http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/index/ (mis)Adventures in Life en Kurt Copyright 2009 2009-01-04T15:41:01-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/suspicions_confirmed/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/suspicions_confirmed/#When:15:41:01Z My “new” used Yamaha Weddington Classic has replacement DiMarzio pickups installed. I pulled the pickups out of my new Weddington Classic this morning and found the stock DiMarzio pickups were replaced with a DiMarzio DP103 in the neck and “YHNP2BKL” in the bridge position.  The DP103 is their low-output PAF-style neck pickup, and I have to contact DiMarzio to track down more information about the YHNP2BKL.  Oh, well, while disappointing this isn’t the end of the world.  The pickups sound good in a low-output vintage PAF kind of way.  I can either leave them as-is or replace them with DiMarzio DP163 “Bluesbucker” pickups which I’m kind of interested in trying out anyway.  UPDATE:  According to DiMarzio, the YHNP2BKL may be the stock bridge pickup.  Interesting.... Yamaha Weddingtons 2009-01-04T15:41:01-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/whats_different_about_these_guitars/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/whats_different_about_these_guitars/#When:00:49:00Z Can you find the differences between these two Yamaha Weddington guitars?  Here’s a hint—one is a Custom and the other is a Classic. After receiving my new used Yamaha Weddington Classic yesterday, I was eager to see just what the differences are between the Classic and Custom.  They’re both red and have a tuning fork logo on the headstock, right?  So what differentiates the more expensive Custom from the Classic in the Weddington lineup?  Let’s take a closer look (the Classic is on the left in the pictures below). Starting with the headstock, there are couple of differences.  While both have the Yamaha tuning fork logo and rosewood veneer on the front of the headstock, they sport different flourish inlays.  (Note that neither says “Yamaha” aside from the truss rod cover.  Personally, I like the fact that they don’t have the brand name on the headstock.) Also, notice that the Weddington Classic headstock (left) in unbound, while the Custom headstock has white-black-white triple binding; this is a difference we’ll see throughout.  You may not be able to tell from the photos, but the hardware is also slightly different.  The Classic uses chrome hardware, while the Custom sports nickle plated.  The tuners are different, too. Moving down the fretboard, there are more differences.  The Weddington Custom has a position marker in the first position, while the Classic does not.  The Classic uses smaller mother-of-pearl inlays that are bisected with something that looks like black plastic, while the Custom has more ornate mother-of-pearl inlays that are bisected with abalone or pau.  More significantly for tone, the Classic has a rosewood fretboard, while the Custom is ebony.  And, damn does the ebony fretboard look good with the contrasting position markers.  It also feels great.  Like polished glass.  As with the headstock, the neck on the Custom has white-black-white triple binding; the Classic’s neck is bound with single-ply cream.  The fretboard was very dry in these pictures which is why it looks so light.  I applied several coats of Fret Doctor oil when I changed the strings.  The oil soaked into the wood very quickly and now the fretboard is considerably darker, and feels better to the touch.  Good stuff! I will also pause and mention that I never paid much attention to the frets on the Custom before.  They seemed kind of wide and flat, but not abnormally so.  Once I started comparing the two, I realized that the frets on the Classic were the original shape, but the Custom had a fret leveling at some point in its previous life.  Hence they felt wider, flatter and lower.  No big deal, they both feel fine. The bodies are identical on the two guitars, at least as far as I can tell.  All Customs had transparent or semi-transparent finishes like red, amber, or burst.  The Classics had either semi-transparent burst finishes or opaque red or black.  Here you can see the maple cap on both guitars if you look below the binding near the neck joint.  Speaking of the binding, the Classic has single-ply cream binding while the Custom has the same white-black-white three-ply binding as seen on the neck and headstock.  The carve on both tops appears to be identical and was probably done with CNC machinery. Flip the guitar over and look at the back of the headstock and there are a few more differences to be found.  You can see more clearly that the tuning machines are different.  Aside from the difference in finish—chrome on the Classic and nickle on the Custom—the tuning machines themselves are different.  They feel different in operation, too, and I’ll have to investigate this further.  The neck construction is also different.  