|
Post by colchar on Mar 10, 2013 14:09:54 GMT -5
You could also look at the higher end MIMs like the Classic '50s, Classic '60s, and Baja. Those don't come up on the used market very often though as they are almost universally respected. I have a Baja Tele myself and, although I still haven't managed to bond with it, it is a great guitar.
|
|
|
Post by colchar on May 27, 2012 19:20:37 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Mar 20, 2012 20:59:42 GMT -5
It was the rosewood board that I decided I didn't like. To me, Fenders must have maple boards.
I ended up selling that Strat to put the money towards my Les Paul almost exactly a year ago (three weeks shy of a year).
I actually like satin necks because I love the one on my LP. It is just that, on Fenders, I prefer the glossy fretboard and neck. Some of these MIMs have rather satiny necks but the one I got is more glossy. In all honesty, it feels almost exactly like the necks on the American Standards. Now that the MIM Standards have the same pots and switches in them as the American Standards I can't see why anyone would buy one. If you get a neck like mine you have a very very similar guitar for half the money. Take a little bit of that and replace the pickups and you've got a superb guitar for barely over half of what a MIA Strat would cost.
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Mar 17, 2012 22:39:03 GMT -5
I was trying to decide between getting a Tele and getting a Strat but decided to go with the Strat just now so that I can save up to get a ‘52RI Tele. I also found a MIM Strat that I really really liked when test driving it so I decided that it was best to pull the trigger to ensure that I got one that I liked and wanted rather than one that I had settled for. They made some changes to the MIM Standards back in 2008(ish) and made some more changes for the 2011 models. Now their maple fretboards are gloss rather than the satin ones they used to have and, because I like a nice gloss maple fretboard on a Fender, these are now perfect for me. To me at least, the finish on this neck feels similar to that on the American Standards. The finish on this guitar is perfect. There isn’t a mark on her and the QC on this guitar was excellent - Fender really seems to have stepped up their game a bit on these newest MIMs. Even the fret ends aren’t all that noticeable so they did a good job on those too. The pickups are the stock MIM pickups but they will do me for a few weeks (after buying the AC15 last week, and now this guitar today, my gear budget is blown for the time being) until I can decide which pups I want to put in there. I was at my parent’s place watching the hockey game with my Dad earlier tonight so I haven’t even had the chance to take the plastic covering off of the pick guard yet. I’m going to go do that now and I’ll throw some Ernie Balls on there while I'm at it. So while I am doing that, here are some pictures of the newest addition to the stable. As usual the photographs are crap but what can I do – I’m obviously a lousy photographer!
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Mar 9, 2012 20:56:53 GMT -5
I’ve wanted a Vox AC15C1 for a while now but just hadn’t gotten around to buying one. A few weeks ago I found out from my sales guy that there was a limited edition blue version of the AC15 available that is limited to 650 units worldwide so I decided to take the plunge and grab one while I could. The retailer I deal with is Canada’s largest gear retailer and they are only getting four of these for their entire chain. If their quantities are that limited we are guessing that the rest of the retailers in the country combined cannot be getting more than a handful of these so we figure there will be about ten of these, fifteen at the absolute most, available in the entire country. So far as we are aware I was the first to order one through them and we think mine is the first to have been delivered, at least within their chain, so it looks like I might possibly be the first person in the country to get my hands on one of these! Since this run is limited to 650 units they provide a COA with the amp and, according to it, mine is number 292/650. The circuit is the same as that found in the normal AC15s, this model is just dressed up in a different prom dress – the blue with the grey grill cloth was chosen to replicate how these amps looked in 1963 which was, I believe, the only year they were originally available in this colour combination. I also decided to get a retro looking blue Vox coily cable to go with the amp. Time for me to grab a late dinner and then to introduce my LP to its new friend. Anyway, here are some pictures:
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Jan 28, 2012 23:26:51 GMT -5
I finally sourced all of the parts to mod my LP and had the work done this week so figured I would post before and after pictures. I had the stock 300k pots and Burstbucker Pros removed and replaced with 500k pots and a set of Burstbucker 1&2s. The neck pickup now has a tone pot that measures 504k and a volume pot that measures 516k while the bridge pickup has a tone pot that measures 507k and a volume pot that measures 549k. The tech also changed the wiring around to ‘50s style wiring. I swapped the speed knobs for top hats and pointers and also took off the chrome bridge and tailpiece and replaced them with nickel ones (the nickel is still new and shiny but will soon wear and get duller with use). Finally, I changed the switch tip to a vintage amber one. Obviously, I was going for a more vintage ‘50s sound and look. I haven’t played it as much as I would have liked since bringing it home earlier today because I’ve been sick for over a week now with a sinus infection but, from the time that I did spend playing it, I am glad I had the work done because this is now pretty much my dream Les Paul. The new pickups are great and I love their woody vintage tone. The neck pickup gets me into the Dickey Betts type territory that I was after and the bridge pickup gives me a kind of Jimmy Page type oomph that was missing with the stock pickups. All in all, the mods were definitely worth it. Here is a picture of how the guitar originally looked: And here is how it looks now:
|
|
|
NGD!!!
