marksound

The key is to learn the guitar, bass, keys, whatever part cold. I mean you could play it in your sleep. Then learn the vocal part. Lyrics, melody, phrasing, everything. Memorize it. You'll know when you have it. Then slowly add the vocal to the instrumental. Practice. Practice some more.

It's not as hard as it sounds. Hell, if I can do it, so can you.

I don't know about customs and tariffs and VATS (oh my), nor do I know what headstock shape you're looking for, but take a look here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...ssPageName=WDVW

For that price you could afford to practice on a couple.

The SM57 is a good all-around mike for just about everything - they work great for bass, guitar, almost anything. There are better mikes, usually for a lot more money, but if you can't make it sound good with a '57, I don't think an expensive mike will help you. 

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I agree. You absolutely cannot go wrong with a SM57. Virtually indestructible. Works great for vocals, too.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home...ase_pid/270102/

About 20 years ago I paid twice that much for the same mic.

BTW, I usually use MF for the small stuff because I can get it here in a couple of days for the regular shipping price. Your mileage may vary.

Look like these kits are out of stock (Due To tsunami) I hope they get back in soon.......

anyone know of another similar kit?

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Similar, not cheaper, but look:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/items-list...tar&StartRow=61

No experience with these kits, but they look good.

How do those MightyMite singlecoils sound? Also, hows the fretwork on MightyMite neck?

I've been curious about MightyMite stuff, I know its made by Cor-Tek (Cort) in Korea and its really inexpensive.

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The pickups are hotter than Mexican Fenders. Ceramic magnets, I think. A little on the bright side, but not at all offensive.

This neck is pretty good. The edges feel "rolled" and the fret ends are nice and smooth. The first fret buzzes a bit at the high E, but I think I can adjust that out.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it. Definitely not a high end collector piece, but that's not what I built it for. I can't stand being afraid to ding one up.

Hey, maybe next you could do a LP style thing and call it a BoPaul ... and paint Union Carbide on the top ...

Seriously, looking forward to the pics.

Trem Cavity

What Is This Random Wire? Can Anyone Tell Me?

The only wire I see is the ground. Is that the one?

Look at the control cavity and you'll see it soldered to one of the pots.

Check out the Duncan Alnico Pro II. Nice vintage sound.

I may not be the guy to answer this, but here's what I think.

If it's dense and tight grained, go for it. Build a neck and see what you think. Sounds like you have enough of it to play with, so why not?

If I'd listened to everyone who ever gave me advice I'd be a high school band director and about ready to put a gun in my mouth.

Just do what you think is right.

And just in case anyone is interested, here's a montage of my lineup.

http://www.nightschoolband.com/images/montage.jpg

I built the sunburst and now the black one from parts.

In college I had a class called Electrical Construction Techniques. Basically it was Soldering Class.

Over 25 years later and I still have trouble.

So being as obsessed with Strats as I am, I had to put together another one to backup my main Fender.

To make a long story short, it's an anonymous body modified to accept a preloaded Mighty Mite pickguard assembly, the tremolo bridge that came with the body, jackplate fom Ebay, a Mighty Mite maple neck with some nice figuring, and some Ping tuners from another project that never got finished. Overall, way less than $200.

I took it to rehearsal today, and it sounds pretty good. The pickups are a little hotter than my Fender, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. It still needs some setup work, but that's because I ran out of time before I had to leave.

Here it is. No great detail pics, but you know.

http://www.nightschoolband.com/images/Black%20Strat.jpg

The thing is--who really cares? I mean, if you have a Les Paul and want to get more of a Strat sound out of it, coil-splits will get you pretty close. If you want to get more of a Les Paul sound out of a Strat, you either use positions 2 and 4 on the switch or just throw some humbuckers in it.

My point is, no matter what you do to each instrument, it's not going to sound exactly the same as the other one. I think it's better to concentrate on making the music sound good rather than to worry about what you've have to do it with. If you only have a Les Paul and you want a Strat-like funk sound, coil split the pups and leave the toggle with both turned on. If you need to crank out some hard rock on a MIM Strat budget, crank up that amp and throw the switch to 2 or 4. Work with what you have to work with, man.

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You are correct, sir!

I just got home from rehearsal, where I messed around a bit with the other guy's PRS. It has 2 HBs and a 5 way rotary switch and I found a pretty good strat sound on it.

For all the going on about this guitar and that guitar, I still think that it's not so much what you have but what you can do with it.

But that's just me.

Maybe instead of "old" it should be "irrelevant."

Like that whole Seattle thing lasted for what, like, 15 minutes?

... and he does smoke a few bowls, he DOES crank the amp WAAAY up

You know, I never made that connection before. But now that you mention it ...

The trem system is a natural reverb tank. The springs vibrate when you strum the strings and keep vibrating even when you stop. The only way to stop or dampen this effect is to either add more springs or wedge a piece of rubber or butyl rubber between the springs and the body. Both solutions will affect the trem operation, so it may not be a good idea if you're using it a lot and want it to go back in tune all the time.

I don't think it would be a good idea to loosen the screws on the claw. That would raise the bridge and consequently raise your action.

