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-

Sunday, June 21, 2015 -- Haven't played guitar this weekend, my daughter and her BF were here, so its been time to wine, dine and entertain (and grill out -- yum!). This morning I had steak and eggs

with leftover steak from supper last night.

In the wake of trying to get the house cleaned up, it was necessary for me to put away the two guitar

cases that sat outside my office doorway. One holds my Spectrum strat, the other I bought for dirt on eBay (and it was basically brand new). So I put the Ibanez Gio GAX30 in the case, then moved them both into our videogame room, which is where my original Tobacco Sunburst Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body guitar resides in its gig bag.

So that left my office with my artic white Squier strat, my Peavey Raptor EXP (in its new gig bag), as well as my Cherry Red OE-30 semi-hollowbody and my Davison Les Paul copy. My only concern about leaving the guitars in cases in other rooms is that I'll never bother to get them out and play them. Oh well, they are store safely, and that's important.

So what's my best playing guitars (in my amateur opinion)?  The Davison Les Paul is the easiest to play; I don't claim to know squat about Gibson neck profiles and such (in fact, I've only held an actual Les Paul in my hands a couple of times); all I know is my blue Davison LP copy feels great and plays easily.

Close behind it is my Squier hard tail Strat. It really plays nicely and the previous owner must have taken care of it too -- great action, stays in tune as well (or better than) my other hard trail guitars.

Speaking of tuning, my OE-30s have never been the best when it comes to holding their tuning. They use some type of tuner that states they are Grover tuners, but I'm betting they're simply cheaper copies. I've toyed with the idea of locking tuners on one or more of my guitars.

No. 3 Best Player is my cherry red Oscar Schmidt OE-30. I like to imagine that I'm channeling Carl Wilson whenever I play it. Close behind the OE-30 is the Ibanez Gio. Despite its flaws, (and a nut that I need to replace), this guitar is a good player that keeps its tune.

NEW ARRIVAL ON ITS WAY! You've heard the saying, "Be careful what you wish for" haven't you? Well, while browsing the eBay guitar listings Friday night (the LOW end of the strata, not the custom shop Fenders, Gibsons and the like), I ran across a Behringer strat with a "make offer" tage. Well, why not shoot the owner a cheap offer?

Folks, meet the new owner of a Behringer strat! (gulp!)

This guy had a cheap BIN price, plus a make offer option, so I couldn't help but send him an offer well below the BIN price -- and he took it.

I was looking at Behringer guitars because I was thinking of buying an iAXE, their USB-capable guitar. In that process, I also saw their older, non-USB strats.

I'm not sure which Asian/Pacific factory makes their guitars, but they look like decent, entry-level quality. This guitar needs no repairs I could see, so I think I'm going to make out ok on this. I don't want another fat strat, and frankly, I didn't really want another strat. I would like a telecaster, or a Gibson or Epi SG clone.

Maybe I can practice setup on this one or something ... it appears to be out-of-the-box stock.

I'm still waiting on my PBass pickguard and parts to arrive on that slow boat from China everyone talks about.

Better get going ... rock on!

Guitar refinishing decisions, decisions ...

Friday, June 19, 2015 -- I had some free time yesterday and decided to do some more troubleshooting on my Precision Bass clone sitting in the office awaiting new parts.

It appears that fixing the grounding better on the bridge made a difference, as the single string I put back on sounds excellent now. The volume pot doesn't work, and I can't tell the tone pot does more than create static when you run it through its range. Checking the wiring, its wired so it "should" work, though the input from the pickup on the guitar attaches to the wiper of the volume pot instead of one end. That shouldn't make a difference since both pots are wired the same. I think the pots are just corrodio beyond rescue.

But when the guitar gods were smiling on me yesterday, the audio path was fine, and the audio sounded ... well, like a bass guitar should sound. I'm beginning to wish this one was  3/4 scale bass like my Musicmaster was, it was just a little easier to play that way. The full-size will be fine, I'm sure.

In addition to the complete pickguard (with pickups and electronics), I also ordered new screws for the pickguard (the originals were rusty looking).

The pickguard apparently is not the original one that came with the guitar (though the body is routed out to accommodate the PBass pickups). It looks like someone had to whittle down the guard at the base of the neck ... I guess the fit was too tight. It's still very tight, it will be interesting to see how the replacement fits.

BACK TO THE SURF (GREEN).  My poor Spectrum strat has languished in its case untouched for many weeks. I decided to go ahead and order materials for refinishing it -- oil-based wood filler, white spray primer and an aersol can of surf green lacquer. I did NOT buy their lacquer clear; I'm going to use a polyurethane or other clear for the guitar, something with some hard gloss, one that I can shoot once and be done, then polish the hell out of. I want the durability of a poly finish, not a nitro one.

RED IS THE COLOR, BUT WHICH ONE?  After reading up on The Guitar ReRanch website, I've decided that my new bass needs to be painted Dakota Red rather than Fiesta Red. Fiesta Red is an orangey red; my Musicmaster was a deeper red that better matches Dakota Red.

I'm hoping that once I have my new pickguard in place and everything is good to go, I'll fix the dings on the PBass body, sand and fill it, prime it, and then buy a can of Dakota Red from ReRanch. In fact, I might do the bass before I do the strat, simple for some practice. I will clear it with a two-part poly clear too for durability and gloss.

Another look at my new bass ...

Monday, June 15, 2015, 10:15 a.m. -- Just wrapped up doing more troubleshooting with my new

Pbass, and I think the problem is in the volume pot. If I keep working the pot, I can get some audio through it.

I have thoughts of going to the local music store and see if they have a pot or two -- 250k -- but for $19 I can get the whole populated pickguard, prewired and ready to drop in, using my pickups. Or for the same money, I can get one from China with new pickups -- an idea that makes me wonder if that's not the best route to take.

I believe the pickups I have are ok ... when I tap them with a metallic object, they sound comes thru.  I'm a little bit in a hurry to get this thing going, but hell, $19 makes it so easy to fix this thing and remove any doubts about the electronics. Includes matching knobs too (my bass is missing one knob).