The Classic has a three-piece mahogany laminated neck while the Custom has is five-piece construction.  Although you can’t tell through the red finish, I think the two strips flanking the center are maple.  At least they looked like maple on my amber Weddington.  The other strips are mahogany. Back to the back.  Here again you can see the difference in neck construction—3-ply laminate on the Classic and 5-ply laminate on the Custom.  The neck joint and back carve is the same on both.  Both guitars have two piece backs, though you have to look carefully at the end grain on the lower bout to see this.  Interestingly, my first Weddington Custom had a one-piece back.  I didn’t notice that it improved the guitar in a meaningful way. That should help anyone who wants to know more about the differences between the Weddington Custom and Classic.  There may be other differences that I didn’t pick up on, but I think that covers almost everything.  Everything except how they feel and sound, that is.  First and foremost, the Classic has a larger neck which I much prefer.  It still isn’t up in the baseball-bat girth like some Gibson reissues, but it is noticeably meatier.  Rich Lasner has said that all the necks were specified the same, but Yamaha may have done some “shop floor engineering” on some of them.  I suspect that’s what happened here since the other Weddington Custom I owned was also very thin.  Another difference I noticed immediately is that the Classic feels lighter by a fair bit.  I don’t have a scale, but I would guess that it might be four ounces lighter.  And finally, how does it sound?  That’s a good question and one that was ultimately decided by the pickups more that any minor differences between the two guitars.  Whereas the Custom has the original DiMarzio pickups in place, I think the pickups in the Classic have been replaced at some point.  I haven’t pulled them out yet, but I did open up the electronics cavity cover in the back and noticed what looked like a little reworking and new solder joints.  More importantly, the DiMarzios in the Custom are much hotter and more aggressive.  Whatever pickups are in the Classic are much more “vintage” sounding.  They sound good, just not as aggressive.  I’m guessing they’re DiMarzio PAF-style but will need to pull them out to verify.  Stay tuned for more! Yamaha Weddingtons 2009-01-04T00:49:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/installing_a_tonepros_bridge_tailpiece/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/installing_a_tonepros_bridge_tailpiece/#When:23:56:00Z Installing a TonePros System II Bridge & Tailpiece on a Yamaha Weddington Custom As much as I like my red Yamaha Weddington Custom, I was having a problem with the bridge—it was warped, bowed down as if in an inverted radius of the fretboard with the individual saddles raised up to compensate.  How it came to be this way, I don’t know, but it was difficult to properly setup the guitar with the bridge in this condition.  The problem:  A severely warped bridge.  It was warped down, inverting the radius of the fretboard.  The individual saddles were raised up in order to compensate.  Too bad, really, the bridge was a well-made piece of kit (probably higher quality than the TonePros).  The other Weddington that I had didn’t have this problem. The solution:  A new locking bridge and tailpiece from TonePros.  I found this one on eBay for $50, less than half of what a new one costs.  I didn’t spring for a new one because I wasn’t sure it would fit and I wasn’t about to do major modifications to the guitar. Taking the old hardware off was as easy as unstringing the guitar.  The bridge and tailpiece just dropped right off.  The studs unscrewed easily, but I didn’t take the threaded inserts out as that was unnecessary.  The new TonePros studs threaded into the Yamaha inserts without problem.  Nice. The only things left to do were drop the TonePros bridge and tailpiece in place, and tighten the locking screw up with the included allen wrench.  (You can see where the locking screws are threaded in near the studs on the bridge and tailpiece.) Once everything was in place, I re-strung the guitar and set the intonation.  Not bad for $50 and a half-hour’s work.  Now the Weddington is much easier to setup and plays better.  I don’t know that I hear a big difference in how it sounds, but the setup is a big improvement. Yamaha Weddingtons 2008-12-23T23:56:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/gibson_vs_gibson/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/gibson_vs_gibson/#When:00:12:00Z Johnny A. vs. 1958 Les Paul reissue, to be precise. I never bonded with most Gibson instruments, despite numerous attempts over the years.  The more “affordable” US-made Gibsons seemed to suffer for poor quality control.  Poor being a very generous understatement—the things that pass Gibson’s QC would have meant a one-way trip to the bandsaw at PRS.  