Recon1342 said:
Okay, Hive...
Eldest ReconKid is looking into building a pedal board for his bass shenanigans. First pedal he wants is distortion, with a focus on decent quality.
What recommendations do you all have?
Agree with the muff comments (I have both the Black Russian and the Green Russian Big Muff reissue), but if they aren't designed for bass they will cut low end. I fix this on my board in a round about and not so simple way. A pedal builder local to me has a great solution that fixes the low end of any dirty pedal.
https://www.damnationaudio.com/product/dirtfixer-bass-blender-and-equalizer
Damn sales costing me money I don't really have to spend.
Blackstar travel kit. 3/4 scale travel guitar, with pocket amp, cable, bag, and frills.
Stupid Deal of the day (hour) had the bundle at $149. I've been keeping an eye out for a short scale for the kids so maybe they stop asking to play my (much more valuable) guitars. So here we are.
I don't have any pictures yet. Just got my oldest daughter a Fender Dreadnaught Acoustic for her first guitar. We went to Sam Ash in Orlando to find another keyboard or a synth for her and we made our way over to the guitar section and well, guess what we came home with instead? She wants to learn through youtube and reading books instead of an instructor like she has for piano so we'll see how that goes. She's already playing the Smoke on the Water riff and wants to focus on "classical spanish guitar like the Forza Horizon 5 menu music" LOL
BlueInGreen - Jon said:
This showed up today. Definitely a, "How have I gone this long without having one in the pedal chain," moment.
I will have to let you experiment with my BD-2!
mtn
MegaDork
11/28/23 9:38 a.m.
In reply to DirtyBird222 :
If she's taking piano lessons, she'll be able to self-teach guitar pretty easily if she really wants to.
Reverb.com makes it easy to spend money on things. I found a neck that I'm going to try as an upgrade for the cheap HH Bullet Mustang.
New neck bolted on, big difference. It's from a Vintage Modified series Squier Mustang which, in my unprofessional opinion, are some of the best necks you can get on a sub $1000 guitar. The original wasn't bad but definitely needs some fret dressing, and whatever they use for the fingerboard on these bullet squiers just looks and feels kind of cheap next to actual rosewood. Now just need to let it sit for a few days and we'll see how well it will setup.
BlueInGreen - Jon said:
New neck bolted on, big difference. It's from a Vintage Modified series Squier Mustang which, in my unprofessional opinion, are some of the best necks you can get on a sub $1000 guitar. The original wasn't bad but definitely needs some fret dressing, and whatever they use for the fingerboard on these bullet squiers just looks and feels kind of cheap next to actual rosewood. Now just need to let it sit for a few days and we'll see how well it will setup.
Ps. This same guitar happens to be the deal of the day again on Musicians Friend right now!
Gonna fix that weak bridge pickup in the BFG
In reply to logdog (Forum Supporter) :
I have an Angry Driver (as well as an old Blues Driver) along with the little red JHS switch for it. Right now it's at my old bass player's studio where he can really put it through paces. When I dropped it off we definitely found some good tones with it going through his Orange Tiny Terror.
Right now I have a Peavey Bandit 65 in the van, but I picked it up for him from the local guitar store in NH since he's been looking for one and it was a good price.
Got the little Blackstar traveler last week. Its surprisingly good. Tucked away safely until Christmas. The bundle was short a couple pieces but a phone call got me some substitutes sent so it's all good. The actually sent me the Vox unit I've had my eye on so that's neat.
Its surprisingly good. Get one.
In other news, I finally found a matching rack Tom for my kit. It isn't the right color, but that's fine. Half the price of the others I've seen, and I get to find a use for another 10" and 14" so maybe I can part out the hardware and stuff and possibly zero the 12" out... maybe. Either way, I will now have a complete 5 piece kit.
I asked the guy if he'd just sell the one, but no dice. Still, it wasn't a bad deal.
Photo looks like a gray/silver finish, but it's just the lighting. They're "arctic white" which is sparkly white. I'll have to decide what to use and what to sell.
Good news! New drums showed up.
More good news! They're the exact right series which means matching hardware and shell material/construction!
Even more good news! The 14" is 14x14 which means 2" shallower than my existing floor tom so I can have a 6 piece kit without any redundancy or the need to tune one shell differently.
And the last good news! I have the hardware necessary to mount both the new 12 and 14!
Also, I'll have my other snare to the left, below the hats. You know, for more flavor.
Don't mind the scribbles, if y'all can't see the mess I made of my room today, y'all can't tell my wife about it. Note to self, clean up before taking pictures.
Now I need another (bigger) crash and a dirty dirty KOI raw china. Not that I have the room for either, but if we don't plan for the future...
Still need to decide what to do with the 10" that came. It's missing 3 lugs, and I'd need another stand, or I suppose I could set it up without a bottom head. Or I can part it out and make back a good portion of what I spent. Decisions decisions.
My couch guitar is nearly ready to finish. Need to borrow a couple tools and agree on a price for a couple used pickups. Easy enough since the guy with the tools (nut-slotting files) is also the guy with all the tele parts. Hopefully this next week.
