Recent content by Ashurbanipal

With cutting tools, arguably best not to skimp. Cheaper tools may be ok, but not necessarily have the longevity. I've used cheaper files and they do the job, but after a few fret jobs, they get blunt. Stewmac stuff does indeed have the fancy tax, and maybe more worthwhile if you do a lot of...

I used to do this - 10s on Gibsony things etc., but I just prefer the feel/sound of lighter strings nowadays. I don't think about it really; I have several different guitars which I rotate so I've gotten used to going from one to the other. My SG in particular has pretty small frets, and with...

Use 9s on everything, whether G or F scale, standard or Eb. I did put 8s on my SG recently and have been enjoying them a lot, they seem to suit that particular guitar. Of course, you can't be a ham fist with them 😄. Picks - red or black Jazz III.

Yes, the old Jem single coil is supposed to be similar to the FS-1 iirc but a bit lower output and brighter. I haven't used DiMarzios much, I have a PAF Pro that I got years ago, which I cycled through a few guitars. Currently it's in an Ibanez Ergodyne HSS and it sounds quite good there...

Mm hm 😎. They did a nice job with this model - Leeds, Sabbath etc. all day long. I put 8s on mine recently, enjoying it even more.

Pretty fab! not enough matching headstock action in Strat land 😁. Never seen such a figured neck on a Squier (I'm sure the odd one has it, maybe not by intention!). I'd say it's a 50s CV - single ply 8 hole pickguard.

^^ Similar reasons, though I wasn't aware of Lemme's work at the time 😄. My first decent guitar was an Ibanez RG and the neck pu in series was always a bit dark for my taste, so that led me down the mod path. Even these days, a new pu for me is either a last resort when other options have been...

Of course, Norlin stuff has become stupid because people are priced out of 50s-60s stuff. We discussed this re. T-Tops in another thread - suddenly they're the cool thing, back in the day people were tossing them.

I'd agree. Also a nice set of audio taper pots with a 5-10% tolerance, wired up 50s style, so clean to mean is at your fingertips, keeping with the theme of the music you're going for with this one. Think of Pete and Jimmy turning down to get those sweet clean sounds, they weren't stomping on...

No silliness, just awesomeness. Has a bit of a Hellecasters vibe, in fact.

Following on from above, Gotoh make compensated barrel saddles in a few flavours - brass, steel or titanium. These are also slotted, which may or may not be an issue depending on the particular geometry and string spacing of your Tele. Another option is Wilkinson, they offer unslotted...

Eddie used a 250k pot with his broken JB in the 5150, right? I don't remember the exact details from that Larry DiMarzio article. I have tried the JB a few times in the past, mostly in passing, I may have to revisit sometime since it's been an age. I briefly had a Jackson DK2M which came stock...

Maybe ESP should've got some of Bob Taylor's streaky ebony instead of pau ferro 😄. It does want some of Monty's Montypresso. It was cool to see him play an Old Boy replica at the farewell gig.

For those who want the more traditional look, I can vouch for this. Used especially, a pretty great deal. For LTD, I confess I like this one, with its vaporwave shtick.

I don't know if anyone's got anything on snobbiness in the classical world, heh - rosewood back/sides or else it's a harder sell (I'm generalising but it is the broad trend). There was a research project done on this around 10y ago in Europe (https://leonardo-guitar-research.com/), to see...