Dumb guitar on the moment: The light-up acrylic SG
You're going love how much this one weighs...
Okay, first and foremost, this is not a Gibson. Obviously. I don't think they would ever dare build something like this, especially considering the low price it sells for.
Yes, this is one of the guitar types I said you should never buy.
So why am I bothering to talk about it? This is the first time I've ever seen a light-up acrylic SG guitar shape that you can buy right now.
As dopey as this thing is, it's ever-so slightly less dopey than a light-up acrylic Strat shape guitar. The SG shape does work a little better. Why? The SG has more of a "planky" shape and pointed horns, which does make the lights reflect more. I mean, if you're going to get a guitar that lights up, you might as well get the most reflective thing you can, right?
This is, however, assuming you can actually play this thing standing for longer than 15 minutes due to how much this weighs.
In most listings, the weight is stated. 5.6kg. That's over 12 pounds. Yikes. No, that's not total shipping weight. That's what the guitar alone weighs.
It is required to have a very well-padded strap with thick ends just to play this thing standing.
To put that in perspective, this guitar weighs as much as a double-neck SG.
Who would actually want this guitar?
This guitar is for only one type of guitar player. The SG fan. The guy who will play nothing but SGs because he loves them so much. The guy who thought, until now, that he owned every single type of SG that's ever existed. Well, he hasn't, because there's this one.
No, it's not made by Gibson. But it is, arguably, the best wall decoration for "the music room" in the SG fan's house. That's the reason to buy this thing. It's not for play because the thing is just too heavy. But it makes for fantastic functional decoration.
You really can't beat the value of a Glarry guitar
Glarry, for the moment, truly is offering the most for the least.
If you had told me 20 years ago that in the future, you'll be able to get a semi-hollow Telecaster style guitar for under $150 new, I would have called you insane. And yet, it exists.
I don't get impressed by expensive guitars and haven't for a long time. I have attended a NAMM show where I saw all the newest, latest and greatest guitar stuff there is. I've also seen the best of the best where vintage electrics are concerned. None of that highfalutin stuff impresses me anymore.
What I do get impressed by is how much you get for the money with a guitar. I, like most people, want the most for the least.
With the Glarry GTL, I did get just that because Glarry sent me the guitar for free. However, bear in mind I have paid for a Glarry before. Remember that Glarry bass I bought? I paid for that in full and still have it. But even if I had bought the GTL, it is worth its asking price.
Here's a few things to know that a lot of people don't realize:
Go price out a new semi-hollow Telecaster guitar body. Just the body. The lowest possible price you will find for one new is $80. And bear in mind that's before tax and shipping. Also bear in mind that's just the body with no hardware and no neck. With tax and shipping it's about $95.
Now look at the Glarry GTL Semi-Hollow, which is a complete guitar and look for what it sells for.
Now add in all the stuff you'd have to buy for your semi-hollow body just to get a complete guitar. Purposely go as rock bottom cheap as you can. You won't get anywhere near the low price the Glarry sells for...
...and that's when you realize what a deal the Glarry really is. The price is so low that you can't even beat it even if you parted together a guitar with nothing but used parts.
Remember: SEMI-HOLLOW
If you were putting together a solid body Telecaster guitar, then sure, you could probably get close to (but not beat) the low Glarry price.
But semi-hollow? No way. Glarry, for the moment, has the cheapest complete semi-hollow Telecaster style guitar.
Have you priced out a Squier Telecaster Thinline lately? It's almost $500.
And Fender? Over $1,000. You want American? That will cost you $2,200+.
In the end, if you have to fix anything on the Glarry, such as what I noted in the video like some high frets or the nut, that's acceptable given how rock bottom cheap the selling price is.
As long as you're not afraid to file a few frets and perform basic guitar maintenance, you absolutely do get the most for the money with a Glarry.
Ovation acoustic clone for ridiculously cheap price
It genuinely surprises me this thing is actually for sale.
I recently saw an Ovation Celebrity clone acoustic guitar for sale. It was unbranded and literally selling for under $100 new.
Yeah, that surprised me too, so I looked into it.
First and foremost: Not electrified. If it were an actual Ovation, it would have been.
Supposedly, it had a spruce top, but as to whether the guitar actually projected or not, that I don't know. I'm guessing not.
It was full size at 41" long, but at the same time ridiculously thin (for an acoustic), as a true Ovation would be.
What surprised me most was the headstock shape. It was really close to the distinctive shape Ovation uses. Too close? Yes, and that's what surprises me more than anything else.
I seriously doubt that Ovation clone guitar was actually any good (you would honestly be better off with a Yamaha FD01S for just slightly more), but when I saw the clone I just had to write about it just for the fact that yes, it exists.
Given an Ovation Celebrity is so cheap to buy (with some at near bargain basement prices), there's really no reason to get a clone.
Is a slide rule bezel on an aviation watch worthless?
Mostly, but there are some uses for it.
I did not buy the aviation style watch I did for the slide rule bezel function. But I decided anyway to try and use it anyway.
The main problem is the size of the inner ring numbers. Tiny-sized. Can I read them? Actually, yes I can. But in all honesty, if I really wanted to use the slide rule bezel regularly, getting something bigger would definitely be better.
I did try to see if there were any decent real world uses of a slide rule bezel on a watch. I found two.
Real world use of a slide rule bezel
These are a few examples of a slide rule bezel usage that are actually useful for some.
Restaurant tip
Rotate the bezel so the amount of the total bill on the outer ring is over the inner ring 10.
Look at the inner ring and find positions 11.5 and 12. 11.5 represents 15% and 12 represents 20%. Reading the outer ring number at those positions will tell you the bill + tip.
