BoogieMKIIA

We play that every gig. Picked up some pointers

If you are over (fill in the blank), don’t sweat changing string gauge or neck size. There only used to be Black Diamond strings at the drug store! There is a long list of great players with varied string preferences. My left hand started bothering me about 2 years ago. The following things seem to have helped me - Noticed how and how long I hold my iPad. Same could be said if you use the computer keyboard a lot. I think this helped me more than I would have guessed. Retire. Stress relief and providing time to take care of yourself. Exercise. Doesn’t have to be hand or wrist related. Resistance training builds strength and tone of the forearms and wrists. There are two older books that provide slow weight training methods. Only exercise once a week, maybe twice, and keep moving otherwise. “The Slow Burn Fitness Revolution” and “The Power of Ten”. Easy on the joints, not likely to injure yourself. I’m probably in as good shape as I was 20 years ago when I was doing it regularly. Restarted almost 2 years ago, I’ll be 69 in September. Eat a somewhat healthy diet. That and exercise allowed me lose weight since retirement. My A1C, etc is great. Eating stuff with lots of refined sugar makes me feel blah. Alcohol included, so I don’t drink so much. Play regularly. I can still feel some stiffness and soreness on occasion. From not playing regularly or from a flurry of playing a lot. But things improved as I started to play more. Monday night acoustic jam, Tuesday night band practice, Thursday Open Mic (acoustic) and weekend gigs more often than not. As far as meds, I rarely take a NSAID or Tylenol, usually for other body pain. Cannabis can help, side effects well known and often desirable. I have found I don’t play as well live using it - save an occasional one drink at the start of the night, I stay straight when I gig. Can wind down when I git home. My state has medical and I have a card. @gorch has a book on Reflexology on Amazon, there is a post. Didn’t try it, but almost got it. May get it anyway. Many of us are getting to an age where lots of physical things can happen. It is a bit of luck and genetics in play. I am doing what I can as long as it works.

I saw them before I could drive (my dad took me). I used to play sax in school, it was a big deal to have horns along with Terry's raw guitar. And real musicianship.

@topekatj, RS is not far from me. I volunteer to check it out during construction if you order one. Might even pick it up for you 😁

It's amazing the crowd response you get to "Sweet Caroline". Lucky for me I don't get an earworm when we play it He had a ton of pop hits.

Sammy Hagar doesn’t look 45 but is still tearing it up at 78. Also saw some reels where he talks about his childhood, just crazy.

If you keep on dancing you’ll never grow old. If he has been playing like that all these years (minus too much party), maybe it’s kept him in shape. It’s still uncanny.

No doubt, Blue Chip picks are very good. I had my initials put on the second one, didn't help me keep up with it. Not the pick's fault 😂

I had and lost two Blue Chip picks. One was lifted from and Open Mic music stand. Nothing so expensive for me any more.

Longest I recall was Chicago to Hong Kong, 16 hours. The normal route was first to Tokyo then Hong Kong. The layover was not long but still tough to deplane and go through security before boarding and another 4 hours. Business class, fortunately. Have also gone to Thailand and Singapore, another 7 or so hours from Narita or Seoul layover.

If you have lots of guitars, amps, etc and have the cash to upgrade, do it at least once. 20 or so years ago we got to take business class for Asia trips, but finally had to use coach. Really missed the extra room and pampering. The worst was a "domestic" connection from Honolulu to Atlanta on an Airbus. Probably the least room of any large jet with no food or drinks included

I have slightly tweaked Ultimates in my Studio Custom. RS Guitarworks recently did some work on the guitar and readjusted the height and screws, it really screams. Some use the Charlotte set, a bit hotter. I am too lazy to do more swapping (and I like what I currently have) but would like to check out other pickups. @Jeff R has interesting offerings. RS has their own pickups. Anyone have comparisons to share?

Great post. The main takeaway for me is to try lots of things and see what sounds good. And there is always something new. Our band has recorded the last several songs in the other guitar player's studio. He has been recording for years and has been adding lots of different EQ modules to a rack connected to his Midas board. While listening to him work, it's quite amazing what a difference it makes. Careful selection and adjustment for guitar, drums, vocals. And then the plugins on the board, compression, etc. For guitar, he typically uses and old tube PA head that has been tweaked for guitar into a 1x12 isolation can (think a Celestion of some type, not sure the mic). Also his New Vintage 18W and recently his Pro Reverb mic'd (asking for the exact mic). He is tube only, we will see. We use our own guitars and pedal boards but sometimes try a different pedal. The great thing is we still sound like ourselves and don't miss all the studio magic when we play live. I have been thinking about an amp-less live rig. Is it possible to get a good idea by going to a music store to demo? Smaller/lighter is appealing even if it involves a lower powers SS amp and 1x12 cab. We mostly use IEMs, curious how that works with a direct setup with respect to feel, sustain/feedback.

