LukeR

Dave, may I ask why you want to change the tube? Most 12AX7s have a really long life- i dont think Ive had one fail. Are you thinking about upgrading and getting a Groove Tube, or something like that? I dont really know how much of an effect changing the valve will have on the sound- obviously it would have a significant tonal effect on a conventional valve pre-amp, but I had a friend who changed his valve in his valvestate (granted, it was one of the early ones) and there was no change in tone whatsoever (I mean, the differnce between 5881s and EL34s are like night and day, and the same even with the preamp valves in my Marshall JCM, but honestly, there was no discernable differnce at all when the valve was changed in the Valvestate. Maybe the valve had the EXACT characteristics as the one that was replaced, but thats a pretty long shot). I wouldnt have a clue why that happened, but could you please post your findings on the new valve once you have it all operational (Just to find out if its a fluke or not). Cheers man, Luke

Thanks for nthat guys- id never seen anything like it before.

Hi guys, Whats the go with the tuners on that thing? Even all but the very cheapest tuners are covered- these ones LOOK expensive, but dust is certain to get in them and create havoc. I mean, they look nice, but its got to cause a problem- especially over a number of years. Anyone know what they are, or have dealt with them before? Luke

Hahaha- thanks for answering the questions Setch. RGGR- it looks red on my screen- i am not having a go at you, maybe you may want to think about an eye test- I had a friend who sees some red shades as purple, and it turned out he had a degree of colorblindess. (Sorry for the thread hijack- I tried to pm RGGR, but it said you box was full) thanks again Setch, Luke

Thats great man! Cant wait to see it done! Luke

Hi, Dont the Les Paul customs (the black beauties) have a mahogany cap/ or solid mahogany build? Like every one has said, though, if you want the Les Paul tone, I think a maple cap is vital. Luke

hahah I think it looks pretty cool... a bit expensive, though... Luke

Oh, yeah, definately. 1/2 the price of a Marshall has to be for its name. Laney is generally cheaper (well, when I bought my amp it was) and it was a comperable unit. Even valve marshalls are pcp based, and AFAIK, the preamp of the JCM900 is mainly diode based. I have even had the reverb stop working on my amp, only to find that a wire had snapped (its an accutronics tank, but I have no idea how that wire came loose) Expensive, noisey, unrelaiable- but like my dogs, I couldnt live without it. Which model Peaveys do you use? I have only tried the Vintage 30, it is was a great combo. Mesas are great too- i think that alot of the 'mods' that Marshall players used to get were to try and sound like Mesas. My marshall is not patricularly high gain, compared to, say, a mesa. Over the Xmas break, I am hoping to make a new overdrive or clean boost for it. I have a Hotcake, which really is a great unit if anyone was thinking about trying one out- To my ears, it sounds very much like a cranked Vox (that singing Brian May sound). Maybe mine is just a GOOD Marshall.

How DARE you defile the holy Marshall name!!! (with tongue firmly in cheek!) I have a modded JCM900 100 head, and alot of people talk about that model having a fairly yuck tone... Mine had 5881s in it originally, but i had it changed to El34s... and the sound, on both the clean and crunch channel is wonderful. I am not too sure what the mods were (exept that the amp is smoother sounding, more THE Marshall tone). It is now the best sounding amp I have played through- its just a great tone. That said, it used to blow valves and fuses all the time, but after the conversion to El34s, I have never had a problem). Wasnt there the old joke that the differnce between a Marshall and a Peavey is that you can take the Peavey out of your room and it will still work! kind regards, Luke

Hi- sorry to thread hijack- but does anyone know Jason Becker's current condition? His website hasnt been updated in a very long time- he hadnt goten anyworse, apparently, but the lack of updates.... It must be horrific having that 'affliction'- I dont think i can imagine ANYTHING worse.... such a shame, especially since he had such great technique- imagine being robbed of the skills you took a lifetime to delvelop. You hear of players dying, but surely his predicament must be worse.