Example: You have a $45 restaurant bill. Rotate outer ring 45 over inner ring 10. Look at inner ring 11.5 and read the outer ring number at that position. You'll see it's hovering between 51 and 52. This is correct because the actual bill + tip is $51.75. Now look at the inner ring 12 for a 20% example and read the outer ring there. It's at 54. The is correct because 45 + 20% = 54.
More often than not, you will have to estimate the total.
Average gas mileage
You need to know how many miles have been driven since your last fill-up for this one. The next time you fill the tank, reset the trip odometer in your car.
At your next fill-up, read the trip odometer in your car. We'll say it's at 325 miles since last fill-up.
Fill the tank. We'll say you put in 9.5 gallons.
Now we need to divide 325 by 9.5.
My watch doesn't have a 325 on the bezel, so instead I will use 32.5 (roughly).
I line up 32.5 on the outer ring with 9.5 on the inner ring.
I then look at the 10 position on the inner ring. It's at about 34.
This is correct because 325 divided by 9.5 is 34.21.
Useful?
For me personally, not terribly. I bought my watch more for appearance than bezel function.
It is cool that I can actually perform real math functions on it, but will I actually do that? Probably not. But it's still cool it's there.
Owning the best budget chronograph watch, Casio MTP4500D
Yes, I bought it. And I'm glad I did.
The first thing I'm going to mention about the Casio MTP4500D are the dimensions since nobody else has posted this information.
Case diameter without crown: 42mm
Lug to lug: 45mm or 46mm depending on your point of view. I'll explain that in a moment.
Lug width: 22mm
Bracelet: 22mm tapering to 18mm then back up to 20mm at the clasp
Thickness: 12mm
In the way the watch case is shaped, the lug to lug measurement is 45mm where the case meets the wrist. However, since the lugs slope down, the top edge is 46mm. What matters more is the 45mm measurement because that's the one you feel.
Lovely complicated simplicity
At first glance, this watch looks really complicated. It's actually the exact opposite.
If you ignore the slide rule bezel and top 2 subdials, what you have is a time-only watch with a small seconds subdial at the bottom. This watch has no date complication at all, which is proper for a chronograph watch as far as I'm concerned.
Even if you have no idea what the other two dials are for, and had no clue what upper right top and bottom pushers (buttons) are for, it doesn't matter. The only thing you need to know about this watch is pull the crown, set the time, push the crown back in, done. There is literally nothing else to set.
How the other stuff works
Let's say you do care what the other stuff is about. Here's how that works:
The long hands are hour, minute and stopwatch seconds. The stopwatch seconds hand only moves when timing something. Regular seconds for time is dedicated to the bottom subdial.
Top right pusher starts and stops the stopwatch. On first press to start, there is a click. On second press to stop, no click. Every press after that, no click until the stopwatch is reset. The reason for no click after the first press is so that the stopwatch and subdials don't reset themselves until you instruct the watch to do so.
The bottom right pusher resets the stopwatch and the top two subdials all to zero. When resetting, there is a click. If everything is already set back to zero, no click.
Top subdial at 12 o'clock is stopwatch minutes, 0 through 60.
Left subdial at 9 o'clock is stopwatch hours, 0 through 12, meaning this watch has a maximum of 12 hours of stopwatch time it can record.
Bottom subdial as mentioned already is dedicated small seconds for regular time.
This watch features a friction slide rule bezel, meaning it can be rotated either way, and rotation is smooth with no clicks. This is normal for how a slide rule bezel is supposed to work.
Can you actually calculate things with this bezel? In fact, yes. But the numbers are quite small, so if you want bigger numbers that are easier to read, you'll need a bigger aviation watch like the Casio EF527D or Citizen Blue Angels AT8020. (The Blue Angels watch is supremely good because that one has atomic timekeeping and is solar powered, which is quite awesome.)
Absolutely fantastic chronograph for smaller wrists
I have a 6.5" wrist, and it's usually true that wearing anything over 38mm is a bad idea. But this 42mm watch fits great, and I know exactly why. There are two reasons.
First, the dial itself is actually fairly small because a good chunk of the width is taken up by the fixed inner ring and bezel.
Second, the lugs do curve down. Not by a lot, but enough to where it counts.
Could a larger wrist wear the MTP4500D? Yes, absolutely. Enough bracelet links are provided so even somebody with an 8" wrist could wear it. However, my point is that even on my 6.5" wrist, it still wears great.
This watch looks expensive
This is not an expensive watch, but it sure looks like it costs a lot.
The small seconds subdial very easily hides the fact the MTP4500D is a quartz timepiece. The only time you ever see the long seconds hand ticking is when the stopwatch is running.
And speaking of ticking, you never hear it. This is without question the most quiet ticking watch I've ever owned. Even with the stopwatch running in a quiet room, when I press this watch to my ear, I hear no ticking whatsoever. I don't know how Casio did it, but they somehow made an ultra-silent quartz ticking watch with this model.
Screw-down case back? Yes! Looks fancy, and makes for easier battery changes when need be.
There is some shine to the hour markers, hands and subdial hands, but done in a nice way that's not too over-the-stop. Just right.
The orange stopwatch seconds hand and small seconds hand look cool.
The MTP4500D does look like a man's professional timepiece. Casio styled this one very well and it looks impressive.
Granted, this doesn't look as impressive as the Citizen mentioned above or a Seiko Flightmaster, but I'd argue the Casio is easier to read. It has a busy dial, but not as busy as other aviation timepieces.
Also, you could put the MTP4500D right up against the Citizen and Seiko offerings and it wouldn't look out of place, appearance wise.
This watch is definitely a keeper. Right look, and certainly the right price.