These are the ones I got and I’m happy so far: Planet Waves Auto Trim Locking Tuners Black New 3+3 | Reverb
Haven’t been in here in a long time. Picked up my Strat for the first time since Covid started a few years ago. Ran through some scales and a few blues riffs, then went to page one of my tablature book from my lessons and started working on Over The Hills And Far Away, which was the first tune my teacher had me tackle some six years ago. It’s surprising how your fingers have that memory, even if they’re not exactly wanting to work all that well after a long layoff. Arthritis doesn’t help, either, but at least it’s not as bad in the left hand as it is in the right, or chording would be a real bitch.
Is that the teal strat from so long ago? I always thought that would be a super cool color for a strat, and I’d love to have a teal telecaster, so surfy cool. And, yes, it is surprising how the muscles remember. Keep going! Over the hills is a fun song. Are you still using that Roland Cube, or did you graduate to something else?
No, that was a handmade guitar that I bought at a silent auction. I could never get it to stay tuned, even for a short period. I put it up for sale, and a guy came over and pointed out that the neck was warped. So I just gave it to him, as he thought he might be able to replace the neck at some point. The Fender I have is your standard 2001 red sunburst, made in USA. It’s a solid instrument. I bought it used, in new condition, with the hard case for $700. It came with Texas pups, but I can’t be bothered to change them out.
And yes, still using the Roland. It’s solid gear and produces all the variations I need for what I do. Not to mention being small enough to tuck under an end table.
“Texas” just means “slightly but not really all that hot, probably just hottish in the bridge” pickups. No need to change really unless they bug you. I’ve had a strat with “Texas” pups and could barely tell really. If you get motivated, toss in some Fender fat 50’s, they have a marvelous clean tone. Glad you found your strat happy place!!
Oh yeah, one thing to try with a strat is super heavy strings if you can take it – 11’s or 12’s. You wouldn’t believe what tone you get out of using bridge cable strings in a strat, very cool. You may need to add springs to the trem to keep the setup stable, but definitely worth experimenting with.
Sounds like what SRV used. Damn things were hawsers.
Heavy strings on a strat is a different experience from other guitars: when bending, the trem helps you by detuning as you pull the strings. Try it now - do a heavy bend on say the G string and strike the higher or lower strings to sound them as you do – the whole guitar detunes/retunes as the trem springs stretch in response to your bend. This helps a lot and makes bends easier if you’re using thick strings and it’s how SRV can get away with them. Well, he also detunes 1/2 step, but I think that’s for tone, not playability.
I, too, have a Cube. It sits just out of reach from my reclined location, and I have 2 guitars hanging next to me. I’m always unplugging/ plugging, so I thought “maybe get a cheap A/B switch so both could be plugged into the single input”. I don’t know what fills those boxes, but they’re not giving these things away. Some are more expensive than effects. They start at about $30, and go into the hundreds!
IIRC, SRV tuned down 1/2-step to help with his vocals - a common occurrence.
Absolutely agree heavier strings are more fun on Strats (and Teles, and Jazzmasters, and Jaguars!) - I used to rock .013s when I wasn’t worrying about shredding.
I’m getting back to playing guitar and bass again, after a 9-month detour into the world of digital modular via VCV Rack. I’m sampling a production prototype of the Fender JMJ Mustang Bass, and diving back into the world of manouche (gypsy jazz).
Working on ‘le pompe’ is quite a challenge with a Jazz III pick, due to the closed right-hand grip required, which is VERY different from the open-finger blues/thrash style I learned originally. Does anyone here have any experience with Gravity Picks, or suggestions for a ‘big ol’ pick’?
I use .12s or so on just about everything. This is what I normally use, but I see a couple of my guitars have a plain G string, so I must have bought something else recently, but I can’t remember why.
They’re really durable, the heavier gauge doesn’t deflect as much when I play slide, they handle alternate tunings well, and since I’m normally a bass player even the .52 isn’t really a thick string to me.
When I’ve been playing a lot of bass and switch to my guitar that has 9s on it, they feel super odd. I rarely change guitar strings but I’ll probably go heavier next time and see how that goes.
Heheh, I do have at least a couple of guitars that I believe still have .9s on them. My Gretsch Billy-Bo came strung with them, and I have never re-strung it. It’s got a Bigsby tailpiece in the case, but it’s never been out of the wrapper. I don’t play it a ton - it’s a wonderful guitar, maybe my best, but I’m the kind of nitwit who walks through doorways with them. Want your guitar to look like a relic? Have me play it for a month. So, it mostly lives in its case and I pull it out for when I want to love on it and be careful. If I ever break a string on it, I’ll finally put the Bigsby on (I’ve got other guitars with either a Bigsby or similar tremolo, so no rush).