Indeed! Happy birthday Fi! Luke

Hey man! that looks REALLY cool! Cant wait to see it all finished! Luke Ps- you like your P90's dont you They are great pickups- highly underrated, imho. So you're not going for the gold top?

My very first electric was an SG copy, with a Strat headstock. It was a 'Sakai'- a brand I have never seen or heard of since. After all of the years, I have come back full circle and have a REAL gibson SG... I definatly preffered the look of the Gibson headstock, but the strat one didnt look too bad... certainly better than the Humbucker equipt 70s Teles...

Hi guys, Just to add fourther credance to Myka Guitars' comments, here is an interview with Carl Thompson, the guiy who makes/made Les Claypool's basses. He lists some very good reasons for using quater sawn ftreboard timber. Sorry for the wrong info- anyway, here is the interview http://www.ctbasses.com/CTinterview.html Cheers, Luke

Hi Well, I guess I was wrong . I knew that quater sawn timber was vital for the necks, but i didnt really think about the effect on the fretboard. I was thinking more along the lines of purchasing fretboard timber from non luthier based supplyer. Oh, what I meant by more valuable i meant in the context of, say, flame maple, where the visual quality of the flame equates its price (and applying that to fingerboards). I think I read in the Hiscocks text that quatersawn timber was 'boring' to look at in comparision to slabsawn- thats why I made the inferance (although obviosuly beauty is a subjective, not objective thing). Thanks for clarifying the issue though. Luke

Ill have a crack at this... I could be wrong, so please correct me if I am... Fretboard timber is generally 'exotic' timber- ebony, rosewood et al, some species of which are endagered, and, in any event, are very expensive to buy. Quatersawn timber causes alot of waste- alot more than slad cut timber. Bearing those 2 factors into account (expenisve cost AND the waste associated with quatersawing) I doubt it would be commercially viable to produce quatersawn fretboard matterial. Another aspect is that quatersawn timber is considered less attractive to look at then slab cut timber. Considering that fretboard materials are chose to be asethetically pleasing (in particular, the definition in the grain of rosewood, for example) quatersawn timber- being more expensive to produce- would result in a less attractive (and therefore less commerically valuable) timber. I dont think it would be wise to 1. Produce an item in a more cost prohibitive way, that 2. Will produce less market value than the cheaper option. Therfore, I would imagine that most fretboards are not quatersawn. Again, I dont know for certain, but I think this is the more probable Senario. Regards, Luke

yeah, its proably worth while waiting for the FR- I would think that the floyd would be better for metal type playing, being lockable and all. Being a 'traditionalist' myself, i like the bigsby type look, so i think thats the one for mwe. I hope you dont have to wait TOO long for the FR though! Luke

HAHAH! Yeah it must have been! I saw it in Brisbane (cant remeber which shop). Ididnt get to play it, being 16 at the time. Guitar Crazy in Sydney had one a whiole ago (second hand). It sold very quickly- I dont know how much for. I actually have a friend who is an aluminium welder- he said it probably wouldnt be too hard to make a copy, however, he doesnt play guitar, so i wonder how 'exact' the copy would turn out. I didnt realise that it was the same guitar Daniel Johns owned though- I rember it added insult to injury when i saw HE had one! (I wounder if all the negative vibes young Australian musicians sent him back in those days caused him all his problems). But yeah, a great guitar, and it would have been nice. luke

Yeah, its supposed to be a VERY cool unit- I havent used one yet, but i am planning to get one for my guitar. I have heard a cool of guys at differnt forums have tryed thm and they raved about them. It uses ball bearings, apparently. Luke

