Songwriting: Drum Machines (or Screw the Computer)
By next week (or late this week if it arrives early), I'll be in possession of a used (at a really good price I might add) BOSS Dr. Rhythm DR-3. That's a drum machine. I bought it for two reasons. First, my old Ensoniq SQ-1 Plus workstation synthesizer, which is over 20 years old, is wearing out. Second, I can't stand composing anything on the computer.
There is a distinct difference between recording and composing.
Concerning recording, my first mulitrack machine was the 100% mechanical cassette-based Tascam 424 (as in the original first-generation 4-track which was light-gray colored and not the "MK" series which had a darker gray and had more tracks). Yep, we're talking linear recording here. I learned everything I needed to know about basic multitracking from my 424 days, and used it so much I wore it out and had to buy another one. When multitracking for the PC became available, yes I switched to that because it made complete sense and it was easier. As a recording device, the PC or Mac is top dog. No question about it.
When it comes to composing however, that's a different story.
Music arranging and sequencer software is not songwriter-friendly and never has been. From a DJ or producer point of view, sure, software is the only way to go. But I'm not looking to emulate a full studio environment here. All I want is a stupidly easy way to create drum tracks, and the DR-3 is it.
The DR-3 is built for one thing - drum patterns. That's it. That's all it does. It doesn't do anything else and it never will. It is a device made for a very specific purpose and is designed out of the box to be easy. As a songwriting tool, easy devices like the DR-3 allow me to write songs much faster.
I'm fully aware that producers see drum machines such as the DR-3 as "toys". But I see it as the fastest way to create drum tracks when I'm writing songs.
I'm not saying that the way producers compose is wrong and that my way is right or vice versa. I'm saying that the way I compose is more songwriter-like than producer-like, and I will use tools better suited for songwriting.
On a final note, non-musician/non-producer people (as in your average music listeners) do not care where the drums came from in a song as long as they're in time and sound good. The DR-3 can be made to sound amazing; I know this and I look forward to receiving it so I can kick my songwriting into high gear.
Rich's Bad Guitar Lessons: Guitar Strings
In a recent video I talked about guitar strings, and here is where you can get the right-now prices of them. Bundles of 3, 6 or 12-set are almost always available.
All strings below the video are 9-42 size.
Guitar acronyms and nicknames
There's several forums out there that list guitar acronyms. This is my list. I try desperately not to use these in blog posts, but every once in a while I'll slip and one will come through.
PUP or Pup - "Pickup"
SSS - Single/Single/Single; a Strat with the traditional 3-pickup configuration
HSS - A Humbucker/Single/Single pickup configuration
HH - Humbucker/Humbucker; a guitar with two humbuckers in it
SC - Single Coil pickup
HB - Humbucker pickup
VM - Reference to the Vintage Modified series model of Squier guitars
GAS - I don't use this one personally; it means Guitar Acquisition Syndrome, as in a person who collects (or wants to collect) a lot of guitars impulsively.
Bullet - Reference to the Squier Bullet Strat
Surf Strat - Reference to the Squier Vintage Modified Surf Stratocaster
NOS - New Old Stock. For example, if you have a 1990 Squier II Stratocaster and found an original set of tuners for it that were still in the box and never used from 1990, that's NOS. It's old in age, but new since it was never used.
VOS - Vintage Original Specification; this is the Gibson name for a "reissue" guitar
RI - Reissue. Sometimes used as VRI (Vintage Reissue).
CAR - Candy Apple Red
LPB - Lake Placid Blue
2TSB, 3TSB - Two-Tone Sunburst, Three-Tone Sunburst. Given that I'm not into Sunburst finish guitars, it's rare you'll see me use this.
MIA, MIM, MIC, MIK, MIJ, MII - The MI is "Made In" and the last letter represents the country. A is America, M is Mexico, C is china, K is Korea, J is Japan, I is Indonesia. Sometimes the beginning letter M is C for "Crafted" (like CIC).
Lipstick - A reference to a type of single coil pickup that looks like a tube, like a lipstick casing. The Squier Surf Strat has these type of pickups, as do many Danelectro guitars.
LP - Les Paul
Strat - Stratocaster
Review of the Squier Vintage Modified Surf Stratocaster
As of today, I own a Squier Vintage Modified Surf Stratocaster (possibly the longest Fender guitar name ever) in Sonic Blue.
How I got this guitar is that it was a replacement for the Squier Vintage Modified Stratocaster in Vintage Blonde.
This guitar is the closest thing I've heard to real-deal vintage Stratocaster tone in my life. She has "the jangle" that the true vintage Strats do, and this is largely due to the pickup set that's in it, which are Duncan Designed LS-102 lipstick pickups. They are super-bright and sound overwound even though they're not.
Much debate exists as to what a true vintage Fender Stratocaster sounds like. Personally, I believe it's very easy to describe and can be summed up in one phrase: "Too much of everything."
I'll explain what I mean by that.
Pickups in a real vintage Strat don't necessarily have a ton of gain, but to the untrained player will almost be unplayable. They will be super-bright. You will hear every single mistake you make - loudly. Simple maneuvers like dragging your hand across the strings will result in a screeching noise on any pickup position. In other words, the pickups don't accommodate to your sound, but rather you accommodate your playing style to the way the guitar sounds.