There's a US ebay seller with the populated pickguard minus pickups, and I think that's the route I'm going to go. I'm not going to buy more strings today, I have the three from the guitar and I've been using to test the electronics, and that's plenty for now.

I listed my new bass on eBay last night, I'm hoping it will sell!

New bass arrives, work begins ... another bass is for sale ...

Monday, June 15, 2015 -- My new-to-me Bridgecraft PBass arrived Friday morning and I immediately began work on it. As you can see in the photos, the bridge was missing a saddle. I

ordered an entire new PBass bridge the same night I won the auction. I have to say, the replacement bridge was a perfect fit.

The body of the bass is finished in a transparent red finish. It looks nice, but it has some pretty good dings on the body and lower edge of the body has paint loss. I'm tempted to refinish the body in a solid red, like Fiesta Red and clear coat it. Then it would look very much like my old Musicmaster bass, though it has a full-scale neck.

Once I installed the new bridge, I decided it was time to check the electronics. The best I could get was a rather distorted, intermittent sound. I'm not sure the pots are bad or what's going on. One problem may be a lack of a ground on the bridge; when I changed the bridge, there was a ground wire that had been stripped of insulation that provided ground to the bridge.

When I had the guitar hooked to an amp, neither touching the strings or the bridge quieted the 60 Hertz hum from the amp -- which spells trouble.

The G string was broken, which was probably why that saddle fell off over time. Tomorrow I'm going to the local music store for a set of strings, and I would like to do some troubleshooting.

My plan is to remove the remove the bridge and make sure it has a good ground. When I had the amp plugged in, I could hear my taps with a metal screwdriver on the pickups, so they are working in some manner. PBass wiring is extremely simple and straight forward, I just need to pull the pickguard and double check the wiring.

BASS FOR SALE. I've listed a ESP bass on eBay to sell. It's brand new, and beautiful; but its more bass than I want to use. The thing really is gorgeous, but its a bass best suited for someone with

longer arms and larger hands. The thing weights 12 pounds, its pretty massive. My wife bought it for me, not knowing what I wanted. I never played it, but reboxed it up and its been setting in a closet. I want to use the proceeds to buy another guitar.

So what am I looking to buy?? I am going to buy a Chinese built Gretsch 5120 from AliExpress.com. I don't want to pay full price for a hollowbody guitar, so buying a Chinese one at an attractive (i.e. low) price sounds good!

There are some other options that are on eBay that I might pursue, like an Epiphone Emporer Swingster. Its a pretty decent clone of the Gretch 5120. The truth is I can buy the Chinese Gretsch clone guitar for less than the cost of the Swingster.

I'm also going to put my original Oscar Schmidt OE-30TS semi-hollow body guitar up for sale. I'm tempted to keep it, just because it was purchased new, but I'm thinking I would rather help fund my guitar fund. I should be able to get $200 on eBay for the OS.

Of course, I'm tempted to get an amplifier instead ... I would like something on the order of 100 watts and 2-12s.

First things first, of course ... buy the strings tomorrow, and then work to see what's up with the electronics.

OTHER GUITAR STUFF. Speaking of the Oscar Scmidt, I'm really enjoying my red one a great deal.

In addition to my new bass guitar, I also received additional parts -- two new nuts for my Ibanez Gio GAX30. I bought two in the event I messed one up. The nut on the guitar has had the crap filed out of the E and A slots, and the low E suffers from fret buzz. I'm going to put that project on hold until I get the bass working to my satisfaction.

Speaking of the bass, I also need to buy a new set of PBass knobs.

Rock on, dudes and dudettes!

Tuesday morning, 2:42 a.m. -- Don't have long to write, just some guitar thoughts ...

I successfully sniped a Bridgecraft bass guitar tonight on eBay. Bridgecraft? Who the hell is that? Well, Bridgecraft doesn't have a line of guitars; however they sell Glen Burton and other foreign-made guitars on their website.

The Bridgecraft is the same color red as my old Fender Musicmaster bass. The Bridgecraft however differs, in that it is full-size rather than 3/4 size like the Musicmaster. The Bridgecraft is a Precision Bass clone.

I got it dirt cheap; it is missing one of the saddles on the bridge. The finish actually is reddish ... it is a transparent finish, unlike the solid red poly finish on my Fender. I guess I could refinish it, eh?

The poor bass looks like it has been sitting neglected for a dozen years; its going to need a good cleaning and new strings right away. But all the hardware is there (other than the saddle).

I haven't played bass in one hell of a long time, and truthfully, once I get this guitar in good order, I may not give a crap to take it up again. However, i would like to get reacquainted with the bass so I might expand my knowledge bass ... er, "base" I mean.

I have been playing the hell out of my Ibanez Gio GAX 30 and broke the high E string a couple of days ago. The strings I put on it were some old Ernie Balls that actually had rust on them when I put them on (!). While restringing it, I realized the nut had been  hacked on pretty good by someone who must have used a dremel tool for a nut file ... the A string groove is more like a chasm. I've got the action fairly low, and I'm getting some buzz on the low E string up by the nut because the string is a little too low. I have ordered a replacement nut, so we'll see how that goes.

I have had the second guitar find on eBay snatched out of my hands AFTER the auction ended. In the second case, it was one of those Berhinger strat copies with the USB jack ... the iAXE I think its called. Anyway, the damn thing was like $24 with $20 shipping, and I got it -- or so I thought.

Later that day, the seller canceled the transaction, saying the item wasn't available anymore. What he meant to say was that "the guitar isn't available at a give-away price." Bastard.

This week I've got to get my ESP bass, its a D6 6 string model with a fretboard as wide as an aircraft carrier. My fingers would need a road map to play that thing ... so I'm going to put it up for sale. I'll finance the purchase of another guitar ... perhaps a nice tele or something else. Time will tell.

Goodnight, and rock on !

Old Blue plays great, but wow is it heavy!

