deathtokoalas
the rx40 is the absolute bottom of the line ibanez strat copy; i picked one up in a pawn shop today for $40 (including a case and a strap). i got a deal because the pawn shop owners didn't realize how simple putting a nut on a loose input jack is, and felt the need to mark it down due to it being "broken". however, they're generally going to sell for under $150 nowadays.

looking into it, it strikes me as a sort of ponzi scheme set up by ibanez. $100 is probably what they're worth - so you can get the 40s at a bit more than cost. ibanez then increases the price dramatically by slapping on different models while changing the guitar rather minimally. the upper end rxs sold for around $800. i can't find any real difference between them and the 40s that isn't merely cosmetic. and how much is that strat actually worth when you strip out the bullshit? a whole lot less than you paid for it...

the guitar is solidly constructed. smooth neck. that's more than can be said for a lot of newer strats; vintage strats are incomparable, but the difference in build quality between a modern strat and an ibanez copy is pretty much negligible. in some cases, they may have been made in the same factory.

the electronics are built to sound like a strat, and they do. that's my next point. for now, note that if you want a good strat body to put your own pickups in, you want to be thinking about the ibanez copies.

what this video really demonstrates, though, is how meaningless the guitar input is in the face of modern processing. that's a beginner guitar for people with a budget, but do you think a $3000 strat is going to sound better through the same amp simulator and the same dozens of  effects? it's not.

when you break it down to the physics nowadays, you're combining sounds out of a type of pickup. the pickups will have defined properties. that's all you're really looking for: body shape and pickup type.

José González

basswood body?

deathtokoalas

you're not going to hear a difference on a double blind a/b between maple, alder and basswood through an amp simulator, and you're going to destroy the guitar's characteristics at the equalization stage of the mixdown, anyways. you'll hear a difference in pickup combinations.

José González

set dimarzio andy timmons on the rx40 and a tube amp?

deathtokoalas

that's not the tone i'm looking for, i'm an experimental guitarist that's looking for a way to get some single coils through a long effects chain on the way into a firewire computing interface, mostly to get a "skinnier" flanged and chorused sound. i use humbuckers through preamps for lead parts.

but i would argue that this model is a good base to start from if you want to put your own pickups in.

yeah. the pickups on the rosewood are a touch hotter. you can tell because it's not just the guitar tone, but the fuzz tone.

well, i lost the day, but i gained a guitar and a vacuum. there's still a touch of rust on the pickups, but i'm going to leave it there. i'll get the spring, nut and strings on tomorrow - for around $10 total. but i'm going to lose most of the day tomorrow, too. for the moment, i'm hungry and sleepy....

haven't vacuumed the phones yet, will wait until tomorrow.

caulking gun

jessica
hi,

i'm just wondering if i could borrow a caulking gun. there's no urgency to this, and i'm going to want to wait until we get a dry day with low humidity so i can caulk with the windows open.

it's september now, so the weather is going to be cooling down a little. i didn't have to turn the heat on last year until very late in the fall, so i'm not planning on turning it on any time soon. but, last year you sort of explicitly told me to just turn the heat up to whatever i wanted - and i did. i'm going to be a little more aware of the electricity costs this year, for obvious reasons.

there was really a substantial draft heading under the window in the kitchen last year, and all the hammering upstairs has crumbled the plaster a little so i'd expect it to be even worse this year. i really think it's an easy thing to do that will make a big difference.

i still have some of your caulk under the sink but i don't have a gun, so i'm wondering if you'll let me borrow yours. the bedroom and bathroom aren't drafty, but i really think the two windows in the kitchen should be sealed around the cracks to try. it'll both keep costs down and make the air a little less dry, due to the heaters not needing to work as hard.

the landlord
I have a caulking gun there, I will be around and I will check in with you

yeah, so the loose pickup was a triviality.

you see that spring? it was gone.

well, one of them was gone. the other was under the pick guard.

i'm going to put 9s on this (which is very skinny for me, but it's a strat), so i'll head down to long & mcquade's tomorrow.

current estimated projected cost to fix the "broken" guitar:

one washer - $0.50

one spring - $0.50

total: $1.

