How to add guitar volume knob tension the easy way
Regardless of what electric guitar you own, sometimes loose knobs happen, and this is the easy way to fix that.
When I say "loose knob", I'm not talking about the nut that holds the potentiometer in place, as the fix for that is to simply tighten the nut. Rather, I'm talking about when the turning tension has very little resistance where you need to add tension.
The knob that almost always develops this issue is the volume control because that's the control used most on an electric guitar.
The poor man's method using stuff around the house
All you need is matte tape and a knife.
Take off the volume knob, then add a few layers of tape to its underside.
After that, cut off the excess tape that's sticking out.
After that, cut a hole in tape for the post to go through.
That's it.
Self adhesive felt pads work much better
If you buy a variety pack of self adhesive pads, you will have a much easier time compared to using matte tape. These are ordinarily meant for furniture use to protect hardwood floors, but that's actually a good thing because it significantly decreases the chance of marring plastic pick guards or body wood for guitars without pick guards. In addition, it's real nice that you have both round and square pieces, allowing you to experiment with what works best for your guitar controls.
If your volume knob works but is loose, better to add tension instead of replace it
The first reaction by most guitar players is to replace the potentiometer when it gets too loose. I disagree with this because if it works, better to just keep it and add tension because the sound of your guitar will change slightly even if you buy an exact replacement.
I can understand replacing a volume pot if the wiper on the inside is bad, causing "scratchy" sounds whenever using it. But if the wiper is good, the pot works and the only thing bad with it is the loose tension, again, better to just add tension.
Gretsch G5220 Electromatic Jet BT in Casino Gold
Gretsch proves once again that they really know how to do gold right.
Take the Gretsch model G5220 Electromatic Jet BT with the "V" shape stoptail. There is a finish available for that model called Casino Gold, and it's frickin' gorgeous. The price is also gorgeous as it's under $500 at the time I write this.
Bound body, bound neck, bound headstock, gleaming chrome, and of course the gold completes the package here. This axe is just a nice blend of gold and chrome with the silver pick guard rounding everything out.
The "BT" in the name refers to the Broad'Tron pickups. The sound is somewhat atypical Gretsch as the tone leans more towards an SG. In other words, it's a rather powerful pickup that's made its way into the G5220.
Body is mahogany and chambered to keep the weight down, and that's good because otherwise it would be a bit too heavy.
The neck is described by Gretsch as a "thin U" shape with gloss finish.
Scale length is the Gretsch oddball 24.6". This is ever-so slightly shorter than the Les Paul 24.75" scale, so if you're used to Les Paul fret spacing, this is a good guitar to get. Fingerboard radius is also the same 12" as a Les Paul.
Overall, great axe. Classy look with pickups that sound very good when overdriven. Kind of like a tiger in a tuxedo of sorts.
Cool guitar overall. And that gold... oh yes, it's good.
Is it possible to be a one-guitar guy?
Possible, but unlikely.
I recently recorded a video of me playing my Jazzmaster (one of two); a guitar I've not played in some time. I figured it was time to take it out of its gig bag and do a little strumming on it.
These days I pretty much exclusively play Telecasters. But there are times when I think to myself "Gee, I'd really like something with a vibrato system on it", and out comes the Jazzmaster.
Now of course, it is totally doable to buy a Telecaster with a Bigsby system on it for Jazzmaster-like vibrato, but I'm not doing that. Why? Too heavy. A Bigsby on a solid-body makes for an uncomfortably heavy guitar, so that's not doable for me.
The only way to be a one-guitar guy is to sacrifice features
There have been many over the years who have tried - and all failed - to build the ultimate do-everything electric guitar. Both players and luthiers alike have stuffed every kind of mechanical and electronic doo-dad you can think of into a guitar, but in the end, that only leads to an overly complicated mess every time.
If you want to be a one-guitar guy, you purposely have to sacrifice features, play a simple guitar and stick with it; this is why I appreciate Telecaster guitars so much.
Does that mean I will eventually play nothing but Teles? Nope. I'm not about to get rid of my Jazzmasters, because you can't get Tele tone out of a Jazz and can't get Jazz tone out of a Tele. I use both.
I am not willing to sacrifice features to play just one guitar for the rest of my life
Sometimes I want dual-coil pickups, hence why I own a Squier Vintage Modified '72 Telecaster Thinline. Sometimes I want a surf sound, and I have Jazzmasters for that. Sometimes I want country/rock tones and I have the Squier FSR Bullet Telecaster for that.
I'm not saying to hoard guitars, because that's dumb. But I am saying that certain guitars just do certain sounds very well, and the only way to get the sounds you want is by owning those particular axes.
For guitarists that actually are one-guitar guys, I'm envious of them. It does take a real commitment to do that.
Maybe one day I'll eventually settle on one guitar and use only that. But that day hasn't come just yet. :-)
How to make the most out of a Samsung Galaxy Stardust
I finally got a smartphone, and this is how I make the best out of it.
It's no secret that I am very anti-contract where phones are concerned. And while true there are carriers such as MetroPCS that do not require an annual contract, Tracfone is still the best deal going as it allows me to have a smartphone "plan" for a grand total of $13.77/month after taxes (when purchasing a 60-day time card.)
Since 2014 I've been using an old-as-dirt Samsung S425G slider phone. And now in April 2018 as I write this, I've finally got myself a smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Stardust.
