Grogg's guilt free new guitar **Now with pics

CavemanGrogg

 So at the beginning of the first lock down, when things where starting to look better for me, and early retirement seemed more than possible.  I promised myself that I'd take classical guitar seriously again, and finally go to music college.  So I put all of my electrics in storage to concentrate on classical guitar playing and studying, I also promised myself that I wouldn't buy another electric guitar while I hunt down my dream classical guitar, that was until 2 weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, I get some great news, the music exam I recently took, I passed, I found my dream classical guitar and not only paid a deposit for it, but it also cost me quite a bit less than I had budgeted for.  So this left me with both an excuse to treat myself as well as the funds to do so, and guilt free to.

So I decided after much browsing and testing to treat myself to a Fender American Ultra Luxe in Two Tone Sunburst with a maple board, this was by far my favourite of the four models I had narrowed it down to.

So the pictures

Guitar in case:
<a href="https://imgur.com/HJinNlM"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/HJinNlM.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>


Case candy:
<a href="https://imgur.com/KV15Qpm"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/KV15Qpm.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>


Close up of front of guitar body:
<a href="https://imgur.com/morGmaR"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/morGmaR.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>


Close up of back of guitar body:
<a href="https://imgur.com/IjWpSnn"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/IjWpSnn.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Close up of enhanced tapered neck heel:
<a href="https://imgur.com/5fFNipG"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/5fFNipG.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Close up of Ultra Noiseless Vintage Strat pickups:
<a href="https://imgur.com/lhEKbeK"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/lhEKbeK.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Close up of locking tuners:
<a href="https://imgur.com/jknhZ0F"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/jknhZ0F.jpg" title="source: imgur.com" /></a>

Offset

Lovely, you can't beat a good modern US Strat.  And I also like the fact you never weaned yourself off of the teenage habit of nicking road signs.

meltedbuzzbox

Happy new brown guitar day!

timmypix

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

PonchoGreg

timmypix said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

I was going to mention the free audio interface, but yes - the multiple ounces of skunk would definitely encourage me to buy new guitars rather than hunt in the classifieds.

skunkwerx

I had nothing to do with the drugs…

Kittyfrisk

skunkwerx said:

I had nothing to do with the drugs…

Just a straightforward case of nominative determinism then 

skunkwerx

Kittyfrisk said:

skunkwerx said:

I had nothing to do with the drugs…

Just a straightforward case of nominative determinism then 

I had to google what that meant, and learnt something new there! 

But yes, yes, ahem, coincidence only…;p 

skunkwerx

timmypix said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

I reckon he bought it from gear4music…. 

TeleMaster

Cool guitar. I like that all the pictures are all out of focus. Nothing to do with the weed, I bet.   

CavemanGrogg

Offset said:

Lovely, you can't beat a good modern US Strat.  And I also like the fact you never weaned yourself off of the teenage habit of nicking road signs.

I can't take any credit for that work of art.  The bastards who lived in the property before me, and forced the previous property owner to sel up did that  they proper trashed the property.  Believe it or not, that door, one of only 3 doors in the property, used to be covered in almost 100 license plates as well, there was over 400 in the property when I bought the place.  The only reasons why the traffic sign is still there is because, it wasn't just mounted with a few screws, but rather dozens and a shit load of liquid nails, and secondly that door is currently the only door in the property that stops anybody looking through the front door from being able to see right into my bathroom, and whether anybody is worshiping at the porcelian alter or not, I have no bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, hallway, built in cupboard doors or even a door to my boiler room, the only doors my property currently has is the front door, a temporary door to the fuse box room, and the bloody vestibule door with the stupid sign on it.  It's why I'm currently very self concious about posting photos, I didn't just buy the worst property in the street, but the worst in the town, it really is a proper fixer upper, I'm looking at not far off of £10k just to replace all the missing and destroyed doors with real solid wood ones, and that's at mates rates with me helping out.

meltedbuzzbox said:

Happy new brown guitar day!

