Ziggy Played Guitar ....

[Slinger]

I'm going to preach caution again. Plan upgrades carefully, or you'll end up with nice hardware attached to what are very average guitars. You can only enhance a lot of cheap guitars to a certain stage, and that's the stage where you relaise you've spent damn near as much as a new guitar.on something half as good.

Congrats on managing the pickup transplant, though. I've done a couple of those myself, and they can (depending on the routing/switching) get quite fiddly

 

[Fretless]

These are low-cost Phrilam pickups (€16 the pair). I was more interested in just doing the mod than in slamming in something expensive. I thought these would suit the quality of the headless Volgoa.

I'm very much in a budget-level mode, just seeing what is possible for the minimum outlay - very much how I've also approached Hifi in recent years.

I will never be a great guitar player, probably never even a good one. The quality of the gear I am acquiring is very much orientated towards learning and experiencing.

 

[Slinger]

My beautiful little Squier Jaguar Short Scale bass is a case in point. I paid €245 for it in 2015, and it was the perfect vehicle for modding. I added a new high-mass gold Gotoh bridge, new gold tuners, gold string trees, gold control knobs, a gold "ashtray", and a pearl scratch plate. and then a €138 pair of Seymour Duncan SPB-2/SJB-2bpickups. Lastly, I got personalised (with my signature) block inlays for the neck to cover the original dot markers. The addons literally did cost me as much as the original bass, but I succeeded in turning it into a superb instrument, and defy anyone to find a better all-round short-scale bass for less than the € 500 it ended up costing me.

 

[TheMarlin]

I'm going to preach caution again. Plan upgrades carefully, or you'll end up with nice hardware attached to what are very average guitars. You can only enhance a lot of cheap guitars to a certain stage, and that's the stage where you relaise you've spent damn near as much as a new guitar.on something half as good.

Congrats on managing the pickup transplant, though. I've done a couple of those myself, and they can (depending on the routing/switching) get quite fiddly

agreed. Bolting upgrades to guitars ads zero value should you decided to sell later.
If you’re upgrading a guitar that may not be a ‘forever guitar’, keep the original parts. Restore to factory, then sell. And sell upgrades separately.

I admire your commitment to budget upgrades, but the sound quality from a £16 pickup will be about the same as what came on the guitar, just a different flavour of ‘meh’.

Pickups are tbe heart of a guitar, the voice. it’s absolutely worth having a stronger budget for pickups.

 

[Fretless]

Here's a vid of someone installing similar pickups to mine. Phrilam are also marketed under the name Fleor and are clones of Seymour Duncan designs.

I'm very happy with the sonic upgrade but mainly chuffed that it worked as a first attempt.

 

[Fretless]

Today's post brought in a couple of pedals from AliExpress, the most intriguing being a Chinese copy of the legendary Klon Centaur overdrive.

Behringer have also produced a version of this and were sued by the designer for breach of copyright. Genuine examples of the Centaur fetch thousands on Ebay.

Apparently, what I have received is a Klon Clone, handmade in China following the original design and specs and I paid €20 for it.

Have fired it up briefly this afternoon (busy weekend) and it sounds quite extraordinarily open and clear, the overdrive effect being very transparent.

 

[Fretless]

Fun with pedals:

The pocket-money prices of these gives me the chance to explore tones and effects in a painless way. There are loads of shootouts and reviews on YouTube which give an idea of what is good (or not) and bargain-hunting on Ali becomes a game!

From L-R:

Unnamed Analog Chorus: this line is also marketed under names like Kmise and Saphue. The absolute cheapest pedals on Ali. Ridiculous!
This has a pleasant, light chorus effect that I like better than my old Boss pedal, really nice 12-string jangle. Only drawback is a massive 'clunk' through the speaker when it is activated. Put that on a loop and it became an interesting rhythm track.

Rowin Phaser: a nice, useable effect.

