mylittleeye's forum posts 212

I have this Squier Ryan Jarman signature "MusUar" which is in essence an inverted JagStang

I'm on the lookout for a humbucker sized Jazzmaster style pickup to replace the lacklustre bridge HB.

With that done I think I could legitimately call it a JazzMusUar!

I sometimes like to share my listening habits with friends using Last.FM: - https://www.last.fm/user/MyLittleEye

Some day, no doubt our AI Overlord thought police will agregate data like this to determine who are the compliant plebs and who are the subversives and adjust our social credit accordingly - 🐏 Baaa! ...don't mind me! 🐑

is it just me or does not submithub sound like it caters to some sort of fetish clique? ⛓️ I'm scared to look!

If you've a liking for microtonal electronica, Sevish is a musician I follow who faps about a lot with odd musical temperaments!

Listen to his stuff for long enough and you'll start to find 12TET sounds "wrong"

It's the audio equivalent of staring at one of those optical illusion patterns and then looking away at a plain wall to find it "moving".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zSqfyBLayM&list=PL3mH2gZZv-Na3WJJQufRO8RiWaReISYXQ&index=2

I picked up a little battered old piano accordion in a garage sale but it never really clicked for me. I was once given a tatty old east German "Anglo" concertina which I can eke out a tune from - it has the same push-pull pattern as the blow-suck pattern of a harmonica so my brain was already wired to get a quick grasp on the mechanics.

While superficially most concertinas look the same there are several different styles with differing finger patterns and valve systems. Anglos play a different note depending whether you squeeze or pull on the bellows; English Concertinas play the same note each way and playing a scale "zig - zags" from hand to hand. Hayden concertinas follow the common accordion left hand bass button pattern, and the style I'm interested in "Duet" concertinas put the treble buttons under the right hand and bass under the left.

You asked about accordions but I've come back with concertinas 'cos they're way cooler and much more portable. Don't get me started on Melodeons. They're cool too. I don't have enough lives to master all the instruments I wish I could play.

Where are you from Bridget? Judging by your username I've been guessing there's an Irish connection but with that nation's diaspora you could be from anywhere?

Do you have a favourite instrument and what music would you want to play on it?

A mildly interesting (to a techie nerd) thread about the TDA2030a chip used in the Vox Pathfinder 15/15R has started up on the Vox Pathfinder Amp Owners facebook page.

I thought the Mini Super Beetle was solid state but no, its cheesily branded "NuTube" tech comprises of VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) tubes which we are firmly assured is modern day tech vacuum tubes - different but the same?... 🤷

If I didn't already have my Pathfinder I'd give it a go - the spec and format would certainly fit my home environment. I have to say the tubeless Tonemaster Princeton Reverb appeals especially after hearing what this fella has to say about the attenuation feature.

I've been drawn to the Tonex modeller too but have since come to realise I'm content enough with the tones I get from just the SS Vox and Pignose I have already.

A modeller like that is just going to offer me a warren of options and an eternity of distraction. I'm reminded that even when I had just a half dozen amp emulations on my DA5 and Microcubes I would eventually just settle on a favourite and stick with that... but then still fiddle about with all the settings every time anyway before settling back where I started!

None of my music idols needed "all the stuff"

I'm not one to idolise guitar heroes but if I were to name just one it would be Rory Gallagher. He started playing guitar aged 9 (building on from ukulele) and then, according to wikipedia... "Singing and later using a brace for his harmonica, Gallagher taught himself to play slide guitar. Further, throughout the next few years of his musical development, Gallagher began learning to play alto saxophone, bass, mandolin, banjo, and the Coral electric sitar with varying degrees of proficiency. By his mid-teens, he began experimenting heavily with different blues styles" - by his mid teens! Sure the key wording is "varying degrees of proficiency" but my point would be that it didn't hold him back.

I think it's easier to be an accomplished multi-instrumentalist if you grow up immersed in a strong musical culture - more like growing up bi-lingual rather than learning a second language at school.

