On Time LR - Wed April 4th

[astutzmann]

Boy, Time Flies

For lunch today, the one who shall be obeyed, made a small salad with roasted chicken on top.

I'm down in florida and the weather is spectacular. I played tennis this morning and I'm not used to the heat and humidity yet. 93% humidity today and its going to 90, compared to something like 25% at home. Does a number on me and of course, the guitars for sure.

I have my black partscaster here and my jazz bass which I'm fixing up. I'm going to leave them here for when I come down. Its making me miss my G&Ls back home, but I don't want to bring one back and forth from canada to florida. Too much travel for the guitars.

It's making me think of my next one, which might be the guitars by leo custom build if there's a lefty and its done according to my vote, ha. I'm excited to see how that one is going to turn out. Interesting to say the least.

The custom build has also got me thinking about how (sorry) crappy the G&L website is. I know they are a manufacturer and the guitars are better represented by the dealers once they are build, but I can't help but wonder why the site is so bad, has inaccuracies and is out of date. Do the dealers have better access to information from their order sheets or whatever they use to order with?

G&L Question of the day.

To me a manufacturer website should be professional, complete, accurate, show their mission, vision and strategy. It should give the reader an idea that they have their stuff all together and are on the move, no questions.

I'd also like to see a guitar builder app on the site and I know Darwin I think said there were people working on something like that.

What other things would you like to see from the website? Better online store, more examples, better colour samples, better pickguard choices???

non G&L Question of the day

I have changed the pickguard on all the guitars I have, that have a pickguard. I have not liked any that came with it (even the one's I picked). The problem is that when I buy a replacement, I find it very hard to choose and decide what will look good on the guitar. In fact, I have bought several for each guitar and then chose the best one that I like. Some I received that I thought would be amazing, weren't and vice versa.

That has left me with spares, lol and its an expensive way to do this.

How do you go about choosing options like pickguards, knobs, pickup covers, etc and do you find it very tough, especially with G&L to make a choice and get it ordered? What do you do?


Thx,

Alf

[bassman]

So its hot in Florida, and are we to feel sorry for you?

Its very cool that you have a place in Florida. So you travel from Canada to FL when you can? Very cool!

I would love to have a beach house and keep a few G&ls there!

I usually leave pickguards alone, because it is an expensive hobby to keep changing the look of your pick guards but sometimes its worth it.

I did change the PG on my white P-bass from white to tortoise shell. I think it looks great with that guard. Here it is:

[astutzmann]

your bass looks awesome, congrats!

Don't feel sorry for me, I have a fantastic life, lol!

[NickHorne]

G&L Question of the day.

To me a manufacturer website should be professional, complete, accurate, show their mission, vision and strategy. It should give the reader an idea that they have their stuff all together and are on the move, no questions.

I struggle a bit with G&L's site! I keep wanting to tell newcomers "Don't be put off, the guitars are fantastically better than the site would leave you thinking"!
But they're not really using the 'net opportunity much. Frustrating; it wouldn't take much input to wake the site up a bit.
Must say, it's sort of nicely free of marketing, and that's very good. Quality instruments don't need fakery, and it's depressing when a marketing department runs amok with guitars and such; let's hope G&L's keep it sober in this respect.

But I find I'm asking around here quite a bit, for G&L info; because I'm in England, which is tiny, very few dealers, even fewer really great ones, and I can't find all the clues to assemble my optimum spec from the G&L site. I've known how to tune a guitar for over 50 years now, and I know how special G&Ls are and I expect to put the time and thought into specifying a new instrument. Once I receive it, I'll do my own circuit things / nut / setup etc and to me that's all part of my relationship with an instrument; to get it doing what pleases me, and generally enjoy the whole process. I think this part of being a player which just comes with experience. But a youngcomer needs introducing to our great little custom house in a way that they can get their less experienced, more marketing-battered heads around, and I do feel this merits some thinktime at G&L's.

My 2p (UK) on this good question.

