Review on Fender 250L and D'Addario Capo and locking strap

I have used Ernie Ball for quite a while because I got a good friend in the U.S. who always bring home guitar strings. I love the strings and most especially that it's given free by friend Louie, that's make it more special. Then when I came to England, I tried D'Addario strings and the first time I bought it was just by chance because my brother got an old classical guitar and needed changing of strings. When I went to a music shop, Will's Music in Romsey, the available nylon strings was D'Addario. That's when I fall in love with this strings and used it on my electric guitar. Also after a while, I discovered RotoSound and read lots of good reviews, so I tried it a couple of times and it's also very good strings. But all of the brands I mentioned are a bit expensive. So I tried to look for a decent cheap brand of guitar strings, there's Epiphone and to be honest it's not bad. The only downside was it doesn't last that long. I mean in terms of shimmer and/or colour of the strings. So I tried Fender strings, and that was it. It's cheap, last long, stays in tune, it's my comfort zone string. From my budget to my fingers and as I've said stays longer. I don't have to change strings everytime.

About the capo, I am not really a fan of capo. I can easily transpose a song. The only time I will be needing a capo is if the song really requires me to have it or use it. I've had few capos, cheap ones obviously, hehehe. but I always give it to someone else because as Ive said I dont feel I need it. Then, I saw this one online. D'Addario capo. It's lovely. From the design and how it works. It's perfect for me. I've used it on my YouTube videos especially on Wonderwall and Losing My Religion.

Now with the strap. When I bought my Lyon by Washburn guitar, it came with a practise amp, gigbag, lead and a strap. It was just a regular one, colour black, no design whatsoever. But I've lost it when I left my guitar from a friend, lost the whammy bar too and the Allen screw. Anyways so much for that, so I bought another strap, a Fender leather strap but I think it was fake. Not only because of the cheap price but the quality. The leather was like a hard leather, you can't easily bend the strap. And it didn't last long. It starts to wear off and the hole had a split and gets larger and larger everytime that I was scared I will drop my guitar because it was too loose.  Bought another one, colour yellow, just a regular, no-name strap. It works fine and Im using it still. But my good friend Alex, our lead vocals in our band Subtle Culprits.... introduced me to Planet Waves locking strap. It's cheap but well made and works perfectly in securing your guitar. So I look online and bought one for myself. And the one delivered to me was D'Addario locking strap. I just realise that D'Addario acquired Planet Waves. So technically it's the same brand. Anyways, my D'Addario locking strap, apart from cheap, is really very nice strap. Works great, easy to use, love the colour that I chose which is Maroon and gives me comfort that my guitar is safe.

Guitar makeover (how to disassemble and reassemble your electric guitar)

How to disassemble:

1. First is to take photos of your guitar as many angles as you can so you wont forget when you start removing parts, screws, cover plates, etc. Then remove the strings of your guitar. Might as well remove the strap buttons and loosen the input jack.

2. Next, unscrew the covers and plates of the guitar.  Check what's underneath and might as well take photos of what's inside your guitar i.e. wirings, settings, etc. Then, pull the volume and tone knobs out including the 5-way switch tip/button.

3. After you documented or took photos of the wires, unsolder the pickup connections as well as the ground wire. Then start to unscrew the pickups, pots, 5-way switch and input jack. If you can put them in a bag or container separately with the respective knots and bolts so it's easy for you to identify and remember when you try and re-assemble your guitar after.

4. You got options with the neck, either unscrew and remove it if it is a bolt on neck or just leave it and cover it when you spray paint your guitar. Also the tuners/machineheads, can be removed if you want to spray paint the head of the guitar but if not, then just cover it.

Note: I did not spray paint my guitar myself. David Harriman did the job. From removing the paint of my guitar to sanding, etc. up to the artwork and actual painting of the guitar. Cheers Dave!

Now how to re-assemble:

1. Once the paint is totally dry and ready, gather your tools, parts of your guitar, knots and bolts, including photos that you took because you want to sort them out so that it's ready when you need it.

2. I prefer to start with the Bridge of the guitar. If it is a 2-point or 6-point bridge, then you will need those screws. That's why it's handy to pack them separately so that you got it in one bag/container and not mixed up especially with screws. Next would be the tremolo springs. Screw and put the springs according to your preference i.e. straight or triangle.

3. Then put the pickups back, start from the neck first then insert wires through the holes making sure what colour or which wire is which so that you know where to solder it later. Perhaps a post-it or sticker will help. Then screw the pickup. Next put the neck pickup, same procedure and take note of the wires. And lastly, the bridge pickup. Again make sure you know which wire goes where. That's why photos or documentation is very important. Make sure that all the pickups are secured. Even if it was screw in loosely. Just to avoid dropping them when you flip the guitar.