The add says sold. Good price for the buyer

While I lean to the Les Paul tone, the other Studio Custom tone possibilities are worth exploring. Mine has great resonance you can feel in the wood and strings. Maybe due to a thinner body and, of course, great wood selection. It would be fun trying different pickups, coil taps, etc. to see what gets translated to the amp.

The Les Paul’s bottom end is fuller, with or without an amp. Similar in other ways like hum buckets and overall sound. With overdrive/distortion and tweaking amp tone controls, you couldn’t tell a difference between the Studio Custom and the Les Paul in a listening test. The fit of the guitar on your body, location of controls are the most different.

Update from nearly one year ago. I am still working on playing more than my Tele on gigs. A bit tough since I've have a variety of sounds dialed in. Played the Les Paul the last set last weekend, always fun. Last night, played the Studio Custom the last set which is the first time out since RS Guitarworks worked on the frets/setup and adjusted the pickups. Wow, it really screamed! The lead tones on La Grange were inspiring. I had to turn down a couple of gains since the pickups are hotter than than the Tele - another challenge to swapping guitars but that can be managed with a little work. In addition to the crew at RS, props to @JGravelin for the pickups in the Hamer and Les Paul.

I thought the “LEDs” might be relays, now it makes sense. The 20V and 1K resistors means around 20mA per LED.

Just got back on, it’s really snappy

I assumed individual squares were the LED and just noticed they are dual color LEDs. Is that your assumption or info from Peavy? This means it’s likely there are several resistor values. Different color LEDs have different current specs to get a specific brightness. From the way it’s wired I would guess two different colors. What are the amp functions for each LED. I don’t understand the diagram so well. There is a wire (Bare Wire?) that is common to all 4 LEDs, seems it would be ground and not power. The fourth LED has both “control” pins going to the bank of three resistors associated with the White wire. Both LED elements in that device always on. Doesn’t seem right for what looks like the Channel LED. Could be that the voltage on the orange and white wires are switched in the amp. The middle leg of some 3 terminal LEDs is often ground. If you have a DC bench supply, you can use that with a known resistor to determine a good LED current. Look at the LED as you increase voltage until it looks bright enough. Measure the resistor voltage and you have the LED current. Then, use the voltage you measured to find your resistor value. If 20 mA typical is correct, you should be somewhere near it. Also note the LEDs could be rated lower, you could get from 2 to 20 mA. If your current is much higher or lower, you can plot the current curve using the DC bench supply. Or, look for the turn on voltage (with DC bench supply and known R). From one generic diagram, the operating point was about 0.7 V above turn on voltage. It would help to have the schematic to the rest of the circuit, maybe there is one on the web. But I think you will figure it out if not already done.

If you can find the voltage driving the LEDs (12V?), assume an operating current, say 20 mA. Then solve V/I=R, with a typical diode drop of 0.7V. (12 - 0.7)/0.020 = 565 ohms. Of course, more resistance means lower current and lower brightness. If you could find the LED spec you would have all but one variable. Different color LEDs have different specs, that why you can see different resistor values.

Have you figured out what to get? I tried my cheap Guitaria at Friday night’s gig. The plastic housing at the 1/4” plug came apart and it was dangling the last songs of the first set. Thankfully it kept working and I swapped to a real cable. Have re-glued it and will use it for the weekly jam and not on gigs. That Sure looks nice.

I have one of these, my second. It’s a plastic case that you have to watch out for a little. I glued this one back together and it’s still working. Sounds good and rarely has reception issues. Else, spend big bucks for a Sure or Sennheiser system. It’s on Amazon. Getaria Wireless Guitar Transmitter Receiver Set 5.8GH Wireless Guitar System 4 Channels for Electric Guitar Bass (Silver/Black) https://a.co/d/0ciqAjxo

Picked up the guitar today. Only have about 10 minutes of unplugged play time so far and it plays great. I was expecting the fretwork to be very good and it is. I was hoping somehow the sound coming out of the wood would be better and it is. The nut slots were adjusted for string height and the top of the nut was lowered so the strings aren’t buried in it like before. Needs some amp time as Bob also adjusted the pickups. Wild to think I’ve had it 8 years and didn’t know how good it could play.

i thought that’s what I did, apparently not. I did it from YouTube Music, think it should work the same. Thanks