Jan 10, 2012 18:05:55 GMT -5
Post by colchar on Jan 10, 2012 18:05:55 GMT -5
I've been busy so still haven't managed to swing by the tech's house to pick up the Dot but should be getting it tomorrow. I was supposed to go by a couple of times, most recently this Sunday, but didn't get around to it. While I was in the store earlier today picking up something that I had ordered the tech asked if I would be around tomorrow and, when I said that I expected to be, he said he would put the guitar in his truck so that I could come by the store to get it. So at some point tomorrow I'll be bringing it home again. Sometime tomorrow evening I'll post some pictures of how it looks now.
|
|
|
NGD!!!
Dec 20, 2011 11:29:00 GMT -5
Post by colchar on Dec 20, 2011 11:29:00 GMT -5
That price was just to have the nut installed at the store and that included a setup. They are Canada's biggest chain of gear retailers so I guess they can charge more. My tech is doing more than just installing the nut and a setup so it works out to be an even better deal.
When I looked yesterday at the list you linked (for some reason it is not working today) the prices are higher back home in Scotland (I say 'back home' because I lived in Ayr as a child) for many of the services than they are here. I think if we were to go service by service and compare prices then it might even out in the end with some being more expensive here and others being more expensive there.
|
|
|
NGD!!!
Dec 19, 2011 1:44:44 GMT -5
Post by colchar on Dec 19, 2011 1:44:44 GMT -5
I actually got this guitar last week but forgot to post a NGD thread here. I had been GASing for a hollow body but cannot drop $3K on an ES-335 right now. Luckily, I came across an older Korean made (supposedly better than the current Chinese made ones) Epi Dot in my local classifieds. The guy wanted $250 for it and a hard shell case so I pulled the trigger despite noticing that it needed some work. The nut was a freakin' mess with the 6th string slot cut waaaay too low and some of the others not cut very well either (it almost looked like it had been put on backwards). The action was all over the place - extremely low on the first couple of frets and ridiculously high further along the fretboard. The bridge was raised about a mile and a half off the deck. The pick guard is missing a screw, the screws in the pickup rings as well as the ones for the pickups are all rusted, and one tone knob is cracked. The neck pickup was on a hell of an angle and the guitar is dirty and needs a decent cleaning as well as desperately needing some lemon oil on the fretboard. But for the price I still thought it was a good deal. When I took it to the tech I deal with at the store I shop at he looked at her he mentioned straight away that the nut had to be swapped and he commented that the action was higher than he would set it if it was being used as a slide guitar! The store charges $130+cost of nut+tax to replace a nut but I know the tech and he said he would take the guitar home and do the work outside of the store. He is stripping the guitar down and giving it a cleaning and polishing it as well as oiling the fretboard for me. He will also put new screws on in place of the rusted ones (I told him I would be fine with just having the rust removed from the existing ones so it is up to him whether he does that or replaces them). Then he is taking the nut off and cutting and installing a bone nut. He is then adjusting the pickup height, doing a full setup (he knows how I like to have things set up), and replacing the cracked tone knob with one that he has lying around (I think I will swap them for black ones later on so that they match the rest of the plastics - maybe black reflector knobs would look good on it). He's doing everything for $75 so that is far better than what the store would have charged especially as I know he will take his time and will do a good job on her. The tech did say that he thought the guitar would be a really decent player once it had had some TLC. So, for a total of $325 (what I paid for the guitar and case plus the work by the tech) it looks like I will end up with a pretty decent player that will cover almost all of the same territory as an ES-335 but for just 1/10th of the cost. For what I have put into it I am still