Organization

I ordered this a week or so ago.

A guitar? Apparently, I am not rich enough yet to buy a new guitar. Plus, what I have right now is enough for the time being. 

It's simply a guitar stand. Rockstand (by Warwick) 5-guitar stand. 

So what's so special about this guitar stand? Well, nothing except that it's a guitar stand in a hardcase. It includes a few bars of Velcro-able Styrofoam to prevent your guitars from slipping sideways. And of course, you have a key to lock the box.

I guess it would be more useful for travelling guitarists who have more than 2-3 guitars and need to switch between them on the same night. In that case, taking the guitar out from the hardcase/softcase, putting the other one back and again would prove to be too much of a hassle. So this road-ready guitar stand would be useful! Simply open the hardcase and unfold the stand. Just two effortless steps. It isn't that heavy as well!

Don't like the hardcase? Fret not! They have the foldable version without the hardcase.

Sadly, from what I know, these products have been discontinued at least for the ones with the hardcase. So if you are looking for this, you have to get it before it's gone. 

I like Rockstand and Rockbag by Warwick because it is affordable and whatever you get from them is a value for money. For a bag that costs $25, you get a nicely (but not heavily) padded bag to protect your instrument. If you want more protection, you are free to buy those that are over a hundred... that is if you deem that a necessity.

John Mclaughlin & The 4th Dimension @ Bangkok: Rig

So here is the rig John Mclaughlin used on the concert on 18th of March at Bangkok.

Simple enough? Indeed it's simple. Korg Pitchblack to Seymour Duncan Twin Tubes, followed by MXR Stereo Chorus. All these are powered by Dunlops DC-Brick. Well, this all I can say: Simplicity

And below is a picture of his rig from his website. 

Yes. MXR Carbon copy delay is missing. I am not sure why though but prior to that, during the sound check, he had technical difficulties and said that his rig was not 'behaving'. That could have been the reason or he just simply didn't want any delay on board. 

He uses Line6 Relay G-30 wireless system so that he could free move around without the risk of trampling onto cables if he is using one. Then again, I realised something else during the concert:

(I had to 'steal' photos from others because I was bestowed with neither a mighty Canon EOS nor the photography skills)

He wasn't using the Line6 but instead, a cable. It could have been all due to the technical difficulties prior to the concert. Oh, as you can see he is using his PRS. I was expecting this Godin though. 

And yes, he doesn't use amps in his live setup (for those who don't know about it). According to him, it's about 20 years since he had stopped using amps. In a Premier Guitar Rig Rundown, he said that he wasn't trying to achieve a specific tone with this setup but it was basically to make the life of sound engineer easier. He said:

"The louder the volume is on the stage, the harder the job of the (sound) engineer upfront to get a good sound out of it"

So once again, Simplicity.

John Mclaughlin Guitar Clinic @ Bangkok: My Opinions

On Monday, Bangkok has the rare privilege of having a guitar legend to hold his one-and-only guitar clinic in his Asian tour with a reasonable price for the tickets. 1500 bahts is merely USD 50 and I wouldn't complain about spending such an amount for this guitar clinic!

The clinic started off with Mclaughlin and Gary Husband (on the left) playing Miles Davis "So What". It was definitely a good start for the night but what follows the beautiful music was a bombardment of many ridiculous questions by the crowd. I can't imagine anyone asking a musician a question such as:

"Do you listen to other artists' work? If you do, please name two."

John Mclaughlin (puzzled) replied:

""Do you need me to write a list?"

Honestly, to ask such a redundant question on the ONE-AND-ONLY clinic in his tour (or in the last 5 years) is unacceptable. It goes without saying that of course he listens to other musicians' work. It would have been better if he'd tweaked his question a bit. Otherwise, I would say this is totally a waste of the precious 1 hour of the clinic.

And there was another guy who got all his facts wrong. Mclaughlin studied and played veena. Apparently, he thought he studied sitar and he insisted that he was correct (despite John himself correcting him). There is this another guy who wants to ask a question but goes beating about the bush until Mclaughlin was lost.

