My Christmas fixings
No, this is not about food.
Some of my Christmas "gifts" to me this year were in the form of fixing a few things I own.
Mean Green calculator rides again
Above is a really cheap Radio Shack calculator. For those interested, it's catalog number 65-1009, and that's not just for the single calculator. It's the part number for a three-calculator set that came in a blister pack. Each calculator was a different color. Green (seen above), purple, and blue. I probably have the purple and blue ones somewhere.
This calculator is either close to or over 20 years old. Every time I think this calculator is gone, it somehow magically shows up in a box somewhere. Incredibly, this thing still worked on its original battery after all these years. I finally decided to clean it up and change the battery. It was obvious this calculator was never meant to be taken apart, but I had nothing to lose so I did it anyway and was able to fix it up and make it work again like new.
Is this a collectible item? Not in the slightest. But this calculator is great. Extremely slim, easy to read, actually has an off button (probably the reason the battery lasted so long), super-easy-press soft buttons... it's great. I was happy to fix it.
I had to order a specific battery cell just for this calculator called an LR1130, formerly known as a GP189. It also goes by AG10 for some reason. No idea why. And, of course, I couldn't order just 1 or 2. I had to order 10. While the cost of this was just $3.42 shipped, now I have 9 batteries I'll probably never use... for a calculator probably not worth more than a dollar. Oh, well.
Garmin nuvis still working
Speaking of battery replacements, I just did the same thing with two Garmin nuvi GPSes I own.
Before anyone asks, yes I know the phone can navigate. I don't like it, which is why I use a nuvi.
I have my daily driver GPS and a second identical model as a backup because I like it that much. Both had their original batteries from the early 2010s. Changed those both out with replacement 1200mAh batteries and they're good to go.
Car stuff
The latest with my car (it's over 10 years old) is that I installed a fuse tap, a.k.a. add-a-fuse, add-a-circuit or whatever it's called.
I did this for my dashcam so it doesn't have to use the 12V port. The tap was installed to the accessory fuse so power is only delivered when the ignition is on. The reason for installing it this way is so the dashcam is never draining the car battery when the engine is off. Cheap tech, but works great.
Guitar fixings?
Not too much to report here just yet. I'm not going to get into my Strat project until sometime in 2021. That's the plan, anyway.
Clean guitar player's second best friend, tremolo
The main reason many guitar players don't know about the tremolo effect is because of overdrive and distortion. Tremolo usually doesn't work there. I'll get back to that in a moment. But when playing clean, it's your second best friend.
Two things to note before continuing.
First, the tremolo effect is not vibrato. Vibrato pitches the sound back and forth. Tremolo is a volume effect, almost like a controlled stutter.
Second, the best friend to a clean guitar player is, of course, compression. If you play clean, you need that. And as far as which chain order you should have, you can go either way with compression first, tremolo second, or tremolo first, compression second. It depends if you want the "strike" to be heard first from the guitar sound or the tremolo effect. You'll have to experiment to see which chain order works best for you. But it's absolutely true that the less noisy way is compression first, tremolo second so you're not compressing the tremolo effect itself.
Tremolo is a really easy effect to miss, because as said above, most guitar players drown their guitars in way too much overdrive or distortion.
However, if you dial the overdrive back to a civilized level, you can ring out some really cool sounding stuff with an overdriven tremolo sound.
Typically, tremolo works best on the bridge side (as in the rear) pickup whether clean or overdriven because it allows the effect to be heard more clearly. This doesn't mean you can't use the neck side (as in the front) pickup with the effect, but to make that sound right, a generous amount of compression helps quite a bit.
Tremolo works better with chords than solos, but if you must solo, the nice part is that you can do long droning notes and the tremolo effect carries things along quite nicely. There's no need to go all over the fretboard when the effect is in use.
Is tremolo a one trick pony?
No. And the reason for that is simple. You can adjust the depth, wave and rate.
Slower, wider tremolo effect sounds completely different compared to a faster, shorter stutter. You can go anywhere from full-on country tone to '60s acid rock to '80s new wave and several other genres all from this one effect.
Clean is where tremolo sounds best, but as noted above it does work with overdrive, provided you keep it civilized.
Pick yourself up a BOSS TR-2 and you'll love it. Or if you have the effect in your virtual rig or multi-effect amp or pedal (they all have tremolo buried in there somewhere), use it. Tremolo is a great effect to have in your tone arsenal.
How to easily avoid an expensive mistake with guitar pedals
Remember a simple rule, and you'll avoid wasting money.
Take a BOSS Loop Station RC-5. Is it good? Of course it is. BOSS makes great stuff. But there is one huge problem with it...
...the screen.
It's not that the screen is bad or doesn't work or anything like that. The pedal works as intended.
But when trying to read that screen from a standing position (or even a seated position for that matter), that's where this design fails and fails hard. And that's when you go right back to a BOSS RC-3 with its much more readable display.
I have made the mistake before of buying a floor pedal with a screen on it similar to what's on the RC-5. Yeah, it looks cool. And yeah, the manufacturer can stuff a ton more features into a pedal with a screen on it.
But ultimately it all comes down to legibility. Pedals with screens simply cannot be read as easily as those with segmented displays.
Even if you have perfect 20/20 vision, you're going to squint when trying to read the RC-5's screen from a standing position. These screens also have a tendency to wash out very easily under bright lights or when used outside in sunlight.
