Tone. At Home.
I’m really not a fuzz kind of person. They pickup and amplify all of the noise on the dirty electricity we have here. I don’t enjoy playing through spitty, broken tones. And about the only time I use the bridge pickup on my Strat is to make sure it’s still there.
So what am I doing with one? And what do I think of Fender’s latest fuzz pedal?
Continue reading “First Impressions: Fender’s The Trapper Fuzz Pedal”I’ve just picked up a second-hand Brownface Deluxe Overdrive pedal off eBay. What do I think of it? Here’s my first impressions.
Continue reading “First Impressions: Lovepedal 4-Knob Brownface Deluxe Overdrive Pedal”Rather than do a ‘best of’ style post, every year I’m going to do a rundown of what guitars I’ve had my hands on, and what I’ve learned from the experience.
This post covers guitars I play at home for fun. I’ll cover the guitars that I gig with on Thursday.
Continue reading “2019 Review: Guitars For Home Playing”This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed. You can find Part 1 here.
Well, the green Strat is back, and the result has been quite the surprise.
Quick recap: Fender Player series Strat, which I’ve really taken a shine to. Dropped it off @astringsuk yesterday to replace the stock pickups with a (mismatched) set of 63 Veneers from Bare Knuckle. Wanted a more vintage Strat tone.
Continue reading “Changing Pickups Part 2: A Nice Surprise”This conversation was originally posted to my Twitter feed.
Just dropped the green Strat off for a pickup swap. I was going to wait until I could do a before-and-after demo, but honestly I’m not a very good (or musical!) player. You’re not missing out.
Continue reading “Changing Pickups: Part 1 – Why?”At a recent post-gig band rehearsal, we decided that I needed to start adding effects to my acoustic rig. The plan this month was to build out a full acoustic board – one that’ll run into the amp for shows, and also directly into a PA for open-mic spots.
Sadly, my timing’s off, and the pedals I’m targeting for the acoustic board have been out-of-stock every time I’ve gone shopping for them. In the meantime, there’s been a few unexpectedly good bargains crop up on eBay, so I grabbed those instead.
Here’s a list of all the new gear that arrived in May, along with my first impressions of each item. I’ll do a detailed writeup about each piece of gear when I’ve had a bit of time with it.
Continue reading “New Arrivals For May 2019”So March has been and gone. In the end, February’s absolute deluge of available 2nd hand gear wasn’t repeated this month. But a road trip later in the month brought a chance encounter with something a little bit different …
These are my initial impressions of this month’s new arrivals. I’ll do full articles on each of them when I’ve had some time with them.
Continue reading “New Arrivals For March”Shane’s had a lot of interest in his Danelectro ‘84 since introducing it on his YouTube channel. So he’s done a shootout against his Mexican Strat.
The two guitars sound quite different. The Danelectro has a lot more twang, without sounding like a Tele. It’s also a little thinner sounding, but not in a bad way. The overall result is a guitar which looks like a Strat but has its own thing going on. Very cool.
Watch the video to hear for yourself, and then please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment.
The first batch of PRS Silver Sky guitars is out in the wild. Tim Pierce has borrowed one, and he’s posted a comparison of the Silver Sky vs an original Fender Stratocaster from 1965 – a guitar that costs about 10 times as much as the Silver Sky.
Have a listen.
I couldn’t hear a difference between the two guitars, not in the mix at any rate. And, honestly, I think that’s impressive.
Folks have been trying to recreate the fabled 59 Les Paul tone for decades, and so far no-one – including PRS – has managed to do so. We’ve ended up with some really good instruments to choose from if we don’t want a Gibson, but that hallowed tone has remained elusive. (In part because no-one can agree on what it is …). The PRS McCarty 594 is a fantastic guitar, but it does not sound like a Les Paul.
With the Silver Sky, it appears that PRS have managed to recreate that 60s Strat tone, and then improve on both the tone and the playing experience.
Once people get over the headstock, I’m sure this guitar is here to stay.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed Tim’s video.
Ariel and Danish Pete are back with another Guitar Paradiso. This episode, they’re looking at reliced Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster.
This one quickly turns into a wide-ranging discussion about the whole concept of relicing Fender guitars, how different guitar finishes do (and don’t) wear over time, and why a reliced guitar might be a good choice.
Both Ariel and Pete are hugely experienced touring musicians, and it’s great to hear them sharing their experiences and personal preferences. Along the way, Pete digs out several of his personal Strats to help demonstrate the points he’s making, including guitars that he’s toured all round the world.
Please head over to YouTube to leave a like and a supportive comment if you enjoyed this Andertons video.