February Update

 I've been trying to blog roughly once a week since I rediscovered it, but I've been quite busy over the past month and things have slid a little. Nevertheless I've done things.

Aborted sale

After the success of the pedal sales I thought about moving a few more things on. The first thing that went up for sale was my Epiphone archtop (see blog entry). It's not been used much at all int he last couple of years so I thought the time was right to move it on an realise the cash tied up in it.

I got it down from the loft, cleaned it up and put new strings on it, also reattaching the pickguard. Once I was happy it was presentable again, I listed it on Reverb - local pickup only. I t got quite a lot of views and I was even negotiating with one potential buyer over price.

It sat in my music room for a few days reacclimatising and knowing that someone would eventually come to look at it, I adjusted the set up to make it play well and... oh dear. Turns out that I actually really enjoy playing this guitar! After thinking about it for another day, I delisted it. I'll give it another chance. Soon I will have finished Rob Swifts excellent One Man Jam course on Truefire, and as I'll be dismantling my Strat, I will do his One Man Jam acoustic course as an excuse to give it another thorough bit of use before deciding once and for all whether to keep it.

Nord Drum 3P is gone

I made a rather snap decision to sell the rather excellent Nord Drum 3P. It's a great piece of kit, feels great to play, sounds fantastic and is totally inappropriate for the music I'm making at the moment. I've tried very hard to integrate it into my set up but it's time to face the fact that I'll just never learn how to play something like that properly, and I don't really have the talent, experience or expertise to make the most of it. I listed it on Reverb about a week ago, and I've just said goodbye to it at the post office.

YN Strat Journey

I ordered a new bridge/trem and tuners for the Strat. In the end, I opted for a Wilkinson Bridge with a steel block, it was somewhat less expensive than the Callaham units I was looking at. Some research showed that all but the most enthusiastic trem users were happy with this unit, and as I'm not a big fan of using the Strat trem anyway I was happy enough with it.

I ordered Gotoh tuners for the Strat, but when I tried to fit them it seems that their screw holes wouldn't conveniently avoid the existing holes or be able to use them either. But the Schallers that are on the single humber Strat were much better - so I ended up using them instead. Shame that I ordered them really but I couldn't have known, I've decided I may as well keep them for any future project.

The Strat wasn't out of action for long. Despite some forum posters enthusiastically claiming it would really change the sound, I didn't notice any difference. It does feel and look nicer, and that what I'm going for here.

Paints have now arrived from Rothko and Frost, as well as decals. I'm aiming for a tribute to John Lennon and George Harrison's Sonic Blue 61 Strats used in the Beatles mid period, and I'll be getting pickups to match. I also got some new decals made as I will sand the existing ones off the neck. The temptation is to get Fender decals but I wouldn't have felt right doing it. I'm quite proud of my YN Strat so I've had them done with 'Squier' on them, but in the appropriate pre CBS style.

I'll be dismantling the Strat in the next week or so and will begin the stripping process before gertting ready for painting. I've watched an extremely good video series from Stewmac where they show exactly how to get fantastic results with aerosols, so I've decided to really take my time - it might take all year to get this guitar done!

Good Times

 I've been quite busy with work in the last week, but I've still been able to make some time for playing. The old idiom of practice making perfect always seems to apply, and the two pieces I've been working on from the Truefire course are getting better every session. I've continued to work hard on my technique, and things are getting smoother. Today I moved onto the next piece, called Good Times. It's in 6/8 which is a welcome change of pace.

The Squier strat still continues to delight, and now I've backed off the gain on the amp I really feel like I'm getting the best out of it that I can. Come the first week of February I'll be ordering the new tuners (I've decided on Schallers), and a new bridge/tremelo, although I'm still not decided on which one to get. I'll possibly splash the cash on a Callaham unit, it doesn't really seem much more money than some of the other choices although paying top whack for a trem that I won't actually use does rankle a bit. I've got a couple more weeks to chew it over.

Vinyl word

Since I got my amplifier serviced about a month ago I've been hitting the vinyl pretty hard. This week I've been getting the Herbie Hancock albums out, in particular 1968's Speak Like a Child and from the following year The Prisoner. I also got The Best Of John Lee Hooker out, which I inherited from my late uncle recently, and I have to say that I like this very much. There's always some Grant Green in the mix and I know I played Feelin' The Spirit this week - I got this last month, it's the recently reissued Tone Poet release - it sounds noticeably better than the DOL pressing I had before (and cost four times as much, so it should!).

Mixtape

If you're under 35 the chances are you've never had the experience of making a mixtape for someone. Indeed, cassette decks have all but disappeared from use since the late 90s as CDs and then digital services took over as being the main medium of music distribution. I was without a deck for many years, but after falling down a rabbit hole of watching Techmoan's youtube videos I got myself a deck. I've made a couple of mixtapes for people, and when I friend of mine said they'd recently discovered a deck I knew what I had to do.

I was decided that all songs on the tape would be from my vinyl collection to maintain an all-analogue signal path (well as close as possible - inevitably some modern LPs are mastered from digital sources). I'm sure there's a much larger piece for me to write about mixtapes, but briefly it was a lot of fun to flit through my vinyl song by song instead of the album experience, and a few things got played that don't normally come out.

Snatching Minutes

 Working on Technique

I thought at the start of this week I would have plenty have time to practice and had whole days scheduled to write and play. In the end, I managed four practice sessions of around an hour each. That's just the way things go sometimes, but I have to do my best and plough on.

