Rikki_Sixx

For years I always associated tobacco sunburst with the cheap, unplayable Strat copies that many of my friends had in the late 90s and early 2000s. I couldn’t imagine ever owning a TSB guitar or bass, especially with a white pickguard. They looked cheap to me. 

Its only in recent years that I’ve come around to burst finishes, including tobacco. I’ve seen some fantastic examples, and with a different pickguard (or none at all) I can be a bit of a sucker for them now!

I’d be very dubious of anything labelled as “luthier-made”, without giving the name of the luthier. Could just be a bloke in a bedroom buying cheap bits off eBay.

I always recommend the Squier Vintage Modified range, my VM Jazz is absolutely fantastic and you’ll have plenty of cash leftover for other bits like pedals and pizza!

Confession time: I'm not sure what a harness is or does!  Is that like all the wiring and pots, but not the pickups?

Once you get going with the tests give us some pictures? It’ll be useful for others who want to do similar, we can see how your grain filling & burst experiments go! 

Realy excited to see how the white burst goes, transparent blonde and Olympic white are two of my favourite finishes for guitars.

I’ve been leaning toward their hot pickups but playing recently with headphones on the hum has been grinding my gears! Are the Aguilar hum-cancelling set much different to the Duncan Designed pickups that come as standard?

It seems like my little combo amp might be on it's way out, so I may have to invest in one of these! For some reason I thought they were no longer made, but they get such praise so I'll have to keep a look out!

I remember watching a demo / comparison of four different types of Aguilar Jazz pickups and they sounded fantastic. It stuck in my memory ever since and I was really impressed. Personally I liked the 4J-HOT set which were a little hotter, but I bet the 4J-60 or 4J-70 (60’s or 70’s style) would be great for R&B style stuff. 

Heres the video! 

If you're going for a natural / transparent finish I'd go for ash as it's got a nicer grain. Otherwise alder for the weight. I think both sound the same so it's all about aesthetics!

On 19/02/2018 at 22:04, Jimothey said:

Scrap that last bit I’ve done some research and it’s not really that unconventional, I’m going to make the body out of Pine which I know will get lots of disapproving comments but hey ho it’s worth a go!!

Dumb-dumb over here (me) thought you already had a body ready to go, whoops! Is that red body just a template? Looking forward to seeing how this turns out, pine can be a great wood and (mostly) pretty nice to work with - although I've only used it for tables, drawers etc!

I do like the idea of having one at the neck and one at the bridge, but one in the centre looks lovely and simple and a bit more true to the P roots. You leaning toward just one, but toward the bridge?

These look great but the only content I've really ever seen of one was Scott Devine of Scott's Bass Lessons gushing about the shortscale Supro Huntington. It looks very cool, but beyond this video I've not seen much of them - but then I've gone searching for one (yet!).

Buy one and fill us in, it's for the greater good! 

I've bought and sold a few bits & pieces from the forums over the last year or two and always forget to ask for feedback. Time to get my act together!

I also bought a strap off Chris, shipped quickly and safely and arrived in great nick. Great communications throughout and a thoroughly nice chap to boot! Would buy from Chris again without hesitation!

Blimey, this is looking good! Not sure I've seen a pickguard of that sort of shape before.

It'll be a shame to see that walnut finish disappear but red + maple is a killer combo, especially if you're going with a cream pickguard! What kind of hardware are you thinking? Chrome?

31 minutes ago, dmccombe7 said:

This sounds more like a group of guys that just want to have a nice wee social rehearsal with mates rather than a working band.

This is exactly how my old “band” worked and I’d love to find something similar again! I doubt I’d ever be the type to to want to play gigs every other night but a social jam with some like minded mates (who are willing to do at least a bit of “homework”) sounds perfect! Sounds like a reasonable ad to me.

This is a great idea @Grassie, I'd pop one of these up in the spare room! I'd have to get permission elsewhere  I have a Fender tee that's quite similar to this, but obviously only Fender models and it includes "normal" guitars. Are you setting these up to purchase online somewhere?

I did a pop-art print based on Fender headstocks to raise money for local charities in mid-2017 that's still selling fairly well. It's an easily recognisable, iconic shape and a nice bit of fun to play around with. It was shortly after winning a Fender competition, and I ended up looking a right kiss-donkey! 

Is that on the Japanese eBay? Sounds like it adds a bit of drama to proceedings - for better or worse! 

Hnnnngh that looks good. I've had a bit of a thing for Yamaha basses the last year or two, especially the pick-ups. Not sure what it is about them but they look really cool! Seeing one in that colour makes me want to play some 80's hair-metal, and I totally mean that as a compliment

What's that monster on the right and why's it so long? (ooh 'eck)

I’m tempted by this for the name alone! 😄  it looks like a lovely bit of kit, GLWTS!

Rik

On 06/01/2018 at 03:47, bazzbass said:

RockSmith on PC allows you to use unofficial DLC created by the public. 30,000 songs that RockSmith can't get licensing for

Holy heck, I had no idea about this. There's so much DLC that I was considering buying but the prices are crazy (compared to when I played stuff like Guitar Hero and Rock Band). I'll be all over this next time I load it up, thanks for pointing it out! 

Happy NBD! This looks so cool in all-black, is the neck really dark too? I haven’t seen many of these so not sure if the neck is painted. Either way it looks cool! So many different sounds at your disposal too!

2 hours ago, Patster1969 said:

I've got Rocksmith on my X-Box 360, didn't find it as useful as the guys above but maybe I wasn't using it properly - assume that it's the same version as the PC version?

I think all versions are the same. I like it for being able to play along to songs easily and quietly even late at night, but I'm sure that's possible by other means!

Welcome back to the fold!

I'd also give a vote for Rocksmith - if you get it through Steam on your PC it's regularly available for just a few quid. As well as learning to play songs there are plenty of technique exercises / mini-games, a 'session' mode where various instruments play along with you at whatever speed and style you're playing. It's very clever. You'll need a special Rocksmith cable but you can pick these up for about £10. It talks you through the display, how to read it etc. and is really accessible. 

16 hours ago, Harryburke14 said:

I've spent the evening arranging and then rearranging a few basses to make the room look less empty

If the room's looking a little empty then you should fill it with another few guitars! 

10 hours ago, Switch625 said:

I'm only going to remain a bedroom player, playing along to old songs. 100W would be overkill and too big for my needs. I've got a 100W Marshall guitar amp sitting around doing nothing that takes up too much space, need to list that for sale at some point.

If you're going to stick to bedroom playing then the 30w you mentioned is easily enough. I have a Laney Hardcore 30w that's great and I've never had the volume up past 3 in the house without headphones! Can't recommend it enough, although mine is now about 10 years old - I'm looking to sell it and drop down to something I can tuck under the bed (it's slightly too big) but I'm up in Leeds.

Laney have a newer series (Richter) that looks perfect, I bet you could pick one up easily for under £100 second hand.