My 2001 Gibson Les Paul standard with new bareknuckle pickups

It’s been a busy for months at CGL. In the past few months I have moved house as well as welcomed my second daughter into the world! Along with this lessons have been very busy and I have been booked up with function gigs now that the wedding season is in full swing hence very little on the posting front.

Just to get things started I wanted to share a guitar I bought a few months back. my 2001 Gibson les Paul Standard in Honey burst. I have just had the original pickups removed and replaced with Bareknuckle mule pickups that are supposed to be a very close representation of the early PAF pickups used in Les Pauls, the other great thing about these pickups is that they were made in Cornwall! I had the pickups installed by Julyan Wallis AKA ‘The guitar doctor’, he also fitted 2 x 500k push-push pots allowing the humbuckers to be split, a new swichcraft output jack and WD oil and paper capacitors for the tone pots. It really is a beast and is like a new guitar with a beautiful vintage voice.

I post a video over the next couple of weeks showcasing the changes.

Over and out

Shell Pink Fender MIJ 62 reissue made in 1996

I wanted to share one of my new guitars with you, its a 1996 Fender 62 reissue made in Japan in a rare shell pink colour, this is the 50th anniversery model. I bought this of a fellow Cornishman now living in Scotland after seeing it on eBay, I contacted the seller and after lots of talking we agreed on a fair price. The guitar is pretty special and still very new to me, I currently have asked the local guitar doctor Julyan Wallis to give it a nice set up and install some Fender custom shop 69 pickups in it. Once its back I will report with a video showing how the guitar plays as well as the pickups

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Joe Trohman Squier artist series Telecaster review

It’s been a while since I have put anything on the CGL blog about the new gear I have been bought and sold lately. One of my latest purchases is the Squier Joe Trohman Telecaster. As you can see by the pictures, this is no ordinary Telecaster. It is some where between a Telecaster, Stratocaster and Les Paul. So lets get going.

Firstly, I had never heard of Joe Trohman or this guitar from the Squier artist series before until I saw it in a sale advert. The thing that grabbed my attention was the Tele body with the Strat neck and head! This is the second of the new higher tier Squier guitars I have bought and I have been blown away the quality and price of these instruments.

So here are some of the specs: As I mentioned the guitar is from Squier’s ‘artist series’. It is an alder body in 2-tone sunburst with a polyester finish very smooth and slick looking. The neck is a C shape maple with a rosewood fretboard, as you may know most telecasters have a maple fretboard. It has a 12″ radius fretboard, with 22 jumbo frets that are great for bends, very smooth. One of the many great visual aspects of this guitar is the fender 60’s style large Stratocaster headstock; it’s definitely not something you see every day. The neck has a vintage tint lacquer, which looks and feels incredible. The guitar came out of the box with a really good setup, super low action with gauge 9 strings on which I quickly changed over to gauge 10’s. The bridge on the guitar is a standard Stratocaster hard tail style bridge, seems good so far.

Telecasters traditionally have two single coil pickups and a three-way selector. This Tele is a HSH Tele, meaning it has two humbuckers with a single coil pickup in-between them. It has a rotary 5-way switch, disguised as one of the volume knobs. The pickup selector on the shoulder of the guitar that you may think is the pickup selector is actually a kill switch, allowing you to get some of those Tom Morrelo (Rage Against The Machine) sounds going. One of my only niggles with the guitar is the pickup selector is pretty stiff, I imagine in a gigging situation this would be a little hard to change quickly. I have just ordered a small chicken head knob to see if this makes it a little easier.

Now on the good stuff, the pickup positions:

Pos. 1: Bridge Pickup.
Pos. 2: Bridge and Middle Pickups.
Pos. 3: Neck and Bridge Pickup.
Pos. 4: Neck and Middle Pickup.
Pos. 5: Neck Pickup.

This gives you a huge range of tonal options, it’s more versatile then any other guitar I own. The stock pickups are already really good, although I am already tempted to upgrade them to make this guitar into a real beast.

Overall as you can tell I am pleased with my purchase. I think a lot of people are obsessed with brands in the guitar world these days and forget that the majority of a guitar player’s sound is in the hands. We really are spoilt for choice when it comes to gear. I am definitely guilty of getting caught up in the brand buying and I always want to try new products in the hope of finding something that’s going to sound better. It can become an expensive hobby. But this Squier really shows that you don’t have to spend a fortune to get a well-made guitar. The new higher tier Squiers are really up there with the ‘made in Mexico’ Fenders, I can honestly say that as I currently own two ‘made in Mexico’ Fenders myself. It’s exciting times with gear like this being made at an affordable price. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more of the new Squier range and I suggest you do too.

