The Musical Instrument Thread

Sometimes I jones for a humbucker...but a lot of rock music is played on single coils, and certainly on Teles with single coils. A Telecaster is a great classic rock guitar. And with the right effects, you can make any pickup sound like any other pickup. I can get a lot of great hard rock and metal sounds with my Tele because I have a modeling amp and the Fender Fuse software.

I was reading an article about that d-bag Ace Frehley and his new album in Guitar Player. (Though he's certainly not as big a d-bag as Gene Simmons.) He had a great quote: "My tone is pretty much set. I plug a Les Paul into a Marshall." But he went on to talk about how the pick and your picking hand technique matter a lot, which they totally do.
 
I broke my e string on my electric while tuning down to open G last night and I forgot to buy more today. And my acoustic strings were put on last winter and sound like a wet tube sock, and I don't have any more of them either. I think it's time for an Amazon bulk order...and then on to my bass.
 
Try some rubbing alcohol on a rag and wipe each string. Pinch the rag around the string so you don't get the alcohol on the fretboard. I don't think it will hurt the fretboard, but I don't let it get on there just the same. It should strip a lot of built up gunk off the strings. It won't do a ton to restore a significant amount of tone, but it will make it a lot more comfortable to play. If you have food safe silicone spray, it's the same thing as finger ease. I don't let that get on the fretboard either.
 
I think it was just too much tuning in and out of open G. You bend a piece of wire long enough in the same spot (like a tuning peg) and it breaks.
 
Nice shiny new set of light Martin SP PBs on the acoustic, and new D'Addario nickel wound 10-46s on the tele. I went up from 9s to 10s and raised the bridge pickup. Definitely a fatter, sturdier sound, and it doesn't feel like I'm playing with spider webs any longer. Neck pickup sounds fatter too and I didn't adjust it.
 
And to break it in I learned the blues riff to Sunshine of your Love by Cream.


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Jon said:
Super easy to play compared to my acoustic. Barre chords are no problem.

It was the only lefty in guitar center. Guitar, amp, cable and strap and I'm only out $350. Not bad!


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You're not out anything if you don't let it collect dust. A year from now, divide that $350 by how many hours you spend playing it, then tell me what kind of value you got for your money.
 
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The other lefty in the store was a $400 Squire tele.


I putzed around with it a little more before dinner and it plays really good. The amp has some modes I need to learn and get used to, but overall it's a great experience. It's a little 15 W Line 6 amp that they had for $99 and it sounds like something you could easily play on stage, it's got that kind of sound. I found myself having to turn down the volume on a couple of occasions.
 
Casual Fan said:
Nice! Enjoy it!

And it looks familiar. (Squier brown burst jazz bass)

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Same color, just a six string. And it doesn't feel like the guitar needs any major setup. It's easy to play right out of the box. Barre chords ring right through, and even screwing around with it last night I stumbled upon some new songs (Don't Fear the Reaper from BOC, and Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground from White Stripes). The strings don't feel dinky in anyway even though I think they're 10's where my acoustic has 11's. I do have to learn the amp a little bit since there's several different tones you can set. Overall a nice return on $350.
 
Jon, does that have the regular vintage tremolo?

I was wondering about Squiers, especially Affinities, today, and wondering if it were unusual that my bass is not string through body. I thought that since it's an Affinity, that may have just been a cost-cutting measure by Fender, like on the Affinity teles. However, it turns out that string through bridge is common if not the norm on Fenders; in fact, apparently there was a fad in the '80s against string throughs because bass players wanted a straight string for better tone. Not sure if the tone would be any better or not, but maybe '80s music has more mid and treble in the bass and less low end.

Among basses, the Affinity can't really be called the "cheap" Squier bass because there is no standard model, like there is with strats and teles. They go straight from Affinities right to VMs and CVs and so on. I guess if they put alnico pickups in the Affinity, they'd have a standard model.

The Fender Geddy Lee jazz bass is string through bridge. Good enough for Geddy, good enough for me.

All you ever wanted to know about basses, and more...
 
Not sure what it has honestly. I'm still learning it myself.


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