Um…that’s ***bracing ***:smack:
All good - sounds like a pretty cool guitar. Tak’s are known for their consistent reliability and evenness of tone.
Um…that’s ***bracing ***:smack:
All good - sounds like a pretty cool guitar. Tak’s are known for their consistent reliability and evenness of tone.
Just picked up a set of replacement tuners for Project: Break The Starcaster. They seem interesting, yet intuitive.
http://store.guitarfetish.com/wiezlotu6inf.html
They lock by having two holes at 90 degrees from each other. Feed string through one, wrap around, feed string through the other. I can’t believe this is a new concept.
Hm. Might as well check the clearance section…
http://store.guitarfetish.com/clse.html
Hmmm… no. Not buying the 560. Even if it is seventy bucks off. Fixing the strat first.
Hmmmm. Those prewired pickguards look pretty cheap.
Oh, god, they have a replacement trem, too.
http://store.guitarfetish.com/minmeimstupt.html
I’m going to wind up with a guitar where the parts were more expensive than it was, aren’t I? Well, then I guess I’ll just put a new body and neck on the parts in the end.
Parts-o-Casters are a slippery slope, my friend. Enjoy the ride.
Indeed. You always have a plan for the next one… and the next one… and the next one…
Went for the brass MIM replacement trem instead. I figured I might as well do the tuners and the trem at once. The pickguard can wait for a while. Now I’m staring at a Pocket Pod and a Pocket Rockit, and going ‘Hmmmm.’
Pod’s better, but…
Edit: Brass trem: http://store.guitarfetish.com/10spiminmebr.html
I think I made the right choice over steel there. The original tuners and trem were metric ass.
Well, right now my playing sucks - it’s been a long long time, but I am confident that with a little effort, I will reach new heights of mediocrity soon
My friend Ed Klein is showing his work in Montréal again this year, and it reminded me that I should post a link for any Dopers close enough to make it to the show. It falls in the midst of our family vacation this year, so there’s a slim chance I might be able to make it for once.
The Montréal Guitar Show, in all its glory.
If I ever develop some real guitar chops, and want some flash to go along with it, I might put on one of these.
A question for the group:
I’m thinking about buying an acoustic guitar, not seriously yet, but I have a hankerin’. I doubt I want a top-tier instrument, but don’t want to buy a dog, either. I’ve played guitar for 30+ years, and have never owned an acoustic. What should I look for?
I’d like to be the first to say “Get the best instrument you can afford.”
First big thing to check for is the soundboard - is it a solid top or a laminate? Laminate tops are cheaper because they don’t require as much bracing inside nor are they as labour intensive to construct. They also don’t sound as good and the sound will never change. I have a laminate-top Yamaha classical from the early '70s, that I keep for purely sentimental reasons. It’s a beater, a tank, but it has lasted nearly 40 years, and it sounds just as bad now as it did in '76…
Steel string - I have a Seagull S-6 that I got in '94 for $350 CAD that is a gorgeous instrument. The solid top has matured beautifully, it is a good versatile instrument that projects both single notes and chords well. I got a pick-up installed a year ago. Current MSRP seems to be $497, according to Musician’s Friend.
Based solely on that, it seems to me you could well have a worthwhile instrument for around $400. I would also advise shopping in person, check how it feels in your hands, and bring along someone else who plays and make them play it so that you can listen.
Then there’s the electronics question - if you want a pick-up, it’s way easier for them to have installed it while the guitar is being built. It’s an added expense, though…
I hear Rondos are actually very good for being inexpensive.
http://www.rondomusic.com/acoustics.html
http://www.rondomusic.com/fg50ce.html
$200, Acoustic/Electric, solid spruce top, rosewood, mahogany, decent pickup with tuner and eq.
This. Get the best that is in your budget - and if possible, shop in person. Bring someone along.
Now *I have a question for the group.
I have an old amp, a Carvin ST-4000 Super Lead, from the 70s. The problem is, after sitting in the garage for years, all the control pots are ruined - full of rust and corrosion, won’t turn, etc. Contact cleaner was liberally applied in an effort to free them up. However, the controls freeze up again, I believe, after the cleaner fluid dries up.
Does anyone know the resistance values of these pots, or know of a contact cleaner that lubricates?
The amp worked perfectly in the past, and I can’t see tossing it out just because a few pots are bad.
Forgot to ask also, are these pots linear or log (if anyone knows)?
Since you can free up the pots (very briefly) using contact cleaner, could you just set them all to zero or max and measure the resistance on the obvious posts using an ohm meter? Obviously you’d need to unsolder them first, but you were already going to do that.
