Jean-Luc Pickguard

Wot no mustangs?

I wonder what horrors lurk beneath that one.

Paranoid by Black Sabbath

Turd On The Run — Rolling Stones

Filthy McNasty — Horace Silver

Just got back from my local dry cleaner. The lady there was very reluctant to attempt a clean on something bearing no care label, especially with the padding. Also to fit in the machine, there wouldn't be room for anything else so she'd have to charge a minimum of £65. I think an equivalent bag is about £55 from Thomann. I found this stuff on amazon. *Might* be worth a punt for a tenner: https://amzn.to/4hniSnQ It's probiotic so if there's any left over I can make some nice yogurt with it. I think for now I'll probably stash the bag in the loft and forget about it until the summer when I can try the sunshine thing.

The febreze and bicarb haven't shifted all of the smell inside the case. I'm thinking of taking it to be dry cleaned. — Is that likely to work? — or could it ruin it? Does anyone here have any experience of taking something similar to a padded gigbag to be dry cleaned?

In France They Kiss On Mane Street — Joni Mitchell

My last few orders arrived in about a week and a half.

Looks like scumbags are counterfeiting 'normal' strings now — not just the expensive ones like elixirs. I bought on ebay three packs of d'addario EJ15 .010-.047 phosphor bronze strings for my new (to me) guild acoustic guitar. I thought it odd that the seller sent the following message the day after I placed the order: This raised suspicions, as if they knew there will be a problem. Obviously reporting any problems without going through via ebay is a no-no and raises a huge red flag. The strings turned up today with the card outer sleeve looking absolutely correct, and the silver/grey inner bag also printed as expected and looking genuine, however the serial/players circle code on each is identical, and when entered on the d'addario website, the number was shown to be genuine but one that had already been redeemed. I have reported to d'addario and raised a return on ebay (despite the seller pre-emptively saying not to) and I am currently waiting to hear back. Might have to take a walk down to the local music shop tomorrow to get some real ones.

I like Fenders and I do like the fender logo on the headstock, but there's nothing wrong with Squiers. They're not just for beginners — plenty of people who own and play Fenders also own and play Squiers. I usually take two basses with me to a gig. For one gig I took a black Fender JMJ Mustang bass, and a 'Competion Orange' Squier Classic Vibe Mustang bass. Both basses were set up by me with D'addario Chromes. I played the Fender for two sets and the Squier for the last set. Both performed admirably; neither was hard work or uncomfortable to play, and no one complained that the sound went to shīte when I changed bass. In fact more people were up and grooving during the last set when I was playing the squier.

Hocus Pocus — Focus

Fistful Of Steel — Rage Against The Machine

Miss Lila Bear has put on her best pink frock and has been excitedly awaiting her first dance with her new friend, Grizz.

Dust In My Pants — The Birds

Rock 'n' Roll Dalmatian — AC/DC

Its not quite the same as I no longer own a double bass, but the stock strings that came on my NS-design CR5-M when I bought in 2006 are still going strong.

The Thomastik 324h set are the hofner-specific set, so this will be a manufacturing defect. I'd suggest contacting Thomastik-Infeld: https://www.thomastik-infeld.com/en/contact

I don't think I'll be able to put my guild gigbag in the washing machine as it is well padded and more rigid than a typical freebie case. The bicarb seems to have reduced the odour, so I'll keep it like that for a few more days.

Bargain!

That will certainly be worth a try if we get a sunny day soon, otherwise I could stash it in the loft until summer arrives

I saw this Guild M-240E Troubadour on the cash converters website when they seemed to be doing a Dutch auction as the price was dropping by £20 every few days. It got to a price where it would have been rude not to press the 'buy now' button, so I did that. It arrived the next day very well wrapped but on unpacking it there was a definite odour. After a wipedown with kitchen roll slightly dampened with febreze and then a piece dampened with water, the guitar is no longer malodourous, but the gigbag is taking a bit longer to destink. I've used approximately half a bottle of febreze so far on it inside and out, and it is currently sitting zipped up with an open tub of bicarbonate of soda inside. It only has a trace of the smell now if I get my nose right up against it but any other tips to get rid of a weird smoky smell from a gigbag will be gratefully received. If it was a tatty old gigbag I'd put it in the bin, but apart from the smell it could pass for brand new, and its a good quality well-padded bag with embroidered Guild logo. The guitar itself it lovely. It is parlour sized and has a solid sitka spruce top and a DeArmond Tone Boss passive soundhole magnetic pickup which sounds surpringly good. There was a bit of rattle on the low E string as the fingerboard was almost dead flat. I had to remove the pickup to get to the truss rod adjustment, but after a tweak and refitting the pickup I now have a little relief in the neck and the guitar plays very well with a good lively feel and bright tone.

The Sad Bag Of Shaky Jake — Humble Pie

Brake My Body — Pixies

Sit Down — James