My wife’s 67 SG Jr got strung with them when she complained that the .11s I had strung it with for years wore out her fingers. She still doesn’t play it that often (she’s really a painter), but I’ll yank it out when I want a lead to scream without much effort. It’s got a neck repair, a Badass bridge replacement, a kinda rough finish and a glitter “Coors Powered” sticker on the case from the previous owner. If she ever sells it, I get to perform D-I-V-O-R-C-E at the proceedings and devote it to the guitar.
Either way, my point is that I agree that .9s feel weird. I have to be careful to keep them in tune when playing barre chords, that kind of thing. But dang, they do make some things in life easy.
Took my >50 year old Guild acoustic into the luthier to get the neck reset done. He’s going to humidify it for a couple weeks before working on it. The bridge also needs to be glued back down. Also, the old celluloid pickguard is causing the wood underneath to pull up and crack so he is going to pull it off and reglue. It could probably use a bit more work, but I’m going to wait to see how it plays after this is all done (that was his recommendation - I’m a bit of a dunce at this stuff). Can’t wait to see what is like with the strings back where they should be.
I need to get better about putting it in it’s case to humidify (it’s dry here). It’s my only 6 string acoustic so it’s always out and I play it daily so that makes it tough. Just doing this when I go away on trips would be beneficial I expect.
Anybody ever hear of Dean Zelinsky guitars? They look amazing.
I’m more of a plain guitar type guy…these are a bit too festooned for my taste. The neck does look interesting though.
I guess not entirely plain: I love sunburst. All three of electrics are sunburst as is my electric bass. My acoustic is not, but if I were to buy another, it might have to be.
I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never touched one. I have touched an old early 80s Dean ML that a friend of mine had back then. It was a very nice guitar, maybe the nicest I had played at that time. I’m far from sure I’d like the textured carving on the back of the necks on his current guitars. That seems like a strange solution to a problem I’ve never had.
Because I have an attraction for odd guitars, I pre-ordered an odd bass that I couldn’t resist. Three Thunderbird style pickups in a Guyatone/Teisco Del Rey body, finished in greenburst? SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
I don’t really know when they’ll be finished building them or when they’ll actually be shipped. I’m kind of hoping I’ll forget about the whole thing and it’ll just show up as a beautiful surprise one day.
They look like decent guitars, but like anything I’d have to play them to know. That neck design looks goofy as hell, like @scabpicker said, solving a problem I really don’t have. It’s easy enough to satin-up the back of a neck with some steel wool if you have grippy issues.
I do have to chuckle a bit at the “about me” section: “Also please do not confuse me with the corporate-owned Gibsons and Fenders that are now run by “bean counters” who do nothing more than reissue versions of their 1950’s models…” So what does Zelinsky sell? Tele, Strat and LP clones. 
Here’s a similar maker Home | Michael Kelly Guitar Co. I’ve owned their “1955” Tele clone with Fralin pickups; it was a decent enough guitar, but not without issues.
PS: the trem on the Zelinsky LP clone looks like an iffy design, basically a reimagined Bigsby where the tailpiece wobbles, which only really works for very very slight trem, but goes wildly out of tune if you get too aggressive and the strings hang up on the bridge. I’d avoid that particular trem.
I’ve been having a great time keeping my chops up by going to jam nights at this bar downtown (Portland, OR) called The Big Legrowlski. Sun - Mon - Tues, open jams; Wed - invite jam. I got an invite to the Wed jam but I wasn’t able to go this week (goddamned bad chicken wings).
It’s pretty fun, you walk in and put your name on the list for which instrument you play - guitar, bass, drums, vocals, keys (plus whatever other instrument anyone chooses to bring in - most nights there’s a horn section). Then they call up two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer, a keyboardist and a singer and you get eight minutes to do your best. Pre-jam communication ranges from zero to “how about blues I-IV-V in B-Minor.” Therefore the results range from absolute shit-noise to some goddamned magic every once in a while.
They have house instruments (drums, keys and guitars and a bass on the wall), but most people bring their own guitars - I do. Hell, some people show up with 15-pedal pedal boards and their own amps - a little overkill for 8 minutes of try your best if you ask me, but whatever.
Here I am playing my First Act Delia (Big Blue (trust me, it’s dark blue, not black)) and sitting in on keys
(thanks to Paparella Photography, the gentleman who was there to jam, but took a bunch of pics for his Facebook page as well (he gave me permission to download these)):