Saturday, June 6, 2015 -- I've been taking advantage of Scott Grove's video library of lessons, he had the entire collection on sale for $20 -- as downloads. He also offers them on thumb drives and on portable hard drives, which makes it simple to use (and less time intensive than downloading them).

I spent some time tonight playing guitar and trying out some of the new licks I've learned, and I decided to bring out a guitar I've not played much -- my Davison Les Paul.

I'm really pleased with Old Blue every time I play it. I still have some work to do on the intonation, but its pretty close as it is now. It was way the hell out and the action was way high out of the box. But the finish is just beautiful, and it plays like a dream.

I bought Old Blue from Musician's Discount Warehouse back in December, and I've been absolutely tickled with it. I took a chance on it because it was listed as a "2nd" with possible scratches or defects. I've not found anything wrong with it yet, and I saved about $50.

I've considered buying a second LP copy, but after playing Old Blue, I've remembered why I don't play Blue more than I do -- the weight it place son my shoulder. I may have to try one of my wider, padded straps; right now I have a Fender strap -- its a narrow 1/2 -inch leather with a pad for your shoulder. It isn't nearly as comfortable as the other straps I use.

I can confirm that after about 30 minutes, my shoulder was feeling the weight with the strap I was using. Here's the stap I've been using on several of my guitars ... I bought another one recently, and

will probably put it on Old Blue.

The interesting thing about Old Blue was that it was uniformly out of tune ... all the strings were sharp. Not sure exactly why, but they were.

I've considered investing in locking tuners for my Strat ... I've never had a guitar with them, and I would like to give them a try.

I've put my Peavy Raptor EXP in a gig bag; I've mostly been playing my Cherry OE-30 semi-hollow body, my Arctic White strat or my Ibanez GAX 30. I love the OE30, it just feels good and sounds good -- though I can't say it sounds or plays better than the strat. The OE-30 is a really nice guitar that does well with country, rock, rockabilly or what have you. With that said, I was playing country with Old Blue, and it sounded pretty damn nice.

 BEST DEAL ON A GUITAR STRAP.  It isn't the most stylish guitar strap, but its one of the more comfortable ones. For less than $14 (plus shipping), this strap has a great pad that you can adjust to place it where is best for your back. I just bought another one, and will probably buy another soon. I hate having to move straps from guitar to guitar.

Time for bed and a hot shower first. G'nite.

Rocking my semi-hollow body life away ....

Friday, May 29, 2015 -- I am enjoying the hell out of playing my new-to-me Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body guitar. So far I have hidden the fact I bought another guitar from my wife; I usually play when she's either at work or in bed, so she seldom sees me playing guitar anyway.

This SX EG-6 is one of the prettiest guitars
I have seen in a long time. I love the wine
red finish, gold hardware and the binding.
Should I buy it? Or can I hide another
guitar purchase from the boss???

My intent was to buy either the cherry, black of natural finish OE-30 and then sell my original one -- the tobacco sunburst model. That was the plan (emphasis on "was"). Actually I should do that ... but I have had so much fun and gotten so much enjoyment from my new OE-30 and that I now considering keeping it and setting it up so it sounds more like the new one.

Basically, I need to do more work on the action, intonation and pickup height. Electrically, the guitars are identical; improve the setup on the TS (tobacco sunburst) model is all that's needed.

OS discontinued the OE-30 some 9 or 10 years ago I believe, but later brought it back. I just checked the 2015 price list at OS, and the OE-30s list for $469.95.

There are several hollow body guitars I would love to own, just to own them. Among my wish list are:
1. Rickenbacker, any hollow body model
2. Fender thinline Tele
3. Gibson ES-335
4. Gretsch Falcon or Brian Setzer edition
5. Epi Dot
6. Epi Wildkat
7. Epi Riveria
8. Epi ES-339

There are a number of attractive Ibanez semi-hollow body guitars, too. I wouldn't mind owning any of those under $600.

Of my wish list, it is most likely I could afford the Epi models and the Thinline Tele. Squier has a Vintage Player model priced nicely. I just wonder if the sound is more Tele or more like my OE-30?

A guitar I left off my list is the Fender Coronado. I would certainly go for one of those, in Cherry Red. The styling just doesn't sit well with me; its attractive enough, but there's something about the "f" holes that just looks out of kilter somehow. OK, make that No. 9 on my list, lol.

The Coronado does have bound "f" holes, which to me is a very nice detail. My OE-30s have bound "f" holes, neck and body front and back. Guitars with the binding look plain and utilitarian. If that's the look you want, then that's fine. For me, I like the binding. The Epi 339 and Epi Dot both lack binding on the "f" holes, FYI.

There are some nicely built Chinese semi-hollow bodies on eBay ... Grote makes a nice looking guitar for $199 ... as does SX and several others. There are several hollow body guitars with single cutaway that are more like a Gretsch for under $180 .... I'm not crazy about a full-size hollow body simply due to the thickness. One Chinese seller offers to put your own logo on the headstock for an additional $30!

The truth is that if I buy another semi-hollow body, it will likely be a used name brand or an inexpensive import. I'm not that great a guitar player to really justify spending megabucks on a really nice (and expensive) Gibson, Gretsch, etc. The top of my budget right now -- at its highest -- would be $999 (and more realistically, in the $300 range if I didn't sell something to help build my guitar fund).

I bought some roller string trees for my strat, don't have them installed yet. Hoping to see if they'll reduce friction and improve tuning (and reduce detuning, lol).

Rock on, friends!

My new Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow body arrived two days early!

Tuesday, May 19, 2015 -- I should be in bed, or the shower at least, but I wanted to give an update on my latest arrival.

My new Oscar Schmidt OE-30 looks like this one with some
some differences: Mine doesn't have covered pickups, the pickup
switch is in the upper bout, and the jack is on the edge, rather on the
top of the guitar. See below.

Sometime late Monday afternoon, my new-to-me Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body guitar arrived on the front porch. I just happened to check eBay and it said it was delivered -- oh boy! Christmas in May!

