Between The Licks

Tell us about your guitar.

What string gauge do you use? How many springs do you have in the back of your guitar (if any)? What modifications have you made?

Don't just say what you use though, tell us why. I'll go first!

I have an American Standard Fender Stratocaster. I love it's tone and playability.
I use .012" - .056" strings. The thicker the strings the harder the guitar becomes to play. But, what you lose in playability you gain in great tone (you build up the playability after a while anyway. My view on strings is "The thicker the better".
I have 5 springs in the back of my guitar instead of the standard three to give my guitar a more reliable tremolo.
My guitar has a sunburst finish and came with a white pickguard but I changed the pickguard over for a red tortoise shell pickguard.
In the future, once my frets have worn down and need replacing, I plan on having bass frets put on (just like Stevie). This is so it makes it easier to bend.

My ESP F-2E is stock still with stock springs. I'm getting ready to change to DR Dimebag's 09-42s and looking for maybe a pick up change. Maybe some Bare Knuckle pick ups. Floyd Rose is stock w/3 springs (I think)

My Dean Vendetta 7 string is stock and will probably stay that way. I'm getting ready to try some Kerly Sinister 10-56 strings on it.

I just ordered a custom 7 string
Zebra wood arch top body
Wenge neck w/Ebony fingerboard
Bare Knuckle War Pig pick ups 1 volume 1 tone w/coil tapping/ 3 way toggle
Not sure on strings for it yet, I will experiment with my Dean before I decide on that. Besides, I have about a 6-9 month wait until the guitar is finished anyway. Can't wait for that to come.

I am sure a couple of you guys have seen my guitar on the videos. Some love it, some hate it. Personally, I love it (surprise) and I am waiting for it to get that "worn in" look that I love in guitars. It will probably take years because I don't wanna purposefully damage it....

Let's outline what it is, and how I put it together:

The neck is from a red 50's reissue Mex strat (surprisingly, a very, very nice model, pick one up cheap cheap). Has the nice amber look to it, and a great varnish over it. Feels smoooooth. Most of the hardware is from a surf green 50's reissue Mex strat (I like them...).

The p/u's are Seymour Duncan, a Jazz in the neck and a JB in the bridge. JB is okay.... might try something else someday. Maybe a Gibson '59 or something.

The body is a Mighty Mite body, ash. I sanded it like a fiend, filled it and dyed it will an orangish color first. I then taped off the flame section and sprayed with white dyed nitro a couple times. Let it dry, took off the tape and covered it all with transparent nitro. Some super fine sanding, and then some 3M polish with a polish wheel. Kinda got carried away on the top edge, overpolished and there was too much heat, but that is me nit-picking.

I used .11's Slinky's, I like em. 4 springs in the back because I gave one to a student. Never use whammy anyways...

I play an acoustic/electric Takamine EG512CFG. I'm still a pretty new player, so I don't have a lot of comments about what's good or bad about it. Personally, I really like the sound of it. As far as strings, I use Ernie Ball Earthwoods.

I also have some real cheap electric bass that I play. It sounds ok, but is mainly a big peice. I have Flea Sig Bass Boomers on it, which helps the sound out a bit. I probably just need to get the action adjusted or the fretboard worked on, but I don't play it enough to really care.

Yes, the ESP now has the Bare Knuckle Nailbombs in it. Night and day difference in tone. I have also since added to my collection an Ibanez RGA121 natural finish. It is currently waiting for some Bare Knuckle Painkillers to go into it.

i prefer a strat but at the moment im using a bc rich mockingbird with stock humbuckers and custom light ernie ball stainless steel strings. the stainless steel adds a nice metallic sound to the strings and the light gauge brings out the treble in the tone, but the humbuckers kind of counteract that but it gives it a nice sound for the price. i only paid like 200 bucks for it but its lasted damn well through 4 or 5 years of hard practice. i want an olympic white strat though. i had an affinity strat for a while and it was way easier to play than the mockingbird. it seemed like i progressed faster or something when i played it. maybe not but im considering trading my current guitar for a new strat if possible.

I only started playing a year ago, my first guitar is a Fender Squire Strat, i know quite low down the range but for a starter guitar its brilliant, i got it second hand from a car boot with a amp, case, etc, for £60, so a very good deal as well.

During the year i've been playing i've made changes, allowed the whammy bar to bend up and down, it was locked off when i got it, couldnt move it at all, string wise I started on Rotosound Pink .09's then after a few months moved up onto Rotosound Yellows .10's And the difference in tone, and the feel of the string were for me greatly improved, it is true simple things make a big difference.