A couple examples:  the binding on an otherwise nice-looking ES-339 I played yesterday had visible file marks up and down the fretboard binding; a silverburst Les Paul classic had bubbles in the finish on the back of the heel; waaaay to many production Les Pauls have their bridges a good 1/4-5/16 up off the maple top, indicating problems with the neck angle.  The list goes on.  And on. Despite this, I have always had a weakness for Les Pauls.  They are, after all, a rock icon.  I may not be able to play like Jimmy Page, but at least I can have the same guitar (if you believe the marketeers).  So I look at places like Mark’s Guitar Loft, Guitar Sale, Route 66, and other vendors who specialize in historic Les Pauls.  And I watch eBay.  Despite the sluggish economy, the Les Pauls I’m interested in, the historic reissues, have maintained a solid resale value.  It’s not unusual to see a nice used ‘59 reissue sell for nearly $4k.  Ouch.  But I’ve been mentally preparing myself for this stringed sticker-shock.  In fact, the reason I sold my amber Yamaha Weddignton was to purchase a very cool “old wood” flametop 1958 Les Paul reissue I found at a local retailer. But things are never that easy.  I also found NOS Gibson Johnny A. signature model for sale at another local dealer.  I’ve seen this guitar before, too, and just can’t get it out of my mind.  It’s a handsome guitar, to be sure, in “sunset glow” burst with gold hardware.  But it’s not completely over-the-top flame maple.  Like the ‘58 LP, you could say it’s “old wood” cool.  But it has a neck that feels nearly as big as the ‘58 LP—bigger and rounder than the typical Johnny A.  Yeah, this thing exudes cool, and it doesn’t exhibit any of the typical quality control problems I’ve seen in other instruments.  Sure, it could use a good setup but that’s easy.  But the most important thing is the sound, and the Johnny A excel.  It’s 25.5” scale gives it that extra bit of clarity, definition and “percussiveness” reminiscent of P90s.  Very, very cool.  Search the Les Paul Forum, or The Gear Page, and there’s tons of info, and it’s all good news. Now I’m wrestling with which one of these great instruments is more deserving of my hard-earned cash and if I’m willing to part with something else from my small collection to make room and free up some cash.  Life’s full of tough choices, innit? Guitars 2008-12-01T00:12:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/iphone_vs_blackberry_storm_you_never_get_a_second_chance_to_make_a_first_im/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/iphone_vs_blackberry_storm_you_never_get_a_second_chance_to_make_a_first_im/#When:21:17:00Z My completely unsolicited (and unpaid) thoughts on the Apple iPhone and the Blackberry Storm. I remember walking into the Apple store in the Westchester Mall shortly after the iPhone was introduced.  I wasn’t looking to buy a new cell phone—I wasn’t in the market at all—but I wanted to see what all the hype was about.  Why were people getting this jazzed up over a cell phone, and a $600 cell phone at that?  Surely it wasn’t that great, or so I told myself.  But the simple truth was after playing with an iPhone for half an hour, I new that this device redefine what a cell phone was.  It was revolutionary.  I didn’t buy an iPhone at the time primarily because I didn’t want to change carriers from Verizon to AT&T.  Not that Verizon is great, but I haven’t had any problems and their cellular coverage is good.  But I watched the market evolve, waiting for a device that would compete with the iPhone, but on Verizon’s network.  Naturally, I was very eager to see if the Blackberry Storm was that kind of device.  On paper, it looked like a contender—big, bright touchscreen, phone, cool apps and Blackberry’s email pedigree and development experience.  I was eager to get my hands on one and see if it made a great first impression, and if it could truly compete with the iPhone. Over the past week, I read what I could about the new device, and noted that the review were mixed at best.  After getting my hands on a Storm today, I walked away thoroughly inimpressed.  Professional pundits must be circumspect in what they write in order to avoid the wrath of editors, publishers, advertisers and readers.  I don’t have any of those constituents, so I can be blunt: the iPhone kicks the Storms ass in no uncertain terms.  After playing with a Storm for a solid half-hour at a local Verizon store (oh, were you waiting to try this out too?), I handed it to the next guy in line and wished him good luck.  Then I went to an Apple store and played with the iPhone for over an hour, enjoying every minute. The most immediate difference in the devices is the user interface.  Where the iPhone shines is with it’s polished, intuitive presentation.  Like the iPod, the iPhone has a minimal learning curve; all the features and functions, including setup, are easy to access and use.  The Storm, on the other hand seemed clunky and often counter-intuitive.  Much has been made of the Storm’s “revolutionary” SureTouch screen that requires a firm physical press on the screen to type or click icons.  