I thought I had a deal on a Fender Squire strat ... or did I?

Saturday, Jan. 31, 2015 -- Several days ago I was browsing eBay listings for cheap guitars ...specifically, Fender strat clones and Squire strats, looking for a cheap project guitar. I ran across a guy with really nice Squire Strat (SSS), which is what I was looking for. My Peavey Raptor is an

HSS fat strat, and I really wanted a guitar with all single coils.

This Squire was was an eBy auction, and it was low enough I thought "Why not bid?" My top bid was $44, which was cheap enough. However, in my haste I forgot to look at what the seller was going to charge for shipping. In this case, the shipping charge was nearly $50 -- way more than I expected, and enough to push my potential winning bid into "More-than-I-want-to-pay" territory.

But still, a Squire SSS Strat in excellent condition is worth $100 shipped, so I didn't sweat it much. The auction ended earlier today, and sure enough I had the winning bid. But when I checked my email this evening, I had a notice that the seller canceled the sale. WTF??

Not sure why the seller canceled the sale, other than perhaps it didn't bring the money he or she was expecting. If you consider the final cost ($43 plus his shipping charge), I think he probably should have set a minimum bid.

Why wasn't there more action on this auction? I'm sure the seller wondered about this. My best guess is that it is due to the heading he had on his listing ... which simply said "Electric guitar." It didn't mention any brand; since it was a Fender Squire, it would have been advantageous to list it that way -- it sure would have attracted more bids. Squire strats usually bring more money, especially one in nice condition like this one. The seller is an eBay newbie, which probably explains the missteps.

I'm actually relieved the seller canceled the sale; I didn't really want to pay that much for the guitar ... and I already have two guitars coming next week, the disassembled strat clone and the Washburn fixer-upper. I DID take time to tell my wife about them, and her main concern was that they would not slow my work in painting the bathroom. I assured her they would not.

SSS GUITAR REVIEW VIDEO.  I'm a big fan of Scott Groves on YouTube, also known as Dr. Groovy, and I thoroughly enjoyed the one I watched earlier today. Scott reviews his favorite single coil pup guitars, which include a vareity of axes, including G&L, classic Gibson, a Fender James Burton Strat with strat-o-tele switching and others.

It was a very educational look at the differences between a wide range of single-coil guitars. Clearly, the traditional Fender Strat single coil pickups are typically more trebly and thin-sounding than most of the ones he demonstrated. One of the biggest differences was the lack of low-end on the neck pickup on the traditional Fender Strat compared to other guitars he demonstrates. It has me wondering if a pickup upgrade might be worth playing with on one or more of my guitars. Guess I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

I'll have more to report once my guitars arrive in the coming days. Wish me luck that I don't wind up with two piles of assorted (useless) pieces.

Rock on!

My wife is gonna kill me, I know ... BUT ....

Jan. 30, 2015 -- My son just toddled off to bed, and I'm going to the music room shortly to jam a while. I had the opportunity to tell my wife tonight that I bought another guitar, but I did not -- she came home tired and not in the best of moods.

So now I have to amend my plans to tell of her about my purchase -- not cancel, but amend -- because about 8 minutes ago I pulled the trigger on a Buy It Now for another project guitar -- an Ibanez Gio GAX30-TR.

For $40, I got the guitar in excellent physical condition; however the knobs are missing and it looks like a nut has backed all the way off the tone control.

The Ibanez Gio GAX30-TR is a double cutaway entry-level guitar with dual humbuckers; it has one volume and one tone control, and a three way switch -- a strat-style switch rather than the traditional toggle switch found on Gibson guitars.

The Gio line dates back to the 1990s; the GAX30 began production in 2003. The shape of the body resembles a squatty SG, with more rounded edges and horns. It was equipped with a hard tail bridge and a pickguard ... not exactly a Cadillac of guitars, I know.

Unlike the strat clone I bought yesterday, this one does not come with a hard case, just a gig bag. On the plus side, this one is assembled, and beyond missing knobs and the selector switch knob, it appears complete. The auction listing notes the guitar does not work; it did not show the jack plate, so it could need work or simply be missing. I'll wait until it arrives to see what parts it may need. It came equipped with speed knobs from Ibanez, so I'll be looking to replace them ... the rear compartment cover is in place and doesn't look messed with ... is it possible the knobs were removed and all this guitar needs is a little work and a new set of strings??

