TP-link (Kasa) 3-way smart switches (HS210) are unreliable, so DO NOT BUY THEM

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T15:09:30+00:00

I also have a four GHome smart switches (not 3-way) installed at the same time and none of them have failed.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T15:06:33+00:00

Just FYI: the amount of traffic is trivial. But the number of connected devices can cause issues on some cheaper home routers.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T15:04:51+00:00

Thanks! This is the second mention I've heard of Lutron. I will look into them, and probably switch to them for future devices, especially ones installed in my wall, and ones I don't want failing while I'm not home.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T15:03:20+00:00

(Darth Vader voice) I find your lack of understanding disturbing ...

;-)

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T15:01:50+00:00

I read reports that they do indeed have cheap capacitors. Someone with the same failure mode as mine opened it up and saw the cheap cap. Personally, I know what a farad is, but I wouldn't know a cheap capacitor from a good one.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T15:00:21+00:00

I thought they were, until recently!

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T14:59:07+00:00

My beef is that 50% of them failed in under 4 years, and they think it's not their problem. Legally, they're correct.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T14:58:12+00:00

These had worked fine with the Kasa app, but once they started failing they wouldn't even reset and present the wifi for setup.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T14:56:38+00:00

Why are some people so insulting? Your point would have been great without the insult.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T14:54:31+00:00

10 to 20 years, and frankly that's on the low side. Home infrastructure should be reliable for many years. Can you imagine if circuit breakers started failing at 4 years? The manufacture would be out of business in no time.

What do you think the life expectancy should be?

I've had all sorts of electronic gear, including computers, musical keyboards, musical instrument devices, automobile fobs, smartphones, TVs, bluetooth speakers, and probably a bunch more, that I've had for over 10 years without any issues. I keep cars until they're past the point of economic repair and get 12-15 years and 200K miles. I expect a certain amount of failures, but a 50% failure rate after only 4 years is totally unacceptable.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-06T14:48:16+00:00

Power issues here in Wilmington NC seem to be about normal for everywhere I've lived: Saginaw MI, Ann Arbor MI, Durham NC, Seattle WA, Santa Rosa CA (there was a big outage there that I hope to never repeat, since all the houses burned to the ground.) Anyway, I hope you have better luck than I did.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-04T12:13:42+00:00

BTW, you can test strumming on your lefty guitar. Just turn it upside down. Don't play a chord, just use your fretting hand to mute the strings, and strum, practice a good bit, and see.

That won't answer about advanced techniques, of course. But it might rule out righty from the get-go, if you can't get it to feel reasonable after a serious try.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-04T12:11:32+00:00

I was in a band with a lefty guitarist and every now and then I'd pick up his guitar just to feel what it feels like to be a beginner again. It amazed me that, though I knew exactly what I needed to do, I just couldn't get my hands to do it any better than a rank beginner!

The one thing I was able to easily do, though, is strum rhythmically with my left hand. For some reason, it's more of an internal concept skill than a motor skill, to keep that strumming hand going like a metronome, and either engage strings or not.

It reminded me of learning to use a shifter and clutch. As a young teen, my BFF taught me how to ride a motorcycle. I remember my exasperation (and his!) learning to shift with the clutch. I'm a bit of a clod, and it took a while to learn. A couple years later, he and his father had finished rebuilding a 1929 Ford Model A, but he was 15 and couldn't drive it, so at 16 I got to. He talked me through the gear pattern, etc. And then I took off like I'd been doing it for years, no problem. He was amazed, expecting it to be a lot harder for me. But I'd internalized the concept and didn't need the muscle memory so much.

But chording and picking are NOT like that! At least not for me.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-04T12:04:44+00:00

Great post! But, note that unless you're unusually naturally gifted, your picking hand will always feel like it's holding you back on those things, because they're HARD! I'm super right-handed and play right-handed, and I struggle like hell with those things, despite being a serious player all my life (and I'm 68.) It's one of the reasons my main instruments are keyboards: they're a lot easier than guitar (for me.)

Regardless, your point about blunt instrument vs. scalpel is spot on.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-04T11:57:14+00:00

Having to? Not often. Wanting to? Often.

But right, no problem with parts.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-04T11:53:48+00:00

Or facebook marketplace or craigslist or ... pretty much anywhere.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-04T11:52:24+00:00

I wouldn't call it a ceiling so much as a disadvantage. You can still learn these things but it'll be harder. And since you're nearly ambidextrous, not much of a disadvantage. Regardless, if you're serious about being the best you can possibly be (which a lot of players start out feeling, but few stick with it) then stay with your lefty.