I bought the guitar on Monday the 4th of April, if you had told me on the 2nd, or 3rd that I was going to end up buying yet another sunburst guitar, especially with a painted headstock, I'd of said there was no chance.  Though I will say that the painted headstock has actually grown on me.  I really do not like Fender Strats, or any variety of Strat with a rosewood or ebony board, and that really limited my options

These where actually my preferred colours, not models, and not all of them are available with a maple board:

American Performer Stratocaster® HSS in Black with maple fretboard

I didn't like the vintage 6 screw tremolo, nor the 9.5'' radius fretboard, no locking tuners, nor did I like the pickups, nor the neck shape.  I did, and still love the CBS headstock.

American Professional II Stratocaster in Mercury with rosewood fretboard

I really don't like rosewood fretboards, nor the 9.5'' radius fretboard, the narrow tall frets, no locking tuners, nor did I like the pickups, nor the neck shape.  I did, and still love the colour, it's one of my favourite 4 current colour offerings.

American Professional II Stratocaster in Dark Night with maple Fretboard

I really don't like the 9.5'' radius fretboard, the narrow tall frets, no locking tuners, nor did I like the pickups, nor the neck shape.  I did, and still love the colour, it's one of my favourite 4 current colour offerings.

American Ultra Stratocaster® in Texas Tea with maple fretboard

Neck nowhere near as nice as the necks on the Ultra Luxe series, for the price difference might as well buy the Luxe series, no stainless steel frets - I know I prefer nickel frets but I really want to give SS frets another proper try, and again one of my favourite 4 current offerings.

American Ultra Stratocaster® in Ultraburst with maple fretboard

Rejecting for the same reasons as the American ultra Stratocaster in Texas Tea, though this is not one of my favourite 4 current colours.

American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster® Floyd Rose® HSS in Silverburst with maple fretboard

Pretty much spot on, the only real issue I had and still have with this one is the painted headstock, for some reason I can'tt get over it, nor has it grown on me with a silburst body, plus I know it's a bit of a non issue, but no locking tuners, and my previous experience with Floyd equiped Fenders has me a bit iffy about them.  This colour was in the running to be in my favourite 4 current colours.

American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster® Floyd Rose® HSS in Mystic Black with rosewood fretboard

If this was available with a maple fretboard, I would have bought it, despite both my reservations about Floyd eqquiped Fenders, and having to buy Fender locking tuners at the same time to upgrade the non locking tuners with.  This is perhaps my favourite of Fender's current colour offerings, I like it so much, that I may buy both this one and the Silverburst one with a maple board, and swap over the necks.

So that really left me with 2 colours to cjose from, the American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster in Two Tone Sunburst, or the American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster in Plasma Red Burst, .and I think the Plasma Red Burst looks fucking rank.  With out forking out for another Masterbuilt Fender, all of the Custom Shop Fenders I tried I hated the specs, sound and feel of, and the only real changes I would have made between a stock off the shelf Fender American Ultra Luxe Stratocaster and a Fender Masterbuilt Stratocaster would be extremely minimal to not even justify the extra costs, even Fender would have told me that, they've done so in the past when I've tried to order a Masterbuilt with very minimal changes to off the shelf models, basically the body made out of mahogany instead of alder and Custom Shop Texas Special pickups

Just out of curiosity am I the only person who cant tell the difference, or see the difference between Ultraburst, Sunburst, Two Tone Sunburst, and Three Tone Sunburst on Fenders?

MagicPigDetective

@skunkwerx said:

timmypix said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

I reckon he bought it from gear4music…. 

Fender skunk.... is it US or Mexican?

GoFish

You mash it into a paste to paint the stripe on the back of the neck, around the time you remove the stickers. Duh!

Ungulate

How are you finding the noiseless pickups? They seem to get mixed reviews

CavemanGrogg

timmypix said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

Including the set of Fender strings that came installed on the guitar, I got 3 packs of strings for free, including the following:

1 pack of Ernie Ball Super Slinky 9-42, these are my go to brand and guage for Fender Strats

1 pack of Ernie Ball Stainless Steel Super Slinky 2248 Guitar Strings, 9-42 to try out

