TalismanRich

I had one glitch. For some reason, it dropped sync one time in the 3 hours that it was on. I just had to press the button and it reconnected within a few seconds. No telling what happened. It's a 5.8gHz so it might be the result of a wifi conflict. It has multiple channels, so next time I'll try a different one. Sound wise, it was great. I had the Strymon dialed in for the neck pickup, and kicked in the NotaKlon a few times, and used the chorus on a couple of songs. I also used the wah for one song.

First you need a proper computer.... I recommend this one.

I mentioned in my NGD post that I had ordered a wireless adapter. The post office sort of lost track of it for 8 days. It suddenly appeared on the tracker on Sunday. The Joyo JW-06 showed up today and I had time to test it out. It worked without issue, as I expected. The question I had was how did it sound. I made 3 comparisons. First I compared it to my Steiner cable direct into the Princeton. There might have been a difference, there might not have been. It was so close that I couldn't decide if I heard any difference at all. Next I plugged into my Tascam interface instrument input. In the past I've had issue with everything sounding really midrangy with no top end. I think the loading really plays havoc with guitar pickups. I even noticed it with my bass. I would use my PodXT on the Bassman setting to record. The Joyo seems to be perfect. It sounded crisp on the top and full on the bottom. Finally used my pedal board which has the Strymon Iridium for direct in use. Vox Wah > TurboTuner > TS9 > H20 Chorus > NotaKlon > Iridium. It sounded very clear, good top end and full. No issue with noise or signal loss when walking around the room. It's supposed to have 20M range We'll see how long the battery lasts. Tomorrow we should jam for about 3 hours. They are supposed to last 6-8 hours. That would just about cover an entire PSP jam. I'll have my cable in the box just in case, but it will be nice not to have to worry about stepping on my cable. $70 on Ebay or Amazon.

We'll have two drummers available. It's at one drummer's house. But, it you want to drive up and be here tomorrow around noon, feel free. I might even buy you a Reuben at Shenanigans!

I'm getting together with 3 other guys to play some tunes on Tuesday. I've been using the 535, but this week, the new H-530 will make it's debut. I did a couple minor tweaks a week ago, and it's playing nicely and seems to have settled in. I think the wood just needed to stabilize to it's environment. I ordered a Joyo wireless set a week and a half ago. I figured that this Tuesday would be a good test. The post office seems to have lost it. It made it to our distribution center in 1 day from Cincinnati and then nothing for a week. I filed a lost package report and they can't find it. Then the tracking says it will deliver Monday, only 9 days late! I should have just had my daughter order it on her Amazon Prime and it would have been here 10 days ago!

Those are gorgeous! I always loved the semis in Natural, second only to the classic red. It's interesting to see the difference in the cap on the heals of each.

If you're working with a Windows computer, you can use Irfanview (a free photo editor) and simply resize it to half or less and save the smaller file. You don't need to be posting a 4800x3600 image. Something around 1280x960 is perfectly fine for viewing on a computer. There are free photo apps for Android and Iphone.

They have some guitars available at the factory, but they also have a wide selection at dealers like Sweetwater, Daves or Chicago Music Exchange. Custom Core 150s are being made daily, as are Eagle Classics.

That's why you got the Fender ToneMaster Deluxe, right? 🤣

The headstock of the original guitar at Mannys was broken when the guitar fell off the stand. Hey, it's just a cheapo Danelectro. No great loss. It's made from the finest old growth masonite pressed tonewood.

After playing through that one, I'm tempted to replace my old TS-9 Tube Screamer. I listened to a few comparisons of the Blues Driver vs Tube Screamer, and I think the Boss is more the sound I am looking for.

CVS, I just got my H-530, but I see no reason I can't play any of my normal music on it. Heck I've played Allman Bros on a 525 and Billy Holliday on my Millennium. CSN on an H-157 and Stray Cat Strut on a 535. I've even played Led Zeppelin on my acoustic! It's all good.

