Have a guitar? Why not show us!Music

[35mm]

Spoiler

I know I've posted photos of my guitar elsewhere on GTPlanet... But definitely not here, so now's the time.

It's a Fender Stratocaster Classic Series '60s, from 2014 (meaning it has a rosewood fretboard). It's MiM and the colour is Lake Placid Blue.
Nothing too exciting, but it has that nice Strat tone and for the price these cost you can't go wrong with it.
I have it for less than a year.

For some context, my dream guitar has always been a Gibson Les Paul. Still is.
I started playing guitar in my early teens. Got a couple of acoustic guitars and then an electric guitar: a Jackson PS1 Performer (something with a couple of humbuckers, a single-coil and with Floyd Rose).
It was alright for playing in some shady local metal bands, etc. but never really got me motivated or made me fall in love with it.
Around 2000 I stopped playing altogether and it was only a year ago or so that I regained my interest in playing guitar.

Because a Les Paul is an expensive toy and because I still wasn't sure if my regained interested had come to stay, I decided to go for something much more accessible - enter a second-hand Mexican Strat. The fact that I've been more into SRV, Matt Schofield and other Strat players also helped with this decision.

 

[MagpieRacer]

My current isolation station.

 

[Pete05]

My current isolation station.

View attachment 916266 View attachment 916267 View attachment 916268

That’s quite the choice you have there.

#Jealous.

 

[Populuxe]

#Jealous.

Same.

I've been looking pretty hard at getting a couple Danelectro pedals, The Breakdown and Eisenhower Fuzz. The problem is I don't have the $150/ea needed to get them right now.

 

[Pete05]

Same.

I've been looking pretty hard at getting a couple Danelectro pedals, The Breakdown and Eisenhower Fuzz. The problem is I don't have the $150/ea needed to get them right now.

I want to get a Strat just like David Gilmour’s, an amp & pedal but I don’t have the $$$$ either.

I don’t have the skills required to do them justice but just to tinker & dream would be nice.

 

[MagpieRacer]

I want to get a Strat just like David Gilmour’s, an amp & pedal but I don’t have the $$$$ either.

I don’t have the skills required to do them justice but just to tinker & dream would be nice.

Meh, skills come second to desire. Having something you desire will make you want to pick it up more. And I'm sure you can do it plenty of justice anyway!

I love Gilmours Strat, I've often looked at the Harley Benton model which is unofficially a David Gilmour inspired model (even has DG in its name). Very attractive price. https://m.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_st_57dg_black_tribute.htm?o=22&search=1588332271

 

[Parker]

I bought another one...

View attachment 929018 View attachment 929019

An American Jimmy Page Signature Telecaster. As you may know, Jimmy Page is my favorite guitarist of all time and I've wanted an American Tele with a rosewood fretboard for a long time, so this was a no brainer. I bought this from the same place I bought both my Les Pauls so they have me a pretty decent discount, so good that it didn't make sense to buy a used one. They are doing a setup on it and will have it shipped hopefully sometime this week.

 

[35mm]

I bought this from the same place I bought both my Les Pauls so they have me a pretty decent discount, so good that it didn't make sense to buy a used one. They are doing a setup on it and will have it shipped hopefully sometime this week.

Man, I wish I had something like Wildwood around here... Not only it is a store that gives you the extra confidence needed when shelling out a couple thousand on a guitar, but also their exclusive, selected stuff is amazing - your Les Paul Standard is a great example of that.

Love watching Greg Koch demoing the guitars as well.

Anyway, congratulations on the Telly. Looks great.
Is it based on a Professional model? Any relevant changes over the model it is based on?

 

[Parker]

Man, I wish I had something like Wildwood around here... Not only it is a store that gives you the extra confidence needed when shelling out a couple thousand on a guitar, but also their exclusive, selected stuff is amazing - your Les Paul Standard is a great example of that.

Love watching Greg Koch demoing the guitars as well.

Anyway, congratulations on the Telly. Looks great.
Is it based on a Professional model? Any relevant changes over the model it is based on?

From what I understand, it is basically an American Original '60s Telecaster (even though Jimmy's is a '59) with a special neck profile to emulate Page's real Tele as well as custom Jimmy Page '59 pickups. It also comes with mirrors to put on the body (which I will not be doing, I love it as it is) and a few bits of special case candy. It also has a top loader bridge, so the strings can be run through the body like a regular Tele, or through the bridge which is supposed to make the strings a little slinkier and easier to bend.