The Surf Stratocaster is very reminiscent of this quirky vintage Strat tone. I can personally handle it and make it work for me, but others may find it too much to deal with. I can honestly say the LS-102's have a very in-your-face tone to them and are best described as "trebly". And compared to other Strats, the separation of tone between the 1/2 and 4/5 pickup positions is much more pronounced.
Verdict: Good guitar. Get one.
Future plans for fixing my busted USA Strat
As some know, I do own a 1993 Fender Stratocaster USA Standard (I am the original owner and it was bought new in '93). What people don't know is that I don't play it because the neck is broken. Not physically broken, but the truss rod snapped on the inside. I went to adjust it one day and *pop*, busted truss rod where the end of it sticks out of the neck on the headstock side.
Thinking I had done something horribly wrong, I looked up some information on this, and it turns out that truss rods popping is not an uncommon thing to happen with early 1990s USA Stratocasters.
Was I heartbroken about the truss rod breaking? No, because the guitar never played right. The 1 ("high E") string always had a buzzing problem no matter how much I adjusted the neck and 2-point bridge, the 6 ("low E") had basically the same problem, and the pickups were garbage. You know how you hear there are good and bad Strats, even for the American ones? My '93 is a bad one. It might look awesome, but plays and sounds terrible.
Eventually, I'm going to replace the neck outright, because having a luthier fix a popped truss rod is a ton of money (probably not far away from the price of a new American Standard Strat), so the solution is just to go on eBay and buy another American Strat neck. They're out there, have the Fender logo and all that, and I'll probably get a 2011 or 2012 neck. Whatever is newest that won't cost too much. The going price right now is around $325. If I bought a Mexican neck, about $225, but since it's an American guitar, I'll get the American neck with tuners.
Even after I install a new neck, the electronics still suck and have to be replaced.
The easiest way to replace electronics in a Strat is to buy a prewired pick guard that only requires the hook-up of 3 wires (output jack, which takes 2, and ground which is 1), and has everything ready for a drop-in installation. Pickups, proper volume/tone pots/knobs, 5-way switch, etc. It's all there. Just drop in, solder 3 wires (which is easy), screw down, and you're done.
Is this cheaper than installing pickups, switches and volume/tone pots individually?
No. It's really easy, but definitely not cheaper. In fact, I wouldn't recommend this for Squier guitar owners because the cost for a prewired pick guard will cost more than a Squier Stratocaster guitar itself. You can literally cut the cost by more than half by installing pickups, volume/tone pots and switches on your own.
I want to make it very clear that what you're paying for with a prewired pick guard is convenience, because the manual installation way of doing it gets you the same hardware at a lot cheaper price - but you do have to solder more stuff in and do the wiring yourself.
Here's a few that I'm considering for future purchase for my American Strat once I get the new neck installed.
Lace Sensor Gold Prewired Pick Guard WhiteTraditional Sensor pickups from Lace have no visible pole pieces which is why they have a "plain" smoothed-over cover. This is the easiest of the easy when it comes to a prewired pick guard that has genuine Strat tone with all the right hardware included for pots and switch. There is no need to ask if this set will "sound like a Strat" or not. It will, and it will be good. Price-wise this is probably the best deal as well because you get the most for the money.
This prewired pick guard comes with three "Gold" Sensor pickups. A Gold is defined by Lace as "a classic 50's style single coil sound with a classy bell", which means it works in any position (bridge, mid or neck) alone or in parallel in the "quack" 2 and 4 positions.
In other words, if you had absolutely no clue which Lace Sensor pickup to get for a Strat, the Gold is the easiest one to go with.
Lace Sensor Emerald/RW Silver/Purple Prewired Pick Guard WhiteLace defines their models of pickups by color. Instead of three "Gold", there's "Emerald" (neck), "Silver" (mid) and "Purple" (bridge).
Emerald is defined by Lace as a "Texas-inspired Tone" pickup, meaning an SRV-like sound.
Silver is defined as "a fat 70's single coil sound with increased output and more midrange". "RW" by the way means "Reverse Wound".
Purple is defined as "hot overwound single". In the bridge position it has that Deep Purple/Ritchie Blackmore sound, or if placed in the neck it sounds like a P90. Even if I bought this one individually, I'd put it in the bridge just like the prewired pick guard has it.
The price of this prewired pick guard is higher than the one with the Golds in it, but only by about 30 bucks.
DiMarzio FG2108 Fast Track Prewired Pick GuardI'm going to be totally honest here - I would never buy this because it doesn't fit my music style, but I know some of you who read this totally would after I tell you about it.
In the bridge there's a DP182, which in effect is double to triple the output of a normal single coil. The midrange frequency is cranked up beyond belief as well, so even though this is a single, you'd swear it was a humbucker. That's a very non-Strat tone, but it has the punch, no question.
In the mid position there's a DP181, with double the output of a standard single coil. This one still sounds like single - on steroids.
In the neck position there's the DP188, which again goes way into the non-Strat-sounding territory by sounding like a PAF, i.e. Gibson-sounding.
In the end, having the FG2108 prewired pick guard installed turns your Strat tone into something else that heavily leans more towards an SG/Les Paul tone. For some who read this, that may be exactly what you want. I personally wouldn't prefer that and like Strat tone, but for those chasing the Gibson sound in your Fender, installing the drop-in FG2180 is the easiest way to do it.