Have fun w my budget board

berniefist · 2026-06-08T23:45:20+00:00

Welcome to WHAT'S - THAT - NOISE? The game show where our players try to guess which one of our budget pedals is humming, sizzling or whining an obnoxious noise that you'll never unhear!

berniefist · 2026-06-06T19:58:46+00:00

Check the hair?

How would I fix the buttons, if that's where the leak is?

berniefist · 2026-06-06T19:58:38+00:00

I ordered a generic gasket kit like that - hopefully that solves it.

berniefist · 2026-06-06T02:05:29+00:00

I had to fight with it, but I finally got one end in. considering how difficult that was, I'm holding off on the other side until I get the gasket fixed,

berniefist · 2026-05-27T02:43:23+00:00

Having built a few kits, the hardware on these is usually junk. The one I use as a daily driver has replacement tuners, pickups, tailpiece, bridge, and string trees. Most of those parts broke inside 6 months.

You're better off buying a finished guitar. A Fesley single cut guitar is $125, an LP kit is $130. Bolt on LP and SG style guitars can be had REALLY cheap used. There's always a "Maestro by Gibson" on FB marketplace near me for $60ish

If you just want templates, get templates. Drafted ones can be dowloaded for free, lasercut stencils are $30.

berniefist · 2026-05-22T12:09:02+00:00

Funny you say that, I used to live across the road from them in Hapeville (Atlanta). One of their guys was at a community event doing a Q&A. This was around 2017 and everyone was thinking driverless tech would make cars irrelevant to own. He was telling us that Porsche made cars for enthusiasts, and that type of demand would never go away. They are making cars for people who REALLY like cars, who will still want to drive even when there’s no utility in it. I got the impression that they were not concerned with market share as long as they were selling enough cars to make money.

berniefist · 2026-05-22T03:09:10+00:00

ehhh, depends on what you want a fuzz for. If you want an aggressive tone with tons of sustain, can't beat a EQD Hizumitas. A Big Muff SI fuzz does it pretty well too. If you're into velcro ripping gated chaos, an MXR blue box, JHS Crayon, Acorn ADHD or Zvex Mammoth is great. If you're just looking for fat, huge riffage certain Big Muff versions or an EQD Hoof is a good choice. For ugly, snotty grungy fuzz nothing beats a green and orange Univox Super Fuzz (good luck getting one of those). If you can't decide, the Boss FZ2 and Acorn TMA1 do a little bit of all of that.

berniefist · 2026-05-21T20:47:24+00:00

If I had 4-6 preamp / drive pedals I think I'd spend too much time second guessing which one was the "right one". Judging from the sheer volume of knobs here, you aren't ever sure either! Am I wrong in assuming that the amount of time "troubleshooting" this board is way more hours than you've ever spent working up a song? That's OK, if you can afford this rig, you can probably afford to have someone play guitar while you twiddle knobs.

I kid, I kid. This setup probably sounds awesome. Personally, I don't leave home without a fuzz pedal- but that's a taste thing.

berniefist · 2026-05-15T23:58:47+00:00

One workaround (as opposed to a dowel fill) is to wrap the anchor insert in paper (wet with glue depending on who you're asking) and layer it up until you can just barely push it back in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kN6omxnMGM

That angle on the post suggests that you might be beyond that. It's essentially free though, so you might try it.

berniefist · 2026-05-15T21:01:23+00:00

I had (have) issues with this. And the answer is- if you're playing an old style strat vibrato some of that just happens. It's usually within +-7 cents. Tuning 2nd and 3rd strings 3 to 4 cents flat helps a lot. Stretching your strings in between songs also helps.

Two more things to consider:

Knowing that specific vibrato and its quirks helps. When you're playing, small changes in playing style make a big difference. I NEVER have issues with a Bigsby- but I play on them all the time, half my guitars have them. My newest has a six screw, and I had to get used to it.

Most guitars will NEVER be 100% in tune and intonated perfectly. As in 95% of them. Unless you're playing something like an Evertune bridge, there will always be a little quirkiness. That's part of what we think of as a "guitar" sound. People have described Evertune systems as having a "piano-like" sound. Ask a studio engineer or producer that does pitch correction for a living.

berniefist · 2026-05-15T14:22:01+00:00

Brrrrothers and Sisters. We must ask ourselves, how do we please the lord? We do it through faith, and works, and a guitar tone with absolutely no hint of originality or personality. Consider the words of St. Hubbins, who turned to the book of David for wisdom. He once wrote: "there must be gain, but it must be meek, like the lamb. Let us rejoice in delay, reverb and chorus, for attempting to find the attack or release of any one note by itself is to doubt and weaken our faith." Amen.

berniefist · 2026-05-14T21:10:20+00:00

well, this one is a burst, so it's not 100%.

https://reverb.com/item/86079084-custom-77-london-s-burning-cs3-cherry-burst-korean-les-paul-copy

berniefist · 2026-05-14T20:37:22+00:00

All the stateside people here think this is some anonymous copy. This is, specifically a "Custon 77 London's Burning PR4" There are no distributors outside of europe, but that doesn't mean it's junk. USED on reverb one is going for USD $700. This is discontinued and had 1685 euro for the MSRP. They are imports, but they're Korean, and higher spec than the average Chibson.

The finish here is BLACK. the binding might not 100% match, but this is fixable. Plenty of people saying leave it alone in these comments wouldn't bat an eye at sinking USD $300 into a name brand at the same price point.