I appreciate the compliments. Wildwood definitely is an amazing guitar store, if I'm ever in Colorado I'm definitely going to stop by.

 

[Parker]

It has arrived.

The guitar sounds absolutely phenomenal through my '59 Gibson GA-5 Skylark. Plugged straight in, no pedals, it has some nice creamy overdrive, roll back the volume knob a bit and the cleans are nice a sparkly. I'm really impressed so far.

 

[MaxAttack]

I have an ESP LTD Viper 100FM, in black (not sure they came in any other finish xd). It is a guitar that refuses to be played any other way than hard and fast. It's lovely and chunky down low. I tend to use Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky strings for chunk down low but a little brightness up high, and because I'm cheap af.

I chiefly play metal, and open C tuning is the only reason I ever sound any good.

Also hanging around I have a Tanglewood TBS resonator (remember the video for Muse - Plug in Baby? THAT guitar), which I haven't played for years purely because it is an absolute pain in the nut to string, and I started on a 25th Anniversary Squier Strat, which is still perfectly serviceable.

Unfortunately my amp game is weak - I have a 10W Boss amp that's been to hell and back, with a broken bass overdrive, and the gain does nothing if it's below 8.

I used to have a Korg Timeworks pedalboard that was capable of making it sound like just about anything. I miss it a lot.

Don't play nearly as much as I should.

(Lovely Tele up there, by the way. I hated those until I played one.)

 

[Parker]

So, I'm not really a pedal guy, I prefer to plug my guitars straight into an amp and let it overdrive naturally. I can do that with my '59 Gibson because it is only 4 watts and starts to break up fairly soon (especially with humbuckers) so I can get a nice tone at fairly low volume, and my tweed Blues Jr has a master volume. But I've been watching a lot of five watt world videos on YouTube (check him out if you haven't already, he has a ton of great videos) and saw a really good video about the Tubescreamer pedal. So then I went out and bought this...

It is the original Tubescreamer, same circuit and chip, but with a special 40th anniversary red sparkle case. I've played with it for about an hour so far, and I really like it. Even with my '59 Gibson, I can set the volume to 1 or 2, which is nice and clean (and low volume) and still get a great overdrive tone when I engage the Tubescreamer. Here is the Tubescreamer history video I was watching if anyone is interested.

 

[35mm]

Blackstar HT-20R MkII



Got my first valve amp.
I've been eyeing an HT-5R for some time, but this incredible deal came up on a 20 that I simply couldn't pass.
I've yet to give it a proper run, but this is pretty much what I expected: a great range of beautiful tones (classic and modern) and packed with nice features.

 

[35mm]

So, yesterday was restringing, cleaning and reconditioning the fretboard day.

Because I had some fret buzzing going on recently (near the 12th fret) I decided to detach the neck and give the truss rod a 1/4 of a turn. Happy to report that seemed to have done the trick.





On another note, I also learned today that Page had (has?) a Lake Placid Blue Strat, which looks a lot like mine.
A happy coincidence for sure, as I've been more and more into Zeppelin/Page recently.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Few of changes to my setup, some Big some small. I had the Cort MBC1 Matt Bellamy signature but didn't really get on with it for a number of reasons. Firstly it didn't feel like what I want a Matt Bellamy signature to feel like or be like, the sound was good but too similar to my Epiphone Les Paul Pro and I prefer the neck and a few other tricks that the Epiphone has so ended up selling the Cort. Got a good price as they are desirable and then purchased a couple of Harley Bentons to add a bit more variety to my rack.

Harley Benton DC Junior LTD Edition

Lovely pelham blue sparkle finish, Roswell P90 with plenty of bite, nice neck. As a big Green Day fan this guitar taps into my inner Billie Joe, I almost went for their silver sparkle single cut junior for even more imitation but couldn't resist the blue. Linited run of 250 pieces.

Harley Benton ST62-CC

Harley Bentons 60s strat copy. Genuinely plays fantastically well, the pickups sound great, the neck is a stunner for this price point and even has some flame on the maple fingerboard as pictured. its a charcoal frost colour so has some sparkle but not as crazy as the DC Junior.

I also swapped a guitar out that I wasn't using, Squier Affinity Telecaster. That was traded locally for a no name brand P-Bass plus a bit of cash my way. This will go nicely with my final change.

