Cat on amp

Would like to take this opportunity, on the final day of the year, to appreciate my cat for: 1) Not using my amps & guitar bags as convenient scratch posts 2) For not getting in the way when I'm reorganizing my gear at home 3) For staying put & listening to my playing (sometimes falling asleep) even on days when I chose to peddle aggressive music from start to end. Thank you, Lisa the cat. 11 years & counting.

Not doing much this holiday eve, taking time to rest before my new contract assignment starts this Friday. Can you tolerate the entire end of the year with absolutely no income while everyone else is partying & going on vacation? Come to think of it, I have no income in January '26 as well till I get paid in February. Be grateful with what you have no matter how little it might be because it's definitely better than none.

Budget bag

Was talking to friends recently about budget / value for money guitar bags. Budget here refers to a guitar bag fit for essential use or to put it bluntly, a get-by quality. Nothing excessive but it gets the job done. It's also not extravagant, a MONO or Reunion Blues bag are definitely not in this category. Friends cited KODA as a good example. The KODA ONE is available at Swee Lee for $15. My experience with the ONE is that the guitar does not stay put in the bag & excessive movements would strain the bag's stitches as well as increasing the damage potential to the instrument; scratches & dodgy tuners are examples.

The bag you see above is something I purchased from SHOPEE. I seldom purchase stuff from this commercial platform due to authenticity issues as well as clueless sellers who misrepresent their items & insist they are right. This bag costs less than $10 & the zipper quality would put many similar products to shame. The only downside here are the thin straps which to not offset weight distribution if you are carrying heavy guitars, a Les Paul is an obvious example. But hey, this is a get by consideration & in this aspect, I would rate this bag highly. It's definitely not for pro musicians who would want physical security for their instruments should a hard knock or unexpected fall happen. More importantly, it offers a snug fit for many guitar models, limiting movements.

Discard

Folks, a gentle reminder not to be sentimental with expendable hardware. These screws were downright rusty & should be discarded. Why you shouldn't continue using them: 1) Rusty screws are fragile, they might snap in the midst of removing them. This becomes very expensive to remove as most of us do not have the proper tools for such extractions 2) Rusty screws are sometimes immovable, you might strip / round the slots while trying to unscrew them & once again, it becomes an expensive endeavour.

You'd be surprised at how affordable these screws are at your neighbourhood hardware stores. These are also available at electronics shop in Sim Lim Square. Bring samples if you are unsure of which replacements to purchase. If you think screws from a Gibson guitar for instance, should be retained & revived for value retention, ask yourselves if Gibson makes such screws to begin with.

Cyclone

Spent Sunday morning with something different, but not entirely. Jaguars & Jazzmasters are predominantly Fender's offset darlings, other models get sidelined for being second fiddle or too estranged (eg. Meteora). The model you see here is the Cyclone. The Cyclone was discontinued in 2006 / 2007 & reappeared in the Japanese end of Fender quite recently. I lost track when that happened... The Cyclone sports a 24.75" scale length so it sits in between the Jaguar & the Jazzmaster.

I dislike the M / Wave-type default string retainer; it sits too low on the headstock. Will always make it a point to replace them with this rounded version. Fender experts told me this is necessary to keep the strings in place at the nut when you whammy. Since I don't whammy, it made perfect sense.

Beez installed these SDs yesterday: Scooped (N) / JB (bridge). Anyway, these are excess pickups that I didn't know I own, really. I'm not into white pickups, was wondering why I have this trembucker version lying around. I recall buying the middle Scooped single coil, not the neck model. Still wondering why I have it to begin with.

I have a fresh set of 9 - 42 in this guitar as an experiment. I'm tuned to fourths, getting a feel for the high E / B strings before making further changes. First impressions - it's necessary to have thin strings for this tuning approach for the aforementioned E / B but the rest of the strings feel floppy. Looking forward to try the 9.5 - 44 instead.

Green P (3)

Body was sanded down & ready for a re-finish. I did not sand down the default finish entirely. If it's down to bare wood, the open pores require some filling up which would mean an extra step of re-finishing. The idea here is to sand down enough top layer for the new coat of paint to latch on to. This is not a pro-level paint job, it's a get-by effort by some excessive hobbyist.

All done. Opted for a mild metallic flake finish this time. Two layers of paint + overnight drying before a final layer of lacquer overcoat. Air dried for a few hours before leaving it in the sun to supplement the curing process. After many re-finishing attempts throughout the years, I found out that lacquered tops cure faster than non-lacquered tops after some sunning. Also, some spray can formula do not require in-between sanding to manifest a good colour spread, this is an example. 

To be continued...

Green P (2)

This guitar features a direct to body pickup mount. One of the screws was severely rounded so removing it with a screw driver is impossible. This is one way of removing it - to break the screw head by using a drill. Once its broken, the pickup could be removed first. We then use a pair of pliers to extract the screw out like a rotten tooth. Folks, once screws show signs of wear / rounding off, please make efforts to replace them, otherwise, removing these dysfunctional bits become arduous / expensive.

To be continued...