No clue on the log v linear, but my guess would be that they’re all log, with maybe some oddball being linear (reverb? tremolo?), but nothing bad will happen if you use all log pots.
Hi, Ministre! Well, that’s the thing – my current budget is $0.00 until I can justify it to She Who Balances the Bank Book, so I’m just getting started at this point. I could buy a $100 or $1000 guitar and “afford” it, but I can’t justify either. Yet.
Okay, that’s good to know. How can I tell laminate top from ‘real’ wood? I presume more expensive models make a big deal of this and less expensive ones go to great lengths to not discuss the matter at all.
Okay, $400 may be in my budget (or easier to justify!), thanks for the the recommendation. I will certainly try that guitar.
Oh, yeah, I wouldn’t buy any guitar I haven’t played, ever. Prime Directive.
Hmm. Well, I play guitar totally for personal enjoyment, don’t gig, and don’t know many players (and none who like to jam) so I won’t sweat having a pickup, except as an added bonus.
See, here’s the problem in a nutshell: I play guitar, electric guitar, and can tell in fairly short order if a given electric may be okay and worth considering, or a complete dog. I’ve never owned an acoustic so I think they may all feel like dogs in my hands at this point. I suppose when shopping I could spend some time on the very low end models and work my up the food chain until I can tell the difference between them, hmmm…
I just up and decided to go all SRV and put *11’s on my Tele and tune it down a half-step yesterday, just to see how it sounds out of my Blues Junior. It’s not all that noticeably different except the high-E being a bit punchier.
I’ve never played an electric with strings heavier than 10s; I thought the strings would be much harder to play, but it’s not so bad. I am, however, close to tearing off the callus on the tip of my ring finger, which won’t be a good thing for practicing.
*Yes, I know SRV uses 12s and up, but I’m (perhaps irrationally) fearful of damaging my instrument if I put strings that heavy on it at normal tuning.
I could easily unsolder each of the pots and measure across the outer terminals to get the value (thereby avoiding the issue of good/bad/stuck wipers. I think I will end up doing that anyway. I am going to try a “better grade” of cleaner first. As to whether they are linear or log (audio) taper, I checked the Carvin site (no help of course), but in the forums, it seems people using other models found their pots were linear. I would prefer to have the correct taper, but if push comes to shove, parts is parts.
Yep, it’s either a few bucks for sprays and pots, or a LOT more for a whole head unit (even the old and busted) - because old is “classic” even when it’s smashed, burned out, not even good for an anchor. It’s ridiculous how much people want, even for garbage, just cuz it’s old.
If your budget is 400, you can and will find something. You can go the way I (and Clothahump and phungi) went, and get a Takamine. For about 300 and change, you get a nice acoustic. For just a teeny bit more, you get one that is electric acoustic. It’s a lot of “bang for the buck”. Actually, the longer you wait (and sock more cash away), the more money and choices you will have.
It’s all relative though. On one of the Les Paul forums this morning, a poster was worried about the choices available too - and he was apparently ready to drop around 3 kilo dollars.
If you want an archtop electric (think jazz guitar), there are the Agile Cool Cat (goofy name), Epiphone Joe Pass, Ibanez Artcore etc that are nice looking (but I haven’t played them). The ES175 Gibson is real nice, but probably way beyond your intended budget. Or for about 600 and change, the Gretsch Electromatics are nice archtop electrics. Just let the money pile up, and then see what you want. There’s no rush.
The way to tell if it’s a solid top or not - look very carefully at the sound hole all the way around. ‘Laminate’ is a pretty word for plywood - you’ll be able to see the 3 or 4 layers because they will have absorbed the stain differently. Solid tops will have the grain from the top all the way through to the underside.
Most guitar shops I’ve been to have been entirely honest about whether it is or isn’t a solid top - that’s a pretty big point for most folks.
Lots of people seem to think that it’ll take a special ear to be able to tell the difference between the sound quality of guitars - having been the guy people have taken with them when they went shopping a number of times, I always get a laugh when people realize it a huge, audible and quantifiable difference. Same guy plays the same thing the same way on two different guitars, and it sounds like two different guitars. Add in ‘how does this one feel to you?’ and you’ve got your answer.
I played Takamine double-neck 6 & 12 for a while in the early 80s, and that was a sweet instrument. One of my students has rented one for the month and he’s having a blast with it.
Does the Chancellor of the Exchequer have a favourite acoustic number that ‘you just can’t play on electric?’ Something like ‘Blackbird’ or ‘Here Comes the Sun’ or ‘Tears in Heaven’?
Just living up to my title…