In reply to paranoid_android :
I too struggled with the les paul v. strat thing . my solution humbucking strat.
I’d probably be a lot farther ahead in my playing if I hadn’t been so focused on girls.I'm so sure that it was at least 50% of the decision to start playing.
bustedplug said:my latest acquisition
this is my first adult attempt at electric guitar-ing. and i am certainly a hack this guitar is shockingly well made.
Jackson JS32? Those are real nice for the money. I have a JS22 (basically that with a conventional Strat-style bridge) and I love it.
bustedplug said:In reply to poopshovel again :
Thanks.I have since restrung this with DR black magic strings. the were a revelation and them being "coated" is kinda cool too.
Uuuuuugh. I need to restring all my floyd-equipped guitars soon :/
Today was D Day for my newly acquired Squier Strat SE.
First, I started with replacing the stock Squier bridge with that Wilkinson WV6-SB bridge I bought earlier this week (stock on the left, new one on the right):
As you can see, the Wilkinson is a bit different. It has the vintage-style saddles, and the block is a much larger steel one rather than the lightweight pot metal one on the stock bridge. See those oblonged holes? More on that in a sec.
Here it is on the guitar. I did run into some slight issues. The block cavity needed some massaging on the right side to make the holes line up, and even then, they didn't want to line up 100%. Luckily, these have those oblong holes, and I was able to get it to screw in fine. Next time, I'd probably go with the GFS import-style bolt pattern bridge instead. But it's on, and it's glorious.
Next up were the tuners. Before I mounted them, I compared the feel of them off the guitar, and they didn't feel much different. I decided on replacing them anyway. And I'm glad I did! They are much better than what was on there, with no dead spots. Plus, they look better.
Here's the stock pickups and electronics. Not too complex. Again, I kept the stock switch and pots because they seemed to work fine.
New pickups were luckily labeled on their baggies. I saw people complaining that they weren't labeled from some sellers, so this was a relief.
New pickups soldered and wired.
They say Wilkinson on the covers. The stock covers might get swapped on if I get sick of the look.
Here's the stock cavity. So much room for activities! And humbuckers!!! But not today. Today, this is getting copper tape shielding.
BLACK GOOOOOLLLLDDDD!!!! Err... Copper!!!!!!
Enough of that.. onto the neck. It's not the grossest neck I've seen (that award goes to the $15 Les Paul Special I used to have) but it had never been cleaned. Like, ever. The fingerboard had never seen oil, and the frets were tarnished but largely unworn.
And after:
Again, not a a drastic difference, but it's much cleaner than before.
The final product:
Overall, it plays and sounds like a different guitar. It felt like a cheap toy before, but now it feels and sounds like a real deal Fender. It has unbelievable clean tones, and these pickups boosted the mids and gave the thing more punch, which is really what it needed. The bridge makes a big difference; it feels so much nicer to play now.
The best part: if I get sick of it, I'll just swap in a loaded HSS pickguard, because Strat! 
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Yes. js32 . I tried a lot of different guitars before picking this one and I think its the nicest for the money for sure. I was a little dubious of the Jackson licensed Floyd Rose, but it seems as well made as the rest of the guitar.
I bet that tone block makes a world of difference. Nice work.
I needed some guitar stands last weekend, so I went to the local Guitar Center. Also took another guitar I haven't played for at least six months to see how much they'd give me for it. Bad move.
This one caught my eye while I was there as it was pretty close to my first electric guitar (an 80s Tokai Strat) that disappeared under less than pleasant circumstances sometimes in the 90s. So clearly it had to come home with me.
It's a mid-eighties Fender Made in Japan Strat. It looks like it's been mucked about with a bit - well, the Roland guitar synth interface might be a bit of a clue - so the pick guard doesn't fit that well (bulges a bit) and the action is a bit high (like, it doubles as a hunting bow if necessary high) thanks to the Roland pickup not being fitted that well.
I'll probably have to pull it apart a bit to figure out what's really going on. The main issue is that I can't lower the strings much, if at all because the low E is already almost hitting the Roland pickup. The Roland pickup doesn't sit flat on the pickguard, which has me suspect that one of the two holes is misaligned (one of the "ears" that hold the pickup down is an integral part of the pickup, the other one looks like it's movable) and someone decided that this was a good enough job for them.