There's one other guy who asked him a pretty good question, if only that question was asked to an educator, not an artist.

I am not saying not all questions are ridiculous but many are. I am not making a fuss out of this because my money was wasted (50 bucks is hardly any trouble) but the rare opportunity to ask a question to a legend! You may say I might be exaggerating but I do think that for the benefit of yourself and the rest, you should have crafted your questions beforehand not just for this guitar clinic but all the others as well.

Now I wonder if I will ever have a chance to ask him about his rig idea. Why rig? Well, I am a guitar maniac NOT without a reason, isn't? :)

Loki

Picture credits to Enlightened Planet

Album of the Month: G5 Project 2013

Probably my last attempt in reviving this blog!

Whenever I mention the name "G5", many people tend to ask me questions such as,

"G5? I think you mean G3"

"So now G3 has become G5?"

"What's G5? Something like G3"

Firstly, it isn't G3. It isn't made up of a group of Caucasian guitarists/artists (I apparently don't have any better way to describe them). Some may say that it is the Japanese version of the famous G3 (and I can't disagree with that). Some, mostly who worships their favourite artists from G3, even said this is probably a cheap knockoff version of their 'gods' without even listening to them. This is what I would call as 'fanaticism', not a mere idolization.

Tracklist

01  Dying to survive (Yamato)
02  Emergency (nike)
03  Kamuy (a2c)
04  Flounder (Takajii)
05  Virus (Godspeed)
06  Fragile Seasons (Takajii)
07  Journey (Godspeed, John Graham and Koyo Sonae)

As a short introduction to G5, it is actually a project by 5 Japanese guitarists to showcase their music. This is not the first G5 album and in fact, there are already a total of 4 G5 albums which were released every 2-3 years. I just bought my copy just a few days ago. And here's what I have to say about the album as a whole.

The previous albums have never disappointed me, and so is G5 2013. Comparing to the previous albums, there are more 'contemporary' elements. For instance, in the song "Virus", it has been seasoned with elements from dubstep music. While I am not a huge fan of dubstep, it is nonetheless a much interesting form of music among the rest of contemporary music. So the idea of a typical modal rock song spiced up with dubstep makes it indeed an interesting, at least for me. Some may find it repulsive but we are all entitled to our personal opinions, don't we?

I also feel that there are songs that has much of a film music (or trailer music) feel to it. "Fragile Seasons" sounds like a background music which would fit perfectly in a Japanese movie while "Journey" would seemingly bring you to an adventurous tour inside a Hollywood movie. After all, the latter was co-produced by John R. Graham. If you don't know him, you only need to re-watch the trailers of Avatar or The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor to hear him at work. Even "Dying To Survive" could possibly be used in an a trailer of an action movie.

My personal favourite in this album would be Dying to Survive and Journey. Studying jazz and playing it is fun but at times, it always feels good to listen to music which you truly like, no?

Personal Rating: ♠♠♠♠♠

And I am thinking of starting up a new monthly entry "Album of the Month" in which I would talk about what I think of the album as a whole. In other words, it is some sort of a review.

Loki

The Ultimate Finger-pick?

This may be a good news for flamenco guitarists and classical guitarists as well. I think we all ought to check this out:

The Ultimate finger pick

CLICK HERE FOR THE VIDEO!

From the video, what I understand from it is that this Ultimate Fingerpick is an alternative for finger picks and the standard flat plectrum. I don't really know how it replaces the standard plectrum but it is definitely a good alternative to acrylic nails. Some people are born with really soft nails (like me). And we often have to rely on acrylic nails. The common problem of gluing acrylic nails is the fungus growing under them. For musicians who play other instruments like piano aren't supposed to keep their fingernails long. So when they switch between their guitar and piano, it could be a problem. This ultimate finger picks definitely solves that. 

As for my doubt regarding it being able to replace the flat picks, it is more because many people may already be used to holding the pick and play. The grip of the pick also provides the strength you need for fast alternate picking. 

Yet, again I have never try and thus, I don't know how it feels like. 

Single Invader

I haven't been unable to update anything for quite sometimes. Things have been crazy and I just couldn't find the time for blogging. 