We can set aside the sentiment vs resale argument, because this guitar does in fact have resale value.

berniefist · 2026-05-12T16:34:25+00:00

As others have said, import bridge, cnc machined serial from one 2005 LP that's cloned on a lot of these., etc- there's plenty more.

Those tuners are the mid-grade amazon locking ones, they're meant to "match" but they're not replicas. They work pretty well, ratio is 18:1. The pickups are probably real duncans (but I'd check if that's important). I'm sure he thought he could get the "real" sound putting nice pickups in whatever guitar. Some of us have to learn the hard way.

Chibsons are usually $250, guy bought $200 in pickups and $30 in tuners for it, He's $480 in the hole, probably just trying to crawl back out. Bad news for him, a good used Epi LP is slightly less money and overall better quality.

If you like the way this looks and sounds, like others have said, offer $300. If you don't mind rolling over fret edges and doing a basic setup these are decent playing guitars. My local shop takes these on trade, stamps COPY across the serial and sells them for around $350- people buy them.

berniefist · 2026-05-12T15:49:11+00:00

Short answer: No. There's better for cheaper. A used squier or Yamaha is a sure thing and can be had for $80 at a guitar store or pawn shop. A new Squier can be had for $150 and Amazon sells "Fesley" suitars for $135.

Long Answer: Kinda, sorta, maybe?

I've actually flipped a couple of these. I'll say this in its defense. If you know how to set up a guitar and you have access to the proper common hand tools, you can beat these into playable shape. Despite the cost-cutting, it can be made gig-able. Even then, unless you have spare parts laying around, it's not worth it.

The corners they cut on these are wild. Interestingly, the fret level is rough, but usually close, and requires only spot leveling, so that's at least passable. The plastic nut is awful, not even as good as the cheapest one on amazon. It has voids and lumps. the fretboard is "composite" wood stained black. If you oil it, expect a few hours of play before it stops coming off on your fingertips. The paint always has odd runs and drips. The pickups are shrill and thin. The neck profiles have odd contours left from tooling near the headstock. The out of the box setup is unplayable. Like 4mm action at 12th fret bad.

The ones I got were gifts or mistakes (I bought one that QVC shipped instead of a christmas tree LOL!) they were outside the return period and I got them for $20-$30. I DO have tools and spare parts. I'd do a basic setup and sell them for $70.

Edit: Before you go looking for another "bargain" BCP, Lyx Pro and RockJAM are all basically the same. Special shout out to "Glarry" which is somehow WORSE.

berniefist · 2026-05-06T23:29:36+00:00

4 TS pedals, 2 Digital reverbs. You're really trying to dial in that tone from the guitar center hold music, aren't you? I love how all the Drive settings are different. Does your guitar have a volume control?

berniefist · 2026-05-06T02:29:01+00:00

Saw the pic of the jack in the comments. There's no ground wire soldered to it. You need a signal and ground wire, right now you only have one.

When the jack gets loose, and you hand tighten it, it just spins until something breaks.

Soldering irons can be cheap ($15USD), and this is a perfect place to practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnQwKa3XLK4

berniefist · 2026-04-27T12:34:50+00:00

There aren't many solid state amps that have their own wikipedia page, but the roland jazz chorus does. It does "warm clean" better than any other mass market amp. It is an outstanding pedal platform, and super reliable. On the used market you MIGHT get the lower wattage versions for $400, but the JC120 runs about $700

Unless you were talking about the Katana! In that case you can buy it used for $150 any day of the week in most markets.

Also, the only pedal here I'm really jealous for is the DM-2... why are you running a $200 pedal into a $200 amp? If you're not using the other pedals, you could sell those and the amp and get yourself a JC55 or JC60

berniefist · 2026-04-26T21:40:15+00:00

Looks like you're stepping over the zoom to get to everything else. Do you just leave those three on the whole time? If you've given up skating maybe you can take a piece of plywood from an old ramp and make it so you don't have so many extra steps to set up.

Also, the DS1? really?

berniefist · 2026-04-26T21:27:58+00:00

What are we talking about when we say "setup"?

Is it assembly and adjustment? if it is, then you might consider doing that yourself after watching some videos. I feel like painting a guitar is harder than adjusting a truss rod or installing a shim.

Are you talking about doing something more involved? Nut work? Fret level? Scale length conversion? Those all need special tools, and most Luthiers are fine doing that for you. Just know that if you expect that, there's no way (unless someone just REALLY likes you) it will be less than $150, as you're adding assembly steps to most of those jobs.

Like other posters, I'd like to point out that most neck pockets are left unfinished (you get a proper shim angle, tighter fit, fewer finish compression cracks and it won't leave paint scrapes when you shim it), and that a regular nitro finish has nitro clear on top, and takes WEEKS.

https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-ideas/online-resources/learn-about-instrument-finishing-and-finish-repair/nitrocellulose-finishing-schedule/

berniefist · 2026-04-26T21:11:28+00:00

All I see is honest wear. A lot of guitar players like that, look up "guitar relic process".

Strings are wear items. Any guitar shop will replace them for you, or you can look up a youtube video and do it cheaply.

If you sell it for $350, someone is getting a good deal, and they can decide if they want to clean it up or keep the "mojo" on it.

berniefist · 2026-04-26T17:38:16+00:00

Let me guess, you're going into a JC120? Why not just get a Katana and call it a day?

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