MOD it or KEEP it.

Sometimes in life comes the question: "should I shine up the old Camaro and sell it to fund the new Challanger Hellcat? Or, should I go with the Challanger SRT-8 AND keep the Camaro and rebuild the engine?"

That is a rough time. For us, it could be selling the Mexican Fender Strat funding the USA Deluxe, or just keeping the Mexican and buying a USA Standard and throwing some new pickups in the Mexi?

While there are options, some are far better than others, but ALL are PERSONAL decisions. 

Personally I would keep the Mexi and get the standard and do some work. Let's get out of the world of Strats. This can be anything.

My opinon begins here. MY opinion, thats why y'all read my blog, right??? haha.

If the existing cheap guitar IS decent enough to stay in tune and feels good for you, and you don't have a standing aresonal like I do, keep it.

The number ONE reason for keeping it is if you don't have a backup guitar. There are a few reasons that you would want to have a second/third etc, guitar. For example,  different tunings is primary reason. If you are gigging you NEED, NEED and I repeat NEED a backup.

If the guitar isn't worth keeping, YOU will know. If it is a hindrance or bad omen, for the sake of whatever, get rid or it. I am talking in this scenario as like a Walmart guitar, or too beat up, or flat-out nonfunctional. Nonfunctional guitars will NEVER make things easier for your. Trash is trash.


__________

Here is the bomb going off in here. I recently traded one of the pedals I just built and a twenty dollar bill for a... Squier, yes, a SQUIER strat. how is it? It does the job as shocked as I am. It is like a 2009 or something like that and hasn't been used much at all. Even the origional bullet end strings that he said he hadn't ever changed. At that point all I knew is it was functional, and the truss rod was functional and it made noise in is Frontman 15g (faceplam) combo.

So I take it home and take everything off and clean and polish and buff everything and touch up some frets, outfit it with a carbon fiber pickguard that I had laying around, and bang, I have a brand new beater. As far as mods go, it will see a preamp I will be building in the future, and a new nut and saddles. That is a whopping $30 and it will be great to throw around any shitty local dive bar, and not have anything to fuss over.

__________

Does this mean bullshit statement that everybody belts out, "my $2XX guitar is better than that $2XXX guitar in the store" has any authenticity? Nope. If you like your guitar, good, just don't get too eager to boast it's better than something that is so valuable. To a degree, you DO get what you pay for.

__________

Cheers from Trashed!

How to EQ dat bitch. and a HUGE rant. About Mr. Bastard

So, you have got a rig setup. You love most of it, nice guitar and amp [and hopefully you ended up with an Ibanez Prestige and an Orange or Mesa] that makes Trashed nice and happy, but there is a twinkle missing to what you thought. Just that little thing that you want to just fine tune. A little fizz here, fuzz there, or a really small spike somewhere that makes you want to vomit. Don't Worry I am going to make this a little less painful for you. You need an EQ. It's the EQ or Equalizer. They are friends. They are not food... but try one, and it may just give you a sweet kiss in the ass. Here 'Ya Go! 1. DON'T SCOOP YOUR MIDS. That is the worst offense by far. Don't jack up your bass. Big mistake. Watch your presence and resonance controls too while you are at it..
2. As a general rule across the board: nothing should be pushed past lets say 2 and 8 (if we are talking out of 10). BUT as any rule, some exclusions apply.
3. There is no rule saying that something isn't dialed in right if all controls are under half or over half.
4. Sometimes if you have a really trebley amp, you can turn the treble extremely low and compensate with a little more presence (I figured this out on my Splawn KT-88 Pro-Mod).
5. Vintage amps can be a little funny sometimes. One of my old Musicman amps I use all the time, all the EQ is dimed. It sounds better that way than any other way. Just don't doubt it until you try it. Although, I have tried it on a dozen other amps I own with less success.
6. Boosting an amp with an OD. EVEN the HIGHEST gain of amps CAN still benefit with a boost in front. Give it a shot.
7. EQ pedals. They are great, and sometimes you may even use two on one rig. I only get them that have a volume and gain slider for the OD effect, and the EQ part sculpts it in to where you want it. So you could use it with or without a boost in volume or gain. They can be placed in the FX loop where it makes momre of a difference, or out front to EQ your guitar tone. That is just EQ'ing for the guitar and the amps. The mixing and mastering is a totally different level. Which at this point is beyond my understanding to teach it all to you confidently at the moment.
Lets go for a rant:
Dear Bastard whom owns the shop near me,
I come in to check what you have once in a while. You are right up in my ass, mistake number one. Then I ask if you have an Ibanez Prestige.
Mr. Bastard said "I can order one for you."
I come back with a "No thanks, but if you ever have one in give me a call."
"Well... we don't stock them." that idiot says.
I kindly reply, "Well if you DO happen to get one in, can you call me?"
Mr. Bastard says, "We don't. but I will order one for you"
I didn't care for the tone. I said that if i wanted to order one i would myself through other resources. He gets pissy and I get crabby.
I say "I can order whatever I want right now I can order online, get a 15% off, 8% in rewards (i heart musiciansfriend dot com) and NOT pay taxes.
I didn't expect him to take that overly well... and he didn't. He gets all angry. I give him a sarcastic smile and walk out the door.
NOW... If he had a guitar I WANTED and if he would have been willing to take 15% off, I would have bought it IF HE WASN'T A JACKASS. Yes I would pay more to a local store. Part of that is that I would get to play it and know everything is good, and its less of a hassle.
Soooooo... what did he lose? a customer. He lost somebody who would run in there if they needed something. I am his best [maybe only] tremolo spring purchaser. Them bitches are $2 a pop.
I like heavy strings, and have a lot of guitars with tremolos so I have bought a lot of springs.
I dropped in for a slide emergency after my glass slide met concrete and broke.
I lost a bridge pin on an acoustic, so i bought some fancyass brass ones from him.
Those items are much more profitable for him over time then him getting pissy with me over the guitar.
Mr. Bastard, shove it.
_____
There ya go!
Trashed.

Happy NEW YEAR! I Am Still Here and Still Trashed.

Its a new year and i am still Trashed. Hopefully you are too.

Most of you bastards are probably still hung over. I have had MORE than a few years with a fuzzy night, or maybe day? or two. However I choose not too any more, but that's my choice, I am not damning any of you for your decisions. Bottoms up!

WELL lets get down to 'da bidnazz.

• You will get WEEKLY posts, I have more time and will commit.

• Pics of my gear will regularly pop up now.

• One of these days I will figure out how to change the page layout [yawn].

the FUN SHIZZZ! 

Pedlulz are still being built, more to come, I will be clearing out some stuff from the shop. I need to sell some gear too, I will post on here.

If you want a fuzz, shoot me an email [or reply here] I promise it will cost you less than a $20 bill to your door.

CHEERS!