Also, the bridge pickup feels like it's providing a lot less output than the other two. Not sure yet if it's a setup issue or a pickup issue. Of course the latter could be easily cured with a quick order at Seymour Duncan or any of their competitors.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
What kind of oil did you use on the fret board?
In reply to paranoid_android :
I didn't have any lemon oil, so I used a Fast Fret stick and wiped it clean after. I've done this many times in a pinch, and it works great.
Finally got around to digging out some of my guitars. These are the electric ones. One on the right is a cheap Korean single pickup model. Nothing fancy but I think it's the best looking of these. The middle one is a Memphis as friend gave me when he got a Strat. The bass on the left I picked up several years ago. Its a Mako Traditional TPB-2. Both the guitars need work which I've been delaying. Thanks to this thread I learned I didn't have to take them to a shop to get the electrics redone. I just ordered new wiring harnesses for both that includes the pots and plugs and a set of new knobs from Amazon. I plan on replacing the pickups a little later. Also ordered a new cable as the one I have generates a lot of feedback to the small amp I have.
There was another one around but I think daughter 2 grabbed it and the better of the small amps. It is a Kay Strat-clone in green. It's her guitar anyway but was disappointed it disappeared. Not shown are the acoustics. I still have my first guitar I got 48 years ago when I was 12. It's a 3/4 size student model from a 5&10 store. Have a full size 6-string, a Drifter that I have done a little work too. Replaced the plastic bridges with bone and got the string down as close to the neck as a could without buzzing. Leveled the frets and aligned the neck. Got this guitar when I was 16. 44 years ago. It has a great mellow sound. SWMBO attempted guitar a few years ago and bought her an Esteban guitar. While you're giggling, they aren't really bad guitars. In fact, very good for the price. It's about the best $150 guitar you can buy. But not even close to a thousand dollar guitar like claimed though. A small amp and nice hard shell case with it too. Plays pretty well. Never got good playing guitar, hyper extensive finger joints meant I had a hard time pressing more than one string with one finger. Now arthritis makes it painful. Have played a friends very expensive guitars and those only require a touch rather than pressing down. Guess I'll have to start saving for one of those.
In reply to wlkelley3 :
That guitar on the right looks like it could be a Matsumoto/Matsumoku. Those were good guitars.
bustedplug said:In reply to paranoid_android :
I too struggled with the les paul v. strat thing . my solution humbucking strat.
I’d probably be a lot farther ahead in my playing if I hadn’t been so focused on girls.I'm so sure that it was at least 50% of the decision to start playing.
Take it a step further and find a Fender with the Gibson scale and a humbucker. My Cyclone is 24.75 in an H/S combo so I can make Gibson sounds and single coil Fender sounds on the neck without the long scale of a Strat. It's a good compromise for me and when I made the switch from a standard jazzmaster, my confidence and dexterity felt like it went up instantly.
Boxhead: That MIJ Strat is awesome. To me, MIA and MIJ Fenders are on the same level. 80s and 90s MIJ actually edging out most MIA stuff I've played.
Guys, I got a new (to me) thing! And it doesn't have strings! 
My retired dad volunteers at the transfer station (aka dump) in my hometown at what's called the "Swap Shop". My hometown is affluent, and this "Swap Shop" is where the natives can bring things that are still good to drop off for other people to grab. Over the years, he's brought home some unbelievable finds. These are the kinds of people that would give away a perfectly good car if it ran out of gas! He's gotten all sorts of lawn equipment, high end stereo and A/V stuff, power tools, and more from there, and if he finds something I might be interested in, he will snag it. Worst case, he brings it back!
Typically, when I go visit, he pulls the "you should see what I picked up at the Swap" line. Last night, he had a surprise for me, and it hit me right in the feels.
It's a late 1990's Ludwig Acrolite 5x14" snare drum kit! Why did it hit me in the feels? Well, it's twofold:
-When I first started playing drums back when I was 10, this snare drum outfit is the exact same one I had, save for the color. Mine was the original silver painted model that looks like this:
Mine was also a hand-me-down from my older sister, and all the other kids were getting the "Black Galaxy" finish, and I coveted that. As you can see, the one my dad got was the Black Galaxy finish! I traded my original Acrolite in when I traded in my first drum kit, and I always regretted it because they skyrocketed in price. Used, beat up examples usually sell for $150-up. This one is nearly new!
