Mick's Strat Journey

Zoolooter

Please, someone just compare Lollar, Klien, and a few others in the same guitar. And just bloody tell us their opinion.

terada

I reckon he should go back to the one he had as a kid. 

(preferably stick a neck on it first)

impmann

Just stick a set a set of Mojos in blue (pref the set I have in my jap Squier with A5 and A3 magnets for wound vs thin strings - obv not my personal set) and be done with it. The *sound* of it is about as good as a Strat gets.

Want the “vibe”, “Mojo” or any BS associated with vintage that can’t be quantified, qualified or measured (other than in pound notes)? Carry on... but don’t try telling anyone that you can only get that sound from such an instrument.

Seriously? This thread and this ‘episode’ shows all that’s broken with the guitar market and guitar thinking right now.

shaunm

impmann said:

Just stick a set a set of Mojos in blue (pref the set I have in my jap Squier with A5 and A3 magnets for wound vs thin strings - obv not my personal set) and be done with it. The *sound* of it is about as good as a Strat gets.

Want the “vibe”, “Mojo” or any BS associated with vintage that can’t be quantified, qualified or measured (other than in pound notes)? Carry on... but don’t try telling anyone that you can only get that sound from such an instrument.

Seriously? This thread and this ‘episode’ shows all that’s broken with the guitar market and guitar thinking right now.

I feel quite differently, I feel that it shows what’s interesting about the guitar market. Not all of us feel the way Mick feels in that we have to chase something impossible. However I think most guitarists care far more for their tone than will ever make a difference to any listener. That’s the fun part of our hobby to me, tone chasing. I love playing and a lot of the time I pick up a guitar to play it’s to see what sounds I can get. 

If you put Red Wing boots into YouTube there are 100’s of comparison videos regarding one brand of footwear. It’s just where some people passions are. 

Its not broken IMHO it’s just whatever makes you happy about your hobby.

vasselmeyer

I quite enjoyed the sheer geekery of comparing four identical sounding guitars. I didn't watch it, just had it playing in another tab. I heard tiny differences but that could just be down to how they were played.

You can be damn sure if I played almost any non-guitarist some AC/DC and some SRV they'd just say "It's an electric guitar". Obsessing over miniscule differences is fun as long as it makes you happy and you can afford it.

richardhomer

vasselmeyer said:

Obsessing over miniscule differences is fun as long as it makes you happy and you can afford it.

I broadly agree - but the difficult part is ‘happy’. Effectively people like Mick (who seems like a decent bloke - this is in no way meant as a criticism of him on a personal level) seem to live with constant dissatisfaction. There’ll always be ‘something’ that will improve things. If you listen to recordings that are considered to contain the ‘benchmark’ guitar sounds (most of which are no later than 1980 - and often much earlier) - I simply don’t accept much thought went into them. A matter of plug in, turn the knobs on the amp until you like the sound - and play.

Having good instruments is a great privilege - but I’d far rather just play them when I have time, than agonise over minutiae.  

munckee

munckee said:

pmg said:

I found this mind numblingly boring and turned it off part way through

To be fair I have never got through a whole pedal show episiode I'm not into any specific pedal question enough for and hour and a half of it.

Haven't watched this one yet but agree with much of the consensus that Mick is preferable to Dan to watch, although often Mick is reacting to Dan's knowledge so they probably need both.

Have now watched it and made it to the end. Firstly backs up my theory that Dan is a bit grating, plus I think I'm more into guitars than pedals.  Its my level of nerdy researching stuff I think its an interesting project.

grappagreen

Not strictly on topic but imagine how much better the average level of guitar playing would be if we avoided all of this (fun) baggage and actually focused on getting better at playing/improving our musicianship etc.

You don't see saxophonists debating the merits of the tonal impact of abalone keys versus ebony (I'm making this up btw) They just buy a instrument and get on with it until they buy a better instrument (and then get on with it again).

I appreciate that this is a big part of the 'hobby' for some of us and it's great fun but I do think we waste an inordinate amount of time diverting ourselves away from what most of us would really want to be..

Si

munckee

grappagreen said:

Not strictly on topic but imagine how much better the average level of guitar playing would be if we avoided all of this (fun) baggage and actually focused on getting better at playing/improving our musicianship etc.

You don't see saxophonists debating the merits of the tonal impact of abalone keys versus ebony (I'm making this up btw) They just buy a instrument and get on with it until they buy a better instrument (and then get on with it again).

I appreciate that this is a big part of the 'hobby' for some of us and it's great fun but I do think we waste an inordinate amount of time diverting ourselves away from what most of us would really want to be..

Si

You best fetch your coat son : )

prlgmnr

grappagreen said:

You don't see saxophonists debating the merits of the tonal impact of abalone keys versus ebony (I'm making this up btw) They just buy a instrument and get on with it until they buy a better instrument (and then get on with it again).

Not spent much time on Saxontheweb.net have you?

grappagreen

No and nor do I want to. I can't afford my guitar habit let alone developing a Sax one!

terada

prlgmnr said:

grappagreen said:

You don't see saxophonists debating the merits of the tonal impact of abalone keys versus ebony (I'm making this up btw) They just buy a instrument and get on with it until they buy a better instrument (and then get on with it again).

