Banjos and Geetars

[Dorset]

@Liam and @skiathospurs have been talking about geetars, let's have a geetar thread - show us yours!

I have only got two these days, a Washburn N1 that I have had for donkey's years, it has been all over the world with me. I love it. The other one is my baby, an American Fender Stratocaster Deluxe, I really love that one. I bought it when I sold my really old Gibson Les Paul Deluxe Black Beauty - I bought that when I was 18 and it took me three years to pay off the loan, I hated it. It was too heavy, I didn't like the tone and so it had sat in its case in the father in law's loft for 20 years while we went walk-about. It was in a shocking state, all the gold plate had worn off, scratched to fuck, needed a new nut, the neck was out of line, the tuning heads were pony. I thought I would get a couple of hundred for it on Ebay but I got a lot more!

I have always liked Strats, the biggest regret I had when we went wandering was selling my old one, I had six geetars back then so most of them had to go. The new one is the very bollocks of the dog, but my old one was even better!

 

[Dorset]

Blimey - this was me with the Les Paul when I used to be alive, probably about 1974?

 

[Don Diaz]

Blimey - this was me with the Les Paul when I used to be alive, probably about 1974?

View attachment 901

You look a bit like Steve Archibald ??

 

[Dorset]

You look a bit like Steve Archibald ??

Not these days, I look like a cross between an extra from the Walking Dead and Steve VeryBald

 

[Don Diaz]

It's uncanny

 

[skiathospurs]

Been awhile since I dropped a wedge on another geetah,but i keep looking on ebay for a guitar i always hankered after,late 70s yamaha SG2000 (or 3000 if i want to spend another £500-£1000).Always loved em,especially since one of my heroes used to play them occasionally (stuart adamson) .Not cheap considering they are jap made and have to be imported cos they only sold them in japan.But time has made them desirable,so gonna cost!!

 

[Motspur Hotspur]

Been awhile since I dropped a wedge on another geetah,but i keep looking on ebay for a guitar i always hankered after,late 70s yamaha SG2000 (or 3000 if i want to spend another £500-£1000).Always loved em,especially since one of my heroes used to play them occasionally (stuart adamson) .Not cheap considering they are jap made and have to be imported cos they only sold them in japan.But time has made them desirable,so gonna cost!!

Nice guitars, I was in Lincoln recently and mooching around wandered in to a music shop. Chap saw me looking and put a £1000 Taylor cut away acoustic in my hands, oh my that thing sang, even in my hands!

If I had to pick a guitar I'd like to own, it would have to be James Hetfield replica ESP, love the shape of his guitars and that heavy crunch sound.

 

[skiathospurs]

Nice guitars, I was in Lincoln recently and mooching around wandered in to a music shop. Chap saw me looking and put a £1000 Taylor cut away acoustic in my hands, oh my that thing sang, even in my hands!

If I had to pick a guitar I'd like to own, it would have to be James Hetfield replica ESP, love the shape of his guitars and that heavy crunch sound.

Thats what happened to me,I was searching for a 12 string,just as a present for myself,i tried quite a few some half decent makes,was in one big london store,and they had a delivery of taylors (20 years ago I`d never heard of em) at the port in customs,grays I think,he said come back in 2 hrs he would get them couriered in and see,So I did, had no intention of dropping 2½ grand on a guitar i didnt plan to work with,but best choice I made.I will have done over 1,500 gigs with it now easy,refreted 4 times,still the only guitar i gig with.
Big thing with electric guitar sounds is also the amp and effects are a huge part of the sound,much easier to buy acoustics cos the wood dont lie!!

 

[Motspur Hotspur]

Thats what happened to me,I was searching for a 12 string,just as a present for myself,i tried quite a few some half decent makes,was in one big london store,and they had a delivery of taylors (20 years ago I`d never heard of em) at the port in customs,grays I think,he said come back in 2 hrs he would get them couriered in and see,So I did, had no intention of dropping 2½ grand on a guitar i didnt plan to work with,but best choice I made.I will have done over 1,500 gigs with it now easy,refreted 4 times,still the only guitar i gig with.
Big thing with electric guitar sounds is also the amp and effects are a huge part of the sound,much easier to buy acoustics cos the wood dont lie!!