An update.... after letting things settle down, I've done a bit of setup work. A 1/4 turn tighter on the truss rod, and some adjusting on the bridge and it's playing nicely. 5/64 for the low E string, about a business card worth of relief around the 8th fret. It's much closer to my 535 now in feel. RE: the sound. I'm actually surprised it's darker/deeper sounding that the 525, even though they both are maple and have Lollar P90s. I brought the poles up on the G B and E of the neck pickup and took the low E down a bit. Sound is more balanced between strings now. It rings very well. And just like the 525, if you have the amp up a bit, you can get it to howl on a nice A or D string! Eternal sustain!

Having just been through the factory 2 weeks ago, things are a bit more modern, but it's still a relatively small operation compared to a Fender, Gibson, Cort or World Music. There aren't any conveyor belts carrying a hundred guitars around the building. What you see is people at benches with a guitar, maybe 2 people in the spray booth with a rack of 15 or 20 guitars hand spraying the guitars as they did for decades before. On one side, there's a guy hand wrapping binding with a half dozen guitars hanging next to him as the binding. My oldest Heritage is an 87 H140, and my newest is a 2025 H-530 that I got yesterday. I play all my old ones, I'm sure I'll play this one just the same. I love 'em.

Yes, hollow (notice the trapeze tailpiece) and P90s.

I don't need to! FedEx said that it was scheduled between 12:40 and 2:40. I got to the doctors office a bit early, and got in right away. I was out and home by 1:20. The truck showed up at 2:08, so it all worked out. I gave it a couple of hours to cool down from the FedEx truck (it was almost 90 around 1:00). I've tuned it up and made a slight adjustment because the low E was buzzing from fret 5 to about 12. Give it a day or two at tension, and I'll check the relief and set the final action. The rest of the strings were fine. I gave it a quick workout with some Sultans of Swing and Come On Part 1. So far, so good. It's a nice weight, and well balanced.

And the waiting begins.....

Welcome Les. It's good to have some more members from the UK. Sweet looking H150. Its funny how certain guitars just really feel and sound so "right". It's almost like you don't want to even change the strings lest it loses that magic feel.

There's a cool little blue pedal that you can plug into and get a really nice "woman tone". Pete Farmer loaned me his pedal for PSP.

At this age, being "on drugs" means BP meds, cholestrol meds, heart meds, NSAID meds, and a little blue pill to help you "rise to the occasion". 👴

Thinking about the pickups, if the guitars were late 60s or early 70s, they probably had Gibson T-Tops. Guys like Seymour Duncan and Larry Dimarzio didn't really start making after market pups until around 72 or 73. As to how they were made, according to this article, they would be Alnico 5 with polyurethane coated wire ~7.5 ohms. That's pretty much the SD-59 recipe, isn't it. https://musicalilluminism.wordpress.com/2009/04/28/vintage-gibson-humbucker-specs-and-general-pickup-tech/

Something else to remember is that Pat will quite often fingerpick his electrics. That's going to give a different sound that using a pick. Here's a shot of Tom Johnston playing an ES-150 on Midnight Special.

Usually Pat Simmons is playing an acoustic and Tom Johnstons's primary guitars have been PRS for many years. Back in the mid 70s, Pat would often play a sunburst ES345 but the Varitone was disconnected. He also had a natural finish ES345 with gold hardware in 74. He had a red ES335 that he sometimes tuned to DADDAD. As to what he played on any particular record, it's hard to say. Tom Johnston had a couple of Les Pauls, a black Custom w/ a Bigsby and a gold top w/P90s. I've seen some videos with him playing an SG. He also played a 335 on occasion in the early days of the Doobies. For South City Midnight Lady, Pat was probably playing his Ovation acoustic. Skunk Baxter was playing steel guitar. Don't know what Tom was playing, but I read that Pat did solos on his 335. From the concert photos I've seen, they mostly had Fender amps.

Mine should arrive around Tuesday. I have a Drs appt to check on my cataract surgery (which went fine - it's SO nice to be able to see) on Tuesday at 12:45. I might have them hold it for pickup. The FedEx office isn't far from me.

These are the Lollars, not the 225s. I have Lollars in my H-525 and they do great in there.