My new guitar arrived this weekend 
It’s a Pacifica 112V, and I picked the Old Violin Sunburst finish. I’m really impressed by the quality of it, considering this is a beginner / intermediate guitar and will leave you with change out of £200. Everything feels really solid, and there are nice little touches like the polished fretboard and the chunky, satisfying chrome tone & volume knobs. Even the guy in our local guitar shop (who has a ton more experience than I do, obviously, and is a high-end Strat user) commented on how impressed he was with the quality, since this was the first of the newer model they’d had in. That made me feel better about deciding to order the new (slightly more expensive) model rather than take the older version they already had in stock and had trialed earlier.
The main difference with this model apart from the slightly revised looks is that it has upgraded pickups (Alnico V instead of ceramic as in previous models) and the ability to turn the bridge humbucker into single-coil mode so it can replicate a traditional Strat sound. Having played with the various options I was quite surprised at the number of sound variations you can get without ever touching the amp settings.
I’m having a little trouble with keeping it in tune for the moment, but that’s normal considering it’s brand new with brand new strings, it’ll no doubt take a few days to settle in. Plus I do need to get a plug-in chromatic tuner; I’d been using Tuna Pitch on the Mac with my accoustic so never bought a separate tuner, but that doesn’t work so well with an electric so I’ve been doing it by ear, which is not that reliable. I’d anticipated this and ordered a tuner last week but Amazon seem to be being slow these days; hopefully that will turn up tomorrow.
Now, all I have to do is become worthy enough to play without headphones 
November 17th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I think it’s a very worthwhile skill to learn to tune a guitar without using an electronic tuner. Over the years you play guitar, you’ll likely find yourself in a bunch of situations where you don’t have a tuner around, or you may have to tune your instrument to another instrument which is not tuned to exact pitch. For example, a lot of rock bands tune slightly lower than E for a heavier sound, or just to keep the strings slightly looser to make the strings easier to bend. Plus, it’s good for training your ear. Needing an electronic tuner is a crutch that it’s better not to need rely on.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
You’re right that new strings can give you trouble for the first little while. After I restring a guitar, I grab each string around the middle of the guitar, and pull the string away from the guitar which stretches them out. Then I re-tune the guitar. Repeat a couple times and the strings will be properly stretched out, and should stay in tune a lot longer. This is particularly important for the fatter, wound strings which seem to have more stretch and go out of tune more when new.
Looks like a nice guitar!
November 17th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Congratulations on a great axe!
Play it well and enjoy your new friend.
Funny how many programmers play the guitar as well..
November 18th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Yeah, I realise it’s a good idea to be able to tune manually, and I do it on occasion with my accoustic too - but in this case I can never seem to get a stable tuning and I don’t know whether it’s just me not getting it quite right, or the strings still settling in. At least using a tuner I have a baseline to work off and once it’s all settled down I can tweak manually like I do with my accoustic. Thanks for the string-stretching tip…
November 18th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Too late I suppose, but on the tuner front I can’t recommend these things highly enough: https://www.stringsdirect.co.uk/products/37-intellitouch_pt_2_tuner
Great for acoustics, but work with electrics as well. I have a really nice plug-in tuner that I haven’t touched for years - the Intellitouch thing is just so much more convenient.
November 18th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Yeah, a little too late since mine should be already on the way - thanks anyway
I actually ordered a strap from StringsDirect and they were super-fast, I will definitely use them again. Still waiting for the damn Amazon order.
In the meantime I discovered this lunchtime that part of the tuning problem was me accidentally bending the strings when playing. I’m so used to my accoustic that I was pressing too hard, being used to higher string resistance, and the smaller guage strings were therefore bending, making it sound out of tune. I’ll have to learn to switch to a lighter touch on this guitar - when I don’t death-grip so much it sounds much better.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
Nice choice! I see we have similar tastes in color schemes. I love the sunburst strat “look” too and would have bought the same style of guitar in real life. In the meantime, I always equip my Rock Band guitarists that way.
If only I had any musical talent. I took many guitar lessons while in High School, but all I can really do is play the main riffs of Under The Bridge, Everybody Hurts, Come as You Are, and When I Come Around (aka, 4 of the absolutely simplest tunes around). I really wish Rock Band would add a real guitar trainer mode that let you plug in an electric to the console and would teach you how to play for real in a fun, gaming context.
November 19th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Vintage vibrato systems (like yours) without properly lubricated nuts are inherently less easy to keep in tune. Heavier strings might help but it’s really a problem with a cheap vibrato.
To clarify the point about some players tuning down; Jimi Hendrix (and anyone influenced by him like Billy Corgan) tuned the whole guitar down a semitone so that the strings would be slinkier. Other guitarists tune the low E down to a D for heavy metal playing. Old blues guys would tune the whole guitar to a chord for slide.
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm
[...] my hospitalisation experience; I occasionally have a small relapse, like just after I picked up my new guitar - you wouldn’t think that shifting a small practice amp would be a big deal, but I certainly [...]