58 D Neck. Meanwhile, my 55 Esquire is indeed clubby, but somewhere between a 58 and a 53 neck. What I am trying to say here is... it obviously was not rocket science back then, so there was variation even in the same year, between necks. We all know what works for us... and for me, neck radius is not the way I remember them...

The Big Kahuna

2009-09-07T14:55:00.000-07:00

Quick... which pickup has more power on your Telecaster? Which one gives the Tele it's distinctive sound? The distinctive sound of the Telecaster is due to the fat bridge pickup and internal electronics. That would also account for why my Esquire sounds amazing... even without a second pickup...so much so in fact, I keep thinking my Esquire is a Tele when I play it. Something to remember is that the coil resistance of the main bridge pickup is roughly twice the resistance of that little "lipstick tube" like pickup near the neck. This means the bridge pickup is the big kahuna. Some would even accuse the neck pickup as being ineffective... but a lot of that tele "snap" is due to that pickup near the neck. An internal bleed capacitor... this means that as the volume is turned down, the treble still can be heard... works the magic on that neck pickup, to give your Tele that special Telecaster sound. A good setting to remember for your volume is to have the it at about 3/4 to get the Tele sound we all know and love.

Urban Legends?

2009-09-03T14:17:00.001-07:00

This thread is from four years ago... but I had not heard it.
There is a story online about one Buddy Chambers and his wife Clara (a country music act), who were flying from Fullerton California to Reno Nevada in 1951... and you can guess what they were carrying... yes... Two Brand New Blackguard Tele's in their small airplane that went down in bad weather. Apparently, they crashed in a remote area and after all these years logging crews found the airplane upside down. After the remains of Clara and Buddy were verified, two tattered boxes, with two equally tattered tweed cases were found lodged in the back area of the plane... with the new guitars inside intact. The story supposedly originated from PPI news service, which may or may not be based out of Pakistan... hold it... is that something pulling on my leg? (I love this story, and indeed hope the part about the new guitars is true... I am now off to leave my Xmas note for Santa in my chimney).

Scrapper Blackwell

2009-09-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Every so often there will be a 'lesson' in the Blues... by the end of the year, you should have a working repertoire of Blues Musicians. Francis Hillman Blackwell was born in North Carolina and was one of 16 children. He was also part Cherokee. He spent most of his life in Indiana and was a self-taught guitarist. His first guitar was built out of wood, wire and cigar boxes. In his teens he travelled as far as Chicago, as a part time musician. He was known for being hard to work with and withdrawn, but still managed to create a productive working relationship with Leroy Carr, who played piano. His solo recordings included "Kokomo Blues". Blackwell and Carr toured the South between 1928 and 1935 as stars of the blues scene, recording over 100 sides together. Carr apparently also did time for bootlegging. Their last recording together was in 1935, for the Bluebird Label. They split due to financial/ payment disputes. Carr died soon later, from heavy drinking. Blackwell retired, but returned to music in the 1950's. Blackwell died when he was shot and killed in an alley at the age of only 59. The crime remains unsolved.

Cannon's Jug Stompers

2009-09-02T09:26:00.001-07:00

When I was talking with that well-known lead guitarist Monday we got to talking about musicians, and their working process... how do musicians get their inspiration? He mentioned an older gent (possibly some older blues player...it was not the lead in
Cannon's Jug Stompers....)...
This older gent would trail the aisles of supermarkets, and take half an hour to do one aisle. His niece or daughter wanted to get to know him better, and was told the best way to do this would be to join him at the supermarket. Nobody else in the family wanted to ever go shopping with this man, because it took too long... he would be reading the cans of obscure items, looking at ingredients. For writers the inspirational behavior (Hi Rob!) might be Googling, or reading the Obituaries... or I know a woman who vacuums in the nude until she feels ready to write. Got Milk™?

Bolin Guitars

2009-09-01T15:51:00.001-07:00

I had to show you Bolin Guitars... isn't this great?

Ingredient 'X'

2009-09-01T10:02:00.000-07:00

If anyone has ever read Poe, I recall it was his stories that would always have a line like..."Dear Reader... I am now about to recount to you a most amazing story about a Mr "A___". This 'literary device' was used to make the story being told more believable, as if it was necessary to protect someone's identity. Yesterday I met with a very well known lead guitarist, indeed a "Mr A__". It seems musicians do indeed love everything Guitar, including those little Caps, Pots and wires that go into making them sound so great... Mr A__ agreed ... nobody really knows what special 'Ingredient X' makes one guitar sound great, and another sound like a log with strings. We both agreed that those amazingly perfect collector-grade guitars we always see for sale (the ones where you have to remove all your metal items...just like at the airport... before you play them) generally sound like those logs I just mentioned. The reason why many of those 'Collector grade' guitars are indeed so perfect is that some musician bought it, and then put it away in a closet where it belonged. It wasn't 'one of the good ones'. Mr K__ (Mr A__'s tech) recounted the story of an original 1950's Flying V, in perfect condition... that he had been shown, that sounded like it should be put under the bed. There are the Collector guitars worth tons of money, and then there are Player guitars... messed with, tweaked, dropped and scratched... that sound great... and also cost much less. So what do you want?

3-Ways

2009-08-30T08:44:00.001-07:00

Coming up... 3-ways.

Also Coming Soon...

2009-08-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

(Thank you to the guys at The Music Zoo for these wonderfully clear photos of my guitar insides).

How to Date Your Tele/ Esquire Pot

2009-08-29T08:33:00.001-07:00

Next up... how to date your pot(s)... This is a 1958 Telecaster Potentiometer (Pot) from my Esquire, which reads (clockwise) '250K...AUDIO...137...947...3596. After 1952, ALL Fender Pots have '250k' on them... if they don't, they have come from another brand of guitar. Here are a couple examples of how to read the numbers on your Pot: If the code says '304 521'... you ignore the 304 portion (which is the manufacturer's code... 304 was for Stackpole, and 137 was for CTS... 140 would be a Clarisat pot), and use the 521... in this case... the '5' means from 1955, and the '21' means the 21st week of 1955. What if there are a total of 7 numbers... for instance; '304 5913'... once again, ignore the 304 portion, and date using the '5913'... in this case it would mean... the 13th week of 1959. Either of these 'code schemes' are genuine. In the case of my Pot, we read the '947'... which would mean the 47th week of 1959, for the manufacture date. Remember, Leo (at Fender) probably had these delivered pretty quickly to his shop, where they were immediately made available to be assembled into guitars. I hear Leo was 'tight'... so it is possible he would order a week or two supply at one time... and then go through them making guitars (this is just conjecture on my part, after reading a lot about the early Fender manufaturing process).

