James May and the Strat...

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

Guardian article said "a cheap japanese copy", though that could still mean an early JV worth a grand or so…

I've never seen a JV actually sell for anything like that. £600-£700 tops.

They're nice guitars, but no longer the only game in town for that sort of quality at that sort of price. The recent Japanese and Mexican reissues are at least as good and actually say Fender on them too.

ESBlonde

Not enough detail on the assembly of the Colt for my liking, where did the magneto get mentioned and why did the exhaust not get fitted (I suspect the later becuase the old one was fairly well oxidised on there).
For the phone he pulled the old 'and heres one assembled earlier (and not by him I noted). I've got one of those fancy split screwdrivers too so that might make me a geek, yes I'm sure it does. Why this week I bought a rolling tool chest (machine mart -VAT free offer) to house some of my overflowing tool collection, I have a desk job so these are all hobby things!

Neil

Watched the Suffolk Colt episode last night, bit of a bore fest TBH.

I like boring bloke stuff as much as anybody but the way he pretended to put it all together....

He said it took him 37 minutes or something to fit the valves, train and tappets but we never actually saw it and for somebody who is supposed to be a motor whizz he was quite surprised when the gudgeon pin didn't slip right in as he explained to us even though anybody who has worked on engines knows they usually have to be tapped in.

Also that socket on a screwdriver thing would never have got enough torque to do up some of those bolts IMO.

Wouldn't have hurt to put some oil in the sump before he started it too.

I daresay there will be a bit of criticism over his skills at putting a Strat together too!

thisisguitar

underdog said:

I have one of those screw drivers, if memory serves me correctly @thisisguitar left it at my house many years ago after fixing an amp for me. Still got it 20 years on, he won't getting it back now

I can't remember having one... and if I did it was lifted from my father. In which case it's fine ;-)

GuyBoden

Enjoyed the 1950's Telephone reassembly too, classic phone design, he "offered up" the parts with genuine interest and additional pleasant banter...............

fretfinder

Recording now in two rooms, just in case. I'm watching the footie.

octatonic

He is a soldering muppet.

underdog

thisisguitar;1028633" said:

underdog said:

I have one of those screw drivers, if memory serves me correctly @thisisguitar left it at my house many years ago after fixing an amp for me. Still got it 20 years on, he won't getting it back now





I can't remember having one... and if I did it was lifted from my father. In which case it's fine ;-)

I'm pretty sure it's yours (or your old man's) you're one of the few who I didn't have panic about what you'd left at my house man

WezV

5 hours????

I expected real time in a 30minute show

octatonic

WezV said:

5 hours????

I expected real time in a 30minute show

If you've never one it before then I can see how it would take a while.

The second time would take 30 mins.

impmann

I did learn something though... The JIS screw/screwdriver. Never knew that.

WezV

Fair enough, I accept an hour as reasonable for a newbie. For reassembling a guitar at least.

I may be biased, I did my first strat rebuild at 14

not_the_dj

Think I enjoyed the phone one more, not knowing much about the insides of an old phone.

richardhomer

May be we should all dismantle our Strats completely and have a timed challenge as to how soon we can reassemble them?

To be fair, I know Strats inside out and back to front - as I'm sure many of us do - but May presumably didn't? For a casual viewer, I'm sure they'd have gained some understanding of how a Strat works, by watching the show.

Johnnyseven

The guy playing the guitar at the end of the programme used to be my go to guy for anp and guitar repairs, Malcolm Hine is his name - he was based on Edmonton.

olafgarten

He cut the string before inserting it into the tuner... that's very risky.

octatonic

olafgarten said:

He cut the string before inserting it into the tuner... that's very risky.

Not really.

WezV

olafgarten;1029163" said:

He cut the string before inserting it into the tuner... that's very risky.

My wife said the same.

Totally correct way to string split post tuners

ICBM

It's only risky if you cut it too short! Otherwise it's the right way to do it.

I haven't watched the programme yet (just back from band practice), but I'll iPlayer it.

richardhomer

ICBM;1029169" said:

(just back from band practice), but I'll iPlayer it.

'Rehearsal'