To placate any concerns my wife has of my growing guitar fetish, I'm thinking of selling a the Oscar Schmidt (by Washburn) OE-30 hollowbody I have. I have owned it for years, but never played it much. I bought it very cheap due to some damage and figure I can get my money out of it. It plays well, features a tobacco sunburst finish. It is very similar to the Washburn HB-35 hollowbody series, with the exception the OE-30 has a bolt-on neck and the Washburn has a set neck. If my wife gets anxious about the "collection," I may shed the OE-30 ... I would prefer a HB-35 anyway.

Enough of this, time to jam a while!

New guitar is on the way ...

Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015 -- The family all went to bed early last night, and so I had plenty of time to enjoy some guitar playing. I decided to play "Blue," which I hadn't done much lately ... haven't played any guitar the last couple of days.

Old Blue

I'm always pleasantly surprised when I pick up Blue and feel how well she plays. Of course, I'm not a professional, and I'm not an expert guitar player, so please consider my reviews are based only  limited skill level. Scott Grove I am not.

But I do love playing, and I'll admit that in the last few months my steady practice has built my confidence, and I actually feel like I'm playing better.

Blue has a couple of dead notes down past the 12th fret, I'm sure its a fret height issue. The truth is that the action on Blue is lower and easier to play than any guitar I've ever owned; I've decided I'll address the dead notes when my playing skill makes those notes more important.'

Part of my reasoning is that I want to build my luthering skills ... and I want to experiment on a guitar other than Blue. I want Blue to be the benefit of my education on guitars, not a victim, lol! And I sure as hell won't experiment on my new Jazzmaster.

Want to hear something silly? I have yet to play my Jazzmaster through an amp. I have her in the case, and haven't really played her to any degree. Why, you ask? My home office/junk room is packed full of "stuff" and I have two guitars I keep in there -- Blue and my Peavey Raptor fat strat. Playing any guitar in there is tight quarters, and it is hard to play without banging the b

ody or the headstock against something. I don't mind some damage to the Peavey, though I'm very, very careful with Blue. I absolutely don't want any damage to my Jazzmaster, and I'm not going to chance playing her in those cramped quarters.

This is not the guitar I bought, but it looks just
just like this one!

NEW GUITAR?  I have to break the news to my wife that I have another guitar coming. I never really told her I bought Blue back before Christmas, so I'm already kinda hiding one guitar already.

The newcomer is a Chinese Strat copy sold under the Spectrum label. The headstock is nearly identical to the Peavey, which is no surprise; they were probably produced by the same Chinese company.

The guitar either is blonde or has had the finish stripped from it and is natural wood. It had a very cheap Buy It Now price because other than the neck mounted to the body, the rest of the guitar is in pieces. The seller says all the parts are there .... the pickguard has the appropriate electronics, the tremelo and springs all seem to be there. In the photo, the pickguard is not attached to the body, its just laying in place. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to get, but the guy promises "its all there."

It will arrive early next week, and I'll see if I've bought a pig in a poke or just exactly what.

I'm not sure exactly what I'll do with the new guitar ... first assemble it and see if it is all there, then consider refinishing the body. I'm partial to surf green, lol.

I have debated buying a strat or strat copy given the fact I own the HSS Peavey. The only difference between the Peavey and the new guitar is that the new one has a traditional single coil pup in the bridge position instead of a humbucker. For the 50s and 60s surf and rock I enjoy playing, I don't switch in the humbucker that often, and I have wanted to buy an SSS strat for a time now -- I just didn't want to pay retail price.

NEW PICKUPS FOR BLUE?  I've been watching YouTube videos, and there's some good stuff out there about upgrading Chinese Les Paul copies. The truth is that all but the top-end guitars are built overseas anyway, and they aren't all  crap -- but the quality can vary widely.

One YouTube guy replaced the stock Chinese pickups with some good quality aftermarket pups, and he demonstrated the difference the new pups could make.  It was an upgrade of about $50 or $60. I think the ultimate lesson here is that if the guitar you get from China has a decent neck and can be intonated, it is probably worth an upgrade.

The YouTube guy says his upgraded LP copy plays nearly as well as the real thing, and it did indeed sound great. One of the things he mentions is that the stock pups sound ok at low levels, but tend to get muddy at high volumes. I think I'll keep an upgrade in the back of my mind, and if my skills take me to the point my skills warrant upgraded pups, I'll spring for them.