I continued to work through the Truefire course I mentioned before. I've been paying alot of attention to my technique which I'm constantly trying to improve. A few years ago I managed to relax the death grip I often had on the fretboard, but its the right hand that I'm concentrating on now.

I think it was a Rhett Schull video I watched a few years ago that got me thinking about how I anchor my right hand on the bridge when I'm playing lead. I'm not sure when or why I started to do this, but I think it was in the mistaken belief that pivoting my hand on it would be easier, but I suppose the friction of it is quite limiting. Now I'm working on having my hand floating, which is how everyone else seems to have been doing it all along. It's been hard at first, but the more a practice it, the better I become. 

At the same time I'm working on playing with the plectrum with less force. I've just been hammering guitars for years, I think in the belief that the harder I physically played them the better they sounded. But it's not true, the attack on the notes hasn't sounded right and the over-use of force makes it harder to play fluently.

Finally, one thing that I always suffered when playing Strats was striking the pickguarg when playing lead/single note work. I think this is because every other guitar I've played has had a raised bridge and the height has meant this doesn't happen very often. Once again, this is inefficient movement - I'm moving the pick too much and wasting energy. With more work and concentration I'm making progress with this too.

I've moved onto the next piece in the Truefire course, Funkified Blues. I'll continue to practice the one I was doing before too. There are five in the course in total and it would be good to have them all memorised and able to be performed (to whom I don't know!).

Bringing down the gain

Only a small point, but I've been running the Deluxe Reverb at 7-8 the last few weeks and rolling off the volume on whichever guitar I've been playing. With both the Strat and the Jaguar it gives a great driven sound, but backing off the vloume isn't completely satisfying - I perhaps need to think about treble bleed to preserve the top end.

I've now backed off the gain to 5, which is giving a very nice just-on-the-edge-of-breakup clean sound to the lead playing, and with my softer right hand technique is giving a more rounded sound than I was used to.

Pedal sales

I've used Reverb before, and this last week I've sold my Boss RC-1, RV-6 and DD-8 pedals. I'd assembled an eight pedal board, but the reality is that I'd never be playing live and for recording at home I can get very good delay and reverb sounds with my Universal Audio OX. The RV-6 was purchased before I had the Deluxe Reverb and needed some delay to use with the Tiny Terror. Meanwhile the DD-8 is a nice pedal but I get my digital delay sounds with the OX, and I don't have use for the more trick algorithms it has. The RC-1 I never really got on with, I'm not really interested in looping.

YN Journey

The sale of the pedals will fund some upgrades for the YN Strat, and February should see the purchase of new tuners and a new bridge.

I'm starting to get a feel for this instrument. Playing it and the Jaguar back to back this evening, it's clear that the pickups on the Strat are not of the same quality and don't have a very pleasing bottom end at all. Replacement pickups will be the last thing I'll buy, after all the other upgrades and possible refinish have been done, but I think they will have a significant effect.

I'll also need to have another look at the setup as I think the neck might have moved a little over the last week. Not surprising now it's finally had some strings on it for the first time in three years.

I hope I'll get more chance to play this next week although I think it could be tricky - I have a very busy week ahead.

Hold on a minute...

 The YN Strat has been reassembled, and becuase it's the new year I've resolved to do more learning. After signing up for Truefire last month I've begun doing Rob Swift's One Man Jam course; I figured this would be good since it can be played at my own speed, won't need any accopaniment and would be a gentle way back into guitar study (it's been about 2 years since I last did any).

As I mentioned last time, I want to use the YN Strat to do this course so that I can become familiar with the way it plays and appreciated the changes I make as it's modified. The new nut of two weeks ago seems to have one the trick as I can't really fault the way the guitar plays. In fact I am quite enamoured with just how good this guitar is... so much so, I'm wondering whether I really will do all the upgrades I detailed in my last post. 

Certainly a new bridge will be required, and some newer and better quality tuners will be must haves, even though the existing ones seem to be doing just fine. But the pickups? I've mentioned previously that I've never got on with Strats, but I am really enjoying this one. In the case of the first one, I think I was just too inexperienced to appreciates what I'd got, and the second one was usually being played though either amp simulators or my Tiny Terror, and whatever was wrong there it was quite unsatisfying.

But this one - this bottom of the range cheapo Squier... well I love it. I'd been playing it in the bridge position initially so that I could get an ear for that pickup for when it's changed, but I've moved around more in the last few days.

My current thinking is to implement the tuner and bridge change as planned, but I might abandon my plans to fit a single humbucker. If the other discovery of the week turns out to be successful.

Self Built H Strat revival

Of my various attempts at DIY luthiery, the Jazz Bass copy is the only viable instrument to have been completed. But that's not the only instrument I've set out to build.

Back in 2015, alongside the Jazz Bass I also built a semi hollow strat with P90 pickups. The neck was fairly good, but I wasn't happy with the body. We moved house that year, and for many years afterwards all attempts at luthiery were put aside, and the P90s eventually ended up in my Les Paul.

Then in 2021, I returned from a job in Australia and had to spent 10 days isolating at home because of pandemic regulations. With time on my hands, began to build a single humbucker stratocaster from the templates I had saved from six years prior. I mostly completed this, but made a mess of the neck (not properly radiussed, plus the router tore out a big chunk of the headstock). Life once again got in the way and I never returned to it.

