Learning guitar as an adult: lame or not?

**highangle** · 04-30-2017, 02:47 AM

^^^Think you got enough amp this time?

And a half turn of tension in El Rojo's truss rod should get that action down to where it will be a little more forgiving in the middle & upper frets. Maybe just trick of the light?

Outed for bass clef, BTW.

**galibier_numero_un** · 04-30-2017, 03:24 AM

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

It happened. Now I've got to get another tele. Somehow. Before I get evicted from this apartment for making too much noise.

Yup ... Definitely suffering from TDS (Tele Deficiency Syndrome) ;-)

... Thom

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by highangle

^^^Think you got enough amp this time?

And a half turn of tension in El Rojo's truss rod should get that action down to where it will be a little more forgiving in the middle & upper frets. Maybe just trick of the light?

Outed for bass clef, BTW.

More like too much amp. lol. At least it came with an attenuator. Action must be a trick of the angle as it's as low as it goes without buzzing used feeler gauges to set the relief and its right on.

I've got another tele getting ready to be built by an AK luthier down in Juneau. This one won't get sold or traded away.

**axebiker** · 04-30-2017, 10:26 AM

I love Teles...

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 10:59 AM

Originally Posted by axebiker

I love Teles...

When the custom tele arrives in August/September I'll be sure to post pics.

**highangle** · 04-30-2017, 01:03 PM

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

More like too much amp. lol. At least it came with an attenuator. Action must be a trick of the angle as it's as low as it goes without buzzing used feeler gauges to set the relief and its right on.

I'm glad you hear me grinning when I toss something like that out! heh

I've been playing bluegrass acoustics strung with fence wire for the last two or three years. I put some new 10 Ernies on my strat yesterday, plugged it into the dusty Silverface, and still can't get over how bad I sound with them little spider webs strung across that skinny little chikin nek. The Sharp Prince of Thall. D'oh...

But that's alright, I got two compressors to string in line and compensate for my shit technique, so all I need is an 8-string Schecter and some tribal tatts to get metal again.

I've got another tele getting ready to be built by an AK luthier down in Juneau. This one won't get sold or traded away.

Ash or alder?

Maybe a bucker?

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 02:06 PM

I'm undecided torn between local yellow cedar and this beautiful old redwood he's got. Maybe cedar with a redwood top. No humbucker and a sweet curly maple neck.
Same redwood as these two, these just have different grain orientation.

Neck is the twin of this one, from the same piece of wood.

He lightly sandblasts bodies to get a driftwood effect that is pretty awesome. The second redwood guitar has that finish. Pickups are going to be handwound to vintage spec. I'm terribly anxious to play it.

**highangle** · 04-30-2017, 02:25 PM

God damn son.
You pull something like that out of a case, you better know how to play it...

I wonder how yellow cedar sounds? I bet it's hard enough to get you some good sustain. Pups shouldn't be microphonic, but the way the body resonates the neck has a lot to do with the way the strings vibrate...

Check out "Chladni patterns"...they apply somewhat to a solid-body too.

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by highangle

God damn son.
You pull something like that out of a case, you better know how to play it...

I wonder how yellow cedar sounds? I bet it's hard enough to get you some good sustain. Pups shouldn't be microphonic, but the way the body resonates the neck has a lot to do with the way the strings vibrate...

Check out "Chladni patterns"...they apply somewhat to a solid-body too.

I practice a lot. I'm still a beginner though, just began this journey a year ago. Gonna keep playing forever maybe this instrument will inspire me to greatness. Who knows, it's a custom guitar at a reasonable price from an Alaskan luthier, cheaper than a USA standard tele and way more character. I can't not get one.

**stfu&gbtw** · 04-30-2017, 03:11 PM

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

I practice a lot. I'm still a beginner though, just began this journey a year ago. Gonna keep playing forever maybe this instrument will inspire me to greatness. Who knows, it's a custom guitar at a reasonable price from an Alaskan luthier, cheaper than a USA standard tele and way more character. I can't not get one.

Who is it?

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 03:28 PM

George Gress. http://www.ggress.com/

**bigt** · 04-30-2017, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

George Gress. http://www.ggress.com/

Good choice in builder. George built the body of my jazz bass out of splated red alder from Prince of Wales island. It was total custom, turned out pretty darn nice and at a great
Price. I wired it up with my pickups and it is sounds sweet. It is the one in the middle. I'll try to post some better pics later

He does a great job on the teles i have seen. Awesome thinlines if you want to get fancy. Also if you want sweet and affordable pickups look into bill lawrence.

