Gibson les Paul?

[Tk7]

I am actually thinking about getting a £50 telecaster kit from Thomann to learn about how to putting it together, how to wire pots, pickups etc. If I make a mistake it'll only be £50, not £2k.

I'd recommend getting some pedal kits as you clearly like fooling around with them - i'm the same.

You'll soon realise that a lot pedals are just tweaked versions of old analogue circuits and that you can make your own for 20-30 quid. There's no magic to a lot of modern pedals, just buy some decent components and you're away.

The Strymon stuff is a different beast, some very clever stuff there but a lot of pedals can be DIY. I have a thing for overdrives and have made tons but soon sell on most of them, just keep the really good ones.

 

[Raymond Lin]

I'd recommend getting some pedal kits as you clearly like fooling around with them - i'm the same.

You'll soon realise that a lot pedals are just tweaked versions of old analogue circuits and that you can make your own for 20-30 quid. There's no magic to a lot of modern pedals, just buy some decent components and you're away.

The Strymon stuff is a different beast, some very clever stuff there but a lot of pedals can be DIY. I have a thing for overdrives and have made tons but soon sell on most of them, just keep the really good ones.

I know, I know the JHS Morning Glory is a tweaked old Marhsall Bluesbreaker. I know the Barber Tone Press is a tweaked Ross type compressor, I know the Cloven Hoof is a tweaked old Russian Big Muff, etc etc etc.

I still like them, I bought them partly because i like the sound, partly because the size of the pedal is good (old Russian Big Muff is massive!) and they all take the same boss type 9v DC sockets so don't need to us 9V batteries all over.

As for pedal kits, the BYO pedals, I have seen them but they don't float my boat for some reason, perhaps one day.

 

[easyrider]

Those kits look like fun...the SG and the Flying V look a blast

 

[Blackvault]

Cheers

What board is that Raymond?

Blackvault

 

[Raymond Lin]

What board is that Raymond?

Blackvault

Salvage Customs board from the states, a 5 month built - 24 x 16" in solid Walnut with tweed. (it's a work of art )

You probably think why and its' OTT lol, I see it as something for life, a bit like luthier guitar to spec.

TC Polytune
Skreddy P-19
EQD Cloven Hoof
Barber Tone Press
JHS Double Barrel
PC Timmy
Bogner Burnely
Disaster Area DPC-5 Midi switch looper
Ernie Ball MVP
Strymon Timeline
Strymon BigSky
JHS Colour Box
Fairfield Circuitry Meet Maude
Chase Bliss Warped Vinyl
Chase Wombtone
Hotone Wally Looper

Wired by Lava Tightrope Solderless Ultramafic kit
Powered by Cioks Ciokolate
With built in auto bypass patch bay to take all modulations into FX loop if required

I LOVE my pedalboard.

 

[Jonesiani]

As beautiful all this gear is it just seems like you've gone for the most expensive gear you can find and built a squeaky clean centrepiece. I mean, the board and psu must be around a grand right?
Yes it is for life, yes it looks beautiful and I'm sure it sounds it too but all the gear in the world won't make you a better guitarist, and at the end of the day that's what it's all about (for me anyway).
Nothing beats getting up on a stage with loud guitar and making it scream.
I'm not trying to rib you Raymond but I've always believed the proof is in the pudding. If you've got the gear find a band, get on that stage and use it for how it's intended

 

[skinnyl]

Certainly some nice gear there Ray..

Can't say PRS are a brand I care for much, as nice as they are.

I think the thing is that anyone can spend money on whatever they like.. but when you buy that much top spec gear (and it is seriously top spec) and then post it on the internetz.. you'll be judged on whether you can play it.

I'm guilty of it.. started a long time ago at gigs where I'd see a support band with wicked gear and then see them murder it. Then the main band comes on with average gear and sounds amazing.. It's all in the fingers.

So.. Now you have all the gear - put a pin in the GAS and get learning! Then post clips so we can all hear what that kit sounds like!

Cheers.

 

[Raymond Lin]

As beautiful all this gear is it just seems like you've gone for the most expensive gear you can find and built a squeaky clean centrepiece. I mean, the board and psu must be around a grand right?
Yes it is for life, yes it looks beautiful and I'm sure it sounds it too but all the gear in the world won't make you a better guitarist, and at the end of the day that's what it's all about (for me anyway).
Nothing beats getting up on a stage with loud guitar and making it scream.
I'm not trying to rib you Raymond but I've always believed the proof is in the pudding. If you've got the gear find a band, get on that stage and use it for how it's intended

The aim isn't to make me a great guitarist, as I know full well a DSLR doesn't make you a good photographer. You can give me an iPhone and I would get the same kind of images. The art comes from the person, on the inside, it's not the gear, the gear is just a tool.

