Drunk Driver Dad posted:

is this some kind of product made from goats that i pick up from my local co-op

creamcorn posted:

going to the state fair and asking if they can batter and dip my squier strat

Sweaty IT Nerd posted:

Always bet on fried

BizarroAzrael posted:

Not as delicious, but I'm fixing to stain the body of my Harley Benton kit. After getting a sander, vice and coping saw it's already false economy vs buying a complete guitar but should be interesting.

On the off-chance has anyone else done this? Part of my issue is all the tutorials use American products, is all wood stain useable? Crimson Guitars here in the UK do have a range though so may just go with that, they have finishes as well.

Thumposaurus posted:

Is the body of the HB kit sealed? Or raw wood?
That will affect what type of "stain" you need to use and what type of effect you can get from it.

If you put plain water on it does it bead up? Or soak in?

BizarroAzrael posted:

Not as delicious, but I'm fixing to stain the body of my Harley Benton kit. After getting a sander, vice and coping saw it's already false economy vs buying a complete guitar but should be interesting.

On the off-chance has anyone else done this? Part of my issue is all the tutorials use American products, is all wood stain useable? Crimson Guitars here in the UK do have a range though so may just go with that, they have finishes as well.

Jonny 290 posted:

I'd say heavy strings, medium action, and perhaps yeah some sort of mute. iirc didnt OG jazzmasters have a felt mute down by the bridge?

Huxley posted:

Luthier friends: New neck is on, shim is in and properly fitted and nice, new nut is in and adjusted nicely across, except my B string sitars. I thought I may have carved the nut too deep so I went back and shimmed up that side of the nut to test it. But even raising the treble side up a fair bit (maybe 0.036 at the e, a little lower at the B, presumably) it hasn't improved any.

What may I have done wrong? I know you're supposed to carve in a downward breakangle, maybe I didn't do enough on the B? I have a string tree on but it's not affecting a TON of change, but pressing down on the string behind the nut doesn't seem to affect the sitar effect, so I think that may not be the culprit.

ColdPie posted:

Thread's been slow so I'm gonna gush about how much fun I'm having with guitar. I started playing in September 2020 as a pandemic hobby, and I have played almost every day since then. I bet I've only not played about 7 days total. I bring a guitar on road trips and camping trips. I fill most of my free time with guitar. I play a half hour every morning before I leave for the bus. And I played 4 hours today after work, which happens pretty often. I can't think of the last time I've been so single minded about something. Maybe video games as a teenager? I don't know.

After learning a bunch of short pieces out of a classical book, I'm currently learning three full length classical pieces and two fingerstyle for electric. Trying to build a repertoire. When I get tired of practicing those I just improv stuff. It usually sucks but sometimes I hit on something that sounds nice. Or fall back on chord strumming whatever, trying to play around with barre chords and triads and stuff. Then I go back to practicing pieces. Repeat until it's time for bed. Sometimes it feels like I play "too much"? But it's an awesome skill to learn, so that seems silly.

Thanks for reading. Guitar rules.

landgrabber posted:

you could also get a second guitar that is something you can’t do with whatever you have currently. like if you only have an electric, you could get an acoustic, or vice versa. or something with buckers if you only have single coils, etc.

luchadornado posted:

Yep - I've got a LP-like with humbuckers and keep looking at telecasters for a 2nd.

luchadornado posted:

I'm getting a pro setup and new pickups and new nut because why not, and these 2 weeks without the guitar are brutal. I'd try to convince the wife I need a 2nd guitar but that would mean I'd have to pass on the other things I'm looking at: wah, fuzz, and delay.

Someone talk me into/out of a Vox 847A, Skreddy Lunar Module, and MXR Carbon Copy.

Chip McFuck posted:

ColdPie posted:

landgrabber posted:

oh btw i have formed a band and we’re practicing for the first time tomorrow

Helianthus Annuus posted:

how about playing with other people? jamming?

Blotto_Otter posted:

I've got some time to kill while I sit through some boring sessions of an online continuing ed conference, so... anyone interested in hearing about some adventures in Telecaster modifications?