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 05:04 PM

Nice!! He ordered Buddha pickups for my tele. Said they're excellent in his experience. Handwound and cheaper than fender OV pickups. He said he loves building teles.

**axebiker** · 04-30-2017, 07:47 PM

This is pretty much everything except my Fractal AX8, a Flextone III 2x12 combo amp, my acoustic guitar, and two electrics I built.

**Chugachjed** · 04-30-2017, 07:49 PM

You have 5 of those gibsons and were buying 2 more?

**axebiker** · 04-30-2017, 09:51 PM

Originally Posted by Chugachjed

You have 5 of those gibsons and were buying 2 more?

I had 4 (the ones in the rack) at the time I was robbed trying to buy the other two. The two I was buying were vintage 70's models; the ones I have are all recent reissues. Very different guitars from the wood to neck scale to electronics. That was part of the reason I let the EPIC FAIL go on for as long as it did.

The new one in the foreground was a consolation prize I snagged for a pretty good deal on Reverb.

**highangle** · 05-01-2017, 12:08 AM

I'm glad you are whole after that bullshit, axl. And that some young Dimebag Mustaine somewhere will soon be economy picking diatonic harmonies with proper implements of dark vengeance.

YouTube recommended this. It made me smile in a good way...

**abraham** · 05-01-2017, 12:14 AM

I hope you play while wearing that devil gorilla mask. Also, where would one buy such a mask?

**axebiker** · 05-01-2017, 12:50 PM

Originally Posted by abraham

I hope you play while wearing that devil gorilla mask. Also, where would one buy such a mask?

That would be my "Nameless Ghoul from the band Ghost" mask. Maybe I didn't buy it? Maybe I'm a Nameless Ghoul? Who knows...

Check out Trick or Treat Studios. They outfit all the cool kids.

**highangle** · 05-02-2017, 11:51 AM

**hop** · 05-02-2017, 12:01 PM

So who else is talking with George Gress after viewing this thread? I got in touch with him the other day requesting an estimate for a '58 Explorer and today he says he's got three more requests for custom builds.

A custom Explorer for ~$1k is not so bad.

**abraham** · 05-02-2017, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by axebiker

That would be my "Nameless Ghoul from the band Ghost" mask. Maybe I didn't buy it? Maybe I'm a Nameless Ghoul? Who knows...

Check out Trick or Treat Studios. They outfit all the cool kids.

You're from Linköping?? I've seen you play before?

**galibier_numero_un** · 05-02-2017, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by hop

So who else is talking with George Gress after viewing this thread? I got in touch with him the other day requesting an estimate for a '58 Explorer and today he says he's got three more requests for custom builds.

A custom Explorer for ~$1k is not so bad.

Those are stupid good prices. He's definitely undervaluing his labor. Strike while the iron is hot, before he comes to his senses.

Along that line of thinking, I've been wondering for several be years, how much better a Tele made by Jeff Senn can be than the partscasters I've assembled.

With pricing in the mid $2K's, and the fact that I've been buying too many skis recently, I've yet to find out.

Tempering my enthusiasm a bit, I tried a Grosh guitar at Wildwood (in Louisville, CO), and wasn't terribly impressed. To be fair, it was only one guitar - one which might be someone else's idea of perfection.

... Thom

**stfu&gbtw** · 05-02-2017, 02:56 PM

I haven't been convinced to buy a guitar from any of the custom luthiers I've met either... I don't have unusual tastes in guitars. The patina on my black '77 LP Artisan and '90 ES-335 suit me perfectly. Can't remeber the last time I even considered buying a new guitar. But a really good custom tele for a grand would be impossible to turn down.... No idea if that's what they cost... But the prices you see on some "custom" teles/strats are just stupid. It's a block of wood with a neck screwed into it and a couple hundred dollars worth of electronics. There's no way a new one is worth more than about $1500, unless you start getting into super fancy wood work and materials - I don't care who makes it.

**highangle** · 05-02-2017, 04:16 PM

Thanks you fuckers. Just impulsed another dreadgun from the mail order house:

Rosewood
Adirondack
untinted nitro
Forward-shifted x, scalloped spruce throughout, hide glue
1-piece dovetail V hog neck, ebony board, stainless frets, gold open butterbeans
12/16 bone nut, bone/ebony prewar belly bridge, bone pins
abalone rosette & purfling, abalone snowflakes dots, gaudy headstock
tortoise pickguard
gold hardware vintage-look case with green crushed velvet & sweet badging

Maybe 5 years for the top to start to loosen, but should be a big ol fishfry when the grease finally heats up...