starguitar's forum posts 39

Damn sorry mate I did not know there was existing history there. I've learned a lot from you just in this forum, so will take this chance to say thanks!

Paging doctor @jimmarchi1 ...

A a near successful conclusion to this mystery. How did you end up with that guitar, Star?

I'm just a sucker for Teles. It's not really a crazy story, I ordered it from an online shop, and got lucky bc she plays like a dream. I'm trying to remember what inspired me to get this one in particular... I think I just loved the wear and tear on it, like it's vintage/collectible but also really a player's guitar, know wat I mean? People pay a lot for that relic look and I like that this one happened naturally!

its not a particularly desireable tele from a player's perspective, those were grim times at Fender, but its collectible and should be worth a lot

Cool. What would you ballpark?

Ok so I dug up some interesting info on that xxyy#zzab neck code. Apparently from 1972 to 1980:

• xx = model code (Tele, Musicmaster, Mustang, Bronco, etc)
• yy = neck code (rosewood fingerboard, fretted maple neck, etc)
• zz = week code
• a = year code
• b = day of the week code

So going by that, mine's:

• 13 = Telecaster, Telecaster Custom, Telecaster Thinline
• 02 = ??? This one's strange, since 02 is not a documented neck code
• 51 = 51st week of the year
• 8 = 1978
• 2 = Tuesday

jim to your point, I shouldn't be too concerned about that 02 neck code mystery, since Fender themselves say this --

"Most notably, production dates have been penciled or stamped on the butt end of the heel of the neck of most guitars and basses, although there were periods when this was not consistently done (1973 to 1981, for example) or simply omitted."

Thank you very much, jim! I never thought of it as a potentially harmful shim, but that's good to know. She plays and sounds wonderful.

I'll keep digging on what "R. FRIEND" is exactly.

Okie dokie. Here's what I have on hand. Hope you can help me based on these? It's a 1978 Fender Telecaster, just... straight up Tele, all original. I know how to read serial numbers, the one on the headstock, and it's def a '78 (I don't have it in front of me but it is S8 + 5 digits)

https://i.imgur.com/4dduGvG.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/SmiPSYu.jpg

Fellow EB'ers,

Late 70s Tele, I've heard the butt end of the neck usually has a date of manufacture. Mine however has four digits, followed by a "#" and four more digits, like this:

1234#1234

Does anyone know what that means or how that's supposed to be read?

Furthermore, where the neck joins with the body is a "R.FRIEND" stamp. I've heard that might be some kind of joke by the folks working on the guitar? This pic isn't mine, but the stamp looks exactly like this.

Any insight on any of those markings is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hey EB-ers,

I've been researching some Visual Sound pedals on EB and got confused at the company name. Apparently as of March 2015 the company's name changed from Visual SOund to Truetone. I've been noticing more manufacturer pages on the site, so for item name accuracy do we need to rename those? Here's my source: http://truetone.com/2015/03/17/visual-sound-is-now-truetone/

(sorry if I shouldnt have started a new thread with this but I'm not sure what other thread it belongs under)

Just keep reminding me. I am a busy single parent and a pick I scooped off a stage when I was 13 or 14 is not going to be something I am thinking about most of the time.

unless the price is right...

https://media.giphy.com/media/13B1WmJg7HwjGU/giphy.gif

Yep, this. I'd merge the Klons, keep the Rats as they are. Thanks for the merge job, there were multiple pages of the same pro co rat and now it's one awesome mega-page!

this is a cool idea. I don't want to overcomplicate but there is a very nice use-case for guitarist equipboards here... pedalboard gallery! Almost all guitarists on EB have pedalboard pics used as proof. If we made a separate gear pictures section like geoxor suggested, and users could tag them with certain things like "pedalboard" then voila, we have a very legit "pedalboard of the stars" ... arguably the best one out there!

I love me some gear porn ;-D

This is great, I'll play with it but from what you wrote it seems like a big improvement. If the product catalogue on EB gets better that would go a long way for me.

May I ask if you guys made the changes up yourself, or did you use an existing gear catalogue as a model?

Hey all, just wanted to post some good Cyber-Monday deals for guitarists.

Amazon has some great gear on sale - especially pedals - plus if you enter the code MUSIC20OFF at checkout they'll give you an additional 20% off. Good stuff. Thinking of picking up either a Soul Food or MXR Carbon Copy.

Is that real or is it a joke? I'm leaningmore towards it being real, but I hope it's a joke!

haha I think this is a joke! That whole serious build-up and then he's just like... huh my amp tubes look weird do I need to get that checked out? :-D I saw it being posted around the web, thought I'd share here.

Also boom762 amazing Jurrasic Park gif. SHOOT HER! SHOOOOT HER! I'm so sad I actually paid to see the atrocity that was Jurrasic World :*( Felt like I was watching a cartoon

I think my wife is cheating on me. I am a working musician and, as you would expect, travel a lot. I have been noticing strange things happening when I get home. Her mobile phone rings and she steps outside to answer it or she says, "I'll call you back later". When I ask her who called she gets evasive. Sometimes she goes out with friends but comes home late, getting dropped off around the corner and walking the rest of the way. I once picked up the extension while she was on the phone and she got very angry.

