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Guitar talk: acoustic, bass, classical, twelve string? You name it! Pt III

Yes - Yamaha really did turn out some well made guitars. I'm kinda conflicted with the straight through neck and that lovely stripe in the Fender shape though. My brain keeps protesting - no..no ... those horns need to be more symmetrical, and that headstock has to go.. :)

For me its far enough away from a Strat to be its own thing and it’s in that ‘gold zone’ of Japanese guitars where they really started to innovate, but hadn’t gone all-out heavy metal bonkers (though I do think Vai’s Ibanez JEM is a proper design classic for sure).

The thing what the pictures obviously don’t indicate is how it feels and sounds, and it is definitely not a Strat. Compared to my ‘82 ‘Dan Smith’ hard-tail it is lighter, just perfectly balanced, has a fatter more ‘U’ than ‘C’ shape neck which I personally love, and has a much fatter warmer sound. If you live in the really crisp hollow ‘twangy/spanky’ zone of Strat world, e.g. Mick from TPS, then you’ll likely not like the Yam, which has a warmer, fatter, more jazzy sort of sound plus noticeably higher output (it really is a lot louder/bigger sounding). I don’t have enough real pickup experience to draw on, but I suspect it may actually be closer to P90s or a Jazzmaster sound than a Strat, though it has its own very comprehensive switching (every pickup can be on/off and in/out of phase), so it can get many fairly Strat-like tones.

The more I play both it and the 82 Strat the more different and individual I feel they are. I’m pretty certain I want both, i.e. the Yamaha is a Yamaha, not a Strat-replacement. It is its own thing and unquestionably my favourite guitar of any I’ve ever owned, but I still want a nice Strat as well. My plan is to keep looking around and eventually swap the Dan Smith for another Strat with a trem, as I really miss not having an instrument with one and that would dramatically reduce the overlap between the two.

By saying that I’ve always really liked owning instrument that are off the beaten track as you are starting off from a tonal pallet that is not too familiar/cliched, so maybe I need something with a whammy bar that isn’t a Strat at all! Back in the ‘80s I played an Aria SB-1000 bass, an active thru-neck job that didn’t sound like the P or J basses everyone else played, my current Shergold Marathon is the same in that it is its own thing and does everything I want or need. The first decent electric guitar I had was the ‘70s Fender Bronco, and no way are you going to sound like everyone else with one of those! It remains my favourite guitar aside from the Yam, I really regret selling it. Maybe I should just hunt down another. The Shergold Masquerader is interesting too as it is decidedly not Gibson or Fender, though to be honest it just isn’t as good as the SC-1200 so it gets little use, plus it could really do with a re-fret as they are very low and flat. I’d never sell that one though. I stuck a new set of strings on it last week so it is back in rotation to some degree.
 
There's definitely a nice stripped-down vibe to the Bronco:

https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/listing/fender-bronco-olympic-white-1978-s284/8817662

Re Fender offset bodied guitars btw - I always saw you as a prime candidate for a Jaguar Tony. (Don't ask me why, just gut feel :) )

I sold the Bronco for a Japanese Jazzmaster, which for some reason I never really connected with. Likely because I liked the Bronco so much, plus I didn’t really understand much about ‘tone’ at that stage. I had a little Peavey solid state amp, I think it was called a Backstage Plus, a Rat, and a really knackered Wem Copicat tape echo (which I technically still own, but haven’t seen for over 20 years!). The Bronco sounded brilliant through it, but the Jazzmaster was too ‘fat’ so farted out on fuzzed-up chords that rang out clean on the Bronco. It was also much, much bigger and heavier, and one consistent thing I’ve noticed about my seemingly random guitar/bass journey is that I don’t like heavy guitars!

I’m in no real rush to do anything at this point, but I would like to sell the Les Paul and AVRI Jazz Bass as I just don’t connect with either (they are up in the classified area). If that happens I’ll give some serious thought about buying some kind of Fender with a whammy bar. I’m actually quite tempted by a proper Jaguar, i.e. a real 1960s one as you can still find them for £5-6k, and I suspect that would be better than money sitting in the bank. Alternatively maybe just track down another Bronco as it would be a nice contrast to the Yamaha. Basically it does two things; a) that ultra clean twangy whammy surf/‘Twin Peaks’ Fender thing, and b) total Sonic Youth mentalism if you throw the Rat into the mix. That would be a lot more use to me than my current ‘82 hard-tail Strat, which I do like a lot, but it is hugely diminished in not having a whammy bar and being rather overshadowed by the Yamaha. I’m also kind of Mustang-curious, though I’ve never actually played one. In theory its pretty much a two-pickup Bronco, but it has a totally different whammy bar. Anyone here played one? I could beat the shit out of the Bronco and it would stay largely in tune, I’m curious as to whether the Mustang holds up in that area or not?

Anyway I want a whammy bar and I’m actually prepared to pay £6k for a Jaguar to get one if need be (though ideally I’d like to offload some guitars first)! Whatever I do I want to stay in the collector/investment market to a large degree as I always like to be able to get my cash back out if need be.
 
Only for one more though and their own site seems stuck at about 18 months ago.
Delighted that my 96 Studio although 1/8" too thin and without binding seems to have something like the correct "dish"!
 
I've been exploring modes myself recently and it's as you say: the same notes of a scale but just with different starting and ending notes. The only challenge is learning new fingering due to the interval changes. As always, Sean Daniel has a great series of videos on this topic:


I found this video last night. OK, it's not guitar but it made a lot of sense to me. Guy Michelmore's style makes it an easy watch (IMHO)
 
I watched the Telecaster one earlier, a really good video and it’s a great channel. I’ll go watch all their earlier stuff over the next few weeks. Shame they are apparently pretty much done with it.

PS A rave review of Reeves Electro pedals on today’s TPS. I’ll be fascinated to see how he copes with real demand.
 
I watched the Telecaster one earlier, a really good video and it’s a great channel. I’ll go watch all their earlier stuff over the next few weeks. Shame they are apparently pretty much done with it.

PS A rave review of Reeves Electro pedals on today’s TPS. I’ll be fascinated to see how he copes with real demand.

The Tele episode was a really good one. I've not seen them in a while but the ES ones were good too I remember.
 
Chris Buck on the FilterTron. He's not usually my thing but the lad can play. Love the Yamahas though, completely unpretentious

 
Yeah Doug & Pat Show is back


Lovely relaxed show that. Favourite moment "If you spend $400,000 on a guitar - its gonna sound great, guaranteed. And it's gonna make you a whole lot better player". Deapan delivery. Both nodding their heads.

(Wish to jeebus I hadn't watched it though - I'll never be able to pick up a Les Paul again without looking for things like the thickness of the holly-veneer strip on the headstock, or where they've put the dot on the 'I'. Forever more :()

(edit: just watched the guys again there. Their closing comment echoes with something I read here (or elsewhere) a while back about the difference between originals and copies - and that pretty much all of the modern Les Pauls are clones or reproduction of the originals - whether they are built by Vintage, Tokai, ESP, Harley Benton, Arai..or indeed Gibson themselves )
 
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For any of you old enough to have actually seen one, I have a question about the Watkins Westminster amp:

foAvLaK.jpg


What material is the grill? Is it cloth, or metal?

I ask because it bears an uncanny resemblance to:

Ly3QAS0.jpg
 
Don’t know about the Watkins but that Fender stack is absolutely gorgeous, major GAS!

Is that a Bassman?
 


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