I was a little concerned at the fact one end of the box had just about busted open -- the last damn thing I wanted was to open the box and find my purchase just a pile of mahogany splinters. But on opening the box, I was very, very -- extraordinarily -- pleased to see my like-new cherry red OE-30 peeking at me from behind layers of bubblewrap.

I inspected her closely and she was undamaged ... and beautiful. The cherry red high-gloss finish was perfect. It is a transparent finish, and you can see the woodgrain. This guitar was well setup and the action is low. The pickups have been adjusted nicely, and damn, does it play very very well!

This guitar is what my tobacco sunburst OE-30 looks like.
My new cherry OE-30 has the same layout for the controls
and output jack, which is on the edge of the lower bout.

I spent about 45 minutes playing it ... I know its  the same as my tobacco sunburst OE-30, but it felt different, if that makes sense. The strings need changing as they sound a little dead, but it was still great to play.

On my original OE-30, I  need to raise the action on the high strings a little, as they don't ring out well when you go down the neck. I didn't have that issue with the new OE-30. I just love it. I put my tobacco sunburst OE-30 in its gig bag, I'm really planning to put it on eBay ... its a guitar I bought new, but I don't need to have two of them.

The OE-30 is an affordable way to have that ES 335 vibe or Epi Dot without the expense. Oscar Schmidt is owned by Washburn, and Washburn has their set-neck semi-hollow body, the HB 35 -- but the difference in price is substantial, and I mean hundreds of dollars more.

And let's be perfectly honest here -- I'm not a professional guitar player. I just like to play and learn about guitars and play better. I've had thoughts about trying to play with the church group just to get a a little experience, and learn from those who are better than I am.

I took a good look at the damage on my original OE-30, and its stable; in the years I've had it, there's been no change in the cracks. Most people don't even notice the damage, it isn't that visible.

So for now, the tobacco sunburst OE-30 is going in the gig bag and the cherry one is in the office ready to play. I really need to go ahead and put the TS one on eBay.

Oh, a couple of things I will need to address on the new one -- a couple of the pots are loose. I can fix that, no problem. I'm thinking of some speed knobs for it, rather than the gold witch hats.

Well, maybe later. Gotta go for now.

Rock on!

My Fender acoustic is more rare than I would have believed ...

Thursday, May 14, 2015 -- Had time today to pick up my Fender acoustic that I restrung a week or so back. The new strings really make the old girl come alive again .... you forget how dead those old strings can make a guitar sound.

All Fender Gemini IIIs were black with the same binding,
pickguard and fingerboards. The top is spruce, the body
and neck are mahogany.

While I had the Fender handy, I remembered to check the label in the soundhole to see what model this thing was. My guitar is a Fender Gemini III, a low-end acoustic model that's really fairly rare these days.

My research tells me Fender only made the Gemini III for a short time -- a year to 18 months. They were all made in Korea; some of them were available with electric pickups and a rudimentary EQ. I bought mine new for $200 from a long-closed music store in Louisville. I had to decide between the acoustic and the electric acoustic models ... the cost difference was $50 if I remember correctly.

It was probably the best $200 I've ever spent on a guitar. I've owned this thing since 1988 or 89, and its been like a Timex watch -- I've never kept it in its case, its been beaten up, knocked around, fallen over and taken the type of abuse a guitar takes from just sitting around -- and it has never missed a beat. In fact, you won't find many marks on the thing despite the careless treatment

I've given it over the years.

It isn't exactly a top-end guitar, either. But it plays pretty well and is durable. According to Fender, it has a spruce top and mahogany sides and neck. Its a dreadnought guitar, and as such, it gets uncomfortable to play after a while because of its size and my shortish arms. I still enjoy the heck out of it though.

I've seriously considered buying a thinline acoustic of some sort, but I'm faced with the fact I can't play it freely when folks are sleeping. I don't really need another acoustic ... of course, when has "need" ever stopped me??

After my research about the Fender and restringing it, I think I'll try to take better care of it ... its hard to believe its more than 25 years old. The case is upstairs, perhaps its time I use it, eh??

Rock on!

Repeat after me: Gotta read the fine print ... gotta read the fine print ...

Tuesday, May 12, 2015 -- I'm a little pissed at myself over an eBay transaction, but its one of those

deals where you live and learn.

I own an Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body guitar with a tobacco sunburst finish. I bought it new, but it had damage on the lower bout near the f hole, the edge was crunched a bit, cracking the wood slightly. I bought it cheap and it plays fine and always has. The one thing I have never really been fond of is the color.

The tobacco sunburst is indeed a beautiful finish, and my OE-30 is still in beautiful condition. But I'm not in love with the color. I have always wanted a red semi-hollow body, or black, white or natural finish. And you see red, black and white ones on eBay, but I'm not willing to pay $200-plus to replace my damaged-but-mint-to-me guitar with one of the color I like -- until last night.

There was an auction for a used OE-30 in Cherry Red that was going to end in a few hours. Opening bid was $100, so I entered a bid of $121, believing it would be a bargain at that price. When I got home last night, I was shocked that my $121 bid won the auction! Bargain, eh?? Oh?? What's this??

The one detail I missed was the seller's shipping and handling price. Usually its $25 or $30 tops for domestic shipping on any guitar ... this guy was asking $50 to ship it! Yikes! Suddenly my guitar becomes a $171 guitar ... still a fair price, but about $20 more than I anticipated, even with shipping.

So now I'm wondering what to do ... will I sell my OE-30 once my red one arrives? That's a possibility. The seller only posted one photo of the red OE-30, so I think I'm going to look it over once it arrives and make sure it is what I want before I list mine. If it isn't what I want, its going back on eBay.

I'm kinda kicking myself now, but a deal is a deal.

Speaking of my OE-30, I was playing it last night and this morning, and after playing my Squier Strat, I realize now that there's more setup work to do on the OE-30. I need to get the intonation better, which just means taking more time to get it zeroed in. I haven't really done much to dial-in the string height either. All in due time ... depending on if I decide to sell it or keep it, lol.

Gotta run ... rock on!