My 'instrument' from age 7 to 17 was simply singing in a church choir. I wasn't something I ever considered learning an instrument at the time. I realise now that what friends later perceived as "natural talent" for progressing quickly with instruments wasn't an innate gift, it was 2000+ hours of music and ear training; learning intervals and harmony and suchlike . It's a skill that musicians typically learn hand in hand with their instrument but I don't think a lot of people separate the brain training from the muscle memory aspects, or realise that with the brain training done you have a halfway head start on learning your next instrument.

Learning an instrument and not an idiom

That's a great phrase. It reminds me of the contrasting backgrounds of Yehudi Menuhin and Stéphane Grappelli. Both masters of the same instrument but each in their own idiom.

Tube amps have that unique characteristics current solid state amps cannot replicate.

Sure, and here's a cheap as chips Vox solid state amp and a premium Vox tube amp both played through the same speaker cab for comparison.

https://youtu.be/1mZZze3bW2M?si=W1pABvIhfNK9b4te&t=25

Here's an £80 solid state Vox Pathfinder (which I have) vs the £1300 Fender Princeton Reverb (which I covet).

What better to exemplify the law of diminishing returns?

https://youtu.be/vzwiLDcvy-0?si=x8bOoZk6S3ag8WM5

Ouch! That's bit harsh!

lol - I'd go with "realist Ronnie".

I get my mandolin forum fix over here at the Mandolin Cafe

I haven't found a Bodhran Forum but perhaps I just haven't been looking hard enough... there's bound to be one!

Equipboard has lots of great gear guides including a fine mandolin guide here

You'll find a ton of jigs and reels at The Session if that's your thing?

The Equipboard forum here is quite general - there's great advice to be found, especially for recording and music tech and production.

Hope this helps.

Mate, if Bridget's from Ireland as her name suggests, I wouldn't be so quick to say "no way!" It's perfectly feasible that she's grown up in a community where all those instruments are in easy reach. The Irish music sessions I used to go to in London pubs always had multi-instrumentalists half my age who could bang out jigs and reels at twice the speed of anything I could deliver and many of them already all-Ireland champions at some instrument or other.

Then again, I'm a perfect example of a Jack of All Trades who spends no more than 7 years learning an instrument before moving on to the next and therefore a master of none; a late starter too, I didn't get to go to school with a tinwhistle in my satchel as used to be (still is?) the practice in Ireland.

Hi Bridget, I just shared some of my experience on your Bodhran thread. I'm guessing you're one of our newer and perhaps younger members? That's a very Celtic sounding name you have too, have you grown up in Ireland? I was born in England but half my family are Scottish which is where my folk music influences lie.

There's lots of great advice to be found here and always something new to be learned. Much of it is around guitars, synths, effects and music production so I welcome a bit of musical diversity.

Hi Bridget, welcome to Equipboard. It's nice to see some new faces :-) I haven't seen many of us bodhran players here - it's good to know I'm not the only "goat tickler" in the house.

My two bodhrans were gifted so I can't really offer advice on the best model other than to avoid those cheap touristy ones you see with celtic knots, harps or Guinness pints painted on them. The better ones will be made with goatskin and often have some mechanism to tighten the skin to compensate for humidity.

My first Bodhran was a birthday present from my mother shortly before she died and so because of its sentimental significance I was determined to learn how to play it properly. My main challenge was that as a young RAF Airman I had just been posted to Germany. Consequently there weren't a lot of teaching resources around. I was entirely self taught, mostly from reading a couple of books and then playing along to tapes and records... you could slow a 33rpm LP down to 16 rpm and it would play at half the speed and sound an octave lower. Those were the days before YouTube where you can now slow videos down in the settings.

That was how I got the basics down. Once I got passably competent I would play along to everything and anything I was listening to, which in that time and place included a lot of Eurodance and hardcore nosebleed rave music! After my 4 years "abroad" I got a posting to the northeast of Scotland. That gave me the opportunity to join in with local music sessions and attend the numerous TMSA folk festivals that happened all across Scotland throughout the summers.

