V guitars are dumb
These are dumb guitars...
...but we still love these things and buy them anyway.
Some quick history.
In the late 1950s, Gibson was feeling the heat from Fender who was gaining huge market share from the Stratocaster and Telecaster models. As a response to this, Gibson released 3 brand new models in 1958. The Futura (which is the Explorer), the Moderne (which had a re-release), and the Flying V.
They didn't sell well and Gibson discontinued them in less than a year in 1959.
Where the V is concerned, Gibson in an attempt to dump all the spare inventory cobbled together what they had and shipped out some Flying Vs in 1963. Four years later in 1967, Gibson started making the V again and has ever since.
As a side note, the 1958 and 1959 model year V made in korina is one of the most highly valued collectible electric guitars in history.
Fast-forward to the late 1980s, around 1987. Rock was the #1 music in America. Heavy metal was also doing quite well at the time. And a staple guitar of the era was the V guitar.
In the '80s the Gibson Flying V was a rock axe of choice. In the '90s, the Jackson King V and super cool Jackson Rhoads V with the shorter bottom fin took over as "that V guitar to have".
Was the V ever the #1 rock guitar? Nope. The #1 rock guitar of the '80s and early '90s was what's commonly known as the Super Strat. And that doesn't mean a guitar by Fender. It means a guitar with a Fender-ish double cutaway shape, HSS or HSH pickup configuration, two knobs (usually), and either a hardtail bridge or Floyd-Rose tremolo system depending on player's preference.
Why is the V guitar so dumb?
As a former V guitar owner, I can speak from experience as to why Vs are dumb.
Unless you arch the guitar's body on the leg, it cannot be played sitting down on its own. Guitar strap is required.
No matter how careful you are with a V, the fin tips will get smacked, resulting in dings, cracks, chips of wood taken out (very common,) and so on. There's just no way to keep a V in good condition if played regularly. I mean, yeah you could wrap electric tape around the fin edges, but that just looks stupid.
There is no good spot for an output jack on a V. As such, whether the jack is top-mounted or on the inner fin (either one,) plugging a cable in or taking it out is always a chore.
Most Vs do look like toy guitars because they have that whole "looks like a rocket ship" thing going on.
But not everything sucks about a V
Weight distribution is very good on a V. Because of all that extra wood for the fins, a V is one of the most evenly balanced guitars you could ever play. I have never known a V made by anyone to have neck dive issues.
Another cool thing is that the body remains light since it gets so small right before the neck starts.
When outfitted with low-output vintage style humbucker pickups (as most Gibson V models are,) the guitar actually works very nicely for pretty much any style of music.
Will I ever own another V myself?
I might. But certainly not any time soon.
My V of choice would be an Epiphone.
Which model? Korina Flying-V, of course.
This is one of the few V guitars I could get along with. It has the "alnico classic" lower-output humbuckers and that nice late-'50s look to it. Yeah, it has gold hardware and that's dopey, but I'd still like it just the same. I dig the fact the pickup switch tip has that gold-like (more orange-like, actually) color to it.
Epiphone Limited Edition Bjorn Gelotte "Jotun" Les Paul Custom Outfit
Some guitars you want just because they look cool, and this is one of them.
I have absolutely no idea who Bjorn Gelotte is. Not a clue. All I care about here is the guitar, and the Epiphone Bjorn Gelotte "Jotun" Les Paul Custom really, really gets it right.
It is typically true that white guitars look awful. It's also typically true that a Les Paul without pick guard doesn't look that good either. But this guitar however looks absolutely stunning in white and without the guard.
First of all, I'll note the thing you don't see ordinarily in photos, the gold binding. That binding is all sorts of pretty. It matches up with the gold hardware and gold knobs perfectly.
This is one seriously elegant looking Les Paul. Very ritzy tuxedo style look all around.