I knew that from the start, but i just like nice gear

And no band lol, it wasn't my intention in the beginning and I don't intend to. There is no time for that anyway, I am happy just sit in front of the board and noodle for a couple of hours. It's just for my personal enjoyment. That is the intention, and still is.

Certainly some nice gear there Ray..

Can't say PRS are a brand I care for much, as nice as they are.

I think the thing is that anyone can spend money on whatever they like.. but when you buy that much top spec gear (and it is seriously top spec) and then post it on the internetz.. you'll be judged on whether you can play it.

I'm guilty of it.. started a long time ago at gigs where I'd see a support band with wicked gear and then see them murder it. Then the main band comes on with average gear and sounds amazing.. It's all in the fingers.

So.. Now you have all the gear - put a pin in the GAS and get learning! Then post clips so we can all hear what that kit sounds like!

Cheers.

GAS is sealed, at least for pedals. Saw nothing at all in NAMM last week that even hold my interest, at all. The only thing I want to do is learn how to wire up pots and pickups so a guitar kit is the only thing I'd like.

 

[Si.]

I'd never gig that board.. It's far too complicated for live work and FAR too expensive to place on the floor in the pubs we play..



Give me a Pedaltrain any day.

 

[SexyGreyFox]

First of all, yes I'm jealous to death of all the gear Raymond has acquired over what seems to be about 12 months when he was first asking about buying his first guitar
I also don't care if Raymond wants to spend his hard earned money on this gear without being able to play one chord because it's his money.
I also know that the advice he has given in many a guitar thread is sound advice but it hasn't come from his own vast experience but instead reading many threads, magazines, web pages and anything else he can get his facts from.
Again this is very admirable and his knowledge for gear goes way beyond my knowledge but it feels as though it comes from reading and not experiencing.
Again, nothing wrong with this but it's hard to take serious some times because of how quickly he has done it.
I've spent the whole of my life with musicians (my Dad was playing in bands when I was born) and I've never known anybody ever to take to this subject like Raymond has with an almost autistic learning and buying process.
Most musicians slowly build up their knowledge but Raymond has done it in World Record time.

I'm trying to get to the point of this post:
I suppose it's like going into GuitarGuitar and listening to one of the best salesmen you've ever heard who can tell you anything about everything but when you ask if they can give you a demo all they can do is play three chords.

 

[Si.]

Nothing wrong with buying the best gear you can afford IMHO. there's some great stuff there and if Raymond loves his stuff then good on him.

As someone who did something similar and bought a lot of high end stuff, (although it was over about 2 years), over the 10 years I've been playing my rig has changed a lot and a lot of the complication in the rig has reduced. I've been playing in bands for about 4 years now and I find that a gigging players rigs looks very different to a home players rig.

No offence intended, but Raymond's is defo a home players rig.

 

[easyrider]

I have no issue either with what people spend their money on...but offering advice on playability of said guitars and useabilty of effects is not coming from an authentic place...it's
Coming from GAS.

GAS can kill your soul as a player and one can upgrade their pc and worry about speed etc...and not play any games or actually do anything with the hardware other than post on these forums

It's like a salesman selling you a new sports car....telling you the chassi and breaking system hugs the road and yet not know how to drive himself....

I learnt at 15 on a crappy strat hohner copy...man I played that thing til my fingers bled...

Calling a PRS better than a fender deluxe American strat is snobbery in my view...
No guitar is better the guitar is only as good as the player...

 

[Raymond Lin]

The Strat comment was a joke, hence the " "

And to think a Fender Deluxe is better than any other guitar (including a PRS) is reverse snobbery too, no? There is no ranking of which is better. Like I said, the whole Fender concept is making guitars by dummies. I mean if I were to go out and get a Fano, is that better than a Fender Deluxe? What if I get a Suhr? or Anderson? It's just a name on the headstock, the piece of wood has no idea what label you attach to it.

So yes, you are right that it doesn't matter, the guitar is only as good as the player. What matter is what you make out of it. However since I play for myself, I like to enjoy my toys so in that regard, all that is for me, I am not suggesting in 1 minute anyone going to go out and buy all that. You can if you want, I won't stop you, it's your money, as it is mine. I enjoy fiddling with all that, I think its fun.

That's all that matter isn't it?

As for the playability of guitars, actually, come to think of it, it is completely pointless what anyone says, regardless of experience.

Some people just don't get on with Telecasters. Period.
Some people just don't get on with a Les Paul. Period.
Some people just don't get on with any PRS, no matter what shape, size weight...just the headstock It's not just you easyrider, plenty of people find PRS to be soul less, they don't have mojo, they lack this and that.

The only way you can tell is to try it for yourself. Of all the ones that I have, the one I find the most comfortable to play is actually the 305, which incidentally the cheapest, I bought it used, it has a ding at the bottom, no fancy flamed top and doesn't have any "limited" edition tag attached to it.