Insides....

2009-08-29T08:00:00.001-07:00

Here is what is inside my 1958 Esquire. There are many things you want to check for in here, before buying. However, a lot
of the talent in knowing where to look will come from study and hands-on experience with vintage Fender guitars. Since this is
'Spotting the Fakes 101' we are going to keep it fairly simple. Esquires used a three cap (short for Capacitor) set-up and one resistor. In 1956 Fender used something called a Cornell Dubilier, but just after that went to flat white caps called 'phonebooks'. Caps were .05 @100V s. Now that you see how complex this can get, all you want to know is who to take it to for an appraisal and a little about what is going on inside yourself (since you are buying the guitar). The little photo here is a .05 @100V Cap (the phone book one looks like a little phone book, no joke). When it comes to the wiring, and the soldering... a professional can tell if the connections are 'original' or have been re-done. If anyone out there has ever assembled (as a kid) one of those 'make it yourself' transistor radios, and had to mess up the soldering, you know that the more you re-do things on a connection, the worse it looks, and the more 'mess' you leave. Suffice it to say things should look rather clean with all connections, and all the parts (for the given Fender year) should be correct. Since this Esquire once had been converted to a Tele by someone, and then put back to original again with a period correct Fender wiring harness, the connections you see should be mostly original, apart from a couple that it would have been necessary to resolder to get the harness back into the guitar and attached to the pickup and jack attachments.

Bones...

2009-08-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

How is your bone nut... or maybe it's plastic, brass or even graphite. If it's bone (for tone... and my favorite)... then maybe if it's on a 50's Fender guitar, it's worn out. If it's any of the other materials, it might be poorly made. Did you know that a badly worn or poorly made nut can ruin your Electric guitar's playability
and tone? Hand fitted nuts for your guitar take at least an hour to be made... to be fitted to your guitar properly.. assuming the person knows what they are doing. To check to see if your nut is overly worn... fret each string at the third fret, and then try and slide a piece of regular paper (a little piece) between the fretted string, and the first fret. If the piece of paper doesn't slide right in, you may be looking at buzzing on the open strings (either now, or soon) which will require someone (skilled) to install a new nut on your guitar. As I say, I love bone nuts... but graphite also has it's place... I have owned guitars with graphite nuts, and many professionals swear by them. I tend to only like my plastic on my cars, and I limit plastic on guitars to where absolutely necessary.

Blitzen Trapper...

2009-08-26T09:44:00.001-07:00

Real Broadcaster Neck

2009-08-25T08:47:00.000-07:00

I just saw on-line that someone has taken all the measurements from early Broadcaster and No-Caster necks, and come up with a copy of the 'average' clubby neck from that period... but I bet they forgot something. I once owned a real-to-God Broadcaster (it was in the Banos Blackguard book too). If you look at the arrows on this diagram, you can see (I hope) how an early Broadcaster neck (from when they were totally hand-carved... basically) had a slightly flat area on each side of the fretboard (which I actually miss on more modern Tele's). If you don't get an original Broadcaster, or alternately have someone customize a neck to your liking, you will not find this shape anywhere. In addition, the bottom of the neck (where it fits in the palm of your hand) had a pronounced 'V' shape that you could definitely feel as you played it. To tell the truth, the neck also was not as 'fat' as some 1953 Tele's I owned... granted my Broadcaster neck wasn't as thin as a late 50's Tele (for sure, as they can be really thin)... but since they were all individually shaped back in 1950, there was a lot of variation between necks. I do miss my Broadcaster... even if the body was a 'refin'....it's all about the sound and feel (as we know).

Back To School...

2009-08-24T15:46:00.001-07:00

It's time to go back to school. You don't need to cover any textbooks though (with the missing pages in them), don't need to sign up for stuff with coach, or Glee Club... or anything else you remember about school. There will also be no short-bus, with someone behind you putting a lugie in your hair. I am going to educate you about spotting fakes... especially with something like a '58 Esquire (my guitar here). We can start with 'What is the correct serial number range for a guitar like this?'. The correct answer (not only in the Fender Guitar book I have, but also here)is in the 25000 to 30000 range, with some "0" and "-" prefixes mixed in. There is also a Fender serial number web page here. Granted, if Leo (or his employees) rarely found a missing plate around the shop (this was very rare) the serial number might be out of this range. Some plates might have serial numbers on both sides too... so don't worry if that is the case with your guitar, it is normal. My guitar is #026330.. so all is cool. (Apparently Leo would make these plates in batches, and they would all be put into a box... so there was little order as to when they were put onto guitars (in each batch). Next lets look at the bridge pickup cavity... it says 6/58 (June 1958)... and the date on the end of the neck is (as you can see) 7/58. This is good, since you don't want these to be more than a couple months apart. It is actually difficult to forge an original 'untouched' Esquire or Tele of this period from parts since the holes are unlikely to ever match up just right... as you
can see here, there is only the correct number of holes in the neck from the screws... five. Why five? One is from when the neck was suspended to be painted. If there were more holes, we might suspect the neck and body were not originally on the same guitar. Finally...let's look at the neck pickup cavity... oops! What is wrong here? This is an Esquire... so there should be no holes here. At some point in time, someone put another pickup here, and (basically) made it into a Tele. This was actually more common than you think. This does effect value. I was at a major Guitar store in Hollywood (Vintage... think Eric shops there...) and they had two 1956 Esquires for sale. One had (like mine) once had an extra pickup added to it. It was then restored again to original condition, with a period pickguard... the price difference between the two (modified and restored vs. unmodified) was 10% (a lot depends on how original the rest of the guitar is, and who restored the wiring). Oh... there's the bell... don't forget to study pages 211 through 315... (didn't you hate it when they gave you lots of reading to do?)

