I bought an SX Furrian
New guitar in the barn. And it's not a Squier.
SX from Rondo has been on my radar for a long time. Years, in fact. I decided to go ahead and get one and was not disappointed.
I'm officially past the point of caring how the headstock is shaped
SX guitars in the Fender-esque style have headstock shapes that look nothing like Fender's Stratocaster or Telecaster shapes. This is obviously done on purpose for legal reasons so nobody mistakes an SX for a Fender.
Fender designs obviously have the legacy and the heritage. When applied to the Squier brand (owned by Fender), the headstock shape is in fact a selling point of those guitars.
At this point in my guitar playing life, what I care about more is how the guitar performs as an instrument rather than how it looks.
The SX neck design is something I can't get from Fender nor Squier even if I wanted to. Not as a production instrument, anyway. Sure, I could ring up the Fender Custom shop and they'll make a Telecaster any way I want - for several thousand dollars. I'm not spending that kind of cash just for a neck I can get from SX on a complete guitar for under $200.
I know that no matter what I say here or elsewhere, those who care about headstock shapes will always go for the Squier or Fender first. The only way to get along with a guitar like the SX Furrian is to let go of that headstock shape and enjoy the guitar for what it is.
There is no compromise in getting an SX. None at all. The guitar is put together well and the build quality is solid.
I got to the point where I let go of the headstock shape and gave SX a try. Very glad I did, because yeah, it's good.
Don't collect guitars
It's not exactly hoarding, but pretty darned close.
If there's one thing you see a lot of on YouTube, it's guys showing off their worthless guitar collections. They're worthless because the majority of what they own is hardly ever played.
These guitars either spend most of the time in cases, sitting on stands on the floor or hanging on the wall. They don't get used.
Just about every guy who makes a video on his collection says the exact same things, such as:
"A lot of you guys have been asking to see my collection!" That's a lie. Nobody ever asks this. Ever. It's especially a lie whenever the guy also says 'people ask me all the time' and/or 'people ask me daily' to see the collection. Never happened. Again, nobody ever asked.
"Owning a bunch of guitars makes me a better player!" No, it doesn't. Never has, never will.
"Here is my [insert random worthless guitar here], it's rare!" Guitar collectors think they own valuable stuff, because of course they do. Sorry pal, that Dimebag guitar you have is, at most, worth about $200 in trade at Guitar Center. You think it's worth 3 grand. You're wrong. It doesn't matter how much you paid for it, it's still junk. Rare does not mean valuable.
And here's the kicker:
They all sound the same
Some videos of guitar collections have sound samples, which is the collector taking each instrument and playing a few riffs on them.
Notice that what doesn't change from guitar to guitar is the player. Ultimately, one guy will still sound like that one guy regardless of which guitar is in his hands; this is especially true if the sound samples are all drowned in distortion.
All guys who have guitar collections fall into this trap. Yeah, you have 20 guitars, but no matter which one is in your hands at any given time, there is barely a difference in sound from one guitar to the next. A 6-string is a 6-string is a 6-string.
There is one benefit to watching guitar collection videos
That one benefit is seeing what not to buy.
I'm pleased to see collection videos by idiots who spent thousands on guitars only to have them end up as wall decoration. They spent the money and I didn't have to.
On a final note, it's especially funny when watching guitar collection videos where you can totally see Guitar Buyer's Remorse in the guy's face. That happens a lot. Sometimes he'll even flat out lie and say "I bought this [insert crap guitar here] from a friend". No... wrong... that didn't happen. He saw that hunk of junk in the guitar store, paid way too much is trying to point the blame at someone else (who doesn't exist) for why that guitar is such crap. Your fault, dude. Always was.
How fat is fat on a vintage Fender neck?
The difference might be small but the feel is definitely noticeable.
Take the Fender Classic Series '50s Telecaster neck. This is a "fat" neck. What makes it fat is not just the fact it has a "C" and not a "Modern C" contour but rather something else...
...and that something else is the depth, which is sometimes referred to as taper or thickness.
If you pick up any modern Fender American Professional Stratocaster or Fender American Professional Telecaster, both of those guitars have "Modern C" neck contours. The shape is important to how it feels, but so is the 1st fret and 12th fret depth measurements.
Fender "Modern C" has a 1st fret depth a.k.a. neck thickness of 0.82" (20.82mm) and a 12th fret depth of 0.87" (22.09mm). This is true of both the Stratocaster and Telecaster.
The Fender Classic '50s Telecaster neck seen above has a first fret depth of 0.86" (21.84mm) and 12th fret depth of 0.919" (23.34mm).
In simple terms, we're basically talking about a 1mm difference in neck thickness and a different shoulder shape between the modern and the vintage neck. On the back of the neck, the modern is thinner and flatter while the vintage is thicker and rounder.
Does a 1mm thickness and differing shoulder shape really make that much of a difference?
Yes; this is something that can be felt even before you pluck the first note. As soon as you grip the neck, you will feel the difference.
Is a fatter neck better?
It can be.
If "where you live" on the guitar neck is at the first 5 frets (as in the cowboy chord area), fatter is better because that's where you feel the extra thickness most. Rounder and fatter allows for better grip.
Gripping, to be clear, is not the same as pinching. Pinching is when only your thumb and some of your index finger is touching the back of the neck most of the time during play. Gripping is when you're actually using the palm of your hand. A thicker neck with physically more wood to grab will be more comfortable for players that use the palm to help hold the neck with while playing.
It should also be noted that ergonomically speaking, gripping is better than pinching. Using more of your palm results in less wear and tear on the hand.
Is it difficult to find a fat-necked electric guitar?
How difficult it is to find neck taper information literally depends whether the manufacturer states this information or not. Unfortunately, most guitar companies don't.
