GregP

An E of some sort: 079900

Hot damn, I didn't know it folded up!!! NEATO!!! The scant 1.5" of "uneccessary" remaining space is quite forgivable then.

It's wicked! It DOES seem to take up a lot of unecessary space for a traveller, though.

I LOVE Crowded House, and particularly Neil Finn. Perhaps because I've already heard the CH stuff so much, I actually prefer listening to his solo stuff. Saw The Finn Brothers in concert last summer, too. Great show. His mixes and approach to guitar are awesome, indeed. Greg

Ah! Great! I'll take them off your hands. What a gent! PM sent.

In addition to the three you mentioned, fretboards can be made of any number of other woods. Pau Ferro is the most commonly used of the "other" woods, in my amateur estimation. Greg

Excellent news! Thanks for thinking of me. Any idea where I could order them online? My local retailer places orders through AllParts, and they've already told me I can add anything to their order (paying retail, of course, but avoiding personal shipping/duty costs) that I want. Alternatively, I wonder if I could just buy one of those inexpensive roller bridges and pillage the parts. I don't suppose you have a digital camera so that I can see what the parts look like? Greg

toddler's definitely spoke to me. Vote entered!

Regarding EVH, though-- despite saying that it's in his fingers, he's also the guy that was super-picky when designing his guitars. Certain things had to be 'exactly right', and not just for looks. I'd imagine it was ditto for his amps. He's not "religious" about his amps, but there IS one particular favourite of his that he refuses to bring out on the road. Come one, we've all read the same articles. Greg

I dunno, dude. The colour is horrible, but the job itself isn't as bad as Litch. Greg

NOW you've got the right idea! That's m'boy! Now get building.

I think too-hot pickups are a plague.

Definitely true, but on the other hand, since a person's sound/style DOES ultimately come from their fingers, I'm still willing to explore certain traditional "formulas" like strat to Tube Screamer to Bassman. The recording aspect is certainly something to consider. Sometimes people will post sound clips of their 'tone' but without a backing track. I always think to myself, "well, that's all well and good, but what happens when you throw a bass and a kick drum in there?" SO I guess it's a fine line to be drawn. Slash doesn't always have great tone, but on Appetite for Destruction it was almost invariably awesome. Somewhere along the way the engineers and producer hit the right combination of quality guitar tone and yet good mixing. In the meantime, I WOULD rather ultimately serve the song than the tone. Greg

No doubt that tone is in the fingers, not in the gear. But even players with brilliant fingers, who sound "like themselves" sometimes have crap tone on record. So while I might be able to recognize the player and still admire his/her "signature" sound, I can also say, "man that tone sounds naff on this song." So, while tone is a combination of many things, I guess I'm mostly thinking of the timbre in this case. Greg

I find that as a whole, we are an obsessed lot, myself included. And I don't just mean Project Guitarists, but all guitarists that I know. But here's something funny-- I'm still never 100% happy with my tone, and I partially blame my lacklustre amplification and my mid-priced guitars. Surprisingly, the GDI21 that I bought is giving me the most tone satisfaction I've had in a while. But a while ago a thought occurred to me, and so I've been listening carefully. That thought was that there's no way all the guitar tones in the songs I listen to can be what I would consider 'good' for myself. That would imply that every classic track and every band I like has a well-recorded and great-sounding guitar tone. There's no way. So far, I've proven to myself that I'm right. Even more than I thought. Even guitarists who supposedly have great tone, I listen to them and think, "yuck, that just stinks. Mine's better than that." It's even worse for classic rock songs. Many of us worship the tones and purity of a strat or LP through a Marshall, or a Rick through a Vox... in theory. But you listen to a lot of those songs, and the guitarist's tone is actually quite crap. So why are we so quick to jump on the tone captured on each others' recordings (I'm thinking more about people on another forum I visit. You lot here are quite good about it all!) when some of the 'classics' are actually quite shoddy? Example of great 'classic' tone: Slash in "Sweet Child O' Mine" Example of crap recorded tone: Slash in "You Could Be Mine" <laff> Seriously, though-- I don't have all the examples at the top of my head, but just try it out. Listen to the radio or go through your CD collection and you'll discover some truly poor tone. Greg

When you say you can hear it, what kind of noise is it making? Amplifying the actual tap sound? If the other pickups aren't doing it, it can really only be the pickup itself. It may be microphonic and you just haven't played at high enough levels for it to feed back much. Potting your own pickups is easy (though not necessarily "quick", it was a 2-hr project for me, though an experienced person should be able to do it in less), and if it's microphonic that's your cure right there. Greg

The red one there looks too 2-Dimensional. Not enough depth going on. Might just be the photo, though. As for the bodies vs. completed guitars thing-- well, if all D wants to do is make bodies, I don't see what's wrong with that. He never lies in his eBay listings, and when a body has a few minor imperfections, he says so-- nothing wrong with that IMO. Greg

I believe you meant "rocket surgery". Really, now.

I agree. If you're finding it that hard to manipulate, the 'claw' for the springs is definitely screwed in too deeply. Nothing new to add here... just agreeing with the above advice.

Make that two of us baffled. Greg

Nothing too specific from me, unfortunately. Almost anybody else on here will have more info about specific Floyds than I could give you. Since it's a "no-name brand" model, I'd be leery. It's fully 20 pounds more, but I say go for the Gotoh. It's disheartening at times paying so much when you weren't planning for it, but I can tell you this: When you get a piece of decent gear in hand, you know it, and you're ALWAYS happy with that decision. Rarely do you get something higher quality and go, "crap, wish I had just got the cheapie" but very often people get the cheapie and say, "man, it even FEELS cheap. Sure wish I had been more patient." The "die cast body" says it all. You want machined brass (or steel? Do they come in steel?) Greg

Don't sweat it, they're just mentioning their personal dislike for Floyds. Some peeps like them, some don't. Vai and Satch seem to be doing OK with them. <grin> Greg

So it's for bass, then. Whoops. I dunno about the Select bass pickups, but I suspect they're also mediocre. If you have the dosh for a Dimarzio Split P, your budget isn't all THAT bad, opening up a world of options. I have even less familiarity with bass pickups, but perhaps Bartolini has something at least close to your price range. I hear nothing but good things about Bart bass pickups. Greg

I wonder if getting it shipped from Poland would cause a lot of extra cost, though? If his prices are superior, it may very well STILL end up being a bargain, but I'm personally (ONLY personally, I can speak for no other person!) very hesitant to order any merchandise from abroad. Greg

The fact that it's not original isn't the main thing. Some of the best Floyds (apparently) are licensed ones. The problem is-- who is it licensed TO, and do they make a quality product? For 40 squids, I would be very very leery. 40 pounds may fit your budget now, but consider this: if it ends up being crap and you decide later to replace it with a different one (hopefully one that will fit the routs you've made!), that's 40 pounds PLUS the cost of the new one, for a substantially larger total. My suggestion isn't to pass up on in it per se-- merely to provide a link and/or some details like the brand and model name so that people here with more knowledge about Floyds than I have could tell you if it's a complete waste of money, an "OK" budget solution, or a great deal. Greg