Guitar Nerds Anonymous

I had my heart set on the Supro one but it's a bit steep considering what i just shelled out for the MP delay. Thanks man, I'll check some of them out.

Oof the Jam one is pretty spenny too. Plus yes, pun/artwork/association with the TPS twats... that's a nope from me.

Of course what I should really do is just get the trem fixed on my vibrolux!

JHS do a nice harmonic trem in their cheapo 3 series range.

Actually I'm not even sure i need/want harmonic trem at all given that I have the Uni Vibe in there. Maybe I just want something really simple. GAh. Option anxiety.

Been trying to teach myself some slide today for the nth time in 30 years. Happily the home-made strat with the too high action is perfect for it! Been having fun.

excellent post @Dooks-Fatberg glad you are having fun with the slide on your home made strat :)

I’m banging out half barre and double stop chords, with finger picking routines and warm up exercises. fret hand index finger and joint getting punished, but improving every day. Also the LP is getting plenty of action. It won’t leave the house, the battered strat goes to lessons.

Also have a clutch of Andy Summers (The Police) hand stretching chords next on my challenge list. I am determined to play them properly, even though it is painful

Purple rain is the ultimate finger stretcher I reckon.

One of those cheesy tunes that everyone plays at some point, but hardly anyone plays properly. Warning: it is highly addictive.

https://www.anyonecanplayguitar.co.uk/purple-rain/

I just bought a slide guitar course from Truefire. "30 blues slide licks for beginners" or some such. After the sale price and a coupon code the cost went from $39.99 to $12.37. Worth a punt I thought. Love me a project.

I found this today, what a brilliantly cool video. Even as a novice player I find this type of thing so motivational, just playing along with a few mates (when your mates are Harrison, Petty, Clapton et al). Really love Clapton in the background so quiet and calm, then rips a couple of solos and a vocal with absolutely no fuss or sense of showing off…
https://youtu.be/F-mtEml1coo

Steve Cropper, Neil young, Bob Dylan, McGuinn caught eye. Can't get over the Clapton racist/brexit/cunt thing tbh.

Cissy Strut is like that for me, it’s just so much fun to play.

https://youtu.be/pOZE30jUH6Q

Discovered the other day that my cheapo chorus pedal switches on but does nothing, ergo, it's knackered, so wondered if the hive mind has any recommendations for good/cheap/available chorus pedals. Basic and second hand is fine - only really use it to play A Forest/Play for Today/Purple Rain, etc.

Ta.

I have a EH Nano Clone that I really like, but it does have a bit of a problem with level between on and off (no true bypass or something). It is cheap and robust though

Mooer Ensemble King is good (and analogue) for under fifty quid new (£49 on Andertons, £47 on Amazon). There’s second hand ones as low as £25 on Reverb.

Oh, that does look good. There were mixed reviews of the Electro-Harmonix Nano Clone (and tbh, I still remember how much noise my old Clone Theory used to make), so this looks a decent alternative.

You can get an Arion sch 1 cheap if you look around or don’t mind a cosmetically shabby one. They’re pretty awesome

Lowest priced second hand one I've seen is £70, which is a mite out of my price range. They do look good, though.

In other news, the Squier Stratocaster restoration has been stymied by needing to earth the faraday cage I've made for the electronics. Wire that runs to the tremolo block is a bit short to screw in to the shielding painted cavity (and I'm worried I'm going to break the wire by attempting that too), so I'm going to need to buy a soldering iron and some wire and somehow learn how to earth the shielded cage. FFS.

There’s the sch z which is cheaper and similar. I’ve picked loads up over the years <£20.

Blimey. Where? Cheapest I can see is £76 on Reverb.

Secondhand guitar shops, junk shops, charity shops (occasionally), boot fairs, gumtree, etc. if you’re prepared to go out to the bootfairs and be fast on gumtree that’s where you find the best stuff. To be honest though if you are just wanting it you’re best just buying online and paying more to get it now.

There’s loads out there though if you go looking.

£49 buy now or best offer on eBay

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155212247941?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=S0KpqS1XSRS&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=1jPlZHobSsC&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=EMAIL

Well found. I'm in no rush, so can spend a bit of time perusing.

Decided not to bother with the earth wire (no mention of one on the instructions I got with the shielding paint/scratchplate) and press ahead. Was going really well. And then I went and snapped the top e string raising the action and forgetting to detune it a bit. FFS.

4 Attachments

That looks mint. Nice work.

Cheers. Bit of annoying fret buzz on the bass e string at the 9th fret (have had to raise the action but might need to slightly adjust the truss rod instead) and the top e string needs replacing/raising a bit so I can do a proper bend above the 12th fret without it going dead, but otherwise really pleased with it. I need a good day of faffing/setting up the intonation/etc. on it, though.

Sometimes the answer to those kind of issues is levelling the frets, but that’s a lot more involved than raising the action or tweaking the truss rod.