By this time I had learned enough to keep tempo and throw in a few flourishes but sitting in on sessions and playing along with experienced musicians playing all the familiar folk standards was really where I learned my chops - I slowed up and got a lot more subtle and dynamic with my playing.

Towards the end of my time in Scotland was when the Titanic film was released and an unfortunate consequence of the "Third Class Dance" scene was an explosion in popularity of bodhrans, with hordes of maniacally enthused drum beaters surrounding the sessions and thrashing away at their goatskins as if the ship was going down - I saw more than a few sessions sunk this way.

So, the sign of a competent bodhran player in my view is one who knows when to back off, or even shut up altogether! You can bet that in any situation where a session has turned into a bodhran band, any accomplished player worth their salt will have put their drum away and gone to the bar. The ideal number of Bodhrans being played in a session is one... or none. Two can play off one another nicely too, much like rhythm and lead guitar work together but once a third enters the equation it's time for someone to consider taking a break; the subtlety and dynamics of any skilled individual playing is soon lost and the musicians playing the actual tune will find themselves having to compete to be heard. The wandering novice bodhran player is often regarded with a wary eye by those who consider themselves "proper" musicians for good reason; many haven't the faintest idea how bad and disruptive their playing can be. I call it the drumming-kruger effect.

At the end of the 90s the "bodhran band" situation had gotten so bad that I'd turn up at a session and not get my drum out its case at all. This was what motivated me to learn other instruments. Session players would become a lot more receptive when I'd reach into my bodhran case and pull out a tinwhistle and harmonicas instead!

If I had any advice to a prospective player it would be to learn another instrument as well ( You play accordian? 👍 ) I chose the tinwhistle because I loved Scottish and Irish dance melodies and because they fitted in the case with my bodhran. Later I had another go at learning guitar, having given up previously. I found that complex strumming patterns came really easily to me second time around and I put that down entirely to having learned bodhran in between. Even the coordination between the right and left hands (for finger muting at the guitar fretboard) draws on brain training established from my having learned bodhran.

Played well the bodhran is an amazing instrument that can really lift a session - played poorly it can kill it. Remember - less is more!

I have 10s on my new Tele too - it arrived with what felt like suspension bridge cables, heavy flats fitted by the previous Jazz guitarist owner!

9.5's hit the sweet spot on my Mustang (short scale) after alternating between 9's and 10's a few times - That's my "bendy" guitar for blues and such like. I put 11's on my hybrid "Musuar" (also a shorty) to stabilise its Jaguar trem and bridge arrangement. The 11's feel a lot firmer under the fingers and I enjoy the contrast.

I like that each guitar feels and responds so differently. I find that I use the Mustang mostly for fingerstyle (blues), the MusUar mostly gets the pick for surfy twang and 60's jangle. The new Tele sits in middle for a bit of everything. I like having the choice between light, medium, and firm resistance under my pick and fingers. Having variety definitely inspires my playing. I've spent a little bit more on NYXLS now as I don't mean to experiment with these setups so often.

My Jim Dandy parlour acoustic is a dilemma. I generally prefer the feel of 11's but 12's seem perhaps better suited for fannying about with open tunings and slide guitar. Retro Monels arent as bright as the phosphor bronze strings it came with but I like their plain steel look and to my ear they sound a bit more even through my magnetic soundhole pickup - I'm not 100% certain though, it might just be wishful thinking. I'm still exploring with this one.

It's gotten quiet here...

Too bad about the Sisters thing...

So, I've always enjoyed art history but never really delved into Comic Art history.

This brief YT vid has piqued my interest however.

https://youtu.be/frG-jZXsNvc

Did you ever get the Casino you wanted? I see there seems to be a Natural finished one in production now as well as 'Worn' variants (not relic'd) https://www.andertons.co.uk/epiphone-casino-electric-guitar-natural

If there were "just one more..." guitar left on my wishlist it'd be the Casino Coupe in boring old traditional sunburst finish. Hollow bodied with P90s would kill two birds with one stone. ...want it, don't need it. I've gathered too much music junk I need to declutter already.

