Category Archives: Music

Warming Up!

Tonights forecast? A Dirty Night in with the Artist LP60 + Marshall VS65R. Have a great weekend all!

Good book. Read it!

I started another thread on reddit that’s gotten a fair few responses which you can check out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/nqbucc/discussion_im_getting_better_at_ignoring_the_logo/

Background: I’m 46, have owned many cheap guitars for 30 years but early last month I bought “the real deal” for the first time in my life, a Fender AM PRO II. It’s a great guitar, it’s really nice to finally own a guitar I’ve always wanted but could never justify spending so much on, but do I love it more than my cheap guitars? Nope. Does it play better than my cheap guitars? Nope. Does it sound better than my cheap guitars? Nope!

Time and time again I will still grab my old Squier over my new Fender. I’ve since bought a cheap $238 (AUD) Les Paul style guitar made in China but sold by a reputable local guitar company and sure, it had some issues, most annoying of all a couple of high frets that I needed to file down and re-crown, but it plays great, sounds AOK too. Part of me still wants a real Gibson Les Paul… but part of me wants to try other non-Strat style guitars too!

I’m currently looking at buying a Telecaster. $329 buys me an Affinity, $1129 gets me a Player, $3319 gets me an American Original. Will the Player be 3 x better than the Affinity? Will the American Original be 10 times better than the Affinity? I highly doubt it. Pretty sure I’ll be buying the Affinity for sure!

Anyone else in the same boat as me? All good if not, each to their own, right?!

Sold on Facebook Marketplace.

Really does look like Facebook Marketplace is outdoing eBay these days. Last week I decided to sell off a whole lot of guitars and amps I no longer use and put some up on eBay, some on Facebook and I’ve had a shit ton of views and messages (lots of stupid ones!) on Facebook but no bites at all on eBay.

I sold off the Orange practice amp I bought when I was just getting back into playing earlier this year. It went to a really nice guy who lives in my area who’s just starting out. I think he’ll be really happy with the amp as it’s as new, it’s got reverb built in and a tuner too.

I made the call to flip the Japanese Squier back into a right handed guitar as it was just too uncomfortable to play upside down (massive props to Jimi!). I bought it for $300 (with a Roland amp) many years ago and wanted $600 for it. I put it up for $650 thinking people would want to haggle but as soon as I put it up the messages came flooding in so I thought I’d stick to $650 firm.

It sold to a uni student who’s been after a Japanese Squier for some time. It’s his first Strat too. I think he’s bought into a great investment as the guitar will only go up in price from here, and as it’s not a lefty I doubt I’ll ever miss it (ie: if it was a lefty I’d definitely have kept it!).

The very first riff I ever learned when I first picked up the guitar 30 years ago!

Amps for sale too.

Putting this old girl up for sale. Listing reads:

This is a Made in Korea Samick SW115 from the early 90’s. I’ve had it since then, and have taken it on travels and from home to home over the years and had such awesome memories with it.

The guitar has been sitting unplayed in a spare room for over 15 years now and on taking it out to take photos of it today it was actually in tune!

It’s a solid workhorse, never goes out of tune, plays well, could really do with some new strings and TLC (those stickers have been on the guitar since I was in high school!!!).

Selling a whole lot of my guitars and gear to save up for a real Gibson Les Paul. Not negotiable (if it doesn’t sell I’ll just keep it!). Pick up from Maroubra 2035.

Best comment I’ve received so far in regards to my guitar playing. This came from a 56 year old dude on Facebook. #feelsgoodman

Justin I’m into Robben Ford (old) and John Mayer (young), but will always pray at the alter of Aktins, May and Clapton. They’re my three heroes. BTW, Justin, I’ve watched your videos and can say that you’re a handy player. I like the way you flog that bass and mid-range to hammer out a chunky rhythm. Although not my style, I can see your talent. Kinda reminds me of one of my heroes…. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRf3KhJZRzU

Oops.

Just a little back story: I was in a metal band in high school and throughout university I was in a 3 piece grunge rock band. In the mid 90’s I got into electronic music (The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers), left the band soon after and in the late 90’s I had pretty much stopped listening to traditional rock music altogether. In 1997 I bought a Korean made Squier Strat and have pretty much played clean (no distortion) since then.

This year I’ve really dedicated myself to becoming a better guitar player. Earlier this month I turned 46 years old and bought myself my dream guitar, a US made Fender Strat. I also bought a budget Strat with a Humbucker in the bridge to see if I could get some fatter dirty tones out of it, but it just didn’t really click. As much as I’ve been really enjoying playing bluesy stuff on my Strats, an itch to own a Les Paul came outta nowhere.

I just bought the most expensive guitar I’ve ever bought (the Fender Strat) so a genuine Gibson Les Paul would have been a stretch. I started looking at the Epiphone Les Pauls but then I came across a whole lot of YouTube videos that took me down the rabbit hole of Gibson’s “play authentic” campaign, quality control issues, Chibsons and in the end I just pulled the trigger on a local designed but Chinese made Les Paul style guitar for $238 Australian Dollars.

Within minutes I realised the effects I was running on my Strat through my Boss Katana didn’t quite suit this LP style guitar, but it didn’t take me too long to realise that all I had to do was plug it straight into my old Marshall Valvestate amp, crank the gain up, no pedals, no post processing and MAN! My Strats could never sound like this! This thing chugs! It’s just brought that whole era of my life back and for the past few days my Spotify playlist has gone from mellow to AC/DC, Faith No More and Guns N’ Roses.

Really happy to break the Strat chain (my last 4 guitar purchases have all been Strats) and really happy to be listening to rock and metal again. More than happy to diversify and entertain owning other legendary guitars in future too, but the itch to own a real Gibson Les Paul is now greater than ever. Time to start saving!

Just some dirty tones from my new Artist LP60 plugged straight into the Marshall, all knobs at 12, no reverb, no pedals.