The best feature of the phone is this: FREE, when purchased through Tracfone directly. This is what I was waiting for before I made the jump, and it finally happened. The phone had a total cost of $0.00. All I paid for was the time card to get the service active. A cost of zero is what the phone is worth since it's such a disposable electronic to begin with.
There are a few things I did that makes the Stardust easier to live with, so let's get into that.
Making it easier to type
When texting, the vertical mode has key buttons that are just too small. Rotate the screen while typing a message and they get a lot larger.
Using the screen like this to text with is far easier compared to vertical, and typing mistakes are greatly reduced.
Getting the best battery life
A common complaint about the Stardust is that at first the battery life is great, but then it gets bad in less than a year. I know exactly why this happens. User error. Someone buys the phone and installs a bunch of junk on it that constantly runs in the background, so of course the battery life will be bad with all that crap running.
This is how to get the best battery life out of a Stardust:
1. Turn off all the background garbage
Press and hold the home button. Select "Close All." Press and hold the home button again. Press "Task Manager." Press "RAM" at top. Press "Clear memory". Press the home button again to return to the home screen.
Done.
2. Enable power saving
Launch Settings by swiping down from the top and pressing the gear icon. Press "My device." Scroll down to "Power saving mode" and press it. Check off "CPU power saving" and "Screen power saving". Press the home button.
Done.
3. Disable other stuff when you don't need it
Swipe down from the home screen.
The 5 biggies seen here. Mobile data, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and Sync. The rest don't affect the battery too much. Having those 5 disabled will give you the best battery life.
"But I need some of those turned on..."
If you do, that's fine. Just remember to turn them off when not needed.
For absolute best possible battery life, also disable the sound and set to Mute.
Knowing the capabilities of the rear camera
I have a Samsung WB350F; a traditional digital camera that will absolutely kick the crap out of any smartphone camera for one reason. Lens. Megapixels mean nothing if you don't have a good lens in front of it.
When you take a photo with the Stardust at full 5MP resolution that ends up in a pixel resolution of 2560x1920, the quality, in all honesty, is pretty good.
Now to note, even though the Stardust's camera does have a macro mode, it is nowhere near as good as my WB350F with its significantly better lens. The photo at the top of this article? That was taken with the WB350F in macro mode and that's why it's so crisp and clear with such good color definition. You won't get that out of the Stardust.
However, for non-macro photos where the subject is at least 5 feet away, the Stardust works fine when set to its highest 5MP photo resolution. For any setting less than 5MP, digital grain is easy to spot. But when at 5MP the grain is significantly diminished.
It's still true that even now in 2018, the vast majority of photos you see on Twitter and Facebook are 2MP at "best quality." Sometimes you see 4MP, but not that often. So basically what that means is that the Stardust even with 5MP is totally okay for social media duty and will be at least up until 2020 (and probably a few years beyond that.)
Speed
This has already been covered above. If you want the Stardust to run as fast as it can, disable as much as possible and remember to clear the memory.
For example, I tested out HERE WeGo which is a "heavy" GPS app. It worked fine. But when finished using it, I disabled GPS afterward and cleared the memory so there wasn't anything in the background left behind eating up the battery life.
I use this phone how most people would (probably)
I needed basic smartphone communications that allowed me to talk, text and take photos, and I needed it dirt cheap. I got that with the free Samsung Galaxy Stardust from Tracfone.
If I needed something for mobile gaming or other heavier apps, there are tablets and more powerful phones for that, which I didn't need.
If this phone cost me anything, then I would have cause to complain. But being the cost was $0.00 and all I'm paying for is to keep the phone in service, I really can't complain about it.
The Stardust is a real smartphone, it does talk/text duty just fine and it takes decent photos for what it is. And with a little research and experimentation, I found how to get the best performance and battery life out of it. Again, can't complain. It works.
Jackson gets it right with the Warrior WRX24 guitar
This is the first Jackson Warrior I've ever seen that I actually like.
...even though it's not my kind of guitar.
I'll explain.
Angular guitar shapes are not my thing, nor is gold hardware, nor is a Floyd-Rose style locking nut tremolo system. But that doesn't take away from how cool this looks.
When you do a search for the Jackson Warrior guitar, ordinarily you only see them in black or white. And truth be told, it looks terrible in either of those two finishes. Very toy-like and dopey looking.
But to see it in WRX24 model form in natural with gold hardware, that is more like it. Now it actually looks good.
Yes, it does cost a fair bit more than a regular Warrior, but in all honesty, this one is actually worth it. The wood tones chosen look great, the body, neck and headstock binding look great, and the gold totally works here - even on the tuners.
The best part about this guitar is that it is priced well south of $1,000. Totally looks like a custom shop guitar without the custom shop price.
Is the guitar any better than a Warrior JS model? Yes. Better woods are used (obviously,) the neck is a 3-piece maple/mahogany/maple with graphite reinforcement (works very nicely to battle humidity changes,) 12-16" compound radius fingerboard, Floyd-Rose Special double-locking tremolo, it's got all the toys.
The one knock is that it does used Duncan Designed pickups - however - the price more than makes up for it. As I said, this totally carries the custom shop look with all the goodies for a real nice price.
This may not be my style of guitar, but it's a genuinely good axe. This is what the Warrior model should have been to begin with. A rock guitar with a nice elegance to it. Good stuff all around.