Dub-T-123

The neck joint was at the 16th fret in 1982 and 1959 so something is wrong. I don’t want to be a **** but I would never approve of what you’ve done here it just isn’t good

You mentioned how you don’t understand why CNCs shape bracing heavier. That was where I realized you are lacking knowledge which I may not be willing to help you with. If interested in learning more, that is an apparent weak spot. The things that I’m wrong about are in your imagination since I didn’t write them

The 1/2 coat is probably the last thing I’d ask about. The neck joint looks horrendous and LPs are supposed to have the neck joint at the 16th fret so I’m not sure what we’re doing here but it’s not right.

I understand what you’re wrong about and why you’re wrong about it but it’s too much work for me to convince you with no incentive

P Dawg. I was sorta careful to not inject any of my personal opinions into my post and just mentioned a couple things which I understand to be factual. Your reply gives me the feeling that you interpreted my post as bashing Taylor which is not my intention. I probably left a bit too much unsaid since I don’t want to be too wordy In no way did I suggest that the cheapest and most expensive version of a given Taylor model sound exactly the same. I said they use the exact same CNC milled bracing which is a fact. I obviously understand that using a different wood for the top etc will result in sonic differences and no two pieces of wood are completely identical. Again the point remains true that you get the exact same guitar with different materials and aesthetics at any price range I made no comparison to Gibson or any other mass manufacturer You either missed the point or are incorrect about the bracing. Loading a piece of wood into the CNC is not the same as what I described. I didn’t describe the whole process because I’m not a traditional luthier and I’m not trying to teach you how to be one. Hand carved bracing by a master luthier is objectively superior to mass produced CNC milled bracing in all ways except efficiency and profitability. A traditional luthier is going to progressively carve away at the bracing until he has the least amount of material possible which still offers the necessary amount of reinforcement. This produces a more resonant sound board. A CNC machine is going to invariably make every single piece a bit heavier than it needs to be to account for variables in materials Hopefully we can understand these facts without implying that Taylor guitars are “bad” or sound bad. Of course I realize the vast majority of Gibson and Martin parts are machine made. However Gibson and Martin have custom shops, where when you spend big money, you get a whole different level of craftsmanship. With Taylor you spend big money and you get the same guitar pumped out of the same machines with special materials and aesthetics

Taylor is an easy target for people who appreciate traditional luthiery because all of their parts are CNC milled throughout their entire price range. Whether you get their cheapest or most expensive version of a particular model you get the same CNC milled bracing etc Traditionally when making bracing for an acoustic you split the piece of wood with an axe so that it breaks along the grain. You then take those pieces and mill them in a way which maximizes the quartesawn orientation and minimizes grain runoff. Essentially you end up with the smallest lightest piece of wood which maximizes strength and straightness for its given application Taylor does everything by CNC on even their most high end instruments, so you really never get the benefit of traditional luthiery no matter how much you spend With Taylor you get the same guitar at all price ranges. You are just paying for a different type of wood that they inserted into a machine or inlays which are done by a machine or other aesthetic modifications It doesn’t sound like a big deal but for their high end stuff they are charging an amount of money that you could easily spend elsewhere and get a superior instrument

Any positive comments appreciated. lol That is such a perfect sentence for this industry. When everyone is just copying the same two circuits over and over again it really is mostly the positive affirmation that we’re seeking Lovepedal is sorta unique in that they love to clone the Electra Distortion while everyone else does Tube Screamers. If you like the Electra Distortion then Lovepedal has a variety of flavors for you. The Zen Drive is obviously a licensed clone of the Hermida which is actually a good pedal. Hermida was using MOSFETs as clipping diodes like the OCD. The Purple Plexi is one of those LM386 based things. The pinnacle of collectibility in this particular flavor of drive would be the D*A*M Sonic Titan. The LM386 just doesn’t break up the way a tube amp does. It’s fun and convincing for a few minutes but it always sounds like a pedal. It doesn’t sound like an amp. I would never ever recommend spending any big money on a LM386 based object. It is a very cheesy low hanging fruit type option for designers

The LP is obviously the big dog in this sale, but I’ll be interested in seeing a Garnet Herzog prototype or something if you don’t know, Randy had a really unique distortion sound with tons of sustain and compression. This was achieved with some tube driven distortion units that were custom made for Randy, and later sold commercially as the Garnet Herzog

I see Bonamassa’s guitar playing sorta the same way I see an autistic person learn to socialize. He paid very close attention to the style of BB, Albert King, Eric Johnson, etc and he mimics them perfectly. except the listener is usually aware of the mimicry and something feels strangely disingenuous about his music. I wish to some day be as great a player and as influential as Bonamassa, but I have no desire to actually listen to his music. I had the pleasure of chatting with Joe at the guitar show they hold at the OC fair grounds. I’m not sure if Joe still goes every year but he was very friendly and welcoming when I met him. He’s really just passionate about guitars and he knows so much about playing guitar and the history and everything. I’d love to hang out with him, get guitar lessons from him etc, but I don’t actually listen to his music at all

This will also melt the finish on a Gibson if left in place for a bit of time The nitro and rubber won’t react instantly, but I still wouldn’t recommend this method.

That is a well known and intentional feature of the Tube Screamer. As you add more distortion you will typically want to reduce the amount of low end or things get too flubby and loose. Think of it this way.. the Tube Screamer is not really meant to CUT low end in practice. It is supposed to increase the higher frequencies at a disproportionate level. A loud distorted amp is going to sound farty if you slam it with a bunch of low end. If you slam it with higher frequencies, you get the distortion where you want it but keep the low end at a level your amp can still manage Personally I’m not a huge fan of the TS or most of its countless derivatives but huge bass is rarely desired in distortion or overdrive

Ye olde chatoyance

I don’t have a pic handy but one of the coolest pedals that I’ve gotten in the past few years is the DOD Rubberneck Delay. The name is kinda silly and it costs $349 now but when I got it DOD was blowing out their stock and I want to say it was like $150 or something. This pedal is such a sleeper.. I’ve never heard anybody really talk about it but it’s amazing. It’s a true BBD analog delay but they stacked several chips so you get really long max delay time for an analog delay. it has tap tempo with subdivisions, a tone control which affects just the echoes (AMAZING simple feature), stereo outs, and it has an effects loop. So I like to run a micropog in the loop and you get these magic wand sounds where each repeat goes another octave up to infinity. I LOVE that pedal and highly highly recommend it to anyone. The modulation is awesome and all the features just work effortlessly. It sounds fantastic

AKG C414 and Beyerdynamic M160?

That’s a hammer tone finish. You can get it in aerosol cans or brush it on. He was talking about the Pep Box finish though