@guitars Hi everyone. What do y'all think of this? Is 'Grote' a dirty word? I mean, it's probably the worst name for a guitar company ever. Would you ever own one?

Recently I built a Tele-partscaster with some spare parts I had lying around. I had some cheap Chinese-made Gotoh styled tuners from many years ago (probably bought from Guitar Fetish but I don't remember for sure). I put in those cheap tuners onto my new build just to have something there, but also hoping that they would be good enough to do the job. Unfortunately, the posts were really wobbly and several of the tuners "chattered" when I turned them (probably gunk in the gear mechanism). Since I had always been curious about the Wilkinson EZ Lok tuners, and since they are only around $30 shipped from Amazon, I decided to give them a try.

First of all, these are just licensed tuners from Trevor Wilkinson and are made in Korea. They fit the typical 10 mm holes of import necks, and are drop in replacements for standard Gotoh/Schaller styled tuning machines, so if you are replacing that kind of tuner no need to plug and redrill mounting screw holes, which is a big plus. They have a 19:1 gear ratio, which is fantastic for the price. I figured that if I didn't like the "gimmick" of the EZ Lok tuners, I would just use them as regular tuners.

The "gimmick" of these tuners is that the string post has 2 holes perpendicular to each other, one slightly higher than the other. You are supposed to pull the new string though one hole first, pull it taut, wrap it manually around the post once, then thread the string through the second hole. The theory is that this creates two "kinks" in the string and locks it in place without needing multiple winds around the post. Presumably this means increased tuning stability. The official party line appears to be that for the wound strings you are supposed to use the bottom hole first, and the unwound strings you are supposed to use the top hole first. I just used the bottom hole for all strings, since you're not supposed to have a bunch of wraps around the post anyway so I didn't think it made a huge difference. The two holes are also fairly closely spaced, which is another reason I think it probably doesn't really matter.

In case this description does not make sense, here is an old video showing how it is supposed to work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3C7hrjXqgk

It's important to note that even though the product has "Lok" in its name, it is NOT a locking tuner in the traditional sense. These will generally not have the benefit of quick string changes that typical locking tuners provide. OTOH, they are not as heavy as locking tuners since there is no locking screw mechanism. And without a locking screw mechanism, it's one less thing to potentially break.

I will say that the quality of the tuners themselves are quite good. If you are looking to replace cheap tuners, then even without the EZ Lok gimmick these are a great value at $30. After stringing up a guitar using the EZ Lok method, I did find that it seemed to take significantly less time to get the strings settled in after stretching the strings. However, the wraps on the post are kind of ugly - they look like a rookie trying to put strings on a guitar for the first time where the wraps are uneven.

Pros: inexpensive yet good quality tuners, high gear ratio of 19:1, drop-in replacement for modern Gotoh-styled tuners with 10 mm holes. after installing new strings, strings can be tuned to pitch and "broken in" by stretching quickly. no additional mechanical parts - it's just a standard tuner with two holes instead of one. Can be strung normally if EZ Lok method not desired.

Cons: can be somewhat more complex to do string changes using EZ Lok method, so slower than typical locking tuners. string wraps around post look ugly even when done right. Not true "locking" mechanism.

overall rating: 8/10. I will be looking at using these to replace another set of cheap Chinese tuners that have poor tuning action.

Love reading the manuals:

New to me 2003/4 Godin Kingpin I cleaned it up a bit and put new strings on. Really happy with it.

It probably needs a professional setup, as the action is a bit high, but I was able to set the intonation by nudging the floating bridge.

I'm getting back into playing guitar, but I want to skip on constantly changing tunings and strings for them, also I would like some octaver effect or something like that.

The PRS SE NF3 is a distinct guitar in the PRS lineup. The heart of this guitar is a trio of PRS Narrowfield pickups, a first for the SE Series. Supporting these pickups is a poplar body, 22-fret bolt-on maple neck, and the choice of either a rosewood or maple fretboard. The SE NF3 is a versatile workhorse guitar that is fun to play and hard to put down. The Narrowfield DD (Deep Dish) “S” pickups are made with taller bobbins to fit more winds and extra metal pieces in between the magnets for a more focused, powerful tone.

How do I best view tabs from pages like ultimate guitar and others on a phone browser, so that the chords and lyrics match up? I know on pc they usually show up fine in notepad or with ASCII fixed sys font, but I can't quite figure out how to set it up for easy browsing on an android phone. I tried copying it to other apps but none of them have a fixed width font.

How do you do it?

I got this Harley Benton DC Junior a few years ago and it's been my main axe since.

Only issue is it has the worse tuning stability of any guitar I've owned, Not only going out of tune but getting it to correct pitch can be spotty in the first place.

Any ideas for replacement tuning machines? I've already replaced the nut with a graphtech one a while back and it only slightly helped when tuning up. I also don't mind drilling new screw holes if need be.

I mostly play and enjoy the sound of "classic" metal. 1980s Judas Priest. Metallica. Maiden. Etc.

What's a good amp/fx setup to reproduce this sound at modest volumes?

I have a friend with a Marshall stack, which sounds amazing but I have neither the budget or the space for something like this. I currently have a Fender amp with a Boss GT-1 effects pedal, which is quite good but no matter what I do I never quite get this to reproduce the tone I'm looking for.

Will a small Marshall combo amp like a MG30GFX work for me? Does it make sense to go for low-wattage tube amps over solid state? Thoughts?

not affiliated with Guitar Center at all. Noticed that D'Addario EXL 110 strings (10-46) are on sale online. $39.99 for 12 sets ($3.33/set) with free shipping in the USA. It's really hard to find these, even in bulk , for less than $5/pack so this is a killer deal.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/DAddario/EXL110-12P-Nickel-Wound-Light-Electric-Guitar-String-12-Pack-1432909766128.gc

This friend was gifted to me by my next door neighbour in 2009, when I was 17 and it has been love ever since.

