Rich's Bad Guitar Lessons: Fake Pedal Steel Sound on a Fender Stratocaster

Note on the video: It's long. Almost 24 minutes. However it's worth your time to check it out because if you were wondering how I got that pedal steel sound out of a Stratocaster, the video will show you exactly how it's done.

There are a few things mentioned in the video, and here are the links to them:

I have an article explaining in detail the difference between staggered and flat pole pieces in pickups here.

The guitar being played in the video is the Fender Modern Player Stratocaster HSS.

I strings I mentioned are D'Addario EXL120.

The compressor pedal I briefly mentioned is the BOSS CS-3; a favorite of many guitar players.

we all live in a capital i

I discovered something amazing on Netflix. Sesame Street: Classics. It starts with 1974 and goes from there.

I've watched a few episodes and I can't even begin to describe how unbelievably heartfelt it all is. When I was very little, my mother had a standing rule that during the day that the TV would be on "nothing but channel 2", which was (and still is) WGBH Boston, a public television station. As such I watched many, many, many hours of Sesame Street. And it worked, because I was reading before everyone else in kindergarten. In fact, I was - and this is no joke - scolded by a teacher because I was reading books before all the other kids were. Fortunately my father was involved in the Board of Education for the town and that teacher very quickly let me read whatever I wanted after that once my father found out I wasn't allowed to do so because of some ridiculous "everyone at the same pace" rule. Sesame Street taught me to read, and that's the 100% truth.

One of the animated shorts from the first season features the song Capital I, written by Steve Zuckerman. You may not know who he is, but you know his work. He has a huge number of television credits including Full House, The Golden Girls, Friends, Everyone Loves Raymond and many more.

I'm just starting to watch the '74 season, and Capital I is in the first episode. Although I remembered 99% of the shorts and skits from when I was a kid, this one was new to me and it just blew me away. I love the song so much I'm actually thinking of learning it on guitar. Yes, it has a total hippie vibe to it, but that just makes it all the more awesome. My only complaint about it is that it's under a minute long.

Capital I sounds like a very serious song, but it's not. It's just a simple acoustic tune with seriously powerful bellowing vocals in front of it. On a kid's show. Sesame Street back in the day had so much balls to broadcast great stuff like this.

Here are the lyrics. You can totally read between the lines on this one. Or at least I can.

We all live in a capital I
In the middle of the desert
In the center of the sky
And all day long we polish on the I
To keep it clean and shiny, so it brightens up the sky
Rubbing it here, and scrubbing it there
Polishing the I, so high in the air
As we work, we sing a lively tune
It is great to to be so happy on a busy afternoon
And when we're through with the day's only chore
We go into the I, and we close the door
Capital I
Capital I
Capital I
Capital I

Now there's two immediate interpretations that pop into my head here. If you replaced I with eye, this could be read as a mind journey, or complete escapism. The lyrics go way, way deeper than they appear on the surface. Like I said, it's just really ballsy stuff. And very, very clever.

I was born in the '70s, but the mid-70s seasons were rerun like crazy during the late 1970s and early 80s when I was watching Sesame Street most heavily. And to say these shows remind me of my childhood is a huge understatement. Some of the animated shorts as well as the puppeteering skits touches on memories I haven't thought of in many years.

Back when my father was alive I talked with him about Sesame Street, he told me about times when I was so engrossed in the show, just sitting there, watching, and he'd watch me mouth along to what the show was teaching. Dad knew what was going on. I was learning. While I thought it was just a way to pass the time, my brain was getting filled with knowledge. And like I said, it worked.

To truly appreciate 1970s era Sesame Street, you basically have to be from my generation. Those who are younger than I won't get it - but that's okay. I'm not saying my generation is any better or worse than another, but the children's television we had was freakin' AMAZING.

Confession: I have never played a guitar that felt or sounded perfect on the first try

I bought a Fender Stratocaster recently. Was the purchase of the guitar one of those magical moments in the guitar store where the instrument felt perfect when I played it and I just "had to have it"? Nope. In fact, the guitar played and sounded like absolute crap in the store. The strings were old, slightly rusted and scratchy, the cord I used to plug into the amp was almost broken beyond repair, and the amp I used was a crappy little Marshall that sounded plastic and terrible. So why did I buy it? I'll explain that in a moment.