Anyway, perhaps any of you are a fan of Synyster Gates from Avenged Sevenfold? And I assume that you know the Seymour Duncan Invader pickups on his signature Schecter? Well, good news here is that... there is now Single coil Invader!

What's new in 2013: Episode 1

Happy new year, everyone! Maybe some of us would wish to start our new year with a new gear. I would want some studio equipment instead though. Anyway, these are the new guitars in 2013 thus far.

Schecter:

The 006 isn't exactly new. It is more of a revival actually. It's been on the catalog some times ago. And Schecter decided to include it in this year's catalog. Recently, seeing a Sustainiac on Schecter guitars is a very common sight, with a few notable Sustainiac users among Schecter artists. Now you can have a Hellraiser C-1 FR S (with S, needless to say, acronymizing Sustainiac. Another attractive inclusion would be the Damien Platinum series which is available in 6, 7 and 8-strings model. TSH Classic features the lipstick-style pickups. I don't have much interest in them but if given the opportunity, would definitely love to try. (If only I can readily find all the retailers easily... and if only they let me try in peace).

PRS:

Here are the new PRS for 2013 (PRS and PRS SE)

SC-245

 C-22

Grainger's 4-strings and 5-string basses

and SE-245 with Soapbars (hmmmmm)

What really interest me are these two guitars:

Brent Mason Signature PRS

and Paul's guitar (said to be designed after the very guitar PRS plays in his studio). This guitar has been quite popular and discussed on various forums and the new brushstrokes inlays are rather unique. 

To be continued

Your new studio consideration?

Hey folks! Guess this would probably be my first proper post.

I'm a person who's rather obsessed with in-ear monitors (musician level earphones). Ever since I bought my first one, I've rarely listened to the music on my MP3 players with regular earphones. In ear monitors are especially useful to musicians. A well designed in ear monitor comes with a great noise isolation capability, allowing the musician to pay attention to his music as he plays without having it muffled by the noise from the crowd. While those with bigger wallets go for custom acrylic moulded in ear monitors, the rest of us prefer the universal ones (fits all ears). I am a huge fans of the Westone's in ear monitors. I've tried every one of their models, the UM3x being my favorite. When I listen to my music with Westone's monitors, it's so much easier to distinguish each instrument in a song. For entry level musicians, or a person who's looking for a dynamic sounding, comfortable earphone, I recommend the UM1. To those wearing these for the first time, you'll be surprised at how well these fit in your ears (after a minute or two to figure out how to wear them properly). The sound quality for these, well worth the price, they're built for clarity, detail, precision. Listening to these I found that the dynamism in my music was enhanced, or to say it simply, made more "fun". The UM-1 comes in various colors, and now they come in packs of 5 too, Westone calls this the Jamhub (above). I love this idea. For those of you who wanna get your monitors as a band or build your own studios, these're probably a good option. The color variety makes it easier when you link up your earphones to the various ports, avoiding mix ups here and there (a huge time waster when you're jamming). You can check Westone's website for more details.

Well that's all from me for now, Happy New Year!

LTD Elite

ESP is coming up with a new range of LTD called LTD Elite. (In case you don't know, yes, ESP, LTD, Grassroot, Edwards, they are all by ESP.

Notable features are that these LTD Elite are Japanese. The regular LTDs are made in various places; China for most of the non-deluxe models. Deluxe ones, I believe, are Korean. 

And of course, they have a totally new headstock logo.

They won't be officially introduced until January 2013 though. I am interested in the basses. Since bass and workstation are the next on my To-Buy-List.

HACKED

My gmail got hacked. I don't know how and why did that happened but because of that I was unable to post anything for a few days. My sincerely apology to all the readers.

Anyway, I'm planning of writing more about effects, multi-effects in general though some of these ideas are applicable on analog ones, too. It's nothing much really. Just my personal understanding of different types of effects and tips and tricks I'd learned over time.

The "Mobius" rises

Strymon has added one more awesome pedal to its list once again. This pedal is named "Mobius", which is a all-in-one Modulation effect pedal.