Today it was it's cleaning day: I cleaned it all up, scraped the gunk from the fretboard and polished the frets with car scratch remover and at the end it came out so fine that made me want to share a picture with the community.

Take care of your instruments and they will last for a long time.

Hi everyone who's reading: I'm looking for an overdrive pedal that can go into distortion as well when pushed to high gain (or vice versa). I'm using a TS9 clone now and while I love the sound it provides, it cannot go into full distortion. Is there something that woulf help my needs? Plus point if it's a "budget" one

This is not the first partscaster I've built but it is the first Telecaster-styled partscaster I've attempted. I have learned the following lessons:

• Neck was bought from a no-name brand on Amazon for about $50 bucks - it's actually quite nice. 14 inch radius, two-way truss rod adjusted from the heel. looks like Indian rosewood. if you are willing to put in the fret work and want to save money, a cheap neck with a two way truss rod is the way to go. you can fix almost any kind of neck with a two way truss rod and get it dead straight.
• Body was bought from aeguitars.com. Allegedly it's alder but it seems a bit too light and soft for alder. I suspect it's poplar? The body shipped quickly to me but had a lot of off-gassing smell for a few days. The finish looks nice but the neck pocket is NOT tight.
• pickups are the EMG-T set. the neck pickup did not fit into the pickguard (also a cheap no-name brand from amazon, I picked it for the pattern). Cheap parts are nice but be prepared to get work with a file or Dremel.
• A telecaster is (counterintuitively) harder to build than a Strat. It's a very nerve wracking process to position the bridge.
• If you're used to building Strats, don't forget the a Telecaster has a SINGLE cutaway body. Don't drill the strap button hole on the horn... ask me how I know.

I study guitar as a hobby. When I practice, I often play a little ahead of the metronome click. I can see it when I record myself with GarageBand.

I have been trying to adjust, but can't seem to progress.

Is there a metronome app that would give me a strong visual clue when I am not exactly on the beat?

• Edit for clarification: I am looking for an app that will call me out in real-time, either visually or audibly, whenever I play offbeat.

Why am I bothering with this?

I have heard musicians talking about making the metronome sound disappear by playing at the exact right time. I also noticed some people frowning when I play a split second before the click. Is it worth improving that aspect? Is there a better way to do it?

I had some difficulty deciding which mahogany Martin guitar to choose and somehow ended up with both the 00-15 and 000-15sm

Just wanted to recommend the Fret Science youtube channel, for useful insights on fretboard visualization. The video in the post link was especially illuminating for me when it comes to visualizing the modes more "atomically". I have no affiliation to this channel, but figured that the somewhat analytical approach of the method would appeal to people here :)

Edit: it's been found. Apparently it was misplaced during a busy day and they were afraid it was stolen.

Keep an eye out, I guess ☹️

Hi, I'm a beginner who just started learning the F barre chord.

I can't get string 1 and 2 to ring clearly without applying insane force. Hmm I guess I have to just keep practicing until I can make it ring clearly without much effort.

How was your F barre chord journey? I'm sure experienced players here can enlighten my path.

I'm trying to find the optimal setup for me but I'm struggling with it, I'd love to hear your suggestions.

• I wanted something that I can have a lyrics data bank for me to use offline if I need to.
• I wanted to be able to tap and flip the page... not scroll. Scroll requires me to be precise on the move during a song... can't do it. A pedal would work but this is for me to play at campfires and stuff, I don't want to carry a Bluetooth pedal around.

I downloaded Ultimate Guitar and it's good in the sense that it has a lot of songs... but the autoscroll sucks because sometimes there's a section in the middle with details of a riff and I don't want to do that so I have to stop and move the song forwards. I guess if there's an app that would download the lyrics/chords and keep it on the phone and another that simply reads files and I can tap and turn a page, that would work as well.. How do you guys do it?

Facebook and Youtube pages appear to be completely rebranded.

I hope that Colin isn't selling off or stepping away from the channel. He has produced great content for years. His pragmatic approach to gear selection and maintenance combined with simple and easy-to-understand explanations made him a valuable asset to the community. I know that I've learned a lot about how my gear works and how to best select and modifier gear to get the effect that I want thanks directly to CSGuitars.

https://www.youtube.com/@ScienceofLoud

https://www.facebook.com/scienceofloud

Hi! I hope you don't mind giving some advice on buying a desktop amp. I'm talking basically about those amp sims with full range mini-speakers. I've been playing for years, but I've been using amp sims. I've previously owned tube amps, but found them inconvenient for practicing and always ended up playing unplugged. I also tried vox amPlug, which was better, but I also dislike having headphones on while playing. So I primarily want a desktop amp that would inspire me to play more.

I've looked at various ones online (I don't really have an opportunity to try them live), which makes a decision very hard.

My list so far:

• Yamaha THR30
• Positive Grid Spark 40
• Hotone Pulze
• Nux mighty space

I also don't have great PC speakers, so maybe I could also use it as general speaker there. Do you have experience on any of those? Some others? Any advice?

Thanks!

Edit:

Ordered a Nux Mighty Space, it could take a week or two before it arrives. I'll post an update once I get it. Thanks everyone!

Last year I bought an Harley Benton Telecaster and I loved it right away. Today I'm going to make it even better by upgrading its weak spots like the tuners, the electronics and the plastic nut. I'm also going to mod the wiring with a 4-way switch and adding a "pickup in series" mode.
Wish me luck.