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Only one way I've found through the forest Phil, go to shop and ask to plug-in. Did this today and walked out with a discontinued Ibanez bass; light, easy to play and packs a punch. No way I would have picked it plonking through Net pages.

It's also too easy to set your heart on a guitar seen on the Net and then find it can't be got hold of, many limited editions struggle to make it out of the states.

I trusted my ears and laid down the cash (even though the colour was a bit well... metallic sage green....)

Seagull guitars are really nice; good size and shape, good wood, sweet sound. Mine's an M6 Cedar which is fairly standard. The artist series should be even more refined but I haven't seen a Seagull on sale where I live for years. Was talking with my local shop owner yesterday (took my gull in for a check over and restring) who says distribution lapsed a few years ago but they are trying to get back into Europe now...

Here's two pages with some decent and scientific discussion.

http://users.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/amppower.htm

http://www.gibson.com/products/epiphone … tid=171151

What I'm taking away is that watts are very poor guide. I would say go to the shop and try out but blasting away at max volume on various amps might raise a few eyebrows! I certainly think speaker size and number are more of a guide since most combos match the powerstage to them. Playing loud clean is clearly the everest, with distortion the test is how nicely and controlled thinks break up.

I have gleaned the following EL84 tubes = Marshall type sound, 6L6 tubes = Fender type sound and 12AX7 are pretty common as preamp stages in both.

Was planning to keep my current amp, run a splitter box to it and kick it in as a cheap alternative fuzzbox, it's sleaze incarnate.

I can see alot of potential advantages to commisioning a custom guitar like being able to specify options that the maker you are emulating does not offer. Being able to specify control placing and eliminate pick guards or f-holes. Of course there's always the dread possibility that I'd create a neither fish nor fowl; a halfway guitar that doesn't really add up, nightmare...

Playing in front of others;

1) Don't try your most impressive/complex song, start off with a real easy player that everyone knows.

2) Involve them in the song, like on 'Return To Sender' get them to do the 'She Wrote Upon It' bit, this breaks down the invisible wall.

3) If you fluff a note laugh and carry on, if they know you're having fun  it's infectious.

4) Goof off. Change the words to a song, see if anyone notices. When you come to a solo but just strum the backing and ba-ba-baa the solo, it worked for Bing Crosby and Bobby McFerrin.

5) Make eye contact on the easy bits. Move around a bit, lift the guitar on dramatic easy bits. Mach shau, mach shau!

Don't know the Taj version but they wouldn't have shied away from the unusual tuning used by Richards. Here's my summary;

http://www.chordie.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1587

First off let's check the basics, have you gotten open chords E A D G C sorted out? Now how about F and B, yep the difficult ones (stay with me there's a point to this). There's a simplified F and then there's a harder version that uses all four fingers with your index way back behind it. Same goes for Bm which is one down and one forward same shape. That basic shape is like open E but with your first finger making where the nut (fret zero) should be. These are barre chords, move barre F up two frets and you have a G, move up another two and you have A. This way you could play a F G A song part real quick, even work a bit of that sliding up the frets sound in.

OK now if you have an amp, turn the gain (overdrive/distortion) full on up. Now try that barre chord again. Aaargh! It's a heavy, heavy sound but it's too cluttered, not focused enough. Now try just playing two strings of the chord, it should sound better, metal but with tightness. Now you don't need to make all your fingers into a tiring barre shape. You can just use two fingers on just the strings you are playing... and that's powerchords. The distortion creates 'intermodulation' which means to you and me that two strings sound as good as three, there's a phantom third string (really). So now you can make the same moves but easier. Look for powerchords in metal and punk but don't expect them always to be there, some metal is really quite sophisticated (tricky chords).

In the mid-70s alot players found a sweet-spot in the mid-point of the wah pedal and kept it fixed at that, hence the 'stuck-wah' effect. Not as expressive as Hendrix but right for some songs.

Compression squeezes your sound, limits it's frequency range, sounds like a receipe for bad tone doesn't it?

And yet compression is the essence of that late 50s, early 60s sound and at the heart of country electric guitar. Compression is great. Think 'I Feel Fine' By The Beatles, think 'Mystery Train' by Elvis. Somehow bass picks are a dozen times more percussive and treble notes sing out with a pleasing quack. Studios had the technology to add compression but I don't think pedals were around then. This makes me guess that hollowbody electrics and Fender amps added compression naturally.

I'm considering making a Carl Martin compressor as my late birthday treat. Top unit and doesn't rely on batteries or outboard supplies which is useful as once used this effect tends to stay on.

Found at least one of them pedals I mentioned adn it's by Danelectro so shouldn't be too pricey.

http://www.guitareffectspedals.com/sitarswami.jpg