Category: New Arrivals

We live in a golden age for guitars and gear, and I’m on a mission to explore as much as it as possible.

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New Arrivals: December 2021

There were two pieces of second hand gear that I really wanted to try this month. Both are in stores some distance away. One is a (tweed!) amp that’s only available for collection, and the other is a guitar that I’ve no experience with (so I’d need to try a couple of other examples first to help me understand whether it’s a good example or not).

Unfortunately, the pandemic is back with a vengeance here on Plague Island, and we decided that it wasn’t worth the risk of infection just for a couple of pieces of guitar gear – no matter how nice they might be.

That left the private sales second hand market, where popular and interesting pieces are currently going for quite high prices. Too many buyers chasing too few items, I guess.

I did manage to pick up something though, and I had a blast with it.

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New Arrivals: November 2021

You know the old joke about how you wait ages for a bus, and then three turn up at once? It’s been a bit like that with second-hand gear.

Five of my bucket-list items turned up on the second-hand market this month. I could only snag one of them. The three guitars and the amplifier were well outside my budget atm, and the only sensible thing to do was to hope that they bring joy to the people who have bought them. It just isn’t worth going into debt for a hobby, not to me anyway.

What was the one bucket-list item that I did get this month? And what else found its way to the Hermit’s Cave? Read on to find out 🙂

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New Arrivals: October 2021

Towards the start of the month, something in me snapped. That’s the best way that I can describe it. I looked at three guitars that have fallen out of favour this year, and said to myself, “why am I not sorting this out?”

All three guitars have the same issue: I just don’t get on with their pickups atm.

One of them (The Squirrel) has a stock pickup that can’t compete with its sister guitar (Hedgehog). One of them (Dexter) has stock pickups that just deeply disappoint. And one of them (the Charvel) is already on its fourth or fifth bridge pickup, and I’m still not happy.

So this month, it’s new (to me) pickups all around. Is this going to be money well-spent, or an expensive disappointment? Read on to find out.

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New Arrivals: August 2021

For the first time (that I can remember) since I started this blog, there have been no new arrivals this month.

Last month, I got my bucket-list amp: the Fender 57 Custom Deluxe, and I’ve been enjoying it so much I just haven’t been bidding on any second-hand items that have come up for sale.

Along with that, I’m back working for myself once again. I need to get some invoices raised and paid before I can afford to pay myself any wages, and that’s not going to happen until September.

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New Arrivals: July 2021

This month has been a very special month. A couple of purchases I’ve been working towards unexpectedly all came together at the same time. And then I learned that you really do need to be careful what you wish for!

The second-hand market remains pretty flat. I did miss out on one of my bucket-list pedals though. It’s going to take me a while before I stop kicking myself over that one. I managed to pickup another great BJFe-designed pedal instead, so it wasn’t all bad 🙂

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New Arrivals: June 2021

I’m still recovering from surgery in April, which really limited how much time I could spend with my guitar this month. On top of that, the medical bills came due.

And then I ended up having a second (completely unrelated and unplanned) procedure this month too. I’m still recovering from that at the time of writing.

But I did get about a week in between all of this to try something new (to me).

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New Arrivals: May 2021

Regular readers are probably bored with me talking about the state of the second hand market here, so I’ll keep that brief. Anecdotally, there still isn’t a lot of second hand gear turning up, and (again anecdotally) it’s becoming more and more common for sellers to list second-hand guitars at above-retail prices. eBay has really cut back on its offers this month too, which probably isn’t helping the situation.

This month, though, there has been a number of interesting (to me) items crop up. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to even think about bidding on them because I’ve been into hospital for an operation, and it’ll be July before I’m fully recovered and able to lift amps and guitars again.

I was able to pick up a couple of pedals off my wish list, thankfully. And this month saw the release of a new guitar that’s completely blown me away. Read on to learn more!

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New Arrivals: April 2021

The big news this month (here in the UK) is that non-essential retail has been allowed to re-open. We’re coming out of lockdown, and guitar shops can open their doors to visitors once again. It’s too soon to travel the length and breadth of the country to hunt for hidden gems gathering dust on a wall somewhere, but we’re getting closer to that day.

In the meantime … this month, I’ve managed to pick up a couple of curious pieces to try. They’re a bit left-field, and (he says, having not tried them at the time of writing) probably not for everyone.

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New Arrivals: March 2021

It’s been a very quiet month for new arrivals. This time, it’s mostly down to me.

(The second hand market here is still a mess, but that’s a topic that probably deserves its own blog post …)

I’ve been enjoying both the Mad Professor Sweet Honey Custom and Sweet Honey Deluxe Overdrives so much, I’ve just not been very curious about the pedals that have been cropping up on the second-hand market this month.

But, you know me: I’m always on the lookout for tweed-tone pedals, and this month, I picked up a couple that are pretty rare in their own ways.

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