Guitar of the week #61 - Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus
This is the best Chinese Fender made right now.
The Fender Modern Player Telecaster Plus is one of only two guitars left from the Fender Modern Player Series. The only other one that's still out there is Fender Modern Player Telecaster Thinline Deluxe.
To the best of my knowledge, all Modern Player Fender guitars are made in China, but as I can tell you from first hand experience, these are awesome guitars. The ONLY reason they sell for as cheap as they do is because of where they're made.
The best of the best from the Modern Player Series is the Telecaster Plus. No question about it. The guitar is an HSS with a coil-split toggle switch between the volume and tone controls for the rear humbucker. The blade selector is 5-way.
Basically, this Tele is a hot-rodded Strat. It even has the belly cut in the back of the body. Yes, it does.
Also, again speaking from personal experience, the Honey Burst finish looks way better in person than in photos. You'd swear this is a $2,000 guitar but it's priced nowhere near that.
How does it play? Wonderfully. How does it sound? Loud and awesome.
Get one before Fender stops making them. If I had the cash, I'd buy one myself right now and I'm not kidding.
Is a drill bit peg winder for guitar string installation really a good idea?
Using one of these can quickly lead to disaster if used incorrectly.
The drill bit peg winder is a real thing and you can buy one right now if you want to as it is cheap, and if you do, there are a few things you need to know about using one of these things.
You must use a drill that can operate at a SLOW speed.
If you try to use a drill on high speed to wind a guitar string with using this bit, you're an idiot. You can seriously damage your guitar in multiple ways by doing that.
You must use something lightweight.
Don't use a full size drill. Use a simple, lightweight, battery powered screwdriver such as the Black & Decker AS6NG. Small, cheap, light in the hand and easy to move around, especially when using on tuners that are both sides of a guitar headstock. Yes, this is a very basic cordless screwdriver that runs at a slow speed - which is exactly what you need here.
An example of what not to use would be the Black & Decker LDX120C. Great drill, but totally inappropriate for use with a peg winder bit. Too big, too heavy.
You still have to perform the first loop by hand.
The drill can't do everything. Don't grab it until you have the first string loop feed through the tuner. Specifically, I mean the string is fed through where one entire revolution has been completed, and the string is resting on the post under the first loop and ready for the next so it winds correctly when you apply the powered drill.
No matter how much one would like the drill be able to do everything, it can't. You will still have to feed in that first loop by hand and there's just no way around that.
"What about the Ernie Ball Power Peg Pro?"
This tool totally works, but I only have one problem with it. It's more expensive than the bit and Black & Decker AS6NG combined.
But then again, it is cheap and totally qualifies as one-tool solution with no parts to lose since it's all one piece. For some of you, that's the perfect tool for the job.
The day date is the best watch complication ever
Believe it or not, there's a part of my audience that actually likes it when I talk about watches (who knew?), so here's my take on my favorite watch complication, the day date.
For those not in the know, any feature on a watch that does something other than tell time is called a complication. If the watch shows the day of the month in a little window, that's called a "date complication". A watch that shows the day of the week and the day of the month is called a "day date complication."
An example of a day date is the Rolex Day-Date. The date is shown at the 3 position and the day is shown at the 12 position.
Is the day date complication Rolex-only territory? Hardly. You can get it cheap on a Casio such as the MRW200H for under 20 bucks.
Side note: At some point I will probably buy an MRW200H because it's a good cheap day date with a bezel that actually rotates so you can time things. Nice to have. Reliable, easy to read, rugged, lightweight. Doesn't get much better than that.
What about digital?
Digital is the absolute cheapest way to get a day date complication. In fact, it's actually a challenge to find a digital timepiece that is not a day date. The Casio F-91W, its steel "cousin" the A158 and A168 are all day dates.
In fact, every single new digital watch made by Casio is a day date, so if you want it, you can get it real easy.
Why is the day date the best watch complication ever?
It's not because of the time nor the date complication.
It's because of the day complication.
No matter what your age, be it young, old or somewhere in between, there are going to be times when you simply forget what day of the week it is. When it happens (and it will,) you're going to be thankful you're wearing a day date watch.
For me, a watch that doesn't have a day date complication is useless. I own a few watches that have a date complication but no day complication, and because of that I never wear them.
This is, incidentally, why I could never own a Rolex Submariner even if I had the money for it. Not having the day complication would drive me nuts. The Rolex Day-Date is literally the only Rolex I would actually find useful.
Fortunately, there are several day date watches out there.
What are the best cheap day date watches?
Casio and Timex own this domain.
Casio analog:
Timex analog:
- T20011 Easy Reader or T20041 Easy Reader
- Timex digital: Any
Is the ZOOM R8 still the best game in town for standalone multitrack recording?
Does the R8 still hold up? Let's find out.
Concerning audio recording, nobody records with analog anymore except for annoying hipsters (as if there were another kind.) Everyone records with digital.
With digital, you have three hardware platforms to use. PC, mobile and standalone.
With PC you can either use free software like Audacity or overcomplicated-for-the-sake-of-being-overcomplicated paid software like Avid Pro Tools.
With mobile, everything sucks. I'm not kidding. Smartphone or tablet, doesn't matter. It all sucks. Don't even go there.
Then there are standalone multitrack recorders. While there are many shapes and sizes of these things, the ones that are most popular are units that are 8-track recorders, as they're just the right size for most desks, and can easily fit into a backpack to take from place to place.
Presently, there are still only two 8-track recorders worth owning, the Tascam DP-008EX and the ZOOM R8.
I did own a Tascam DP-008 non-EX version before, but sold it and got the R8 instead. Not only does the R8 have a drum machine in it, but has a staggering amount of effects built into it for vocal, guitar or bass guitar use. The R8 just destroys the DP-008 in basically every way.
Actually, correction, every way except one. Size. Since the DP-008 doesn't have sliding faders on it, it is smaller. If you want the smallest footprint with a standalone 8-track, that's where the DP-008 shines. But everything else about it is inferior compared to the R8.
I did look around to see if any company has released any new standalone 8-track recorders. I couldn't find any...
...which means for a standalone 8-track recorder, yes, the Zoom R8 is still the best game in town. You can't do any better.
The only thing that sucks about the R8 is the manual. It's terrible. That's why I wrote a better one.
Guitar of the week #60 - Schecter E-1 Custom Special Edition
Just as cool as an Explorer, more affordable, and more available.
The Schecter E-1 Custom Special Edition is obviously, "heavily inspired" by the Gibson Explorer. If you like Explorers, you'll like the E-1.
Is the E-1 better than the Explorer? Yes, no question about that. The strings are straight after the nut (better tuning stability,) the nut itself is a Graph Tech TUSQ XL, the inlays are real-deal mother of pearl blocks, the tuners are the locking type, the neck scale is 24.75-inch with 12-to-16-inch compound radius fingerboard, both pickups are Schecter USA made, with push/pull control on the knobs...
...and the guitar is basically awesome. Again, it is better than the Explorer in basically every way unless you're the type of person that's just "gotta have that Explorer".
Aside from the E-1 being a true player's guitar, I'm predicting this one is going to have some high resale value in the future, should you care about that sort of thing (and some do).