Xotic EP Booster review – Cornwall Guitar Lessons

I have continued my pedal buying and selling obsession over the last few weeks in search of my perfect combination of pedals! My latest is the Xotic EP booster.

I have previously used a MXR micro amp and Boss GE-7 as the main boost pedal on my board, both of which are amazing but I was never 100% happy with them. After several recommendations and great online reviews I finally decided to buy this pedal. It took me around two weeks to find a shop that actually sells them in the UK, turns out these boutique pedals are hugely popular and sell out very quickly. When it arrived I definitely wasn’t disappointed with the wait.

The EP booster circuit is said to be based on the famous Maestro EP-3 Echoplex made famous by players like Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry, Jimmy page and Eddie Van Halen (the list goes on). At first glance it’s quite surprising how small this pedal is, making it perfect for pedal boards of all sizes. The pedal is extremely simple, stomp on the switch to get a clean volume boost, when stomping the switch a bright blue LED will light up, stomp on it again to switch it off. There is one single knob that controls the amount of boost you have, and it goes stupidly loud without affecting the tone of your guitar. In fact the pedal seems to round of your tone and make it seem thicker in some way, it’s very hard to describe exactly what it’s doing….but when using this pedal the original frequencies in my guitar sound that are pleasing seem to shine through even more. If the pedal wasn’t so expensive I would have two of them on my board.

The tonal options for this pedal are revealed once you remove the back plate of the pedal. There are two dipswitches, which allow you to change the EQ of the pedal. After messing about with all the variations possible I currently have mine set to the default settings. I am currently using the pedal after my drive pedals on my board rather then before them. I have tried it both ways but do prefer it after.

The only down side to this pedal is that you can only mess about with the EQ options by removing the back plate, it would be great if these switches were on the front of the pedal.

Overall I would say this is a must have pedal. It is simple yet extremely effective. It is a boutique pedal and therefore has the price tag that goes with it, but if you are willing to part with the cash you will not be disappointed.

Fuzz Face Mini – FFM3 – Jimi Hendrix model guitar pedal

I have been purchasing some new guitar pedals to use in some of the guitar lessons in Camborne and Truro and at gigs. The FFM3 has been the biggest surprise of them all. The pedal is just like the old Dunlop fuzz face JFH1 but its a lot smaller making it very pedal board friendly. It’s as simple as pedals come, we have a volume control and a fuzz control. Simply turn the dials clockwise for more volume or fuzz. With the fuzz turned down low you can get some really nice wooly distorted sounds and on full you create some of the filthiest fuzz sounds known to man! I can tell this is going to be a pedal I will be using for a long time to come, go and check them out.

Squier P bass – Affinity series

I have recently purchased a new bass to add to my guitar collection! I have been playing a Legend P bass clone for the past 13 years, which sounds and feels great, but it is in need of some TLC. I was amazed at the feel and tone you can get from the affinity series P bass, esspesially as many see this to be a cheap Budget bass guitar.
The body is fairly hefty in weight and immediately recognisable. The guitar is fit with a standard split coil pick up, and to me it doesn’t sound far of a that of a real Fender. I would definitely recommend one of these bass guitars to anybody looking to take up the bass, its great fun.

Fender CP-100

This is my latest acoustic guitar! I purchased this lovely parlour guitar in GAK in Brighton. Apart from the sound, the main attraction for me was the size of the guitar and the beautiful sunburst finish. These guitar cost around £130 – £140 brand new! a brilliant guitar for a beginner or experienced play.

Fender Mexican Fat Strat

I bought this in year 2000 from Modern music in Truro. It was my first Fender guitar, I have used it at pretty much ever one of my gigs since the age of 14! lots of signs of wear and tear these days but such a versatile instrument

Fender American Stratocaster – 1988

Here is another guitar i bought second hand it Brighton! it was originally purchased in France in 1988 and then had hardly been played since. It had a few dings on the body but the frets were as good as new. This is probably my favourite guitar, it sounds, feels and looks great.

Gretsch Electromatic

My Gretsch Electromatic, i bought this in Brighton second hand in near perfect condition, sounds great and has a lovely neck