Despite all the hype I was really struggling to enjoy the Katana as a practice amp. I had the mk2 100 watt model, and while the tones are decent and there's a staggering array of in built effects, I find I spend more time fiddling and tweaking through a laptop than I did playing it, forgetting what effect is saved where and having very limited control of the effects on the amp controls itself was getting annoying. The volume steps aren't very smooth and as ibhave 2 kids now the amls footprint was too big for the living room along with the various footswitches needed to get the most out of it. So I took the plunge and sold it to purchase the Positive Grid Spark which has had some public criticism for how long order fulfilment has taken, with some people having waited 8 months for their preorder to be delivered instead of 2-3. They've sorted out their stock and blamed unprecedented demand for the amp. But now people have it and its being reviewed by players other than those paid to review or given review units it was clear that this is the amp I need for home practice. Desktop, 40w, stereo amp. Like the Boss it has in built effects which can't be controlled from the top panel. But unlike the Boss it has Bluetooth and a very good app to go with it. Which should make my home playing much more enjoyable. Plus, it has bass guitar amp models and effects as well, hence acquiring a bass, I played bass before electric guitar so will be nice to play again. I will update in this thread when I receive and play it.

Finally here is a picture to show my method of song learning. Old school.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Still waiting for the Positive Grid Spark to arrive. But as one of its key selling points to me is it can take a bass guitar, complete with 4 bass amp models and various effects, I needed to acquire some bassy goodness.

I only intended to get 1, I played bass before I learned electric guitar so I had a good idea what I wanted. Either a Squier, Harley Benton or an Ibanez, either a PJ style or a Precision style. After a few days, a Squier P-Bass came up locally for £70, in a limited edition silver with matching headstock from 2003. A late edition of the 20th anniversary series.

Very sharp looking. With that thunderous P-Bass tone and a nice chunk of a neck.

I thought that was it, I have 6 guitars now, plus a bass, 7 is plenty. But then last night a bass I've had my eye on for almost a year comes up locally, its a Harley Benton (which normally in the UK would require buying directly from Thomann in Germany) and its almost 50% the cost of a new one, and hasn't been played as the chap is a big fan of The Beatles and bought it as part of a Beatles shrine.
If that wasn't enough of a hint of what it is, then here you go.

The Harley Benton Vintage Series Beatbass. Inspired of course by Sir Paul McCartney. At £90 it was too good to pass up and it plays and sounds every bit as good as I'd hoped (through a headphone amp at least.)

Now to just continue the wait for my new amp so I can really explore them.

 

[richroo]

Hello All,
Guitars yes pls more more more.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Hello All,
Guitars yes pls more more more.

Love the colour on that Gretsch.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Hi my names Ash and I have a guitar gear problem.

New metallic purple Squier Strat from Andertons in the UK. Exclusive limited run for the store in the UK thanks to a certain guitar playing Dane.

 

[35mm]

Hi my names Ash and I have a guitar gear problem.
View attachment 951625

New metallic purple Squier Strat from Andertons in the UK. Exclusive limited run for the store in the UK thanks to a certain guitar playing Dane.

Gotta love Danish Pete. 👍


I'm all over the place regarding a new guitar.

My 25 years old desire to have a Les Paul is stronger than ever, but Gibson prices went up like crazy a couple of months ago and / or they are out of stock everywhere.
I was really, really settled on getting a Standard 50s as a 40th birthday gift to myself this year (back in July), but the pandemic took care of that.

Two weeks ago I almost lost my head and went for a 2017 Custom Shop Les Paul '58. A deal came up near me - which was a sign by itself - but also was a great price, at €2.5k. I mean, it's almost the money of a new Standard, ever since they went up in price...
Anyway, I talked a lot with the seller, got lots of photos, set up to meet with him... but couldn't sleep the night before, regretted the whole thing and called the deal off that morning. True story.

[EDIT]
It was this beauty:

[/EDIT]

Needless to say, the deal quickly disappeared...

Also, I almost traded my Strat for a 2018 Les Paul Tribute this weekend, but in this case it was the other guy that backed-off.

I'm now looking at some Junior / Special type of guitars, with P90s, as I fell in love with them recently. Either an Epiphone Les Paul Special in TV Yellow or a SG Special in Sparkling Burgundy. We'll see (again, once they're back in stock)...


Like I said: all over the place.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Gotta love Danish Pete. 👍


I'm all over the place regarding a new guitar.

My 25 years old desire to have a Les Paul is stronger than ever, but Gibson prices went up like crazy a couple of months ago and / or they are out of stock everywhere.
I was really, really settled on getting a Standard 50s as a 40th birthday gift to myself this year (back in July), but the pandemic took care of that.