[Elwood]

I've never played with a guitar building app , that'd be great...the higher the resolution the better .

On the website; I'd like to see good high res pictures with a real world background ,instead of what looks to be richly enhanced versions of the models against stark black. ( remember...G&L's ARE The Real Ones )

I've changed pickguards only when function calls for it, although I really don't like the grey pearl that I have on
one of my parts guitars. Right now it's just a test bed for Z-coil mods so I'll put up with it.
I have a steel version but it darkens the tone noticeably .

'88 SC-3 neck, comanche prototype body+hardware ( insanely light ),
with WR Z-coils.



I think drawers full of guards,pickups,knobs,little tools,polishes,etc. is just gonna happen once
GAS hits. I'm ok with that .
I sold a bunch of old (not that old )pickguards on ebay as a lot and it brought 60+ dollars.
...maybe do that once a year to keep your inventory down

Elwood

[gitman001]

Man i would love to be back down in FL! Every November my wife and i pack the kids up and drive to St.Augustine and rent a condo on the beach - It is always an amazing trip.... Alf, are you Central, Gulf or Atlantic?

I too think the G&L website is in need of a serious overhaul. I can't believe after all these years they still don't have pictures of some of the finishes! (red and green flake... hello)

I have only ever changed the pick guard on a guitar once... it was my first ebay acquisition, a CAR semi special that started out with a mirror pick guard and hum bucker and turned into this



Scott

[darwinohm]

Alf, Lunch today was with others at a Chinese Buffet. It was good but there is always the tendency to eat too much. No dinner tonight.

Web sites in todays world are the best marketing tool ever. We are all searching the web and everyone who markets is investing in their web sites. It is also easy for an established company to put this on the back burner as it doesn't seem urgent. A good web site would have a builder so you could select options and colors and essentially look at all options including changing colors as you select them on any model available. It is a financial investment however and probably an easy one to put at a lower priority during economic hard times even though it would be a questionable decision.

Our local dealer has developed a guitar builder application and it is awesome. The guitars are completed and the basses are being developed as we speak. I expect it should be available early summer. I think that it will be available to everyone and I sure like what I have seen of it. A very professional application indeed.

Alf, I am also one who likes to try different pickguards. I have a few extras that I should get rid of. I am a buyer and not good at selling. I hate to part with anything. It reminds me of the Digitech Harmony Man that I have never used. I also have some great strobe tuners that hardly get used except for setups. They have been replaced by a Snark when gigging. Just tonight I found an ASAT Special locally that I would like to buy, but I don't have anything I want to trade anymore. It gets complicated.

Scott, you slipped another cool one in!

Elwood, you continue to show us cool stuff. I like your test Z. I am also a tinkerer and what more fun could one have. Maybe a cold one!-- Darwin

[zapcosongs]

Only time for a quickie today. Too bad my wife is sick..... ;+(

G&L Web Site: Only have visited there a couple of times, so I really have no opinion. I buy used.

Pickguards: I've never changed one out. If I don't like everything about a guitar, I don't buy it. But I'm not terribly fussy when it comes to cosmetics. It's all good unless it really strikes me as wrong.

Bassman: Nice choice there. A white PG on that bass would have really turned me off. What you have there is just about perfect to my eye.... - ed

[louis cyfer]

Alf, Lunch today was with others at a Chinese Buffet. It was good but there is always the tendency to eat too much. No dinner tonight.

Web sites in todays world are the best marketing tool ever. We are all searching the web and everyone who markets is investing in their web sites. It is also easy for an established company to put this on the back burner as it doesn't seem urgent. A good web site would have a builder so you could select options and colors and essentially look at all options including changing colors as you select them on any model available. It is a financial investment however and probably an easy one to put at a lower priority during economic hard times even though it would be a questionable decision.

Our local dealer has developed a guitar builder application and it is awesome. The guitars are completed and the basses are being developed as we speak. I expect it should be available early summer. I think that it will be available to everyone and I sure like what I have seen of it. A very professional application indeed.