As you can see, it follows the similar construction as Timeline. The below is a Youtube Video they uploaded.

Its status is still "coming soon". So if you are eager to get them, please contact the distributors.
If you are in Singapore, it would be SV Guitars.
If you are in Bangkok, check with Pedals' Park Music Playground.

Year End Sales @ City Music

Hi those in Singapore!
December is coming soon so you know what to expect, don't you?

What if - No tone knobs

I hear this almost everywhere: "No tone knobs? That's bad!". "Why 3-way switch and not 5 ways?".

Actually, I wonder why people want those in the first place. There are some guitarists who will use all the knobs and pickup combinations. I would definitely use the tone knobs especially when I'm playing jazz, blues, etc..., in other words, genres would use overdrive instead of heavy distortions. However, how many of the rest actually touches the tone knobs? Many just leave the tone and volume all maxed out.

I'm writing this after reading some comments on the Jim Root's signature stratocaster and Mick Thompson's Ibanez.

In case you are wondering what shape is Mick's guitar called, Ibanez called them 'Glaive'. It looks like a glaive too.

In general, they are complaining about the lack of tone knobs. That is one thing they have in common; no tone knobs and 3-way switches.

Their reasons for the exclusion of the tone knobs are actually simple:

1. They don't use it - How many metal guitarists do you see fidgeting around with the tone knobs? Well, I myself hardly ever touch the tone knobs whenever I'm playing metal songs. All the tonal adjustments are done on the EQs of the amp or my ME-70. Mick did mentioned this when he talked about his Signature Glaive. So it is as simple as this. Why would you want something you don't touch at all on the guitar?
2. To increase the output - This was something new when I first read about this. Another reason for the exclusion is to maximise the output of the pickups. Wiring the pickups straight to a single volume pot would have preserve more signals than having it pass through all the extra volume knobs. If Jim Root Strat would have tone knobs like a regular strat, it would be two knobs. I am not so much of an electrician but it does make sense to me if I would think logically.

So in conclusion, there are no tone knobs because they are of little use to them. Sometimes, simplicity works the best, no?

The Roland Experience @ Central Plaza

This happened last Sunday. However, it's better late than never!

There was an event going on at Central Plaza in Bangkok.

All most all types of Roland products are displayed there; piano, electric piano, synth, vintage synth, drums, etc... Of course Boss products were featured as well. What did they feature? All their products in their 2012 catalog ranging from single pedals to multi-effects. 

This is definitely a heaven for any gear addict.

You get to try all the pedals just like in the picture above! All the pedals are connected to a clean channel of Roland Cube, a 50W if I'm not wrong. I can't remember though. Sadly everyone is trying them and there were these two dudes (two brothers I guess since they look alike) who tried the pedals for the whole 45 minutes I was at the event! That's inconsiderate of them. 

Here is the multi-effects section. They have everything, even the vocal effects. I played around with the GT-100 and the ME-25. GT-100 obviously have an upgraded and improved COSM system. The amp models there are definitely sweeter sounding. And trust me, it is not that complicated to operate, though ME-70 is much easier to do so. ME-25 sounds pretty much like the ME-70 actually. Not much of a difference though tweaking on ME-25 is not as straightforward as the ME-70.

Here is the e-Band and others section. I spent most of my time at the e-Band. I almost wanted to get it. Trying it was a double-reassurance that Boss will always sound very acceptable. Actually, I love it. Most of my tone nowadays is from my ME-70. What is the blue effect thing over there? That's a guitar synth processor. I have not much interest in them so I didn't bother with it. 

Most of the guitars provided are actually of brands I've never heard of. Some of the guitars, however, are equipped with Teslas and some of the basses are Fernandes. The guitar I tried that day, it has covered Tesla pups, which I assume is the VR-60 Classic. 

 This kid was sort of a 'highlight' for the day. This kid was actually playing the drums, not playing with the drums. You should see him play the double-kick roll. It wasn't perfect but pretty amazing for what a kid as young as him could do!

