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: May 2022

After a couple of months with no new (to me) gear, May has been a very busy month.

There’s a few items I’ve been after, both professionally and for home use. All of these things needed to be imported: some because they’re not sold in the UK, and some because they are sold here but are constantly out of stock.

With the UK government threatening to illegally break its own treaty and start a (doomed) trade war with Europe, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get them if I didn’t act now. On top of that, rampant inflation means that buying later means paying a lot more.

Now that they’re here, what do I think of them? And how was the import process? Read on for my First Impressions.

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New Arrivals: February 2022

This month is a tale of two eras: before land war in Europe, and after the war started.

My plan was to get Hedgehog back in action, and (if they came into stock) pick up a couple of things I felt I needed for some planned recording. And that’s how the month started.

Then Putin launched his invasion of a democratic European nation, while willy-waving his nuclear arsenal at the rest of the world. While we’re almost certainly safe from major consequences ourselves, I decided to bring forward my major planned purchase of the year anyway.

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New Arrivals: January 2022

The Christmas break is always good for getting me to wire up and fire up the home recording studio, and the end of 2021 was no exception. It was a good reminder of just how much I enjoy making music (rather than just noodling around).

So, this year, I want to at least try and have a bit more purpose when I choose which new (to me) gear to try:

  1. Things that will help me record music.
  2. Things that will help me perform music.
  3. Bucket list items.
  4. Things that will help me learn about the gear I already have.

Last year, we had one month when there were no new arrivals to write about. I wouldn’t be surprised if we have several more this year. But not this month 🙂

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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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