My Arctic White Squier Strat -- I think I'll keep her!

Saturday, May 9, 2015 -- OK, I'll admit that once I had the wiring corrected on my latest guitar acquisition, I figured there would be damn little left to write about.

This guitar is the only Fender (well, Squier by Fender) stratocaster I own, and I've wanted a true SSS strat simply because I've not owned one over the years. Yes, my Peavey Raptor is a strat copy, but it is a fat strat, with a humbucker in the bridge position. None of the guitars I own (save for the Jazzmaster) have a single coil in the bridge position. I've wanted a true SSS strat, name brand or not. (Technically, I DO own an SSS strat copy -- the Spectrum strat project that's still awaiting me in its case).

So after re-assembly (and finding all the damn pickguard screws after I accidently scattered them all over hell, west and crooked) it was time to play the thing.

Following a tip from Scott Grove, I took the strings out of the string tees on the headstock, as they aren't always needed and are mostly a source of friction leading to tuning problems. Plugged her in, tuned it up and -- WOW!

It sounded like a million bucks! Just for kicks, I checked the intonation to see how bad it was, and boy howdy was I fooled -- it was SPOT ON. In fact, none of my other guitars have their intonation set as precisely as this one. And the action -- its low and easy. It plays like a damn dream.

Obviously, this guitar was professionally set up at some point prior to its wiring problems. It looks like the nut was filed, the strings set well in the slots, and the action is nice and low without buzz near the nut. This thing set a new standard for what I'm going to need to do with my other guitars ... I want them all to play this well!

There's only one blemish on the guitar body, a small chip on the inside of the top horn. The pickguard also has a small scuff on the edge near the middle pickup. Nothing big.

I really, really enjoy the strat's tonal qualities, which I think are far and above the Peavey SSH Raptor. Of course, I think I'm going to have pay attention to the setup on the nut and truss rod and see if I can duplicate the Squier's ease of play.

Rock on!

New axe arrives in one piece, and all is right with the world ...

Wednesday, May 6, 2015 -- Been busy today but took time to drag the big cardboard box on my front porch inside to the living room -- my new-to-me Squire Bullet strat!

Come to Papa! Woot!

The seller had it packed mostly in newspapers -- ugh! -- but when I got down to the axe, he had it wrapped in copious layers of bubble wrap. Thank you, seller!

When I had her unwrapped, I found what I expected -- a gently used Arctic White Squire strat in excellent shape. I plugged her in to my V-Amp to check if the description was accurate -- the electronics were inoperative.

That description was the key reason I bought the guitar ... guitar electronics are really pretty damn simple. I don't really get the mystery and mystic about guitar wiring and components. They really are simple.

The first place I started to check was to remove the output jack. Bingo! There was one wire on the jack, the signal wire, which was wired to GROUND. There was no ground wire at the jack, which makes me wonder how the hell it EVER worked.

With the pickguard removed, all of the electronics looked good. I'm not sure where the ground wire went, but I'll need to add one to go from ground to the output jack. Other than that, I'm not sure yet what else is wrong.

Interestingly, this strat has a hard tail bridge -- no tremolo! I'm not complaining, at least this will be one guitar I can keep in tune (and I don't have to block the trem to make it happen!). Actually I can't complain about m Peavey Raptor strat copy ... its Fender-style trem actually stays in pretty good tune.

I'm going to keep my eye for future projects on eBay. I really, really want a Telecaster or a new semi-hollow body guitar. I don't have the budget for anything much, but it doesn't hurt to look.

I'm still in the market for a short-scale bass, which are plentiful and cheap brand new. I just need to come up with some additional cash first (and an OK from my wife).

Rock on!

POST SCRIPT, May 6, 2015, 11:55 p.m.  Thought I would update this entry and report my "DUH!" moment and record it for posterity.

The mystery of the missing ground to the output jack was solved tonight -- after I went to the trouble of adding a ground from the pots to the jack. The schematic I referred to indicated a separate ground wire from the pots to the output jack -- but that's not entirely correct.

The red "wire" that ran to the ouput jack was not actually a "wire" -- it was a "shielded cable," though it did NOT look like one. The wire attached to the output jack (the ground, no less!) looked like one stranded single conductor wire.

Had looked closely at the other end of the cable, I would have noticed that it was two conductors; as my son often says, "There's your problem!"

I had it back together (with an separate ground wire) and when I plugged in my amp, it sounded like a dead short to ground -- despite the 60 cycle hum one heard when touching the tip of the 1/4-inch guitar plug. Once I plugged the cable into the guitar, it went completely silent -- no hum, no nothing.

So back apart she comes.

I removed the ground I just ran, and clipped the cable and very carefully stripped back the outer insulation to review the inner conductor. This was one itty-bitty cable (at least for my fat fingers it was). I tinned the cable ends, then connected them to the output jack. I hooked the amp up and pecked on the pickups -- ah! My first sign of life from "Whitey"!

I'm going to go back into the office and reassemble her and then see what she sounds like. I know this is a low-end guitar, but its given me a bit of a challenge and something to look forward to working on. Next I suppose I'll see about giving her my own lower-tech-than-most setups. I'm looking forward to seeing how it sounds. More to come -- and hopefully soon.

eBay seller backs out of guitar sale, time to snipe another one

Saturday, May 2, 2015 -- The guy whose had the Spectrum strat for auction on eBay reneged on the sale after the auction was closed. I paid him and I never heard anything from him, and eBay never showed the damn thing shipped.

I sent a couple of messages and waited until he finally responded with an apology, and a lame excuse that he couldn't see it now, it fell off the wall and was damaged.

Bullshit!

The only thing damaged is his pride -- he had no reserve on the auction, and I won the auction with my bid of $36. I think he just decided not to sell it. Period. He didn't get enough to suit him. Sorry about that chief, but it really isn't my problem. What kind of damage happens to a strat that falls down?

I was unhappy with the excuse, but I haven't raised a ruckus. He probably thought it would bring more ... it was a good looking tobacco-style sunburst, I expected it to go for twice what it did.