Vivlex Slow Hand: probably rebranded Rowin - there are several different brand names that sell identical pedals: VSN, Iset, Amuzik.
Fantastic 'swell' effect for Ambient sounds. Saves me having to do it all with the Volume pedal. Love this!

Rowin Dumbler: fine little Overdrive with a compressed, controlled sound. Nice with E-Bow.

Iset Sandwich Compressor: great pedal that I've seen compared to far more expensive models.

Anyway, I'm having fun, without hurting my wallet!

 

[Slinger]

Having fun is what it's all about.

 

[Fretless]

Why sit inside when you can play guitar outside?

The Mooer GE-100 multi-effect is a basic but feature-packed little device. Hell - it even runs on batteries!

It holds a complete range of effects and things like a tuner, looper, drums and even practice scales and guitar lessons.

Just had a blast through 80(!) preset settings, some lovely, some very noisy and some downright weird. Along with my Chi-Bow and a cheapo wireless link.

Have been planning this since I spotted the unit on sale and it's turned out perfectly.

 

[Fretless]

I think I'm almost there, the budget Ambient pedalboard is taking final form with an essential puzzle-piece fitting into place:



The Sonicake Levitate is a combined Delay / Reverb pedal that sits in-between the Line6 DL4 and M-vave Elemental to form a trio of echo units.

The Levitate has a clear, slightly warm presentation that suits me fine. The reverb is straightforward but fully adjustable and one of the foot switches allows you to manually set the trail-off length.

The simplicity of this pedal, along with it's excellent sound, make it a joy to use.

 

[TheMarlin]

Next move for @Fretless

 

[TheMarlin]

£159 at Thomann UK

https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_te_90flt_vw_deluxe_series.htm

I decided to treat myself to one. Should be here for the weekend

 

[Fretless]

Interested to hear what you think of it.

 

[TheMarlin]

Interested to hear what you think of it.

Well, you said it had a chubby neck, and thats quite rare on a modern budget guitar, that plus Filtertrons, and cheap as chips - couldn’t resist.

I love a chubby neck, so much so I’ve grown my own.

 

[Fretless]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SONICAKE-Digital-Reverb-Effects-Levitate/dp/B0BTRWWDCJ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa?crid=3RAPJLKYL1XES&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.H9mHrg1e_WhiAex86e8TNqFbxwUfk-37Kgqhi6blGmtZcEuwwcrIf8CZlx2TUQz97vOVjPYa0dX4Mh-kPV_jC0O8XFt42cOnE2LY5j9heB9L_9XE-umyfwh0jh9Fj9lgydsF7rZZ962xhm6ivKgon8Oy6-Jz78eR-WoGewyMX2iUavbll6GGaQ2bepzcYnJrwjJUdbZpiYW1IMDTSO0qgw.-t1XeCexkysCVq7SgmmMMEK-9rVBxSUc9-GcZrLzACc&dib_tag=se&keywords=sonicake+pedal&qid=1751953427&sprefix=sonicake,aps,128&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9zZWFyY2hfYXRm&psc=1



The absolutely wonderful Sonicake Levitate is temporarily heavily discounted on Amazon. This is a combined Delay-Reverb unit that is simple to use and has excellent sound quality.

I've just ordered the Warped Dimension multi-modulation pedal from the same series.

 

[Fretless]

I wanted a Telecaster - and I've got one!

The Harley Benton TE62 was what I looked at first but delivery times were months. So this is an AliExpress 'replica' Tele that cost €120, including postage, packing and import taxes.

The photo doesn't do it justice as the finish is a truly luscious metallic blue. Visually these Chinese guitars are perfect and my recent experience had set my expectations at low-ish but this guitar is a pleasant surprise.

The Telecaster design is basically the Land-Rover of the guitar world; simple, rugged assembly and easy to maintain. The woodwork is all computer-cut, the neck is nicely finished and fretwork is up to Harley Benton standard. This could even come from the same factory.

Hardware is basic but works fine - in fact I quite like the clear-sounding pickups. And I'm now not afraid to mess about with setup and altering things, so this might become a 'mod' project.

