My travel sized Les Paul is done, read more here.

Going back 10 or more years when I was just starting to play the guitar, Satriani’s “Live in San Francisco” was the first instrumental/shred concert I ever saw. Turned out it was also the best for years to come. Performance was spotless, which is always the case with Satriani’s concerts, but so was everything else. The following live DVDs couldn’t come close to it for one reason or the other. Don’t get me wrong, performance has never been an issue, but sometimes I didn’t like the sound, other times I didn’t like the picture (people who made those horrible, horrible visual effects on “Live in Paris” should be shot!). I was excited to see the “Satchurated 3D” in the theater, but also a bit worried that it could end up being even worse to watch. Imagine those visual effect combined with 3D – could really ruin any performance. Luckily, they did not…not event close.

Enter Satchurated

As far as visual aspect goes, it’s perfect. Very tastefully done, without any effects that can take your focus away from the music. The stage is a bit dark, which makes the band stand out. There’s a decent dose of closeup shots and that they are used when important – on solos and sections that Satch fans really care about. I always hated concerts when they focus a drummer or bass player during a guitar solo. Not this one.

Guitar tone was something I didn’t like ever since the San Francisco concert. To my ears it was often dry sounding, bright and lifeless. A huge step forward is made here – very organic sounding, satchurated crunch, beautiful cleans and singing leads. Looks like switching back to Marshall was a great choice for Satch. Performance was spotless, as always. Set list contains a blend of great old songs we all love with a few newer songs. Maybe too many songs from the last album for my taste, but they make a good balance between heavy rocking songs and ballads.

Finally, 3D is added just to spice things up. Not too much to be a distraction, but enough to be cool.

This concert could well replace “Live in San Francisco” on my “favorite instrumental concert” spot. Even my girlfriend who’s not into that kind of music enjoyed the show. For those of you that have a chance to see it the 3D version in the theater – go do it. Everyone else, grab a DVD/Blue-ray release and enjoy!

It covers steps needed to make PRS/Ernie Ball style transparent finishes. Check it out here.

And it sounds awesome! Check out the project page for schematic, build details and clips.

Just started Guitar Wiring 101 article with explanations of typical guitar configuration and info that should help you come up with your own.

Added a page about Shredneck.

Just deployed a brand new YouTube clip search engine. The idea is to allow searching through my clips by selecting the gear used to record them. It may still have some imperfections and I haven’t indexed all my videos yet, but it’s a good starting point. Check it out and let me know if you have any comments.

Message to fellow DIY-ers – if you have clip(s) on YouTube that you would like to make available through this search engine, please use the comment form below to get in touch with me so I can include them. To make a clip searchable by this engine, video description on YouTube must contain at least one line that describes which gear was used to record it. Each piece of gear must be listed in a separate line, like shown in the example below:

As you can see, there have been some major design changes. I have replaced the “Unnamed” theme with a simpler, lighter theme called “Structured Theme”. Feel free to share any comments or suggestions.

Trivia: I used DIYLC to draw cables on the main logo.

Cheers,
Bane

A couple of pics from the concert in Belgrade, Serbia

Here’s a couple of pics of the new guitar my father made for a customer.

Once again, I have upgraded my Squier Strat with a new bridge pickup, saddles and controls.

Read on »

Check out my latest build – AX84 4-4-0 amp.

Got my parts from customs (bastards!) to kick off a new build – AX84 4-4-0 amp, a 2w version of famous Trainwreck Express. Stay tuned.

Finally got myself a new camera – Canon SX200 IS. Hopefully my closeup shots won’t look as bad as they used to be I took few quick pix to see how it performs in macro mode.

Cheers,
Bane

Today I’ll try to explain how to work with the shielded teflon wire. Below is the step by step guide with photos. Click on a photo to see more details.

Note: don’t try to do this with PVC insulated wire as it’s likely that you’ll melt the insulation and short the shield with the center conductor.