There were musicians to entertain us as well. I see that the musicians are not limited to Roland products only. I smelled a Dr. Z over there! The synths were Rolands of course

Oh! I almost forgot. They featured the Roland V-guitar as well! What is it? It's a Fender stratocaster with equipped with synth capabilities by Roland. A collaboration between Fender and Roland.  

Veelah La Vita

Say hi to La Vita!

This is a Veelah V1-GACE. GA stands for Grand Auditorium and CE means that there is a cutaway. So let's say for a Dreadnought with a cutaway, it will be V1-DCE. Now I prefer the sound of the Grand Auditorium than a dreadnought. A grand auditorium, to me, sounds more open, bright and clear. Dreadnought has a darker and warmer tone. I would go for the brighter tone. I don't know how else to explain. I just like grand auditoriums or jumbos.

Veelah has 4 different series, V1, V2, V3 and V4 with V4 being the most expensive tier and V1 (of course) the most affordable tier. 

One way to bring down on the cost and making the V1 affordable and yet not compromising quality specs is to strip down on cosmetics. If you've seen my guitar, V1-GACE has no bindings at all. None on the fretboard, none on the top or the back of the guitars. Binding can be expensive. There is no fancy roselette as well and not even inlays. Inlay-less fretboards look attractive to me. How much simpler could a guitar get? Oh yes, this pores on the wood are open and this is no gloss finish. Sonically, it adds up more to the mids. Imagine speaking through a mask and without one. That would be the difference between open and sealed pores.

What I get in return is a solid top and the following:

Graphtech NuBone Parts

I think having a quality nut and bridge is as important as changing the strings when they go dead. Graphtech Nubone synthetic bone bridges and saddles. If I'm to get the separately, at cheapest, they would cost me SGD 40 or about a thousand bahts.  So this is a plus for Veelah, for providing even its V1 range of guitars with these parts instead of plastics. You will also find that Swing acoustics do come with Nubone parts as well!

Fishman iSYS-T

 This is a very simple yet useful preamp there. iSYS-T (T stands for tuner). It isn't a ground-breaking awesome preamp but for a default preamp, this is definitely awesome. I played this through a VOX AGA70 and I was sold. That was when I decided to buy the guitar. You don't see any EQ knobs or sliders on this so the colour of the tone is fixed. Well, of course you can readjust the EQs on the acoustic amp or the mixer if you want. It comes with phase and contour buttons to add some colours to the tone. Simple enough? 

 The fretboard of the guitar is dry, a condition you would expect to see for a guitar stored away in the warehouse. So I'm not surprised.

 So I pampered this baby with some Ikea SKYDD. For anyone who's new to this, it is a wood conditioner. And yes I got that from Ikea. Safe to use on instruments? Safe enough to use on open pore fretboards like rosewood and ebony. Maple? I don't know. Most maple are finished and the pores are all sealed up and thus doesn't require reconditioning.

One problem is yet to be solved though. The action is too high. For acoustic guitars, I normally wouldn't adjust the truss rod myself. I would find someone experienced in this. Acoustic guitars can get really messy.


Price: THB 6300
If you are looking for this guitar in Singapore, check with SV guitars!

Veelah!

Veelah is not a random exclamation. It is a name of a guitar brand.

Not many people know this brand. Veelah is a brand from USA but from what I've learnt, they are manufactured in Taiwan. "Veelah? What brand is that? I don't know! I am not getting this." Well if you are one of these people, you are surely missing out a lot of good guitars.

One thing special about Veelah acoustic guitars is that all guitars are have a solid top regardless of which tier it is from and the nut and bridge of each guitar are Graphtech Nubone. A plus for a guitar with such specs.

Is it great? Well, this picture will tell.

I needed an acoustic guitar; all of mine is back in Myanmar. So I need a quality guitar. I can't afford Taylor or Martin or any high tier brands. So I was looking for one with a tight budget.
Let me introduce you to "La Vita". It got this name because I feel that it has so much life it in.

More about this tomorrow!

Delay - How to choose?

I myself am not professional yet. I am working towards to become one though!

Anyway, if you are looking for a delay pedal and it is your first, maybe my "Journey of the Delays" will help you make your choices better. 

