My Strat currently has its original white pearloid pick guard with white pickup covers. I’m thinking of swapping to black with parchment pickup covers. Keep the pearl or switch to black?
I got the same notifications from the department of Ed that everyone got, but I’m still waiting for the notice from MOHELA before I do a recertification and jump to IDR. Have any fellow MOHELA borrowers been asked by them to switch yet? Are we still waiting on the rollout of RAP? I assume that’s the delay but just want to make sure I’m not the only one. Thanks in advance for your feedback!
I keep seeing comments that read something like “just take an old pedal to Guitar Center and they’ll give you 10% off your purchase”. I just want to provide some clarification in case anyone is looking at attempting one of those trade ins.
GC 10% discount only applies to new gear, nothing used.
You also get the value of the trade in, but that’s 60% of what they think they can sell it for. If you bought a pedal for $200, they may decide they can resell it for $100, and therefore you get offered $60. Most of that comes from item pricing in their system because those values come from the corporate level rather than the employee you’re deal with. The sales reps there don’t have much room to negotiate even if they would like to or think the corporate price is wrong.
The list of excluded brands for the 10% discount is LONG. Copied from the GC website:
Products from the following manufacturers are excluded from discount offer: A Designs, ADAM, ADAM Audio, Aguilar, Akai, Allen & Heath, Alpha Theta, Alvarez, Ampeg, Antelope Audio, Apogee, Apple, Arturia, Ashdown, Ashly Audio, Avantone, Avid, BAE, Barefoot Sound, Beetronics FX, Blackstar, Bose, Boss, Burl Audio, Caparison Guitars, Catalinbread, Chapman, Crate, Cusack Music, D'Angelico, D.W. Fearn, Dangerous Music, Dean Markley, Deering, Duesenberg USA, Earthquaker Devices, Earthworks, Electro-Harmonix, Elysia, Empress Effects, Epiphone, Ernie Ball Music Man, EVH, Fender, Fender Custom Shop, FOCAL, Focusrite, Fostex, Friedman, Fulltone, Fulltone Custom Shop, Gallien-Krueger, Gibson, Gibson Custom, Godin, Golden Age Project, GoPro, HeadRush, Heritage Audio, iConnectivity, ISP Technologies, iZotope, JHS Pedals, Johnson, Keeley, Kemper, Korg, Kramer, Kurzweil, Kush Audio, LaChapell Audio, Lag Guitars, Lakland, Lauten Audio, Lewitt Audio Microphones, Lindell Audio, Lucida, Mackie, Manley, Marshall, Martin, Meris, METRIC HALO, Millennia, Milkman Sound, Mojave Audio, Moog, MOTU, Native Instruments, Neumann, Nord, Novation, Orange Amplifiers, Paiste, Pettyjohn Electronics, Phoenix Audio, Pioneer, Primacoustic, PRS, Palatino, QSC, Radial Engineering, Randall, Rane, Reloop, Reverend, RME, Rockett Pedals, Roland, Roland Cloud, Royer, Ruach Music, S.E. Shires, Savannah, se Electronics, Seagull, Sennheiser, Sequential, SERATO, Shure, SKB, Slate Digital, Slate Pro Audio, Slate Media Technology, Softube, Soundbrenner, Source Audio, Spector, Squier, Steinberger, Steven Slate Drums, Strandberg, Studiologic, Supro, Suzuki, Taylor, Teenage Engineering, Telefunken, Teletronix, The Loar, Toft Audio Designs, Tone King, Tube-Tech, VHT, Voodoo Lab, Vox, Walrus Audio, Wampler, Warm Audio, WESTONE, Xotic Effects, Yamaha, ZT, Zvex.
You can trade in a product by one of those brands and get the trade in value, but they will not give you the 10% off coupon.
Basically, that coupon is wildly advertised but very difficult to get. This is not meant to be a knock on buying gear from GC, but you should know what to expect.
I never thought I would get to make one of these posts. I’m 6’3 and I’ve just always been “big”. I haven’t weighed less than 200lbs since middle school when I wasn’t 6’3 yet. I just never understood what was possible for me until now. What an incredible medicine. It really feels like a miracle, most importantly, all of the health problems that prompted me to start taking Zepbound (high BP, fatty liver, high triglycerides, reduced kidney function) are all gone. I don’t spend every day thinking about what to eat and when. I’m more present for my friends and family. I have new hobbies. It’s impossible to overstate how amazing I feel compared to just before I started. Thanks so much to everyone in this community for all you’ve shared that helped me on my way and all of your support. Have a great day everyone!