After finding that the YN Strat neck wasn't a write off, and reassembling that guitar, I wondered - could the 2015 neck be put on the 2021 body? There would be some work to do - the channel for the nut is far bigger than it should be, but I could fill that with a rosewood blank and then put another Tusq nut in the space. It would eventually need to be remade, but it will do for now.

This evening I've got around to mating the body to the neck. There's a problem. It seems that the holes I drilled in the body weren't quite as they should be - the 2015 neck just wouldn't screw on properly. I know that the 2015 neck is correct because that neck had been on the YN strat for a period.

The solution appears to be filling the existing holes with dowels and then redrilling in the correct configuration. I may as well see if I can do this, otherwise the body is junk!

Truefire Progress

It's been good to get back to practicing. Although it is also frustrating! Getting out of my comfort zone is always difficult for me, but I've been here before and there are not easy answers, just time and practice. 

In the last week I've gone through the first piece in Rob Swift's One Man Jam course, the first piece is called A Bit Country. Reading tab, applying music theory and basic finger calisthenics are all slowly cominmg back to me, the latter of which is always a challenge, and disheartening when my fingers don't move as quickly or as precisely as I'd like.

I've printed out the score and marked out some theory on there, so I can understand what I'm playing. I'll keep in this piece for another day then start another while continuing to practice this one.

Squier YN Strat upgrade: Part 01 - Resurrection

 While completing my Guitar Diaries earlier this month, I discovered that my Squier Stratocaster - which has been in pieces for at least 2 years - was in actual fact a serviceable instrument. Previously I'd thought that the allen bolt in the truss rod had been rounded off and that the neck could not be adjusted, but directly as a result of wanting to write a post about it I found that it was actually fine. Thank goodness for blogging!

For 2023 I was thinking about having another stab at scratch building a guitar, but this revelation has prompted a rethink. It turns out that the YN serial number Statocaster made by Squier in the 90s (1997 in my case) is not only a full depth body, but uses the correct alder construction. It's completely suitable for upgrading and becoming what is known as a partscaster.

I've spent a week or so weighing up my options and finding out more about the guitar. Having never really got along with the traditional Strat configuration, and having attempted a scratch build of a single humbucker S Type a couple of years ago, I've decided this is the way I'll be going.

I'll detail my journey here. The vision is for a single humbucker strat, I'll refinish the guitar in Olympic White (it's currently Polar White), and I might refinish the neck IF I can obtain transfers the same as the current style. Although it has to be said the current neck actually feels quite good.

The upgrade will be phased for reasons of economy and not wanting to splurge on everything all at once. I also intend to play the guitar over a few months to better understand how the various upgrades affect the feel and sound. And, I've decided that I will only carry out upgrades that can be reversed, so no drilling or routing. The aim is to make it possible to put this guitar completely back to standard if required.

Today's task was to get the Strat working again. A new nut was required, and as I've had no success making my own before I ordered a Tusq nut from ebay. I ordered a flat bottomed one as I mistakenly thought that would fit the rout in the fretboard, but it turns out this was curved. I was able to file it to fit.

I found the original neck plate with the YN serial number, reassembled the guitar and restrung the guitar. With Haynes excellent Stratocaster manual as a reference I set about adjusting the guitar to it's original specification using the given measurements. Surprisingly this didn't require much adjustment - perhaps I'd done it few years ago?

Minus two lost control knobs, the guitar was reassembled, so I plugged it in and spent about 30 mins playing it. My initial impressions are that its a fine feeling instrument to play, which I will continue to adjust to make it a slinky feeling as possible. The sound left a little to be desired - the pickups sounds harsh and trashy, which is to be expected, I suppose. Positions 2 and 4 sound great for the Strat out-of-phase sound and I momentariliy reconsidered my upgrade path in favour of the traditional configuration. However, I've had two of those previously and haven't taken to them, so I will proceed along my single humbucker path.

My best-laid-plan is to play the Strat as it is for a month. I'm simultaneously planning to do a Truefire course so this is a great excuse. Shortly I will order some new tuning keys and a replacement bridge, which will go on at the start of February. If all goes to schedule I'll dismantle the guitar at the start of March, strip the poly finish and refinish, order all remaining parts for a hopeful reassembling at the start of May. Let's see how well I'm able to stick to that!

The Guitar Diaries Part 19: Ibanez M340BS Acoustic (March 2021 - Present)

 On 3rd November 2020 my much loved Uncle Antony sadly passed away. I inherited his acoustic guitar just over a year later.

This might actually be the first guitar I ever got my hands on - I have a vague memory of being about 6 or 7 years old and being around at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Leek and this being in the lounge. I remember plucking the strings above the nut and the sound they made, but at that age it would have just been too big for me to attempt to play properly.

Years later I remember staying over at my Aunt and Uncle's when they'd moved to Cheddleton. I was probably about 14, so before I started playing guitar - but he'd made a cover to put over the nut to raise the strings and begun playing slide. Indeed, this nut was still on it when I came into possession of the guitar.

While Ant could play the guitar and no doubt enjoyed doing so on the occasions he did, I don't remember it being a big part of his life (at least not in the obsessive way it's part of mine) so I don't think he played it much, and when I was given the guitar it clearly hadn't been played for years and I think had been hung on the back of the door to his study.

