gen-x state of mind
Still getting older, but at least I'm wiser.
Every single person who is in Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) is middle aged at the time I write this in 2022 and only middle aged. No Gen-Xer has crossed over into being a senior yet, as that won't happen until 2030 at the earliest.
I do watch many YouTube videos and read many articles. And no, it's not just about guitars and wristwatches. There are certain things I learn about. Here are three of them and my opinion on each.
The 84 month auto loan is for idiots
The only reason anybody thinks they can "afford" a new car is because the 84 month auto loan exists. That's 7 years. It's a bad idea, but there are morons aplenty out there signing up for them.
My Gen-X senses are telling me there are going to be a ton of auto loans defaulting in a few years. Especially the trucks. Watch how many of those big stupid trucks completely fall apart before 75,000 miles while there's still 2 to 3 years left of payments remaining, with most (if not all) of those trucks with the original tires on them. Why? Price out a set of new tires for a big SUV. The lowest price is about $700 before tax, installation and disposal of old tires.
My car is over 10 years old, but I actually own it. I can claim this accurately because I physically hold the title to the car in my possession. And when I say physical, I'm not kidding. I have the state-issued paper saying yes, the car is 100% mine. My car may be older with dents, chips and dings and not worth that much, but I own it.
Gen-X state of mind: Let the morons finance the big SUVs for 84 months. Drive something smaller instead, pay it in full and own it outright. If your state says "We only do E-titles", bug them anyway until they send you a physical copy. Get that paper. It matters.
I type with one hand on my phone because I'm not an idiot
It's supposedly some great sin to type on a phone one-handed. Most Gen-Xers including myself do this, and I'll give you a few reasons why:
Gen-X grew up before smartphones existed. Television remotes were and still are operated one-handed. Telephones were operated one-handed. PDAs (remember them?) were operated one-handed.
And the part that everybody forgets: We used to operate mobile phones two-handed until they got stupid. A flip phone using T9 style text messaging was a great thing to use two-handed, as it didn't hurt your hands, wrists or fingers to use it at all. It was tactile where every button press made a physical click. Those who were really good at T9 style messaging could type up messages ridiculously fast. The phone handsets were also thicker, which gave proper support so your hands didn't, you know, hurt while typing.
Double-thumb typing on a smartphone is an ergonomic nightmare. Absolutely nothing about it is proper positioning for human hands.
Those who double-thumb type on phones often are headed straight for any number of pain problems later in life. Carpal tunnel, tendinitis, trigger finger, muscle strain and so on.
Gen-X state of mind: I type with one hand on my phone, and if you don't like it, I can raise that hand and flip you the bird; this is something you won't even be able to do when you reach my age because your hands will be destroyed.
I still use GPS in the car
When I say GPS, I mean "a dedicated navigation device", meaning not the phone.
The best navigation experience on the phone is when you have a solid and strong data connection. But when that connection breaks, even for a moment, the navigation app goes straight to hell.
I read user reviews on the Google Play Store for navigation apps just to see what people say about them. One of the most common complaints - and this is for the majority of the apps by the way and not just the major ones - is the the navigation suddenly stops and the app starts "spinning in circles".
I'll explain to you exactly what's going on when that happens.
You're driving and the app is telling you where to go. Right. Data connection drops. It was a brief drop, but it happened. You'll of course not be notified about this. Right. The app did buffer some map data, so it tries to figure out where you are while waiting for the data connection to establish again. Right. Well, the accelerometer isn't calibrated properly on your phone and almost never is because sometimes it's in your pocket, sometimes flat on a table, sometimes face up, sometimes face down. The app "trusts" the accelerometer has north calibrated correctly. It doesn't. It "thinks" north is facing some other direction because the calibration is all jacked up. Then the data connection establishes again, but uh-oh, the accelerometer says north is one way but the data connection says it's another and WEEEEEEEEEEE circle-circle-circle! Around and around she goes, where she stops, nobody knows.
The app crashes after that, either with a lock-up or the whole phone goes dark. Fun, right?