My aspiration is never to be like Peter Green, nor even gig for an audience, that's never on the cards. I am happy to play a song without making a mistake. That makes me happy. You can say i have no gigging experience, I don't deny that, nor do I pretend to be, I am also happy to accept any criticism if I got something the wrong end of the stick and stand to be corrected. It's all part of the learning process.

 

[v0n]

The "it's the player, not the guitar" mantra is only true to a degree. Instrument and amp is extremely important.

Yes, instrument doesn't create talent or tone, but countless schmucks all over the world never made it beyond their first chords just because they began their journey on an Encore starter pack from Argos, with action high enough to use the neck as a bow, strings buzzing across half the fretboard, intonation that couldn't be adjusted for any position and far eastern amp farting like a bag of two pence coins repeatedly chucked against concrete floor.

Yes, some of us persisted, made it through, earned our first "real" instruments with blisters and blood, heck - I learned my first chords on a huge acoustic with a neck chunkier than my wrist and my first electric was a 1960ies Czech "Yolana" that was so badly built it would go out of tune with the slightest wrist vibrato. And survived. But I also know I would be much faster and much more aggressive guitarist today if my first instruments were better. I still do vibrato along the string, while moving my entire forearm and pressing harder right before (preferably jumbo) fret, instead of wrist vibratos across fretboard, because that was the work around I had to develop for my first two, barely playable guitars and it stayed with me, that's how I learned to move along the neck, that's how I wrote my songs. Consciously I can force myself to do it properly, subconsciously, I always slide to the old habit. The stigma, the mark of the **** first instrument is still with me, 27 years on.

So let's not dance about it - screw Czech Yolanas, Chinese Squires or Hohner strat copies and stories of blood, persistence and stubbornness, any of us would be the luckiest axeman in the hood to start on a hand built PRS and I'm sure all of us would be much better and much further in our craft for it today. It's just like getting good tools for your first work or getting top shelf knives for your first cooking. It's not Porsche 911 as the first car, it's not going to kill him.

 

[easyrider]

My hohner strat copy was actually a great guitar...I played until my fingers bled...because I pooped with it...slept with it....ate with it...snogged girls with it...it didn't leave my side until I saved up enough money to buy a Gibson SG...

Man I hated it...thin body ...long neck jutting out from the body...oh and I was to scared
To scratch the damn thing...the amount of pots I had to wash in the local pub to pay for it...

Anyway got rid and traded it in for a beat up 1992 american telecaster in metallic blue...loved that guitar...it oozed mojo I didn't care if it got knocked or scratched and it just felt right...I only sold it when I bought my current fender collectors edition tele...that blew the standard out of the water with tone and playability....the single ply scratch plate and the ashtray bridge cover....that is now my favourite guitar...

Squires and encores from Argos were actually quite good...but like anything you have got to want to play...if it's a chore then it's not for you...I was addicted to it...I couldn't help myself...the only effect I have is a Jim Dunlop wah wah pedal and an old boss chorus pedal...fx boards and stuff like that I can't stand...the edge for example out of U2 hides behind his fx rack...!

 

[SexyGreyFox]

the edge for example out of U2 hides behind his fx rack...!

Bad example - they wouldn't be U2 otherwise.
I'm not a U2 fan but I class the Edge has being an innovator of how to use effects and how to sound like you're doing a lot when you're doing something very simple.

 

[easyrider]

Don't see why... The edge hides behind his fx rack !

 

[v0n]

Don't see why... The edge hides behind his fx rack !

But in case of The Edge it's like saying Matt Bellamy hides behind midi. Every single precise, effectively rhythm guitar arpeggio he produces out of his instrument through FX loop on his Voxes with perfect repeat timing regardless of the rhythm section tempo creates wall of sound with unique tone which is instantly recognisable as the core U2 sound, the same way as Richard Kruspe's Sans pre going through rewired Mesa Boogies will always be instantly recognisable as the core Rammstein sound or Kirk Hammett's Cry Baby on auto will never be mistaken for anything other than Metallica solo.

 

[easyrider]

But in case of The Edge it's like saying Matt Bellamy hides behind midi. Every single precise, effectively rhythm guitar arpeggio he produces out of his instrument through FX loop on his Voxes with perfect repeat timing regardless of the rhythm section tempo creates wall of sound with unique tone which is instantly recognisable as the core U2 sound, the same way as Richard Kruspe's Sans pre going through rewired Mesa Boogies will always be instantly recognisable as the core Rammstein sound or Kirk Hammett's Cry Baby on auto will never be mistaken for anything other than Metallica solo.

You're right I guess I'm just blinded by my dislike for Bono

 

[Si.]

if you get a chance watch "It Might Get loud". 3 guitarists, all with different approaches and styles of music, all great in their own right (The bit where Jimmp Page plays Whole Lotta love is excellent, the others look like 10yr old schoolboys there so excited).

The Edge using loads of rack effects is just his style, nothing wrong with that at all. Wether you like U2 or not, you can't argue he's a skilful player.