Backstory: I got into learning guitar back in January, after we got my daughter a 3-string acoustic for Christmas and realized I was more interested in figuring the thing out than she was. I picked up a green Squier Affinity Telecaster, specifically one of the older varieties (with the top-loading six-saddle bridge) rather than the newest iteration with the thru-body strings. (That part is relevant later). It's only been 4 or 5 months of practicing regularly, so I am very much a beginner and didn't really need to fiddle with the guitar, as it was working well enough for my extremely-limited skillset... but I also like tinkering with things, and the best hobbies are the ones that let me tinker with the hobby's tools.

Part 1 - This bridge already has twenty holes in it, three more holes isn't going to hurt it
Since I don't have a lot of experience handling a variety of guitars, I don't have much to compare my Tele against. I even bought it sight unseen, as I ordered it online while I was stuck at home for a week quarantining with a case of COVID. So, I could be that I just don't know any better, but it looks great, the neck and frets feel good in the hand and under the fingers, and I was happy with it, except for two annoyances: first, I couldn't lower the action on the low E and A strings, or back up the low E saddle to try and intonate it perfectly, without getting some buzzing from the bridge and saddles. If I raised the saddles up a bit, or unscrewed the intonation screw a bit (thus shortening the string and moving the saddle away from the bottom of the bridge), the buzzing would stop. When I eyeballed it, it looked like the string (which on the top-loading bridges, inserts just under the saddle intonation screw) was pressing against the bottom of the intonation screw.

Some googling revealed other top-loader Affinity Tele owners complaining of similar issues, and suggested that it was a problem that could occur because the design of the top-loading Affinity bridges meant that the string makes an S-shape as it goes under then over the saddles, which could mean the string is pressing up on the string as well as downward, depending on how the saddle is adjusted. (Here's a tweet with some pics of the bridge, though they're not at the ideal angle to see the string path under the saddle.) A theory was that the buzzing occurs if upward pressure from the string against the bottom of the saddle or intonation screw counteracts the downward pressure from the string where it breaks across the top of the saddle, causing the saddle to be somewhat loose against the bridge. The Internet's suggested fixes were: 1) adjust the action or intonation until it stops buzzing; or, 2) change out the whole bridge; or, 3) take a power drill to your bridge and turn it into a frankenstein 3-saddle style bridge.

I didn't like option 1. Sure, I could probably live with raising the action a bit, it wasn't that high... but I would always know that it could be better, if I just fiddled with it more. Option 2 initially seemed like the most straightforward tweak, but I ran into a problem: the top-loading Affinity Tele bridge is longer than a typical Tele bridge and has a different screw hole pattern than usual, and I just could not find a direct replacement that was the same dimensions. The best replacement seemed to be a popular Wilkinson 3-saddle bridge that allows for either string-thru-body or top-loading stringing, but it was shorter and with different mounting hole locations than the stock Affinity bridge, which would mean drilling new holes into the guitar body and leaving some of the old holes exposed. I don't feel confident in my woodworking abilities, so I was reluctant to start drilling into the wood body, and I also wasn't sure how I would like the aesthetics of exposed screw holes below the new bridge plate. So...

... on to option 3: buy some brass saddles and take a power drill to the old baseplate. Is it a good idea for a beginning guitarist and an amateur metalworker to take a power drill to an essential component of the only electric guitar they own? No, probably not. Did I even get the three new screw holes lined up evenly with each other? Also no. Did that matter? Nope! Did it all work out, and give me exactly the results I was hoping? Yep! I had to use longer intonation screws than usual (remember, the Affinity bridge plate is longer than most Tele bridge plates), and cannibalize some other intonation springs since the ones that came with the saddles weren't long enough... but once it was all on and strung up, I can lower the action all I want and back up that intonation screw all I want, and there's zero buzzing from the bridge now. Also, it looks cooler with the old-school brass saddles, and I used compensated saddles so it still intonates pretty well. To see how it looks, imagine this random dude's guitar, but in English racecar green:
https://twitter.com/paulfiddle/status/952498583483355137

Part 2: Look, barely knowing how to play guitar hasn't stopped me, barely knowing how to solder isn't gonna stop me now

Okay, so earlier I hinted at the fact that I had two annoyances with my guitar. The second annoyance? I, uh, I didn't care for the tone of the bridge pickup at all. Boy, was it incredibly bright, harsh, and twangy when I first plugged it in and tried it out. I knew folks said the Telecaster bridge pickup was twangy, but Jesus. I could get it tolerable by bringing the tone knob down to a 2 or 3 out of 10, and bumping down the treble on the amp some, but... is it really supposed to sound that piercingly bright?