I already have a coloured pickguard ready and will be installing that with a new set of strings and a bone nut sometime very soon.

What I have seen are pre-wired control panels with higher-grade pots - that might be fun later if I decide to upgrade the pickups.

Even with (yucky) stock strings and no setup this Telecaster just 'sings'; the balance is excellent it's quite lightweight and the neck is really nice. I found myself immediately rocking-out and doing things I haven't done before. This feels like it is going to be a fun guitar to play.

And it looks sooooo cool!

This IS going to be my last guitar purchase for now. There are major changes in my situation on the horizon and music might have to take a backseat. But there are a couple more pedals still on the way.

"Keep on rockin' in the Free World."

 

[Slinger]

Buying guitars from AliExpress is a complete lottery; all Chibsons and Fendahs are NOT created equal. I'm glad you got a winning ticket.

 

[TheMarlin]

Buying guitars from AliExpress is a complete lottery; all Chibsons and Fendahs are NOT created equal. I'm glad you got a winning ticket.

Absolutely. They’re very difficult to sell down the line too. The best way to sell it is to sand off the brand name. Leave it on, and it can open a world of pain.

I’m glad you got a good one, but for every success story, I’ve heard a dozen horror stories.

Enjoy.

 

[Fretless]

A serious look at the Chi-Tele has revealed a couple of shortcomings - but what do you expect for so little money? And it gives me a good opportunity to practice my guitar-maintenance skills.

New strings: the stock ones weren't that awful but I have come to like the Daddario Regular Lights, so a set of those went on.

This gave me a chance to take the scratch plate off and have a look underneath. The specs claimed a mahogany body but it feels too light for that. The bare wood was visible by the neck joint and the pale colour indicates something like Ash. Solid wood though, not a composite.

The basic design has the neck pickup mounted in the plate which makes for easy height adjustment. Also setting the string action in the 'Ashtray' bridge is a doddle.

BUT! Problem 1 is a very cheap plastic nut.



This raises the strings above the frets at the headstock end of the neck. I believe that it is wrongly installed as the thicker strings ought to be on the higher side as they need more space to vibrate.

Installing a new one does not appear to be very difficult and Bone nuts are regarded as giving a richer tone than plastic.

With the action lowered a bit, then 'fret-buzz' indicated that the neck wasn't straight; time for some truss-rod tweaking. Looking along the side of the neck, I could see that it was bowed slightly away from the straight line of the strings. Tightening the rod in the neck should straighten it.

This was a bit of a struggle as the top of the rod at the headstock was almost impossible to get an Allen Key into and required some force. Finally I got it to a point where the buzzing was eradicated and the strings were free of the frets.



I had ordered an extra scratch plate in blue, but it doesn't quite fit around the neck joint and the screw holes don't match. Will keep the original white one on for now.

Possible plans are: putting a new nut in, then maybe changing the pots and pickups with the blue pickguard. We'll see.

For now, I'm still very happy with the feel and playability of this ultra-cheap Telecaster which is also giving me more insight into the mechanical side of guitars.

 

[TheMarlin]

My Harley Benton tele arrived.

Flippin’ Heck, it was beautifully packaged (better than many Gibson), arrived unmarked, and STILL IN TUNE!!!

The wood grain under tbe paintwork is terrific. I can’t find a flaw anywhere. Even the actions is most agreeable.
The strings are 9’s or 10’s, which feel like wet spaghetti under my fingers. I’ll treat it to a proper luthier setup with a proper set of 11’s.

First thoughts, I might shim the neck angle and change the bridge, so I can nail a Bigsby onto it (I am cursed to love Bigsby’s), and at some point in tbe future, I’ll take tbe pickups out and send to OilCityPickups for a 50’s style rebuild (rewire, changed magnets, 1950’s hot), but for now, it’s perfectly lovely

Well impressed





I could only get one photo to load, so more here:

https://imgur.com/a/skdg2wp