Not spent much time on Saxontheweb.net have you?

What an insight. Endless threads asking the same question, mysterious phrases I don't understand, banging on and on about the benefits or problems of tiny little things, arguing over seemingly nothing.

Now I know what its like for non guitarists to go on thefretboard.   

dindude

impmann said:

Just stick a set a set of Mojos in blue (pref the set I have in my jap Squier with A5 and A3 magnets for wound vs thin strings - obv not my personal set) and be done with it. The *sound* of it is about as good as a Strat gets.

Want the “vibe”, “Mojo” or any BS associated with vintage that can’t be quantified, qualified or measured (other than in pound notes)? Carry on... but don’t try telling anyone that you can only get that sound from such an instrument.

Seriously? This thread and this ‘episode’ shows all that’s broken with the guitar market and guitar thinking right now.

Yet you're happy to extol the virtues of handwound pickups with mixed alnico magnets giving you the sound you want - what was wrong with your Squier as it was?, and why is relevant that it's a Japanese one?

As much bullshit in your post as any other, you just don't see it outside of your little world.

roberty

vasselmeyer said:

I quite enjoyed the sheer geekery of comparing four identical sounding guitars. I didn't watch it, just had it playing in another tab. I heard tiny differences but that could just be down to how they were played.

You can be damn sure if I played almost any non-guitarist some AC/DC and some SRV they'd just say "It's an electric guitar". Obsessing over miniscule differences is fun as long as it makes you happy and you can afford it.

The horn players in a ska band I dep in say all electric guitars sound the same to them. They notice how it's played though

Musicman20

To be honest I think even my mood and where I am listening to my guitars changes how much I like the tone. Plus combine that with ear fatigue! 

impmann

dindude said:

impmann said:

Just stick a set a set of Mojos in blue (pref the set I have in my jap Squier with A5 and A3 magnets for wound vs thin strings - obv not my personal set) and be done with it. The *sound* of it is about as good as a Strat gets.

Want the “vibe”, “Mojo” or any BS associated with vintage that can’t be quantified, qualified or measured (other than in pound notes)? Carry on... but don’t try telling anyone that you can only get that sound from such an instrument.

Seriously? This thread and this ‘episode’ shows all that’s broken with the guitar market and guitar thinking right now.

Yet you're happy to extol the virtues of handwound pickups with mixed alnico magnets giving you the sound you want - what was wrong with your Squier as it was?, and why is relevant that it's a Japanese one?

As much bullshit in your post as any other, you just don't see it outside of your little world.

Yes I am happy to extol the virtues of those pickups. Because the original ceramic magnet pickups weren’t very good - by anyone’s measure. But they served me well for some years before I got something better. I did a lot of chasing until I bought these - it’s had many different sets of pickups and now that journey is complete.

No bullshit in my post. None at all, in fact. Some opinion, granted, but no bullshit.

clarkefan

Watched the second half and feeling I was a bit harsh in previous post.  Even lifting other people's runs verbatim he's clearly a thousand times the player I'll ever be.

Also, for whatever reason those vintage Strats sounded bloody great to my ears, and I'm not a "Strat guy".  All he needs to do is sell some of his other gear, score the dream guitar, then build up again.  Good luck to him.

Jez6345789

I thought it was all good guitar geekery as already said hard crowd to please here Mick has always worn his influences on his sleeve and the same with a lot of us here knocking out the same old tunes down the dog and duck takes its toll. 

On the other hand you have JBo and its taken him 20 odd years of serious  Albums 1000's of gigs to start to shake his heres one in the style of. 

As for the guitars I quite like his blue one sounds stratty, the Mayer and the PRS all sounded fine, although the Silver Sky clinched it on the more driven stuff for me  and less so on the cleans.

I really ponder the whole vintage thing with certain guitars there is definitely something. I also ponder how after all this measuring and reissuing they still can't  capture lighning in a bottle.

Early on they visited a guy with a nice vintage collection and the difference with their own guitar v similar vintage examples was telling.  In fact the 59 Broadcaster they had in that show, not a guitar I would think twice of owning but shit you could knock out pretty much any rock tune on that and sound a million dollars. 

Hey ho

See how the upgrades go but he will be finding a way to get a vintage Strat.  LOL

Matt_McG

I quite liked it, and I've had a good moan about TPS episodes in the past. I do agree that he, Mick, is an amazingly limited player, in terms of what he plays on TPS. Although I don't doubt he's a far better player than me, it's just the narrowness of his musical references that's limiting.

Interestingly, to me, on many of the sounds/clips, I preferred the Macmull, although I agree about the appearance.

Winny_Pooh

FWIW, I'm quite influenced by Eric Johnson and his distorted tone. But I realised long ago that it's hard work getting that sound with a strat bridge pickup and gave up. Nowadays for that sound I play a rosewood Music Man with a vintage style PAF and it does what I like through a td-x and plexi. More importantly, I went through a tunnel and came out the other side with my own musical style and taste, none of which is attached to traditional gear.

Now Mick, no offense to him, Is vanilla. He's happy to imitate and his choice of guitars speak of a relatively narrow musical focus. So while I hope he finds what he's after, I just have an impulse to shake him and tell him to swear off strats and just buy a Huber, Koll, Danelectro, whatever and just find his mojo.