SURF GREEN PAINT.  I've not had a lot of luck finding a source for Surf Green paint for refinishing a guitar. An eBay seller sells rattle cans of the paint -- not exactly my first choice for quality finishing. I'm thinking that it might work if I do a basecoat/clearcoat -- spray one or more coats of paint to provide even holdout and color, then coat the body in a lacquer or polyurethane clear coat. That's a plan, we'll see if it pans out. For those interested in refinishing a guitar, there's a LOT of excellent videos on YouTube about ways to do so.

Enjoying my guitars is the name of the game ....

Wednesday night - I have been enjoying the heck out of my new Behringer V-Amp 3, and have been playing both my Peavey Raptor and my Davison Les Paul clone.  I've done a little more fine tuning on "Blue" (a guy has to name his guitar, doesn't he?) and while it isn't perfect, the damn thing plays so smoothly its crazy.

When I decided to pull the trigger and buy Blue, I'll admit I was very concerned about buying a cheap guitar with a set neck. I have always believed that a bolt-on neck offers more options in the realm of repair, reworking and re-doing. And its easy to replace the neck if you fudge things up really badly.

With a set neck, not so much. I've seen some really cheap -- broken -- set neck guitars on eBay. I guess my worries are amplified by buying a really inexpensive set-neck guitar. If I was dropping $800 on a real Les Paul, I would expect it to be right the first time. But when I had the chance to select a new guitar, I should point out that I chose my Jazzmaster -- a guitar with a bolt-on neck.

I keep browsing eBay, and I still have a hankering for a surf green guitar. I really like the idea of buying a true Fender strat rather than a clone, but I already have my Peavey "Fat Strat" -- if I am going to drop coin on a new guitar, I would like it to be something new and different.

"New and different" in my book at present can best be defined as "a surf green Fender Telecaster." Of course, I would LOVE a Fender, but the damn truth is that I'm not ready to drop that much money to buy the real deal. I can easily afford a Surf Green Tele copy from a couple of different labels --- and probably all manufactured and exported by the same factory in China. I don't have a big problem with that; I figure I can spend time fine-tuning a cheap Tele ... I enjoy messing with guitars, though I'll admit that I worry about the odds of receiving a poorly made Tele that -- for whatever reason -- won't intonate. I'm probably worrying about the "might happens" a little too much. I should just pull the trigger (i.e., click "Buy It Now") and enjoy the world of Telecaster ownership.

Tonight I've been looking on eBay for a cheap -- very cheap -- strat clone. My thought was to buy a regular strat copy -- regular strat, not fat strat -- and refinish it in surf green. My "Best Offer" was just countered with a price higher than I'm willing to go (I'm being very, VERY cheap on this project). I've found that I could get one of a different style guitars in surf green on Rondo Music's website. Or hell, maybe I should save money and buy the real deal one day down the road.

That's not a bad plan ... in the interim I could work on improving my playing, which I certainly need to do.

Rock on guys, I'm going to plug up and jam.

The cat's meow ...

Sunday, Jan. 18, 2015 -- I plan to blog a bit before I go play guitar with one of the neatest pieces of audio hardware I've ever owned -- the Behringer V-Amp 3.

I have been playing guitar for nearly 40 years, both acoustic and electric, as well as bass, and the one thing I've never really messed with were effects pedals. My old VOX Buckhingham had several "effects" -- distortion, vibrato and a killer reverb. But that was it. One of my roommates who played a  killer Gibson SG -- a 1966 -- had a fuzz pedal he gave to me when he moved out ... it was nothing more really than an amp that pushed into regulated distortion. I tried changing some resister values in it, but there wasn't much more it could do that distort. I played with it some, including playing my bass thru it -- but it disappeared during a later move.

I've long wanted some sort of effects, and have been looking for a long time at modeling amps, which have been able to offer a variety of effects built into a single amp -- no need for separate pedals. And modeling amps are surprisingly afford able.

While looking at modeling amps, I ran across the Behringer V-Amp 3, a solid state device that takes the term "modeling" to a whole new level.

The V-Amp 3 offers 32 different type of simulated amps which can be paired with any one of 15 different speaker cabinets -- simulated speaker cabinets.

I may wind up with this Surf Green Telecaster clone.
I'm still debating if I should pull the trigger
(and if my wife would have a cow if I did).

