***The Official Guitar Thread***

[Uncle Petey]

Having only got around to getting a guitar a few weeks ago, I have to say that Justinguitar is great.
He doesn't rush anything and gives you a nicely structured and easy to follow learning and practice regime.

Lovely bloke too

 

[uncle_rufus]

I understand that, you can't please everybody. It's just Marty's video is a bit too advance for me right now, personally.

Re - jamming to a backing track, this Positive Grid Spark amp keep popping up everywhere, I am tempted to order one because it has an auto generated backing tracking mode for practice where you play 8 bars of music and it will make up something to suit. Very clever stuff.

That's similar to my looper (Digitech Trio+) - you can use it as a "regular" looper or you can play it a chord progression and have it generate a bass + drum part that you can play over and/or layer loops on top of - may be cheaper than the Spark I'm not sure (I got mine for about £150). Either way a looper is an amazing tool to have when you start getting into improvising and learning theory stuff

 

[Raymond Lin]

That's similar to my looper (Digitech Trio+) - you can use it as a "regular" looper or you can play it a chord progression and have it generate a bass + drum part that you can play over and/or layer loops on top of - may be cheaper than the Spark I'm not sure (I got mine for about £150). Either way a looper is an amazing tool to have when you start getting into improvising and learning theory stuff

I have a basic looper (Ditto) and also a Blooper/Mood/Timeline but none of them do auto generated backing tracks. I thought about getting the new Boss looper (RC-10?) pedal but that’s like £300. The Spark seems to be better as I won’t need to have my entire pedalboard and amp.

 

[uncle_rufus]

It's certainly neat - for me though I'd rather have a looper / band-in-a-box pedal that does let me use the rest of my board and normal amp (as that's what I'm used to using)... With the Trio+ I actually run the bass + drum output into my wife's bass amp when she isn't using it (if you don't plug that output in all of the band output comes out the guitar amp) sounds incredible. You can also record up to 5 different "parts" to the song and then sequence them to create your final loop (so e.g. you can do "intro, verse, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, chorus, outro" or something like that)

 

[2StepSteve]

My favourite youtube channel which I would say you guys should get onto once you get a bit further and into jamming/improvising is "Now you shred" as they just have hundreds of decent backing tracks for playing over - most nights I just grab one of those that takes my fancy and have a play to it for a while

Cheers I'll check that site out.

I have been trying to age a tremolo arm tip for the last 4 days for my partscaster that I built last year. Tried leaving it in coffee, didn't do anything, so to skip to the chase, I bought the road worn olympic white tip, came today.

I wanted a nitro finish strat, liked the look of the Roadworn series, but wanted a more modern radius neck. So I bought a Olympic White Roadworn body on eBay, a separate MiM neck in rosewood, customshop 50's pickups and a Callaham Narrow Vintage Bridge, in de-shined finish. The roadworn aging on the body is a little... contrived in places. But the nitro finish does feel great, has some nice checking of the finish. It plays great with really good sustain with that huge chunk of Callaham steel. I sure don't care if I ding it up! It's my go to practice guitar, will leave it out on the sofa, no fear of dings!

 

[Raymond Lin]

That looks Awesome, the missing piece in my collection

How much did all the parts set you back btw?

p.s. did you try staining the tip in tea? I find tea stains a lot more than coffee.

 

[2StepSteve]

Cheers Raymond, it's actually turned in to my favourite guitar weirdly enough. Feels, right.

I didn't try tea, maybe I should have!

When I first wanted to build one, I had it in my mind that it would be pretty cheap to do, but the cost soon crept up, sourcing most of the items from eBay. It's also insane how much Fender charge for separate/replacement parts.

Fender Stratocaster Nitrocellulose Vintage 60s Roadworn Body - £180
2013 Fender Stratocaster Strat Rosewood Neck Tuners Plate 9.5" Radius - £165
CALLAHAM NARROW VINTAGE STRAT BRIDGE KIT (2 7/32 MOUNT, 2 1/16 STRING SPACING) DE-SHINED (Charlie's Guitars) - £185
Fender Road Worn Pickguard/Control Plate Screws, 24 Pack - £10 (Damn expensive for worn and slightly tarnished screws!)
Fender Road Worn Stratocaster Jack Ferrule with Hardware - £24
Fender Road Worn Stratocaster Knobs, Aged White - £18.99
Fender Road Worn Stratocaster Pickup Covers, Aged White (3) - £18.99


Loaded Pickguard from Twilight Guitars
Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s Pickups Prewired Loaded Pickguard Strat Fender Mint Green 62 Pattern 11
Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s Pickups Prewired Loaded Pickguard Strat
Fender Mint Green 62 Pattern 11 Hole 3 Ply SSS Made in USA (Part number: 099-1343-000) genuine.
£236.18

Oh, and the Road Worn Trem arm tip.. £12 (includes the arm, which is useless in the Callaham block)

Total: £850.16

First time adding it all up, and it's more than I thought it was. I could have just picked up a Roadworn Strat for a similar price, but it's nice to say I 'made' it.

I could have gotten it cheaper if I went for second hand parts and didn't splash out on an expensive bridge kit and pickups, but I figured, this is probably the only time I'm going to do this, so make it something you are going to want to keep and potentially pass on later in life to family. The resale value on partcasters are non-existant, are better off breaking it down and selling off the parts individually. So, thought I'd go all out.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Cheers Raymond, it's actually turned in to my favourite guitar weirdly enough. Feels, right.

I didn't try tea, maybe I should have!

When I first wanted to build one, I had it in my mind that it would be pretty cheap to do, but the cost soon crept up, sourcing most of the items from eBay. It's also insane how much Fender charge for separate/replacement parts.