GPSes don't do this. They stay in one place (in your car) in one orientation and full attention is given to its position while the phone is trying to juggle 10 or more different things at once, and doing it poorly.
When the trip matters - and it always does - use GPS for car navigation and not the phone.
Gen-X state of mind: My navigation actually works and your phone sucks.
The cheapest and easiest way to class up a Telecaster
With a Telecaster style body, it doesn't get any easier than this. Almost.
One of the great benefits of the Telecaster is that it's simple. As it turns out, the ridiculously simple mod of swapping out the control plate for something with a nice pattern on it really works.
Plates like this are available in both silver/chrome and gold, either with fancy pattern or not, your choice.
I would argue this is probably not only the easiest Telecaster mod, but almost the easiest electric guitar mod. I say almost because switching out knobs is even easier than this, so you can consider the control plate switch the second easiest mod.
If you have never taken off the control plate of a Telecaster, it is literally just two screws. When installing a new or replacement plate such as the one above, moving the switch and knobs to another plate hardly takes any time at all.
The only thing you really have to worry about with the control plate is the wire management. What I mean by that is not to just shove wires back into the body cavity when installing, as that can break connections. In other words, as long as you don't throw things around like a caveman, you won't break anything.
Also bear in mind that, if you're daring, you can flip the direction of the plate. Many Telecaster players do this because they prefer the control plate in the alternate orientation so the pickup switch is further back.
Having a pattern on the control plate is something where you can add a touch of flare without getting crazy. The best part about this mod, other than it being stupidly easy to do, is that it's completely reversible. It's really nice when you can try a different look, do it easily, and completely undo it without any fuss at all if it doesn't work for you.
Where stress-free mods are concerned, this is a darned good one.
The G&L Z-Coil pickup isn't weird at all (once you know how it works)
Looks odd, but does make total sense.
The G&L Z-Coil pickup only appears on the G&L Comanche model as far as I'm aware. You'll notice some Comanches are really expensive and some aren't. The reason for that is the less expensive models are "Tribute" import builds while the "Made in Fullerton" are crafted in the USA (as in Fullterton, California) with full USA-everything in it. There was the G&L ASAT Z-3 (single cut shape) that had a trio of Z-Coils in it at one point, but I don't think G&L makes that anymore. You can find one of those used or contact the G&L Custom Shop and they will happily build you one if you ask.
Side-by-side instead of stacked
The first advantage of the Z-Coil is that they do not exhibit 60-cycle hum; the reason for that is similar to why the Fender Precision Bass doesn't hum either - a split-coil pickup.
However, there's a second advantage, and that's more "true" single-coil pickup tonal character. With a stacked single-coil, it can be difficult to find one that truly has that single-coil "jangle" some players go for. Sure, the hum is gone, but the stacked single-coil sound can leave a little (or a lot) to be desired. Z-Coil on the other hand keeps the jangle and is hum-free at the same time.
Is the Z-Coil a total vintage-style sound? No. You're not going to get that super-jangly '50s Stratocaster alnico III magnet sound out of them. The Z-Coil has a more modern sound with greater output compared to "true vintage" traditional Stratocaster style pickups.
Is the Z-Coil a new thing?
Hardly.
As far as I know, the first Comanche with the MFD (Magnetic Field Design) Z-Coil pickups was made in the late 1980's (about 1988?), so Z-Coil is definitely not a new thing.
And there's more. The modern Comanche doesn't have typical Stratocaster electronics. You also get the PTB (Passive Treble and Bass) system and an expander switch so you get neck + bridge or all 3 pickups engaged all at once.
"Vintage correct" the Comanche is definitely not, nor is it meant to be. Again, it's a modernist electric guitar for sure.
The Comanche has the mods built right in
A Comanche with Z-Coils more or less addresses every single thing most Strat guys do for mods. The bridge is thicker and better, the pickups have no hum along with better output, and the switching is there for Telecaster-ish sound or all 3 pickups if you want in addition to the regular pickup switching...
...and the Tribute import version is less in price than the Mexico made Fender Player Stratocaster.
Pretty good deal if you asked me.