So, no new guitar coming ... or is there??

I keep prowling the low end of eBay looking for my next project, and found a likely prospect -- an arctic white Fender Squire strat. It looks really clean too. Seller is a pawn shop in Fort Worth. I paid more for it, but I'm glad that its a Squire strat rather than a Spectrum. I'm not wild about the color, but I'll live with it. The guitar's issues are that its dead -- nothing from the electronics. As simple as guitar electronics are, this is likely to be a very, very simple fix.

This guitar will be here next week, and I'm looking forward to getting it here and starting work on it.

This strat is the traditional three single-coil pickups, rather than the "fat strat" format I have in the Peavey Raptor EXP. I'm not real sure if I'll find a great deal of difference in the quality of the Squire

strat vs. the Peavey ... guess I'll have a chance to check that out myself, eh?

IBANEZ BOOGIE. I have switched from playing the Peavey back to the Ibanez Gio GAX30 for my nightly jams. The Ibanez is a shorter scale guitar, and I can confirm it just is easier to play. It's like putting on my old flannel shirt. Its a lightweight guitar too, I just can sing its praises enough.

I've also been playing my Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollow body, kinda switching off between the OE-30 and the Ibanez. I enjoy both, but the OE-30 takes a little more work to play. I have to say that of any of my guitars, the OE-30 just feels great in my lap. I love the look of the guitar too ... the bindings and tobacco sunburst are just gorgeous. I'm really wanting a red version of a similar guitar, but those tend to be the name brand, and they ain't cheap!

Enough guitar talk for now, I need to go jam.

Little Ibanez still a goodun'

Monday, April 20, 2015 -- Over the weekend I switched my guitar of choice from the Peavey Raptor strat copy and started playing the Ibanez Gio GAX30. I like my Peavey (other than the constant need to retune periodically), but the Ibanez just impresses me each time I play it ... its a well-balanced guitar, easy to play and I think I have the pickups dialed in pretty well. The high E string needs to be raised just a bit, its a little dead when you're trying to sound that string close to the nut .. it may be the

need to check the neck relief.

8:55 a.m. -- But overall, the little Ibanez is winning me over from my Peavey strat. The Peavey is a "fat strat" -- two single coil pups and the bridge is a humbucker. I'm really wanting a strat with the traditional SSS arrangement, and I keep looking at inexpensive Squire strats on eBay.

I'm jonesing for a telecaster, too. Big time, preferably a surf green one, lol! Red, black or butterscotch works too. But I already have a project guitar I really haven't started -- my  Spectrum strat.

The Spectrum project appears to have been a traditional sunburst originally, but the finish has been removed from the front and back of the body. The original finish still exists on the edges, however, which is kind of weird. I really don't want to remove the rest of the finish simply because I don't want to have to worry about sanding off the finish and screwing up its (currently) smooth bout edges.

So the plan is get some sanding sealer and work on the body extensively to get it as smooth and level as possible. After that, I'll paint it, possibly surf green. I've tentatively offered it to my daughter as a blank canvas, but she is so busy she doesn't seem interested.

I need to order the supplies to prep the body, so that's the first step.

-30-

First one, then the other ...

Saturday, April 11, 2015 -- I've been rotating which guitars I've been playing, and this week I've taken back up with my Oscar Schmidt OE-30. It really is a beautiful guitar, save for damage on the lower main bout. There's a couple of cracks in the top at the lower "f" hole, though I'm not convinced these are wood cracks or just finish cracks.

The guitar plays great; I got the guitar dirt cheap on the chance it would play OK ... so far it has.

One interesting note ... for the majority of my guitar playing over the last few years, I'm seated. Well, last night I'm playing "California Girls" with the Beach Boy's 50th anniversary live album, and decide to play standing up a while.

Actually, playing was quite a bit easier because the neck was in a more comfortable position in relation to my  left hand. I'm thinking a tall stool might be a better way to sit and play, rather than my office chair.

Anyway, I've decided that I really, really like the Elixir polyweb strings I put on my  Peavey strat. I have 9s on all of my guitars right now, so when I need to order another couple of sets, I'll buy polywebs I think.

HARD TAIL STRAT?  Every time I pick up my Peavey, I have to retune it. Sometimes it needs returning while I'm playing. This is just part of the tremolo issue I know, though my Peavey doesn't have the tremolo arm, it still has the strat-style tremolo mechanics.

I've decided I'm going to block the tremolo on mine using half-dollars and dimes. It will be an easily reversible mod that should help improve its tuning stability. The mod I saw on Youtube places the half-dollars (taped together in a stack) on the bottom of the tremolo mechanism, and two dimes taped together on the other side.

The bridge on mine stays relatively flat, but I know it shifts some when played. Of all my guitars, it is the one that needs retuning most (of course, all the rest are hard tails).

Rock on!

Enjoying my guitars, planning for my next one ...

Saturday, April 4, 2015 -- Been playing quite a bit in my spare time ... I purchased some lessons

from Scott Grove of Groovy Music Lessons ... I bought like 4 lessons and received an additional 10 or so free. The only problem I have with Scott's lessons is that you have to be pretty damn good to start with ... or have pretty big hands to cover the fretboard as well as he can. I'm not there, lol.

I'm still browsing Youtube and finding some good tidbits there, including some really nice pseudo-surf riffs that really sound unique by picking the notes and playing the chords right at the bridge -- nothing really new, but a nice technique for creating a different sound regardless of the guitar and pickups.

I recently switched from my Ibanez Gio GAX30 as my go-to guitar and picked up the Peavey Raptor strat clone. I recently put some Elixir polywebs on it, and it plays very very sweetly. I've got too many guitars leaning around my office ... the Peavey, the Ibanez, the Oscar Schmidt OE-30 semi-hollowbody, with my Davison Les Paul copy back behind the table. I don't have a hard case for the OS or the LP and I don't have funds to buy them. Actually, I'm more inclined to sell the OE-30 and don't think I'll invest in a case for it.

