Six String

As Blue Dog says, contact cleaner may do the trick. That said, I would be concerned about what contact cleaner might do if it got on the finish of some guitars, so I'd advise a cautious approach. Take care to make sure the spray doesn't splatter on the guitar or bleed through around the shaft if it takes multiple attempts. Note that it can be difficult to get the cleaner inside the pot as there are not any openings designed for that. There will be splatter and you might need several attempts, but like Blue, I have had success doing this. Just take your time and wipe up any excess between attempts and it might solve your problem. Now, if that doesn't fix it, you might consider replacing all the pots which is actually a fairly common and inexpensive way to upgrade a guitar . Good pots and caps are not particularly expensive (and many companies use really cheap ones even on nice guitars), but do play a fairly significant role in your signal chain. For many popular guitar models (LP, Strat, Tele, SG, Flying V, etc) you can buy a completed harness with all new pots, a switch and output jack all soldered and ready to drop in your guitar. Going that route minimizes the skill required and you'll only need to solder a couple of points. If you are more adventurous and have intermediate soldering skills, building your own harness would not be massively difficult. If you aren't comfortable doing even the minimum soldering for a drop in harness, its something any shop should be able to do for you inexpensively. These are upgrades that are often done on even higher end guitars and would be a definite improvement on a something like a Squire or Epiphone so I'd consider it, even if the pot cleans up with the contact cleaner as I'd always worry the gremlin would return at an inopportune time. FWIW I've done full harness replacements on my Gibson LP Traditional and my Epiphone Flying V. Great improvements for both guitars. My Epiphone SG currently has a scratchy pot, so I'll likely eventually do a full harness replacement on it as well.

Interesting I am 100% the opposite. Of all my guitars the Strat (which I have owned the longest by far) feels strangest to me. I'm forcing myself to play it more to try and get over that as I think it sounds and plays great, the right hand position just feels very different. Conversely I took to my Tele immediately, so its not just a bias against Fender. I feel like if I can swap between acoustic, Les Paul, Flying V and ES-135 I should be able to get comfortable with the dang Strat! lol

I guess I have to say Gibson since I own more of them than anything else, but the truth is there are a lot of great guitars out there at every price point. I have played individual models guitars I'd love to own from a lot of Companies. When I was shopping for a "Good" acoustic, I played a lot of Taylors and Martin's and the Martin D-28 became my benchmark. I also could have been happy with a lot of the Taylors and Gibson acoustics I played as well, but all were well above my price point. I played a Epiphone Masterbuilt that really impressed me, but left the shop without it and it was sold when I went back. Finally, I was trying to find the budget for a Martin DCPA4 when I stumbled on a used Breedlove D25/SRH Pro Series, which I felt came closer to the D-28 sound than anything I'd played and was within my price range. I'm thrilled with my Breedlove and blown away by their customer service even after I explained I had bought my guitar used. Great Company. For Electrics I own Epiphones and a Squire that are way better than their price would indicate. In stores I've played guitars I'd be happy to own from Gretsch, Ibanez, Schecter, D'Angelica, PRS and more. Long story short, when shopping try not to focus too much on brand and play lots of stuff. You may find something that speaks to you where you least expect it.

Hope you get it working like you want. FWIW, I just set the trem on my '95 AmStd Strat to float from having it decked for the past several years. I first set it with the springs straight and was impressed with how well it went back to tune even after some crazy dive bombs. Then I angled the springs to see if there was any difference. The strings were all a touch sharp from the added tension but once re-tuned to pitch, the guitar again had pretty good tuning stability, Knock on wood, I don't jinx myself and start having problems!

Ahh! Nothing like that New Amp Smell! Congrats. I've been intruiged by these amps since they were introduced and I've seen nothing but positive reviews of them. My grand-nephew is taking guitar lessons and will probably be ready to step up from his small Line 6 in the not too distant future. If you continue to post glowing comments, I may get one for him.

Thanks for all the nice comments. I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to own and play some really great instruments. Even though I can't really do them justice, it is a blast experiencing how different guitars demand different approaches to the same instrument. I've heard professional musicians say they could never have written a particular song if it weren't for playing an instrument that changed they way they had to play. Subtle differences can inspire us in new ways. Anyway, some of the gear I mentioned in this thread has come and gone already, and despite the NUSHGD thread, I'm actually trying to downsize some of the gear I've accumulated over the past 6 years or so. Too bad selling is no where near as much fun as buying.