I gave it a clean up, removed the raised nut which fortunately still had the original beneath and replaced the strings. The guitar still played really well and had a quality feel. It was made in Japan in 1980 and my aunt had given it to my uncle for Christmas either that year or 1981. I'm not a great aficionado of acoustic guitars but I really enjoy this one - it sounds and feels great and the sentimental attachment means I will never sell it.

The Guitar Diaries part 18: Gretsch G5440 Bass (March 2021 - Present)

 It was February 2020, I was working in London and had a day to kill so went to Denmark Street to pass some time. We were beginning to hear about a virus that was coming to the UK from China and so the streets were already beginning to feel a bit quieter... either that or it was just because it was a miserable grey Sunday. I found myself in the bass section of one of the shops and saw this beautiful full hollow bass and asked the shop if I could give it a try. On closer inspection it was even more lovely and felt great. However, at £899 it was a considerable amount of wedge and I was unlikely to be spending that on something that wasn't my main instrument.

A year later I was in Melbourne Australia again for work. Near to where I was staying was a shop called The Bass and Acoustic centre, which unsurprisingly concentrated on these two types of instruments. Actually, it's a really great shop - without the need to mostly stock electric guitars they have a wide range of the more niche instruments. In there they had another on of these basses. I began to think about getting a new bass when I got home and although there were a few contenders, this was the one I ordered when I returned - and I have to say it's one of the best things I've ever bought.

Again, I must reiterate, this is an absolutely beautiful instrument, the nicest to look at out of all I own. It also feels better than any of the other basses I've owned or played, and I've really worked to improve my technique. As guitarists we can all fumble out way around on a bass when we need to but to do it properly requires some dedication.

I've used this on quite a few recordings at home over the past 18 or so months, but perhaps most importantly it's opened up the door to playing with other people. I've played with one of my mates on his demos (I used to be the lead guitarist in our old band), while I've joined another friend and some of his mates as bass player and I really enjoy that too. I'll probably expand on my thoughts about being a bass player in another post, but this is a really great instrument that I'm very glad I bought and wont be letting go.

The Guitar Diaries part 17: Squier YN Stratocaster (November 2019 - Present)

 Well I'm glad I resumed work on the Guitar Diaries...

I bought this guitar on a total whim from Cash Converters in Stafford back in November 2019. Even though I've had two strats in the past I couldn't turn this one down for just £99. The great thing about most fender guitars is that they can be very easily worked on and upgraded, and that's what I had on mind for this. I was even more delighted when I got it home, checked the serial number, and discovered this is actually a highly regarded YN Strat, made in Taiwan in 1997.

I played it for a little while, and my memory is a little fuzzy with this guitar, but I think I discovered fairly quickly that the truss rod couldn't be adjusted as the Allen bolt had been rounded off (presumably it needed to be adjusted). But, I had a spare neck from a strat I'd never finished back in 2015. This was made at the same time as the self built jazz bass, but never finished. The body was meant to be semi hollow and P90 equipped. I put the neck onto the YN strat body, played with it a little bit but then dismantled it again. Essentially junk, the bits have lain around for a few years - the body is a standard strat body and so can have any of the myriad available hardware put into it, and I thought that maybe one day I'd have another go at making a neck and the body would be completed.

I began writing this blog entry about 30 minutes ago. I knew I'd still got the body, but did I still have the neck? I went and had a quick look - yes I did. Was the truss rod still unadjustable? I put in an allen key - and it worked! It obviously hadn't been rounded off at all.

As I write my mind is literally working overdrive thinking of the possibilities. To fully trick out a strat with the best hardware isn't cheap - and everything except for the wooden parts are rock bottom standard. But it's still less expensive than buying a fully loaded new USA Strat, and if there's one thing I've come to appreciate about Fenders - from this cheapest one to my USA made Johnny Marr Jaguar is that they're all basically the same as far as the wooden parts go, it's the hardware and the finish that makes the difference. 

I like the neck on this one - fairly think and satin finished. The body is white poly - I'll certainly strip that off and repaint it. The frets are all in good condition except for the 22nd which has taken a knock, so maybe that one could be replaced. I'll probably keep the Squier logo on it, I quite like the idea of it being the ultimate Q guitar.

The Guitar Diaries Part 16: Epiphone Masterbilt Century Deluxe Archtop acoustic (May 2019 - present)

 I've not had the best experience with acoustic guitars, but in 2019 I felt like it was time to try again. I'm struggling to remember exactly why I wanted to get one, and I wanted to get something a bit offbeat so I went for this.

I have to say that it's a lovely, well built instrument that I spent a lot of time playing during the year I bought it. After a long break I was able to get back into songwriting and this was the instrument that enabled it - during 2019 I wrote 14 songs (admittedly of varying quality) on this instrument, four of them being on the EP I recorded on lockdown.

This is a niche instrument and somewhat different to a regular flat top acoustic. The sound is much more in the midrange and has less sustain although it does project its sound quite well. It has electric facilities although I've never used them. I've made a few recordings with this and the Ibanez flat top I will discuss later and it complements very well - being prominent where the flat top is scooped. I've also played a bit of jazz on it at times and it's good for that too.

It's not an easy guitar to play. The neck is the thickest of any guitar I've played, and it could perhaps benefit from a professional set up to see if the action can be lowered a little. At the time of writing it's not been played for quite a while as the Ibanez flat top has had the most use. I've considered moving it on as it has some value which could be better spent elsewhere. But I do also really like it and might have a use for it in the future.