Fender Stratocaster Nitrocellulose Vintage 60s Roadworn Body - £180
2013 Fender Stratocaster Strat Rosewood Neck Tuners Plate 9.5" Radius - £165
CALLAHAM NARROW VINTAGE STRAT BRIDGE KIT (2 7/32 MOUNT, 2 1/16 STRING SPACING) DE-SHINED (Charlie's Guitars) - £185
Fender Road Worn Pickguard/Control Plate Screws, 24 Pack - £10 (Damn expensive for worn and slightly tarnished screws!)
Fender Road Worn Stratocaster Jack Ferrule with Hardware - £24
Fender Road Worn Stratocaster Knobs, Aged White - £18.99
Fender Road Worn Stratocaster Pickup Covers, Aged White (3) - £18.99


Loaded Pickguard from Twilight Guitars
Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s Pickups Prewired Loaded Pickguard Strat Fender Mint Green 62 Pattern 11
Fender Custom Shop Fat 50s Pickups Prewired Loaded Pickguard Strat
Fender Mint Green 62 Pattern 11 Hole 3 Ply SSS Made in USA (Part number: 099-1343-000) genuine.
£236.18

Oh, and the Road Worn Trem arm tip.. £12 (includes the arm, which is useless in the Callaham block)

Total: £850.16

First time adding it all up, and it's more than I thought it was. I could have just picked up a Roadworn Strat for a similar price, but it's nice to say I 'made' it.

I could have gotten it cheaper if I went for second hand parts and didn't splash out on an expensive bridge kit and pickups, but I figured, this is probably the only time I'm going to do this, so make it something you are going to want to keep and potentially pass on later in life to family. The resale value on partcasters are non-existant, are better off breaking it down and selling off the parts individually. So, thought I'd go all out.

You got what you want in the end and you like it the most so its worth it.

https://reverb.com/item/33766459-fender-road-worn-60s-stratocaster-olympic-white

Hmmmmmm tempting !

 

[2StepSteve]

Tempting! Sorry if I have kicked off your GAS!!

 

[Raymond Lin]

Tempting! Sorry if I have kicked off your GAS!!

Ha, I really can't this month, perhaps for Christmas I will look at it again.

(I need to buy some power tools in a week's time to build an outdoor potting bench, plus I may have put down a deposit for a Positive Grid Spark today too...

btw does the MIM Roadworn series have a nitro finish body?

 

[ChrisLX200]

I used to hate tremolo arm on the Strat, couldn't get the tension right and it was either too stiff, loose in the threads, or flopped all over the place. It was also the original cast zinc alloy version. So I machined a new one out of a block of stainless steel, with an adjustable bronze collet so the tension can be set exactly as required. Sustain is better too

Not sure if it's obvious from the photos but meh, it looks like this.

 

[Raymond Lin]

That's some craftsmanship!

 

[LuckyBenski]

I used to hate tremolo arm on the Strat, couldn't get the tension right and it was either too stiff, loose in the threads, or flopped all over the place. It was also the original cast zinc alloy version. So I machined a new one out of a block of stainless steel, with an adjustable bronze collet so the tension can be set exactly as required. Sustain is better too

Not sure if it's obvious from the photos but meh, it looks like this.

Epic! How do you find the sound? Did it change? Floyd Rose offer brass block for traditional sound or titanium for a different feel. That's some upgrade you've given yourself!

 

[2StepSteve]

Ha, I really can't this month, perhaps for Christmas I will look at it again.

(I need to buy some power tools in a week's time to build an outdoor potting bench, plus I may have put down a deposit for a Positive Grid Spark today too...

btw does the MIM Roadworn series have a nitro finish body?

Yeah it's nitro finish body.

That Spark seems to be getting quite a buzz about it. Looks like a very interesting practice amp.

Very impressive ChrisLX200! I would not have a clue where to start! How's it sound?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Yeah it's nitro finish body.

That Spark seems to be getting quite a buzz about it. Looks like a very interesting practice amp.

Very impressive ChrisLX200! I would not have a clue where to start! How's it sound?

Looks like I've found my guitar!

 

[ChrisLX200]

Yeah it's nitro finish body.

That Spark seems to be getting quite a buzz about it. Looks like a very interesting practice amp.

Very impressive ChrisLX200! I would not have a clue where to start! How's it sound?

More mass offers better (longer) sustain, but it's pretty subtle unless you got to higher volumes. I guess that's why off-the-shelf upgrades are mostly made from steel and brass etc. Not heard of a titanium block would be interested what difference that makes. I would not fancy machining one myself as titanium is a right pain to thread lol! Even drilling it can be tricky as it will work harden given half a chance.

 

[uncle_rufus]

I used to hate tremolo arm on the Strat, couldn't get the tension right and it was either too stiff, loose in the threads, or flopped all over the place. It was also the original cast zinc alloy version. So I machined a new one out of a block of stainless steel, with an adjustable bronze collet so the tension can be set exactly as required. Sustain is better too

Nice work!

The newer strats have ditched the threaded arm alltogether and have one which just pushes into place - the tension on it is pretty much perfect (i.e. it isn't swinging freely but you can move it very easily)

(My main guitar is a 2017 Fender American Professional)

 

[Raymond Lin]

Tempting! Sorry if I have kicked off your GAS!!

I am weak...I just bought something.

 

[2StepSteve]

I am weak...I just bought something.

Haha! What did you buy?

 

[Raymond Lin]

Haha! What did you buy?

Olympic white
Rosewood board
Nitro body
Satin (worn) neck
Relic
“Aftermarket” Fender Custom Shop 69 pickups

I was going to wait but saw this today. The clincher for me was the pickups, it turns a run of the mill MIM into something I would have probably done myself, as usual with aftermarket upgrades, you never get your money back so I paid market value of a MIM strat and those pickups in, and a tweed case to boot!