Custom Shop guitars and why I do not think they are better. KYG Guitar Podcast 

My problem when i look at expensive guitars is that i go "oh that PRS Core is nice but.. i think id rather buy a hot tub, or redo my roof"

Tone control is totally in the volume knob and I can prove it, as your wife is yelling at you , increase the volume until her tone improves. works every time.

I saw alot of undisclosed adverts for the Silver Sky SE, including Mary Spender not disclosing that it was a paid video. It kind of turns me off of those content creators when I see that they are willing to be that sneaky about it. Im a little disappointed in all the ones who did. However, I am very happy you dont pull that stuff Phil. Thank You so much for being so honest!

Couldn't agree with you more on the "Custom Shop" issue! My PERSONAL evidence: Vintage MIM Special Strat w/ Quilted Maple Top, Rosewood Board + Vintage-style Trem (like a '59 without the expense, etc.); Vintage MIK Special Koa Tele w/ Birdseye Maple Neck, Rosewood Board and Duncans (my "last word" Tele); New MIM Vintera Jazzmaster (better than my REAL '62 !); New MII G & L Fallout Tribute Bass (no compromise here, either!).

RE: Brian May Guitar..... YES PLEASE!!!! One of my only remaining dream guitars!

Maybe one day PRS will become as legendary as Fender Epiphone Gibson but I doubt it

I setup a Starcaster a customer picked up for $20 at a yard sale, yesterday. $60 and I addressed the fret ends, polished them, floated the trem, and set it up with a decent medium action. They were happy, it is for her granddaughter. $80 for a dialed-in Starcaster isn't bad. It did require a shim in the neck.

Gotoh tuners for the SE would be interesting, since they're about half the price of the PRS ones. Love the show, Phil!

Love your show Phil, never miss it. That PRS SE looks great and I'm sure it deserves all the rave reviews. But I am a G&L lover and own 5 Tributes, the newest is the Comanche I got a month ago for less than $500 new from MF. The PRS is much different from a Fender but not that much improved over the Comanche. I love the SE pickups but prefer the MFDs Leo designed. The SE Trem is not any better than the G&L (that Leo also designed). The G&L fretboard is 12" radius. I would like to see a comparison between those two. I don't plan to buy an SE as I own enough S-Types but I wish G&L could get more positive attention.

New to your show enjoy your tutorials and knowledge

Bought a Gibson Traditional ProV at a Guitar Center in Myrtle Beach SC. It’s was $1999 and I asked the manager for just a little off. He said Oh no, we match prices so it’s as low as we can go,so….. I checked the internet that evening and the next day and Musicians Friend had the same guitar on sale for the weekend for $1499. And, of course I went back and had them match the price LOL. Morale of the story…if the prick had given me a 50 or hundred dollar discount, I would never have tried checking the web to to find one cheaper. It doesn’t pay to be a prick working at a corporate music store!

I posted yesterday that I had gotten a shipping date of mid-May from Sweetwater for a SE Silver Sky (which you commented on), and another viewer suggested Dave’s Guitar Shop. They are shipping me one on Monday - thank you!

This video inspired me to spend a good half hour playing “crappy blues in C minor “ (on a $350 used Tribute ASAT) after a long, hard week. Thanks man!

Phil! You answered my question; right on man thank you! I’m down to 3 amps and 4-5 electric guitars I cycle through (you’d think I’d be happy!). You told me what I haven’t a lot of - your ears get tired and they change to the point where your rig just doesn’t do it for you. Thanks again.

I cannot afford to collect, so the things I buy must be something I can grow into and not out of. Do you guys remember the Taylor T5z ? It is literally all the guitars you can need in one package. Humbucker tones, single coil tones, acoustic tones with the piezo system and straight acoustic with the in-body microphone. And it's a semi-hollow so you can play it unplugged. And the best part is you get used to playing one neck, not 4. Once I got it there was no pressing need for anything else. Guitars like that are perfect.

A lot can be said for that one guitar you play so much that it feels like a part of you. With many guitars, I always feel that I wish this one had that and that one felt like this. This lead me into Mods. One ring to rule them all.

Ordered a few pedals from Sweetwater earlier today, and get a phone call from my rep 3 hours later. They're definitely hands on!

I got two Mod Shop Fenders during the pandemic and they have both been fantastic guitars - perfection. In both cases, I got a mix you couldn't get off the shelf. One is a shell pink Jaguar and one is a white on white Jazzmaster, both with maple fingerboard, locking tuners and vintage pickups. I'm super happy with them! ALSO, if you buy the Fender Play for $100, you get 10% off all your purchases for a year, so just on one guitar it paid for itself, and on two guitars, saved a ton of money. Well worth it and no regrets.

your grocery store story makes me respect you even more. good content man!

