Guitar Nerds Anonymous

For all your guitar geek needs.

I've been rekindling my love of playing electric guitar recently after a year out of gigging bands and far too much fingerstyle acoustic. Personally I'm a bit of a Telecaster and Fender amp purist but that's only becuse i've settled on what works for me. I trry not to be a snob but occasionally it does sneak up on me. I was really horrible to someone on here previously regarding their tastes in PRS guitars. Sorry about that. I won't do it again.

For amps I'm playing with a pair of silverface champs at home and a Silverface Twin or Pro Reverb in the rehearsal room.

I'm also experimenting with new pedals after years of using the same handful. I'm after a decent fuzz at the moment. Tried the Dano Cool Cat one last week but it just sounds like a metal distortion not a fuzz. It's up for sale if anyone wants it and other recomendations gratefully received.

I'm also about to order one of these for reverb at home with the lovely but reverbless champs:

Got great reviews and the demos i've heard sound pretty good.

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/stomp-box/165937-boss-fender-63-reverb-pedal.html

p.s. For no particular reason, i've decided to start capiltalising properly starting with this thread.

See?

far too much fingerstyle acoustic.

Never too much

my martin hd28 is in germany and has been for severallong years. i should really go and pick it up. such a clean-sounding guitar.

I need to play more bass. I'd like to start a band. And I don't mean one where we sit around drinking beer and arguing about music, but an actual gigging band.

I play this:

I have never been able to decide what I want when it comes to music. This is probably why I like modelling a lot.

I have an original Variax which is a wonderful invention, as well as a pretty good guitar in its own right, switching between different guitar models at the flick of a switch is so cool, and it only feeds back when you want feedback. Teamed up with a Pod XT Live it's the perfect recording set up, and ain't half bad as a gigging instrument.

I also have its complete opposite, a Les Paul BFG. I love that guitar so much. It is a dream to play, sounds magnificent, looks pure evil. And it was cheap. You get a Nashville-made Gibson Les Paul with the top of the line chambered mahogany body, the loudest humbucker, a P90 and yet it comes in low because they don't spend any money on varnishes, binding, sanding, etc.

I put up with a small transistor Marshall 12w keyboard amp for ages, but recently decided to get something bigger and ended up with a Vox AD120VT. I have no idea what I want in an amplifier, so switching between different models seemed appealing. It's loud, looks like a classic Vox amp, can be gigged. It will do for now. I like the zingyness of Fender amps sometimes, but I also like Vox crunch and Marshall wailing. I really like Soldano SLO100s but I will never be able to justify dropping £3000 on an amp head.

I wonder how cheap /easy it would be to make my own soldano clone or vox AC30TB clone?

Anyone any good at lowering actions btw? Have a nice Baton Rouge acoustic that I'm never playing cos the action's too high but don't dare stick the allen key in as a mate ruined my last one...

I need to play more bass. I'd like to start a band. And I don't mean one where we sit around drinking beer and arguing about music, but an actual gigging band.

I play this:

I'm in a band, but don't enjoy the music we play.
I want to play my own stuff, but cannot be organised enough to do it. If you or anyone wants to form a band in which I get to play guitar and or keyboards and we play my songs, or songs I actually like, and I don't have to do the organising then that would be good.

Anyone any good at lowering actions btw? Have a nice Baton Rouge acoustic that I'm never playing cos the action's too high but don't dare stick the allen key in as a mate ruined my last one...

you sure it's knackered not just in need of a bit of attention? he must have really gone to town on it.

in general too high action could any one of three things or a combination of all three:

1. nut height - adjustable by filing the slots or sanding the bottom of the nut. if the actions's too high at the nut, do this!

2. bridge height - same as for the nut but effects the overall action more. same "you can take away but you can't add it back" caution advised as when sanding... although a new nut or bridge only costs a couple of quid so hardly a disaster of you do overdo it.

3. neck relief - adjustable by the truss rod set inside the neck which counteracts the bowing of the neck caused by the pull of the strings. it's adjustable by the dreaded allen key. although it really shouldn't be that dreaded. if the action's too high in the middle of the neck (but not at the nut) your neck relief needs flatterning out a little. try tightening it a quarter turn at a time. slacked the strings and re-tune after adjustment and give it bit of time to settle in. shouldn't be too scary. tightening it flattens out the neck, loosening it allows the strings to bow it more.

hope that helps a bit.

