My Guitar: From Problem to Prized.

I finally got around to posting again. August has been a very busy month for me and I have not played as much as I would want. I kept my Epi Les Paul Custom out longer than I usually do, wanting to record with it, but I ran into problems. When I record, I use Audacity. I currently have Audacity installed in my secondary PC, which I use mainly for the disk space. It's an older PC with Windows 98 installed in it. I tried recording my Les Paul on it, and every time I would start recording, the PC would freeze up! I would end up cutting the power to the PC just to be able to reboot! Anyway, I will have to install Audacity on this laptop that I am using now in order to record anything.

Since I was not able to record, I put my Les Paul away and brought out my tele-style Tradition CAB10T. The Tradition is the last guitar I bought. I bought it last December at my local music store. It is the only electric guitar that I have bought at a music store. All of my other electrics have been bought either through on-line retailers or through Craigslist. I was disappointed after I bought it because, even though it was my first "music store" electric, it had some problems.

When I went in to buy the guitar, the owner of the store was giving a guitar lesson, so I tried out the guitar at the lowest volume possible so as not to disturb the lesson going on. I really liked the guitar because it was very well made and it felt great in my hands, so I bought it. When I got it home and played it at regular volume, I noticed that the volume control was not as effective as it should be. I also noticed that the neck pickup sounded weak. I found some information on the internet that suggested that the volume control problem was due to a stock capacitor that should be replaced with a lower rated capacitor. Since I don't know anything about modding guitars, I decided to leave it be and just learn to live with this little imperfection. I was able to resolve the neck pickup problem by adjusting the pickup height and getting the pickup closer to the strings. This little adjustment made a big difference! Now, I consider my CAB10T to be one of my prized guitars! It is a beautiful guitar, very well made, and it has a great tone! I can't believe I considered selling it at one point! I have been testing it out with my Vox DA5 modeling amp, and so far the settings I have tried sound great on this guitar.

I guess the moral of this story is: If you are going to buy a used guitar (or even a new one), check it out completely. Don't assume everything works as it should, because chances are, you will find something wrong later on. I was lucky that the problems with my guitar were with the electronics, because those can be fixed rather easily. I still wish I knew how to mod...

Tones, Tones, and More Tones!

I have been preoccupied with other stuff these past two weeks, hence the late and unusual time of this post. When I have had time to noodle around with my guitar, I have been working with my Vox DA5. Thanks to a post in one of the forums I belong to, I discovered the 'VOX Tone Room' http://www.voxamps.com/toneroom/. This is a site where users of Vox amps post settings they have come up with. The site has settings for all sorts of Vox amps, including the DA5. I found all sorts of settings that I really liked: Everything from AC/DC and Guns N Roses to SRV and John Lee Hooker. I was able to find settings that use almost every amp style and effect available on the DA5. I tried out the settings I was interested in, and if I liked them, I wrote them down for future reference. When I was done, I found that only a few amp styles and effects had not been used. I was able to create settings for those myself very easily. So far, I have 24 settings that I can use. Most from the 'Tone Room' and some that I created myself. For users of Vox amps, the 'Tone Room' is a great resource. I encourage Vox users to check it out.