The curse of the small and flat wristed, and how to work with it for watch sizing

Fri 2017 Dec 29

There are certain rules I follow to work with how my wrist is shaped these days.

I got into watches in 2011. Then a few years later, I lost a bunch of weight and kept it off. Something I didn't expect to happen was that my wrist shrunk in size.

Back when I was fat, I didn't take a wrist measurement, but after I slimmed down I did.

The way you're supposed to take a wrist measurement for watch sizing is with a tape measure. The thickest point of the wrist is measured slightly loose to accommodate for watch band movement.

My wrist when measured tight is 6.5 inches, but when measured properly for a watch is 6.75 inches. That's only slightly smaller than the average man's wrist size of 7 inches.

No problem, just wear the watch tighter, right? Wrong. I have one of those wrists that's flat on top. And unfortunately, this is the absolute worst wrist shape when trying to find a watch that fits correctly.

Guys with regular rounder wrists that measure 7 to 7.5 inches around can basically wear any watch they want. But if the wrist is under 7 inches in size and a flatter shape, to say it's a challenge finding a watch that fits correct is an understatement.

Things I do to get watches that actually fit my wrist correctly

"Down under" NATO strap method

Take the Infantry IN-019, a dirt cheap diver - although I wouldn't dare take it in the water. This watch has a 42mm case size and 50mm lug-to-lug measurement. It fits me, albeit just barely.

In the standard way a NATO strap is worn, the excess and loops are positioned above the head of the watch. The alternative is to place that stuff under the wrist. For the small-and-flat wristed, this makes the NATO strap look a whole lot better.

The down under way of wearing a NATO strap can and usually does make big watches wear a lot better on small-flat wrists.

No leather, no resin

Steel bracelets and fabric straps work great on small-flat wrists.

With leather it's totally hit-or-miss. Mostly miss. The softer more pliable leather is usually the best bet, but the tradeoff is that it wears out quickly. I simply avoid it.

Resin straps almost never fit my wrist correctly unless it's something very thin and bendy. For example, the strap on the Casio CA53 fits great, but the Casio AE1000 strap does not.

Fabric works great on small-flat wrists simply for the fact you get the proper bend right at the watch case where the strap starts. This is why I can wear the G-SHOCK DW9052V without a problem. But the resin strap version of the same watch? Can't wear it. Doesn't fit right.

I have had good luck with steel bracelets provided the lug-to-lug of the case is under 51mm in length.

Hip to be square

I do regularly wear square shaped digital Casio timepieces that have a steel bracelet on it. They fit great, and square cases sit better atop a flat wrist compared to round.

Round cases, at least on my wrist, seem to move around too much even if the size is correct. Square cases for the most part stay put.

"Stubby" lugs are the best kind

Short, stubby lugs result in a shorter lug-to-lug measurement, which is exactly what a guy needs to find if he has a small-flat wrist.

Generally speaking, the Seiko SKX series is the standard example of something a man with a small-flat wrist can wear without a problem. Whether it's the 007, 009 or whatever SKX it is, you will see those short stubby lugs and know you can wear it.

I will eventually be picking one of these up. It's a 42mm, but the stubby lugs totally makes it work.

And yes, the Infantry IN-019 I have is a similar shape and lug design to the Seiko SKX. But the Seiko is obviously vastly superior in basically every way.

"All dial" is bad

If you see a watch where the bezel is really thin, that's an "all dial" watch.

This Skagen watch for example is all dial.

It's a nice minimalist piece that has a nice elegance to it, and it has a 40mm case size with short stubby lugs. But the drawback is that thin bezel. This means when a small-flat wristed man wears this, it looks like he's wearing a dinner plate on the wrist. Not a good look.

Compare that to the Timex Weekender Chrono. True, the lugs aren't stubby, but the bezel is much thicker. This watch looks smaller than the Skagen, but it's not. It's the same 40mm case size. That's how much of a difference bezel thickness can make in appearance.

It's also a huge plus that straps can be changed out very easily on the Timex. Throw on a NATO, steel bracelet, whatever, it will basically take anything.

This is another one I will be picking up at some point.

Study, study, study

I do tons of research before buying any watch and scour the internet for texts, images and videos before making the decision to buy. And even after I buy, I make darned sure I can return it easily if I find it doesn't fit right.