Yes, 57 Classic/Classic +. I've owned (or own) guitars with 57 Classic/Classic +, Classic/Burstbucker 3, 490R/498T, and 496R/500T pickups. For me, the first 3 are all great pickups, and if I had a guitar with any of them, I would be in no rush to swap. That said, having played them alongside each other, I'd rank them (by very narrow margins) in the order above, for what I enjoy playing. The ES-135 and my Flying V both have 57 Classic/Classic +, one LP has the Classic/Burstbucker 3 pair with coil split and the other has Sheptones (the 57 Classic/C+ were swapped from that guitar to the V). The 496R/500T's I have came out of an LP Classic and were a craigslist find. They are really hotter than I like but still sounded better to my ear than the stock pickups in my Epi SG (Gave the stock Epi's to a friend). The Super Hot Epi pickups from the V ended up in my parts box for now but they sounded very much like the 496R/500T so a very good heavy rock pick up(but not quite my thing). That's it for my humbucker guitars.

Thanks. I appreciate your input on these ES's from a while back. It helped me start figuring out what the differences were. I think this guitar suits me and my musical interests pretty well, and I have always been drawn to the Venetian cutaway, so the look of the 135/137 really caught my eye. I hemmed and hawed a bit thinking I might like the 137 better, due to the comments it was sort of a mix of Les Paul and 335, but the deal my local shop offered on this 135 sealed it and since I was going for something different than what I already have, its better than ok if this guitar is a tad further away from the Les Paul sound.

Yeah, as I decode the SN# its a 2002. My observations so far are: A: Its very light with the balsa center block. B: the Trapeze tail gives the strings a very, very slinky feel so bends and vibrato are easier. C: The guitar has a ton of sustain D: Using the same POD HD500X patches that work for my Les Paul, Flying V, Telecaster and Stratocaster this guitar is louder and overly distorted. Turning off the overdrive effects gives a tone just a tad cleaner than I would like. So I'll need a set of patches just to suit this guitar to get the best out of it. E: The old strap I had laying around that I've been using with the ES-135 is likely the 2nd or 3rd worst musical purchase I ever made. It has a very thin (like 3/4"-1") wide strap with a sliding padded section. Even through the pad it cuts into you even with this light guitar and worse 1/2 the time it will work its way out of place and the thin strap cuts right into you. That's it for now. Oh and while I was practicing today, I figured I'd have another look at the wiring on my Flying V, while I was doing a string change, and I found a bad solder joint on the wire to the tone capacitor. I re-soldered it and now the tone control works on the V so its almost like I got 2 NUGD's. I mention the V here because it is a something of a niche guitar. I'm one that usually says the player determines the genre but for whatever reason this V really does rock tones better and does not clean up very well even with 57 classic pickups in it, so it will never be my most versatile guitar. I think the ES might find a similar role where its the best at what it does but what it does is a narrower field compared to an LP, Tele or Strat. I guess I need to learn the rhythm part to some GnR stuff. The ES-135 was supposedly what Izzy Stradlin played with that band.

New Used Semi-hollow Guitar day. Over the past couple of years, seeing several NGDs for this style of guitar got me thinking I should give one a try so I’ve been playing a few various models at GC the past few visits. This ES-135 was at my local Guitar store and I played it a while back when the price was well above my point. Well this time I guess they decided it had hung on the wall long enough and floored me when I asked what the bottom line was. It was so far below what I expected all I could do was stutter I’ll take it. The guitar is in good shape but not mint. That said this picture didn’t do it justice. It’s a very different animal and I’m enjoying figuring out what it does best.

Agree with most of the advice and definitely the comment that store ruined a perfectly good guitar for you. If there was nothing wrong with the frets before the string change, there was nothing wrong with them after the change. The guitar likely needed the bridge raised a hair or maybe a touch more tension on the truss rod. As Ice9 said, going from .09's to .10's should not require much tweaking of the guitar. Going more that one size up or down, the nut slots may need work for the thicker strings. If going to much thinner strings you might have to have a new nut cut for the thinner strings.

Congrats on the new Axe! You two are killing me with the semi-hollow GAS. No way am I playing Jazz if I follow through and pick up a semi-hollow though. lol I have an Aussie drummer I can introduce you to that is way into "poly-rhythmic jazz-fusion" or something like that.