As for springs on the tremlo, that was a embarrsing story when i took it to a guitar shop and asked them to look at it, when someone else told me it was broken in the back. I only possess the 3 that came with it.

Currently i'm looking at upgrading my guitar, either by adding custom parts, or getting a new one, so if anyone can give me any advice on a good guitar to get for about £200 that would be very much appericated.

Wow, lots of strat folks in here, heh. Just got mine a week or so ago for $100, '94 american standerd strat. only reason it was affordible was becuse it's previous owner (don't ask me why) painted it, namely green stripes and pink stars

it's getting a lot of tender loving sanding and a paint job. The guitar is easy enough to play (lot easier then an acustic for me, dunno why), but sounds a but tinny though the RMS mini amp I bough for it (anyone know a fix for that, don't have the room for a bigger amp really at the moment.)

Fender A. S. strat.:
pickups tock 3-pickup (wish they made humbuckers that fit without a nightmare)
strings: no idea, they're older I think, will replace them when the guitar gets a new look
amp: RMS mini amp (one of the little belt clip on ones)

honestly, I should add a pic onto this post, yall would get a chuckle outta it.

now, off to find a lesson on the major scale pattern, all of the ones I've found assume you know it...

well i just got a free axl electric guitar with .012 strings and 3 springs but i am going to change the strings to a medium size and add 2 more springs to the back. i am new to an electic guitar, i have all ways played an acoustic washburn. i changed the strings from heavy to ilixer mediums they made the guitar sound a whole lot better, and they are longer lasting strings. the $6 strings are gone and new ones were $15. i don't know enough about strings to know if fifteen dollars is alot for a pair, but my instructor recomended them to me.

I have two; Ibanez Gax 70 and an Arbor AP230 both black. The Gax has an amazing neck and I replaced the stock pickups with Razor 11k ohm and 8Kohm. No tremolo... I prefer the DR Dimebag 10’s with this guitar.

The arbor is my answer to lack of financial ability to buy a Les Paul. My intent was to buy it and swap out the pickups and replace the Nut, Bridge and turners and make the best out of it. To my surprise this guitar is incredible right out of the box and I have done nothing with it. I will not pretend it can compare it to a vintage Gibson standard however I no longer have a desire to own a Gibson regardless of my income because this Arbor is everything I ever anticipated from a Les Paul.
The Arbor is ready for a set of strings so I’m anxious to try different gauges to see what it’s capable of

Picked up a Hamer Slammer (strat model ) at an estate sale, paired with a Behringer GM 108 modeling amp. Slammer still had the price tag on it, hardly used at all. Totally stock pickups and strings. Sounds great. For a really neat sound I channel it all thru a vintage (1970's) Sansui 4 channel amp and speaker system with a little reverb. Awesome sound.

Like most players, I have several guitars, but the one I use live when my wife and I are performing is my Line 6 Variax 700 Acoustic Modeling Guitar. It is an awesome instrument. My favorite aspect is the ability to turn a knob and I've got a 12 string guitar. So cool for the intro to Hotel California. It gives me several different acoustic models and others including old slide guitar instruments, even a sitar model.

When I bought my first one, I'd evidently bought a lemon as I had a lot of trouble with it. It eventually failed for good. I contacted Line 6 and before long they sent me a brand new one which I have and use now. What great service from those guys.

If you want to learn more about this great axe here is a link to the review I wrote on it.

Good luck to all,
Joe Russ http://hubpages.com/hub/line6v700

Alright then. Let me get started on the rock'n'roll part of this forum. I have a worn brown Gibson SG Special. Signed by Lenny Kravitz himself. Boy, aint i lucky?

b4 getting into details, i was a very lucky ass. i dont have any equipment whatsoever and i wanted to start using a guitar after playing for about 3 years on acoustic. Hendrix hypnotized me. So, i had an amp borrowed, a fender squire borrowed and bought a cheap 5bucks cable. the owner of the amp told me i'd be lucky if the thing turned on, which did, so again, lucky. after a few months i was already thinking: "i need to get myself a guitar. but not just any guitar. i need THE guitar, the one to last an entire life and more"

so i got taht one from a warner channel prize. very lucky..

anyway, my sweet loud SG is smooth as butter when it comes to action. and even though it came with 0.1 stock gauges, i switched to 0.9 cuz i was already used to it. but now im getting back to 0.1 to get some of the tone back, and i cant wait to go to town again. playing always!