Catching up a little bit ...

Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, 11:50 p.m. -- Can't let the month go without an additional update in this space.

No, no new guitars acquired lately, just been playing a lot at night ... and now my left shoulder is giving me fits, telling me *not* to buy another guitar as heavy as my Davison Les Paul clone!

Its frustrating, too, because I have straps that have a shoulder pad, and I still have pain. Perhaps the strap isn't wide enough, I dunno.

My go-to guitars lately have been my two Fender Squire strats -- my tobacco sunburst with the cracked body, and then the arctic white hard tail. Oh, can't forget one of my non-strat favs -- cherry red OE-30 semi-hollowbody. I've enjoyed playing Johnny Rivers tunes on it ... Rivers seems to almost always use Gidson ES-335s, either red or sometimes black. My OE-30 is a pretty close clone to the ES-335. I've thought that the next guitar I buy will either be something along the lines of a Epi Dot, or more likely, the ES-339, which plays about like the 335 but is smaller in size. The body of the 335 (as well as my OE-30) makes playing it a little cumbersome. If I can get a knock-off clone of the ES-339 (that's playable), I might take the plunge. The ES-339 isn't that expensive to begin with, so maybe that's where I should set my sites.

BEHRINGER? I HARDLY KNEW HER!  I have a couple of guitars in gig bags that I seldom play -- my Behringer strat clone and my Ibanez GAX-30. I broke out the Behringer the other night to give

it a try, and wow, was I in for an unpleasant surprise!

I haven't played it in a while, but I had forgotten how shitty the pickups sound! I've been playing my Squires and other guitars exclusively for months, and complain you may about the Squire strat pups, the Behringer sounded horrible! They just sounded distorted on every setting -- not loud and distorted, but just trashy at any volume left (with the exception of "0").

I'm tempted to buy a set of Squire pups for it, just to see if I can improve its sound. I don't think I can hurt it much!

I'm off to play some more, probably my OE-30, and probably to some Johnny Rivers. Rock on, Garth!

Update from the field ...

Jan. 6, 2016 -- I decided to post an update lest my readers (reader??) think I've forgotten about my little corner of the web.

I continue to practice just about every night, from 15 minutes to an hour. For several nights I went so long that I irritated my left shoulder, so I'm trying to keep the time down for a while.

I mostly have been playing the Tobacco Sunburst Squier stat (the one with the cracked body) and my Arctic White Squier strat. On occasion I'll play my Cherry Red semi-hollowbody (its really nice when I'm playing Johnny Rivers tunes).

I have not yet fixed the crack in the Sunburst Squier ... I keep playing it. The main problem the crack seems to cause is allowing the tuning to shift more than one might expect, even with the Fender Tremolo. I need to bite the bullet -- remove the neck, fix the crack and go back at it. Before I do, I'm going to have to make sure I have sufficient clamps to hold it tightly together.

I also have not done a single thing with that disassembled strat copy I bought that had the finish sanded off the front and back. I bought the supplies to paint that Surf Green, just need to get my ass in gear and do that. Life seems to get in the way, lol.

First thing is to find the painting supplies I purchased. Wish me luck on that. Yeah, I know, I should have freaking labeled them ... they may be in the corner with the damn guitar. Perhaps I'll check that out tomorrow.

Lots of to-do's on my to-do list.

NEW GUITARS? Nope. The last guitar I bought was the sunburst Squier.

The only guitar I've decided to part with is the bass guitar I rebuilt this summer. As stated in an earlier post, I had never tried playing a full-size bass guitar before this one (my first guitar was a Fender Musicmaster bass, which was at the time an inexpensive 3/4-size bass). What I would like to do is to sell it and apply the proceeds to another guitar ... perhaps even a 3/4 size bass.

My foray back to playing bass hasn't been that satisfying ... of course, I'm not very good at it, either. But I may just keep the proceeds and apply them toward something I want more -- a Gretsch (or Gretsch clone).

That's it this time. Keep rockin'!

HSS brown sunburst Squire strat is all its cracked up to be ...

Saturday, 12:45 a.m. -- Just a few minutes to write here before bed ... my wife is heading for a girls' trip to Cape Hatteras for the week, so my son and I will be batchin' in for a week.

I have been short of extra funds to do much buying on eBay ... besides, I'm a little "guitar poor" right now, a guy can only have so many Fender strat copies, you know? Or so I thought ... stay with me here.

I was looking on eBay for another fix-it project. There's no shortage of screwed up guitars; I prefer those in good physical condition (decent body and neck) and the electronics can be crap. That I can work on. Anyway, I've tired of my Behringer strat, and have returned to playing my Arctic White Squier as my go-to guitar ... between that and my Oscar Schmidt OE-30CH semi-hollow body in Cherry Red finish. Oh, so sweet!