Most of the timepieces I buy aren't available to try in stores, so I have to buy online. Because of past research, I've avoided buying mistakes. That alone makes it worth it to spend the time researching, because it's really crappy to buy a watch, have it arrive in the mail, get all excited and then immediately disappointed because the stupid thing doesn't fit the wrist.

Will the "headcap" Squier Classic Vibe Strats be future collectibles?

Thu 2017 Dec 28

I was at Guitar Center the other day and noticed one of these deep-discounted all the way down to $299 - which strongly indicates we won't be seeing these models again any time soon, if ever.

The Squier Classic Vibe Series guitars have been around a while (since 2012 if I remember correctly). You can still get the ever popular CV Stratocaster and the CV Telecaster easily.

During this run of guitars there have been a few special editions, namely the ones with matching headcap color. The '50s CV Stratocaster with a color called Sherwood Green, and the '60s CV Stratocaster with a color called Burgundy Mist.

What's the difference between '50s and '60s CV Strats? The '50s has a 1-piece maple neck, pickups that have alnico 3 magnets and a 1-ply white pick guard. The '60s has a neck with rosewood fingerboard, pickups with alnico 5 magnets and a 3-ply white-black-white pick guard.

Yes, these guitars will easily be future collectibles

It will only take a few years before either of these two Strats ramp up in value. These guitars are a genuine example of "don't know what you got until it's gone".

Classic Vibe is the best series of electrics that Squier makes, so the build quality is there. These guitars aren't toys and are right up there with Mexico build Fenders (some say they're even better).

If you want one of these, grab one now before they're gone forever

There's the possibility that after 2017 and early 2018, these headcap-matched color guitars won't be returning. So at the time I write this in late December 2017, I'd say grab one right now if you like it.

Guitar Center has deep-discounted the guitar to $299. If you can't get one there, try these searches:

One of the ugliest Stratocasters ever made

Mon 2017 Dec 25

Stratocasters look terrible in green, and that brings us to talking about a rather disgusting guitar.

Green, as I've mentioned before, is an awful color for an electric guitar. Very few electrics get green right. One of the very few greens that actually looks good is Gretsch Cadillac Green, which is quite the swanky look. But on the Stratocaster, green does not work. Never has and never will.

With that being said, the 1989 Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton Artist Series guitar in a finish called 7UP Green exists. The color is basically Candy Apple Green.

I remember this guitar back in the day when it was new. Some guitars look bad in photos but great in person. But this guitar has the exact opposite effect. It looks worse in person.

"It doesn't look bad to me", you may say when you look at it. You would be wrong.

Now to be clear, this is not a Forest Green, nor a British Racing Green, nor is it one of the nicer darker metallic greens you see on some cars. Nope. This is a candy color. As in the type of paint used on cheap bicycles and carnival rides.

There are some Stratocaster lovers that question why Fender doesn't release this as a standard color. The answer to that is simple. It's ugly.

Also bear in mind that the vast majority of other guitar makers avoid green on solid-body electrics like the plague because they too know how ugly it is.

Did Clapton himself ever dare play this ugly Strat in public?

Unfortunately, yes he did for a very brief period of time. And when he did, he wore a purple suit to go with it during one of his performances. I am not kidding. He complemented his nasty looking guitar with a purple suit along with a green shirt! He must have raided The Joker's closet that day. I guess Clapton figured if he's going to play a butt-ugly guitar, he might as well dress in a butt-ugly suit to go with it.

As far as I can tell, it was only in 1989 that Clapton was actually seen playing a 7UP Green Strat. After that he was mainly seen playing Pewter or Black Strats instead (his signature guitar was and still is available in several colors and those were two also offered at the time).

Quick facts about this particular guitar

This is the era when upper-end Strats were outfitted with Lace Sensor pickups with active electronics (meaning the guitar needs a battery, which by the way is very annoying to get to and replace) and TBX tone control. As far as the rest of the guitar is concerned, it's basically 1950s specifications for neck (save for the fact it has 22 frets) and body.

Is 7UP Green the rarest of the 1988 and 1989 Clapton Strats? Yes, it is. It's been said that only 1 out of every 2,000 Clapton Strats made at this time came in this color...

...and I know why. Fender Custom Shop must have known right away how ugly this guitar was once they saw it completed.

