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You're absolutely right Southpaw and yet...

When I walked on stage I was really glad I was wearing a sparkly shirt. Psychologically it was a kind of armor for me. I'd told myself I was going on to give a show when I put it on. I've no idea how some of the other bands had the gall to go on in sludge coloured t-shirts and boring jeans.

Now the same idea is intriguing me with guitars. Not getting an elaborate paint-job that can only be seen close up but getting a solid-colour that I know will be shouting 'here to rock you!'.

Strings do make a difference to sound but not enough so that we can recommend a particular brand for jazz or a particular brand for blues. Blues and jazz players tend to use a heavy gauge string to get a big mellow sound but there are several reasons not to emulate this;

1) Heavy gauge strings are real hard on the fingers. Some will tell you this builds finger strength but I reckon that's like your gym teacher saying press-ups are character building.

2) Jumping up several gauges needs the intonation adjusting, maybe the action as well and on some guitars it may strain and bow the neck needing truss rod relief adjustment!

You can get a jazz blues sound simply by working your guitar controls. Try this;

1) Turn the volume to zero and the tone full up (most trebly).

2) Turn your amp full up, strike a guitar string normally and then raise the guitar volume knob until you first hear it ring. You now have the 'bit-point', keeping in this position gives an expressive sensitivity. It varies by amp and guitar but there's always a bite-point.

3) Let some strings ring and roll off the tone knob. You'll hear the sound get less trebley. There's a point where the sound suddenly goes muddy. Find this and then rise a bit away from this. It should be mellow without being mushy. Perfect for jazz/blues.

First thing about Townshend is he's a writer. Most of the Who songbook is down to him. Second he's talented outside the guitar, most of the synth arpeggiations on Baba and WGFA are his and they are amazing.

Guitar-wise he combines both rhythmn and lead lines in a fluid way, he's doing the work of two regular guitarists. Second when he does solo it's not always 'by numbers' (see I can name check who album titles too). Townshend often innovates live on stage, playing sparse eloquent harmonic passages. Many other players solo the same every time. Once you know when Townshend has gone outside the bounaries of the song it's absolutely thrilling. He takes risks.

I have a friend with a Warwick Corvette, it's a damn good bass but I've never felt comfortable playing it. The odd thing is  that it's body is smaller than my Ibanez yet it weights more, really spelled out to me what wood density can mean.

Thanks for the production line story, really bears out what I say about trying out real instruments in the shop. Off to find those Wednesday guitars ;-)

The downside to all kit building is usually finishing the body paint job. Very hard to get a professional finish. With a Les Paul build you have the added problem that a real Gibson LP glues the neck into the body. Mess this part up and you'll never get that LP tone. Strat and Tele builders have it easier as the originals of those guitars use bolt-on necks like the kit.

There are some good cheap LP copies out there, I think the Vintage LP-alike is meant to be pretty good. Look at it as the start of a mod project and replace the pickups/electrics when you are able.

Wahey, Bassmasta appears to be fully functional again!

Bassmasta was nobbled a week or so ago. However there are two great forums talkbass.com and basschat.co.uk. However the tough news is there is very little bass tab out there (compared with guitar tab). This makes proper scrip books like the 'Bass Tab White Pages' and 'Motown Bass Classics' doubly worth buying.

However most the time you'll need to figure the bassline out for yourself. At it's most basic this means playing the root. So if the song's Em7 F5 you just play E and F notes, nice and simple eh? Of course then the question is _which_ E and F notes. You can play open strings far more effectively on bass than other guitars. Most of the time you'll be looking to inject some grunt by using the thickest bass strings E and A. Look for an area of the neck where all the notes you need to play are within 4 frets of each other. So you can reach them without moving too much.

One thing to watch out for is linear playing on the E string where you are moving all the time. You'll see this in punk and thrash groups but it really is bad practice. Sometimes it's what's needed but be suspicious of it. I'm also suspicious of bass lines all on one fret but again they are often how 60s bands played.

Lots more, such as root and fifth, root and seventh explained well at studybass.com.

The keyword you want is 'worship' Phil, tap in 'worship guitar', 'worship band' etc into Google and you'll get a whole lot of information.

'Good to know that the modern ones are good, especially since they're one of the few companies that still make Firebird copies.'

It's the kind of quality that seduces you even when you aren't looking for a guitar. You pick it up and say 'ooh this is nice, plays good too' then look at the headstock and go 'oh yeah, Tokai!'. Can't trust myself round them as I shouldn't be buying any more guitars ;-)