MY NEXT NEW AXE.  OK, I've decide what I'm going to buy next, and I'm prepared to sell some

of my other hobby stuff to fund it -- my next guitar is the Musicvox Spaceranger.

Yep, I've fallen in love with the funky, chunky look of the entire Musicvox lineup. The Spaceranger is the most radical of the line, followed by the Space Cadet and the more conservative looking MI-5. The company is based in the U.S., but from what I understand the guitars are produced in Indonesia. The reviews I've read have been nothing but glowing -- and the videos really highlight the range of tones, the quality of the fit and finish.

I'm going to liquidate some of my other hobby collection, and probably my OE-30, in order to fund the purchase of a new guitar or two. Musicvox has a couple of guitars listed on eBay, and there are a couple of used Musicvoxes listed in auctions.

Actually, I'm looking at the custom edition Musicvox guitars ... one with three pickups. It's on the order of $1,200 new, but that's still reasonable compared to a new Fender Strat.

There are still some guitars I have the hots for ... I want a real Telecaster, preferably in surf green; I

would like an Epiphone ES335 or similar guitar; heck, let's add a Rickenbacker 12 string, a Fender Musicmaster bass like the one I once owned. Or how about a Fender Jaguar? Yep ... I also would love to have a Gretsch Chet Atkins, though I really need to skill to play it effectively too.

GUITAR I ONCE OWNED.  Browsing eBay recently I was pleased to come across this little jewel .... it was believed to be a Teisco guitar though it didn't have a label, and neither did the one I owned. The machine-tooled metal pickguard looks much like that found on several models -- in fact, its identical to the pickguard on at least one Teisco model.

The one I owned was given to me by Kevin Fuller, a roommate I had when I lived in Jasper, Ind.  Kevin and I were electronic technicians for a company that manufactured electronic organs (the musical kind). Kevin had a beautiful Gibson SG -- cherry finish, late 60s or early 70s vintage, it was the real deal.

Anyway, Kevin owned this beaten and bruised Teisco guitar. It was pretty junky, to be honest. If I remember, it had some neck issues. I didn't know spit about setting up a guitar at the time, hell, I

played bass mostly, as well as my pre-CBS Fender Jazzmaster. The JM arrived setup beautifully, I never had to touch it.

The Junkmaster (as I called it) featured a single pickup. The action was soooo high you couldn't play down the neck beyond the fifth fret. The neck wasn't securely mounted, and the single pickup was so microphonic you could speak into it it like a microphone.

It was interesting to see the example on eBay, which was actually in better shape than the one I inherited from. What was also surprising was the price it was listed for ... had I know there would be a collector's market for these cheap Japanese guitars, I wouldn't have GIVEN the damn thing away!

I've seen a variety of Teisco models for sale on eBay, and they're certainly unique. I wouldn't mind finding one, but I'm sure not interested in paying what they're asking for. But that's just me.

-30-

Stick a fork in 'er and call 'er 'done' ...

Thursday, March 12, 2015 -- The correct pots for my Ibanez Gio GAX 30 arrived earlier this week. They were identical to the first set I received except the shaft was longer. The first ones were

Before photo.

designed to be mounted on thin material like a strat-like pickguard. The Ibanez pots are mounted in the body, therefore, the threaded mount had to be longer to accommodate the thickness of the wood in the electronics cavity.

As a guy who has spent his life in electronics, I find it a little funny when guitar people say they "replaced the electronics" in a guitar -- meaning the pots and the pickup switch. Pickups are usually described individually if they are replaced. In guitar world lingo, I suppose I "replaced the electronics," though all I really did was to replace the two bad pots with new ones.

The three-way switch was fine; I've read about guys replacing perfectly good pots and switches and swearing they make the guitar sound different. I strongly suspect that its a lot like the effect I get when I wax my car -- it seems to run better after putting that much sweat into making it look nice.

Of course, cheap-ass pots can get dirty and scratchy, as well as wear quickly. Replacing them is indeed usually better than replacing them. But I don't think my amplifier can discern between one 500k pot and another, and I really don't think it is going to change the quality of the output signal (unless the pot is somehow defective anyway). I know guitar folks also talk about replacing the capacitor as well, but here again, unless you are changing values, I don't know that there's any real difference between caps.

Anyway, late last night I finished installing and wiring the new pots and mounted them. The new pots DID make a difference because the old volume pot was dead except for one spot that gave me about half output level ... it was one of those deals where you had to hold your tongue just right in the corner of your mouth to make it work.

The new "electronics" installed, this morning I had to find the speed knobs I received some time back. It took some searching, but I finally found them on my desk. They were the final touch that marked the Ibanez's official completion.

At full volume now on a clean output, I noticed a little bit of buzz on the low E string ... the saddle needs to be raised a bit I think ... once I find the hex wrench that fits it, lol. But overall, the guitar plays easily and sounds good ... a much more aggressive, metal sound than my strat copy. I was going to take a photo of the completed guitar, but I really need to clean 'er up and get the dust out from around the pickups and the headstock.

I'm still not sold that these pickups are the best, though I generally read good things about them. One reviewer said this model Ibanez  has an "SG vibe" .... Not sure about that, the way I remember it, a Gibson SG is a heavier instrument.

The GAX 30 is lightweight and comfortable to play ... the neck is fairly narrow at the nut, which is an important consideration for someone with smaller hands (like me). I think its pretty much the same scale as a typical strat or strat copy, though it has 22 frets vs. 21 on my strat (the extra fret on the Ibanez has a final fret at the very end of the neck at the body end, whereas the strat copy does not).

Overall, I really like the guitar and I've been impressed with Ibanez's overall build quality (for a Chinese-made low-end guitar). While the finish on my Chibson looks better than the Ibanez, the build quality is superior on the Ibanez (or that's my experience with it ... your mileage may vary).

Anyway, my wife is home waiting for me to come upstairs and go down on her for her first orgasm since her hysterectomy ... don't want to keep her waiting. Here's to sex and rock 'n' roll!! (" 'Cause two out of three ain't bad ....")

Rock on!