getting the Dot for less than a new one would have cost. This is how she looked when I brought her home and before I gave her to my tech: I will post some more photos when I get it back from the tech in early January (he had other work to do over the holidays so I told him to take his sweet time with it). I am also having that tech do some work on my Les Paul (putting in Burtsbucker 1&2 pickups as well as nickel hardware to match the pickup covers) and I am thinking of trading the pickups that come out of my LP for a set of Gibson '57 Classics and then having those put in the Dot as those are the pickups that come in a Gibson ES-335. But I will spend some time with the stock pickups first before deciding on that as I got all of the parts for my LP cheap enough that, were I to sell the pickups that come out of it, I would cover all of my costs and thus have managed to upgrade my LP for free. I'll keep y'all posted on that front!
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Dec 19, 2011 1:32:45 GMT -5
Thanks.
I got rid of the Seagull as I was finding the neck just wasn't comfortable for me. It was a good guitar but as my playing improves I am starting to better understand what I like and what I am comfortable with so the Seagull has been replaced by this Taylor.
As for the Dot - I'll post another NGD thread in a minute!
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Dec 17, 2011 23:17:52 GMT -5
I am enjoying my second NGD ('new to me' guitar days actually) in as many weeks as I picked up a mint condition used Taylor 110 yesterday (I bought a MIK Epi Dot last week). These normally sell for $585 ($661 after tax) here and I picked this one up for $350 so I am very happy with that deal. The action on it is a little high right now but I am going to leave it for the time being. The guy I bought it from had stored it for a couple of years without humidifying it so it has dried out a little and, when I took it to my tech today, he tweaked the truss rod but said we shouldn't bother dealing with the action for 6-8 weeks so that we can see what it is like after I have humidified it for that amount of time. Still, despite the action being a little high right now, it feels great in my hands and is very comfortable to play. Here are a couple of pictures of her:
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Nov 18, 2011 11:40:49 GMT -5
Thanks folks.
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Oct 7, 2011 22:55:26 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Oct 6, 2011 0:47:56 GMT -5
I recently had the nut replaced on my Faded LP and, when that was done, we discovered a half inch long crack leading from the nut on the underside of the neck so the store replaced the guitar for me. While my previous LP was a plain top, and I usually prefer them, the one they brought in as the replacement has a flamed top and the more I look at it, the more I really really like it. The top also has more colour to it than my previous one did as that was almost a Lemon Drop finish as opposed to a Honey Burst finish. This new one does have a tiny nick on the bottom edge of the back but I didn't even notice it the first two or three times I looked over the guitar so it is barely noticeable (although I can zero in on it instantly now) and I've decided just to consider that mojo! I haven't had it set up yet and will take it back into the store later this week to have that done. I think I might try top-wrapping this one just to see what I think of it because it is a simple fix if I decide I don't like it. I am also seriously considering some nickel pickup covers as well as top hat knobs and pointers for this guitar but will spend a couple of weeks with it before I decide whether to put those on. Anyway, here are some pics of the new LP. As usual because I am a crap photographer the pics aren't great but they do give an idea of what she looks like. If the weather tomorrow is as nice as it is expected to be I'll take her out to the backyard for some pictures in the sunshine.
|
|
|
Post by colchar on Sept 11, 2011 21:56:33 GMT -5
If you practice near a computer or have a laptop you could take into the room with you it would be easiest just to download a free one and to play it through the computer's speakers. Can't beat getting something for free!
|
|