There are so many delays out there. So what I did what to get a piece of paper and ask myself a few questions. These are the ones I think are the most useful.

• What am I looking for in a delay?
• Digital or analog?
• Do I want a bright sounding delay or a darker tone?
• Am I looking for a delay with a looper?
• Is 400ms of delay enough? Or do I need more?
• WHAT IS MY BUDGET?

Yes, these are the questions. What exactly are you looking for in a delay? If you are looking to imitate some of your idol's delay tone, the best to do is to study their rigs. What delay did he use? For instance, you want that delay tone from U2. How is that achievable? In my opinion, original is the best but everyone has to start off from somewhere isn't?

The next question is: Are you looking for analog or digital delays? Now some of people will dismiss digital. Technophobes... They will say like "Oh digital sounds sterile. I want analog." And they will be worshiping at the altar of an idol who uses Boss DD-5. Most of them are what you called "Monkeys see monkeys do" in Singapore. They have no idea of what sounding 'sterile' and they are probably saying because all the rest are saying. 

Here is my view on digital and analog. I owned both kinds and tried many of them. Digital delays usually sounds brighter. Actually, it doesn't really make it sound brighter but I would say it preserves the tone of your guitar and do no colouration to your tone. Analog on the other hand 'decorates' your tone with a darker tone and warmer feel. 

I'll cover the rest of my questions right now. Analog delays usually have a shorter delay time than a digital delay. Analog has about 400-900ms of delay time while digital delays can go up to 10 seconds, 21 seconds or even a minute! Now usually those delays with such delay abilities usually comes with a looper function. I mean, who uses a 1 minute delay or 50 seconds delay in any song. Digital delays also will have many modes of delay like 'analog', 'modulated', 'reverse', 'momentary' etc... The analog there is actually a sound generated by the computer in it. Now they have quite awesome 'analog' tone in digital delays nowadays. Why am I not talking anything about analog delay? Because they don't usually have any additional features. They are just... straightforward delays. 

Delays are never cheap. You can find cheap delays of course, but majority of them are expensive (around SGD 150-200). If you are new on delays and do not wish to spend a hundred bucks, there are cheap delays. I don't know how much Behringer Stereo delay is but I think it's pretty cheap. Another digital delay is the new nuX TIME CORE delay (just for SGD80 at SV guitars). If you want an analog delay, Artec SE-ADL Analog delay is just SGD80 away from you. Of course it would be the best if you can save up and buy what you want at once. Then you wouldn't have to spend your precious money twice. 

My personal preference? Go digital. Get one with looper. It will come in handy. I am usually my delay on my ME-70 and I like the sound I am getting from it as well. 

All you have to do before getting a delay is to do your homework. You wouldn't want to buy a Nova System and then totally clueless of what feedback is even. 

SV guitars - Swing SS1 Package

Here is (maybe) a piece of good news for anyone who is looking for an all-in-one electric guitar package. The poster above is quite self-explanatory. Worth the $250? Well, let me put it this way:

Guitar: $190

Cable: $12

Gig bag: $25

Picks: $3

That means in this package, you are getting the 15W amp for just $20. It is definitely not going to be great-sounding but at least it is still usable. In fact, it comes with a 3-band EQs so I have nothing to say against it. $20 is dirt cheap for a brand-new amp.

If you upgrade to Sound Drive SG-15, you get the amp for $70 instead of $100.

My personal opinion? If you have a very fixed and rigid budget, just go along with this package. Or if you have more cash to spare, please go for something like Nux. 

PRS SE Mikael Akerfeldt

Oh, a small update on my whereabouts. Right now I am in Bangkok. 

One of this church member here is a big fan of metal. He plays metal and almost only metal. It appears he doesn't really favour other genres so much. For me, I listen, play and explore everything, maybe with an extra bit of attention towards blues and fusion.

Anyway, his gear was a signature PRS SE. Mikael Akerfeldt. I am not so much of an Opeth fan so it isn't surprising that I wouldn't touch this signature guitar at a music store. But I had the luxury to try it out for quite a long time.