Compared to the iPhones screen, SureTouch was slower and less accurate.  Then there’s they keyboard layout - in landscape mode, the storm has a full QWERTY keyboard (but loses much of the display real estate), but in portrait mode it has an odd layout with two letters on each key.  WTF?  This is just hard to use.  Huge differences separate the two devices in terms of legibility:  all the iPhones icons are easily legible, and text is crisp and clear.  Not so on the Storm where text looked worse than old ASCII monitors.  I’ll also mention that the Storm’s navigation was often confusing and lead to dead ends, with the Blackberry key being the only way out.  Commands were also slow to execute, and on one occasion the device “hung” while I was trying to use the browser.  No good.  By comparison, the iPhone’s navigation was very easy to understand and use, even on more complex setup tasks. I’ll confess to being a Mac OS fan, and this struck me as much the same as the difference between OS X and, say, Windows 98.  Other reasons I preferred the iPhone?  Built-in Wi-Fi!!!  Why would I want to burn cellular minutes syncing my calendar or reading email, when I can do these functions on Wi-Fi at home and work?  Then there’s iTunes.  No other similar software has met with such widespread adoption, and for good reason—it works.  Oh, and I did I mention that the iPhone works with both my Vista Ultimate laptop and OS X iMac?  The choice is clear.  Now I just need Apple to discount the iPhone next Friday as part of their traditional “black friday” sales and I’ll be buying one for my wife and one for myself, even if it means changing carriers, there are enough benefits to justify switching. 2008-11-22T21:17:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/yamaha_weddington_watch_nov_2008/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/yamaha_weddington_watch_nov_2008/#When:02:12:00Z Weddington prices appear to have taken a noticeable hit since last month Three Yamaha Weddingtons were on the eBay auction block this month and judging by the winning bids, prices on Weddingtons has taken a turn for the worse since last month. First up, this tangerine Roseburst Weddington Custom sold for $1034.99.  The seller indicated that there were some nicks and scratches on the guitar, including on the face. Next, this cool-looking tangerine Cherry Sunburst Classic, also with a few chips and scratches, sold for a best offer of $750.  Sheesh… that’s just dirt cheap. Even more painfull to see, this black Classic went for $721.  That’s just sad, especially since a similar one sold for $827 last month.  If I hadn’t just bought a PRS Cu22 Soapie, this one might have been on it’s way to me.  Yeah, I know, I keep saying that. Yamaha Weddingtons 2008-11-17T02:12:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/heres_a_rare_bird_a_12_string_gibson_es_345/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/heres_a_rare_bird_a_12_string_gibson_es_345/#When:01:27:00Z A friend asked if I would come over and give her an idea of the value of some of her late husband’s musical instruments.  She said he was in a band back in the ‘60s, then just stopped playing and put his instruments away in a closet.  How many times have you hear the same kinds of stories… a widow selling the guitars her husband had kept under the bed for decades, and they turn out to be Nocasters or ‘59 ‘Bursts.  No Nocasters or ‘59 ‘Bursts here, but a damn cool find, and a great story all the same. I knew ahead of time that he had a Jaguar as I had seen pictures of him and his band. It turned out to be 1964 (pre-CBS), and in really good condition but refinished to a clear natural color sometime in the ‘60.  Still, it was in great condition and even close to being in tune after about 40 years! I also knew he had encouraged her to play and given her an acoustic back in the day.  It was a 1968 Martin D-18.  She never learned to play, so it sat in the case for nearly 40 years.  Wow.  Just… wow.  It needs a minor setup, but this is one good-sounding acoustic!  Now I “get” what the Martin thing is all about, even if I don’t find it in their new instruments. The other guitar was a Gibson, but she didn’t remember what kind.  A Les Paul, perhaps???  No, something stranger by far—a 1965 12-string Gibson ES-345.  Yes, you read that right—a 12-string ES-345 TD.  Not a 6 string.  Not a ES-335.  A 12-string ES-345.  Gibson also played around with stereo output on some of the ES-345, called the “TD,” and I think this is one of them.  The sticker inside the case was difficult to read and I didn’t try to plug it in, so I can’t be sure.  I’ve been looking all over Google for such a guitar and can’t find a thing about them.  My friend said her husband had the guitar custom made for him which helps explain why I can’t find any info about these guitars. In addition to the guitars, he had a blackface Fender Twin Reverb in damn-near mint condition, and a matching Fender 6G15 stand-alone reverb unit (also in damn-near mint condition).  