Bad Enligh...

2009-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

No joke... I had to paste this guitar description listed on-line (at a respectable site): " This is guitar exhibition model 60 Stratocaster® Lake Placid Blue Relic! It is very novel one carry P-90, making 60 Stratocaster® basic. If it glances, the tone just a little bit different from Strato will be imagined, but the actual tone has fully inherited Stratocaster® and a real Fender® sound. And the fatty character of P-90 is finished in Stratocaster® which was united well and which can be useful very much. Moreover, the atmosphere of Lake Placid Blue which faded nice, and it settled down into novelty P-90 loading is great combination. Though sound is fat, please enjoy the tone which has never lost Fender-likeness and which was not in ever." Unfortunately, bad Enligh generally scares off most buyers.. at least, after my previous trips to the land of Ebay, I will not send thousands of dollars to someone who has a description (like this). As for this guitar... It is not for sale and has no connection to this post.

Spotting Forgeries

2009-08-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

Now, more than ever... in this economic environment... watch out for the Scam. I have gone shopping for guitars on Ebay and been burned at least twice, and always by guitars I had never had any previous experience with. I thought (incorrectly) that if I knew all about Telecasters and Strats, that I would also by default know about San Dimas Charvels. I knew enough about them to get taken. When I took one of these hack jobs to my luthier, he told me that some whiz (probably the guy who sold it to me... even though he denied it over a Bible) had slapped it together, with the intent to defraud some sucker (me). I also had the bad luck to purchase a 1987 PRS, with a 'sweet switch' that had come from Radio Shack, and a pair of pickups that came off another guitar altogether (of course, they were the more common variety pickups). On page 88 of the latest Guitar Aficionado there is a wonderful piece about spotting forgeries. People like this take lots of time to fool even the most savvy of buyers. Granted... nobody is going to try to forge a 1999 Made-in-Mexico Fender Tele -yet... we are talking about higher-end stuff. Please... please...please... don't buy this stuff. Save yourself money. If you don't know the difference between Pearloid inlays and Modern inlays on a Gibson Les Paul... don't trust some guy who is just a big 'unknown quantity'... instead, you should go to a respectable dealer you already know is honest. There are also lots of dealers who place big splashy ads in the magazines, who pull this stuff... so watch out... don't get taken.

Good Match?

2009-08-22T12:54:00.000-07:00

Are your pickups a good match? Probably... if they guitar came from the manufacturer that way. What if you are just starting to build your own guitars...or maybe just do major modifications to the ones you have. It is human nature to want to 'make something your own'. Heck, that's why bumper stickers exist. We have all heard about impedence... basically, the opposition something has to electronic current (to simplify). There is also the term resistance... which is sometimes used also... but's let's not get into electronics 101. People use a multimeter to measure this. If both pickups (let's say two humbuckers) are relatively equal in DC resistance, then like two partners where each one is no more crazy than the other, it will be an equal relationship (as far as your ears are concerned). There is currently (as of this entry) a set of original Gibson PAF pickups on EBay, listed as having readings of 7.87 and 7.97... this would match the requirement of two pickups being 'closely matched'.. So what if they are not close? One pickup will then dominate... sort of like in a bad relationship. A few more points to consider; What if we were dealing with one single coil with a reading of 6 kohms, and a humbucker with a reading of 12 kohms? (If your brain is starting to hurt, stop reading now). The usual way to wire pickups is in parallel... so under those conditions, the 6K pickup will dominate. You could modify the wiring to make them all get along though. Modify it to a split coil situation with the humbucker... then they will all match in readings. You can also adjust pickup heights... and get either more or less signal from each pickup. Also... bear in mind that the string signal is weaker near the bridge and is in a higher range, so various pickup arrangements and changes could be made here too, either by you or your guitar tech. To make things sound the way you want lots of adjustments could be made. (Thanks to a guy or gal named purplehaze at rackcreations.com for this info... since I needed to learn it too, and you don't see this discussed much on-line).

Heavy Bottoms...

2009-08-21T19:22:00.001-07:00

Yes... I bought one of these EVH aged and signed humbuckers. It sits in my drawer along with all the other pickups and odds and ends that I always like
to have handy, in case the end of the world comes. Some people want food supplies in their garage, and lots of water... for
me it's 1963 Strat jacks, early blackguard wiring pieces and lots of odd pickups with special sounds... talking about sounds...I have been reading a bit on-line about the early EVH sound. I seem to have the same feeling most people do... that the average 1959 humbucker copy has lots of output, along with heavy bottom edge tone. But I get tired of heavy bottom edge tone after a while. EVH's early version of the humbucker also has a great clarity and lively "punch". Part of this (granted) is the way EVH hits the strings with all those harmonics. If you want this sound without paying more than you have to, Seymour Duncan has their "Custom Custom" pickup, which is priced at about twice the regular one, but at $140 not bad (you can get it for less, read more), for that 'early' EVH sound. Their website lists players of this pickup as Josh Homme/ Michael Wilton of Queens of the Stone Age/ Clint Lowery of Queensryche. I just got the Black/ Bridge one with no logo for $82.95...from Musician's friend. It's going in my drawer.

Looker or Player???

2009-08-21T14:00:00.001-07:00

A certain-famous-ex-lead-guitar-player is selling his #1 Guitar... a pink 1956 Fender Tele. It's definitely a player. What I mean is... this guitar will truly sound amazing. I'll take a player over a looker any day. A looker is a really neat guitar that has great eye-candy-appeal, but maybe sounds like cr*p.