Yeh I love my acoustic, it's the guitar I pick up for a plink plonk (as I call it). Gonna need to see you gig and need to try and get myself out as well, something I've been thinking of but it's been so long my voice has turned into shit!

 

[skiathospurs]

Never do this.....hahaha

 

[Motspur Hotspur]

Reminds me when I did a gig and it wasn't very good (drummers fault ) couldn't wait to get the guitar off and managed to spam myself with it in front of everyone

 

[Dorset]

I decided I NEEDED a semi-acoustic, Mrs D does not understand that need, she unreasonably thinks that 3 geetars is enough. I tried to explain - I have the Fender Strat with its single coil pickups for a Stratocaster type sound, I have the acoustic for strumming a bit, I have the Washburn for drop tuning and crashing twelve bar stuff, but wot I don't have is a semi-accoustic with humbuckers for blues and all that lovely sustain and feedback and that fat humbucker sound. When and if this arrives and I decide to keep it I will then only NEED a Telecaster, of course everyone needs a Tele innit? Oh yeah, a Les Paul Junior and an SG of course, goes without saying!

I have not told her that I have ordered it yet so it will be a nice surprise!

I wanted the new PRS SE Piezo, but I can't justify spending €1500 on a guitar - she would put my knackers through the mincer. So, after much research and hours of watching Youtube videos I have ordered a Harley Benton! Yeah, I know, cheap means crap, but Thomann give you a 30 day free return period so theres's nothing to lose really. I have watched videos of proper guitarists testing these against the PRS and aside from slight quality differences there's not a lot of difference in sound quality. Looked at Epiphones and Gretsches,they were fucking ugly and 3-4 times the price so this is what I ordered:

Harley Benton CST24HB

• Deluxe Series
• Construction: Set-neck
• Mahogany body with 'F' holes and chambered
• Top: AAA grade flamed maple
• 3-piece mahogany neck
• 'Toasted' jatoba fingerboard
• Fingerboard Radius: 350mm
• 24 Medium frets
• 635mm scale
• 42mm nut width
• Mother of pearl dot inlays
• Ivory body binding
• Graphite nut
• Pickups: 2x Roswell LAF Alnico-5 humbuckers
• Master volume control
• Master tone control ('push' / 'pull': coil split)
• 3-position switch
• Chrome DLX hardware
• DLX GTB 'Wrapover' bridge
• DLX die-cast machine heads
• Color: Tortoise Flame (high gloss)

How the fuck can they afford to make these, ship them to Germany then ship them out to Spain for €249? Split coil humbuckers! Even the PRS megaprice doodles don't have split coils!

 

[Don Diaz]

I decided I NEEDED a semi-acoustic, Mrs D does not understand that need, she unreasonably thinks that 3 geetars is enough. I tried to explain - I have the Fender Strat with its single coil pickups for a Stratocaster type sound, I have the acoustic for strumming a bit, I have the Washburn for drop tuning and crashing twelve bar stuff, but wot I don't have is a semi-accoustic with humbuckers for blues and all that lovely sustain and feedback and that fat humbucker sound. When and if this arrives and I decide to keep it I will then only NEED a Telecaster, of course everyone needs a Tele innit? Oh yeah, a Les Paul Junior and an SG of course, goes without saying!

I have not told her that I have ordered it yet so it will be a nice surprise!

I wanted the new PRS SE Piezo, but I can't justify spending €1500 on a guitar - she would put my knackers through the mincer. So, after much research and hours of watching Youtube videos I have ordered a Harley Benton! Yeah, I know, cheap means crap, but Thomann give you a 30 day free return period so theres's nothing to lose really. I have watched videos of proper guitarists testing these against the PRS and aside from slight quality differences there's not a lot of difference in sound quality. Looked at Epiphones and Gretsches,they were fucking ugly and 3-4 times the price so this is what I ordered:

