SteveStreeting.com

I recently took my electric guitar into our local shop to get it adjusted by the resident luthiers, since I’d noticed lately that it was tending to go sharp on higher frets even when tuned correctly. At first, I wasn’t sure if it was just me, since learning for a year on an acoustic meant I often tended to use too much force on the fretboard of the electric and introduced accidental bending (since the string gauges on the electric are lighter, and steel rather than bronze). After a while though, I became pretty convinced that it was getting more pronounced and that it wasn’t down to my lack of skill, although that still needs plenty of work too .

So, I was introduced to the issue of humidity and how it affects the guitar, which I hadn’t been particularly aware of before (I vaguely remember reading about environmental conditions, but hadn’t had any problems with the acoustic). Obviously wood being organic, it absorbs water from the environment or loses it, and thus can change shape slightly, particularly as so much tension is involved, meaning the original set-up needed adjusting once it had settled into the prevailing conditions at my house. I got it back the next day and am extremely pleased with the result – no more sharps up the fretboard, and a slightly lower action too which makes it easier to play. I can now wail away without wincing at a dodgy sounding chord – well, not because of that, anyway. What was also nice was that they did it for free – I guess not that surprising since I only bought the guitar from them a couple of months ago, but still I wasn’t assuming that would be the case so I appreciated it, and it certainly vindicated my decision to buy locally rather than save a bit of cash ordering online. My aim now is to get good enough that when I feel like buying more guitars (which I’m beginning to realise is inevitable eventually if I keep this up), I can try them out in the shop without feeling self-conscious – difficult when the store owner demos the kit by cranking out some great-sounding licks then hands it over to you! I’m not quite up to banjo dueling just yet.

I had a nice surprise from my wife this Christmas, a spangly red kidney-shaped surprise in fact – a POD 2.0. I’d been recommended one of these some time ago, but had put it on my ‘future purchases’ list since I didn’t think I was really good enough to justify buying myself one yet. I wasn’t expecting anyone to buy it for me, so it was a pleasant surprise to unwrap it. Of course getting it as a gift allows the whole purchase justification process to be nicely bypassed

I’ve only had a relatively quick play with it so far, but my goodness does this little box sound good. Heck, it even makes my playing sound better than I think it really is. I honestly didn’t expect it to make so much difference, but just plugging this inline between my guitar and amp instantly starts kicking out considerably better sound than I got before, even just cycling through the 36 preset modes. You can of course just plug headphones directly into the POD, or hook it up to a PC for recording purposes (it’s primary purpose for many people), but I like using it with the regular amp too since it seems to give a noticeably improved and more varied set of results.

Feature-wise, it’s fairly overwhelming compared to what I’ve been used to so far. As a comparison, my fairly decent practice amp supports 4 main amp models, with 6 effects, 2 of which can be active at once – plus the usual drive & tone adjustments. The POD meanwhile has 32 amp/cabinet models, 16 effects, plus loads of tweaks on top of each. I’ve hardly scratched the surface on this yet but the range seems great, and I’ve already found sounds that I hadn’t been able to get out of my regular amp.

This is going to be fun I’m sure, and anything that makes me sound better is a bonus for both me and those within earshot . Unfortunately I managed to strain my back playing with it yesterday judging by how painful it is today (sods law – why does everything I like doing knacker my back I wonder?). I obviously need to find somewhere higher up to put it instead of bending down to tinker with it all the time. I don’t think I need a pedal / stomp box just yet, I’m definitely not good enough to play live I’ll leave that to my cousin, who just told me on IM as I was typing this that coincidentally he was just given a floor-based POD for live playing. Show off

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

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I plan to get an electric guitar in the next month or two to complement the accoustic that I’ve been learning on. I’ve done a bit of research, assisted greatly by the responses given to my previous post (thanks chaps), and I’m pretty certain that I’ve found the right combination for the immediate future. I’m still very much a beginner so there’s no point spending a ton of cash, but nevertheless it doesn’t hurt to try to get the best I feel I can afford/justify.

Guitar – Yamaha Pacifica 112V (link)

I still like the feel of the Fender Stratocaster, but I also liked the sound of the Humbuckers on other models (like the Les Paul) – the Pacifica is a nice middle ground in that it’s shares the physical structure of the Strats while replacing the Strat’s 3 single pickups with 2 singles and a Humbucker at the bridge, which gives a good range of sounds when used in various combinations via the 5-way selector.

In addition, pretty much every review I read says the Pacificas are built considerably better than the entry-level Squier Stratocasters. From what I hear you’d have to pay around double the price for a Strat to get the same build quality, so what you lose in ‘brand power’, you gain in value for money.

I’m no expert, but from what I hear it seems like a good bet for someone at my modest level.

Amp – Line 6 Spider III 15W (link)

I don’t need anything particularly powerful, but something with decent sound and a few effects. Nothing too fancy or overwhelming, just decent quality sounds – I can always buy a Pod later if I want more range, or a bigger valve based amp if I want to go nuts, but both  are going to be overkill at this stage.

This amp seems to have gotten some good reviews as a beginner / practice amp and the guy in our local store recommended it too, although he’d sold his last one today so I couldn’t actually try it out.

I’m pretty happy with that lineup, it’s actually less than I’d budgeted to potentially spend originally (coming in around £200 in total), but on reflection is probably pitched about right for my current expertise, which can be classified as ‘can play a few songs barely adequately’.

Feedback welcome as always!