Well, ok... it can't sound like cr*p, but maybe it sounds like 'any other guitar' you might find any day of the week at your local guitar store. I currently own two lookers... and wish I had two players instead. My question though is... do you have to pay big dollar for the player? If you want that specific sound, and you know so-and-so is selling his player..and you want that sound... you might have to put up your money, but the best way is to put in the time to try out guitars for sale... at pawn shops, used-equipment stores.. you name it. When you pull into town in Nebraska to see your Uncle, maybe ask where that local used-guitar store/ pawn shop is... and put in that time test-playing. I know for a fact that 'that-certain-well-known-lead-players' guitar is listed on Ebay at 40K right now... you can do a lot better (I think) if you put in a little time looking for some treasure currently waiting (with your name on it)... It's out there somewhere... and by the way... that is exactly the way that lead guitarist selling his pink '56 Tele found his guiar... walking into a second-hand store in Hollywood 25 years ago.

Good Times

2009-08-21T12:56:00.001-07:00

Is punk coming back again... at least the style? Or is it just another New York August, where people suddenly use the end of summer as an excuse for a change... the New York Times said yesterday in it's style section that certain hairstyles have been making a comeback... I remember going to see the movie Grease in 1978, at Mamaroneck theater in Mamaroneck New York... it was a hot summer day, and my friends and myself and my brother piled into my 1968 Station Wagon, and then spent the later part of an afternoon staring at Olivia Newton John. We were (of course) oblivious to the thirty-something men and women who had really been there in 1959, and had come to see the movie with us to relive their memories. As we all know, there is a big difference between what really happened 'back then', and our candy-coated-happy memories of those 'good times'. I saw some Punk Rock 'Collection' toted on iTunes recently... the ones on their list were not even on mine in 1978... in fact, some of the groups toted as Punk Rock fav's on their album, were considered "also-ran's" at the time. I remember Elvis Costello, The Damned, Sex Pistols, the B-52's, Debbie Harry of Blondie...Lena Lovich, Wreckless Eric, Madness, Sting and the Police and of course Generation X. New York had CBGB's, Studio 54 at 254 W. 54th, and the Mudd Club at 77 White street (as of October '78). The summers were just as hot and everyone felt young and it would never end and everyone older passed you on the street and they were not invited to the party. Movies help to warp our memories, as if thos memories wouldn't do it all by themselves anyway; like a 33 rpm Stiff record album, left on a hot radiator.

Chubby

2009-01-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

More about those wonderful Robles Gig bags next... meanwhile... let's talk about when things are
exactly the opposite of what you expected. You play guitar, and you have small hands.
Naturally (at some point) you play a Blackguard tele, with a 'chunky-like-a-baseball-bat' neck... and then decide it might be too big for your hand. So you go and get another guitar (my choice is Tele) with a late fifties extra-thin V-shaped neck... and you play it a while. You keep saying 'Little hands.. thin neck... this rocks'... but when you get near the cowboy frets area, your fingers just don't lie properly on the fretboard doing chords (at least, this was my experience). I spent maybe a couple years 'courting' thin neck Fender guitars... only to find out the other day when I put that baseball bat neck tele back in my hands everything was right in the world. Sounds strange... but if you have small hands, maybe a chunky neck guitar might be right up your alley.. and that thin neck guitar might be the last thing you want... Now does that mean if you are a skinny guy that chubby girls rule?

Gig

2009-01-10T10:41:00.000-08:00

More coming soon on the 'Official' Gig bag of this blog... by Robles Roadcase™... if it's
good enough for Sir P. McCartney (official endorser of Robles Roadcase, here
seen with his Electric blue Robles Gig Bag)... it's good enough for all.
I feel the most original case to come down the pike in
years... there are just too many other gig bags that all look the same.

New Baby...

2008-11-27T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well... she is on her way. My Versoul Raya 6-String guitar is on the way from Kari Nieminen in Finland. She is only the 304th guitar this master has built... and he has been doing it since the 1990's! He has also made guitars for Billy Gibbons (a 'Raya Blue Light' guitar), and some for Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones too! He has also made two for me previously, including his Kenny Burrell Jazz model acoustic. My current guitar was inspired by Brian Setzer's Champagne Sparkle Jet... here are the build photos of the guitar that is in transit... more info to come soon... (also a photo of a Champagne Sparkle Jet by Gretsch).

Fires

2008-11-17T14:12:00.000-08:00

We all do it... play the cruddy ones, and store the 'gems' away. I always make the excuse that when my skills meet some as-yet-undetermined level, I will have earned the right to play my most valuable guitar... but until then, all guitars are the same... it's all in the set-up... right? WRONG. I decided (as the California fires continued their way towards my door) took out my most valuable guitar. I mean, if it might be going up in smoke, why not enjoy it a little first? I got it second hand a few years ago, following two other previous owners (who also probably seldom played it either). We all felt it was just too expensive to play... unless of course you are Ronnie Wood. The guitar in question is one of probably less than 30 Disc Front Zemaitis guitars (originals). I traded up to it... using many old guitars I purchased before the Vintage Guitar boom a few years ago (think '58 Blond Strat, that Eric Clapton's tech said sounded better than Eric's). After getting it, the 'Z' went into a closet, only to be taken out for brief viewings... like the Shroud of Turin. Well... now I am playing it every day. there IS a difference between this guitar and all the others I have played in my life...THIS one plays like a living thing, or maybe the way a custom pair of hand-made boots fits on your feet. I am playing it... because if that fire comes, I will not have any regrets. I do want to mention... if you are well known, or have connections, the Fender Custom shop could custom make you a guitar, like they did for other rock Gods... custom to you hands, desires, etc... but I tell you this... it could only be as good as this guitar is to play... (even if I am only using it for rhythm guitar!)

Feel Screwed???

