Well, my ClassicCreep bass finally arrived. To be honest, I think it really might have been worth the wait. The neck (satin finished) and the fretboard and binding are pretty much perfect. The action might be set a little lower than I normally would set it, but just a little lighter touch with my right hand made it work just fine.
The pickup setup is a little funky. The three-way switch lets you pick neck, bridge, and neck+bridge. The two way switch lets you add the middle pickup with any of the other combos. I believe it’s out of phase with the other pickups, so it creates a thinner, choked sound. I wasn’t too crazy about that sound when I was playing clean (even on guitar it’s a niche sound), but it sounds awesome through distortion or fuzz.
It’s funky body shape and big ol’ headstock makes it neck dive a bit, but it is light. I’ll get a softer strap for it so it doesn’t rub on my neck, and will probably love it even more. If nothing else, I love it’s sound. It’s like a more versatile (and actually slightly easier to handle) version of my Thunderbird. Plus, it’s hard to beat a modern, really nice playing bass with so much superfluous pickguard Guyatone vibe. If I still feel this way about it in a month, I’m pretty sure I’ll grab a purple La Bruja guitar from PureSalem in February.
I also got a Boss RE-202 pedal from my darlin’ for Christmas, because she’s awesome. It sounds a LOT more like a real RE-201 than my old RE-20 pedal does, but it’s a more subtle effect at the same time. So, I’m almost certain I’ll keep them both and give myself a dilemma of which to use when I want a Roland Space Echo-ish sound.
Yeah, I can’t say I’m a fan of Gibson’s legal practices. Fortunately it seems that PS responded and Gibson went away to have their lawyers bug someone else.
Owww, a separated shoulder? Fitness and home improvement are both dangerous. I dislocated my thumb back in November taking up my old rotten patio deck. Fortunately it healed up enough for our show in December. Hope you heal up quickly!
Guitars with automatic robotic tuners?
(That probably would have worked in a headless setup, but Gibson really is mostly a headstock design now.)
Import a bunch of Epiphones that are a better cost/value proposition than any current Gibson?
(Yeah, I’ve bought a bunch of those, and treasure my Thunderbird Vintage Pro. I honestly mostly applaud them doing this.)
It. This point, I think they’ve sold a clone of every famous ‘59. It’s time to start re-releasing some of the other ones. Surely not every Burst was magical.
Introducing the Gibson Murphy Lab ‘59 burst “Ugh, not that one” reissue.
Oh yeah, totally aware of them. I was half kidding. I honestly think it would work on a headless guitar, with the tuners down at the bridge. But Gibson’s real trade mark is their headstock design, so they’re going to stick their robot tuners out on the headstock, where it’s extra weight will really be felt.
But even if it could be made to be less of a burden, I don’t think I’d want one.
Right, I never saw much point in them myself. Surely if you are a competant guitar player, you are able to tune your instrument. Certainly with a good tuner.
Of course there’s a viral anecdote from McCartney about Jimi Hendrix playing Sargent Pepper and then asking if Clapton is in the audience and can retune his guitar since he’s whacked the whammy bar so far out of tune… probably apocryphal!
As it happens, no. I’ve had quite a few instruments over the years (and still have a vintage Strat), but for some reason never a Les Paul. Probably couldn’t justify buying a ‘real’ one these days…
I haven’t weighed it (don’t have a scale at home), but I swear my Squier Sonic has got to pushing nine pounds, just judging by picking it up with one hand.
But I still love my Ibanez Artcore Gibson L5!
Finally checked the factory action on the Squier CV 70s Custom with a set of feeler gauges…it’s about 0.0555" at the twelfth fret on the sixth string. Well below what even Fender recommends as a “default” setup.
I like the feeler gauges well enough, but I think one of the little rules measured in n/64ths will serve me better for getting the string height action right. All I know is that little bitch still has major fret buzz, even after swapping to elevens.
Interesting thing, though, is that the Squier Sonic took the 12s just fine (aside from me cutting the sixth string nut slot to the right depth…and probably left a burr or something that caused the low 0.052 flatwound to snap at the nut)…I think they set it up at the factory with no neck relief at all, with the factory 9s.
With the 12s, for fun, I turned the truss rod just a tiny bit to get a smidge of neck relief (just by sight). But at least that one was set up from the get go to play.
So the Squier Sonic with the 12s is now my standard tuning T-type…and will put on the wound G string accordingly. The other one…we’ll see after I raise the action. Probably Open G T-type.
About the CV 70s…meh…I already took off the five layers of plastic wrap, so even though some other guitars at the price range are more interesting (TV Yellow Lester Special [Junior?] or a Squier P-bass), I’ll just take some screwdrivers and raise the action.
For me, I use the feeler gauges for setting relief, not action. To set the string height, I have one of those cheap tools that’s a combination fret rocker and measuring tool. Like this…
Well done! I’m falling by a local music shop tomorrow to grab a replacement string, so if they have something like that, even better.
Yo, you really think I can get just about any gauge string on the bottom, without too much tension that it will snap? I think so: just a matter of getting the wraps right and making sure no sharp edges are at the nut or bridge.
As a lagniappe to say “ty” to all you old guitar geezers who know stuff and have tolerated my blather, as well as for newcomers (which includes me), to answer more fully a tuning question from just above, I’ve followed the Johnny Smith (he’s a jazz guitarist!) method for a few years. Pretty much every string, every harmonic, but done in a methodical way.
This method makes it easy to do quick spot-checks (very end of the “lesson”), and has the advantage of tuning to fretted notes, where possible, which is where I live on the guitar, such that I do.
