2021: A Year in Gear (What You've Bought or Want to Buy in 2021)

[WatchTheGuitar]

Not just Hawaii, in a lot of British schools the uke has replaced the recorder as the ‘everyone starts with one’ instrument. Probably to the appreciation of many parents that don’t have to suffer through a version of London’s Burning that’s so pitchy it makes you want to pass water.

I never tried one, not enough strings.

[BBFG#]

To me they dont have enough strings, bass or reg.

To me guitars have too many strings and weirdly inconsistent intervals between them. I have both a mandolin and a tenor uke and learned some basic chords on them, but really just for chuckles.

My first stringed instrument was violin. It's been years since I played one but still, my brain is wired for a narrow neck, 4 strings, consistent intervals, almost no worrying about chords (maybe "double stop" fifths once in a while), and no frets.

Fretless bass is kind of fun but too big, so I think U-bass is going to suit me really well. I can imagine using it sometimes in my "serious" music as well as just having something else to jam with.

You know you can tune a guitar anyway that works for you, right?

Drop D and Open G tunings are almost common in certain sects I've dealt with. I've had a few guitarists that work hard at not letting anyone know what they tune to. And their resulting style is as much of a secret that others seek out.
I've had some professors vehemently point out there's "no such thing as a left handed" instrument and the first thing we have to overcome as a musician is the idea of a dominant one.
I've also read notes where producers will only let the guitarist string 1, 2 or 3 strings for a session to keep things clean on the track.
There are, of course, players that choose to switch things up anyway, and their playing is enough to confirm it's the right way. I remember one player that played a "right-handed" guitar turned over to accommodate his left hand and so the strings ran from the high E on the top to the Low E on the bottom. He played quite well too. When I asked why he learned to play that way, he said it was because he learned in jail/prison on someone else's guitar that allowed him to use his, but threatened him with bodily harm if he made any change to it.

String instruments have long been personable declarations of customized preferences - and often in direct defiance to reason and convention.

[whyterabbyt]

a version of London’s Burning

mistook this for 'Babylon's Burning' at first. would be so much better.

[foosnark]

I'm not surprised uke is more of a cliche and a child's instrument than anything else. Thankfully doesn't sound as awful as a room full of soprano recorders though, ouch

TBH I never even knew the was such a thing as a bass ukulele.

I didn't either, until recently. The uke brand Kala tried out the Ashbory bass (another almost obscure instrument), said "what if we put these rubbery strings on a uke?" and it went from there. Then Aquila invented some better strings for the purpose, Kala got cloned by a bunch of Chinese companies, and it's been slowly picking up steam I guess.

In the end, there's no way I can own all the instruments I would like, as I wouldn't be able to move around in my place since every nook and cranny would be occupied.

Same.

[justin3am]

I have a Kala concert uke that I pick up frequently when I'm trying out chords for a song. I have stubby sausage fingers so anything with a narrow neck is easier for me to play. I also love how it sounds through granular delays and/or a lush reverb.

[WatchTheGuitar]

Cheeky little last bit of gear for the year, noticed Bax has the Keystep 37 going for £109 and I need to get a bigger keyboard off my desk onto a stand and that will do nicely to free the room up while giving me something to noodle with. Apparently the on board arp, sequencing and strum functions are pretty good too, so thought I may as well.

[foosnark]

The u-bass arrived already. Turns out it has flat-wound strings rather than round-wound (cool) and the original ones that came with it are Thunderblack (also cool). Once I'm feeling adventurous I might give those strings a try.

It definitely feels good to play, though I'm going to have to fix some bad technique habits I've developed from noodling without really knowing what I was doing on the short-scale. (Feels weird to call it short when it's about 30% longer and much heavier and higher string tension...)

[vurt]

I have a Kala concert uke that I pick up frequently when I'm trying out chords for a song. I have stubby sausage fingers so anything with a narrow neck is easier for me to play. I also love how it sounds through granular delays and/or a lush reverb.

sorry to change the subject...
make noise tabletops, what's that stand you've got?
cheers

[Shabdahbriah]

I have a Kala concert uke that I pick up frequently when I'm trying out chords for a song. I have stubby sausage fingers so anything with a narrow neck is easier for me to play. I also love how it sounds through granular delays and/or a lush reverb.

sorry to change the subject...
make noise tabletops, what's that stand you've got?
cheers

https://reverb.com/item/38531145-imposs ... 2020-birch

[justin3am]

I have a Kala concert uke that I pick up frequently when I'm trying out chords for a song. I have stubby sausage fingers so anything with a narrow neck is easier for me to play. I also love how it sounds through granular delays and/or a lush reverb.

sorry to change the subject...
make noise tabletops, what's that stand you've got?
cheers

https://reverb.com/item/38531145-imposs ... 2020-birch

Yes, that. I use some painter’s tape on the bottom to keep them from coming out when I pull patch cables.

[pekbro]

Three Chibi distortion pedals from effects bakery out of japan:
*These are going to go to mono synths a lot...

[elxsound]

Now that’s a dangerous find because those pedals are inexpensive

I like the Bagel Drive. I have to compare to what I already have, but that’s a great sound and dirt cheap.

[pekbro]

Now that’s a dangerous find because those pedals are inexpensive

I like the Bagel Drive. I have to compare to what I already have, but that’s a great sound and dirt cheap.

Heh, yeah they were cheap enough that I didn't feel a lot of need to choose between them. I can
always use them and will enjoy the variety.

[Engineering The Dead]

Heck quite a lot, I'll have to start to note down what I've bought throughout the year in a text file and then copy and paste it in here.

The most recent FWIW is some of those 2nd generation Vox AM Plug headphone amplifiers for electric guitar and bass guitar. I grabbed the "Bass", "Lead" and "Metal" flavours along with the dinky little extension cabinet because it was available for something like %40 off, a sucker for a good deal
I'm going to also grab some of the non-Vox but with the same enclosures & in/out headphone amps which can be had for very cheap to try with the little cabinet because the more the merrier, so long as they are small and run off batteries as its so liberating to be able to skulk off with any guitar or bass plus any of the many little battery-powered amps to play/practice.
It started early this year with a Laney MINI IronHeart Stack and MINI NX (NEXUS) bass combo, then grew/spiralled from there!
I can get away with all these tiny things as I am really stuck for physical space but these are so small that they've all gone completely undetected

Seasons greetings to everyone, all the very best to you and your families & loved ones on behalf of me and mine, cheers!

Dean and family \m/

[justin3am]

Good to see you around Dean!