Oh nice! I'll keep that in mind then... am still trying to decide whether to save up to a tube amp or not

Yeah, likewise here!

One reason I kind of avoid tube amps is that I don't want to spoil myself coveting sht I just don't need, plus I'd rather not be distracted by the maintenance overheads and now supply worries that seem to preoccupy diehard tubesters.

Besides, the Pathfinder amp I have seems to be plenty good enough for a few artists I follow: Feist, Nora Jones, and Tim Carroll. They make the tube-free life sound pretty damn good to me and so consequently I'm faced with the sobering realisation that a grand spent on tutelage will probably sound a lot better than a grand spent on tubeage!

🎸🤓

Gaaahh! your techie talk gives you power over weak minds - stop making me want stuff!

umm... but actually I've just demoted the Broadcast from my wishlist. I do still like it but I just don't need it. I checked out a few Broadcast demos with my guitar on my knee and I'm finding that I can get equally pleasing dynamically ragged low/mid gain tones out of my new Boss fuzz. The Boss doesn't get quite as spitty but it seems to cover pretty much the same ground as I like the Broadcast for - I'm liking this fz-1w more and more. It's just such a great all round filth machine!

Ahh, I'm not so down on the fugly badass. That was the gin talking yesterday 🥴
I just like the look of the 78 better - it retains the classic lines I associate with MXR pedals.

Hell, the Bad Monkey ain't exactly pretty - Adrian Utley tapes over the one in his collection to hide the goofy script! - but I get by happily enough with it now since I usually just use it after a primary overdrive for a clean boost, hi/lo tone shaping and/or gain staging.

I'm trying to tell myself I'm done now for OD/distortion tone chasing 🤭 For the time being at least. Most of my wishlist 'interests' are spendy enough (Hudson Elec Broadcast ticks all my OD boxes: unique circuit? retro tech vibe) that I have more fun/practical priorities to invest in, like seeing gigs, festivals, music workshops and ultimately I suspect such experiences will bring more satisfaction than gathering more stuff and pedal juggling. (just speaking this out loud as a reminder)

I was not aware of the Baxandall audio circuit so that was something learned - memorable name too. Mr Baxandall was apparently born just a couple of miles along the Thames from where I live.

I had always thought Boss's asymmetrical clipping was patented and exclusive to the SD-1 so I've been a bit surprised to see the MXR and Wampler overdrives boasting of asymmetric distortion?

Which Custom Badass do you mean? you say 3 controls so I guess it's the 78 Distortion you mean? I like it

I like the basic MXR pedal designs in general, however that other Custom Badass, the modified OD 77... My god it's an abomination! That gold finish has never looked classy to me since the 1970's and I can't help but be reminded of the old Benson & Hedges fag packets that my granny smoked! And those four shrunken control knobs positioned uncomfortably close to the side set my teeth on edge!

That's surely the visual equivalent of dragging fingernails down a chalk board for me!

Some people seem to not care a hoot about the appearance of their gear but for some reason it matters significantly to me. Even switching from my red mustang to the sunburst feels like a completely different instrument - I feel so much more laid back and chill playing the sunburst... It's not something I can remotely hope to explain.

Weirdly, I have an issue now with the Triumph in that someone pointed out how closely the typeface matches "Trump" and now I can't unsee it!

I've debated selling my monkey and getting a Wampler Triumph which pairs Bad Monkey and SD-1 circuits together. I always kinda wished I'd gone SD-1 over BM but I like my BM too so the Triumph seems like the perfect compromise. Josh's video helped me accept that my Monkey's perfectly fine - I don't need no upgrade!

Badly, that's how.

Having talked through my thoughts and then slept on it I've resolved to hold fire till I've completed some more pressing projects. Funky pups can wait. I don't need em and I won't have time to enjoy them for a while yet.