how does that even happen? well, clearly somebody tried to swap out some humbuckers. either they couldn't figure it out and fucked it up or they swapped something more expensive out before they sold it and didn't bother to connect it properly.

the pickups appear to be unmarked.

i had a washer around. it's keeping the jack in place, but it could benefit from a nut to lock it in.

there's nothing else wrong with this guitar...

actually, i should just go with 10s. i have 12s on my jazz guitar and 11s on my punk guitar. this is going to be my alt/gaze guitar - no need to go that far down. if i ever get a three sss strat or a jazzmaster or a tele, i can go to nine there. i can't see myself wanting less chunk, though.

the jazzmaster is a beast of it's own, and i'll probably never be able to afford one.

access to single coils is really closing a hole in my arsenal that i've, up to this point, used all kinds of effects processing and equalization tricks to try and get around. believe it or not, i've never had a single coil guitar - since i started playing in about 1990. and this is actually my first new (electric) guitar in almost fifteen years.

actually, that's not true - some of the garage sale pickups i've been through over the years have been single coil, and i guess that means i have bought new guitars over the last fifteen years, but they were all under $10 and never used for anything besides ridiculous tunings and noise generations. which i guess produces some continuity. but i plan to hang on to this one, it's a more serious addition.

actually, it seems like the unit doesn't have a special carpet head. it's a eureka "pet lover" with a dual use head. i kind of thought it was probably something like that.

$150 before it was discontinued. gotta love pawn shops...

so, i went searching through the streets of windsor for an affordable vacuum, and came back with a beat to shit strat.

i couldn't resist. i've been meaning to pick up something with single coils (this is an h-s-s "fat strat") for a long time, but haven't run into the opportunity. it's a lower end ibanez copy, but it's solidly constructed. i focus almost entirely on necks and body shapes when i'm evaluating guitars. the rest can be modified. but, the truth is i never do, because the main sound source for what i do is the computer. i'm going to plug a $3000 strat through the same effects loop, and it's not going to be all that easy to tell the difference in sound. it's honestly not worth the cash. if i was more interested in gigging and i wanted a better connection to the amp, maybe....but i don't....

what's important is playability. ibanez are known for their "fast necks", which work well with the strat design.

but it's the single coils i wanted, and that i will put to good use in open chord passages.

it needs some work. it's full of rust. while i was able to verify that all of the pickups work, one of them is very loose and the jack needs a washer. but i honestly think it's a ten minute job.

for the price ($40, including a case), i can't complain much - even if i end up ripping the pickups out altogether. the neck is good enough to build up with.

i did get a vacuum, as well. the first shop i went to had a nice little unit for $25, but it was missing the carpet head. after taking a look around, it's the best choice immediately available. i can probably pick up a head one day on ebay or something.

gah.....

buzz is in the phones. in the back of my mind i knew it all along. i've been fighting with dirt in there for months, and i know there's a hair deep in the drivers because i can see it and can't reach it. i've been putting it off because the rattle was so much weaker on the other tracks and i was just mentally compensating...i couldn't imagine it was really the dirt....

but my cheaper phones aren't rattling. here's the thing: i'm not 100% certain it's rattling due to the dirt, it could be rattling because the studio phones are reproducing it properly and the non-studio phones are squishing the fuck out of it.

at least i know now that the track actually sounds good through consumer grade equipment.

the thing is i need the deep compression, and it's rattling it to the point that i can't mix it because i can't tell if the compression is actually distorting or the speaker is rattling.

so, i need to find a vacuum as a top priority this morning. i tossed the one i brought down here - it was older than my mother is, and just wasn't working.i can't mix with the other phones, it sounds like i'm wearing earplugs...but if i can't get the hair out, i may have to mix the bass separately through them...

see, the phone is sealed. it's probably why the phones have lasted 30 years. but it means i can't get the hair out with tweezers because i can't reach it...

you just can't overstate the value of high end phones like this. it would cost upwards of $500 to replace them with something comparable, and i don't have that. and i WILL tell, because i've been using them so long that my ears just won't accept anything less.

so, these basically have to last forever, sort of thing. the vacuum worked last time.