BluesKing777

Psych gave up on this duck years back, fleeing while muttering 'you need to get out more' or something.... "Did I play you this one?" I would say... CEO7 is now back on the Tonerite after having the night off... not that I don't trust it to catch on fire or anything while I sleep... BluesKing777.

My CEO7 has been buzzing away for 8 hours while I worked. I just played a long extended blues in E all over the neck and I can see that is coming along nicely. The guitar was still in tune, well within itself anyway, so that says something about it being fairly gentle. Back on it goes for a few more days..... Unless the guitar falls off the Hercules stand, unlikely, what damage can the TR do except loosen a glue joint or 2? More glue! What a GREAT guitar the CEO7 is to play for fingerpickers! Mahogany B/S and Adi top. BluesKing777. OH, and here is 57 old pages of yeahs and nays from the Collings Forum if you want some light reading: http://collingsforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6681010672/m/664108661/p/57 [sleep]

Glad to get a reply - I thought I might be talkin' to myself again. There are nearly as many threads on the TR around as there are on strings and the result is......dunno I should have started my own thread instead of latching on this oldie... Long range effects? There is an adjuster to vary the vibes and the manual says to run it on low for better tone on the new guitar, or full tilt for more volume on the same new guitar. I, like MP, have a spare guitar here and there and I have to say if I only had ONE nice one, the gadget would not be going on it! But I have some wonderful old guitars and can see how accelerating the break-in process may move a new guitar with the feared Adi top towards the looseness of the vintage, so I am willing to experiment - though I did originally buy the gadget for some budget new guitars after reading on UMGF. Some people will do anything to avoid paying for a TR, including making their own by raiding the fish tank pump and other weird things. I mean,$149. A fish tank pump is really asking for damage to the guitar, isn't it? People! There are also these groups that rent them to each other! What? Just play all day and night instead if you don't want to buy one. But I have a few guitars now and will not get the hours on each that I would if I have just one guitar - NOT complaining - I am really enjoying myself. So, I have seen and heard it work previously on my guitars, so I am in the SOLD department already and would not dare to put the thing on a beautiful Martin or Gibson if I didn't have some confidence in it. But I have to say that the original purchase, and this shows I don't have secret shares in the thing - the original order was a@#@#@# err .....muck up and got lost in the paperwork at their office. They then sent me one without the transformer needed for my country's power supply , and then another one (the first order?) turned up in the mail with transformer...... :mellow: a friend has it waiting for a transformer...... BluesKing777.

Me again! After playing actual SONGS on the J45 for a while, instead of riffs and doodling, I have to say I am a bit disappointed with a result not really what I hoped for. It still has that new edge sound and probably needs the full 72 hours of buzzin'. Honestly, take the good with the bad and let others know....but I got sick of the buzz noise and have packed the J45 back in its case. Maybe that is the final J45 Standard sound? I will return to the original plan of breaking in the new guitars with Adi tops instead of Willy Nilly trying all of them. CEO7, then OM28 Marquis! Full 72 hours each. After it has had a rest.... BluesKing777.

What if the snake oil turns out to be poison toad oil? The gadget is never going to make a crap guitar sound good! Just helps break in new guitars quicker....... I'm pleased, but it is in the realm of the airy fairy - but in a minute, I am going to finish work, have a little ride on the bike, then sit down to strum that J45 that is on the buzzer.... BluesKing777.

Really good question, MP! What has got me using it again is buying that old Martin 0-17 - it is so 'loose' and in comparison, some of my others guitars are so 'tight'. I can't see how a guitar could 'revert' to the newish sound after a TR treatment, like a new guitar you have played for a year won't revert either. They say 72 hours for the first treatment now, but I think it was less when I bought the original model - they are up to version 3 now I believe. Being unscientific, I have just used the TR on my newest guitar, Martin CEO7 - except I have been playing that guitar quite heavily for six months or so since I bought it.... It would be ideal for a scientist like Tom B to do a round of tests, but he would probably look at the snake oil with disdain. But there were a lot of believers on the internet when I bought it years back, and even more now. I have been running the J45 on the buzzer while I have worked today and I gave it a few tunes at lunchtime and it has already done something. I put it back on for more. It has smoothed out to my ears, the high mid eq area that I call nasty, but it has done more than that. Your list of newish guitars would be ideal to run it over! I think they want $149 with a free jar of snake oil.... Would I buy it again if it broke, got stolen? Most definitely! (No affiliation...with anything actually). BluesKing777.