The Guitar Diaries Part 15: Epiphone Gary Clark Casino (April 2016-April 2018)

 What to say about this guitar? Looked good (from >1 metre), sounded great, felt like a cheap plastic toy.

I've always liked the Casino/ES330 guitar - great bluesy sound, lightweight - and so when I tested a looper pedal I came away with that and went back a couple of days later for this guitar. Now made in China, the outwardly appeared to be good quality compared to my Riviera. But closer inspection revealed it was quite cheap - one of the most off-putting aspects was that the fretboard appeared to have been stained brown in an attempt to look more like rosewood and some of it had leaked onto the binding. Ugly! It was, of course finished in poly and felt like it was probably about 2mm thick.

It sounded great although at one point I put flatwounds on it and it got a bit too mellow. In the end I didn't think there was enough difference between this and the Riviera to warrant keeping both and with the Riviera's story there was no way I was going to let it out of my posession again. The Casino went up on Gumtree and was sold to a blind bloke who played absolutely amazing guitar on it when he came to try it out. Amazing.

I do love the Casino/ES330 and wouldn't rule out owning one again in the future, but I didn't want this example of cheap simulacra and would prefer to own the real thing if the chance ever comes again.

With this guitar gone I was down to three electrics which is where things are at the current time.

The Guitar Diaries Part 14: Self built Jazz Bass (May 2015-present)

 I've dabbled with luthiery a few times since 2013 (Indeed I got the bug when I began the Guitar Diaries, stuck out in India, bored and watching Youtube). To date, the only viable instrument I made was this 95%-of-the-way-there Jazz Bass copy, hardware donated from the Peavey Milestone III mentioned earlier. Blueprints are easily available online, and I built beginning probably at the end of 2013, finally being finished in May 2015.

I'm actually quite proud of this instrument. I made a bit of a mess of the nut so that's never been quite right, but it's quite playable, sounds decent and made it onto the EP I recorded in the 2020 lockdown. Since getting my Gretsch 5440 bass, the Jazz has been up in the loft and I doubt very much it will be used again. However, I often threaten to make more guitars and one project I'd like to do is to have another go at this and do it better.

The Guitar Diaries Part 13: Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar (January 2015 - Present)

I wasn't planning on buying a new guitar, but I got completely transfixed by al the youtube videos (including the one Johnny did for Fender) and it's promise to be all things to all men. I also really like and respect Johnny Marr despite not being a massive fan of The Smiths - he's like a guitar Yoda. Bought from Anderton's for £1623 (Current price: £2399).

This guitar has taken a lot of tweaking, and I still don't think I'm there yet. The first issue, which I had to sort out almost immediately, were the ice-pick highs. Time has dulled my memory somewhat, but I think I got what I wanted by removing a resistor that was in line with the tone pot. Both the tone and volume pots have been changed multiple times, from their original 1M to 500k and 250k - I think they're now at 500k. The capacitor was also changed to a Mojo PIO that was at a different value to what was supplied. It's taken a considerable amount of time, but I'm now quite happy with the tone of this guitar. However, I have to say that the lead/single note of this instrument isn't great, and it's clear to see why it never replaced the Telecaster and Stratocaster it was meant to supercede.

My JM Jaguar and the 68 Deluxe Reverb

The other thing that's been changed many times is the infamous bridge - the supplied Mustang style bridge was pretty bad - too wide for the neck so the low E string would often slip off the fretboard. I replaced this with a Staytrem a few years ago which sorted out the issue, but I think I'll be trying the Mastery bridge if I can get over the price - the Staytrem (and the original bridge) rocks forward and backwards according to use of the vibrato and over time works itself into some quite extreme positions which is obviously not good for intonation. The Mastery stays in one position - apparently the tone is affected somewhat, but I'm willing to give it a try.

The workmanship of the guitar is very good and feels a quality instrument. I don't like the paint - one of the reasons I bought it was because of the nitro finish, but this is actually put on to of a thick layer of poly, which not only defeats the object, but the think nitro shell chips away as opposed to the wear of vintage instrument. It's a pretty ugly effect to be honest.

Doesn't sound like I'm too happy with it does it? It's true, I do have quite a love/hate relationship with this instrument, it's the first one I'd get rid of if I had to (not least because it appears to have actually appreciated in value). Nevertheless, when it's good it's very, very good. In 2022 I limited myself to using just this guitar and I've been quite happy with it. Why? Because it's not a guitar hero axe it's great for coming up with guitar parts that serve the song and don't stand out too much. It's no great lead instrument, but as a rhythm guitar I've yet to play better. I love how it can have a trashy, clangy sound, then it can be funked up, and to play with lots of delay and reverb while picking out chords - the sound is heavenly. Now I've sorted out the bridge issue it actually plays very well, and the vibrato is the best I've used on any guitar.

I think the best thing that ever happened with this guitar for me was when I got my Fender 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb. Previously I'd been using it with my Orange Tiny Terror and it did not suit it at all. But matching it with the Fender amp sealed the deal. I've used it quite a lot since then, it's been the rhythm backbone to pretty much every song I've recorded since then, and with either the Riviera or Les Paul being used for lead, it complements both those instruments well.