Balls. I forgot I'm capitalising now.

my martin hd28 is in germany and has been for severallong years. i should really go and pick it up. such a clean-sounding guitar.

Dude that is one beautiful guitar. My acoustic is a direct copy of it too. Mine's a Sigma DR-28 which some people claim is "A Martin made under license by Yamaha". Which is *technically *true... it's a very similar spec and is inspected for quality by Martin but it's not really a Martin. I do love mine madly though. It sounds beautiful. I want to get it fitted with a pickup so I can start using it for gigs without the dreaded clangy "woody" pickup but i'm loathe to start drillilng holes in it. It was a present from a very dear friend who's no longer with us so it's got double sentimental value too.

I want one of these prs mira corvinas cos i'll never be able to afford the gibson i want that this one reminds me of. Does that make sense?

I'd like to start a band. And I don't mean one where we sit around drinking beer and arguing about music, but an actual gigging band.

See i'd like to do the exact opposite. I'm fed up with shit gigs, crap support bands, bad promoters, retarded sound guys, pointless soundchecks, traffic jams, carrying stuff up stairs, ginsters cornish dinners, getting in at 2:30 and getting up for work at 7 etc.

I'd like to hang out in a room with some mates once a week and get drunk and play music for our own enjoyment and maybe the odd local gig.

In fact I'm trying to put something togther for the occasional local gig bit of this equation at the moment... I'm being a bit picky though. Have rejected everyone so far...

I want one of these prs mira corvinas cos i'll never be able to afford the gibson i want that this one reminds me of. Does that make sense?

Nope. Save up for the real thing!

Nope. Save up for the real thing!

its toooo much. But its niiiice.

See i'd like to do the exact opposite. I'm fed up with shit gigs, crap support bands, bad promoters, retarded sound guys, pointless soundchecks, traffic jams, carrying stuff up stairs, ginsters cornish dinners, getting in at 2:30 and getting up for work at 7 etc.

I'd like to hang out in a room with some mates once a week and get drunk and play music for our own enjoyment and maybe the odd local gig.

In fact I'm trying to put something togther for the occasional local gig bit of this equation at the moment... I'm being a bit picky though. Have rejected everyone so far...

To be honest I just want to play my bass. I'd do anything if I thought it'd be worth my time.

dooks, where do you live?

Angel/Highbury and Islington. For whhhhyyyy?

To be honest I just want to play my bass. I'd do anything if I thought it'd be worth my time.

LFGSS band?

your above statement rings true for me.

but alas, i live miles away

Dude that is one beautiful guitar. My acoustic is a direct copy of it too. Mine's a Sigma DR-28 which some people claim is "A Martin made under license by Yamaha". Which is *technically *true... it's a very similar spec and is inspected for quality by Martin but it's not really a Martin. I do love mine madly though. It sounds beautiful. I want to get it fitted with a pickup so I can start using it for gigs without the dreaded clangy "woody" pickup but i'm loathe to start drillilng holes in it. It was a present from a very dear friend who's no longer with us so it's got double sentimental value too.

i've got a fishman pickup on it which is plugged in through the strap button. haven't actually plugged it in as i never needed to amplify it.

ya beat me, i was about to mention the strap button hole types

Guitars are for benders...

To be honest I just want to play my bass. I'd do anything if I thought it'd be worth my time.

[OPEN INVITE]I'm trying to put a loose collective together to play some of my shitty little ditties and some alt-country-esque covers with. PM me if it's vaguely up yr street?[/OPEN INVITE]

www.myspace.com/hellobirthdayboy

@hovis: cheers dude, i'll investimagate that route now.

Teens, benders are for benders (except bigsbys which are for twangers).

Always wanted a B-bender equipped Tele so I could get all Clarence White when the mood took me... Bloody pricey bits of kit tho'... Found an ex-Keith Richards Tele Custom that had one fitted in Vintage & Rare once (the old place in Earl's Court), only £750 (in 1989)... May as well have been £750m... Pffft...

dooks, nice stuff