Well, Monday morning blues here... The old L-0 got 8 hours on the TR, but really it didn't do what I hoped at all.... Win some, lose some. I am working down one end of the house on this computer while down the other end, the J45 Standard is getting a buzz. Even though I have had the guitar for 4 or 5 years, it still sounds new, so.......while the TR is setup..... BluesKing777.

Little update for those waiting with baited breath...what does THAT mean? I had a practice on the OM28 Mq, then put it on the TR while I went for a ride to the boat ramp and back, had some lunch, watched some of my team on TV and then took off the TR and played the OM...it has already lost some of that new thing, just a wonderful guitar anyway, so I packed it back in the case and will run it some more during the week while I am working...that should cover it. I had a quick strum of the 37 Gibson L-0 and put the TR on - it has been buzzing away while the Princess and I walked the dog along the beach in the cold, went shopping at the supermarket and now back watching the Teev - the old guitar is getting the new bits run in while we doodle around........ Nice weekend.... BluesKing777.

This is the first time I have used a TR on an expensive guitar - previous use was klunky extremely 'new' sounding budget guitars and then my 000-15. The mahogany top on the 000-15 was going to take 35 years to break in with my gentle bare handed fingerpicking, so I gave some buzzes and it worked. The Adi tops will take about 45 years to break in with bare fingers and I just want to take out the 'new' edge, even though the guitars sound absolutely glorious before Toneratering.... Some other bum is going to get my hard work playing the guitars in a little bit for him, otherwise, so I will see how this goes. Hope I dont break 'em! If I have take them to my guitar tech and he asks what happened, I will say the dog knocked the guitar over...... Next, I am going to use it on a pair of leather topped Nikes I have that because they are stiff rather than 'tight', I have not used a much as the other model I got at the same time. Shoes are probably a real good analogy - wearing in new leather shoes with leather soles in particular. I had to walk the length of the city in a new pair of leather on errands once and my feet have never recovered. Some people chuck old shoes like those out when they are broken or worn out, others keep getting the beauties repaired because once broken in there is nothing more comfy. My old, old 1944 Martin 0-17 all mahogany is like a very, very old pair of leather shoes that has been repaired a multitude of times, this being the reason the new guitars are bothering me now.......and getting Tonerited. BluesKing777.

Ha - that's funny It just occurred to me that if the ToneRite works, I won't have a new sounding guitar.........may need a newie.....those worn out old things.... BluesKing777.

Yes, old post, but the third I have read in the last few weeks on various forums and I guess it was an 'arrow' pointing at me, because I rummages trough the bits and pieces and dragged mine out yesterday. The guitars that I bought new recently with Adi tops are the perfect candidates - I mean if left to their own devices, they will have broken in by about....the year 2095. So first up yesterday, I put my Martin CEO7 on a stand and connected the Tonerite. I left gurgle and burble from 4pm til about 2 pm and turned it off because even though they claim it is quiet, it ain't! The princess said it sounded like our old dishwasher when the electrics needed the doc. She is right. This morning I played the CEO7 and the surprise was it was still almost in tune, ands it had been on the stand all night where normally I case all guitars. The next surprise was that it had already 'worked' a fair bit, even though it had only had 10 hours instead of the recommended 72 hours on the TR. Buzzing away in there now is the OM28 Marquis with a fairly thick Adi top that will probably never break in 5 lifetimes, so that will probably need the longest time on the buzz. Next is a weird one I will try - my old 1937 Gibson L-0. It had a neck reset, a new fretboard, nut, bridge, saddle, tuners and just doesn't sound THAT old compared to looking at it, so that can get a few buzzes to see what happens and I hop all the new bits don't just fall off! BluesKing777.

