GregP

Why, the Telecaster, of course.

Hey that's pretty cool. If I don't find nickel, I'll still go with chrome instead, but I have to keep the black one in mind for future projects.

Hmm... Strat style... I might have to reconsider the wood recommendation, then. Haven't heard of too many people making mahogany strats... I'm sure it's been done, but I wonder if there's a bit of a mismatch in 'intended tone' and that type of wood. I foolishly visualized a Les Paul style guitar without actually asking you first, which is my mistake. As for pickups, I have no good recommendations for single coil-- and in fact, I haven't had enough experience with other pickups to recommend much either, beyond what I've heard other people saying. Good luck, hope someone comes up with a better recommendation than me. Greg

Some people will disagree, but I think that the deepness of your tone will ultimately have more to do with your pickups than the wood. That said, for "vintage", "deep", or "mellow", you really can't beat good old mahogany. Some people like Korina (also known as White Limba) as a slightly snappier and more porous substitute. Greg

Actually, one more set of related questions-- I was thinking of switching to a hard-tail Hipshot bridge instead of the recessed TOM. But I've only seen them in chrome, and the rest of my guitar is in nickel. SO-- 1. Do you think it would throw off the visuals too much if the pickup govers and tuners were nickel, but the bridge was chrome? 2. Has anybody seen a hardtail bridge (that looks at least half decent like the Hipshot) in nickel? Greg

Looking really good! No Stephen's Extended Cutaway, though? For shame! JK! Greg

Well, I'm finally starting this one up again. It's still been sitting in bits and pieces, but I finally got the binding router bit on order (I went with the basic one for .60, not the one with the swappable ball bearings), along with some extra binding. Inspired by Gigabyte's carve, I think I'll try my hand at using an orbital sander instead of doing the 'stepped' carve. While I'm waiting for the router bit, I can get busy and cut the pickup cavities and neck pocket, but here's a question-- The pickup cavities will be deeper than just the 3/4" top-- would you guys glue the top and THEN rout the whole thing at once, or do you figure I should route "right through" the top and then use it as a guide for the Limba? I mean, it'll have to be done in multiple passes anyhow. Man... I'm pretty scared of screwing this step up, but I guess you have to take the plunge at SOME point in time. I guess that's why I've put it off for so long-- I've officially done all the bits that you can't really botch up, and now it's time to REALLY do the difficult work. Even though it looks like I'm 1/3 done, I'm actually only more like 1/8 done when I think about it... wiring... the precision routing that's coming up... the paint job... inlays. Maybe I'm about 1/10 done, actually. Greg

To be dead honest with you, when you're up into the 'upper end' of these processors, the differences will be primarily on paper if you're just planning on recording tracks one at a time. Even for recording 5 tracks at once, any of those three processors would be fine. The only reason I favour the AMD-64 so much is that it'll gear you up for the 64-bit OS and plug-ins when they come out (sooner that we think, I'm betting). Greg

Could check out our very own Jon Bell's Swineshead pickups: http://www.swinesheadpickups.com/ Greg

I think you'd be fine with any of those three. Many hosts and plug-ins are not HT compatible, though, so I wouldn't place that as a priority option. Your latency and stability will be more dependent on your audio interface than your processor anyhow. Greg

VIA is not the only chipset that can use AMD processors. nForce2 (and now 3) are considered very stable chipsets for AMD. Regardless, though, any literature you've found against VIA is very very outdated information. There were issues with it way back when it was on the K133 model, ie. about 5 years ago. The issues were quickly resolved and VIA has been stable for AMD ever since. However, rumour and misconception, once started, tends to persist. AMD are preferred for audio not only for cost (cost is getting similar anyhow, finally) but because they are better performers in the audio world. Most digital signal processing uses 32-bit floating point maths for calculations, which the AMD is a documented performance winner in, compared to Intel. On top of that, for similar performance speeds, AMD runs cooler-- something to consider. Pentium 4 also experience "denormalization" which can cripple a project using certain plug-ins, unless you take precautions. And finally, people are moving to AMD because it offers a cost-effective 64-bit solution which will enable an upgrade path not only for their hardware but for their OS. NOW, all that said-- even AMD fans are silly not to mention that the Pentium-M (the processor used for "centrino" laptops) runs more efficiently than a standard Pentium 4, which means higher performance-to-GHz ratio, as well as cooler operation. In the laptop recording world, the Pentium-M is considered quite desirable as far as processors go. Given your needs for recording, I still have to seriously question whether you need the most expensive software available. I admit, I'm a bit of a fan so this is coming from a biased perspective, but have a look at Tracktion 2, which is to be released this month. As a bonus, it'll include Amplitube LE, which models 3 different amps-- A Marshall Plexi (I believe... some sort of Marshall anyhow), a Vox AC-30, and a Fender Twin. There are other plug-ins to be bundled with it (the papers aren't signed, but it looks like the popular Linplug RMIV drum machine will be there, along with 2 GB of drum sounds), and other issues have been addressed since v1. For $199 msrp. Greg

A Les Paul? More versatile than a strat? No way, Jose! Greg

Another victory for Les Paul: click me Similar results for "Fender Stratocaster" versus "Gibson Les Paul". I think it's the "Les" (French for "the") and the Paul (Hugely popular name) that give it the edge. What a shame. Greg

Dude, don't buy an amp until you know about it! I mean, $950 and you're not even sure if it's tube or not? Ah well. Looking forward to hearing your 'choons'.