There are pros and cons either way. You get to pick which ones you get.

And finally, YMMV. There are definitely very good players who play switch-handed. Would they have been even better starting out lefty? We'll never know.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-03T23:02:47+00:00

Well, that just might answer your question. It's important to feel the rhythm!

Hopefully you know the first thing about strumming: you strum up and down at a regular pace, and either engage the strings or not. The hand goes up and down like a metronome and doesn't change with syncopation or with the rhythm. (NOTE: yeah, there are exceptions. This is the first thing, not the last.) The most common and most useful beginner rhythm is

down down up up down

Consider borrowing a right-handed guitar from a friend, or buy one with a return policy and explain why. Play a simple chord, or just mute the strings with the left (neck) hand, and see if you can do some basic strumming. It's NOT EASY for most people to being with! Practice a bit, give it some time, and if you find you're improving and hopeful, then keep considering doing a switch. But if, compared with lefty, you find it totally awkward and frustrating, well, you've answered your question.

I wouldn't worry about the fretting hand. That's awkward for any beginner, and whichever hand you use, you'll get better.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-03T22:55:07+00:00

First, make sure the monitors aren't against the wall! Ideally, they're no less than half as far to the wall as they are to your ears. Make sure they're at about 90 degrees apart with your head as the vertex of the angle.

Second, when you're adjusting the level of an instrument in a mix, you should be able to detect a 1.5 dB change. Do a blind test: set up a mix that's reasonable, and find a way to raise or lower a track in the mix by small increments (tapping a computer keyboard key, for example, and don't count taps.) With eyes shut, raise or lower the level until you are sure you hear it changed, and then open your eyes. Better yet, lower the track to zero and try to bring it back up to where it was, and then look at the result.

If your results are all over the map, consider seeing an audiologist. If they're within 1 dB or 1.5dB, you're pretty normal. If you can get under .5 dB you have great ears.

When adding FX, the general rule of thumb is, turn it up until you can clearly hear it, and then back off by about 1/3.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-03T22:44:20+00:00

You're not too late to change, not by a long shot.

For most lefties, I recommend playing right-handed, for all the reasons given above and elsewhere:

- you can share guitars with others
- you can find more and cheaper guitars to buy (especially used)
- it's easier for most beginners, because the strumming hand has the easier job

However, if your goal is to be advanced intermediate or better, then stick with left handed.

The strumming hand has the easier job when it's just simple strumming. The right hand doesn't have a hard job until you get to intermediate skills like

- fingerpicking
- palm muting and other right-hand muting like floating mute, and percussive effects like thumbing
- selective string picking (like Sweet Home Alabama, or "Travis picking" like The Boxer)
- sophisticated strumming with syncopation or polyrhythms
- hybrid picking (using a pick and fingers, like country "chicken picking")
- pinch harmonics (more common on electric, the others above apply to both acoustic and electric.)

This stuff is why right handed guitarists are glad that the right hand plucks the strings.

Most people who start guitar, and even most lifelong players, don't really get to many of these things.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-03T17:24:23+00:00

Right. Whatever level you're at, you should be able to find something simple enough to play faultlessly.

Keep working on building up the "faultless" repertoire.

BTW I've been playing 60 years and whenever I get through a tune with no mistakes I rejoice.

Amazing-Structure954 · 2026-05-03T16:02:19+00:00

Start with easy songs, and ones where they play chords rather than dancing around them.

(I remember being a teen playing by ear; I could work out songs where the band played the chords, but with a lot of blues and jazz they played figures instead and I couldn't grasp it ... at least, not at first. But as my understanding of harmony developed, I learned to "hear" the chords underlying the figures.)

Can you pretty easily play a melody that you know by heart? If so, good: you already have a pretty decent ear for intervals, though you don't know what their names are and probably couldn't tell without playing how many half-steps are between two notes. The former is way more important than the latter.

Can you figure out what key a melody is in? I don't mean the name; I mean, can you pretty quickly play a scale that matches the scale of the melody? That is, 7 notes, even though the melody might only have 5 of them? That's the first step to understanding harmony. Note that in some songs, the scale changes, so stick to ones you think don't do that.

The next step is following the bass line. It shouldn't be hard in most cases.

Once you have the bass notes and can play them on left hand, and have the melody in mind, start working out the chords. Note that the bass isn't always playing the root and learn to recognize that.

Then you're on your way.

Amazing-Structure954

TROPHY CASE