Why are all the guitar boards dead?

[442w30]

Holy cow! My guitar was so similar. Yet not nearly as cool.
In theory, two single coils, a tremelo, sunburst and a STEEL pickguard in a vaguely strat shaped package would be all you need.
Had some funky slide switches, and plenty of wiring issues to go with open plastic (bent) tuners.

Something like the below, but with plastic pickup covers and "slider switches" to turn the pickups on and off, I believe.



I first tried to make a two layer plywood flying V body with a jigsaw and a gold gibson pickup. then when that didn't quite turn out, I spray painted the original body black with krylon.
That couldn't help the intonation or string height, so i dug out the grooves in the nut to create an aweful first fret buzz. but it was still 1.5" inches off the fretboard at the 15th or so fret.

finally, it didn't even give me the satisfaction of exploding when I did a Paul Stanley/Pete townsend in the street, so I Jimi Hendrix burned it with lighter fluid and threw it in the trash.

Then begged my mom to loan me money for a decent guitar.

I got an Ibanez Destroyer II - the cheaper version of the Phil Collen model

[PowerTube]

Holy cow! My guitar was so similar. Yet not nearly as cool.
In theory, two single coils, a tremelo, sunburst and a STEEL pickguard in a vaguely strat shaped package would be all you need.
Had some funky slide switches, and plenty of wiring issues to go with open plastic (bent) tuners.

Something like the below, but with plastic pickup covers and "slider switches" to turn the pickups on and off, I believe.



I first tried to make a two layer plywood flying V body with a jigsaw and a gold gibson pickup. then when that didn't quite turn out, I spray painted the original body black with krylon.
That couldn't help the intonation or string height, so i dug out the grooves in the nut to create an aweful first fret buzz. but it was still 1.5" inches off the fretboard at the 15th or so fret.

finally, it didn't even give me the satisfaction of exploding when I did a Paul Stanley/Pete townsend in the street, so I Jimi Hendrix burned it with lighter fluid and threw it in the trash.

Then begged my mom to loan me money for a decent guitar.

I got an Ibanez Destroyer II - the cheaper version of the Phil Collen model

Yep. We're on the same page, for sure.

Speaking of funky slide switches....

The Holiday belonged to my uncle, but my first guitar was from Sears and was almost exactly like this one, minus the case (it came with a plastic bag). Mine has a weird little butterfly emblem on the headstock.



I still have it. The switches are no longer wired and I replaced the bridge pup with a humbucker decades ago. Those stock pups are actually single coil with PAF-style covers.

[442w30]

That's actually not bad looking at all, if it can be set up decently, you got a really nice quirky fiddle there.
Maybe this will inspire me to get playing again. I've got to return to my fortress of mulletude and regroup.

There may be a pointy guitar or airbrushed graphic in my future again afterall!

[TKEblue]

When I was starting the internet was like the wild west. It was there but nobody seemed to really know what to do with it. I used it for AOL messenger and pirating music on Napster. Porn was dangerous back then..one wrong click and you've got 2847291048 pop up boxes making it look way worse then it really was and more viruses than you could get on a trip to Tijuana.

Really, YouTube is great, but imo the best way to improve and learn is still playing with other guitarists. Something I don't do nearly enough.
And really, the old way of slowing down the recording and finding the note on the fretboard might be a lot more work, but I imagine it being a lot better in the long run instead of just, 3rd string 12th fret, then 14th and 15th. The only thing you learn from that is exactly what you played.

I read on forums a lot, don't join very often. Of the few I have joined, here and Overclock.net are the only places I've ever really been active. Not a fan of Facebook in general, and not a fan of the Facebook group layout. Seems like pure chaos to me.

[PowerTube]

Back in the 80's, I used to see an ad in the guitar mags for a specialty cassette player that could slow a tape down to roughly half speed. It cost a couple hundred bucks and even then, I believe it also took the tune down an octave or more so you had to transpose it back to the original pitch. I might be mistaken about that last part.

Now, you can slow down anything with either GoldWave or Winamp (with plug-ins) while keeping the pitch the same. GoldWave will also let you snip out the section you want to learn. slow it down, then loop it over and over.