Alf, I am also one who likes to try different pickguards. I have a few extras that I should get rid of. I am a buyer and not good at selling. I hate to part with anything. It reminds me of the Digitech Harmony Man that I have never used. I also have some great strobe tuners that hardly get used except for setups. They have been replaced by a Snark when gigging. Just tonight I found an ASAT Special locally that I would like to buy, but I don't have anything I want to trade anymore. It gets complicated.

Scott, you slipped another cool one in!

Elwood, you continue to show us cool stuff. I like your test Z. I am also a tinkerer and what more fun could one have. Maybe a cold one!-- Darwin

eating too much and compensating with no meal for the next one for it is really a bad way to go about it. you are making sure that you will store every bit of the meal to come. eating a sensible meal 3-4 hours later, a small one is a much better option.

[darwinohm]

Just realized I forgot to post a pickguard that I changed. Louis, your right on the eating but I am still full!-- Darwin

[louis cyfer]

Just realized I forgot to post a pickguard that I changed. Louis, your right on the eating but I am still full!-- Darwin

remember you shouldn't eat when you are hungry, it's way too late then. you should eat when it's time. same with drinking. don't wait till you are thirsty to drink water.

[louis cyfer]

the g&l website is atrocious. small companies like usacg and warmoth can do pretty good ones, no reason for g&l not to. otoh, tom anderson has a horrible website too, way outdated, lack of info, but they focus on building guitars.
i have changed a lot of guards, and even finishes on guitars. i have many pickguards sitting around. when i change pups, i just have the whole guards wired up already on strats. have a quick change plug in all the guitars, no soldering required, just loosening the strings. the look of the guards in not that important to me though, white, cream and black is all i have.

[zapcosongs]

remember you shouldn't eat when you are hungry, it's way too late then. you should eat when it's time. same with drinking. don't wait till you are thirsty to drink water.

I know you mean well, Louis, but Geez! Where would mankind be if we ate when we were hungry, or drank when we were thirsty? I shudder to think....

Let me say this: My wife eats whether or not she's hungry, and she's, uh, porking out. Me? I eat only when I am quite hungry, and I eat slowly so that I realize I am full before I over-indulge. I can still fit comfortably in a size 6. ;+) Nuff said! - ed

[louis cyfer]

remember you shouldn't eat when you are hungry, it's way too late then. you should eat when it's time. same with drinking. don't wait till you are thirsty to drink water.

I know you mean well, Louis, but Geez! Where would mankind be if we ate when we were hungry, or drank when we were thirsty? I shudder to think....

Let me say this: My wife eats whether or not she's hungry, and she's, uh, porking out. Me? I eat only when I am quite hungry, and I eat slowly so that I realize I am full before I over-indulge. I can still fit comfortably in a size 6. ;+) Nuff said! - ed

ed, what you eat and how much you eat are very important. but eating often is the best way to optimize the effectiveness of nutrition. if she ate what she needed, not what she felt like, she would be fine. knowing the portion is the main thing, eating slowly is not as important as stopping when you ate your portion. when you are hungry, you will stay hungry for about 10-15 minutes regardless of how much you are eating, so eating slowly is a good idea at that point if you are not watching your portion. there are many reasons why you have not gained weight and she has, activity level, thermodynamics is the main thing, though although hormones play a huge part especially with women as they are getting older. i promise you though if you gave the same amount of food to 2 people one in 6-7 meals, the other in 2-3 meals, the one eating more often would lose bodyfat much quicker.

[astutzmann]

Great discussion and lovely guitars!

Scott, we are in the south west, north Naples

St Augustine is beautifull!

[CGT]

Never changed a pickguard but I may want to upgrade my Squiers one of these days. So any spares are welcome.

The G&L website needs to become visually consistent with the company's other marketing material. Adopting the look of the catalogues to the site would be one way about going about it, but the key word is adapting. The site smacks of information on paper being transferred to HTML.