Any valve fender amp will suit you to the ground, i am sure (maybe not a Bassman, but still one of THE greatest tones of all time). I guess it all depends on how much money you have to throw around- I would be looking for second hand fener valve amps if I were in the market again. That said, you can get a great clean sound from a JTM45 if you roll back your guitar's volume That said, even the boutique, hand made, top of the line amps are copies/ borrow heavily from Fender's circiutry (not all, obviously, but a surpring LOT). Of course, you may want to extend into Vox territory- the AC30 is only 33 watts, but is INCREDIBLY loud for a combo. No reverb, (has trem) but GREAT tone.You can get a decent, old school crunch from it, but it has to be cranked to blitkrieg tio get it (especially with the blue speakers). You say you use alot of effects- I think one of the guys from Radiohead uses an AC30 (i could very well be wrong) and they like their effects... If it were me, though, i would try and get a second hand twin (doesnt have to be a blackface for great tone- there are heaps of sites for tweaking valve amps, conversions, etc). Good luck, and have fun with your purchace! Luke PS- If you look around, you may be able to find a secondhand of the above for around $1000 (I am usuming you are talking about US dollars?).

http://www.stetsbar.com/ Sorry Boys. psw- did you get that email i sent you- about circiut protection? Cheers guys, luke

I too was awiting for someone else to speak up first- I rember when the aluminium roswell model came out... I rang my music shop- they estimated a price- I got my finaces sorted out- only for the shop to ring me back to tell me they were abot $6000 Au, instead of his projected $3000. Obviously, as a 16 year old at Dominos, a $1500 loan from my partents plus my $1500 hard earned Dominos money was going to be a stretch- I couldnt justify (or afford) $6000 for a guitar. Anyone know how much they are worth now? I wonder if I would have made a profit or not. Oh-btw- how much was he asking for the ultra rare wood model? Luke

You know... I personally dont like 'hot pickups'- i think if you get a GOOD set of alnico pickups, you will get a great sound- maybe add a decent overdrive pedal? I know that you say that you are looking for a 'hot' pickup; I have bought MANY over the years- to me, they always sounded 'fizzy' when distorted (which was nice), but TERRIBLE when used clean. THe absolute WORST pickup I ever bought was the 'Hot' Seymour Duncan P90- basically, it was an overwound P90, with ceramic magnets. It was noisy, and sounded terrible. Eruption by Van Halen is an example of a good sounding alnico pickup (to my ears) you could check that out, if you are interetsed in hearing the tone. I am not saying that all high Output pickups are horrible, but i play an SG myself (which had all the above pickups in it at different stages) through my modded JCM900, and for me, it was like night and day. To me, High Gain pickups have a tendancy to sound a bit 2 dimentional, whereas Alnico seems MUCH more versatile. Obviously, it is up to you, but please at least check out some decent paf type pickups using a high gain amp/pedal setting before you spend up- if you dont like it, thats cool, but I would be highly suprised if you preffered the 'hot' pickups. Honestly, I have found far better results using a Paf and a High gain amp than using a High gain pickup with an intermediate gain setting. Hope thats another aspect for you to consider (even though i have suggested the opposite of what you wanted to know Cheers man, Luke

Hi, I could be wrong here, but... isnt silver a *fairly* soft metal? It may not take the rigors of Allman borther slide work- I could be wrong, of course. Also, its a drag to polish- it gets tarnished SO quickly... I have a display of my four slides, I have glass, brass, stainless steel and ceramic. I have to say, I like my glass one best, then my stainless. I have found that the difference between them (sound wise) is suprisingly subtle acoustically, but the glass one creates less overtones (less ANOYING overtones, rather) than the metal ones. The ceramic one sounds slightly 'dead'- I dont know why, probably because its essentially dirt . Actually- I think it is a lack of sustain (not a lot, but DEFINATLY less sutain than my glass one- the ceramic is a 'jazzy' slide, if you will. That said, all are great, and I do use all for different purposes. I guess a problem with engraving may be that the surface of the slide would become uneven due to the portions of metal removed during the engraving. You really need a clean, even surface for slide (IMHO)- and the engravings could buzz-saw straight through the strings. If I was to make a slide- I would make it from stainless- easy to use and care for ( polish with a bit of bi-carb soda and water- even works for the sink!), its long wearing and has a great tone. Just my 2c, Luke

Looking even better than before,Setch. Are you going to put a scratch plate on it? I have probablty missed it (sorry! ) but what PAFs are you going to be using? Thanks man, and congratulations once again. Luke