As I may have written some time back, I finally got the licks down for the arpaggiated chords as played on the Beach Boys "Sloop John B" --- thanks to watching Al Jardine trying to play an acoustic version of the song on an unfamiliar guitar. The OC-30 offers a richer sound than the single coils on the strat, but that's probably to be expected. Carl Wilson played it on a 12-string Gibson ES-335. I've never owned a 12-string, and I've been hesitant to buy a cheap one simply because I don't know for sure I can play the damn thing worth a hoot.

Anyway, while browsing eBay last weekend, I ran across a Squier Strat with the brown sunburst ... it reminded me of my Jazzmaster, which back in the day had a special and exclusive to the JM tri-color sunburst. This Squier's problem was a split in the body. A crack had developed from the neck over to a seam where the wood was joined together. The crack split the finish along its lenght, which is about 7 or 8 inches.

The crack doesn't affect the guitar one iota. The action is great, it stays in tune and it works and sounds like one that isn't cracked. I bought it from a new guitar dealer who sells damaged guitars on ebay at a significant discount (he removes the logo and serial numbers from the guitars).

And the guitar was brand new in the box -- just had a crack in the body along that seam for about 5 inches. I decided that I would make the seller an offer and then once I got it, I would remove the neck and force the crack open and inject some good quality wood glue into the gap, then clamp it tight.

I'm not sure why the body cracked, but I think on Chinese import guitars, cracks along those glued-together seams aren't exactly rare. The wood dries out and simply shrinks, and this happens.

I sent an offer -- lowballed them -- and sure as hell they accepted my offer. It plays very well --  better than my Squire strat which is an SSS strat.

So I'm left to decide the question -- do I try to glue the body or just play it as-is?? I'm very tempted to leave well enough alone and enjoy the guitar.

Well, I need to get to bed. More about the guitar and how much I love playing it to come!

With a little work, even a POS guitar can be worth playing ...

Wednesday, July 15, 2015 -- Its been a while since I posted here and I had taken a break from playing every day simply because I had other things to take care of ... work was crazy for a while, requiring me to spend time working on assignments at night. But I digress ...

I'm happy to report that my cheapo Behringer strat is on its way to become a nice playing little guitar. I'm actually a little surprised given my initial evaluation of the guitar.

The tremelo took some work because the thing wouldn't stay in tune worth spit. I watched several YouTube guitar videos about making the Fender-style trem work correctly, though my initial thought was to simply block the damn thing and be done with it. I did take the tremelo arm off, simply because I don't use it. But after a little work adjusting it, I did get it where I wanted it, and it stays reasonably in tune. All my strat copies seem to be more prone to tuning changes ... my best in-tune guitar is my Oscar Schmidt OE-30. I picked it up the first time in weeks today, and it was still in great tune.

The action on the Behringer took some work too. The action was way high (as mentioned in my earlier post). The pickups were way hot to the point the bridge and neck pups sounded distorted. I dropped them down and that sure mellowed the sound! I also fine tuned the bridge saddles to take care of the buzz on some of the frets on the lower strings.

So far, its playing much better, and I'm very, very pleased with it. I'm not sure what the body is made of (basswood?), but it is very lightweight and feels good to play. But lets not forget its a very inexpensive beginner's guitar -- it has a single-ply pickguard, maple fingerboard, and in true Henry Ford style, is available in any color you want -- as long as its black.

ALL ABOUT THE BASS.  I keep plugging away with my PBass clone on a regular basis, determined to try to get accustomed to the bigger scale and much longer neck. I've decided to keep it (imagine that!) and to continue to work at my skills ... which right now simply means getting accustomed to having my left hand get around the fretboard.

I need to get some bass guitar instructional materials ... it would be useful even if I sell this bass because I would likely replace it with a 3/4-scale one.

I have a video lesson from Scott Groves of Groovy Music Lessons on country bass guitar, and I think I'm going to give it a try. I recommend Scott's lessons, he's quite a talented and versatile musician. I wish I could play anything as well as he does!

OTHER GUITARS ON THE HORIZON. Well, I have just about hit critical mass with guitars that I'm able to have in my office without creating a firestorm of crap with my wife. I've been fortunate that I've been able to get all of my guitars at a good price, espeicially the latest acquisitions like the bass and Behringer.

On my want list is a Fender Telecaster of some sort (probably a Squier), and a Gretsch 6120. Actually, I'm looking at a Chinese-made Gretsch copy because I don't have three grand to spend on a guitar. I can get the Chinese Gretch for under $400, which makes it affordable.

Anyway, that's my shopping list. I'm not really looking that hard, I've got other things to take care of -- including trying to improve my playing skills!

-30-

Where did the years -- and my bass playing -- go???

Saturday, June 27, 2015 -- Today I got the new strings on the PBass clone, and got them on and was trying to tune up when I remembered I had loosened the neck screws to get the pickguard free when I took it off the first time. I loosened the strings and then tightened the neck, THEN went back to tuning.

