A calculator that actually works for guitar players
Your life gets easier when you use this specific calculator regardless of what computer you use.
Two things guitar players use calculators for are distance conversions and date calculations. The distance conversions are for converting feet to inches, feet to centimeters, inches to millimeters, and so on. Date calculations are used to figure out a future date for something (such as when a warranty expires). When you buy guitars or tools or parts or whatever, that info is good to know.
The stock calculator in literally any modern operating system either buries these functions under a lot of submenus making them difficult to use, or just outright can't do the calculations you want...
...unless you use the Qalculate! calculator. Is it free? Yes, it is. Does it work in Windows? Yes. On a Mac? Yes. In Linux? Also a yes.
Qalculate! has a crazy amount of functionality to it where you can do everything in just one program instead of bouncing around to different programs or web sites to do the same thing.
See the example above. 25.5" is the Fender standard scale length, and when I want that in millimeters, all I have to type on Qalculate! is 25.5" to mm and press Enter. That's it.
What about a Gibson scale length in millimeters? No problem:
If I buy a guitar from Guitar Center, there is a 45-day return policy on that. If the date of purchase is 2023-July-10, I write that numerically as 2023-07-10 then just add 45 days like this using addDays:
...and now I know the date 45 days from 2023-07-10 is 2023-08-24. Believe me, the date calculator comes in handy a lot for figuring out fast when a warranty period ends so you can jot it down elsewhere (such as directly on the receipt).
What's the percentage increase from a Gibson 24.75" scale to Fender 25.5" scale?
Now I know it's 3.03%.
This is just scratching the surface of how good Qalculate! actually is. It has a monster amount of calculator stuff you can do in it that's genuinely useful.
Before Qalculate!, I had a few sites bookmarked to do calculations like this. Not anymore. I can do it all in one calculator now. And that makes it worth having on your computer.
I bought another Squier Telecaster
This one is actually a re-buy but at the same time not.
The specific guitar I'm talking about, the Squier Bullet Telecaster, is one I've owned before. In fact, it looks exactly like the one I owned before. It's just a dirt cheap no-frills import.
Is the guitar exactly the same as the one I used to have? Almost.
There's one rather major difference between the current model and the one sold a few years back, which is she's a top-loader.
You might be thinking, "So? What's such a big deal about a top-loader Telecaster vs. a string-through?"
Oh, believe me, this affects the guitar more than you know.
Top-loaded strings make for easier string bending because the break angle is decreased.
In a regular Telecaster, you have 2 to 3 break angles depending on which string it is. The first angle is at the string saddle. Second angle is at the nut. Third is at the string tree for strings routed under those. If you have a single string tree, B and high-E have 3 break angles. If you have 2 string trees then it's D, G, B and high-E that have 3 break angles.
Strings routed through the back of a Telecaster have a rather sharp break angle after the string saddle. Top-loaded strings however have a significantly lessened break angle.
When you bend strings on a top-loaded Tele, oh yes, you will notice the difference. A top-loaded Tele is, without question, the "slinkiest" feeling Tele you can get...
...but will you actually like it?
Personally, I much prefer top-loaded.
Other players feel a top-loaded Tele makes it feel too "loose". Those who do chicken picking and/or use thumb picks may not get along with a top-loader. Or, if you're the type to snap back strings with fingers on a Tele a lot, you may not get as much snap as you'd like.
In the end, the best thing about the Squier Bullet Telecaster is that it's one of the cheapest ways to get top-loader Tele.
If you've played the Bullet Telecaster before, everything else more or less feels the same. It's fat-necked with some decent shoulder to it, and the neck finish is a barely-there satin urethane coating which feels almost like unfinished wood (don't worry, no splinters or anything like that).
Does the Bullet Tele qualify as a "cheap 1958 Telecaster", as that particular year was top-loaded? No, because you don't get the woods used back then, nor the barrel style saddles (as in two string per saddle), nor the ashtray style bridge - BUT - you do get a fat-necked top-loader for cheap.
Prior to how the Bullet Tele is made now, your only option for a low-cost top-loaded Squier Tele was the Affinity Series (which is now no longer top-loaded). But now you can get top-loaded at a real nice price.
I'm glad I got mine.
So I bought a Casio WS1600H anyway
Yeah, I have some explaining to do.
I said flat out that I wasn't going to buy this. The annoyances I listed were all legitimate and I was certain that nope, wouldn't get it.
But then the price dropped for a WS1600H quite a bit. I thought about it, and said eh... okay, let's give it a try.
I was certain that I'd wear the watch for a day and return it. Surprisingly, I didn't, it's still on my wrist now, and I'll most likely keep it.
This thing is complicated but the dial makes up for it
All of the complicated stuff has to do with the stopwatch and countdown timers. You're not going to get W218H simplicity out of the WS1600H. Not happening.
