Disquiet Junto 0728 Note Down

The Junto this week is to "Delete a note at a time."

There is just one step to this project: Record a piece of music with a slow melody that repeats. Each time the melody cycles around, remove one note, until during the final repeat none of the notes in the melody remain.

I've recorded a chord progression using my recently upgraded Squier.

It's tuned Nashville style, so the chord becomes more melodic as the range is limited across the strings. 

The original version of the song was slower and felt too long, so I look a bit jumpy in the video as it is sped up.

Upgraded Squier

Upgraded the pickups, tuners, bridge and pickguard on my Squier Paranormal Nashville Stratocaster. 

It's almost as good as an Artist Guitar now! 

Unexpected result is the neck pickup is out of phase and sounds really funky when combined with the others.

The pickups are a "Pure vintage 64' TL Set" from a Chinese website and they are a big improvement.

Allie X on becoming creative

The problem with people becoming creatives, the hurdle that stands in their way, is judgment and insecurity a lot of the time. I would just reinforce that an idea is never fully formed when it first comes to mind. It’s like a little seed, and you just need to nurture it. Sometimes, it takes years, and sometimes, it takes a really short amount of time, but nothing needs to be fully formed or quote-unquote “professional” in its first iteration. 

Shake hands with beef

They should've noted that this pickguard isn't suitable for vegans!

Artist AT91V3 electric guitar review

There's a lot to admire about this guitar, let's take a look and I'll describe what I'm feeling because it's 'Caster spell on me!

The neck has a satin finish, while the body is silky with golden woodgrain.

Under the pickguard is the swimming pool-sized cavity and I couldn't help but dip a single coil in there for a Nashville-like arrangement.

There was no reason to change the other pickups that came with this guitar, as they have character yet a good balance across the neck and bridge, but the simple addition was suggested to me after I bought a Squier Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster.

Before I compare the two guitars, take a look at the tuners on the AT91V3 because they're good looking and locking and crafted from proper metal that's cool to the touch.

In comparison the Squier's tuners have plastic handles and mine have an annoying rattle, as well as pickups that sound brittle in comparison to the Artist guitar.

While I'm likely to upgrade these components, it shows how ridiculously over-priced Fender guitars are, which might've been an observation that landed a sales representative in trouble but is one I'm often hearing from people.

I paid twice as much for the Paranormal Custom Nashville Stratocaster as I did for the AT91V3 -- even when you factor in buying a pickup and pickguard to modify the latter. (On reflection, some of this difference might be explained in the distribution models of the two companies.)

I doubt you can find a better value telecaster-style guitar and it's encouraged me to try some of the other Artist models, which are mostly excellent and they have a 100-day free return option.

It also seems incredible to me that delivery is part of the price, with mine arriving in about one working day -- despite the fact I live in a regional town.

This Artist guitar is remarkable and highly recommended for the versatile tones with a sensuous touch of quality.

World's first drum machine

 

Knocked out by knock offs

A few weeks ago I got carried away shopping late at night and have been dealing with the repercussions as packages arrive. 

It really says something about the business model of this website that they accept up to five returns each month, with a prompt refund soon after the post office scans the barcode on the label provided. 

Anyway, my expectations were low but changed dramatically when I installed these "Texas" pickups. 

The wax crusted onto thick metal base plates was encouraging, as were the cloth-covered wires. 

So imagine my surprise that they sound amazing! 

I feel so inspired with the tone that's coming out of my excellent Artist guitar, which was super cheap as it had an electrical fault. 

There aren't any moving parts in a pickup, so I expect these will keep performing and inspiring me to do the same.

Disquiet Junto 0726 Chord of Omnis

The Junto assignment this week is to "Make music with a browser-based Omnichord as your sole sound source."

I wasn't sure about using a browser-based instrument, then I remembered that my Omnichord was still plugged into a pedal board.

So here's a quick jam, where I wish that I spent more time getting the levels right. 

Fender offender

I've been looking at guitars a lot lately and was surprised when this message popped up.

There's clearly a story here, although one imagines that none of those involved want to discuss it. 

It made me want to try a Nameless guitar, however their website seems to have vanished.

While I had been looking at buying a Fender, the message gave me pause to think about their dominance in the market.

So I decided to support a different brand and went looking for an Australian guitar. 

Disquiet Junto 0725 Rack It

The Junto assignment this week is to "Change the “focus” of a track as it plays."

I had an idea to record a few instruments, but decided in the end that I only had energy for one take.

As I'd been watching Rick Beato's interview with Tony Levin, so I thought to use a bass which wears his likeness. 

There's a pedal board I put together for bass and you can hear it uses EHX Superego for a drone, then an MXR phaser for modulation, before adding EHX Talking Machine.