My nearly 30-year-old memories of playing bass guitar are pretty hazy, and when I plugged in the bass into my amp, I felt a little like a pig on ice -- it was like completely unfamiliar territory. Then I realized why -- the scale. My Musicmaster was a 3/4 scale, while this PBass clone is full-size. Now I see why my buying that 3/4 scale nearly 40 years ago was a lucky accident.

My hands don't feel big enough for the PBass -- well, they might be big enough, but I'm not used to running my hands all over the neck. Even running a boogie bass line had my fingers searching for the right fret.  I think what it amounts to is 25 years of guitar playing without the chance to play bass -- short scale or otherwise.

I'm considering just putting the bass back on eBay and using the proceeds to buy a 3/4 scale bass. This one has a new Fender bridge and all new pickups and electronics. It sounds good ... the only thing I might want to do is lower the bottom pickup, the top two strings seem louder than the top two.

In the meantime, I probably need to break out my spectrum strat body and start the refinishing project. I might even go buy a new strat pickguard and electronics, just to simplify things.

Rock on!

Pickguard arrives from China ... turns out size matters

Friday, June 26, 2015 -- My new pickguard for my PBass clone arrived today from China. And sure as heck, I should have guessed that the pickguard wasn't the same size as the original one.

Oh, it was close, but the part of the pickguard that goes around the neck was about 1/2-inch shorter than the original one. The rest of it was pretty good, though only a couple of the original holes lined up.

The guard wouldn't fit the neck width without whittling, so I decided to simply move the new electronics to the old guard. That was easy. Getting the pickups set was not.

The pickups on the PBass don't attach to the pickguard like they do a strat; They mount to the body of the guitar with long screws. The pickups originally had foam blocks under them; however, the new pickups were taller, so they sat too high ... the strings would rattle them. So I used 3 layers of foam tape to create about half the original foam's thickness. We'll see how that plays. If I have to I can raise the action if the strings hit the pickups (or tear it apart and remove a layer of tape.

With the new pickguard installed, I put one of the old bass strings on it just to test the electronics. Wow, it sounded great -- however when I ran the pots over their range, I got some scratchiness --- from brand new pots! I'm not going to mess with the volume or tone on the bass, so it isn't really a big deal.

The new pickguard had some shielding tape covering the electronics; the original one did not, and I wish I had put some on.

Tomorrow I'll tighten the neck back up and put the new strings on and see how she plays. I haven't played a bass guitar in 25 years or so, and I've never played a full size one like this Bridgestone PBass clone.

The body has taken some hits and the finish is messed up on the bottom edge. I'm thinking of painting the body red like my old Musicmaster -- a solid red, rather than the translucent red that's on it now. The wood grain isn't that spectacular to show it off or anything.

But in the meantime, I'll try the bass out and see what she sounds like.

REFINISHING SUPPLIES. I don't know if I mentioned it, but my refinishing supplies arrived for my strat clone. A can of wood grain filler, a can of primer and a can of surf green lacquer. I'm going to use an automotive clear coat on it once its painted. I need to get that guitar out of the case and disassemble it and start on it. We'll see how it goes.

Rock on!

'Behringer Blackie' arrives ... once worked over, the thing might even play ...

Thursday, June 25, 2015, 1:30 a.m. -- Just finished working on my new guitar that arrived today, the Behringer strat copy (the pre-iAXE 393 model). It wasn't due for delivery until Monday, but I'm very happy to have delivery of it today as I had some time to mess with it.

The eBay seller said it was like-new and had hardly every been played. That much I believe 100 percent -- it was barely playable the way it arrived. The guitar obviously wasn't played, and no real attempt was made to set it up to make it playable.

TRUSS RODS. The guitar arrived in some semblance of tune, but before I worried about that I checked the neck relief. I have trouble really getting a good eye for relief, but this one obviously had more bow than you would like. I made a minor truss rod adjustment to reduce the relief to just about nothing.

TUNING? The tuning on this thing was a mess! Every string's tuning changed when I moved to the next string. The tremelo has some issues, I think the springs are weak. I screwed the claw down to increase the spring tension, but the rear of the bridge was still a little higher than I like. I think I'm going to block the trem and eliminate the tuning hassle.

ACTION. The way you can tell this guitar wasn't played beyond the "gee thanks!" moment was the string action -- it was way, way too high to be playable. Fortunately, this guitar came with a cable and the two allen wrenches necessary to adjust the action and the truss rod.

I had to lower the string saddles on the bridge a tremendous amount on every string. This brought the action down and really made a difference in playability. I think I've avoided string buzz, but time will tell. Once the action was lowered, I was able to get the intonation dialed in.

The pickups may need to be lowered because the string action put the strings so much closer to the pickups, but we'll see how it plays tomorrow. I'm beat, and I'm heading to bed!

-30-