wylde1919

Thanks for your help so far! I am a total dumb@$$ so I appreciate thei assistance.

here is a link to a shot of my bridge, it is lo res (camera phone)

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?...74-359ee3e562b3

As you can see the differences is minute and almost impossible to see from this pic.

Other than looking a little sloppy, the gap is okay. The saddles will move enough for intonation that it won't affect the scale length. My question though, is why did you set the saddles at 25-3/4" from the nut. Tele's have a 25-1/2" scale. Generally you want to adjust your saddles so they are set 1/3 of the way back from the front of their adjustment and measure your scale length from there. Then mount your bridge and adjust intonation as needed.

Mainly because I am a moron!

I measured the length with the orginal bridge on it and I got 25 and 3/4, and just to be sure I pulled out my reall tele and measured the distance there and got roughly the same measurements. I do have plenty of adjustment left on the screws so I could get the saddles back taht far without having to redrill, no sweat. do you think that is a problem?

The gap itslef is not the problem. It being a little cockeyed is the issue. I am less worried about intonation, an more worried about whether it is going to pull the strings funny across the neck or make it sit funky on the saddles.

So I am trying to finally ease myslef into the project water, and I figured a good way would be to convert an old tele copy into a relic esquire. I ordered a relic'd bridge from a reputable online dealer and got it in the mail yesterday. The bridge is a string thru ( the original is top loading). I stupidly thought they would have the same foootprint, but they don't! So I measured it out so that the center of the saddles were 25 3/4 " away from the nut, marked where I needed to screw, and drilled the pilot holes. The kicker is the bridge must have shifted ever so slightly when I did this, because it is not 100% umm level I guess is the best word. There is a gap that exists between the pickgaurd and the bridge an that gap is maybe a millimeter bigger on one side than the other. Do I have to redrill, or is this gap OK? I would like to figure it out before I start drilling the string thru holes and installing the ferrules. Any help woudl be HUGE guys. Thanks.

Looking good!

The 'modified for fretboard access' version is aesthetically better too imo, not just practically.

You know I was thinking the same thing, even before I saw your post. I am not normally a firebird guy, but this one is lookin sweet!

I had one until recently and loved it, The only reason I sold it was xmas cash. The pickup evaluation above is spot on, they are weeeeeeeak. I traded out the pups in mine and she was awesome sounding. I don't know that I second the yamaha suggestion (as every one I have ever played has not iumpressed me) but the new flame top SE's look great , play well (if you like the PRS feel) and sound pretty decent too.

BTW B stock scare sme, epi is not the most consistent in the quality dept. ( though I personally have 3 that are awesome payers ( a zw LP, an SG and a sheraton which is one of my favs ever!)

dude you always have the sweetest frickin top woods.

If he shows interest later I'll build him a mini scale one. I might be building 2 because my daughter now 3 yrs is pretty interested also. I don't think the clear coat is non toxic but he's done chewing on things anyhow.

You need to make you a full size version now!

I got my start in playing in kind of a similar way. My dad bought an old beater acoustic and everytime he would go to practice he would have me come practice with him. I would bang away on it mindlessly, and totally fell in love with the instrument in the process!

you have to be careful and do your research for sure...when you see one you like,check around and see what it goes for elsewhere.it's funny because yu never really get an unflawed guitar from anywhere out of a factory...they ship them with flaws....

i got that explorer for around 1/2 what it usually went for(sale price..not list..list price means nothing at all these days)

i think it had been returned multiple times..probably becuse of a really bad factory fret job..i leveled and dressed the frets and now it plays just like it's supposed to,and i saved a few hundred bucks...(about $500..that one was super low)

You know it is funny, I try and check out the scratch and dent at both mf and ams and I so rarely come across a deal, but it seems everyone else around me does! I was on there just yesterday hoping for a blem double cut lp jr. I saw dude from Little Texas (yeah y'all can laugh!) playing one last year and it sounded great! I have been jonesing ever since.

I really like the Talmans....lovely shape. I seem to remember reading that they were made from a "special composite material" which turned out to be MDF, any confirmation on this?

Could you not re-tap the trem arm or trem block? It might be easier to do the block to a standard fender size so that most arms will fit.

You know I have a talman, and I love the heck out of mine. Shame they never really caught on. friggin awesome when set up for slide!

You got me there maiden69!

I forgot to weaigh in on the topic. I am partial to having offsetting sound sin a badn with 2 guitarists. Meaing if my other guitarist is playing a paul or sg or some other similar sounding set neck humbucking guitar I like to play a strat or tele. And Vice Versa. I played a gig this weekend where the other guitarist used his strat the whole time and I played my sheraon II exclusiveley and was REALLY pleased with the resulting sound. Its not just a tonal thing either. Alot of times what I am playing dictates how I play. I tend to get a more "bop" like approach to how I comp when I play my sheraton than I do when I am strumming away on a strat or tele. It also has an effect on how I solo too. Course that could just be becasue I am a poser!

especially some of the old stuff where one of the guitarists had an Ibanez Destroyer

oh and some of the new stuff where they're using les Pauls and god knows what else!

The Destroyer rarely went out, and most of the time was in concert, and also for the LP's now, and this is Adrian Smith, Dave use strat, i would say 95% of the time.

I will have to check on my old LP's to see if they say what guitar was used on what songs but I doubt it. Anyway, if you look at the few Maiden concert videos, you will see Fenders on all 3 (and 4 with the new Maiden) players.

Yeah Adrian plays an LP and the destroyer still a little. Dave and Janik always use strats. Whose number 4 (has bruce picked up a fiddle too?)

