I’ve been bitten by the custom bug, as in get something built OS that you can’t just get off the rack, and then mod it.
This is my latest project nearing completion
What it is, is an SG shape (obviously) South African mahogany body 1cm thicker than a Gibson SG, Ebony fretboard, I’m putting in DiMaggio vintage PAF in the neck and a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge.
That looks sweet!
I don’t know much about pups other than basic humbuckers vs single coil, what are the qualities of those you chose?
This is my beast, love it for live. Its a bit too muddy for recording but I cant justify to the wife another 2k on a guitar.
I want a similar coloured fender strat
Hey, I noticed in the OP you asked about what people learnt that gave a them a major proficiency boost.
Not sure what level you are at (if this is old news then maybe someone else will find it hand) , but for me , one major “level-up” was when I learnt the notes of the minor pentatonic scale (in say, A minor) which led me to jamming along to blues stuff, or TV commercials, or my own looped chord progressions, or these days just backing tracks on youtube. (My Fender GT40 isn’t very highly regarded but 1 thing I love is that I can use it as a bluetooth speaker for my phone while simultaneously rocking out).
I kind of knew the scale already, but I didn’t understand it. Once I realised it’s more about the intervals between the notes, I realised the A minor pentatonic scale was the same as the B minor scale, only it starts on an A instead of a B, and so on.
**Oh yeah, the scale itself is handy for learning where the notes are, but the point is to use the individual notes, often out of orders, to come up with licks etc that sound cool.
The other important bit I’d missed when trying to play lead over some chords (say 12 bar blues), was which notes in the scale were the root notes (In A minor, the root note is A). So basically I’d see all these frets that should sound cool but it just wasn’t right, but once I started finishing/resolving on a root note, I started sounding like an actual musician.
Not sure if that makes any sense, but it meant that I could just sit and noodle away for hours, come up with solos, or just generally sound like I knew what I was doing without having to remember a song to recite.
Anyway, the way I learnt it was by looking at the fretboard map (hopefully shown below) or you can see it here: https://guitarsecrets.com/a_minor_pentatonic_scale.htm
Basically I learnt the yellow box and then added the notes up to the 12th fret, which gives you 2.5 octaves to play with, and you can see all of the root notes that are good for resolving or getting you back to base.
This will generally sound good with any 12 bar blues in A, and really opened up a whole new world of scales and playing along to backing tracks. And youtube is your friend when it comes to backing tracks, you’ll feel like a god jamming to some of their “epic rock journeys” etc, and many of them even show you the chord progressions and fretboard maps to help you along the way.
I wanna get home now and rock out, \m/
For backing tracks, Elevated Jams is probably the best Ive found on youtube…
The JB is a darker, than a regular paf, and can handle high gain better, classic paf is good for rolled off blues
Fantastic. Thanks man! I need to go over all the chords and barre chords again for a bit but this will be the next assignment!
I like the look of that one, is that a kind of matte finish?
I never wanted a strat because they were so popular, but I’ve slowly come to terms with the fact that there’s probably a good reason half my hero’s played strats.
Lately I’ve been eyeing of an “old candy apple red” Japanese strat with rosewood fretboard, kind of a 60’s reissue. It’s not as expensive as the Americans but a little bit more expensive than the Mexican strats. I’m keen to go try it but I really don’t have room for it without getting rid of a favorite.
I have one of those. Nice guitar - have mainly used it for thrashy stuff, which it seems to suit. Kept the action quite high. This isn’t a Fender, btw, but a Japanese Greco.
Yep, I love black matte finish. Its so nice…
My first guitar was a strat copy…I hated it as it was just so normal guitar shape…always wanted a Gibbo LP…but they are way to thick and heavy…love the ESP LP rip off as they are skinny and have emgs
You guys and all your spare income for premium axes!
Ha! Well I was turning 40yo and stopped drinking for a few months. I had money to burn!
My acoustic is worth more than my (Mexican) tele and PRS (SE) combined, and they can all be considered “cheap” compared to the Martins and Vintage teles and actual PRS custom guitars etc. But to me they cost a lot, so I look after them, play them a lot and I can either sell them at some point or they can become heirlooms.
Guitars are pretty cheap compared to other instruments, like pianos, or violins. I think my guitar teacher told me a cellist (?) he plays with spends $400 on a new bow every 3-4 months…
I bought one of these a couple of years ago.
Split coil pickups. Looks amazing, plays a treat.
A Martin Lx1e is on the cards soon. Same model Ed Sheeran plays/played. Want a little guitar to throw in the car with a big sound.
Not drinking definitely helps with the playing.
A Takamine EN40C I got very cheap ($360??) because a previous heavy handed owner had literally dug a hole in the soundboard with a pick. I wanted a rosewood pick guard to stick on it and couldn’t find one to suit among the thousands of mostly acrylic things online. I ended up buying some rosewood headplate, cut it to a Martin stencil, sanded it down to about 2mm, oiled it and stuck it on. Great sounding and straight guitar that would have cost 1k+ in original condition.
When I was looking at acoustics the Takas didn’t really interest me, they generally looked a bit too pale and shiny for my taste, but yours looks amazing, good work on the pick guard!
I’ve never played a big hollow body elec but I love the look of them.
I’m really hoping my 6yo kid takes to guitar soon, as it would give me the opportunity to by a smaller guitar.
I couldn’t get him a Martin for his first guitar though… I had to learn on crap, so can he. Actually, I’d probably checkout the smaller Corts and Yamahas, much better than what I learnt on…