It is all coming back to me - playing in blues bands and breaking a string was a total financial disaster! Now that was the time of old, stuffed strings. I have had a day job for years and I recently converted to Elixir Lights PB or 80/20s and may even change them every few weeks - not rich, but bitter and twisted! Though I think I prefer Elixir PBs.... Some of the old bands' members are still flogging around, unbelievable but if I went to this guitar player's place tomorrow, he would probably be boiling old strings. Another guitarist was complaining about the strings being too high and when I asked him when he changed strings he said they came with the guitar! True! I said why dont you get the guitar set up properly by a tech and get at least some new strings......'Too dear! No money!' I almost gave him a set of my Elixirs, but he ruined that by eating my dinner and drinkng all my drinks..... BluesKing777.

Yeah, it is a tough crowd! The J45 Standard you tried caught your ear, same here! So perhaps go back and play it some more, bearing in mind a setup from a trusted pro is a great start to acoustic ownership. My local genius added a handful of magic dust to my Standard a few years back when I bought it, and it has held those settings very well. It can really give you that 10%! BluesKing777.

Too big for the guy in the first clip too! It looked enormous and hard to play....sounded great. Too small for the guy in the next clip! :mellow: Very weird after the first - are the 2 guitars the same size? BluesKing777.

They have one at Julliard and other music schools...if you are naughty, you get to sit in the naughty chair trying to tune the 18 all day..... It looks like my 12 string B25-12n grew extra horns overnight, . BluesKing777.

Thread from a few weeks back , but I have watched Matt's videos a bit recently, though I think they are all recent, and I am enjoying his fingerstyle playing....just wondering if anyone knows what his style is derived from? There is something familiar about it, but I haven't put my finger (s!!!!!!) on it yet. BluesKing777.

Spoon Phillips from Maurie's and a few others with guitar demos need to get that beard going! He does a review of another guitar of the same model that is actually winging its way to me on FedEx.( edit: on my flight radar tracker, I think it just left Honolulu..not watching with my fingers crossed or anything...but I hope Tom Hanks and Wilson aren't on that jet).....so I noticed this one. Looks like the same mic as Tony uses to me - I have one. On a few of their videos with dread guitars, he uses a flat pick and does strumming things - to emulate what the possible owner would use the guitar for. Cool. I listen with some good Sennheisers to all of their demos in the last few days and the L-00 above has a big dud note on the 5 string/12th fret! I think they could have redone the demo or something - if you listen a few times, it stands out! It also sounds a bit 'new'. Last time I listen with headphones! Too picky. BluesKing777.

I have done a bit all combinations and really like bone parts, but I have left the Tusq stuff, mainly because it does sound good and I don't want to ruin things. Another thought is that someone in the Gibson scheme of guitar designers must think the Tusq sounds good or they wouldn't want to risk losing sales? BluesKing777.

I am not sure of the answer because I probably haven't played enough of them! Give me another 100 years. Though I went in to a local huge DVD/Electrical shop that have been advertising that they have moved into musical instruments in a large way as well, and I looked around for something to love and couldn't find a single thing. I was wasting a bit of time while TOH was shoppinizing up the road and I would really have liked to stay and get into the merchandise, but wow, what a load of junk. And a real, real lot of it! Who buys all this stuff? Kids? Cheapskates? Wives? A big waste of resources. BluesKing777.

Some other experts will turn up - I am NOT! BUT I thought the original J160E has P90 pickups (LOVE P90s!). If you want the Beatles electrified acoustic sound, I would see if you can swap the P100 (nobody's fave) for an old P90. The acoustic pickup of choice for me is the Fishman passive undersaddle, but two holes in your guitar? What I think you really want is a nice J45 that comes with a Baggs u/s pickup and move the J160E along to someone that wants that configuration! BluesKing777.

Is that a nylon string guitar? I can't see any bridge pins? BluesKing777.

Lessons? Not much to talk about on the forum if you get lessons....currently I'm doing lessons till the end of time. Now Tusq pins - I have some on a couple of guitars but I don't really hear much difference from the plastic pins they replaced. Bone pins to make the guitar ring out, ebony pins to stop it ringing too much...worked so far on most of my Gibsons. My J45 Standard has been annoying me and is about to get some changes - bone nut to replace the GraphTech nut, Bone Saddle to replace the TusQ saddle and the Baggs in a Bag pickup has fallen off it's perch one time too many and will be replaced with a personal standby - the Fishman passive under saddle. That is the plan anyway. BluesKing777.

Here is a comparison video I found! Gibson ES 125 vs Godin 5th Ave Kingpin: I tried both these. BluesKing777.