Comparatively speaking, the older RC-3 and RC-1 models can easily be read from a standing position. The RC-1 in particular, while the most basic of the bunch, is the easiest to get along with because it uses lights and colors in a circle instead of having to read anything.
Are you better off using pedals with no screens at all?
In all honesty, yes.
The only thing you need for most pedals is one light that tells you if the pedal is on, off or doing something as indicated by pulsing, flashing or changing color.
However, for pedals that have presets, memory slots or need to count up/down things, the best display that's been around since the '80s is a segmented red backlit display, such as on the RC-3. This is something you can read from a distance without a problem.
The rule is...
Don't get pedals with screens on them.
With amps, that's a different story because those displays are much closer to eye level, and they're not being literally kicked around.
If the pedal effect for whatever it is lives on the floor, you're always better off with simple segmented displays or just lights.
Yeah, you totally want the newer stuff with the screen because it looks cool and has every feature imaginable. Don't do it. Remember where the pedal lives.
If you want a simple example of how bad an idea it is to have a screen on the floor, take your phone, load up a web page and increase the font size. Then put it on the floor, stand up and look down at the screen. Try to read it. You probably can - but then imagine that screen as less than half the size of your phone's screen. You'll then understand why a screen on a pedal is a bad idea.
Fender Stratocaster in that other yellow you never see
It's not Graffiti Yellow, but you could mistake it as such.
A Fender Custom Shop '69 Stratocaster in Monaco Yellow is a sight to behold.
It's easy to confuse this with another Fender color, Graffiti Yellow. I actually like both, but the main difference between Monaco and Graffiti is that Monaco is a few shades darker. Some players really like this particular yellow because it's a "mostly loud" color without being too in-your-face, so to speak.
Monaco Yellow has appeared on several Fender electric guitar models and a few basses, but it unquestionably looks best on the Stratocaster. And the main reason for that actually the pick guard and black pickup covers and knobs. The combination of Monaco Yellow body, white guard, black covers and black knobs just really works.
A nice thing about Monaco Yellow is that it's not necessarily tied to any specific decade. It works as a '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s or 2000s guitar color. The only decade where this wouldn't work is '50s. But for any other decade, yes, works.
The particular Strat seen above is a 1969 kinda/sorta reissue model, meaning yes, there is a 4-bolt plate holding on the neck and not the '70s 3-bolt. The neck also has some really nice figuring to it, so aside from the body color, the neck has some nice eye candy to it as well.
If you've got the cash for this guitar, grab it. Monaco Yellow is something that upon first glance looks a little loud initially, but it grows on you quickly. Seeing a Strat in a nice sunny color always puts a smile on the face.
This is the easiest guitar to play with your fingers
When you want a guitar that absolutely will not hurt your hands and is effortless to play, you want one of these.
Take the Fender FA-15N. Yes, you can afford it. It is a real Fender guitar, so if you always wanted a Fender, wanted it new and wanted it cheap, there you go.
More importantly however, what I'm talking about here is the type of guitar that is, without question, the easiest to play with fingers. It's the 3/4 scale classical acoustic.
There are tons of 3/4 scale acoustics on Amazon. The better brands are Fender, Yamaha and Cordoba.
"Classical" means "uses nylon strings", and 3/4 size means it's a smaller body, typically with a scale length of under 24 inches.
Classical guitars are supposed to be played with nothing but fingers. Yes, you can use a pick if you wish, but you're not supposed to because that can wreck the strings fast. However, the workaround for that is to use wooden guitar picks, as they have a very soft pick strike.
When you play a 3/4 size classical guitar, the combination of short scale, fat neck (which most have) and nylon strings make for the easiest playing guitar you'll ever have.
Playing nylon strings even on a full size classical (a.k.a. a concert size) is already easy, but playing on a 3/4 size with a short scale neck is even easier. You barely need any force to press the strings to the frets. It is way easier to play on nylon strings compared to steel.
Is a 3/4 size too small of a guitar?
No.
The 3/4 size classical acoustic is somewhat similar in size to a parlor acoustic steel string guitar.
Playing a 3/4 scale doesn't feel wrong nor does it look goofy playing one live in front of people. While not the full size of a regular dreadnought shape acoustic, it's certainly larger than a ukulele.
In other words, yes, you will get along with the size just fine.
You will also notice many 3/4 size classical guitars don't even have 20 frets. Some like the Fender shown at top only have 18. Is that enough? Yes. I can confidently say that it's very unlikely you will ever go past the 12th fret on a classical guitar. Nylon strings lose a lot of vibration the higher you go on the neck, much more so than steel string. On the classical, most if not all of what you play will only use the first 7 frets at most.
Does it project?
No. A 3/4 size classical is a quiet guitar by nature. And even if you bought a bigger concert size classical, it's not all that much louder.
Does that mean you should get one with a piezo pickup in it? You can if you want, but only if you intend on playing live in front of people. For home recording, the best way to record a classical is with a microphone on a stand pointed at the 12th fret. (A beginner's mistake is to point the microphone at the sound hole - don't do that because you'll hear nothing but finger noise. Point it at the 12th fret.)
When you want easy-to-play, it really doesn't get any easier than the 3/4 size classical. Right size, obviously light in weight, really easy on the fingers, easy-grip neck, it's all there.