I know 50’s wiring is more vintage correct and allows for the volume and tone to interact a bit more, but if I’m updating my wiring on my Epiphone LP, it seems like the more intuitive wiring option is to go more modern and add a treble bleed. Does anyone here love the way the controls interact on the 50’s style wiring? I’m open to the argument that it could be better but I don’t quite understand how.
I know many of us are familiar with a lot of this, but I wanted to post it in case anyone is here looking for information as you prepare to start your journey or if you’re wondering if your own experience is in line with what the global community is generally experiencing. Article is a gift link so it should get you over the paywall.
Happy Tele Tuesday to all who celebrate. Chambered ash player II.
I’m in the market for a 335 style guitar, but I’m just a teacher. I don’t have 335 money. That leaves me looking for a semi-hollow under $1500. I played the pictured Guild Starfire I DC Hot Rod (it’s a GC exclusive) the other day and I was pretty impressed with it, but I’d like to keep shopping around. Anyone have any recs for semi-hollows I should consider? I play a lot of classic rock, blues, and indie rock if that’s helpful. Thanks for your feedback!
I’m looking at pickups to replace the stock one from my 2001 MIK Epiphone Les Paul. In other posts I’ve had folks suggest I look at the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. I checked them out and they sound like just what I’m looking for. I was about to pull the trigger and get some when another player I know told me to check out Tonerider Alnico 4s. The specs are remarkably similar to the Pearly Gates. The sound demos you find on YouTube all seem to show them sounding pretty similar. The tone sounds almost if not entirely the same (but that’s off YouTube, so it’s harder to trust). Does anyone have any experience with the Tonerider Alnico 4s? The Pearly Gates seem like they have no shortage of fans, but if people also like the Toneriders it would be difficult for me not to consider them at half the price. Any feedback is much appreciated.
I’ll begin by saying that the way Fender is behaving right now sucks and I’m as upset about it as anyone else. That said, there have been a lot of posts where people are sharing their guitars or a new one they just got loaded with comments about how we should be boycotting Fender. I get the sentiment, but for so many players owning a Fender is a lifelong dream. It’s something many players are proud to have. I don’t think we should be coming down on people for that. If there’s ever a post by a corporate lawyer who just bought his 8th custom shop, by all means go nuts. But I think the player who just got their dream guitar deserves that moment. Let’s save the anger for the company. I’m sure I’ll get downvoted for this, but I wanted to put it out there. Have a great day and happy playing.
I know some people will say this isn’t the best way to do it, but I just watched this video on how to do a basic setup when you get a new guitar out of the box. There are a bunch of posts with complaints about some of these general issues and I completely get it. Getting a new guitar that isn’t totally playable is super stressful and deflating when all you want to do is open it up and play. You can pay a luthier to do these things, but I agree with the statement at the end of the video that doing it yourself will help you bond with the guitar and allow you to setup closer to your own playing style and preferences. Just thought I’d share as a resource for folks expecting a new guitar but not sure about how to do these adjustments. Happy playing to all!
I’m thinking of upgrading my 2001 Epiphone Les Paul. As of now it has all the original parts and it’s actually a pretty fantastic guitar, but when you roll the tone back even a little bit the sound gets muddy. I’m thinking of putting in a new wiring harness with better pots, so I’m wondering if anyone has good recommendations. Emerson seems to be pretty highly regarded, but I’d love any other suggestions, especially if anyone here has done a similar upgrade. I’m also undecided about swapping the pickups, but if anyone has good pickup recommendations I’d take those as well. Thanks in advance.
I currently play ‘98 MIM powerhouse Stratocaster (pictured) that I really enjoy. I’m not interested in swapping pickups on that because I like its character. It is, however, very high output and is very quick to push an amp to breakup. For that reason, I’m thinking of adding another Stratocaster to my collection. The American Pro Classic at $1500 is very appealing to me because it seems to have that classic glassy quacky Strat quality to it, but I’m wondering what this community thinks. Is there a better, more classic sounding Strat out there in your opinion? I’m open to all suggestions within a reasonable budget (I’m not going custom shop). $2000 is probably the most I can put down. I’m also open to used and non-fender suggestions. Thanks in advance for your input!