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Congrats on the new Takamine!

I've got one of their 12-strings on my "G.A.S. List". They make some sweet sounding guitars, and many of them are quite affordable for the quality one gets.

Well, I gotta weigh in on Canuck football.

I'll first admit that our talent pool is less because the league is smaller (8 teams), smaller cities, smaller arena, all = lower wages. We did have a couple Canadians do great things in the NFL (Doug Flutie, Warren Moon, etc.), and I've been a Patriots fan since the days of Sam "The Bam" Cunningham.

But I do like our longer & wider field, plus the bigger end zone. It makes for more "big play" football than grinding it out, especially with our 3 downs versus the NFL's 4 downs. I'm not saying one is better than the other, but I do prefer our Canadian game. With all this said:

"Go, Pats, go!"
"Lets go, Argos!"

Football's a great game, no matter where or how it's played.

Good going, Fire Art!

More important than progress or "skill level" is enjoyment. If YOU like what you're doing, any progress will be enjoyable.

Looks like a winner, Russell ...

I love what you say about it staying in tune. That's always been a problem with most trem designs, and it seemed to make sense that the moving bridge idea would alleviate this. I can't wait until the piggy bank has enough in it to get one. I take it that you found it easy to install? It looks like the intonation setup would be the same as a standard stop-tail bridge.

Phill ... they do indeed make different mounting styles for different makes of guitars. What I found most appealing is that they've designed their mounting system as a retrofit, i.e., no new holes need to be drilled in your guitar. They call the Les Paul / SG style a Stop Tail, and Tele / Strat style a Hard Tail.

My mantra until I get one will be, "Patience, Mr. Frodo."

Phill ... I definitely share your estimation of the BeeGees during that era. Its too bad, because they did a lot of decent music outside of the disco stuff.

Back in university (mid-1970's), a buddy and I hosted an on-campus radio show on Friday and Saturday nights from midnight till 2:00 AM. It was called "No Disco", and since everything mainstream was disco then, we stuck to light metal, prog rock, etc. Our phone lines lit up with requests every night for stuff from Strawbs, Uriah Heep, Pink Floyd, Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, Wishbone Ash, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, etc. Lots of excellent music from the UK, in other words!

Contrary to historical belief, not everyone in that era liked what was termed "popular music" ... much as it is today!

Beamer ... I wanna decorate that thing for a Christmas tree!

"Wah wah wailing by an open fire,
Phaser shifting every note,
Chorus loop, like a song from on high,
Merry G.A.S. - mas, to you!"

Sorry, couldn't resist ... TF

I searched in vain for a tube of him breaking a guitar in half. He'll often incorporate a vibrato effect by simply bending it across his body (as he does in the above tube), and is known to have broke a few. Obviously he uses a lot of open tunings to play the way he does, but his palming & slapping techniques are fun to watch and listen to.

Wow! To buy & install the Fishman electronics would cost that much alone ... great deal.

Russell ...

I had the same dilemma when looking at the Kahler, Schaller, and Stetsbar. All of them have working solutions for the string stress at the bridge. Some reviews claim that the string tension prevents the roller bearing style bridges from working well (Kahler & Schaller), and I believe the Stetsbar is the only one where the whole tail & bridge assembly moves. None of the good ones are cheap (=/- $300) but its rare for anything of high quality to be inexpensive ... except for Kraft Peanut Butter :-)

Gotta say, it's always a blast researching stuff like this. It's mind-boggling to see just how much gear is available today. Imagine what Hendrix might have done with all of it ... wow!

Thanks, Beamer ...

I was also wondering about the nut and the pinging mentioned in the demo, but he's using a brass nut which would account for some of that. Perhaps I'll try using lube first, and if that doesn't work move to either a Graphite nut or locking one, as you suggest. A lot of Ibanez guitars have a lockdown on their stock models, and I gotta say I've never liked the way they can catch the fingers at times. Hopefully I can do without one.

Appreciate the insights!

After lots of investigation, it would appear that the Stetsbar Pro II will be the trem going on my Les Paul:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjMgnYlJBu8

I love the amazing range it has, and especially the feature were the bridge moves with the whole apparatus. No chafing or fatigue on the strings trying to push / pull over the bridge, and apparently it holds tune & intonation very well. So now the saving starts to get one (about $300).

Does anyone else use one of these? Comments - either positive or negative - would be most welcome!

Welcome, Rob!

You've already heard about the many great things Chordie has to offer, which we've all shared and enjoyed. Yet another thing we all share is an occasional case of G.A.S., also known as Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. With such a large group of knowledgeable guitarists on board, I've gotten great advice when considering making a purchase of some sort. And as a 55-year-old myself, I'll echo your comments about striving to improve, but not at the stressful expense of enjoying what I can now do.

Glad your here!