"Look, it sounds fine with the tone knob dialed way back," I thought. "It's not bad once you play with the amp's EQ!" I told myself. "You're still new to this, this is not impeding your learning, you should leave it alone", I argued with myself. Then I went online, ordered a complete new set of electronics (including new caps and a 4-way switch), and ordered a pair of Pretzel Pickups from Bootstrap Pickups.

Bootstrap's value was impossible to beat, given how much praise I'd seen for them. I expected a long wait, both based on their reputation and the warning on their website of "about 4-week lead times right now". I think it was closer to 7 weeks before it shipped. That's fine! I don't have a schedule, I ain't performing any time soon, the guitar works adequately as-is and I was too busy with work to tear the guitar apart until now, anyway. Then, Ryan at Bootstrap emailed that there was a mixup with the vendor for the base plates they use in their Tele pickups, and some with metric screw threading got mixed in with some with imperial screw threading, and so they might not have included the correct screws... but they were putting a new set of metric screws in the mail right away. Okay, good, the heads up and proactive service was appreciated!

So I got the replacement screws a few days later, tore the guitar apart, and started mounting the new bridge pickup to the bridge plate, and... I think something was wrong with the threads on the screws, such that they had been crushed, or stripped, or were cut too shallow. Once I started tightening the screws (in order to raise the pickup to the correct height)... they would pop back out from the pickup, as if the pickup was losing its grip on the screw threads as soon as any significant force was applied. This meant I couldn't tighten and raise the bridge pickup enough to work. This also happened on all four of the screws they sent, at all three screw holes on the bridge plate. poo poo. Okay, now what? Do I have any other screws to try?

... yes, yes I do! The spare intonation screws I got for the new brass saddles in part 1? Same diameter and threading, just too long. But that's not a problem - back to the garage to get the Dremel and cut those screws down to size. Once cut to the correct length, I used them to try mounting the bridge pickup again and... presto, nice and snug. Bridge pickup height is right where it should be now.

Also while doing this, I was ripping out the old electronics and pickups, mounting the new pots and switch into a new control plate, and soldering it all together. I have a little soldering experience, but not a lot, so it took me a while but I got there. (I used a parts kit plus 4-way switch wiring diagram from ToneShapers. Highly recommended, all good parts and a clear, easy-to-read wiring diagram.) I got it all put back together, strung it up, plugged it in, and... holy poo poo it all works.

Verdict? It sounds great. I can crank that tone knob up to 10 now and it still gets nice twangy, but it's not so harsh that I want to claw my ears out. I actually like using the bridge pickup now. The old neck pickup was okay, but I really like the new ones - clear and with a bit of chime. (In defense of the old pickups, I swapped pickups and electronics out at the same time. I didn't measure the old pots, but google suggests that Affinity Teles often come with 500k pots, and the new ones are 250k, so perhaps just changing the pots could have tamed that harshness I complained about.) Also, the new switch position gives a nice additional option with a bit of humbucking oomph.

If anyone actually stuck through this long post to the end, here's my final thoughts: guitars are cool, I suck at it but I'm enjoying learning how to play the instrument and learning how to tinker with it. I realize that not everyone may have the same results, but I am extremely pleased at how well things worked out after I decided to crack open my $220 guitar and go nuts. The 4-way switch mod, ToneShapers wiring kits and diagrams, and Bootstrap Pickups are all recommended, as long as you're not in a rush and willing to take on a DIY project at a slow pace.

Hellblazer187 posted:

Are those firefly guitars any good? I want a cheap tele. I also want a cheap LP and a cheap flying V because why not. But I'll start with a tele.

Let's say I get a firefly (or similarly cheap but usable model) what do I need to upgrade. I assume the tuners and the pickups. Are guitar fetish pickups good? Would they be an improvement over stock on a firefly? I don't want to put $400 worth of electronics in a $150 guitar, but I also don't see a point in replacing cheap garbage electronics with different cheap garbage.

Thanks for any input!

Edit: Oh well I guess Bootstrap pickups would be good, per the post above.