Schecter and Ibanez do state tapers for 1st and 12th fret neck depth/thickness.
Neither Fender nor Gibson state their neck tapers on guitar product pages. But at least for Fender in particular I could find that info from the "parts" section of their site. And no, it does not follow suit for Squier as they use different neck shapes and tapers, among other things.
ESP/LTD does not state the neck tapers. G&L also does not state the neck tapers.
Music Man, who does have very detailed product info pages for their guitars, does not state the neck tapers, ironically enough. Every other single thing you'd ever want to know about their models is there except that one rather important bit of info.
Guitar Fetish's Xaviere brand does state the neck tapers.
Rondo's SX and Agile brands state the neck tapers for some of their guitars but not all.
Again, whether you can find out the neck taper info or not depends on whether the manufacturer actually bothers to mention it...
...but it's totally worth looking into, because sometimes a fat-necked guitar feels really nice.
Does the guitar pick really make that much of a sound difference?
It can if you know how to chase after certain tones the right way.
There are certain things you can do with electric guitar that will make a noticeable change in the sound. One very cheap and effective way to do this is changing your pick - and sometimes changing how you hold it.
One of the best examples of this is how guitarist The Edge from U2 gets that super-plucky sound in the song Where The Streets Have No Name. Yes, it's a Stratocaster you hear. Yes, there is obviously a delay effect in use. But even if you have both of those, the sound just isn't there. Then when you dig deeper you find The Edge used Herdim guitar picks, so you get those. However, you still can't get the sound.
So what's the secret? Flip the pick around so the textured side is hitting the string on each string pluck. Now you've got the sound. What you needed all along was the introduction of pick scrape.
Do you need Herdim picks to achieve the same result? No. All you really need is a nylon pick that is textured on top (the "grippy" side), and there are a bunch of those to choose from.
Material and texture counts more than thickness
Thickness of a pick in my experience doesn't change the sound of an electric guitar all that much. Whether I'm playing a 0.60mm or 1.0mm or anywhere in between, I still sound the same after my picking hand makes the adjustment to whatever pick thickness I'm using.
Where pick edges are concerned, that really doesn't count for all that much either. Round tip, pointed tip, flat edged, rolled edged, doesn't really matter. Again, my picking hand will adjust and I still sound the same.
When the material and texture changes however, that's when I can hear tonal differences.
If I have a Dunlop Tortex in the hand, the end result is less treble response and a pronounced pick scrape. Good for overdriven rock tones.
If I have a Fender California Clear in the hand, the end result is greater treble response, greater "clack" and no pick scrape. Good for surf rock and clean tones.
The Tortex is textured and made of delrin (polyoxymethylene) material. The Calfornia Clear doesn't have any noticeable texture and is made from some type of thermoplastic (probably polyetherimide).
I hear a pronounced difference between the Fender and the Dunlop, and it's because the pick materials and textures are different.
What about shape?
I've tried different pick shapes and the only one that has ever agreed with me is 351, which is the shape most picks use. Other shapes be it 355 large triangle, 346 rounded triangle, "teardrop" 358 shape, Dunlop's jazz pick and so on have never worked for me.
I will try nylon at some point
Some guitarists favor nylon and play nothing else. Herco (a Dunlop brand) is supposed to be quite good but I've never tried them. Not yet, anyway.
Nylon was a really popular pick material in the early days of electric guitars because it had already been well established by the time the '60s rolled around. The famous Herco pick is known as shape #25, which is best described as a slightly sharper 351 shape with rounded edges.
Something I wish Dunlop would do is make a Herco sampler pack because I don't know whether I'd prefer the "Holy Grail", Flex 50, Flex 75 or Vintage '66 Heavy, Light or Extra Light. Alas, Dunlop doesn't have a Herco sampler, so I'll just have to spend the cash on each type at some point to see which I like best.
Epiphone Les Paul Special I P90 for $129 new
Very tempted to buy another one of these.
Take the Epiphone Les Paul Special I P90. Guitar Center recently had these at an almost fire sale price of $119 but are now selling it for $129, which is still an insanely good price considering it's normally $149.
Yes, I owned one of these before and I do regret parting with it. I loved the yellow, loved the tone, loved the fact it weighs next to nothing (easily 7 lbs or under), loved the simplicity of the instrument.
So why did I part with it? I was Jazzmaster-happy at the time. And right now I'm Stratocaster-happy, but I look at this Les Paul and think yeah, maybe I should get another one of these because it really is a decent guitar.
My main reason for buying one of these originally was for those sweet P90 pickups, and they're still as sweet as they ever were. If you've never owned a guitar with P90s in it before, this is the cheapest way to get it with a major guitar brand.
The only complaint I have about the guitar is that the tuners are really basic. But where tuning stability is concerned, this can be easily accommodated for by tying each string in a knot at the tuner post, which is a very old school guitar trick of sorts.
The knot trick works on basically any guitar tuner and increases tuning stability a great deal. Even on the cheapest of tuners, this prevents string slippage at the tuner post 100%. And since string slippage is the #1 problem with cheap tuners, using a simple knot cures that problem instantly.
And no, this does not make string installation any more or less difficult. Strings go on and off just as easy as if you didn't tie/knot them. It also does not damage your tuner posts at all, as tying strings doesn't leave score marks on the tuner posts or anything like that.
So yes, the TV Yellow Les Paul P90 is here again, cheap again, and I'm seriously considering ordering one. You should too.
By the way, this is almost the same price as when I bought one of these back in 2012. I'm pretty sure the price I paid back then was $119, so this guitar is almost the same price it was 8 years ago. Obviously, this won't last, go get one while you can.