1 pack of Ernie Ball Super Slinky 2723 Cobalt Guitar Strings 09-42 to try out

1 Ernie Ball 10ft Straight-Straight Instrument Cable

1 Fender Eric Clapton 25DB mid boost circuit

1 DiMarzio ClipLock Quick Release Guitar Strap Black

5 packs of Dunlop John Petrucci Jazz III Picks, Players Pack of 6

5 packs of Dunlop Kirk Hammett Custom Jazz III Picks Pack of 6

1 tin of EVH Eddie Van Halen Signature Picks and Tin, 0.6mm

3 Dunlop Formula 65 Guitar Polish Cloth

3 Ernie Ball Polishing Cloths

3 Ernie Ball Microfibre Polish Cloth

1 Bottle of Dunlop JD-654 Formula 65 Clean And Polish, 4Oz

1 Bottle of Dunlop Lemon Oil 4oz

1 Hercules Travlite Electric Guitar Stand

1 Planet Waves Guitar Rest

 

There was quite a decent haul of stuff included with the case candy.

Why all the interest in the bag of parsley?  Don't you guys have green grocers where you live?

PonchoGreg said:

timmypix said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

I was going to mention the free audio interface, but yes - the multiple ounces of skunk would definitely encourage me to buy new guitars rather than hunt in the classifieds.

The audio interface and power supply for it, the IK Multimedia iRig Pro DUO I/O Interface for iOS, Android, PC and Mac, and the headphones, the Mackie MC-350 Closed-Back Headphones, cost me an estra £200, they where not included in the almost £1400 I paid for the guitar.  And again why so much interest in the small bag of parsely?  Surely there are far far more interesting things that can be seen in the photos?

skunkwerx said:

timmypix said:

CavemanGrogg said:

Other bits and Bobs that where thrown in:

https://imgur.com/gallery/jDr1Kyf

I was going to make the obligatory joke about free strings but I have to ask: where are you buying guitars that they throw in what appears to be a considerable amount of cannabis?

I reckon he bought it from gear4music…. 

I havden't actually bought anything from them in a good while, I browse their websitre quite a lot, but I haven't bought anything from them in ages.  I bought this guitar from a shop up in Glasgow.

TeleMaster said:

Cool guitar. I like that all the pictures are all out of focus. Nothing to do with the weed, I bet.   

For the last time, it's a wee bag of parsley, some of the photos are blurred because quite frankly I'm shit at taking photos, especially with a phone in a case that keeps getting in the way.

GoFish

@CavemanGrogg ; - That's a fair haul of small ticket items to go with the guitar. Do let us know about the different strings when you get around to it.

Have you any specific plans with the iRig Pro?

TeleMaster

CavemanGrogg said:

For the last time, it's a wee bag of parsley,

That’s some potent parsley.

jdgm

TeleMaster said:

CavemanGrogg said:

For the last time, it's a wee bag of parsley,

That’s some potent parsley.

 

Er....why's it in the picture then?

Made my day.  Thankyou.

CavemanGrogg

jdgm said:

TeleMaster said:

CavemanGrogg said:

For the last time, it's a wee bag of parsley,

That’s some potent parsley.

 

Er....why's it in the picture then?

Made my day.  Thankyou.

Doesn't everybody keep a lb or so of parsley near their front door, which is less than 3 feet away from where that stool is located, you know just incase the neighbours run out, or want to borrow some.  Surely I can't be the only member here who keeps a bit of parsley by their front door so it easy to grab a handfull on the way out when going to restraunts or round to mates for meals, I'm very very fusy and particular about thde quality and source of my parsley.

I must say I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned the cases of Champagne, thre dozen different brand new boots and shoes in various sizes and brands, the dozen or more brand new tablets, both iPads and Samsungs or the dozen or so brand new iPhones and samsung mobiles, nor the very very expensive haul of shaving equipment that can be seen in one or two of the photos.

Greatape

Nice guitar, well done

Heartfeltdawn

CavemanGrogg said:

I must say I'm very surprised nobody has mentioned the cases of Champagne, thre dozen different brand new boots and shoes in various sizes and brands, the dozen or more brand new tablets, both iPads and Samsungs or the dozen or so brand new iPhones and samsung mobiles, nor the very very expensive haul of shaving equipment that can be seen in one or two of the photos.

Maybe you should take some pictures of the champagne, boots, and all of your various raffle-won electronics and then you'll get the comments you desire. 

Still waiting for you to remember that ice cream company with the 100 litre tubs.