GASSSSS...SSSS...SSS...SS..S...S....S.....S.......S..........S.........

michelew
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Wed Jan 25, 2017 6:40 pm

I didn't think it would ever happen. Maybe I've been visited by aliens and they've reprogrammed my brain...maybe .... well there could be many reasons of course.

For the first time in FOREVER, I'm DON'T have my heart set on getting a new instrument or fancy piece of tech of some type. I have a wonderful stable of instruments already so I really should be happy with them. So it's nice to feel the contentment of that.

Of course that doesn't mean that I can't appreciate them. I just don't nnneeeeeeeeed anything new at the moment.

How are you all feeling out there? Is anyone in the process of getting something new? Does anyone have their eye on something that's currently out of reach? Or is there something that you're just found interesting that you'd like to tell us about.

Share your GAS (guitar/gear acquisition syndrome) stories with us, it may help to alleviate the symptoms....or ...


spinland
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Joined: Sat Dec 31, 2016 10:12 am
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Wed Jan 25, 2017 6:59 pm

Got two new toys today.

First is for my electric: a digital effects pedal by Zoom. It has 100 preset pedalboards (or you can edit any of them to add/delete individual pedals from a stable of over 100 to pick from) and you can have up to 5 pedals active at the same time. Also has an effects pedal for wah or volume or whatever I want to set it up to control. Purists may sniff and insist you must spend $100 or more per pedal for "proper" stomp boxes plus a big-ass piece of wood to attach them to and a maze of power connections. Nah. I'll spend $75 total for more pedals than I'll ever need on a kit that runs on batteries. :side:

Image


My other toy is my new playing hat. I gotta get my head in the game, too.


Image


wrsomers
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Wed Jan 25, 2017 7:37 pm

OK Spinny...nice playing hat (I like them too)...but now it's time to fish or cut bait. You need to post a playing, singing video...I'm sure we'd all love to hear it. :) :P

Bill


wrsomers
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Wed Jan 25, 2017 8:02 pm

Michele,
In answer to your post, you may recall me posting a picture of my new Taylor 324e back in November. Unfortunately I didn't get to play it much until this past weekend. I paid Sweetwater (where I bought it) to set it up according to my specs. It arrived completely wrong...incorrect neck relief, incorrect action based on exacting specs that I gave them. I had to do the set up myself. I would have done it myself initially but for Sweetwater's $30 I figured their "experts" would do a great job. Wrong! The tech at Sweetwater not only set the neck relief flat, he glued the nut so much that it actually damaged the headstock and I had to struggle to remove it. Sweetwater did refund the $30 and gave me $150 as compensation. But then to my dismay, when I plugged it in to my amp, the volume was completely off. I had to crank the volume knob all the way to the top just to get it to match the volume on my other 2 Taylors when they were set at 1/4 volume.

I took the guitar to an authorized Taylor repair shop just before Christmas. The tech said he would replace the pre-amp board and I should have it back in a week. What he and I didn't know is that Taylor shuts down for 2 weeks at Christmas. This meant I had to wait until Jan 8 before anyone from Taylor would respond. I had to wait another week because the Taylor factory rep explained he was backed up because of the holiday vacation. Once he did get to my problem, he couldn't understand why my guitar had volume problems. He wanted to send the repair shop the pre-amp, the pick-up, and the end pin separately until the problem could be diagnosed. Why not send all 3 together and let the repair shop determine what was wrong, and send back the unneeded parts? Simple huh? Duh.

Anyway, it turns out Taylor decided to modify their ES2 pre-amp without telling anyone. So buyer beware. you might end up with the original ES2, which in my opinion was great, or you might end up with the under-performing ES3 (that's what their service bulletins called the new board).

I let the Sr. VP for Customer Experience at Sweetwater know about the problem and she said she would address it with Taylor.

Moral of the story...be careful if you buy a new Taylor with the ES2 because it might have the ES3. It was a problem for me because when I switched between guitars, I had to make serious modifications with my mixer.

I'm writing this novel as a service to those TGers who might run into the same problem.

Bill

PS. The repairer, Sam Ash, solved my problem without getting involved with the tap dancing Taylor did. He took the guts out of one of their showroom guitars that had the original ES2 and swapped it into mine. I am now a happy camper, but it took 2 months to get there.


michelew
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Wed Jan 25, 2017 9:33 pm

Thanks guys.

Mark - interesting toy. It sounds like a bunch of fairly inexpensive fun. While I have an electric guitar, all of my effects are courtesy of GarageBand/Logic effect emulators. But your new toy sounds like it would provide some cools choices.

And nice prop! You've got the look down and your guitar face has cool stamped all over it. But has the had helped with your playing and achieving that ineffable something? I second Bill's suggestion. Post, post, post a video. :) go for it man. You know you want to and you'll be hard pressed to find a more appreciative audience.

Bill - wow that's quite a frustrating experience. Good to hear it's been resolved. Thanks for posting. TGers will now be more informed when they're considering a new Taylor.

Interesting stuff. Thanks again guys.


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neverfoundthetime
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 7:56 am

Did I hear the sound of a gauntlet being thrown to the floor there? Are you up for it Spin?
And Bill, you had to run the other type of gauntlet with Taylor, by the sound of things.... lucky you have other great guitars to play to keep you out of mischief! :laugh: So, your recommendation is buy Martin :woohoo:


spinland
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 10:40 am

neverfoundthetime wrote:
Did I hear the sound of a gauntlet being thrown to the floor there? Are you up for it Spin?
Getting there rapidly, guys, promise. Have to feel more comfortable in front of the mic (and camera) before I can pull the proverbial trigger.

Soon. :side:


michelew
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Location: Sydney, Australia
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 5:59 pm

Whenever your comfortable is cool.

Btw - your playing will fall apart a little in front of the camera. That's normal. Just remember you can keep recording until you have a take you're fairly happy with and that no one needs to see the video you're not happy with. Even Vanessa finds the camera adds stress and a distraction to her performance. Be sweet to yourself. Camera nerves are just part of the process. It gets better with experience.


M


wrsomers
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 7:33 pm

Chris- Yup, the gauntlet has been thrown. :laugh: Martin guitars are still king to me, but Taylor is great also. This last difficulty has been solved and although it was a pain, in the end I'm happy with the 324e. It will be my alternate tuning guitar. It sounds awesome in double drop D and I'm sure open D, G and DADGAD will sound equally good. It will appear in my next busking thread (not the one I just posted today).

Mark - Like I said before, just go for it, you'll only get more comfortable by jumping in with both feet. Everyone here is so supportive and will appreciate whatever you come up with. No one expects James Taylor or Tommy Emmanuel performances to show up on the busking thread...at least not at first :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Michele said it best...be your own best friend and enjoy the process.

Bill


spinland
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Thu Jan 26, 2017 8:00 pm

Hear ya Lima Charlie, Bill.

Not gonna poor-mouth; I have history, and inner demons, and all that rot, but in the end the one responsible for what I do is standing right here typing this. I'm stuck in the "none of this is good enough" trap, I own that. Music is also helping become the key to a large suite of liberating attitudes and the time is going to come (rather soon, as I see it) that you're gonna get sick of me posting videos. Have to get past that first hurdle, is all. I'm almost there.


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