William Nelson

I'm there with @Eracer_Team-DougH Play it and enjoy it - and trust me, that comes from a guy that is the poster child for being OCD. I hear good things about the SE replacement locking tuners, so that might be a good $95 investment. Once you cover the back with belt buckle scratches, you'll probably forget about the other imperfections! And congratulations on that Core! I purchased a Korean made SE Custom 24 (after I laid hands on it at a Guitar Center). I had never played electric previously and frankly just didn't feel like dropping the coin for the Core model. I got lucky I suppose - no obvious flaws, but then again, I haven't placed it alongside a core model.

Sounds like a great trip in spite of the masks! I'm stopping by Gruhn's in a few weeks to get a bit of work done (one advantage of living a couple of hours from Nashville), but I doubt I'll get the royal treatment like you guys did!

Happy Belated Birthday Steve! Hope you were able to take some time to enjoy it.

I will spend more time on Lesson three of the Fingerstyle course. Just about ready for “Blackbird” so believe me, I can use the extra practice time!

I know we all hated to see this, but given the resurgence of this virus and the rollback of the Nashville reopening, it is definitely the best (and only) decision that could be made. In the meantime, I'll see you all virtually on Tuesday nights and I'll keep plugging away on the Fingerstyle course, augmented with a Skype lesson now and again.

I am hoping that Gibson has a handle on their quality control. But it takes a while to overcome all of the bad user experiences particularly in today’s connected world. I bought my first electric last November at a Guitar Center in Nashville. When I asked the store clerk for an opinion, he said that overall they saw better quality from the imported PRS guitars than Nashville built Gibson’s. So now I have a PRS SE Custom 24. I still want an ES 335 and it will most certainly be a Gibson, but I plan to take my time and may look for a good used one at Gruhns. If you haven’t seen them Gibson has a good series on their manufacturing process on Gibson TV. I’m sure this is an effort to bolster their quality image but it does give you some insight on how they are made.

First, thanks to everyone that commented on this thread. It's always great to get advice from guitarists that know more than I do (which is probably most of you). By way of winding up this thread, I wanted to correct my original assumption that Steve uses 10s on his J45. I must have misunderstood his comment, leading me to believe he used lighter strings. During a recent lesson with Steve (more on that later), I was able to confirm that he uses Elixir 12s on his J45. 10s on his electrics. So on the one hand, I'm sorry if my misunderstanding caused any confusion, but on the other hand we were able to share a lot of great information, and for that I am thankful. Now - if you've never signed up for a personal lesson with Steve, you're missing out! If you are struggling with any guitar related topic, it's a fantastic investment!

After going through The Learn and Master topics for barre chords you would think I would be comfortable playing them. Nope! Looking forward to these refresher lessons!

Well, I downloaded them. @matonanjin I agree with you. Now what to do with them! No guts, no glory!

Thanks Greg. I understand I struggle with hand strength and can have trouble with barre chords when playing them for an extended period. When I heard Steve mention he used 10s I thought it was an idea worth pursuing. After all, when Steve speaks , people listen.

Thanks for the feedback folks. I have always gravitated to heavier strings on acoustics for the perceived tone benefits. Will probably stick with the heavier strings on my Bourgeois but I may experiment on my “beater”. Nothing to lose but time and I certainly have plenty of that these days.

Today must be the day for string questions. Seems there are so many other factors at play for electrics other than just the strings. Amp, distortion, etc. I use 9s on my PRS. Why? Because that is what came on the guitar and Paul Reed Smith and his engineers are a whole lot smarter than I am!

In a recent Live Lesson, Steve mentioned he uses Elixir 10’s on his Gibson J45. I know lighter strings and tone is purely subjective. But I was wondering if using very light strings would require any changes in setup. I use 13s on my Bourgeois dreadnaught, mainly because that’s what comes from the factory. If I were to drop to 10s would that require me to lower the action or could it negatively impact intonation?

Printing issues aside, I found this session to be one of the most beneficial I have had since joining the gathering. Perhaps my ability has finally caught up with some of the lessons. But it’s a great feeling when you can say to yourself that “this finally makes sense!” I’ll be traveling on business next week but I definitely plan to catch the replay for the minor triads.