2008-11-11T09:31:00.001-08:00

I was just in contact with Nick, at AxetremeCreations, regarding Fender, Leo and Screws... there are many different screws on a Strat. The backplate screws (in case you don't know) are identical to the pickguard screws. They are #4 1/2" screws. The pickguard, backplate, jack cup and also string tree (on the round early models) are all the same screw in fact (says Nick, who specializes in aged parts for your Strat). The neckplate screws are #8 X 1 3/4". All have an oval head. This is important... since it makes it very difficult for someone to go to a hardware store and find these suckers. All this info, by the way, is (for some reason) really hard to find... even online! Leo seemed to be keeping his screw sizes a secret for some reason says Nick (tongue in cheek I am sure). Most hardware stores do NOT carry the combination screws you would need for your Strat (or Tele). Most were nickle plated according to Nick, which are rare to find. It is also very difficult to find slot-head screws... the oval head is nearly impossible as well. Although there is nothing overly special about the screws he says, they are just an odd combination. Maybe David Gilmour (or Pink Floyd) wished he had known of Nick when his beloved Black Guitar was returned to him... missing volume knob, tone knob, pickup selector knob, tremelo arm and knob, and strap button (with sheared screw)... the guitar is mentioned in the new book (The Black Strat) as having been returned in poor shape from the Dallas Hardrock Cafe in 1997, after hanging at eye-level over a table in the restaurant... Nick has all these replacement parts available at his site, and more... to put that old Strat back in shape. Next... The Black Strat Book!

Vintage Guitar Market

2008-11-07T15:33:00.000-08:00

Has the Vintage Guitar Market gone up in flames? The urban legends of a Blackguard '52 Tele in mint shape going for $96,000 on EBay (actually, it might have been true... but maybe only once)... are probably all just a memory now... sort of like the finger someone supposedly bit into in a bucket of wings at the fried chicken place a few years ago. The Vintage Guitar stores don't seem to want to lower their prices yet, and admit to the recession... at least not officially. Going through my latest issue of Vintage Guitar Magazine, I saw the following listings: a 1953 Fender Tele, VG+ for $55,900 (page 68), a 1951 NoCaster with original case, $69,165 (page 133), and a 1953 Fender Tele, clean with case $59,500. All this reminds me of last night...I watched one of those Art & Coin TV channels, that sell you things all night... Greg "Hurricane" Thomas was on, taking over for Barry Chappell in the Art Hour. They were selling Haziza sculptures made of Acrylic for an opening bid of $700... the phones were dead for the first few minutes, and Hurricane finally had to open bidding on the first sculpture at $0, in $100 increments. (I think it finally went for $500). My first thought was that in this economy, those sculptures at the old prices of last year will be a hard sell. I might apply that to the prices on those Tele's... I don't know if anyone is buying $50K tele's right now, or if those prices are flexible when you call the dealers up, but my guess is... it's like the finger in the chick'n bucket... that puppy is gonna sit in the bottom of that bucket ...

Yngwie Malmsteen Strat!

2008-11-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

Go here.

Raya by Versoul...

2008-10-29T16:55:00.000-07:00

Here is one more mock-up of the Raya guitar I have ordered from Versoul. People who love custom shop guitars
generally aren't purists... there are other guitars in their rack too...! (and this one also comes in both a Baritone version, and a 12-string version too).

New Champagne Sparkle on Order...

2008-10-25T15:25:00.001-07:00

New Champagne Sparkle Versoul Raya 6-String on order... same finish as Brian Setzer's Gretsch....go to Versoul for more info (heck... Keith Richards can't be wrong... he owns a few Versouls). ** Note: These are my photoshop mock-ups I made for Kari Nieminen at Versoul.

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators

2008-10-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

The Thirteenth Floor Elevators... my current pick for band of the Week... (courtesy of NPR)... especially their rendering of G L O R I A.... also Livin' On....they also have a website also... learn more about The Thirteenth Floor Elevators here.

Question from Rockin' Rob R.

2008-10-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

"I'm thinking of treating my beat to sh*t 1969 Tele, which I love, to a refinish for its 40th birthday! Since it's already non-original (had been routed with a P90 when I got it, so I've never cared if it was pristine or factory original)...and now has a DeArmond Silverfoil in the neck...anyway...there's an early 60's Fender Custom color that's a sort of Granny Apple Green that would look great on this one...

2 Q's:

1) Do you know any local techs who would/could do a great job on it?

2) It's kind of stripped bare at places...should I just leav it...would the paint do anything to the tone?

Thanks for any opinions".

You could contact Shooz Matthews across from the Hollywood Guitar Center... his EMail is shoozguitars@rock.com

The paint definitely effects tone...

I have a 59 Esquire I was trying to sell to raise $$$... it had a pickup in the neck position once... then it was 'restored'

and original wiring put back.

It is amazing... you can definitely tell older wood when playing it... also older paint.

Do you have a photo of the guitar? Sounds like Seafoam Green....

I would contact Shooz Matthews in Hollywood; get him to shoot it your color, and then buff off some of it... then you throw it around a bit

for real dings. Leave it by the stage (under watchfull eye... give it a little beer... sort of like the way some

Rocker's treat their groupies...

Would love to see photo of the guitar to talk about it.... if Shooz doesn't work, then Performance Guitar down the hill

from me would 'shoot it' with nitro... they do a lot of glam rock bands stuff... work(ed) for Steve Vai and probably

'Rat Poison' (haha).. (cool on the Silverfoil pickup Rob!).

Let's see a photo of that pup....

Glitter Paint, Chuck Berry and Rewinds

2008-10-04T16:22:00.000-07:00

Beautiful, retro, wacky or tacky...all words people have used to describe Sparkle Finish guitars. Personally... I love 'em, even though they're a little tacky. A few guitars I found on-line that have come in sparkle finish are: Green Sparkle Les Pauls, a 1962 Jaguar in Pink Sparkle (indeed a retro favorite), and of course, Brian Setzer's Champagne Sparkle Gretsch. It's also called 'Glitter Paint' and is found as drum finishes too. Sparkly guitars are definitely as much of a contention as our current election process... one person's dream guitar in Sparkle Gold finish (think late 50's, and some Chuck Berry-type gathering)... is another person's train wreck. As it happens, I am having a Versoul Guitar built in Champagne Sparkle... with a humbucker from Jonathan of GVCG fame... I got it off one of his old guitars, when it needed a rewind... and Lindy Fralin did the work on it. More on this little number later... Versoul guitars are the new weapon of choice by none-other than the likes of Mr Keith Richards himself....

My Vote

2008-09-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Schallers, Klusons... which is the better tuning machine for your Fender guitar? And why does Andy Summers (and so many other guitarists) want Schallers on their guitars, instead of Klusons? How about the difference between true Vintage Klusons, and the 'newer' ones, that still have that vintage look? Well.. let's start with three guitars I own. My true '58 Esquire has original like-new vintage Klusons... turn the tuner a little, and the string goes 'out' a whole note.