I've played quite a few guitars over the years. Fender, Gibson, Squier, Epiphone, Jackson, Dean, B.C. Rich, etc. I've played new guitars, somewhat-used guitars, beat-up guitars, vintage guitars, guitars that were well worn-in, guitars that were old but not worn-in at all, pristine clean guitars, dirty full-of-gunk guitars and so on. While I haven't played them all (who could?), I've put my hands on a good number of them, and the result is always the same with me. No guitar I've ever played felt or sounded perfect on the first try.

With any guitar I acquire, I won't know if I actually like it until it's broken in. For example, my 2010 Squier Bullet Strat is now well-worn-in and has a neck to die for. It plays amazingly well and has single-coil pickups that are bright and even somewhat "screechy" to some ears, but I dig it. She's a great player. Yeah, there are dings in the neck now. Yeah, the pick guard is all scratched up. But she can sing because my hands have been on that guitar enough to break it in proper and make her sing.

The Fender I bought for features first because of the way its electronics were done. When I got it home, I first did a video on it, then right after that switched out the strings. After that I played it for a day, then adjusted the saddles. I haven't even opened up the back plate yet, and haven't intonated it yet either. First setup of any guitar I buy usually takes several weeks, because I have to play it a ton before I get to all the stuff I need to adjust.

Anyway, I'm fast learning that the Fender I bought wants to be played. She's a totally different animal compared to the Squier axes I have, but over time I'll be able to set her up to where it will be just right for the way I play. In my experience it takes time before a guitar truly feels like yours.

While testing the Fender I have now in the guitar store, it played and sounded like crap like I said, but I saw the potential that she could be something wonderful, and she is fast becoming just that.

Things I know in advance whenever I enter a guitar store

I'm not saying all guitar stores are like this, but I always experience the following whenever I'm in one:

1. No new guitar will be set up correctly, even if there's a sticker on it claiming it was set up.
2. The strings on any new guitar I pick up will be old or rusty (when you see black lines, that's rust). This is because most guitars regardless of price are shipped with strings that started to rust even before it arrived at the store.
3. The back of the neck for any guitar will feel like plastic because it's been sitting on the wall or the floor collecting dust and hasn't been cleaned (possibly for weeks). When you pick it up, you're mashing all that dust right into the neck, hence the plastic feel.
4. The fingerboard will also feel like plastic for the same reason the back of the neck does.
5. Tuners on new guitars - even the expensive ones - won't feel right at all because they've hardly been used. For example, when you pick up an expensive axe, go to tune and the tuner actually clicks noticeably, that means it probably hasn't been adjusted for weeks.

Cheaper guitars in the store believe it or not always play and sound better than the expensive ones. Why? Because cheaper axes are picked up and played more because they're more affordable. Expensive axes just sit.. and sit.. and sit for weeks or even months on end. And of course they're always mounted high or put in glass cases so nobody can get to them unless they specifically request it.

I have never experienced a perfect-playing or perfect-sounding guitar in the guitar store; that's never happened to me. I know that whatever I get will require setup and many hours of play before it's broken in properly.

I'm not saying the 'magic moment' can't happen in a guitar store when you pick up certain guitars, but it's never happened to me in my years of playing. I know that whatever I buy needs to be played and played often for a while before it can truly sing for me.

Rich buys a 2012 Fender Modern Player Stratocaster HSS (with extra info)

For the second time in my life, I have bought a Fender guitar. Okay, well that's not entirely accurate. The first true Fender Stratocaster I ever owned was bought for me by my father in 1993 USA Standard for an 18th birthday present. I still own that guitar but it has a busted neck that needs replacement. However the new guitar I just purchased, the 2012 Fender Modern Player Stratocaster HSS, I bought myself today.