Audites and Truefire

I returned from three weeks working in Qatar ready to get back into some music. This year has been so hectic, there's been very little time since about April to do anything. I had a week and I half before my last foreign trip and put into place some ideas I had about re-integrating the Beatstep Pro back into the rig, and using ADAT to bring my second Saffire Pro 40 back into the rig. I'm recording everything at 96KHz now so theres only four channels of ADAT, but that's enough to have the Nord Drum 3P and the Roland JDXi. 

Audites

I want to have a break from songwriting in the conventional sense and flex my instrumental muscles again. Doing licensed royalty free music is something I've thought about doing on and off for over a decade and it's perfect excuse to stretch out musically without having to come up with a song. As a way of getting the ball rolling, I've come up with this idea of making Audites - thats the name I'm giving to 2-3 minute long instrumental pieces of music I'm creating just based on a simple idea I might have at any time, be that something on guitar, synth, bass or a drum beat. The whole rig has been set up for immediate recording, and there's always a Reason template iteration I have to facilitate that. Before I went away I did a quick one as a test.

Truefire

I was trying to decide on another Truefire course to do, and had seen a great sounding one on sort of Blues Rock Grooves. However, I've not done any studying for a couple of years and I was a little worried I might find it a bit tough from a standing start. Another one caught my eye on Rhythm Fills which also seemed interesting. The price of doing two was about £60, but for a year of all access it was about £84, so I've just gone ahead and done that.

Have to hand it to Truefire, the first lesson on Rhythm Fills gave me some ideas straight away and I recorded a quick Audite inspired by it! I just came up with a few riffs based on what I'd learned, programmed a simple beat on the Beatstep Pro linked to the Nord Drum, played along and put a simple bassline on afterwards. Bosh, it was done.

I've got a relatively quiet couple of weeks, so I'll aim to do an hour a day on it, like I did back in lockdown.

The Guitar Diaries Part 12: Epiphone J-200 (November 2011 – Present)

For a very long time I’d wanted to get an Epiphone J-200. A genuine Gibson would be too expensive, but my previous experience with Epiphones had been very positive, so I didn’t really have a problem getting the cheaper version. Also, I didn’t have serious designs on being an acoustic guitarist.

Late 2011 I’d decided to do some proper recordings of the songs I demoed back in the 2005-06 period, which needed an acoustic guitar. Having got rid of the awful Manhattan the previous year, I took the plunge on the Epiphone. Although electro versions are available, I find piezo pickups to be a bit plasticky in sound, so I got the regular version and miked it up instead.

I’m pleased with the guitar I guess, it does all I ask. However, it doesn’t feel as good as the Korean J-200s did around 2003. I do get a nice sound of it when I record it and I’ll be keeping it unless I suddenly decide to get something more expensive to replace it. I don’t write songs on acoustic and I don’t really play it much for pleasure, so it just does what I want it to.

2022 Update: This guitar was DESTROYED in 2015!

The Guitar Diaries Part 11: Fender Roadhouse Stratocaster MIM (April 2010 – October 2016)

Apart from briefly (for an hour) considering chopping in the Gibson for a Lone Star Strat in the early Penguin Steak day, I’d never seriously considered going back to Fender. That changed in April 2010.

I’d been listening to The Eagles and a compilation called American Heartbeat, and thought it might be worthwhile getting a third guitar, especially after hearing some of Joe Walsh’s work on Hotel California. I picked this on up for a cool £310 on eBay. I specifically wanted the Roadhouse because of its twangier Texas special pickups.

What I do like about Fenders is that they’re very utilitarian and workmanlike. You can throw them around a bit and mistreat them. They don’t require any special handling and with 5 pickup combinations there’s a lot of sounds in there. Because I attached no real value to this guitar, I had it out all of the time so it was the go-to axe, while the Gibson and The Rickenbacker stayed in their cases.

Then in March 2013 something rather serendipitous happened. For the sake of just playing something, I re-recorded an old song of mine one afternoon with the Strat. It just wasn’t sounding right though, and I wasn’t getting the same feeling. In a moment of pique I got the Les Paul out of the case and used that instead. Everything fell into place. The next day I got into a serious songwriting groove on my old Les Paul. Shortly afterwards I looked back on the last three years of Strat ownership and decided I’d achieved very little, felt inspired to continue using it even less, and that I would sell it when I returned from my 2 month job in India. Out of the blue, I was contacted by the guy who sold the guitar to the guy I bought it off – he wanted to buy it back and offered me the same price I paid for it. At the time of writing, I’m still India, but I’m fairly sure he’ll make good on his promise when I’m back, and I’ll probably use the money to buy a studio compressor.

2022 Update: Sold this in 2016 - not to the original seller! Never liked it, to be honest.

The Guitar Diaries Part 10: Rickenbacker 330/6 (September 2005 – April 2015)

I’d been flirting with the idea of getting a Rickenbacker for many years. I’d even tried out a 330/12 five years before and thought it was the most amazing thing I’d ever heard.  In 2004 I’d made serious enquiries about getting a 360/12 but it was just a little too expensive. Then in 2005 I had a little spare cash, had begun to start writing and recording a lot, and thought the time was right to go ahead. Initially I had thought about getting a 330/12 and having it strung as a 6 string, but having made a few enquiries about this possibility on the Rickenbacker foum, it seemed that the flexibility would compromise the instrument a little too much. Although I love the sound of the 12 string, it seemed like I would be paying a lot of money for a niche instrument, so I decided to go with the 6.