The thing pops and slips like a '58 Ford without snow tires in San Francisco snow. This is so bad, I don't generally play this guitar, even though the old wood sounds much better than any new guitar ever could. I also have another tele with mini-schallers... and they are as tight as John Paul Getty was with money. Set those babies, and it stays in tune for days, while my original '58 goes out in minutes or seconds. How about the 'new and improved' Klusons? Well, my Jeff Beck Esquire goes out of tune every day, and always needs retuning... sometimes twice an hour... so my vote... Schallers! (for me).

Cracked Necks

2008-09-25T14:21:00.001-07:00

So you want to be a rock and roll singer... and maybe a rock and roll star...well... maybe just have a collection of 3 or 4 electric guitars that a rock and roll singer would have...sitting in a stand at the back of the stage. We get bombarded with advertising from Fender and Gibson... and... er...Danelectro...about which guitar some rock persona recommends. Truth be told, take a close look at say Keith Richard's collection (google it)...or even Brian Setzer's guitars.... you will not see a lot of new mid-range tele's and Strats, or new Les Paul Bursts. You might see some eclectic stuff though... old Gretsch's... old Danelectro's that you can still buy on Ebay in like-new condition...and also stuff like Silvertones and (of course) older 50's and 60's Les Pauls and Strats/ Tele's. Truth be told, these guys aren't buying on EBay though... unless there is a good return policy... which can be time consuming anyway. If you must get something new, I lean towards the masterbuilt guitars (the ones with the numbers on the back of the headstock), from Fender's masterbuilders... I mean, they ARE good enough for the rock guys and gals to tour with. Think Dennis Galuszka... I think he's the best masterbulder out there today. Also try and find a 'Stinger' headstock Les Paul... those are neat. As far as other choices... get some of the older babies at Pawn shops and guitar stores that sell vintage... or maybe from a garage sale down the street. Most true working musicians play stuff that sounds 'right', plays even righter...and is also unique as far as looks... with time worn dents and bruises... just skip any cracked necks.

Yes... She's Got All!

2008-08-27T21:02:00.000-07:00

We've all seen 'em... those guitars for sale that do everything... except toast bread, make the bed, and jump start your car when the battery goes dead. The for sale ad generally reads something like this: "For Sale... Fender '65 Stratocaster. Don't miss this and kick yourself later! Here's the details; Original well worn finish. Monster tone! This guitar is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Fingerboard is superfast. Perfect medium C-Shaped neck. Pickups allow amazing Jimi Hendrix chords. Lay it down in your lap, and you will not believe the Jeff Healey bluesy notes that ring on this guitar. I played it the other day, and my friend told me what came out of it was pure Jimmie Vaughan! If you want a little Yngwie, you need look no further than here either... truly amazing guitar for finger tapping. Also just to show what this guitar can do..check out my youTube™ page for a shot of me playing EVH's Eruption. I am not going to let it go cheap though...". All joking aside... a lot of what people say in ads needs to be taken with a whole salt-shaker full of salt... so as before... cool those hormones a minute, and look before you leap.

Unplugged.....

2008-08-15T15:59:00.001-07:00

Some really resonant electric guitars spend a lot of their time being played 'unplugged'.... to those who love doing this sort of thing, the sound is every bit as enjoyable as playing an acoustic guitar.... you have all the comfort and familiarity of playing your electric guitar, and none of the hassles of carting around an amp and all those pedal boards and stuff....and cables. How many people out there live with non-guitarists... who ask that the living room not become a permanent gig-room? We are quite happy to have pedals everywhere, amps on standby all day... their little red lights on, variacs dialed-in and on the floor, cables tangled everywhere, and loose picks and other paraphernalia as far as the eye can see. Because we have to set up everything before we play... and then put it all away again afterwards (...people are coming over... and might want to use the room...as...er... a diningroom/ livingroom... or kitchen). Meanwhile it can take us ages to set up and then put it all away again. I start to feel like someone's roadie! But my acoustic.... as great as it sounds, just doesn't have a neck I like to play for long periods of time, and even with the steel strings on it...it is NOT my electric... and it digs into my ribs. Let's hear it for being unplugged.... leave the acoustic in the corner, and forget being your own roadie.

Worth Saying Again...

2008-08-02T11:06:00.000-07:00

It really is worth saying again. Human nature has implanted in all of us the weakness to fall for 'The Deal That Is Just Too Good To Be True'.... (and actually isn't...true). As you may have read in previous posts... I bought a 50's Esquire from a very well known, highly advertised guitar dealer. He never put it in writing (maybe a warning to the wise)... but did tell me on the phone... that the guitar was totally original. Yes... it was totally original... but assembled from 2 guitars of roughly the same year. That alone was not enough... it also at one time, had another pickup installed in the neck position, and the screw holes remained. The price was the hook that pulled me in... it was 66% of the price an honest and original one would have cost, at my 'high-priced-but-totally-honest' local dealer. I fell for it by purchasing the lemon, and of course, have now found out that I will be lucky to get out of it without a loss. As of this post, I am still waiting for it to sell with my local dealer (after 3 months). Can you avoid this... absolutely! Will you avoid it though... that's my question?

Know-It-All

2008-07-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

Never assume that because you know all about 50's Tele's and Strats, and once owned a 1987 Reverse Headstock Jackson in Road Cone Orange, that you have any chance at knowing about Jackson guitars... until you put in all the time to study them. They ARE a different animal... not just because the guys that played them had big hair most of the time. The bridges were radically new at the time. Heck... you could even lock the strings at the nut, using a hex key that was (most of the time) bolted (eek!) to the back of the headstock (when not in use). Not only this... but Jackson literally horsebranded his fretboards with the serial numbers most of the time... by stamping the numbers deep into the fretboards (no actual heat involved really... and no horses... as far as I know). I had purchased a 'totally original 1985 Randy Rhoads guitar' on EBay some time ago. I paid around $1500, and was told (by the seller in the listing) that the case was 'a rare original case'. When I went to sell it last week... turned out the case, bridge (?), pickups (?) and electronics and also the switches all came under scrutiny and questioning. Jackson guitar people had a lot of questions about originality... and many reservations. Apparently, the case is definitely not original at all (being form fit plastic). So be warned... I am also a relative expert in PRS guitars... but had to take a loss of around $1000 on this guitar, to learn my lesson; Be well read and learn about what you intend to buy... thoroughly... before you go to buy it! (the scammers are out, and want your money).