A buddy of mine plays guitar in a band. He told me that my wife and some guy have been to his gigs. He wanted to borrow my guitar amp. That's when I got the idea to find out for myself what was really happening. I said, "Sure, you can use my amp but I want to hide behind it at the gig and see if she comes into the venue, and who she comes in with". He agreed.

Saturday night came and I slipped behind my Marshall JCM800 half stack to get a good view. It wasn't long before I saw my wife come in with another guy. He bought them drinks and they sat down, conversing flirtatiously with each other. Then, after a while, he got up to go to the bathroom, and she started flirting with the bartender! She wrote something (I'm assuming her cell number) on a bar napkin and gave it to him. He gave her a wink and a nod. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. My wife - the sweet little coquette!! At this point it was getting awfully warm for me. I was sweating. I could feel the heat coming off the back of the amp. It was at that moment, crouching down behind the amp, that I noticed that one of the tubes was not glowing as bright as the other three. Is this something I can fix myself or do need to take it to a technician?

^{^} this is massively helpful. jim you are a gentleman and a scholar. THANK YOU!

When reading reviews on wah pedals, people keep using terms and I have no idea what they are referring to. If anyone could help me out with these, it would be much appreciated!

I think I understand true bypass pretty well, and it seems especially important when shopping for a wah pedal.

sweep: No idea... my best guess this is the physical distance the wah pedal can travel?

width of Q: No clue.

depth: Again, no idea.

"tone suck": People keep saying wah pedals "suck" your tone... why is that?

I NEVER want any lead vocal in a rock band, its distracting, particularly if your singer is very consistent with phrasing

consistent with phrasing... explain please?

I saw EB posted this on Facebook. Totally geeking out on it. It's John Frusciante's (for those who don't know, former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist and all-around guitar legend) in-ear feed. I'm listening to it now, it's so interesting that night after night, show after show, he is laser focused on the sounds he is producing - guitar and backup vox.

What a difference from how the audience experiences shows! :) He's barely interested in hearing Anthony Kiedis' lead vox. I guess he knows exactly what Anthony will sing when, and all Frusciante needs to worry about is his backup vocals and harmonies being on point. It probably helps him stay on the correct harmony, and not accidentally "shift" into singing the main vocal line.

I like the way they are laid out overall. One thing I'd like is a direct link to the individual submission, so I could rate quality as soon as I get an email. Right now it's a little roundabout how I have to get to the submission page.

Regardless of winning it or not, I'm pretty intrigued by a reproduction of the DM-2. Of course I hope I win bc it's not cheap ;) Here's a good comparison video I found between the original and the new one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjEBzS0SFdw

Yussss. Eagerly awaiting release. Will items be editable too, or is that in a future release?

Hey boom762, thanks for the reply.

I shoulda figured someone would simply reply, "practice!" ;) And yes, I completely agree with you.

To clarify my original question: What resource or method would you recommend to break out of the pentatonic box? I have faith in my focus and discipline to practice - that's not the issue. The issue is I don't know what the thing is that would make a good next step to break out of the blues/pentatonic funk.

Does that make more sense?

A 90s Ibanez IC 300 Iceman perhaps?

http://i.imgur.com/Zcc5OTh.jpg

Ok, want to add something that might help with context. Actually think I've seen this video on Equipboard before, but watch the guy play the 1st minute of the video - that's exactly where I'd love to be as a player. He just glides around super effortlessly... if I practice, I can probably get to about the 0:20 second mark. After that, I feel as if there's a big gap in technique and fluidity from me to him.

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

I'm not sure how to gauge how "good" the guy in the video actually is, but what I do know is he's better than me :) How do I get from "I can play Purple Haze" to being like this dude? What's should my next step be?

He shows off more soloing starting around 3:41

Hey Equipboarders, there seem to be a lot of seasoned guitar players on here, so I hope you can help me out in my journey.

I'm kind of stuck on what the next major thing I could do to improve my guitar playing is.

Here is where I am currently:

• Classically trained pianist when I was young (about 7 yrs).
• Been playing guitar for 8 years or so total... but truly only practicing/improving/taking lessons for 2-3 of those years. Rest of that time is just noodling on the stuff I can play, recording, learning new songs but within my skill level.
• I have a very good ear overall and musical sense.
• In terms of chords: I feel like I'm fairly solid. I love experimenting w different voicings, that's a lot of what I do when I noodle around - just build progressions using different voicings. Pretty weak when it comes to Jazz chords.
• In terms of soloing: Blues, man. Blues. It's my comfort zone. Pentatonic, blues, I feel like I've got those down, and everything I play revolves around them. It's how I started and it's where I'm comfortable.

To give you a better idea of current skill level, I can play Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze start to finish pretty well. I also play a lot of Kings of Leon solos, like this one from the song Four Kicks.

Thing is... I think you can put most of the solos I can play into a box labeled "shit you can play when you know the pentatonic scale." What I lack is the ability to glide around the fret board effortlessly and quickly when soloing. Maybe its partly that I'm uncomfortable outside the confines of the blues scale, and partly that I need to work on my picking technique.