I didn’t know what to expect from the Rickenbacker, I knew from the construction, wood and pickups it would sound a lot different to my Les Paul. I wanted to be open minded about it, and I was happy that it would give me a new range of sounds and influence me to play in a different style.

I was lucky enough to spot one on eBay in my city, with a collection only delivery option. I always pay special attention to collection only auctions on eBay, since they effectively limit the sale to whoever is willing to drive and pick it up. I went and took a look at it a couple of days before the auction ended – it played fine – and was then lucky enough to win it.

Rickenbackers are lauded for their ability to jangle, but I was determined to not be limited by that. The first few recordings I used it on, I found out that it was possible to actually get a really good blues tone from it, and it’s semi-hollow construction reminded me – slightly – of the sound from an ES-335, although brighter.

When I got the Rickenbacker I played it like a mad thing, and for several years it was the main guitar. As my tastes swung back a little to cleaner sounds and picking, the Les Paul was only bought out when I needed that specific sound. Because it doesn’t sustain as well as the Les Paul I found I needed to work the notes harder and this improved my technique. I think I reached an all-time high for technique in about 2006 from playing this guitar so much.

I found everything about this guitar perfect, a wonderful Fireglo finish; it always stays in tune and always feels so positive and bright in my hands. The neck feels just the right size and there’s good access all over the fretboard. The quality finish, the custom shop build quality… all Rickenbackers are quality instruments, and I have a lot of respect for the company itself, still family owned and operating in a sustainable and ethical way. You don’t need to worry about what year your Rickenbacker is from, they’ve always been build consistently well and they take their quality very seriously as the expense of greater profits and wider margins.

As I got into electronic music and using synthesizers from about late 2008 – 2012 it got used less, and when I the second Strat arrived I tended to have that out on the stands, and kept the Rickenbacker in its case for safe keeping. However, I do love this guitar and along with the Les Paul I will never part with it. I do lust after a couple more Rickenbackers, a 12 string (would need to try out several versions), and also a 4003 bass.

2022 Update: Sold this back in 2015 when I got the Johnny Marr Jaguar and reacquired my Epiphone Riviera. I had too many guitars!

The Guitar Diares Part 9: Manhattan Acoustic (June 2004 – May 2010)

I can’t even remember why I bought it, I guess I must have decided I needed an acoustic guitar. However, this was a baleful instrument that didn’t even stay in tune properly, had nasty intonation and was not inspiring to play at all. I think I paid £80 so I should have known what to expect. I don’t think I ever used it on a finished recording, although I did possibly write a few songs on it (certainly Operation Nightfall and The First Day). I gave it to my friend’s daughter a few years back.

The Guitar Diaries Part 8: Peavey Milestone III Bass (February 2002 – May 2015)

Bass Player James left Penguin Steak in early 2002, and in this transitional period for the band, Gav and I decided to share bass duties. We went to the Rhythm House in Stoke and bought this Jazz-bass type instrument for a very cheap price - £100 I think and it was jointly owned until I left the band in 2004, then I bought out Gav’s half. We also lent it to Libby when she was our bass player.

This bass is a bit of an unsung hero, because I’ve used it on every recording (with a bass in it) since, and I’ve owned it now for 11 years. When I started to get very serious about recording in about 2005-06, I bought some Seymour Duncan Jazz Bass pickups for it and it improved the sound dramatically. It has a thin neck, so is easy to play, and the electronics work well enough so I’ve been able to get pretty much any sound I want from it. With the exception of the one Penguin Steak gig we played, it’s never been gigged so it’s in quite good condition, and I still use it today, with full confidence and with a little reverence at how long it’s been with me for. Doubt I’d ever get rid of it. Who would buy it now ?!

2022 Update: Ceased to exist in 2015 as it donated all it's hardware to my self-built Jazz bass.

The Guitar Diaries Part 7: Epiphone SG Bass (September – October 2000)

Very few memories of this instrument, especially as I owned it for a very short time. It was cherry red and had one pickup. Didn’t sound as good as my P-Bass had, and it didn’t sound as good as my Les Paul with an octaver on it! Bought from the Academy of Sound, and sold one month later at a £20 loss to a nu-metal girl who wanted to give it to her boyfriend I think. Part of the ‘I’m quitting music’ rage I went into. I’d forgotten I had it until I really sat down to think about it.

The Guitar Diaries Part 6: Gibson Les Paul Deluxe (December 1998 – Present)

“Congratulations, you’ve passed your driving test” the examiner told me. ‘Will you be buying a car?”

“No, I’m going to buy a guitar”

I wonder how many guitars have been funded by student loans and grants? I went to university  - on a music technology course – thinking it would only be a matter of time before I met some illuminating people and started a band. Without realizing the implications I got my student grant (yep, you could still get them when I started uni) and a student loan and looked for what I could spend the money on. I actually wanted a Gibson Les Paul Custom Florentine, but when I found out I would only get the money in installments, (therefore I would not have the £2000 in one sitting) I picked up on a advert at university that another student had posted. I kept up the correspondence for two months and eventually went to collect the guitar in December.

I hadn’t realized the guitar was a Deluxe model, meaning that it had mini-humbuckers instead of full size ones, but I wasn’t particularly worried about that when I got it home. It looked cool, sounded great and that’s all that mattered. The guitar was slightly beat-up being 18 years old at that point, and although a Gold top, had a sunburst back and neck. The neck was very well worn and felt great.

