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Capacitors: What You Need to Know about The Differences in Guitar Tone Caps
Capacitors: What You Need to Know about The Differences in Guitar Tone Caps
Wow! This blog really began many months back with THIS BLOG on Tone Cap VALUES, which are very important, so read that blog first if you have not yet! Y'all know that I sometimes get a little more long-winded than necessary, so if ya want to jump right to the point here it is: Don't waste your money on caps that are very expensive, any good quality non-polar cap will work PERFECT as a guitar tone cap. As a general rule, any cap that costs more than a buck or two is as good as it gets. Want more? ...
WARNING: Watch Out for Chinese FAKE Fender, Gibson, and other Guitars!
WARNING: Watch Out for Chinese FAKE Fender, Gibson, and other Guitars!
Howdy guitar gang! I have a huge confession/admission to make right here and now: At the last Guitar Show I showed at, I actually got taken with a FAKE "Fender Custom Shop" guitar! (It's the one pictured) OMG, how could this happen to ME??? I'm actually considered quite a Fender expert, and routinely appraise and authenticate vintage Fender guitars and amps. So what the heck? Well, the short answer is that 1) those darn Chinese are getting much better at faking big-name guitars, and 2)...
1957 Alnico 2 PAF vs 1959 Alnico 5 - What's the difference between a 57 and 59
1957 Alnico 2 PAF vs 1959 Alnico 5 - What's the difference between a 57 and 59
I had a question come in via email that I felt was deserving of a through video/blog ... as I just bet it's a question many folks have pondered. The question was "what's the difference between 1957 PAF pickups and 1959 PAF pickups. At this point I should specify that there are no differences in the PAF pickups produced from 1957 through 1958 (none intentional anyway). Likewise from 1959 to 1961 there were no changes to the specifications. So when I say "57 PAF", that can be interpreted to...
Fender Guitars - Leading the Pack in 2019!
Fender Guitars - Leading the Pack in 2019!
Shoot, 2019 is just flat looking AMAZING for us guitar players! Last week I wrote about how good Gibson was looking as they emerge from bankruptcy. But This week I'm going to ramble on a little about the OTHER great American Guitar company, who seemingly has the Midas touch and "gets" us players in a way that makes me wonder if they have secretly bugged the home of EVERY guitar player on the planet. Yep, I'm talking Fender; and if you have dreampt of a guitar, chances are Fender already has it in...
Gibson Guitars in 2019 - Looking Good, VERY Good!
Gibson Guitars in 2019 - Looking Good, VERY Good!
Howdy Gang. After a couple of my previous blogs about how awful Gibson's quality had fallen and what stupid decisions they were making with the guitar models and features they were offering ... this blog might come as a bit of a shock. Shoot, just a year or so I was even skeptical as to if Gibson even COULD stage a comeback! But let me explain. In the past weeks I've had several 2019 Gibson guitars on my bench; a Les Paul and a 335 for pickup upgrades and a J45 acoustic for a setup tweak. ...
Choose The Perfect Guitar TONE Pot
Choose The Perfect Guitar TONE Pot
Hello once again fellow tone junkies! Welcome to part two in my series on guitar pots, this time around we'll be talking TONE pots. Some would say tone pot selection is not as important as volume pots, and I tend to agree ... but it's close, very close! First, I'll mention that if you also want to know my take on tone CAPACITORS, check out this blog. Okay, ready to roll? Let's jump in. Warning, some of the info will be exactly the same as in my previous blog about VOLUME pots, if you have...
Choose The Perfect Guitar Volume Pot !
Choose The Perfect Guitar Volume Pot !
Howdy y'all! I've danced around this subjecty a few times but never did a full-on blog about it so here goes! Please note that this will be part ONE in a two-part series, in part TWO, I'll discuss TONE pots. There is a little confusion out there, and even some downright wrong info, so listen up ... your tone depends on it! Just in case you don't care about the how and why of this discussion and just want to know WHAT to use, here is the whole blog in a few bullet points: Use quality...
The Early Peavey Sleaper Amps - Tons of Tone For The Dollar
The Early Peavey Sleaper Amps - Tons of Tone For The Dollar
Howdy tone friends! I promised another "sleeper amp" blog, but I'll do ya one better and turn y'all on to an entire line of stupidly inexpensive sleepers ... cool, right? I'm talking about the early Peavey tube amps and tube/ss hybrid amps. Stick with me gang, these amps have been dissed for decades, so you may have decided they are crap without even HEARING one ... that would be a mistake; these amps have some serious mojo that's all their own. Let's talk about them. Throughout this blog, I'll be...
The Early Marshall ValveState VS-100 Sleeper Amps - With a Speaker Upgrade
The Early Marshall ValveState VS-100 Sleeper Amps - With a Speaker Upgrade
Okay, before I jump into why I truly believe the early Marshall Valvestate VS100 is indeed a terribly overlooked "sleeper amp", I need to tell you how I discovered these amps. A couple weeks back two Marshall amps arrived in my shop for repair, one was a DSL 40 full tube amp and the other was a early 90's VS100. In a nutshell, the (much more expensive) DSL really disappointed me, while the VS was way cooler than expected. Rather than get too wordy, I'll use bullet-points, and I will NOT get into...
Vox Limited Edition AC15 To Carry WGS G12C Speakers.
Vox Limited Edition AC15 To Carry WGS G12C Speakers.
When pros think Vox, they think AC30 and AC15 ... and when a limited edition of one of these flagship amps are issued, it's always something special. Traditionally, the most dramatic change to limited edition Vox amps has been largely cosmetic, previous editions sported British "Union-Jack" and other custom grill cloth designs as well as a plethora of tolex colors. Over the years a couple of speaker upgrades have been available in the limited models, although none have ever strayed far from the distinct mid-...