-The second smack in the feels comes from what was in the kit:
That letter was addressed the year after I graduated, and signed from my original band teacher! I was heavily involved with the Concert Band program from 5th grade all the way to graduation, and was 1st chair of the Percussuion section for junior and senior years in high school, so it was really cool to find this in there. It was like going back in time!
As for the snare itself... These drums are AWESOME. They have a killer tone that can cover just about anything from Smooth Jazz to Technical Death Metal. I've always wanted to get another one, and now I have it. Thanks, Dad!
Last thing I need is another guitar, but man, these new Charvels make me all tingly.
In reply to Tony Sestito :
I picked up a 70’s Ludwig school band snare at a rummage sale for $5 years ago. It sounded amazing. I think I sold it for around $70-$75.
In reply to Pete Gossett :
It was probably an Acrolite. That was their go-to drum line for students. It's basically the same drum as the super-expensive Supraphonic (think John Bonham of Led Zeppelin) but with 8 lugs instead of 10. The difference in sound between the models is negligible.
Speaking of cool snare drums, my main snare for the past 18 or so years is a rare one. It's a Magstar Custom Drums 6.5x14 maple snare. Looks exactly like this one:
A guy named Rob Kampa was building custom drums out of his house in Plymouth, MA back in the 1990's. He's since closed up shop and moved to Tennessee and signed on with one of the drum manufacturers based there as a master builder. He made really high end custom stuff, but also made a small run of these cheaper snares. By "cheap" I don't mean crappy, though. They use Keller 10-ply maple shells with a natural finish, Pearl hardware so you can actually service them just about anywhere, and have 10 lugs. They sound unbelievable both live and on record.
Funny story: When I bought mine, I was at a local (now defunct) shop trying out a bunch of snares, looking for an upgrade. The owner suggested that I try this one. I immediately fell in love, and started glowing about how great it sounded. He then said, "Hey Rob, someone likes your stuff!" and a guy I was chatting with a few minutes before about drum gear comes over and said "Well, I hope so, because I made that!"
How often do you get to meet the dude who built your instrument? He was super nice, and even sent me some new badges for it for free because someone had scratched the ones on the drum. I really should slap those on someday.
Tony Sestito said:
So does it make me a geek to recognize that is in Chicago typeface and was probably written in MacWrite Pro or ClarisWorks?
In reply to poopshovel again :
The HSH version is almost a poor man's Guthrie Govan model. As much as a $1360 guitar can be considered a "budget" model compared to one with a $4081 MSRP.
Fir my birthday, my lovely wife signed me up for guitar lessons, and greenlit a purchase. I'm super excited. This is something I've wanted to do for a long time. Here's what I ended up with 
In reply to cmcgregor :
OOOOOOOOH mercy, that’s hot!
In reply to cmcgregor :
Is that the J. Mascis model? Those are bad ass
It is!
I agree, it is badass. I wanted to get something I wouldd be excited about picking up.
In reply to cmcgregor :
Congrats! I super-dig the offset Fenders... Have fun with the lessons! I should go back to taking some lessons...
That is a SWEET Squier! J. Mascis is the man!
So... I was playing my $40 Peavey USA Foundation S bass the other night, and decided to roll on just the P pickup, when I noticed something was seriously off. First off, as a refresher, we are talking about this thing:
Originally, it came with passive Schaller "Dimarzio-style" pickups with adjustable poles; the J pickup is still stock. The P pickup was replaced somewhere along the line with a SGC Nanyo "Bass Collection" pickup for some weird reason. Those basses are rare themselves, so how it ended up in my rare Foundation S is a mystery. Well, when I was playing it, I noticed that the D/G side of the pickup was dead. I popped off the cavity cover and was greeted by this mess:
I forgot about this. It's NASTY in there. The shielding looks like a school lunch lady cut up a cheap, thin serving tray and slapped it in there! the wiring is insane, with solder-like bridges between the pots, all sorts of resistors and capacitors, and appears to have been butchered further when that P-pickup was installed. I asked the guys over on the TalkBass forums what they thought, and if anyone could provide a wiring harness diagram. They took one look and said that that's 99% FACTORY. Another guy posted his 100% stock cavity:
So, uhh... yeah....
Remember, this was a premium, US-made, professional quality bass guitar when it was made in 1987. I have half a mind to just replace everything with a decent Jazz Bass harness and new stock-style pickups.
In reply to Duke :
It may be the inspiration you need to play more!
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