mexirish...nz

I was browsing the old intertubes today and happened upon a guitarist.  He was showing the qualities of a brand of guitar amplifier on Laney's website and I was quite impressed with the guy playing the yellow guitar. I went along to the youtube page (where the video is hosted) and discovered that he was a French guy called Christophe Godin , and he's remarkable.  Seriously good doesn't even begin to describe his style; I thought I was quite good, but I now realise that I have to work alot more to get anywhere near this guy.  His style reminds me of Joe Satriani, but he's interesting and pleasant to listen to (unlike Joe, who isn't either). I read further and discovered that he's mostly known for playing in French band called Metal Kartoon, who I must admit I've never heard of.  There's no sign on iTunes, so I may have to dig a bit deeper.   Rockin' Out! Go to his website and have a look at his videos.  It's all in French, but really it do...

I finally got the guitar finished.  I'm sure you'll remember that one I bought in a local auction shortly before Christmas? I finally got it wired up, screw together and stringed.  I plugged it in and was more than a little amazed to find that it actually worked!  It's actually feels nice to play, and looks pretty too. It also has buckets of tone and I would imagine would make a nice blues guitar. However, it's not perfect as yet. There appears to be something of an annoying hum,  but I think with some additional shielding and grounding, it'll be fine.  And it's a fairly well known issue with strats anyway. Also, the neck pickup appears not to work.  Not sure why - it appears to be correctly wired.  No problems though.  I very rarely use that pickup anyway. And lastly, the scratch plate doesn't really fit.  The body isn't exactly a strat shape, just very similar.  I think it looks quirky, so I don't mind :) Check it o...

I discovered that the machine head I was given at the guitar shop last week wasn't going to fit.  If they were all the same, they'd slot in together nicely, but because the odd one was a slightly different shape than the other five, they simply woudn't fit together. So, being adventurous, I decided to go ahead an order a new set.  They were only a few bucks each so it's not a big deal. They arrived on the morning of Christmas eve (nice one!) and I proceeded to fit them.  But : turns out the neck of the guitar had non-standard holes for the machine heads.  They're too small (at least they're not too bit: that woud have been harder to remedy).  I went to Mitre 10 (again) to buy a drill, an appropriate drill bit for the new machine heads and a set of other drill bits for future use. When we got back to the house I eargerly drilled the slightly bigger holes and was very pleased with the results.  The guitar really is taking shape : it's now got the full co...

I can make a start on getting my Strat Copy purchase from last week functional.  The bits I ordered from Guitar Parts arrived this morning (very rapid delivery - thanks guys ! ). The scratch plate doesn't fit exactly.  I guess these copy companies alter the shape of the guitars in such a way that Fender don't sue (or they just don't cut accurately).  However, it's not a problem.  It's close enough, and won't look too out of place. Anyway, check it out:

The old stratolike  (Stratocaster Lookalike) guitar is starting to look pretty good. Jacqui managed to get the old stickers off using some dark magic.  I cleaned the neck, and removed the old machine heads.  I'll keep an eye out for some new ones. Anyway: looking good so far: We decided to go on a bit of hunt around wellington for more bits.  We visited several guitar shops in the city and managed to find: 1) A machine head to replace the missing one.  They guy gave it to me for nothing, which was nice :) 2) A Jack cover ( the bit where the cable goes ) 3) Pickup covers to brighten the old pickups. 4) A little plastic bit for the pickup selector. I asked about a new scratch plate, but no-one had one.  One guy said he could order one, but I reckon I'll get one online. These guys  specialise in guitar bits, so I guess I can get it from there. While we were in Music Warehouse , we spotted a pretty good acoustic guita...

Yesterday we went to Dunbar Sloan auctions in Wellington to see if they had anything interesting.  We hadn't been before, but I'd been told by a friend that it's worth a look. The list contained 407 items and number 401 was the one I wanted to make a bid on (I'll come to that shortly..).  We arrived about an hour before it was due to start, and had a good wander around the various lots.  There was lots of lots ;) They had (from memory) 10 or so boxes of old books, boxes of old electrical items,  china, glassware, kitchen stuff, fridges, beds, old stereos and pretty much everything else you might think of :) A few things caught our eyes.  Jacqui liked the look of a porcelain doll, there was a pretty little single chair and number 401 was a guitar & amp.  There was also a box of microphones that I liked the look of. First up was the box of mics.  I put a bid of $30 on it (how exciting!) but someone went up to $50, and that was too much. Ther...