Don't do the gretsch style pickup covers, they always bother me on PAF sized pickups and you should make sure your guitar doesn't bother an equipboard moderator! Lol

Aww dude. I've gotten a bit fed up with the chrome humbucker covers and was thinking the H covers would accent the rosewood neck and break up the bright expanse of the pickguard - I think I get where you're coming from from the perspective of 'authenticity' but it's such a mutant guitar anyway. If there's just one thing that does actually niggle me about it, it's that the body is so petite that to my eye the headstock looks over-sized! My sense is that that the dark H's on the sunburst would help balance that.

I'd agree though that the H's would most certainly look wrong on the Candy Apple Red. I'm in two minds what to do with that one. I could probably sell it for what I paid for the Sunburst - This was the sensible option I promised myself 😇.

However... 😈 it's since occured to me that a not so sensible option would be to swap in a pair of inexpensive GFS coil splitting lipstick humbuckers and maybe add in the Toronado bridge. This would roll with the Retro-futurist Atompunk theme I've got going with it, me being a huge fan of Man Or Astroman and their particular brand of Space Surf - I'd be doing it entirely for the 'Art' It would be a fitting tribute I think but I'm also curious as to how it'd sound! and OMG! I've just discovered they have returned to our earthly dimension and released new material in 2023

Be really careful with the cunife pole pieces, I've seen them chipped on vintage teles from people tweaking the heights aggressively. Once that slot gets broken you're stuck with the height it broke at.

Good to know 👍 I was considering maybe, if they're actually brighter than the regular old Creamery WRHB design, just putting a cunife in the neck only so this could be another reason. Incidentally Jaime offers both the larger WRHB as well as smaller paf sized versions

Coincidentally Chris Buck has just done a Friday Fretworks piece on CuNiFe then and now: If you're not familiar he's an phenomenal player to watch - He screwed up his right hand index fingertip early on through over-zealous practicing and so has subsequently had to develop his own hybrid picking style.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN51gOLvz0A

Is this model a 24" short scale like a mustang?

Yep, that's what makes it my sofa/travel guitar. My smallest lightest guitar besides my parlour acoustic; it's invitingly grab-and-go-able and such fun to play whereas my Tele's a different experience altogether... harder work and more intense.

Aren't those music masters or Broncos or whatever? The stang has that wonky vibrato system.

I wasn't too familiar with those guitars beyond the names but now I've checked them out I can see the connection and perhaps the inspiration behind Fender's "Pawn Shop Series". The marketing blurb went along the lines of a premise that re-imagined their classic designs as they might have been had they been modded by some wacked out guitarist and then rediscovered in pawn shop. The result was a mildly bonkers set of uniquely off the wall instruments that are now getting quite collectible. They are definitely 'marmite' instruments; folks either love 'em or hate 'em. I'm guessing Fender's marketing gurus developed the range into the Paranormal and Parallel Universe series' since the forums were full of buttheads sniggering over the name "Pawn Shop" (Uh hu-huh)

These Mustangs though are real gems. The Strat hardtail bridge is clearly a stability fix. A popular mod on these things is to swap in a Toronado bridge which neatly fits the outline of the pickguard, it's effectively a six saddle musicmaster bridge. They also contoured the body and shortened it slightly so the proportions look right with the smaller bridge. The resulting guitar is lightweight and somewhat 'petite' so it tends to be the one I carry about the house, play on the sofa, take down the garden with the pignose. I do still love my new Tele, but it's a hefty brute and it sure ain't hammock friendly!

Proper wide ranges are really cool. I'm a sucker for weird magnet materials.

The Creamery PAF sized WRHBs can now, for a modest premium, be specified for CuNiFe pole pieces and some rather tasty H covers. He previously did a good job of getting the original WRHB sound using just regular non magical poles but now that CuNiFe has become available again he's somewhat reluctantly I think, relented and now offers it as an option for suckers like us who can't resist the pixie dust.

Oh yeah baby!

The bluesy lookin 3 Colour Sunburst second edition Mustang Special is rarely seen in the UK.

I've been waiting years for one to become available over here... aaand "woot!" here it is! 😁

Ain't that jus the purtiest thing...?

So, what with this new Sunburst Mustang being the one I always wanted and undoubtedly a 'lifer' I have every intention to pimp it out with a pair of 'proper Wide Range Humbuckers; PAF sized from Jaime Campbell's Creamery.

