Perfect

News from the Front

So, I raised the pickup. And I raised it some more. And I still plan to go with .010s the next time I buy strings. But I played tonight, in front of people, and most of the time, I played the black Tele with the .009s, and it sounded good. I still plan to do the work on that one, making it a near-Baja, but it is good to know that there's nothing really wrong with it.

Born To Be Mild

You've seen the #1. It dresses in all back. It has three saddles, like a hard-rockin' Coelacanth that the Telecaster is. Straplocks, because you toss the axe around when you're rockin'. A scrunchie on the neck, color-coordinated with the body, like Greg Howe does. Low action and a straight neck. It's a rocker, a bad boy.

But lately, I've noticed. Specifically Wednesday night, playing out. It's ... nice. In a way that the bridge pickup of a Tele caster is Just. Not. Supposed. To. Be. It's think and understated.

I know at least part of the problem. I have it as my country guitar. I have Slinky .009s on it, and especially with single-coil pickups, the smaller the string, the less initial signal. I remember wondering "What happened to my guitar?!?" when I dropped from the .012s I originally had on it. Dropping the strings basically castrated the thing.

But I don't know that I ever got the bridge pickup to a one-true position once I installed the Wilkinson. I've raised it some. And I'm playing on Friday evening. Church crowd, so I won't necessarily get to be a fire-breather.

OK, I'm almost never happy with my mix, and I was going for the clean patches on my multi-effects unit instead of the high-gain ones. I have potential mitigating circumstances galore, should I think I need them. But I think there's more to it.

I just got the SX as a #2, a spare guitar so I can mod one and always have a second around. I am now convinced that the modifications will happen to the #1, and they will include the following.

• 4-way switch, so I can get both serial and parallel
• push-pull on volume pot so I can switch phase on the neck pickup, effectively giving me Baja switching
• a no-load tone pot so I can go direct out
• a black pickup cover
because how much more black could it be? That much more.

And also .010 strings. Give the pickups more to work with.

Stomp Tuner Head-to-Head

I've been wanting a stomp tuner. Looks like the Turbo Tuner's the one.

Also, got tired of the Youtube vids going over into the sidebar, so I got into the CSS. You are welcome.

Praise God! It isn't a Telecaster!

Not that those two thoughts are connected.

I hear a sort of cocked-wah sound with Sacred Steel that I just can't get myself, on either my steel or my Tele with a cocked wah. Any ideas?

That's how you play that song

On the importance of string gauges

"Traditionally, guitars have a fat string on the top and they get skinnier and skinnier as they go down. But the thing to remember is it's your guitar and you can put whatever you want on it."
David Fair of Half Japanese