Two weeks ago I almost lost my head and went for a 2017 Custom Shop Les Paul '58. A deal came up near me - which was a sign by itself - but also was a great price, at €2.5k. I mean, it's almost the money of a new Standard, ever since they went up in price...
Anyway, I talked a lot with the seller, got lots of photos, set up to meet with him... but couldn't sleep the night before, regretted the whole thing and called the deal off that morning. True story.
Needless to say, the deal quickly disappeared...

I also almost traded my Strat for a 2018 Les Paul Tribute this weekend, but in this case it was the other guy that backed-off.

I'm now looking at some Junior / Special type of guitars, with P90s, as I fell in love with them recently. Either an Epiphone Les Paul Special in TV Yellow or a SG Special in Sparkling Burgundy. We'll see (again, once they're back in stock)...


Like I said: all over the place.

Danish Pete is a legend, love his playing. I missed out on the special run of purple Teles they did earlier this year. Wasn't going to miss out on the Strat.

I do love Les Pauls, I have 2 myself, 1 Gibson (2018 faded) and an Epiphone (Traditional Pro 3). If it helps, the Epiphone plays just as good as the Gibson, and this particular model actually has the Gibson '57 pickups.
Gibson

Epiphone

Depending on your budget though there's some great options out there, a quick look on Reverb and there's a few really nice Les Paul Studios around £700. Like this one. Gibson Les Paul Studio 2011 https://reverb.com/item/35317906-gi...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=35317906

So Reverb is always worth a look, usually some great deals to be had and a lot of sellers have an option to make an offer so have a look how long they've been listed for and try get them down.

Alternatively I've seen a few places doing the 2020 Epiphone Les Paul Standard 50s around £450 now, and they are beasts, pretty close to historic specs, Epiphone ProBuckers, graphtech nut, CTS pots, braided wires, 50s neck, long neck tenon, the list goes on. I plan on getting one of these as it's probably the closest to 50s Standard as I'll ever get.
https://www.peachguitars.com/guitar...aul-standard-50s-heritage-cherry-sunburst.htm

Go for it though, my Les Pauls are the nicest guitars I've ever owned.

 

[35mm]

Danish Pete is a legend, love his playing. I missed out on the special run of purple Teles they did earlier this year. Wasn't going to miss out on the Strat.

I do love Les Pauls, I have 2 myself, 1 Gibson (2018 faded) and an Epiphone (Traditional Pro 3). If it helps, the Epiphone plays just as good as the Gibson, and this particular model actually has the Gibson '57 pickups.
Gibson
View attachment 951706

Epiphone
View attachment 951707

Depending on your budget though there's some great options out there, a quick look on Reverb and there's a few really nice Les Paul Studios around £700. Like this one. Gibson Les Paul Studio 2011 https://reverb.com/item/35317906-gi...are&utm_campaign=listing&utm_content=35317906

So Reverb is always worth a look, usually some great deals to be had and a lot of sellers have an option to make an offer so have a look how long they've been listed for and try get them down.

Alternatively I've seen a few places doing the 2020 Epiphone Les Paul Standard 50s around £450 now, and they are beasts, pretty close to historic specs, Epiphone ProBuckers, graphtech nut, CTS pots, braided wires, 50s neck, long neck tenon, the list goes on. I plan on getting one of these as it's probably the closest to 50s Standard as I'll ever get.
https://www.peachguitars.com/guitar...aul-standard-50s-heritage-cherry-sunburst.htm

Go for it though, my Les Pauls are the nicest guitars I've ever owned.

Appreciate your input.

I understand how good Epiphones have become and I'd gladly have one - I've been following the 2020 "Inspired by Gibson" stuff very closely, ever since the latest NAMM show.
However, for this specific case (Standard Les Paul), being such a special guitar for me, I want to go Gibson. I have to. In my head, I know I'll never be 100% satisfied otherwise.
I'll reserve the Epiphone card for other stuff (P90 pick-ups, maybe an SG, etc.).


I don't visit Reverb regularly, as the idea of buying used gear without seeing or trying it firstly kind of puts me off (and international shipping costs for these things are huge). But I'll take a look at it again, thanks.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Appreciate your input.

I understand how good Epiphones have become and I'd gladly have one - I've been following the 2020 "Inspired by Gibson" stuff very closely, ever since the latest NAMM show.
However, for this specific case (Standard Les Paul), being such a special guitar for me, I want to go Gibson. I have to. In my head, I know I'll never be 100% satisfied otherwise.
I'll reserve the Epiphone card for other stuff (P90 pick-ups, maybe an SG, etc.).