Supposedly, Clapton wanted this color, so I can imagine how this was handled at FCS. "Sure, Eric, we'll make a guitar in this color for you." After that conversation with Eric, the shop manager says to the team, "Wow, this thing is ugly. Okay, we'll make it, but be sure to make it in the lowest production number possible because NOBODY is going to want this thing."

Worth owning?

Only if you have a very big attachment to sparkly green, because it's really not a good guitar.

This Strat doesn't serve the player well because it has one of the worst possible configurations. You've got '50s neck and body paired with late '80s tech, which means a buzzy neck with pickups that have way too much output mated to a noisy preamp and overblown treble with the TBX. Not a good combination.

When looking at it strictly as a collector's piece, this is a hard sell due to the fugly color. Yes, it's rare. But it is a "signature" model and not significant in the guitar world. A 7UP Green EC Strat is nowhere near as valuable as Eric's "Blackie" Strat and never will be.

Ugliest Fender guitar ever made?

Maybe not the ugliest Fender guitar, but definitely one of the ugliest Artist Series guitars. There have been some serious Artist guitar stinkers out of FCS over the years, and the EC Artist in 7UP Green would definitely be in the top 5 (maybe I should make a list?)

How to score good guitar parts cheap

Fri 2017 Dec 22

I've said before that buying any guitar "with upgrades" isn't necessarily the way to go. However, there is one instance where it is an advantage...

...and that's when buying a guitar for parts rather than for the guitar itself.

When I searched for a parts guitar before writing this, I found one selling for $279 with free shipping. Cheap. But this is what it has in it:

Now when you put all those parts and accessories together were you to buy them separate, the value of all that is...

Get ready for this...

...about $415.

That's just the parts and case if all bought new, without the guitar.

Yes, it's true that desoldering the pickups and deconstructing the guitar is necessary just to get all the parts out of it. But the point is that all that stuff is acquired for about $135 less than if bought new outright.

Why is the guitar selling low when the total value of the parts should make it higher?

Two reasons.

First, any guitar "upgraded" with parts that it didn't have when sold new means it's non-original. And non-original means devalued.

Second, the fact the parts are in use means every single thing in the guitar is technically used, even if it was installed yesterday. That's another devaluation.

Seeking out specific parts? You may get lucky with "upgraded" guitars

Try a search for "guitar with upgrades" and see what you find. You might be able to score some real good parts and/or accessories far cheaper than if you bought new.

What not to buy in bulk for guitar

Wed 2017 Dec 20

Certain things are okay to buy in bulk for guitar while others aren't.

I've personally made the mistake before of overbuying certain things while I ultimately had to throw out what I bought, which meant wasted money.

Generally speaking, the question to ask yourself whenever buying anything in bulk for guitar is: Will this still be useful in 3 months? If the answer is no, don't buy it.

For example, buying picks in bulk is fine because they pretty much last forever. Buying 9-volt batteries in bulk (for pedal effects and such) is also fine because those have a shelf life that lasts for years.

This is the stuff to avoid buying in bulk:

Guitar strings

Even with all the corrosion-resistant technology out there, coated strings from Elixir and so on, buying strings in bulk is usually a bad idea.

Generally speaking, the maximum amount of sets you should buy for any one guitar is a three pack, and that's presuming you go through a set of strings per month.

Buying in bulk, such as D'Addario EXL110-10P (10 sets of strings) is only advisable if you own multiple guitars and plan on going through all 10 sets in less than 90 days. After 90 days, don't be surprised if you see rust on the plain (as in unwound) strings fresh out of the pack.

Potentiometers

It's very easy to buy these things in bulk because they're cheap. Heck, you can get 25 of these things for under 30 bucks.

Now I know some of you will read that and think, "Ooh! Nice! I'm buying a bunch!" Whoa there, Tex. You don't need 25 frickin' potentiometers. In fact, you don't even need 10. Do you run a guitar repair shop? Didn't think so. Only buy what you need.

Glue

If you work on guitars at all, you're going to be using glue at some point. You may see Starbond bulk glue sets and may want one.

For this one I'd say yes, buy a set - but only the set you need. From that link you'll see there's all sorts of different thicknesses, grades and colors to choose from.

It's too easy to just keeping buying set after set after set of this stuff. Before you know it, all of a sudden you realize you've spent over 200 bucks. On frickin' glue.

Study what kind of glue you need for your guitar repair work and get the right set the first time.

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