Schecter PT Special in Aqua Burst Pearl
It's green.
Green is a dangerous color for an electric guitar. Those who have been reading my stuff for a while know I don't like green...
...but this one barely, and I mean just barely gets a pass from me because it's tastefully done.
What do you get with this PT? Some really nice stuff. A South Korean build instrument with Grover Vintage tuners, maple neck, MOP inlays, C neck with 22 X-Jumbo frets, 12" radius fingerboard, Graph Tech Tusq XL nut, 2-way adjust truss rod, nickel hardware, swamp ash body, Schecter Diamond VT-1 bridge side pickup and Schecter Diamond V-90 pickup neck side. The knobs are knurled for easy operation and do have set screws (very nice).
Oh, and the back of the body has a cut like a Stratocaster. Very easy player both seated and standing.
The price? Well under $1,000.
Why does this green work?
The main reason is that you can see wood grain throughout the body, both front and back. Were this a solid green, it would be all sorts of awful, but thankfully it's not. The grain does lend to a water-like look, hence "aqua" color since there's some blue blend/fade/burst going on.
Another thing Schecter smartly did here was made the headstock dark. It's a tint that was absolutely necessary, else it would have stuck out like a sore thumb.
The brass has a gold-ish color to it, which also works nicely with the green.
I can tell that careful thought was put into this particular color and what was used surrounding it. The front body binding, neck binding and pick guard outline is cream, which is definitely better than white when against the finish. The nickel works against the color as well, and again, the darker headstock was a smart choice.
Would I own this personally? Yes. Yes, I would. This guitar looks far more expensive than it actually is, and it's got the playability and hardware that delivers.
You don't need a solar watch
You may think you need a solar battery powered watch. You don't.
Years ago, it used to be used that finding a wristwatch powered by a solar battery was really easy. Is it still easy today? Yes, but you don't really need it.
Before getting into why you don't need a solar watch, the main reason why anybody buys one in the first place is for the possibility of getting 20 years out of the original battery.
Does this actually happen? Yes, but only under very specific conditions for digital LCD watches.
Condition 1: The watch is exposed to bright sunlight every single day.
Condition 2: The night light, alarm and hourly beep, if the watch has these features, are never used.
Condition 3: The watch has the capability to go into a power-saving mode.
Condition 4: At night, the watch goes into its "highest level" of power saving where the display turns off until you press a button to turn it back on to read the time.
In other words, if the wearer gets outside a lot, has the power saving mode set so it uses as little power as possible, and only uses the watch to read the time and absolutely nothing else, yes it is possible to get 20 years out of the original battery.
Realistically speaking, the best you can hope for is 10 years or maybe slightly longer if you're lucky...
...and that brings me to why it's not even worth it to buy a solar powered watch.
Take three Casio watches, the AE1000W, A178 and F201WA. The F201WA is the cheapest of the lot at under 20 bucks.
All three have a "10 year battery" in them, and none are solar powered.
Can these watches run on the original battery for 10 years? Absolutely. If the night light is only used sparingly and the alarm and hourly signal aren't used, yes, you can get 10 years of use on the original battery or close to it.
Heck, even the extremely common F-91W will usually get 5 to 7 years on its original battery, and that's not even a "10 year battery" model.
Ultimately, a solar model and a "10 year battery" model have about the same battery longevity. The only difference is that the non-solar models are easier to own. Why? Because you don't have to worry about exposing it to sunlight (or just really bright light) to keep up its charge.
Also, the only reason the F-91W can't support a 10-year battery life claim is because it uses a CR2016 coin cell battery, while most (if not all) of the "10 year" Casios use the larger CR2025.
What about Citizen Eco-Drive?
In the non-Casio realm of solar, Seiko has a few models, but the go-to solar for fancier watches is the Citizen Eco-Drive.
How long does an Eco-Drive last? Citizen claims it's forever. This is a quote directly from their web site:
Under normal conditions in door and outdoor, there is ample exposure to light to keep the watch running - forever.
Citizen said that, not I.
Is that true? I don't know. Forever is a long time.