Then there was a Gibson Maestro Fuzz Tone FZ-1A and Uniwah UW-2, both still in their original boxes.  The Uniwah still had the original batteries!!! I’m working on tracking down information her.  Prices, too, as she’s expressed an interest in selling everything but she’s in no particular hurry.  Most of it is easy, but the 12-string ES-345 is turning out to be somewhat unique.  I’ll take some pictures next time I see her, and post them here. 2008-11-17T01:27:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/yamaha_weddington_watch_oct_2008/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/yamaha_weddington_watch_oct_2008/#When:23:15:00Z Yamaha Weddingtons bought and sold in recent months I realize I haven’t put much effort into tracking Yamaha Weddington sales on eBay recently.  I’m not sure why this is, but I suspect I’m content with the red Custom I picked up this past summer.  I’m really happy with this guitar and less inclined to look for others.  (Not that I would be distraught if another Weddington—perhaps a Classic os Special—darkened my door.) Still, I do watch the auctions and thought I would mention some that changed hands recently. In September, this quilty-topped Classic sold for $1259.99.  Not bad for a soft economy and decidedly buyers’ market for guitar.  In fact, I find it interesting the winning bid especially interesting given that many of the boutique guitars I track on eBay never receive a single bid.  Apparently Weddingtons were holding their value in September. In October, this cool sparkley black Classic sold for $827.98.  Not a record, but still not bad.  I’m left to wonder if it was the condition (just a few love bumps) or color that keep the price down.  Personally, I think something like this would be a great gigging/practicing/take-it-to-lessons axe and the only reason I didn’t jump in was because I just picked up an uber-cool PRS Cu22 Soapbar. Yamaha Weddingtons 2008-10-31T23:15:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/death_of_a_5ar4/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/death_of_a_5ar4/#When:23:34:00Z The Ceriatone DC-30 gets a new rectifier I fired up my trusty Ceriatone DC-30 after dinner on Sunday, hoping to get a bit of practicing in while my wife was giving the kids a bath.  Powered up okay—heaters all aglow—but when I toggled from standby to play nothing happened.  Silence.  The relatively new Sovtec 5AR4 rectifier tube had gasped its last breath.  Instead of just buying another 5AR4, which I did, I also picked up a plug-in Sovtec “SSR” solid-state rectifier.  According to Tube Depot, the SSR should increase the plate voltage by 10-20%.  What’s that… something like 30-60v in the DC-30.  My initial impressions are favorable.  The amp sounds like it did before, though a bit more steely which is fine by me.  I wouldn’t say the difference is huge, at least not to me, but I’m really enjoying the amp a little more now.  I can use my PRS Cu22 Soapbar in the EF86 channel, set the channel volume at about 11:00 and then use the guitar’s volume to control the amount of gain and distortion—leave the volume at about 6-7 and it’s a good, overdriven sound; roll back a bit and it cleans up; roll the volume up to 8 and it starts to crunch up and distort nicely; dimed, it screams.  Cool.  This is why I haven’t bought a new amp. Ceriatone DC30 2008-10-30T23:34:00-05:00 http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/prs_custom_22_soapbar_photos/ http://www.novacron.com/index.php/main/view/prs_custom_22_soapbar_photos/#When:18:30:00Z Pictures of the 2001 PRS Custom 22 Soapbar I bought earlier this week I received the 2001 PRS Custom 22 Soapbar on Wednesday, but didn’t have time to take pictures until this morning.  They’re not great—purple is even harder to photograph than red—but they give a good idea what it looks like.  ‘ It’s in great shape overall—no major dings, dents or scratches even after seven years of use.  The only thing that keeps it from being nearly mint are the holes drilled in the headstock when a previous owner replaced the original Phase I tuners with locking Sperzel tuners.  A subsequent owner then installed the original Phase I tuners, so there are some additional mounting holes.  This isn’t a big concern for me, but it may be an issue to a diehard collector. I tried to get some playing time in this week despit all the things going on around me.  I think I need to spend more time dialing in my Ceriatone Matchless DC30 clone in to suit the new guitar.  I’m already pretty close on the 12AX7 channel, but not on the EF86 channel.  It sounds like someone throws a heavy, wet blanket over the amp whenever I start to roll off the volume and the “in-between” positions (2&4 on the switch) sound too muddy.  I’ll try to tweak the amp to see if I can work around these issues without changing the guitar.  If not, I may look into aftermarket pickups and better volume and tone pots.  Guitars 2008-10-04T18:30:00-05:00