[PowerTube]

That's actually not bad looking at all, if it can be set up decently, you got a really nice quirky fiddle there.
Maybe this will inspire me to get playing again. I've got to return to my fortress of mulletude and regroup.

There may be a pointy guitar or airbrushed graphic in my future again afterall!

Yeah, it's not bad, basically an SG wannabe. The neck still feels good, but the bridge never did; it'll leave an imprint in your palm.

Seriously, you should try getting back into playing. It comes and goes for me, but whatever improvement you make each time will stay with you.

[PowerTube]

Really, YouTube is great, but imo the best way to improve and learn is still playing with other guitarists.

I agree 100%. I grew by leaps and bounds once I got into my first band. I was the only guitarist, but I still improved massively. I later improved even more than that by jamming with a guitar player buddy.

[Mudlark]

It's true. You learn to use your ears more and interact when playing with others. When to say something, when to lay back. It develops your musicianship more so than technique.

Some guys are easy to play with others aren't, and that is oftentimes more to do with musicianship than technique.

[Tetsuo]

It's true. You learn to use your ears more and interact when playing with others. When to say something, when to lay back. It develops your musicianship more so than technique.

Some guys are easy to play with others aren't, and that is oftentimes more to do with musicianship than technique.

bingo. you can have bad technique and not very technical but always know what to play. thats the difference between blues and jazz. The blues guy just feels it. The jazz guy thinks it and puts odd feels on it that keep you interested. Now that being said you can have all the musicianship in the world and if you aren't a technical monster too you will ruin something like a dream theater song.

[Tetsuo]

on topic though thee are some pages that are very active. The Gear Page is always moving. The Fractal Forums are popular, bass talk, etc.... The JCF has a decent amount of activity still but a lot went to facebook. I personally never check those forums.

[pianoguyy]

I can see why a place like Jackson is not active. It is devoted to one thing - Jackson. Unlike, let's say, 7-string or TGP, where they have it open to all brands of everything - it makes for a larger audience. Once you get the history of the brand in print, and get a lot of pictures of pre-internet stuff - there's only so much you can do with one subject.

Plus, Jackson and guitars in general, are not what they used to be.

[kamanda]

I find this board fairly active considering it is for one purpose. AND most of the people here are actual knowledgeable and helpful. The Seymour Duncan forum is much more like this as well (although more active as it covers alot more than just pickups, but lots of knowledge over there).

I recently just joined a new board and man...it's not anywhere close to here or SD forum. Lot's of misinformation and classic 'this is what I use so it's what you should use' answers instead of actually listening to what OP wants and recommending something that might actually get them closer to their goal.

Ex. One guy asked about pups for his Model 4 (so right up my alley). Responses like 'well there's a ton of pickups out there, you just need to find your own'. Or when I was trying to decide between two brands of EL34 power tubes, not only did I get most 'I use this and they're great!' responses (with no reason as to why, or how it will help me achieve what I want) or 'just use this, thank me later' type responses. When I asked one member to elaborate he simply said 'well you won't know until you try' hahaha what? I don't mind recommending something outside of the two but tell me WHY. If that were here or the SD forum (for both questions) there would have been much more insight, and also asking OP questions as to 'whats the rest of your setup' 'what kind of music mainly' 'what DONT you like about your current setup' etc. Hell, one response was 'there's only one choice, THIS, because it adds a nice deep bottom end' ... when in my OP I specifically said I tried those and found them too boomy.

Ok sorry long rant. But I think that may be a good reason why alot of guitar boards are dying. Simply the content is garbage.

[PowerTube]

I can see why a place like Jackson is not active. It is devoted to one thing - Jackson. Unlike, let's say, 7-string or TGP, where they have it open to all brands of everything - it makes for a larger audience. Once you get the history of the brand in print, and get a lot of pictures of pre-internet stuff - there's only so much you can do with one subject.

Plus, Jackson and guitars in general, are not what they used to be.

Great point. Jemsite also seems to be lagging these days and they're, of course, devoted to Ibanez.