ABOUT THOSE EFFECTS. The V-Amp 3 includes top-quality effects, including reverb, chorus, flanger, phaser, rotary, auto wah, echo, delay, compressor and a variety of combinations of these effects. There are also 125 presets -- which combine one or more effects with an amp/speaker cabinet combination. It's a surprising array of combinations that give the user a bunch of sounds to start with.

Each preset can be modified -- you can change effects as well as a full range of volume, gain and equalizer adjustments. Its a dizzying array of combinations, really, and a great deal of fun to simply play with.

Right now I have computer audio going into the V-Amp 3's auxiliary input thru an included USB interface ... I monitor the combined mix through the V-Amp's headphone output. I have also run the ouput mix out of the V-Amp 3 via the line  out and run that into my 15 watt practice amp. It sounded really, really good, too.

In some reviews of the V-Amp 3, users complained about the abundance of settings and how difficult it is to find the sound you are looking for. The instruction manual also includes a chart that describes each preset and the sound it offers. It isn't rocket science to determine what sound you seek.

This is an odd shaped body, but very
similar to the Jazzmaster in overall
form and function. It is available as
a hard tail, with this Jazzmaster-style
tremelo, or a trapeze tailpiece.

Once you use the V-Amp 3 a while, you can flip thru the presets and watch the indicators (i.e., the quadrants that describe the general style -- rock, blues, metal, etc. ) you quickly can determine by which LEDs are lit to get a general idea of what the preset does and the sound it offers.

And perhaps I'm easily impressed and easily entertained. I've had a ball using the V-Amp 3. Oddly enough, when you look for YouTube reviews about the V-Amp 3, nearly all of them are foreign language videos! I've wondered if I shouldn't do one in English just to sing the V-Amp's praises.

It isn't something new, of course, it was preceded by the V-Amp and the V-Amp 2.

WHAT ELSE DOES THE V-AMP 3 DO? The unit comes with a four or five generic cable setups ... using it to jam with a PC, using it to record to a PC, running the unit through a guitar amp and running the unit through a house PA/sound system.

Right now I am running Spotify audio from my PC through the special USB interface to the V-Amp. The same USB interface allows you to send your signal from the V-Amp to the PC for recording. The V-Amp came with some multitrack recording software that I have installed but haven't tried.

There are accessory pedals you can use with the V-Amp 3 to gig with it ... it a very versatile unit ... its easy to select the preset number (say, 13) then you chose A, B, C, D or E as far as the individual subpresets. It would be easy to add the presets to the set list, and you would have so many at your fingertips.

Enough babbling for tonight. More tomorrow!

Once upon a time, there was a man with a guitar ...

Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015 -- As first posts go, this one will be chock full of ... "stuff" lets call it, so hang on for the ride, dear reader!

Due to the fact my other interests (work, hobby, etc.) are way outside the realm of the hobby this blog is devoted to -- music and guitars -- I have decided to create this new blog.

Me? I'm no stranger to blogging. My background is in journalism; I've kept journals on paper over my many years on this earth, and 15-plus years ago started my first blog.

My Fender Musicmaster bass was identical to this one.

GUITARS? WHAT ABOUT GUITARS?  My interest in guitars goes back to my earliest memories, say, 4 or 5 years old. My oldest brother graduated high school in 1964, and he and my sister played guitar. It was nothing unusual to hear them play and sing at our house. My brother and his friends had a little singing group that played some gigs locally ... folks music mostly. When I was 7 my sister taught me a few chords on her big dreadnought guitar. I had a hard time handling it and forming chords. She graduated high school and went off to college; her guitar went with her.

Fast forward to 1973. I was a high school freshman who had just discovered The Beach Boys. I immersed myself in their music and studied them feverishly. I learned to sing the falsetto harmonies on their surfing and car hit songs. I admired Brian Wilson and wanted to learn to play bass like he did. I discovered the group's "Pet Sounds" album the following year, and I was never the same. For the first time, I found music that expressed perfectly the inner doubt and introspection that I was experiencing. I decided to pursue guitar -- especially bass guitar, which was what Brian played. I saved my money from high school graduation and purchased a bright red Fender Musicmaster bass. I was given a Yamaha acoustic guitar about this time, and it was a sweetie that I learned basic guitar on. I played the Yamaha like crazy, and played the bass along with my favorite records and learned bass guitar riffs.

My pre-CBS 1961 Fender Jazzmaster was a very sweet guitar.
I hocked it and my Musicmaster bass in 1986 when my wife
and I were unable to pay that month's rent.