Bollywood

2008-07-21T22:51:00.001-07:00

Randy Rhoads Lives....

2008-07-13T15:11:00.000-07:00

I am currently selling my Randy Rhoads V... Serial number 1130. Up until I listed it, I really knew NOTHING about Randy Rhoads Guitars... other than that they are a cornerstone of the Glam Rock 80's equipment requirement for a guitarist. At first I listed the guitar as a San Dimas guitar... only to have someone write and tell me I was lucky to have probably the 1st guitar off the Ontario assembly line. My temporary muted excitement was destroyed by further news, from another Ebayer... that that is not true... that the guitar IS a San Dimas guitar... as the info on Jackson's site shows ...I have also copied the info from their site in the photo above (thanks Jackson). I have yet to confirm the situation with the plastic vs. wood and tolex cases... but I think the originals did come with a black tolex & wood case.

Rob R.

2008-07-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

Mr Rob R. wrote back... to tell me that the 'mystery guitar' I knew he could name might have been made at the Teisco factory (could be labeled anything from Teisco Del Rey, Conrad, Silvertone... and a few others). Audition was one of their brands (he says)... but all made by the same folks. Not a bad recording guitar according to Rob... twangy, surf-tones, and generally the neck plays poorly (he used a better word)... unless you have a real whiz set them up.

Rob wants a Fender Jag with buckers and fixed/ addressed bridge... and pickups that split to single coil (just like MY Sadowsky Strat!).... sounds great Rob...! Here's a 'Jazz' photo for you....

RAW BAR

2008-06-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

Belly up to the raw bar.....raw necks that is. My love is completely sanded and oiled raw maple neck guitars. Raw on the fretboard... and raw on the back. Oiled doesn't mean oily though... one guy in a blog mentioned "Where's the oil in oiled necks?'. People argue whether the nitro necks wear better than 'raw' necks. Truth is... raw necks are pretty much ready to rock on... bend notes, do a Stevie Ray or Kenny Wayne... or whatever you do. Nitro necks need a period to 'break in'. Even after they are broken in, the two still feel different. And raw necks have about the same life expectancy as nitro necks...I own a Sadowsky Strat (when he used to make them only for 'Big Stars'...)... it has the neck shown in the picture, and is a '80's '57 Reissue Strat, completely stripped and then given a beat up nitro treatment. A lot of 'real' players love 'raw' necks... I never used to pay much attention to raw neck guitars... I thought they might wear out and stain and also (since they are not sealed)... be subject to humidity. Not so! So....Belly up to the raw bar....you WILL NOT be disappointed.... (just make sure you also own a nice Les Paul... for those Rosewood moments).

CASH

2008-06-21T10:10:00.000-07:00

My perspective on how the 'recession' is affecting guitars is as follows.... every dealer I have called to 'trade' a guitar this month, has insistently said that the guitar I am offering to trade is 'not what he is looking for'... likewise, like the local car dealer... whatever he has for sale is a 'real gem'. Ok... that's what capitalism is all about... whatever the store is selling is valuable, and whatever you have to trade is 'cr*p'. But it has never (for my mind) been this difficult to trade... and I don't own lemons. Dealers only want c$sh right now... NO trades (from my survey this month). It used to be that they didn't want your lap harp... (not to keep picking on lap harps)... in trade for a Les Paul or Tele. Now they don't seem to want your Tele in trade for a Tele. I went shopping last night at 9pm, when the 'Valley' in California was still hovering at 94 degrees... and the supermarket was deserted... I don't know if this was due to the weather, or the 'recession'... but for my mind... the supermarket was air conditioned.... so it must be the recession. I feel that is why the dealers need c$sh... c$sh for rent, c$sh for gas, and c$sh to buy new instruments from manufacturers... to generate more c$sh. So folks... that 1993 Tele you want to trade may have to be put back in the closet... or just plain played.

"Instant Collection For Sale"

2008-06-17T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sounds great... right? Maybe not... Say you get a RR-1 Randy Rhoads, a Fender CIJ MIJ 62 RI Tele from Japan, a Sharpsicle 26 String Lap Harp, a rare Elvis Presley 4 String Toy Guitar, a Fender 1977 Sunburst USA Strat EC w/HSC, and an amp with no name....all for $6700. Do you even know if you got a bargain or not? Would you want all those instruments? Would you individually pay that much for all of them... or even seek them out if found one at a time? A dealer might buy the group if he wanted two of the guitars, and planned to discard the rest. The Strat looks nice to me... I don't really know what CIJ stands for with the Tele... I know MIJ stands for 'Made in Japan'...I've never played a 26 String Lap Harp... and maybe never will (my loss). Truth be told, unless you are a dealer, the fun is in the actual collecting (as a player too). I just saw a guy on EBay selling a prototype Les Paul so he can afford to pay off a newly aquired 1983 PRS (sound familiar....? Next year it might be reversed, when he sells the PRS to get back a Les Paul). The chance of two people on the planet having the same 5 dream guitars (in a collection) is pretty slim... probably over 10,000: 1. The amp though might actually work.....and I do like the sound of that Strat. (My safe money is on the bet that my friend Rob R. knows the name of the guitar in the picture above).

Nash Les Pauls...

2008-06-15T14:59:00.000-07:00

Bill at Nash Guitars wrote to me... here is the full scoop on the New Nash Les Paul re-works...Bill says: "Yes, I finally caved in to the pressure from people wanting a “Nash” take in the Gibson arena.