The MP HSS is the lowest-cost Fender-branded Stratocaster that currently exists. It is "Crafted in China", meaning it's a China-made guitar. Being it is part of the Modern Player series, it is distinctively different compared to a normal Strat concerning the way it operates.

Being this is the lowest-priced Fender Strat, it's inexpensive. In fact, it's even less expensive than some upper-end Squier guitars. I did not pay anywhere near full price for this because I traded in my acoustic guitar for it being that I never played it, and the fact the Modern Player Strat just dropped in price by 25 bucks on top of the steep discount most retailers are giving the guitar now.

My guess is that Fender is having a hard time selling China-made Fender-branded guitars. For some reason people think "China" means "junk". That's not the case here.

I've read in a few places that people think this guitar is nothing more than an upper-end Squier with a Fender label on it. I don't agree with this for several reasons:

1. There is no Strat in Squier's lineup that comes anywhere close to the features the Modern Player offers.
2. The frets are perfect. No sharp edges, no surprises.
3. Proper Strat profile and not the "slim" version.
4. Proper Fender details everywhere from truss rod hole to neck bolt plate.
5. Premium dot inlays.
6. A far superior cut of maple for the neck compared to Squier brand (you can see this the moment you look at it).
7. Proper tight neck fitting with no obvious gaps in the neck pocket.

The Modern Player Strat is definitely all Fender all around and significantly upgraded compared to Squier brand. Most people would give this guitar a miss just because of its country of origin - and that's just fine because it means I got a better deal on it.

The Modern Player gives you 7 different tones, and does it in an interesting way. Tone 2 is a push-pull that splits the humbucker to a single-coil, so that means you have the following pickup selections:

• Bridge - Humbucker
• Bridge - Single-Coil
• Bridge + Middle - Humbucker + Single-Coil
• Bridge + Middle - Single-Coil + Single-Coil
• Middle
• Middle + Neck
• Neck

Tone 1 (middle knob) controls the tone for the middle and neck pickup. Tone 2 (bottom knob) controls the bridge alone. This is very different from a Standard in the respect that the bridge is usually "always on 10" (not affected by tone control whatsoever), the middle is controlled by Tone 2 and the neck is controlled by Tone 1.

The bridge humbucker does have adjustable screws on the outer coil near the bridge, which means you can adjust it manually to have staggered-style poles if you want - and that's a very nice touch. Fender didn't have to do that, but did anyway offering the player even more control over the sound.

The dot inlays are off-white, which looks like vintage clay color, and they're perfect. When you run your finger over them, you absolutely cannot feel the edge of any dot. This is something normally reserved for premium Fender guitars, but it's standard on the Modern Player.

Pickups are definitely better than Squier. There's more top and bottom end, and fortunately this is controlled easily with the tone knobs.

All the knobs have a nice curve to them, meaning no "jumpy" nature when adjusting volume or tone.

I honestly didn't think the guitar was going to be as good as it is. The Modern Player HSS is a total "sleeper" Strat. For all intents and purposes you could call this a "Basic SuperStrat" and that would be accurate.

The Modern Player may be a Chinese Fender, but there's no way this could be called a Squier with a Fender label on it. It's total Fender all the way around, the quality is there, and is definitely deserved of the Fender brand label.

a wish for more decent clockradios

I remember a time when there used to be some really good clockradios out there, and I'm talking about clockradios that had great features.

These days, there are very few actually good clockradios left. such as the Sony ICF-C218, its bigger brother the Sony ICF-C318, and the biggest brother the Sony ICF-C414. Yes, Sony pretty much holds the market for The Last Truly Good Clockradios.

If you don't like Sony style, you're basically screwed if you want a decent clockradio, because almost everything else has an iPod dock on it, making the clockradio insanely bulky. And I don't even own an iPod besides which.

Fortunately, all three offerings from Sony are relatively cheap. The one pictured above is just 10 bucks, so.. at least it's not that expensive.

But I seriously wonder how long it's going to take before good clockradios vanish completely. There's really not many of them left. I'm thinking about buying an ICF-C218. Heck, I might buy two, because there many not be any left around once the first one wears out.