I went to work as an electronic technician for a company that manufactured organs for professional and home use. A lot of my fellow techs had music backgrounds. We often jammed after work. At work one day, one of the techs told me he had a vintage Fender Jazzmaster he had owned for years and might sell. I was game, and paid him $200 for a near mint condition 1961 pre-CBS Jazzmaster. What a sweet guitar it was!

My first "amp" was a homebrew concoction -- I took a preamp board and final amp board from one of our organs, added a power supply and two 12 inch speakers, and had an amplifier we called the "AbDan-o-Tron."  The name came from me and my fellow co-conspirator who helped design and build the amp --- my nickname was "Abdul" and his name was Dan. The "AbDan-o-tron" was born -- and boy howdy, did it play!

In the next couple of years, I bought a vintage 1966 Vox Birmingham Super Reverb amplifier, which replaced the AbDan-o-Tron as my main amp. My move to second shift took me away from my fellow musician buddies. I left a couple years later to move to my hometown and get married. I left most of my furniture but took my guitars and amps, of course.

A couple of years into our marriage, we were flat broke and needed to pay rent. We had already been to our parents begging for money and decided it was time to sell some things. My beautiful Jazzmaster and Musicmaster bass (with hard cases) went to a pawn shop. I got a loan for $250, a loan I couldn't repay in time to keep my guitars.

I have mourned their loss ever since. My wife promised me one day she would by me a Gibson Les Paul to make up for the loss of my guitars. That was almost 30 years ago.

In late 2014, my wife handed me a Musician's Friend catalog and told me to pick out a guitar. WTF?? I had released my wife from that promise decades ago. I told her I wouldn't do it, there's more important stuff to spend the money on.

At the time, I still had guitars -- I had a Fender acoustic I bought in 1993, and a Peavey Raptor EXP I bought in 2002. I still played, but did I needed a new Les Paul or other new guitar? No, I told her.

But my wife insisted; she gave me a budget and told me to spend it on a guitar. She wanted to make good on her promise from years ago.

I could have had  my choice of guitars, but I kept going back to one -- my Fender Jazzmaster. It was still available in the tri-color sunburst like the one I had, along with the tortoise shell pickguard. They had several models in other colors that were in stock; the sunburst was back-ordered. I bought it anyway, as well as a hard case for it.

KINDA SORT LES PAUL.  In the weeks I waited, I got the itch for a new guitar, and I was

watching lots of auctions on eBay. You could buy Stratocaster copies for well under $100 all day long (even Fender Squire Strats). I considered a Telecaster, but I was drawn to some of the others, like the Dean twin humbucker guitars, the Epiphone Les Paul models, the Epi ES335 hollowbody guitars and others.

After researching Chinese-made Les Paul knock-offs, I decided that's what I wanted -- though I didn't want a "fake" Gibson Les Paul. I opted for a branded guitar that was indeed a Les Paul clone (or about as close as the Chinese get these days).

Enter my Davison Les Paul clone. It was incredibly cheap, and I knew it was a $100 crap shoot -- I could wind up with a piece of crap guitar. But my research found that "Chibson" guitar makers have improved their quality control in the past four or five years. And that's been my experience with my Davison Les Paul.

The finish is perfect; nice set neck.. The bindings are perfect, and the neck is bound; frets are well-dressed too. But one side of the bridge was cranked WAY higher than the other side ... WTF?? The action overall was high, intonation sucked. I worked with the guitar to lower the action and then get it intonated. It made a huge difference in playability. I'm sure there's work left to do (I have some slight fret buzz on the Low E string .. probably a high fret), but the thing plays very well right now.

I've also fine tuned the adjustments on the Peavey Raptor, and it too has improved playability as a result.

I'm checking eBay for other guitars I might want, and there are several.

SURF GREEN FENDER ANYTHING. I am in love with the surf green guitar color (though I wanted the tri-color sunburts on my new Jazzmaster, my next favorite is surf green).  I'm thinking of replacing my Peavey Raptor (an HSS guitar with two single coil pickups and a humbucker at the bridge) with a surf green Stratocaster clone with the typical three single-coil pickups.

The color is available on Squire Vintage Modified Strats, and that's an option too (a $300 one, lol!). I'm also considering the Strat clones, and also a surf green Telecaster clone. Not sure about guying a Telecaster ... I enjoy the contoured body of the Strat and JM. Very comfortable to play.

Enough for this first entry, I'll close now and write more later.

Rock on, folks!