So, my specific asks for you guys are:

1. What should I start doing/learning/practicing that will open up the next chapter of my guitar playing (particularly soloing)?
2. Any particular youtube video series, etc that will help me with #1?

ps. Sorry it's kinda hard to articulate in a few words how "good" I currently am, so I'm happy to give more specifics if needed!

I was told to come post some Equipboard ideas here ;)

Since Equipboard is my go-to for gear stuff they should do a write-up on how to shop for guitar cables. Not just a few guitar cable suggestions, but also clearing up cable confusion for people (instrument vs speaker, how to shop for cables, what to look for, etc).

Also, it would be awesome to be able to sort item types by number of pros using them and/or number of community members using them. So in this example I want to go to the instrument cables page and have a lot more sort options.

Also for the record, this thread is a nice idea, and based on the discussions I'm reading, Equipboard users are really fucking cool :)

Thanks for the replies, I'll have a look at Bullet Cable and Spectraflex.

jimmarchi1 making my own cables is def something I want to get in the habit of doing, just haven't made time for it, so for the time being I'm willing to pay for someone else to make cables for me :)

Since Equipboard is my go-to for gear stuff they should do a write-up on this. Not just a few guitar cable suggestions, but also clearing up cable confusion for people (instrument vs speaker, how to shop for cables, what to look for, etc).

Also, it would be awesome to be able to sort item types by number of pros using them and/or number of community members using them. So in this example I want to go to the instrument cables page and have a lot more sort options.

Just some random thoughts!

I know my question probably has no easy one-size-fits-all answer, but I'd love to get some opinions on what guitar cables you guys are using and liking.

I just wrote a review on the ones I currently like, the Monster Legacy S-100 1/4" Straight Instrument Cable. I'm at the point where I need a couple more, and I love those Monster ones, but just thought I'd ask you guys. I'm not a cable expert after all.

I know Monster is the subject of a lot of hate-fests, and I in large part agree (especially if you look at their ridiculous offerings in the consumer audio/video realm).

One caveat for recommendations - I have no interest in building my own cables, so please don't suggest that! :-P

Home-body players who do not ever play to a metronome (any instrument really)....

I'm SO guilty of this. I think my timing is pretty amazing when I'm in a room... by myself... and no one's home to hear it... :-D

One of my pet peeves is when I get together with buddies for a jam session, and everyone spends half of it dicking around in "look what I can do" or "look what I've been learning" mode. Then multiple people start doing that at the same time and it sounds like n00b day at Guitar Center haha

That's actually a pretty good article! But as an acoustic guitar player myself it does leave me wanting a little more. Here are my notes:

"Buying strings for an acoustic guitar can be a daunting task, especially for someone who might not know what they’re looking for." --> It's hard for everyone bc there are so many different types and brands!

"A good example of bronze strings is Elixer’s Nanoweb 80/20 Bronze strings." --> What is 80/20 exactly? Id love to know

"but they are longer lasting than straight bronze strings because of the inclusion of phosphor." --> Whats phosphor, and what does it do? Maybe a little more detail there?

"...and good example of nylon strings would be D’Addario’s Pro Arte series" --> Hmm, again, why?

"While string gauge won’t have as much of an effect on sound as string material, it will have an effect on your playing, which will affect sound." --> Bit of a weird sentence...

Hope this helps

1966 Epiphone Century! The answer is here: http://equipboard.com/pros/james-bay/epiphone-century-electric-guitar I love it when artists go into the backstory of a particular piece of gear they love.

This is the kind of stuff Equipboard was made for 😜

For some reason which I have yet to research, people say a compressor is essential for country music guitarists. I guess evening out the dynamics is particularly helpful in country music?

😐

I've seen the Keeley 4-Knob Compressor highly recommended for this very application.

You're talking about this, right?

I'm trying to do a Google image search to figure out when that photo was taken. No luck so far... I agree with you that a Gibson L-5 CES is absolutely gorgeous, but it's impossible to say any guitar is better than another. Maybe he came across a particularly amazing 335, who knows?

Nice! Ok but why specifically

Imagine you could instantly acquire any guitarist's skill and style, but you would still be you. That is, I'm not asking what guitarist you would wanna become, but if you could absorb just their skill, style, chops... who would u choose??

I'll start. John Frusciante for me.

His feel, his improvisational skills... second to none. I love his Hendrix-inspired style. Only thing is I'm not a huge Strat fan, but if I had his collection, life wouldn't be too bad... :P

http://whisperofamemory.com/blog/http://whisperofamemory.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/John33.png

...the result is a very cool looking guitar 😁

http://equipboard.com/pros/captain-kirk-douglas/gibson-les-paul-standard-electric-guitar

I've got a suggestion - would be cool to be able to search by bands on equipboard, not just artists. Like if I search Radiohead, the result should be Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, etc

Edit:

Also would be cool if I could add an artist or a whole band to the site

You're these guys? Super cool (and a little crazy :P). Set up an AMA on here, I'm sure gear heads would love to hear your story.