The knobs on this MIM version (Maligned In Mexico) are a bit bigger and feel better quality than my Red Rocket MIJ, the pots aren't scratchy and the electronics don't hiss like the MIJ either. Plus, the truss is directly accessible from the headstock without taking the guitar apart.

It feels, plays and sounds every bit the MIJ's equal to me... perhaps even better? 🤷

The Red Rocket alas, must boldly go 🚀

The newly acquired Boss FZ-1w and faithful old Zoom Multistomp also pictured presently fulfil all my dirt and modulation needs. I could almost get away with just the Zoom but it doesn't do the sweet guitar volume cleanup thing like the Boss.

It is the way.

"No it isn't!"

I came here for an argument, you're just contradicting me.

Oh this is futile

of course there is ...but life's too short - 12 transistors though, from glancing at the comments.

Does the tone control work in vintage mode?

Yeah, but it functions differently between the two modes.

Boss says: "The powerful Tone knob simultaneously adjusts the high and low frequencies, allowing you to dial in a variety of different fuzz colors." - It's got a see-saw thing going.

About modern mode: "The Tone knob offers a different tuning that lets you tweak the brightness without altering the midrange, ensuring your sound always cuts through. And when used as a boost, Modern mode dishes a heap of girth with rich, mid-driven character".

I also read elsewhere: "Boss admit to being inspired by historic circuits, but the FZ‑1W doesn’t purport to replicate a specific vintage device. Instead it sets out to capture their general essence in a modern pedal that behaves consistently"

I'm sure there'll be one disemboweled somewhere on YouTube.

Boss say their FZ-1w is their own original circuit, developed apparently from lessons learned on the previous FZ-2w Tonebender project - seems like a great all-rounder for someone like me who's not too fussy... (cough!)

My understanding is that the Danelectro French Toast nails the Foxx fuzz tone... A typical drunken midnight eBay buy where brain wanted the toast but stomach said fries is how I now have a Danelectro French Fries AutoWah in a drawer somewhere. If only I'd been craving Fish & Chips instead, at least I'd've gotten a useful EQ pedal.

Funny you should mention Utley's Rat. After I'd found a favourite tone on my new Fuzz, I of course put my Multistomp after it for modulation. and discovered the general distortion patch I had already configured on it sounded pretty much the same - The Boss sounds 'a bit better' of course and has the dynamic response I was looking for but in terms of sonic texture I was surprised how much they overlapped - and it was the Zoom's RAT emulation that I had settled on. I guess my ears know what they like!

A reason I've managed for so long without a "proper" Fuzz is that my Little Bear R.attack covers all bases too. Its LED clipped turbo mode also makes a favourite slightly gnarly light overdrive. I should just stop coveting dirt pedals now. I'm happy enough with what I have.

That Jolana's a freakin' FrankenTele! - I love it! I bet it could tell a few stories too; it's lived through interesting times.

Does your own one look like the one illustrated? There's a lot going on with its Jazz/Jag style trem and Mustang looking pickups and I particularly like the the two strap buttons at the back; like twin tail pipes on a pimped up kit car! I do like oddball guitars. I almost pulled the trigger on an interesting Czech take on the Mustang before I found my Fender going cheap.

I read your guitar review - my Squier "Musuar" fulfills a similar role to your Iris. I got it specifically for the trem too and It looked the perfect guitar for playing all the S'es: Sixties surf, spy, spaghetti and psychedelic sounds. Plus, the shape is a bit 'out there'.

Speaking of Psychedelic sound, today is a New Pedal Day for me! :-D

I've managed for years without fuzz... that's not strictly true. I still have the Ibanez SoundTank "60's Fuzz" that a friend randomly gave me in the late 90's long before I even owned a guitar. I think he was hoping it might improve the sound of my Harmonica playing - it didn't.