Jeeziz. I need to be less scared of carving... not that it's 'easy', but you're convincing me that it doesn't need to be as hard as I'm imagining. Wonderful work so far. Looking forward to the finished result! Greg

I'm with Dugz on this one. FWIW, on a laptop there isn't usually a "line in" for the onboard sound, so he's probably FORCED to use the "mic in". Which is fine, because a passive guitar's signal isn't strong enough to use the "line in" without a preamp of some sort anyhow. While you're scraping together the money to follow Dugz' suggestions, you can install a free ASIO driver called "ASIO4ALL" (Google for it); however, I don't know offhand if Audition even USES ASIO, so it might be worth checking into before you bother with it. ASIO drivers won't help even a little bit if your software doesn't use them. Greg

Reverb is all well and good for making a guitar sound good when you're puttering around on your amp, but I wouldn't add any when you're recording. Save reverb for plug-in duty so that you can adjust the level properly. The point still stands, though-- once you've recorded your part, don't forget to use every trick up your sleeve (including reverb) to make it sound full! I prefer a dryer guitar sound, so I use very little reverb, but it's amazing what a little touch of it can do. Greg

That'll work just fine, Silvertone. I did several recordings that way. Johnny won't need the adapter as his M-Audio will already have the 1/4" jack. I'm no pro, but it seems to me that if you haven't tried mic'ing it on-axis and close to the grille, that's the most "common" option to explore. Off-axis might work better for the sound you're after, too, though-- never hurts to try both. After going through similar situations, I eventually found that a medium-diaphragm condenser mic worked best for me, as my dynamic mic had a hard time picking up the subtleties of the small amp. But what worked even better was recording direct. I know that a 'proper' amp with a 'proper' microphone will sound better, for sure. No argument here. But given that my amp is not a tone king (no tubes - Marshall DFX-30) in the first place, I wasn't losing much by recording direct and then modelling the amp with software. At first the software amp sim sounded a bit weak, but by using a bit of trickery (copying the part and shifting a bit along the timeline, using a convolution impulse engine for the reverb, making subtle EQ changes between the left and right channels), it ended up sounding way better than anything I had been doing with my amp. SO, until I get an amp worth micing, it's going to be direct to disc for me. Greg

Gotta be my Yamaha Pacifica 302. That's the kind shaped like a tele rather than a strat. This one has mother-of-toilet-seat pickguard and a cherry burst finish. Popped a li'l 59' in the bridge and added a second string tree to help get proper tension across the nut. It's not the best guitar ever, and just last night I was reviewing the action on it and noticing that my neck needs some relief; however, it's the guitar that feels "natural" in my hands. My Godin LG is wonderful, too (and is newer and technically a 'better' guitar) but it's not replaced the Pacifica. I guess in general, I'd have to say that the Fender Telecaster to me is still my favourite solidbody electric. There's something about it that you either "get" or you don't. I 'get' it, and I love it. Greg

Yes, but the parts are harder to source and warranty. Regarding a few older questions and random points: -a Pentium-M bundled with the rest of the Centrino technology will run a good number of plug-ins, and will stay relatively cool, making it a fantastic contender for laptop studio. -AMD64 also runs cooler, and has been getting good reviews for stability as well -M-Audio is highly regarded in general for having stable drivers. I don't know anything about their portable solutions, so read the reviews as suggested-- however, understand that the reviews for a USB Audiophile won't be the same as for a Firewire Audiophile. As always, I still can't help but wonder exactly what it is that you intend to record. Begin with the end in mind. Every single suggestion has been very good and very well educated (well, most anyhow), but only if it suits your needs. Always evaluate your needs and buy the gear to meet them rather than buying the gear and then wondering if it was the right set of purchases for your needs. Greg

Lookin' great so far! I think that picture serves as a good enough answer-- YES! Do it!

You'll get more bang for the buck with a desktop, but since you want portability, I see nothing wrong with the specs on that laptop. If you're investing that much money already, you'll want a firewire audio interface, too, which adds a chunk of change. That can come later, though-- use ASIO4ALL (Google for a link) as your driver and you'll get decent results with the on-board sound, provided your sound chip works well with it. Greg

HDD on a laptop is only problematic if you're running multiple apps and tracks at a time. Most laptops come with 5,400 rpm drives by default, which is considered fairly slow for audio. I know of people using Firewire devices for streaming samples, so I don't see why it wouldn't work as your audio drive, though I have to admit that I don't have any specific information to back that up. USB drives, however, share resources with other components and may "hiccup" if you plan to use them for audio. I'd stick to firewire if I were planning to buy an external drive for anything other than raw storage. Greg

I'm not affiliated with this dude at all-- just learned about the site today, but if you click in the "audio products" you'll find a description, and in the "for sale" for a price on a passive piezo pickup system. Basically, it's just a piezo element and a mono 1/4" jack. You still need a pre-amp, but I have a mixer that I can use for this purpose so I'm not bothered. The technology is basic and only gives you what you need, but it saves you a bit of soldering and cutting elements down to size, for pretty much the cost of the materials: http://www.knowledgeofbugs.co.uk/bugbrand/index2.htm Greg

I love P-90s, but it's true that they're pretty raw! That's why I love'em. I suspect you've made the right choice with the Jazz and PAF, anyhow. BUT-- when you DO decide to go with P-90s in a guitar, remember that you have another option-- P-100s or the "Virtual P-90" by... Duncan? Which are hum-cancelling. Some people claim there's a loss of bite, but it's a worthwhile trade-off in my opinion. Greg