How does it sound? I've no idea. What I do know is that yes, it does have active EMG pickups in it (there is a battery cover on the rear of the guitar,) so you can take from that what you will. It also has premium grade Grover Rotomatic tuners on it, which are the best tuners a Paul can have as far as I'm concerned.
The only complaint I have about this guitar is the white "poker chip" on the pickup selector switch as I think that detracts from the overall look. However, that chip can be removed easily, so it's really not a big deal.
Actually, I do have one other complaint. That gold hardware finishing is guaranteed to wear off over time with regular play, particularly where the hand rests on the bridge and on the bass side of the pickups. That's totally normal wear for guitars with gold hardware and there's no way to prevent that.
I'm not a Les Paul guy and certainly not a fan of active electronics, but I still think this guitar is great and would be proud to own one. Very, very nice look all around.
Casio CTK-6200 first impressions
After a very long time of not having a proper full-size keyboard, I finally acquired a new one, and got it for a very specific reason...
...and that reason is that the Casio CTK-6200 is the lowest priced synth you can buy that has a real sequencer in it. I'll talk more about that in a moment.
The first thing to note about the CTK-6200 is that the CTK-6250 is literally the exact same model with a red center console in the middle instead of black. Feature-wise, the WK-6600 has the exact same capability as the CTK-6200, with the only real difference being the WK has 76 keys instead of 61. There is also the CTK-6300IN which has a silver center console. That model is localized to the India market. It is identical to the CTK-6200 save for the fact it has 12 unique Indian rhythms bundled with the unit.
In other words, the CTK-6200, CTK-6250, WK-6600 and CTK-6300IN are pretty much all the same thing. In the North American market, chances are you will come across the 6250 model. I specifically went for the 6200 because I prefer the look of it.
At the time I write this, I've not even owned my 6200 for more than 2 days, so here are my initial impressions of it.
Very good action for full-weighted keys
This is the first synth I've ever owned that has full-weighted keys on it. I always stayed away from them in the past because the action was usually terrible. Not so on the 6200. These keys have a genuinely good feel to them...
...mostly. Yes, they are a bit on the cheap side, but that's typical for the price point the 6200 sells for. Sometimes they feel a little clacky and thuddy, but for the most part they're easy to get along with.
For semi-weighted keys, the king of the hill for "cheap and good" is the Yamaha PSR series. However, none of the lower-priced models have a sequencer in it as far as I can tell, and that's why I didn't get one. That, and the lower-end Yamahas don't come with a power supply while the 6200 does.
The sequencer
The 6200 does have a 16-track sequencer in it (technically 17 when the "system track" is included,) and yes, it is the real deal.
Easy-to-use? No, but that doesn't surprise me at all. I'm able to get along with it because I come from the old school where pretty much all synth workstation sequencers were complicated. The 6200 sequencer gets the job done for what it is.
There really isn't any way to make a sequencer easy because it's not a 1-2-3 process. In the 6200 there is the typical "menu hell" to go through. And even though it can hold 5 songs in memory (certainly better than just one,) the way it's designed is meant for one-shot style playback, meaning not repeating.
I am getting used to the way the 6200 does things. I'm able to compose songs with it and get them sequenced up proper.
The sounds
In this day and age there really isn't any one synth that sounds better than another. What matters is the sounds you get, what you can do with them, and whether they're editable or not.
I'll start with editing first.
The 6200 does have a tone editor, but power synth users won't like it too much. This is where you're reminded of the price point. Upper-end synths allow you to edit things all the way down to a waveform level. The 6200 doesn't go that deep. Also, the 6200 doesn't allow for monophonic sounds, which I know for some would be a total deal-breaker.
However, yes you can save custom tones, and you can modify a whole bunch of stuff, so you do have some decent tone editing capability.
Most people who own this thing will never bother editing tones. Are the stock sounds good? Yes. Better than good, actually. Great. There are a few electronic pianos that have a great Rhodes style sound to them, a Deep Purple-like distorted organ tone, and the 6200 even has a dedicated SYNTH sound category that has a bunch of "computery" style waveform sounds.