Quite how the soundtank got its 60's Fuzz moniker I'll never know. It's a modified Big Muff circuit that sounds every bit as huge as listening to Siamese Dream through a transistor radio! Turning the knobs on it or on the guitar varies the tone from wool to static.
It' also a Schrodinger's pedal in that whenever you step on it you can never predict if it'll be alive or dead! I'm told it is a core component of the Mark Arm/Mudhoney tone but even Mark rehoused his for a better switch and stacks it with... fuzz... I mean, why bother!?

So the point of that rant was, I realised that the psychedelicious spaghetti fuzz sounds I was seeking would never be found in this bug-ugly so called '60's fuzz' monstrosity. Alas, even the supposed Fuzzface built into my beloved MS-50g delivers not the slightest hint of the dynamism and cleanup the real deal is famed for.

So I've indulged in my first Boss pedal - a Waza! the FZ-1w. It's actually my first ever 'new' pedal although with that said, it came as an Amazon warehouse deal with £30 knocked off for a slightly crumpled box. I'm such a cheapskate! but hey, it'll never be going back in the box!

This thing has far exceeded my expectations, there's not a bad sound in it. Vintage mode has the dynamic fuzz face qualities I was hoping for. Cranked up in modern mode gets me "comfortably numb". Winding back on various settings gets me from a ratty racket to Hound Dog Taylor filth. I couldn't ask for more from any drive pedal.

It's not quite there for bees in a can/Satisfaction/Spaghetti Western/Portishead"All Mine" tones but I'll get by. I genuinely believe it'll be my forever fuzz - in fact if I'm not being particular it feels like it could stand in for all my dirt needs; certainly it's all I'm using for the time being.

It is the way.

"No it isn't!"

Thanks! - Yeah, I really feel I got lucky.

It was curiosity about the mini-humbucker that turned up this beauty for me. Chris Buck did an excellent video that put me onto the mini's special qualities. When he compared it with regular humbuckers and P-90s the mini-humbucker seemed to live right in my goldilocks zone; clear and articulate, particularly at low gain. This sounds to me the perfect substitute for the traditional tele single coil, whereas regular humbucker Tele's seem more of a compromise.

https://youtu.be/ZhguOmOseTk

Not having owned, or even played a Telecaster before I wasn't sure what to expect. The Tele wasn't previously a guitar I was much drawn to; the Country twang thing had no special appeal either. Now that I own one, I get it! The range available on the hot rod from just tweaking the volume and tone controls is astonishing. I'm pleased it sounds significantly different to the two other electrics I have already and yet it covers a lot of the same ground too.

As I tend to do, I put in a bit of research into my new favourite instrument only to discover it being used in and by a 💩-ton of my favourite songs and artists - I just hadn't been paying attention! So in a fit of enthusiasm I've thrown together a wee History of The Telecaster spotify playlist for personal reference. May as well share it in case it's of any interest to any bored tele-philes with nothing better to listen to.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4QifGObNV1ay1ja8XBfpQ7

New Guitar Day (week) Fender American Vintage Hot Rod 52' Telecaster

I've long been on the lookout for a guitar that better expressed the vintage side of my musical tastes. I've had mixed feelings about the telecaster, liking the idea of having one and yet never finding one that grabs me. That was until this beauty came up for sale local to my work. It ticks all my boxes: 50's look and spec (mostly) but with a wee bit extra special sauce at the neck to dirty things up a bit (but not too much).

My daily play gear's been whittled down to this Tele, a parlour acoustic, my Vox indoors, and a Pignose outdoors with just my beloved MS-50g for modulation.

https://equipboard.com/gear_photos/18884

Im not sure if thsts sarcasm because I didn't watch the video.

No no! not sarcasm at all - the fella had a quality cable that was silent and an Ernie Ball one that was channelling significant buzz. I could see how if you had just the one dodgy lead it'd be easy to waste a lot of time and money trying to silence the board! I only chipped in because that was certainly in my blind spot!

I hope I've not come over as being snarky here. I may indulge in light hearted banter once in a while but throwing shade is never my intent.

I had never realised quality cables could make such a difference... https://youtu.be/h-I0i2kEqjk?t=29