I anxiously await Greg's response but in the interim, I'm putting forth the thesis that the only thing worse than storing a guitar in the case, is storing it outside of the case. Seriously, being in the case will delay environmental changes but sooner of later whatever is going on outside the case in terms of temp and humidity will happen inside the case. So long as as the external environment is kept in a decent range the guitar should be just as good in the case as out and the risk of impact damage is vastly reduced.

Welcome. To add to the chorus of advice, focus on the note exercises in these early sessions. Chords will come in later sessions including other forms of the G7 that you may find more useful in a musical setting. The open C you will definitely need, but again, there are chapters ahead dedicated to working on that. Remember the forum is here for help and encouragement, so share your successes and frustrations.

Congrats. There are some Blueridge fans here on the forum.

Cool score CapM. I share your conflict with the relic-ing thing. I don't really dig it, but at the same time love a vintage vibe, so a light relic job often stokes the GAS fires for me.

Well it answers the unasked question about what kind of Company they are. Anytime you are able to directly reach the owner and get a reply that quick, its a pretty good sign. I will give them a shot if I do decide on a new strap. A tad more than I'd like to spend but, who doesn't like supporting a company with that kind of customer response.

Its not the peg hole that's streched (probably because there is a Schaller strap lock in it). Its the elongated holes you thread the tail section through that have pulled open and look bad. I tend to sling my guitar slightly low (not Slash like, but not classical style either) so the tail is through the last or next to last slot on all my straps. On the one in question the soft leather has let them pull open from the weight pulling from below them. It works fine and is comfortable, it just looks a bit like a guy wearing a too tight shirt where every button hole is pulled open.

Problem is, you can't always follow the drummer. Sometimes the song opens with guitar. If you want to see a drummers head explode, don't adequately develop your own time keeping skills and lead in to a song noticeably too fast/slow, or worse, let the beat wander. Opening a song playing rhythm guitar is among the most daunting challenges for me at this point in my development and a skill I regularly work at using backing tracks and working to ingrain the rhythm, so I consistently hit it right when the drums/band comes in. Good band mates can cover if you are off a touch, but a backing track cuts no slack so its a good excercise. There is no doubt more woodshedding with the 'nome would have been a good thing for me.

I might be in the market for a strap, but the reason is one of the straps I bought a few years ago proved to be a bit too supple/soft. It still work's fine, but the slots for the tail have sort of stretched out since the leather is so soft, and it looks kind of crappy. I have a couple of much stiffer straps that are fine comfort wise so I'm fine with a bit stiffer leather so long as it retains its shape. So my question is, exactly how "soft" are they and how do they behave over time?

Then I would go with the info above. The XLR inputs are the ones with pre-amps. The others require a line level signal. If your Acoustic Electric has a pre-amp, either input should work, but the owners manual shows the guitar going to input 1 or 2 so that's what I'd do. Typically your output would go to something like a pair of desk monitors for home use or larger pair of PA speaker for live applications. However, you could use just one monitor since nothing you are doing is stereo. Again, I am making an "ass-u-me-tion" that the amp described is an acoustic guitar amp. If so, just running the one of the XLR outs from mixer to the amp should produce satisfactory results. That said, with an XLR and instrument input on the amp you could achieve a very similar mix plugging the guitar and mic directly into the amp. The mixer just allows a couple more inputs.

I'm "ass-u-me-ing" you have an XLR mic jack in 1 (or 2) and your guitar in 2 (or 1) using a 1/4 unbalanced instrument cable. That leaves 2 options for additional stereo or mono inputs. So, what additional inputs do you want to use? If you want to put backing tracks through it, you need a male 3.5mm TRS to dual male 1/4 TS adapter cable. That would let you route tracks from your phone/tablet/anything with a 3.5mm stereo out, through your board to your monitors. It seems inputs 3/4 have a -10dB pad, meaning the output from whatever device is plugged in will be attenuated 10dB. That is probably fine for a high output device like your tablet, but you can try 3/4 and 5/6 to see what seems to work best. HTH

Here is one from an open Jam in my garage a few years ago. I'm on the far right. The two on the far left are in a gigging band playing around town now.

I use either Cool Picks or the plain nylon Dunlops, for my acoustics and Dava Controls (nylon) for my electrics. Its kind of a bummer that I like these brands as they are a bit harder to locate in stores than some other picks, so I tend to keep a supply of them around rather than risk not having one on hand.

Congrats! I've actually had a mild case of GAS for a semi-hollow lately. Some may remember that Semi-hollow is not a strain of GAS that had affected me in the past, but now you are causing a flare up with this awesome PRS.