4. Flip the guitar over and time to solder. Start by soldering the ground wire to the tremolo spring holder/plate. Next, solder the pickups to the pot first then to the 5-way switch. Just remember to get the photo/notes you did on which wire goes to where. Then secure all knots and bolts of the pots/knobs and jack input. Tidy the wire and if there are wires that needs to be taped/covered i.e. if you're using 4-wire humbucker and you're not coil tapping it then cover that wire. Don't put the covers yet. It's better to attach the neck of the guitar if you've removed it, if not then it's time to test your pickups and knobs if it's working. Plug your guitar and gently tap the pickups and adjust the volume knobs. Just a quick check that everything's working.

5. Put strings on and setup your guitar from tremolo springs to checking the action and intonation of the guitar or if you want a fixed bridge or floating trem setup. Once, you're happy with your setup. Close all cover plates and screw them back including strap buttons and that's it. Finished.

Behringer Ultratone K450FX Review

Behringer Ultratone K450 FX

Bought this unit about 7 years ago. It worked well. Lovely sound and just enough volume for small venues and even outdoor.  Mostly I use this as PA system making the most of the 3 channels for vocals especially with the builtin digital effects like reverb, delay, chorus, etc. I have not tried it on keyboards because I dont own any before but obviously as per manufacturer's specification it is really intended for keyboards. I have tried it though with the acoustic guitar and it's really great. But, with the electric guitar, I wasn't impressed. I've also tried it using bass guitar and it's bearable but not your typical bass amp.

After few years of usage, an accident happened, someone spilt beer on it and that's when the problem started. It started to have a crackling noise when you use the effects. You can turn the effects knob up, the noise statts. So, I just leave it on zero all the time. Im using my Behringer Xenyx 802 and plug it into this amp so I can make use of the effects of the Xenyx 802. At times Im using this amp as well for my karaoke machine during parties and it works well because the karaoke machine already got its built-in echo. Still up and running amp up to now.

If there's anyone out there who knows or experienced a problem like this on their Behringer Ultratone K450FX that's having a crackling sound, please leave in the comment section any information that might help me solve the problem. Cheers! 

Wilkinson Vintage 60s MWVS and Hot Humbucker MWHB review

Wilkinson single coil and humbucker pickups

I had hard time deciding on what pickup to buy to upgrade my stock pickup on my Lyon by Washburn guitar. I bought this guitar around 2009. So it's been a long while and I've used this guitar a lot from gigs, recordings and home videos. Anyways, Im not expert on pickups moreso on changing stuff on my guitar. Im scared of soldering things.

My first challenge was the wiring of the stock pickup. So I took a photo of the pickup and the wiring setup. Then I also checked on YouTube some videos on how to change pickups. The second challenge was the 5 way switch was wired differently from most videos on YouTube. So I had to learn the concept behind it. Pen and paper plus a bit of drawing came handy.


I got the original photo of the wiring positions, etc. and I got my drawing of the switch and connections, I think Im ready to dismantle my guitar. Strings removed, I started with the neck pickup. Unscrew and removed the wires. It was straight forward. Just solder the wires from where the original pickups were attached.


Now, with the humbucker, I had to go back to YouTube because I got 4 wires on Wilkinson's and only 2 wires on my stock pickup. Again try to learn some concept on humbuckers between 2 wires vs 4 wires. Good thing, Wilkinson's got a piece of paper that came with the pickups saying what colour the wires and what it's for. But obviously, like myself, being new to this 4 wires couldn't get it at an instant by just reading that piece of paper. That's when YouTube came to place and helped a lot. So, to cut the story short, 4 wires is for coil split or coil tap and all I needed to do is to just left the red and white wires soldered together and just wrap it with an electrical tape and just solder the yellow wire to the selector switch and solder the black wire to the pot.

Put the guitar back together and I used my old strings back. Because I haven't bought a replacement strings yet and was too excited to put the pickups and try it. Hence, the video was done for my own reference to know the difference between the old and the newly fitted Wilkinson pickups.

CONCLUSION: There's a subtle difference between the two pickups. If you are not too techy and sensitive sound differences, I think there's no need to change your pickups. It saves you all the hassle. Unless you really got a crap guitar or a knackered pickups that's making a lot of noise or feedbacks a lot. But if your pickups are functional, I think it's best to just leave it.

I think the sound that you produce from your guitar is a combination of a lot of things. Like what type of guitar your using i.e. strat vs les paul or other brands, shape, size, etc. of a guitar. Strings that you put. Amp you use. Effects pedal you use.  So, if you are that particular, then go for it. You have to really chase that tone and experiment from one pickup brand, style, customisation, etc. to get your tone right. Because there's really a lot to learn and even with subtle differences, you can decipher the changes in your tone.