I decided against paint. Partially because I'm still a rebellious teen at heart, partly because I couldn't decide on a color, and mostly because I'm too cheap to buy the stuff to do it properly. So then I went out to get some tung oil but berk that $38 right in the ear. So I grabbed $8 worth of linseed oil and got to sanding. Took the whole thing down to 600, oiled it heavily, sanded again to 1000, then got my Mr. Miagi on with the carnauba wax. Then buff by hand.
This was the initial mock-up
And this is now:
Pretty alright I think. Very rustic. It should also age very well. The plan is a standard MIM tele bridge pickup and a rail-bucker of some sort up top.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
Just don't throw your rag in a bin with a lid...
barefootcyborg5000 said:
I like that a lot, nice job!
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
Thanks. It.... spiraled a bit.
A friend is a lifer tele guy, owns a fleet, and does repairs as a side gig.
So I called a week ago, "Bobby, you got any tele pickups you'd part with?"
Which is how I got a Mexico standard neck pup and repaired a US standard bridge pup, both for $65.
But then, the pickups didn't fit the hardware. Which isn't an issue up top, just file the pick guard a bit. But it led to another call.
So now I have a Player series bridge, but it's strictly a back-loader so I'm actually heading over to a drill press in a bit to run the pilot holes while I wait for Bezos to drop off the ferrules on Tuesday.
Still, managed to use the old bridge to do an initial setup and slot the nut properly.
pics in a bit
Failed to drill all the holes. This drill press is too small. I'll have to go to a bigger one.
Tried to show the finish off. I'm pretty happy with it. 600 dry, oil, 600 again, then wax and buff. You still fee the grain, but it's very smooth.
In reply to barefootcyborg5000 :
Cool, string through is what you want on a Tele anyway imo.
I'm about to embark on a telecaster "building" adventure too, although I took the easy road and am going to start with a pre-painted body. Yours kind of makes me wish I was starting from scratch though. I really like a nice natural finish
Speaking of natural wood finish:
I traded my Yamaha electric for this, a cheapy but good Ibanez. It's not bad for an entry level bass, and now I can stop borrowing my brother's.
It came with a fancy case too
In reply to BlueInGreen - Jon :
That Ibanez looks like a nice piece.
This tele isn't a scratch build. Stewmac kit. Specifically the $179 t-style kit. Was on sale around Black Friday for $149. With upgrades I'm in it $250, which isn't bad for the experience/fun and it plays and sounds as good or better than anything else at the price. The neck could be shimmed a little, raise the bridge... fine tune a bit. But I'm satisfied as is.
Perfectly suitable couch guitar.
Speaking of guitar projects, I really need to stay off of FB Marketplace. I spotted this thing yesterday:
This is listed as a "no name guitar" that has been "painted and vinyl wrapped" for $200. I looked at it and it looked real familiar. Then, I realized that it's far from a no-name guitar; it's a Caparison. They are a high-end boutique brand, and I know them because the dudes from Killswitch Engage play them. For example, Adam D has a few signature models, including the infamous "Pizza Guitar":
The one in the listing appears to be a Horus M-3, like this one:
These list for a staggering $3499 new! This one does have issues, though. The paint/vinyl situation is one, and the pickups in it aren't original. It's also a state away, which doesn't help. It may also be a scam, but the seller has decent ratings, so I have no idea.
I really don't need another project guitar, since I have so many others that are in queue to get some help, but I'm watching this one closely.
UPDATE: it might actually be a Chinese clone of a Caparison, so this is likely too good to be true. Just found a similar one on AliExpress with the inlays and a Floyd Rose for under $500. I didn't think an obscure guitar like this would have a clone market, but they do. Bummer!
Bummer indeed. I'd never heard of the brand, but I am somewhat of a curmudgeon when it comes to guitars. I'm not opposed to newer brands, but it's not an area of the market I pay attention to. My ESP Horizon from the 80's more or less covers the "high performance super-strat" position in my collection. Some day I'll get a multi-scale guitar, but it's not on the priority list at the moment.
Speaking of guitar projects that I actually have in my possession...
I've been going through the list of instruments that I currently have to see what I want to tackle first. I have a bad case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome right now, and I'm trying to keep that at bay as I'm still in the process of finishing my house project and don't want to add to the pile just yet. That said, I think I want to revisit this thing:
My nephew gave me this old 80's Martin Stinger P/J bass a few years back. His buddy found it in a basement clean-out, and the neck is FUBAR. I tried everything to get it to bow back into a straight shape, but it's still a banana. It's almost like the wood itself softened over time, so it bends really easily. The pickups work and actually sound pretty good, and I was able to get the pots and switch to come back around. The bridge is one of those weird import ones with giant brass blocks, so that has to go. I love the aged white/cream finish, and I want to do something with it.
I've been looking for a cheap Fender-style P-Bass neck for it. I need to measure the neck pocket, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a P-Bass neck will plop right on. Basically, I want to make a poor man's Fender Duff McKagan bass.
The control layout is a little off, but it's really close! A cheap high-mass bridge and some new knobs/tuners would make this thing killer for hopefully under $100 all-in. I might try a cheap Ebay or AliExpress Fender knock-off neck, or even find a Squier one locally that's not too expensive. Doesn't have to be anything super fancy, and I can dress frets and all that on my own if they are a little rough.