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Click on the "All About Evo" banner, then click the back view thumbnail:

"The padding on the back is stuffed with tissue paper to cut down the noise of the springs and the vibrations in the back cavity that inevitably flow through the body and create a lot of noise that is picked up through the pickups. The tissue cuts this noise down tremendously and this tightens up the sound considerably."

http://www.vai.com/Machines/guitars1.html

i also still need some help on  another setup with the H/S/H pickup configuration. i can't seem to find any schematic that has H/S/H, 1 tone, 1 volume, and a 5 way switch. The 5 way switch is an ESP one, i think, or at least it came off of an ESP guitar. it is weird though, and I can't seem to find anything on the setup of the 5 way. I would like this to be exactly like a Fender setup, where:

Position 1: Bridge Humbucker

Position 2: Bridge Humbucker/Middle Single Coil

Position 3: Middle Single Coil

Position 4: Neck Humbucker/Middle Single Coil

Position 5: Neck Humbucker

this 5 way switch leads are set up in a line going in a half circle from ground and then number 1 to 7. i'm not sure which lead on that goes with what switch position. as long as i can get it hooked up like that above, i would be happy. none of the humbuckers are coil splittable on either one of these setups. just a hot and a ground wire off the pickups.

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The second one sounds like a Megaswitch-type thing. Might not be, but sounds like it.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Electronics,_p...28.html#details

Matt, your year is off to a real toilet-paper end-of-roller! I bet you the late delivery is not UPS's fault and the damage is a 50/50 split. I quit Musicians Fiend cause they would throw a guitar in a single-wall box and expect it to make it unscathed. Now, I have shipping at Zzounds hold a case until the guitar arrives and ship them together. They TRY to ship them seperate but I made arrangments with the CS guy to hold a case until the backorder shows up. UPS will take care of you but it will never take the edge off a REALLY bad deal. How goes the employment deal?

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AMS has a policy that I really like.

If you buy a giutar and case, they put the guitar in the case and then pack it. If you don't buy a case, they charge you $5 for extra packing.

Personally, I buy the case.

Don't have a pic, but about a year ago I put together a pseudo-strat. EG112 body, Charvette neck. Gave it to my nephew for his first guitar, but it played so nice I almost kept it for myself.

I was kidding. Ease up.

See? That's the other thing. Nobody seems to be able to take a friggin' joke.

Man, am I hungry.

...The "Herberts" (ten points for naming the reference) are against it...

Star Trek® - "The Road to Eden". Oops, -5 points for conspicuous Trekkie geekery!

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It's "The Way to Eden." Subtract 2 more points. And add 2 for being less a geek than me.

Herbert-- any relation to Herbert Hoover, who appointed Harry Anslinger, major opponent of marijuana, supporter of the 1937 Marijuana Tax Act, propaganda artiste extraordinaire, and (oh yeah!) lying scumbag?

Curtis-- bagged rolling tobacco is legal, unfiltered cigarettes are legal, and then there's always bongs.

Any way you cut it, a pack a day is still worse than a joint a week, filters or no filters.

Pot is not illegal because it is a carcinogen. Nothing should be -illegal- because it is bad for you. The nation has a much bigger obesity problem than it does a marijuana problem, but the government has yet to outlaw Lays, pork rinds, or Twinkies.

If something poses a major societal risk, like heroin or crack cocaine, then that is grounds for keeping it illegal. Marijuana does not pose such a risk. In fact, I would dare say that potato chips and fast food pose a much higher societal risk to our nation than marijuana ever has.

You also work your way into a "slippery slope" logical fallacy-- just because you smoke won't make you play music loud or forget where you put things. Pot may make you forgetful and cause a lack of coordination, but it doesn't make you inconsiderate of others. Besides, an increased risk of noise violations hardly constitutes grounds for the illegality of a substance. Also, if you forget where you put a ticket, then it serves you right to have to pay more. Again, not so great a risk as to constitute legitimate grounds for outlawing marijuana.

On a side note, look into the 1938 marijuana murder trials. Some funny stuff there.

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Dude, don't debate when you're high.

Doesn't Slash have a well-documented counterfeit LP? I'm pretty sure I've seen pics of it in magazines. Where's Gibson on that?

It seems to me that, right or wrong, Gibson only goes after the "trademark infringements" that are a threat to its market.

PRS has been making the Santana I II and III for quite a while now and they are clearly the same shape as the LP junior or TV or whatever the hell that model is. Hamer has used that silhouette since the early days to no consequence.

Gibson's recent policies have become like a paranoid schizophrenic. And suing Fender for trying to protect its designs? Gimme a break.

Does anyone else think this is absolutley ridiculous?

Sorry, man, really.

Is the neck broken so bad it can't be fixed? I bought a Hamer for a song on Ebay that had a fixed break and it plays great.

Maybe there's a tutorial in your future ...

So I bid on this Ebay Mighty Mite maple satin finish licensed Strat neck for my new Partsocaster project, and it showed up yesterday. It has a lot of grain pattern in it, which I like, but I see quite a bit of faint flame in the back and the headstock. Is there something I can do to bring out the flame a little bit?

I haven't done nearly as much as you guys and that's why I'm here. I want to learn.