I don't visit Reverb regularly, as the idea of buying used gear without seeing or trying it firstly kind of puts me off (and international shipping costs for these things are huge). But I'll take a look at it again, thanks.

Yeah this is the thing when spending big money on a guitar. Gotta be the right one. Feel is so much for a guitar of that level.

 

[35mm]

And boom...!

Just like that, out of nowhere, my local guitar shop happens to have a Gibson Les Paul Standard '50s Heritage Cherry Sunburst. Exactly what I wanted.

The price is higher than they were at the beginning of the year, but I emailed them and they reduced the price, to an even lower value than before.

It's done. This is it. I finally have the thing I've been wanting, on and off, for almost 25 years.

Spoiler: MOAR

I love the fact that it's not too flame-y and predominantly more like a plain top.
I say predominantly because she has a double personality and all of a sudden changes from a bourbon-ish plain to a flame-y cherry.​

I'm over the moon.

 

[MagpieRacer]

And boom...!

Just like that, out of nowhere, my local guitar shop happens to have a Gibson Les Paul Standard '50s Heritage Cherry Sunburst. Exactly what I wanted.

The price is higher than they were at the beginning of the year, but I emailed them and they reduced the price, to an even lower value than before.

It's done. This is it. I finally have the thing I've been wanting, on and off, for almost 25 years.

Spoiler: MOAR

I love the fact that it's not too flame-y and predominantly more like a plain top.
I say predominantly because she has a double personality and all of a sudden changes from a bourbon-ish plain to a flame-y cherry.​

I'm over the moon.

Man that is absolutely beautiful. Congrats, very jealous. Standard 50s is one of my dream guitars, I really love the specs of them. I agree with the top, I love a good flame top but sometimes its nice to have something a little more toned down, almost feels more vintage correct sometimes. My Gibson is a completely plain top nut still has really nice grain.

Well done though. Looks stunning and its always nice to realise a dream.

You also raise a good point about prices, people should never be afraid to barter or ask about pricing. Guitar shops know serious buyers and will always find a way to do a deal. Especially on high end guitars. Heck even my Epiphone I managed to snaked nearly £80 off it and that was already below £500. Theres always deals to be had.

 

[Leadfoot530]

So, I haven't played regularly for a few years now. Just so happened to be tinkering around with my Les Paul the other day when I decided it needed a new set of strings.

Took the old ones off, cleaned the fretboard and everything else, get ready to put a new set on...and I've just realized I don't have another set to put on it!

Seemed like a good opportunity to see what everyone else's preference is; might experiment with something new this time.

Only really used Ernie Ball and Elixir strings, used to use Power Slinkys, but I'll probably stick to a normal set or even lighter. Might try a normal top, light bottom, I'm sure something like that exists.

 

[35mm]

So, I haven't played regularly for a few years now. Just so happened to be tinkering around with my Les Paul the other day when I decided it needed a new set of strings.

Took the old ones off, cleaned the fretboard and everything else, get ready to put a new set on...and I've just realized I don't have another set to put on it!

Seemed like a good opportunity to see what everyone else's preference is; might experiment with something new this time.

Only really used Ernie Ball and Elixir strings, used to use Power Slinkys, but I'll probably stick to a normal set or even lighter. Might try a normal top, light bottom, I'm sure something like that exists.

What did you end up going for?

I'm also in the process of picking up some new strings.
I've always used Ernie Ball, as they're affordable and seem to last well. Fresh sets always sound and feel great as well.
But I'm open to trying new stuff and may experiment something new on the Les Paul - I'm reading good things on the Vintage Reissue ones, from Gibson.

Also, the Les Paul comes with 10s from factory and that's OK. On my Strat I got used to 9s, but because of the different scale length they're actually a fair match.


@MagpieRacer Have you received your Positive Grid Spark already? If so, care to share your opinion on it?

 

[MagpieRacer]

So, I haven't played regularly for a few years now. Just so happened to be tinkering around with my Les Paul the other day when I decided it needed a new set of strings.

Took the old ones off, cleaned the fretboard and everything else, get ready to put a new set on...and I've just realized I don't have another set to put on it!

Seemed like a good opportunity to see what everyone else's preference is; might experiment with something new this time.

