This is reducing my work production by 18.3 %.

Everytime I click one of those links I go off on an hour long ebay search for guitars and amps.

I really want an SG these days.

Mick, that jap strat could sound goddam amazing with good pickups in it. No matter what, do not sell it. Japanese build quality is very well respected in fenders, and if it's set up right, it should be a great player.

Spend $150 or so on some fender vintage shop reissue pickups. Clean 'er up, have her set up well maybe if she needs it, and it'll be much more useful to you again.


Or yeah, buy something new. I probably would.

My '88 Squire Strat is Jap-built and has served me very, very well. Great-playing guitar. Hell, friends of mine with $1500 Les Pauls consistently ask me to borrow my guitar for certain gigs and recordings.
Change out the pickups if you don't like them. Because, yeah, that thing is a workhorse.

Yeah I think I'll end up doing both.

Which is the pick of these Teles? One's a 2002, the other a 93, both MIJ:

http://www.tymguitars.com.au/forsale_guitars_02.html

http://www.tymguitars.com.au/forsale_guitars_13.htm

you gotta scroll down a bit.

And if this thing doesn't turn into a bidding shitstorm by tomorrow arvo I'm definitely snapping it up.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 3DWatching

U.S. made for under a grand? Shit I could turn around and sell it for like 1700 straight away. Plus it's within driving distance.

Both look to be pretty much the same except for the wood they're made out of. The '93 sounds like it has a couple more dings in it but that really wouldn't bother me. The pick guard color as well.

The '93 is made out of alder and the '02 is out of basswood.

I found this concerning the different types of wood. Do with it what you will:

Basswood (Tilia americana):
This is a lighter weight wood normally producing Strat® bodies under 4 lbs. The color is white, but often has nasty green mineral streaks in it. This is a closed-grain wood, but it can absorb a lot of finish. This is not a good wood for clear finishes since there is little figure. It is quite soft, and does not take abuse well. Sound-wise, Basswood has a nice, growley, warm tone with good mids. A favorite tone wood for shredders in the 80s since its defined sound cuts through a mix well.


Alder (Alnus rubra):
Alder is used extensively for bodies because of its lighter weight (about four pounds for a Strat® body) and its full sound. Its closed grain makes this wood easy to finish. Alder's natural color is a light tan with little or no distinct grain lines. It looks good with a sunburst or a solid color finish. Because of its fine characteristics and lower price, Alder is our most popular wood and it grows all around us here in Washington State. The tone is reputed to be most balanced with equal doses of lows, mids and highs. Alder has been the mainstay for Fender bodies for many years and its characteristic tone has been a part of some of the most enduring pieces of modern day contemporary music.

I don't like basswood bodies all that much. They don't sound remarkably bad in any way, they just don't have much flavor to them. And alder is my favorite, actually.

Busty and I have strats that have exactly the same pickups in them, both US made, mine from 88 and his from 94, same mfr of pots and jacks, same tremelo bridge, everything. My body is poplar, his is alder, and his sounds noticeably more balanced and sweet. Mine gets more brittle, more harsh up high and doesn't have the same sweet midsection. Now these differences are maybe MAYBE 5-8% of the total sound. But side-by-side into the same amp, you can hear it.



As for the teles, that second link to page 13 didn't have a tele on it when I clicked. But the 2002 is about as basic and stable a platform as you could ask for. If you describe who/what you want it to sound like, I could give you pickup choices that would do it. I've done a lot of p/u swapping over the years, and with only 2 to buy, it's easier and cheaper to switch up a tele to better pickups than a strat. No tremelo to mess with + strings through the body = stable, solid guitar that keeps its tuning well and sustains a long time.


I have a 97 deluxe plus exactly like this one



but with a fender broadcaster in the bridge and re-wired to switch like a real tele (middle pickup only comes on via the mini toggle), and I have come to realize over the last 5 or 6 years that it is head and shoulders the nicest guitar I have ever owned, and one of the nicest I've ever played. FUH.

I won the bid on that USA tele for 950.

The steal of a fucking lifetime.

Let's hope this dude doesn't renege or something, 'cause it will mean I miss out on a couple of others that are closing soon for cheap...

Awesome.

Times a bunch. Congratulations.

I owe it all to you fine people.

Oh kickass!

I keep one guitar downstairs lately to get my calouses back (visiting Bloor and a few others next month), and after all this tele talk, I switched from one of the homemade ones to the old 89 US tele. Fuck I love that guitar. Lake Placid Blue, tortoise pickguard.

She just arrived this morning. Beautiful condition.

[img][375:500]http://photos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v648/124/17/603790634/n603790634_5919303_2323733.jpg[/img]

Magnificent day. No more rain.

[img][375:500]http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v648/124/17/603790634/n603790634_5919304_5380060.jpg[/img]

[img][375:500]http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v648/124/17/603790634/n603790634_5919378_1967203.jpg[/img]

2 things:
1. Gorgeous guitar.
2. I wanna live where you live!!! Dayum!

but how does it sound/play?

Looks like she's missing the tophat knob from the pickup selector, no? When you get another knob, there's a trick to keeping it on. Take a big pair of pliers with cutters on them and gently, GENTLY put the selector blade into it sideways and squeeze. That is, you wanna put little dents into the thin edges of that toggle switch, not too much, so that there's friction when you put the knob on, so it won't just slip off. Glue is too permanent.


And congrats, that's fucking awesome. Great guitar.

I'm just house-sitting my dad's house in the Tropics while he's in Europe. Staying up here for another month or so, doing university externally via distance education, it's fucking great. Much more suited towards my way of learning. Swimming in the sea every day, going fishing whenever I want to, though this Summer has been the wettest ever on record, the coast is just being continually bombarded with cyclones and tropical lows. Sun finally came out so I had to snap a photo of those clouds hanging over the island. Even once I move back down South I don't think I'll go back to contact hours study.

My amp is in transit from my old place so I haven't had a chance to play it properly yet Phil, but it feels great.

And I'm gonna pick up a new pickup selector knob some time this week. I'll give your method a try, Cap'n.

this might as well go here, as no one in real life can provide me with a certain answer...

Is playing an organ at high volumes through a solid state guitar amplifier going to do any damage to anything?

most likely no, but if you do the tweeter will go first, then the woofer. i wouldn't set the volume and tone all the way to ten or anything... leave the tone flat at halfway and dial the volume until you can reasonably hear it.

I'd watch the "pre" volume more than anything. If the keyboard is pushing too much on the front end of the amp is where you will typically run into problems. Roll back the pre and get your volume from the Post or Master volume.

Basic rule of thumb: start with everything nice and low and work your way up.

So a guy near me is selling a barely played 72 Telecaster Thinline for $600, which is one I've had on my wish list for a long time now. And yes, technically I do have the money to be able to afford it, but I don't really have the justification to buy another guitar at this point in my life. Still...its so very tempting right about now. Should I get it or no?

These guitar threads make me regretful that I never learned to play. Maybe I'll go Larry Jon Wilson and pick it up at age 30.

This aint the place to find people to talk you out of a thinline. Don't let some random douchebag get it!

Yeah right? Also, Poptodd is on his way to Jersey to grab that guitar.

*sigh*
I wish...