Owning and playing this guitar really felt like coming home. When I began to play it I remember telling myself that there could be no more excuses for not playing well now I had a ‘Real Deal’ guitar. It was the little things that mattered, like how the volume and tone knobs actually seemed to do something when I played, and the tone… I could really tell this had great tone.

At the time I bought this guitar I’d been getting more and more into actual lead guitar as opposed to what I’d been copying from Britpop and U2, especially going from picking to bluesy type riffs and licks. The Les Paul Deluxe really pushed me further in that direction.

As I said in Part 3, it wasn’t long until I was playing this guitar all the time and the Riviera stayed in it’s case. I sold the Riviera, and until I bought my Rickenbacker 330 six years later, the Les Paul was my only six-string electric.

At long last, I was beginning to play with some other musicians. After the false start with the hair rock band in late ’99, in mid 2000 I answered an advert in Total Guitar for a band looking for a lead guitarist in Stoke. I met up with Wayne (Guitar) and Andy (bass) and played with them for about six months. Along with Jarv (Drummer) and Jackie (Singer) we played various classic rock tracks and some Alanis Morrisette. Although I’d joined as lead guitarist, it was pretty clear that Wayne was the better out of the two of us, so I stuck mainly to Rhythm, although we would occasionally just jam out, Especially a variation on Led Zeppelins ‘Girl With The Long Black Wavy Hair’. I still had my Marshall Stack at this point and it’s true what they say about pairing up a Les Paul and a Marshall – it’s a heavenly sound!

I think because of the impetuousness of youth (I was 20 at the time) I was getting bored of the band and wanted to do something on my own, especially doing original material instead of covers. Paul was a friend of mine from a part time job I used to have and we’d been talking a lot a bout wiring together, him as the singer and me as the guitarist. I left the band for that reason, and then Paul and I did nothing at all! That summer I bought a BOSS BR-8 Zip Disc recorder thinking that it would be the beginning of a creative phase. After maybe 2 months of fruitless noodling I got extremely frustrated and decided to quit music altogether! I sold the 8 Track, The Epi Bass I’d bought at that point, The Marshall stack through the classifieds at university. I even put the Les Paul for sale too, but fortunately no-one was interested at the price I put it at (I guess it was a little too expensive for most students).

My musical hiatus didn’t last too long, and in early 2001 I began the three-and-a-half year odyssey that was Penguin Steak. Initially we were just a jam band having fun, with my friend James on Bass and Andy on drums. We’d play 12 bar blues improvisations, just learning our instruments, before trying covers later. I used the Gibson all through this period and I think then more than ever it really began to feel like it was part of me. Great how that happens when you’re rehearsing twice a week. Eventually we gained Gav and then lost James and Andy, before finally picking up Mart in late 2002 and starting a year of recording and writing at his house. All this time I used the Les Paul, and right through 2004 when we became a rehearsing band again before we finally split up in November of that year.

When I got my Rickenbacker 330, the Les Paul took a back seat although very recently I have been using it again, as I have a revival in my attitude to the guitar in general. Although it’s seen less use in the last 7 years or so I do love it very much. I’d have a hard time deciding which one I like more though, the Rickenbacker is possibly my slight favourite but I’d keep this if I had to sell one because it’s a very unique guitar and has been with me so long.

By early 2005 it was clear the Les Paul needed a re-fret. They were quite worn when I bought it, but by now some of them were just flat and it was getting difficult to play. I took it to the guitar doctor who had the guitar for 2 months while it was re-fretted. I was so glad to get it back! When I got it back, the guitar doctor told me that the guitar had originally been a sunburst (which explained the neck), but it had at some point been professionally refinished as a gold-top.

A few years later in 2009 I sanded off the Goldtop (it was quite chipped) and it currently is a natural blonde with a polished top (but not lacquered). For a few years I’ve been thinking about properly refinishing it, either with a clear lacquer or doing a faithful sunburst finish. I’m pretty handy with an airbrush, so I wouldn’t feel too worried about it. Only thing that prevents me is that I don’t think I want to be without the instrument for several weeks or even months while I do the work! While I do the work it would be a good opportunity to do some other things, like replace the bridge and the tuners which aren’t really keeping it in tune any more.

2022 Update

After an abortive attempt to refinish this guitar myself, I made the decision to get a professional to do it and at the same time to change the pickups to P90s. I wasn't especially a fan of the mini-humbuckers and the P90s were left from a different project. I went back to the original Goldtop finish, because even though it had been a Sunburst when it left the factory it had always been a Goldtop to me.

It had been in pieces for a few years when it went off to get the work done, and I got it back in April 2019. I didn't really use it a great deal until lockdown in 2020. With little else to do with my time, I spent three months recording an EP (with the Jag and Riviera), and using the Les Paul for two hours a day to work through Hal Leonards Jazzin' The Blues book - an excellent tome. It went out of rotation during most of 2022 but is currently back in service as I'm doing some Truefire lessons in blues-rock, and this seems the best of my three guitars to do it with, it's also the nicest to play, and is a match made in heaven with the Tiny Terror (can't get it to sound good with the Fender Deluxe Reverb though).

A fantastic guitar and an old friend - sound-wise I may slightly prefer the Riviera, but sentimentality means this is probably the guitar I'd save from the proverbial burning studio.