My first try with coated strings ...

Thursday, March 5, 2015 -- With a snowstorm under way last night, I decided to restring my Peavey Raptor with my new set of Elixir super light coated strings.

The honest truth is that this is my first set of coated strings I've owned; I've known of them, but frankly, as an amateur player, I've never felt the need to pay double or triple the cost for strings. For example, I recently bought a pack of 5 sets of strings for just a little over the price of the coated Elixir strings.

I really had to put some thought into which guitar to restring ... I've been playing the Ibanez as my go-to guitar lately. It's light and just a nice player. I hadn't played the Peavey in quite a while, and I had forgotten how sweet it plays too.

I love the sound of new strings, and the Elixirs certainly sounded beautifully bright and clear. I'm anticipating that these will last me quite a while given the fact I'm spreading my playing around between several guitars.

Right now I have restrung the Ibanez and the Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow body with "standard" strings, and they too sound really good. You forget how crappy old strings make a guitar sound. You don't have to convince me that coated strings will be more cost effective over the long term, but when I can buy quality uncoated strings cheaply -- and given the fact I'm not gigging professionally -- I'm going to give coated ones a try and see how long they last.

I played the Peavey for a while, and boy howdy, those strings sound great! I think I'm going to continue to evaluate coated strings and watch for some deals on eBay for two or three-string sets. We'll see!

Rock on!

Dialing 'er in, enjoying the jam ...

Sunday, March 1, 2015 -- After playing my Oscar Schmidt semi-hollow body for a while, I decided to switch to my Ibanez Gio GAX30. The OE-30 weighs on the order of 10 lbs, and playing the guitar irritates my still-sore left shoulder (some days worse than others, of course).

The little black-on-black Gio needed some additional tweaking anyway. The new pots haven't arrived, so I don't have the new speed knobs on ... in fact, I have to be careful not to bump the volume pot or I'll lose my signal path from the pups to the output jack. The new pots are coming from China, so here's hoping they'll arrive soon.

One thing I didn't really realize is that some version of the GAX30 came equipped with the same speed knobs I purchased for mine. On later versions, the guitars were equipped with metal knobs (chrome or black). I've also seen versions with different pickups, including what look like P90 pups, and also one GAX30 with EMG-style pups.

I've continued to tweak the pickup height, trying to find that sweet spot between "loud enough" and "too damn loud its distorted." I've run across some very good YouTube videos that discuss setting pickup height, and its been very helpful. After several nights playing the Ibanez (and tweaking the

pup height) I think I have found that desirable middle ground. I'm very, very pleased with how it plays now ... it is a very sweet, easy-playing guitar now. It's fairly lightweight, the action and intonation are good, and there's no damn tremolo to deal with.

Speaking of tuning, I've found the weather and temperature seem to affect the Ibanez. Last night when I picked it up, the tuning was sharp on every string! Some more than others, but all were sharp. Not sure why, but I expect there's well-known reasons why.

But the Ibanez hardtail bridge eliminates any variance from a tremolo, and frankly, I don't miss a trem at all. I'm thinking of blocking the tremolo on my Peavey Raptor just to improve its tuning. A tremolo arm didn't come with my Raptor, and I've never had one on it. Why the hell have the trem system in place if all its going to do is screw with the tuning?

It probably comes from familiarity, but the Ibanez just feels going when you play it. It's like it becomes part of me or something, rather than his foreign slab of wood hung on a strap over my shoulder.

According to eBay, the pots should be out in my snowed-in mailbox. Maybe I'll retrieve them today, I would like to replace the pots and get be able to declare the Ibanez completed. Next project will be my Spectrum strat copy, which is going to need to be refinished (the body anyway).

I'm still looking to paint it Surf Green, though not sure if I want to try to use automotive lacquer or paint from a luthier shop. One thing I'll have to do is spend a lot of time prepping the wood, filling the grain, etc. I probably should go on and purchase the filler and primer and get started on it. First things first, though .... I gotta get those new pots installed in the Ibanez.

Right now I'm using a cheap-ass nylon guitar strap on the Ibanez ... I need to order another quality padded strap like I have on my Chibson, my Peavey and my Jazzmaster. A quality strap sure makes a difference in keeping shoulder pain away.

NEW AXE?  I keep looking at guitars on eBay, all the while knowing my wife is off work the next six weeks and adding another guitar to my collection will be a very tough sale. I've seriously considered buying a red semi-hollow body and selling the OE-30 (it is a tobacco sunburst), but that sounds petty.

I still want a telecaster, plain and simple. There's an eBay seller who has a surf green one for $109 shipped. I would need to replace the bridge in order to intonate the thing, but that's doable. I'm just not sure however of what that tele copy is going to offer me different from what I already own. I'm not the best player in the world anyway, and I've wondered if I shouldn't just focus on being a better player rather than buy more guitars.

I was following an auction for a very worn hollow body that needed lots of TLC... always looking for a new project that is within my skill set. I keep finding Gibsons for sale cheap, only to find they have split headstocks. Nope, not something I'm interested in. Next week I hope to cruise the local pawn shops and see what they may have hanging around for sale. I'll report back on what -- if anything -- I find.

Rock on!

New strings make a difference ...

Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015 -- I decided to take a moment and put a new set of strings on my OE-30 semi-

hollow body guitar. It hit me last week that I've owned that guitar for a couple of years, and though I haven't played it, I haven't changed strings either.

The strings were larger gauge than the ones I've used, which are usually Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings (basically .09 to .42). Sometime back I bought a six pack of Fender strings of the same gauge and put a set on my Ibanez Gio. I just finished putting a new set on the Oscar Schmidt, and wow, does it sound and play differently!

One improvement is that it did away with the slight buzz on the low E string, and boy! Does it sound brighter! I'll go back to it later this evening, but I'm looking forward to breaking the new strings in and playing the OE-30 with new strings.

Speaking of strings, I have also ordered a set of coated strings, which offering much longer life. I'll put those on my Peavey when they arrive, and I'll have a full review posted here.

Rock on!