The actions of starting, stopping and resetting the stopwatch are weird. Then when it comes to the timers, there are preset and interval. Preset timers can be repeated, but interval timers cannot... sort of. I found a way to get a normal auto-repeat timer out of the WS1600H however.
In the end, it is the dial that makes up for the complicated stuff. Large day, large month-date, large time, dual-bulb amber night light.
The WS1600H has one of the largest month-date displays for a Casio digital. The W218H has a big day-date but doesn't display the month on the main time screen. Where day and month-date display are concerned, the WS1600H is only outdone by the WS1000H.
If you can deal with the complicated nature of the stopwatch and countdown timers of the WS1600H, then yes it's worth getting. Or if you just want something AE1200 sized where the time, day and month-date are large, that's also a good reason to get one.
Lekato Looper Pedal Review (and how-to)
Transparency notice: Lekato did send me the pedal for free for review and I did not have to return it. Consider this a sponsored review.
Lekato was nice enough to send me this guitar looper pedal for review!
In all honesty, this is in fact the looper pedal I would buy personally were I shopping for one because it has all the features I like.
The pedal sent to me is simply known as the Lekato Looper Guitar Pedal.
Get this pedal on Amazon here.
The box states this is a "Looper Pro", the pedal itself has "Loop Stage" printed on it. The manual states it is the Lekato Loop Stage, which is the name I like best because it matches what is printed on the pedal.
This is actually the second Lekato looper I've owned. I still have my first one. The first pedal still works great. It's the more basic model with just 3-loop capability and has been very reliable.
However, the one I just received is a 9-loop version. I did not realize how handy that would be until I started using it. It is the just-right amount of loop slots available to craft together a complex song. A basic song would be verse/chorus/bridge because that's all that 3 loops will allow. With 9, you're opened up to recording more verses, a pre-chorus and so on.
I do very much appreciate that the pedal is of steel construction. I also appreciate that the footswitch has a sturdy nylon washer beneath the nut. In my experience this does hold the switch together better. Steel washers over time have a tendency to make the nut loosen itself from repeated switch use, but nylon doesn't do that.
I also very much appreciate the ease-of-use and easy readability from a distance. This pedal can be read from standing position very easily, and the "race track" like LEDs give you a very clear idea of where you are for any loop.
The total recording time for this pedal is a maximum 10 minutes per loop, maximum 40 minutes recording time. Believe me, that is more than enough time to record all the loops you need to.
Because the pedal saves loops as lossless WAV audio files, you can plug the pedal via USB into your computer to copy them. On Windows PCs there are no drivers necessary for the pedal to be seen in Windows.
I have used other looper pedals before that require complicated software just to get the loop audio files copied from the pedal - and that software always goes obsolete and won't run in future versions of Windows later. The Lekato pedal does not have that problem. Just plug in the pedal, copy your WAV audio files, done.
I also very much appreciate the fact the pedal can be powered by 9-volt adapter or USB from the supplied cable it comes with.
It's easy
This is the best compliment I can give the pedal. You do not need to sit down and take days to learn how the pedal works. All it takes is just a few minutes.
Not only is it easy, but has just enough advanced features that make it far and above better than the super-basic loopers. You get the 9 loop slots, a guitar tuner, undo/redo capability, running loops in the order you want, volume control, optional auto-record (which the manual refers to as sync), it's all there.
Here's a video I made showing the functions of the pedal. It's good stuff.
4 port USB hubs last longer and I have no idea why
I was trying to find a technical explanation for why this is, but I'm still stumped.
USB hubs with 4 ports are really easy to find and are the most common. The second most common are 7 port versions, and I can actually explain why that is. It's a carryover from the USB 2.0 specification. I won't get into the super nerdy explanation of it, but because of that spec, manufacturers by choice limit the maximum number of downstreams to 7.
Any USB hub with more than 7 ports means there are two or more cascaded ICs (integrated circuits) getting the job done there. The most common you'll find is the 11 port USB hub.
But going back to the 4-port, for some reason they seem to last the longest. Any hub with more than 4 ports usually will give up the ghost sooner. And because USB hubs are such basic devices, there of course is no warning when this will happen. The thing either starts having problems connecting devices properly or just outright stops working.
Can you test a hub?
Not really. It's either working or it's not. Yeah, some will say you can run speed and/or power tests and so on, but that really doesn't spell out if a hub is working 100% or not.
The only real way to test a hub is against another, so it's a good thing hubs are cheap. If your USB stuff plugged into the old hub is acting weird, get a new hub, plug everything back in, and if it all works, great. Throw the old hub out. If not, then it's probably either a device or a USB cable issue.
My guess...
The only thing I can think of as to why 4-port hubs last longer is there's less overall stress on the circuit with 4 compared to 7.
Again, total guess. Nobody else seems to have an answer why 4-port USB hubs last longer other than "they just do".