These are real Gibson guitars that I purchase with the intention of doing a complete make over. There are a few models that make good candidates for this, depending on the final color (plain, flame or gold top). The faded standards, the classic standards and classic plus standards are all possibilities as a starting piece as long as they are in NOS condition when they land.

First step is to completely disassemble and separate the parts that will be aged and re-used, from the parts that we reject and replace. The “keeper” parts are then aged.

The finish, which is sometimes rather thick, is stripped off down to the bare wood. At this point some get stains applied, if required to get the desired color. Then the guitar gets re-finished in 100% nitrocellulose lacquer, keeping it as thin as possible to enable superior resonance. We do a variety of takes on the lemon, cherry, faded, un-burst, plain and gold top looks.

After curing, the guitar gets the complete aging treatment and then the frets are re-worked and dressed to our specs, then we are ready for re-assembly.

The pickups are replaced with what many of you may balk at as there are so many opinions about Les Paul pickups and tone out there. As always, I simply build a guitar that I would use and leave it at that. So, in my arsenal of personal guitars, my favorite and most versatile LP setup is using a DiMarzio Bluesbucker in the Neck and a DiMarzio Air Norton in the Bridge.

We re-wire the guitar so the pickups breathe better as well as use the neck pickup’s tone control as a coil tap for the Bluesbucker, which gives you an amazing strat-like sound from that pickup. Between 1 and 8 on the tone knob it works as a regular tone control, between 9 and 10 it shuts off the second/dummy coil. This gives you a tap without adding switches of push pull pots.

The Air Norton give you bigger output and rich harmonics without going over the top into the tone spectrum of faceless, modern, high output sound that so many specialized humbuckers are susceptible to. These pickups have a lower string pull and a much higher sensitivity to your dynamics and playing style.

If you care for more info on the pickup selection, setup etc., read on……

My problem with stock Les Pauls is that the pickups never seem truly matched to each other or the position that they inhabit. The neck pickup will sound to fat and lack clarity and character. The bridge will often sound harsh or weak. The middle position (both pickups together) has an incredible potential for sparkle and quack, but no stock Les Paul, I have had, other than an actual ‘59 burst had this. I always looked for a paul that could actually use the neck pickup for rhythm, but if I set my amps for that, then the bridge pickup sounded harsh and weak. If setting the amp for a smooth, but well driven sound from the bridge, then your neck pickup is overly thick and un-clear. Does this sound familiar?

Also, as many of you may have figured out, the method Gibson uses for wiring the pots is not optimum. The tendency towards the guitar getting muddy or sounding choked when anywhere but “10“. This gets re-worked when we re-wire.

Gibson installs frets on the fretboard prior to it getting glued to the neck and body. Maybe they do it as it is easier to do it that way, but it can really lead to all sorts of fret issues (buzzing, fret outs, high action, dead spots etc). What happens is the neck and body glue, moisture, and all of the underlying structure will shrink, expand and or settle. The fretboard (and frets) will now adjust itself to the changes and you end up with “lumpy gravy”. The most noticeable and common issue is the hump at about the 14^th fret, right where the neck gets really thick before it hit’s the body. So what we do is now re-work the neck and frets and take care of this to give the player better action, playability, sustain, bending etc." Tell me if this isn't a doppleganger for a '59 Burst!

Original With Mods

2008-06-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

How many times have you seen a guitar advertised on Ebay as being "TOTALLY ORIGINAL, with upgrades/ modifications?". Let's face it folks... if it's been "upgraded", "modified" or otherwise changed, it is no longer Totally Original. It's an old adage... one man's pleasure is another's poison... well... same with those wonderful upgrades. The thing is... I just saw someone (again) on Ebay, actually marking UP the guitar (over totally original) because he/ she spent money to upgrade it. They wanted to find someone else who loved those upgrades the way they did... and also wanted to pay the extra amount for them. True... Andy Summer's Tele came with "upgrades" that he just happened to love... but it is a rarity (see previous post). Once again... word to the wise... before getting out the chisel and hammer to "customise" your little gem, ask yourself that important question... "Will I EVER want to sell this again one day?". I can pretty much guarantee, none of us really know the answer to that one most of the time.

Kit-N-Caboodle

2008-06-14T09:07:00.000-07:00

I can't confirm the sighting yet... but I think I just saw (online) a Nash Les Paul. Apparently,

Mr Nash is now bowing to requests, and disassembling old Les Pauls, aging them, and then reassembling them again (minus any broken or damaged pieces)... into works of art. He makes them look like '58- '60 Bursts. He is also doing his own special wiring job (apparently), to go along with the whole kit-n-kaboodle. I will write to him now and see if I can get the Low-Down directly from the master.....wow.

Collectibles

2008-06-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

What happened? SRV #1 guitars rocketed up in price after they came out at the 2004 NAMM convention, and are now worth (arguably) anywhere between $42,000 (the one sold at the Eric Clapton Crossroads Auction on June 24, 2004), and in the range of $28,000 to $45,000 (at auction on EBay). Meanwhile, the EVH Frankenstrats actually dropped in 'value', and I have seen them go unsold on EBay at $15,000 (they were originally sold for $25,000 by Guitar Center). The Jeff Beck Esquires came out at $15,000, and now trade between $7500 and $9000... the $9000 for those buyers that want a brand new guitar, from a good source. The Andy Summers Tele's are currently going as low as the high 6's, (with a man in Texas a few months ago on EBay with one at that price, due to a distressed sale). Now the new 'Lenny' Replica's are out...I will say one thing... My Jeff Beck Esquire is about the best sounding guitar I have ever owned, and was built by Dennis Galuszka, who for my mind is the best of the best builders out there right now... hence why Andy Summers has been touring with a guitar built by Dennis, while on his Police tour. If you can snag ANY guitar, built by Dennis (with the numbers next to his signature, on the back of the headstock... Not the ones that have just his signature) you are getting a guitar that would easily cost you $10,000 if ordered custom from the factory, by Dennis. So if you are a true player, I WOULD highly recommend you buying an Andy Summers Tele or Jeff Beck Esquire... if you can get one at a good price right now. Also... the Andy Summers Tele's will come with a neat pre-amp, which I personally would love to try out.