Combine that with the fact there is touch sensitivity (which can be adjusted,) and yeah, the 6200 is very usable even if using nothing but all-stock tones.
Patterns?
This is not the 6200's strong suit. True, it has just shy of 150 built-in arp patterns when using the arpeggiator, but using them in the sequencer is frustrating at best, especially when attempting to use it with an automated drum track. Again, this is where you see the price point rear its ugly head.
Good for what it is
Casio calls this a "portable keyboard" and not a workstation. For what it is, you get a lot for the money. Sounds are good, action is good, and the fact it actually has a sequencer is great.
Ultimately, the 6200 leans more towards being a performance keyboard. Not the best thing to learn the keyboard on for total beginners (there are other models for that,) but it sits nicely for an intermediate synth without the intermediate price tag.
How to improve your fret hand strength for free
Guitar players who never learn this one ridiculously simple thing spend a lifetime struggling with a a weak fret hand.
And what is that one thing?
Proper fret hand thumb placement on the back of the neck.
It is unfortunately true that when first learning the guitar, most are never told that where you place you thumb is very important, because if placed incorrectly, chords and even single notes can become very difficult to hold down to the fingerboard.
Your fret hand thumb is the anchor that gives support to your other four fingers. When positioned incorrectly, certain chords are almost impossible to hold down, string buzz happens, and things sound terrible.
Where you place your thumb depends on what you're playing.
For barre chords when using all four fingers on the fingerboard, a common mistake is having the thumb inward and held above the center of the neck. A better way to anchor the thumb is to have it spread outward and held at center or slightly below center of the neck.
For solo notes, it's usually true the best thumb position is over the neck.
Having the thumb over the neck when playing the plain strings for soloing makes for a much better anchor for both vibratos and bends.
It's probably true your fret hand was always strong enough
If you've been playing for more than a year, you most likely have good fret hand strength, your guitar is probably set up properly by that point, and you've also probably figured out what string thickness is most comfortable.
When all that stuff is in check but holding barre chords and bending notes is still difficult, you don't need a guitar with a shorter scale, you don't need to tune down a half-step or full step and don't need to decrease string size.
You just need to make sure your thumb is positioned properly.
Watch videos from famous guitarists and pay attention to the way they place the thumb on the neck. Almost all of them position it the same way. Middle-of-neck for chords, above-neck for soloing.
Squier Contemporary Stratocaster and Telecaster guitars
I predict these will sell well.
Recently I saw that Squier just introduced several "Contemporary" models that look very similar to what Fender Japan was making a few years back. These are China builds, but they're well made and offered in configurations that most Fender models don't even offer.
First up is that Squier Contemporary Active Stratocaster HH. Two knobs instead of three (which is quite nice so you don't accidentally hit the volume knob during play), Floyd-Rose tremolo system, active electronics (the 9-volt battery compartment is in the rear), Squier-branded pickups, and large reverse color-matched headstock. This thing is cool.
Here are 3 other models:
Stratocaster
Squier Contemporary Stratocaster HH
This has the smaller traditional headstock and 2-post tremolo system instead of the Floyd-Rose.
Squier Contemporary Stratocaster HSS
Same as the Contemporary HH but with an HSS pickup configuration. Also available in black metallic and pearl white.
Telecaster
Squier Contemporary Telecaster HH
This is an HH Tele. Available in dark metallic red seen above, pearl white and black metallic.
And there's even a lefty version available!
What do I think of these?
All of them are cool simply for the reason they break away from traditional Strat and Tele designs and dare to be different.
Like I said above, these are like what Fender Japan used to make, and now they're here again in a Squier flavor. That's all good as far as I'm concerned.
It's very cool you can get these right now. And yes, all of them have color-matched headstocks. The models in pearl white specifically take to the matched headstock very nicely.