I’m going with the purple Dunlop Tortex 🐢

Any opinions in this post are solely mine and may not reflect the views and opinions of Omni Guitars. "Guitar Center CEO Game Dalporto says the retailer is going to build 'the best guitar that has ever been made.'" Umm, yeah... I'll believe when I see it and play it. Call me skeptical since I was not impressed when I had Guitar Center replace the Bendmaster bridge in my 1985 Westone Spectrum LX with a Floyd Rose (Bendmaster bridges are an extinct species). That guitar has not been the same since. Not only is Guitar Center setting up its own in-house guitar brand, but they are also asking guitar players for help. Dalporto continues, “We are about to do something insane. We are going to build a revolutionary guitar and guitar brand from the ground up. Guitars haven’t changed that much in the last 50 years, and we’re about to change that. We have something that nobody else has: a relationship with you. Our customers are incredible musicians. And we’re going to work with you in public, out loud, and share our designs, take your feedback, iterate, and make the best guitar that has ever been made." But just what do they mean by "take your feedback?" Guitar Center was kind enough to post their legal statement on TikTok: “By submitting your idea, design, suggestion or feedback (collectively, “Idea”), you affirm that your Idea is your original creation, and that any Idea submitted by you is wholly original and owned by you, and cleared for use by Guitar Center, Inc. (“Guitar Center”) without the need for additional licensing. "By submitting your Idea, you assign, transfer, give and relinquish to Guitar Center all right, title and interest in and to the Idea or any material based upon or derived therefrom for no consideration. Guitar Center may use and exploit, without any payment or attribution obligation of any kind, any Idea you provide to Guitar Center. “You waive any moral and similar rights you may have in such Idea. If requested by Guitar Center, you agree to execute and deliver all documents needed to confirm the assignment and transfer of your Idea to Guitar Center.”

playing hi strung guitar .. don't see too many people doing it any more. ..especially if you are in a guitar duo, it's a healthy addition to the sound color palette. How many here have played one? Who has never heard of one?

Have you heard? This is some serious shit! Fender is issuing cease and desists to builders of Strat-inspired electric guitars in an effort to protect the Stratocaster body style trademark. Reactions are mixed. On one hand, the move has been widely panned; on the other, people argue that, as the original designers of the S-type guitar, they have the right to do so. But it's not so simple. It all started a few weeks ago when "a Regional Court of Dusseldorf established a legal precedent in Germany and gave Fender the legal right to 'protect its designs in global commerce.'" Now, Fender is sending out cease and desist letters to companies demanding that they halt production immediately. Not only that, they demand the recall "of existing products, and destruction of the guitars that Fender claims infringe on its copyright." This is one of the most significant fallouts and legal challenges the guitar industry has encountered in many years. At least initially, Fender is targeting small companies, such as "LsL Instruments – a family-run firm based in the US that makes boutique S-style guitars." My take is that they are going after the little people, who they hope will not have the ability to file what could be a long and expensive court battle. Some companies have gone to great lengths to alter their designs to make them similar to, but not exact copies of the Stratocaster, altering the headstock so that it doesn't infringe upon the Fender design, configuring them with pickup configurations other the SSS, such as HH, HSH, HSS, and single pickups, sharpening the horns (most notably Ibanez), or changing the depth of the cutaways. Curiously, Fender is doing this even though the company embarked on a similar campaign in the US back in 2009, in an attempt to trademark the Stratocaster. That effort failed as the body shape was "deemed generic."

We can all agree vintage gear is awesome 🤘 But what about vintage parts? Would you go out of your way to buy NOS (new old stock)… or stick with newly manufactured components? I’ve got a local gold mine where I can find some really solid NOS, and honestly—I think it’s worth it. Not saying I don’t use modern parts too… but there’s something about digging through old stock that just makes building more fun. That said… which one are you? Side note: 👇 working with some of that stash right now but I’ve got a CopperSound breadboard on the way and I’m about to mess with an LPB-1 and a 3-band EQ cir-kit… so I might actually put this to the test soon 👇