I find the easiest way to stumble across amazing deals is to not have any money. I have come across the most killer steals, when my bank account is drained and can't do a thing about it. I am talking a JCM800 head and 412 cab for a measly 200 bucks. =( A super nice little Gibson SG for 175. I could go on but those are just two I ran across this year. I also had a friend who was selling a great Les Paul standard with a pickup upgrade ( I forget what kind but he was chasing the Allman Bros tone and dropped something like 300 bucks in pickups for his LP) and offered it to me for 800 cuz he needed cash in a hurry.

Jaycee, I would love to hear what you have to say about it when you are done reading it all. I have been toying with buying the books myself.

Wow that is awesome. BTW I too live in the horrible little pit known as durham, been in your shop a half dozen times, the gadow stuff plays as good as it looks for anyone interested!

not snotty at all, very sound advice, and its exactly what I need.

O one peice of advice I forgot to give is to ignore my horrible typing!

The one draw back to the internet community is that we don't have a very good way of sharing our music with one and another in a live setting, I am sitting here thinking how cool it would be to jam with some of you guys, imagaine what we could all share with each other.

oh I know.. but some times it gets tiresome..

Id rather play styles of music, instead of learing how they all work together..

im pretty much at the point where I have to start learning it, becuase besides sweep picking(witch im starting to learn) I dont really have any bounds..

1. Change the attitude that boundaries are limited to specific techniques.

2 . realize that you have way more to learn in every aspect of your playing than you could ever learn.

3. If you are watcing TV while you practice, you aren't practicing right. Practicing while your mind is otherwise occupied only serves to increase muscle memory, but does nothing to improve the most important part of playing, your mind.

4. Keep asking players around you for advice and tips (just like you are doing now), reagrdless of whether you are a "better" player than the perosn you are asking.

5. Most importantly, remeber that techniques are tools. Theory are the instruction books that go along with those tools. But at the end of the day Tools and instruction books don't make anything, it is the human factor that builds and creates. Think of it like the builders around here, I can have Jeremy's workshop and all of his notes and instructions, but I have don't have the vision and the creativity I am not going to create anything worth mentioning.

I hope this does not come across as snotty, but I see you making some of the mistakes I have made, and if I can help someone else avoid them and be a better musician, then I am a happy camper. Plus if you learn form my mistakes, you may be able to help me fix them!!!!!

that is the coolest top I have ever seen. its a shame you can't use whatever pickup system they use in the line 6 variaxes, so you could keep the top un-marred. This one has to make you happy, even considering your astronimically high standards.

holy crap look at the inlay one the second one. Man you got skills!

Well guys I am resigning myself to the fact my badn will never get off of its coolective keister and make the kind of music I want made. So i decided ( in the ethos of this very forum) to go DIY and record the kind of music I want by myself, with the occassional guest player. So to do this I have almost decided to go with THe mid range Acid program by sony. Anyone ever use it? Also, becasue I have no idea what I am doing , What is the best way to go from vocal/guitar/bass to the computer?

So some friends and I are planning a band. All fine and dandy, but theres a catch - I'm still running through my first amp, a little 15w Behringer. This means I need to step it up or go home! What I'm asking for is some advice on an inexpensive amp to step up to from my little practice amp. I'll be playing a nice mix of heavy and light distortion, as well as clean ska-ish stuff.

What would also help is some personal experience - what was YOUR step up amp, when you finally got away from using a little low-powered practice amp of questionable quality?

BTW, I know its a tall order, but I'm also looking for somewhere between $300-$400 as far as price goes.

Thanks!

My dad waws a guitarist so my first amp was a sweet old supro that had this super warm tone. But when I "stepped up" to an amp of my own, my first wqas peavey chrous classic 212. I loved that amp, and as amtter of fact it was my backup amp until earlier this year when I retired it and gave it to my dad. However, If I were in your situation now, I would get line6 maybe like a spider 2.

dude I LOVE that. I have often thought of redoing one of my tele's in a cool paisley finish. I like how it is classic, but a little evil at the same time!

do u have to change mode every time the chord changes???

I wouldn't think of it that way. Basically I would think of it in simpler terms. Lets look at the two most common modes. Ionian and Aeolian, otherwise known as major and minor respectively. If you are playing in C Ionaian (Major), generally speaking your songs is going to center around the C major chord, and you play no sharps or flats. with the exception of accidentals, passing tones, etc. Think in terms of a I IV V progrssion. You always end the form with C major.

Now, Using the same number of flats and sharps (0), We will change our "chord center" to A minor. Hear you end up with i iv and V7. You will notice that the V7 chord contains the notes E G# B D#. This is OK because the western ear prefers to hear a dominant seven chord resolve to the one chord whether it be minor or major. It is a case of creating what we perceive as a somewhat dissonant chord and releiving that dissonance. It is now different than artist using ocntrasting colors or when a writer creates conflict in a story arc and then resolves it. Bear in mind for those of you who are more advanced in theory, this is cliffs not version of modal theaory works. I will post a follow up later but this is a good jumping off point. I invite those of you here with the knowledge to expoind upon this or to clear anything that I may have vague. Hope this helps.

dude batfink got my vote for the use of danger mouse, you need to do another one now with Penfold!!!!

It helps, especially when you start getting into more theory-intensive stuff (like modes ).

I pretty much learned scales as shapes, aka "the blues box" method, and I still play primarily "by shape" and "by ear". But I can also figure out what notes are in the shapes too. But not always on the fly.

I thought I was the only one in that little limbo!

75 bucks for a decent copy is reasonable. Electronics are going to be dodgy, but you can upgrade those later.

O i guess I should add, I own a turser tele and My pa in law has one as well, no qualms with the playability, the electronics was our only complaint.