It is a nice looking guitar. That was my first though. Tone-wise, it isn't that bad as well, considering the fact that I played through a Roland Cube 15x and I could get some nice tones. The pups there are the same ones as SE Orianthi, PRS Designed SE HFS Treble (bridge) and Vintage Bass (neck).

Let's talk about the neck. The guitar shop he'd bought this from didn't make a proper setup for this guitar.
Either that or he'd lowered the action too much. There was a very bad fret buzz in the 19th fret on the 4th string. Oh, for those who hates gloss-finished neck, I have a good news for you. The neck on this guitar is matte-finished. No more glossy feel. And it sports an ebony fretboard. The neck width is rather wide and it reminds me of some Schecters. I used to be very anal about the neck size but along the way, I got used to switching between different types of necks. Thus, it is not a big problem. The rest of its features are the same as most SE Singlecut models; the bevel at the cutaway, 1-volume and 1-tone control.

Tone-wise, the bridge pickup sounds really fine. Feed it with quite a bit of gain and it sings well. But for the neck, it wasn't my cup of tea. While it sounds sweet with the gain cranked up, its sweetness dies of when the gain is reduced. Some may like that tone where there is a huge mid hump thanks to the body shape and the humbucker. To me, I still prefer the wooly tone of a single coil and a strat. Personal preference I would say.

Once again, with that said, you still have that 3-band EQs on your guitar amp, unless it comes either with a single tone knob or 2-band EQs. I would normally place them in the low criteria list since I like to have more control over my tone and I feel uncomfortable with being limited to a single tone-knob. Mid-band is a very important band to me as well and I wouldn't want it to be lacking as well. Anyway, you can tweak and adjust your guitar amp to compensate or cut down any section of your tone. We should try to tweak first before we start to whine.

New Pickups Day!!!

My recent craze for David Gilmour has got to me! So my strat has to undergo some pickup mods!
Therefore, I ordered a custom set of pickups from Ornamac Windery, after scouring the internet for days for a custom pickup maker.

At first, the pickup winder, Kerry, did not have a Gilmour set available for sale, so I sent him a message on ebay, asking whether he could make me a set to match the pups of  Mr. Gilmour.

Surprisingly the next day when i checked my email, Kerry has already replied me with the build specs of : 

It's comprised of a vintage style alnico five heavy Formvar neck pickup with a vinatge 50's stagger wound to a conservative 5.5k. The middle is a 60's style alnico five wound with 42 awg plain enamel to a sweet sounding 6.2k. And the standout of the set, the bridge is a high output alnico two coil with SPN 42 awg piled high to the mid 9k range.

^ Taken from his ebay site.

After some problems encountered with postage and Singpost, I finally got this set of pickups at my door!

I have wired a pickguard up good before i have these pickups at my door (They were nicely packed in a USPS box and they were shock-proofed with Styrofoam pads) and as soon as i got my pickups, I dropped em into my guitar, complete with stratcat.biz wiring!

I did not have the bent steel plate to mount the neck on pickup switch , therefore, all I did was to drill a hole in my pickguard and install it straight onto the pickguard.

As you can see, its above the volume and neck tone knobs.

Here is a review of these pickups. The neck pickup is fat and vintage sounding, with scooped midrange and a glassy top.

The middle pickup is twangy, sweet sounding and is definitely the best for cleans. I absolutely loved playing through it for the cleans, even though I do not thread through the clean territory that often!! 

The bridge pickup is not a little bit thin sounding, thanks to the AlNiCo2 Magnet, while soloing through this pickup, you get a smooth drive and sweet highs (think comfortably numb), while not sounding thin. Also, it has the compression for you to cut through the mix, therefore, it is definitely a pickup to do solos with! Nothing shred crazy, but for classic rock and blues, definitely!

Big thanks to Kerry of Ornamac Windery for helping me out when Singpost decides to screw me over, kudos!!

So there you go, my lovely stratocaster, albeit not black, but my tribute to Mr David Gilmour!

If anyone is interested in pickups from Ornamac windery, here is a link to his ebay page: http://myworld.ebay.com/klea3031