Only really used Ernie Ball and Elixir strings, used to use Power Slinkys, but I'll probably stick to a normal set or even lighter. Might try a normal top, light bottom, I'm sure something like that exists.

D'addario NYXLs for me. Just like the feel and whatnot. No real reason other than habit I guess.

What did you end up going for?

I'm also in the process of picking up some new strings.
I've always used Ernie Ball, as they're affordable and seem to last well. Fresh sets always sound and feel great as well.
But I'm open to trying new stuff and may experiment something new on the Les Paul - I'm reading good things on the Vintage Reissue ones, from Gibson.

Also, the Les Paul comes with 10s from factory and that's OK. On my Strat I got used to 9s, but because of the different scale length they're actually a fair match.


@MagpieRacer Have you received your Positive Grid Spark already? If so, care to share your opinion on it?

I have had the Spark for almost a month now, I have been planning to give an opinion on it for a while just hadn't got round to it.

Its a really good practice amp in short. Its actually a little larger than I had envisaged but still definitely desktop sized. Packs a real punch considering it's size. Compared to the Yamaha THR10 I find it can handle louder volumes better in that it doesn't just sound like a small speaker. It sounds like a guitar amp. Weirdly it's the lower volumes where it can sound a little small.

Certainly can't argue with the range of tonal possibilities. The amp models all sound great and certainly give off the character of what they're emulating. The Orange models are darker and moody, the Marshall models have that real mid range growl, the Fenders are spanky. The effects are again more about that accurate character rather than flat out great sound. There's no question each effect does what it should it just a little unspectacularly. But I guess that should be expected with an affordable modeller. Its a little restricting in the signal chain, noise gate, compressor, boost, amp, mod, delay, reverb. In that order, with no multiples. If you wanted to stack boosts or have 2 modulations you can't do that. Theres also no foot controller for it so you have to change everything through the app so if you wanted to use multiple effects and boosts through one song or whatever then this isn't the amp for you.

The bass modelling doesn't get talked about much. Its actually very good, 3 different amps to model and a decent range of effects. I've har a lot of fun playing bass through it.

The Smart Jam and various other smart features are cool, however, not as smart as they could be. By that I mean the chird recognition isn't as good or as accurate as it should or needs to be. The chord recognition when it analyses songs for you to learn isn't accurate enough to be useful. And the play along feature, whilst it uses your Spotify or Apple music playlists for you to choose songs from, it doesn't use those versions of the songs, instead it pulls from YouTube which frequently isn't the best quality version. Smart jam also doesn't really work with bass as it generates a bass line and drum track which is a bit of an oversight but I guess would also be harder to create from. Theres also no looping capability which seems odd.

To summarise, great practice amp with good sounding tones and OK sounding effects. Smart Jam is OK but not all its cracked up to be, other pedals and apps can do the same and in most cases do it better.


In other news. I finally caved in and bought another Les Paul. I'd been very excited about the 2020 Epiphone range since its announcement, especially the new standards. Went to my local guitar store (PMT Norwich if you're in the UK) and tried a few out. Tried 3 of the 50s standards (1 of each colour) and 1 of the 60s standards. I know they are more mass produced and built a different way to Gibson and other high end instruments but there were definitely marginally different feels in the necks and big differences in the weights between the 3 50s models I tried. One of them just felt and sounded a little bit better than the others so I bought it.

The specs for the price are great and those looking for an authentically built 50s model without breaking the bank will be very happy. CTS pots, 50s style wiring, ABR1 bridge, long neck tenon, no weight relief and Epiphones ProBucker 2 (neck) and 3 (bridge) which uses the same nickel silver alloy Gibson use for the PAF pickups. Really nails that tone. Fantadtix guitar.

 

[Leadfoot530]

What did you end up going for?

Elixir Optiweb 0.09s(in).

Been using 0.11s forever, knew I wanted something lighter. My local store didn't have much Ernie Ball stuff in stock, and I figured Elixirs last a lot longer with the coating; given how much I've played recently, I can probably get a year out of them.

I know the coating can turn be a turn off in terms of feel, but I've never had a problem with it using them in the past. Lower string guage feels a lot better than expected, really easy playability even if it doesn't wuite sound as warm as I would have wanted. Would have preferred a a set of 0.10s or even an Ernie Ball Skinny Bottom Heavy Top set, but for what was available, I'm happy with 'em.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Updated the guitar corner. New small sofa much more comfortable to sit and play on, rug to define my bounadry from the kids and a new stand as I have too many guitars.