View attachment 1310
Harley Benton CST24HB

• Deluxe Series
• Construction: Set-neck
• Mahogany body with 'F' holes and chambered
• Top: AAA grade flamed maple
• 3-piece mahogany neck
• 'Toasted' jatoba fingerboard
• Fingerboard Radius: 350mm
• 24 Medium frets
• 635mm scale
• 42mm nut width
• Mother of pearl dot inlays
• Ivory body binding
• Graphite nut
• Pickups: 2x Roswell LAF Alnico-5 humbuckers
• Master volume control
• Master tone control ('push' / 'pull': coil split)
• 3-position switch
• Chrome DLX hardware
• DLX GTB 'Wrapover' bridge
• DLX die-cast machine heads
• Color: Tortoise Flame (high gloss)

How the fuck can they afford to make these, ship them to Germany then ship them out to Spain for €249? Split coil humbuckers! Even the PRS megaprice doodles don't have split coils!

I know nothing about guitars but it seems the same rule applies to motorbikes and other similar passions, where the number of guitars you need is n+1 where n is the number of guitars or bikes you already own?

 

[Dorset]

I know nothing about guitars but it seems the same rule applies to motorbikes and other similar passions, where the number of guitars you need is n+1 where n is the number of guitars or bikes you already own?

I like that! Will you please explain this theory to Mrs D?

 

[Dorset]

The Harley Benton has arrived - and it's fucking awesome for the money! How the fuck could anyone make a guitar like this for €249 let alone ship it from China to Germany, QA it and set it up, then ship it to Spain?

The new Wall of Guitars, the acoustic has been relegated to the floor stand.

OK it ain't a PRS, but the sound is pretty good, being a semi-hardon the sustain is really amazing. The action is fine, the frets are a bit gritty but they'll wear down or I'll give them a polish, the strings are nice D'addarios not the usual bits of old wire they throw on cheap guitars and the finish is really good - I can't find any faults or manky parts. I was a bit worried about buying a cheap HB guitar, but like I said Thomann give you 30 days to send it back if you don't like it so I took a chance. Now I need to order the HB Telecaster and Les Paul Junior models - don't tell Mrs D!

I am in deep shit with the boss though, I also got a new audio interface for my 'puter yesterday, a Focusrite 212 3rd Gen and a set of studio monitors - Presonus ERISE3.5. Total Spend for the guitar, the interface, monitors and 2 shielded TRS cables was less than €500! Mrs D does not realise what a fantastic bargain that is. I might do one of them Yootoob thingies to demo the sound, The interface and monitors are the absolute bollocks of the dog, the sound is brilliant all I have to do is become better at guitar plonking and I'll be sorted!

 

[skiathospurs]

The Harley Benton has arrived - and it's fucking awesome for the money! How the fuck could anyone make a guitar like this for €249 let alone ship it from China to Germany, QA it and set it up, then ship it to Spain?

View attachment 1331
The new Wall of Guitars, the acoustic has been relegated to the floor stand.

View attachment 1332

View attachment 1333
OK it ain't a PRS, but the sound is pretty good, being a semi-hardon the sustain is really amazing. The action is fine, the frets are a bit gritty but they'll wear down or I'll give them a polish, the strings are nice D'addarios not the usual bits of old wire they throw on cheap guitars and the finish is really good - I can't find any faults or manky parts. I was a bit worried about buying a cheap HB guitar, but like I said Thomann give you 30 days to send it back if you don't like it so I took a chance. Now I need to order the HB Telecaster and Les Paul Junior models - don't tell Mrs D!

I am in deep shit with the boss though, I also got a new audio interface for my 'puter yesterday, a Focusrite 212 3rd Gen and a set of studio monitors - Presonus ERISE3.5. Total Spend for the guitar, the interface, monitors and 2 shielded TRS cables was less than €500! Mrs D does not realise what a fantastic bargain that is. I might do one of them Yootoob thingies to demo the sound, The interface and monitors are the absolute bollocks of the dog, the sound is brilliant all I have to do is become better at guitar plonking and I'll be sorted!

Honestly if the body and neck are solid,you can always install good tuners or pickups when you know what the guitar will need best in the future.The top looks very nice!