Id love to see the Brian May Special on the channel :) be great to choose one of their other colours. The blue looks awesome :)

A few weeks ago my best longtime friend saved up money to buy a custom fender stratocaster. The store had 6 customshop strats and one used 1976 mocha strat with a big headstock. After playing all of them it took us some 54 milliseconds to decide the 76 sound, felt and was priced better

"We're bargain shopping" ~ it never gets old...

This is Russ' wife, he LOVES your channel. I mean fer reals loves it...

I agree Phil, the MIM Strats were great. I am still trying to chase that sound.

I wanted the silver sky, but ended up falling in love with the deluxe Nashville tele, I'm definitely going to get a silver sky later. The videos I saw got me wanting one bad.very interesting video as always Phil. Love the questions.

The negotiation and bargaining commentary was great. I’m big into shopping for bargains too but I just bought a PRS SE CE satin and it was the only one in stock so I just bought it at MSRP

I literally just bought a Bonnie Pink Custom 24 SE a couple of months ago! If I had known about the S2 in Bonnie Pink I would have waited and got one of those! The SE is really cool, but the S2 looks incredible. Oh well, the SE is still a great guitar, probably one of the best sub $1000 guitars I've played

Ha! Blue Falcon wives. That's awesome. My daughter would be the dime-dropper in that encounter. Thanks for the great content.

Would love to see a Silver Sky SE tuner upgrade episode. The only reason I would lean more toward the high-end PRS Silver Sky tuners is so that the grey plastic buttons still match. Gotoh would be cool to see as well!

Your opinion on the SE silver sky vs MIM Strat was pretty spot on. If it’s a Strat you’re into you’ll be happy with the Strat. I wanted a Les Paul but my local shop doesn’t carry Gibson so I went PRS. It’s a great guitar but it doesn’t sound like a Gibson so eventually I went to Sam Ash and got a Gibson much happier.

Rivera amps are fantastic! I own two, a Quiana 4X14 and an original first production (#6 of 10 signed) Suprema 1 X 12 combo with closed back speaker section. SWEET!

On basses and strings, etc. I have several that I use on a rotating basis at gigs. I always have a standard, a 1/2 step down (sometimes dropped, sometimes not), and a drop C on stage with me. Usually 2 soapbars and a pj. I use the out of rotation ones to try out new gauges, brands, types, etc. Just added a Schecter with Fishman Fluence. Eager to take that one to practice. 😁

Yes, would be great to hear your thoughts on a Brian May Guitar

I would go for a couple of high dollar guitars as opposed to lot's of cheap one's. My rational is that you can only play one guitar at a time and at least when it comes to acoustic guitars, better quality generally equates to better sound, playability and resale value.

Just thought you'd like to know that you're listed on the famousbirthdays website! Lol, keep on doing what you do!

Thanks!

re: neck pickup placement and harmonics -Warmoth did an excellent comparison video about this, and many of us preferred the 24 placement, noticing that it was less woofy , clearer, etc.

For the tuners the PRS. I fitted Gotoh to my SE standard before PRS released branded ones which I would have gone for if they had been out at the time. For the silver sky this matter more as they have those unique buttons.

I'd very much like to see your take on the Brian May guitar. Don't forget the treble booster too!

As a "brand", for what it is worth. I respect you opinion. I know that if you had any criticisms about a piece of gear that they would more than likely be constructive. Just my opinion! (P.S. Phil, I got the clips for the secret project. I hope to get a prototype built this week!)

Blackstar are pretty good amps! I've had the HT20 Studio, but I sold it and bought an HT5R mkII because the HT20 was too loud for home use. I've also bought a used Blackstar Artist 15 and that amps is pretty badass!

"I need another amp but Ii can nto decide"- buy a Catalyst- problem solved. It's like buying a little bit of everything- and the expansion possibilities are nuts. You can connect any powered preamp or head to the catalyst just like it's a speaker cab- which means you cna hook up like a Orange Tiny Terror or the H&K amp in a box- or any amp in a box- and get the true sound of just the pedal or preamp you're using- nothing coloring it. It's not running through your pre-amp to get to the power amp. Plus of course all the onboard effects and editing capabilities through the app- which all can be done manually through just the amp by the way- the app isn't necessary- just really handy. I like that because spark users and THX users complain a lot about the apps not working right and having to update them. Then it also connects to the pc as a four-track audio interface which I assume means it should mesh with plugins. Which really makes it versatile and I hope keeps me from needing to buy an audio interface. And of course, it has a direct line out and cab sim and all that good stuff. Imo it's the most versatile amp out there and no- it's not a tube amp but, it can sound just like one which is all the matters to me. The same amount of money spent on a tube amp and you'll be lucky to get anything but a volume and a tone knob.

First...long time listener/first time caller...err...well, you know what I mean. Love the show...always entertaining, ever informative! Just had to say I'm getting sadder every time GC gets brought up. I've tried to haggle and NEVER been able to get a discount. Bought a brand new Fender Player series strat and they wouldn't give me $10 off a brand new $150 hard case. Bought an acoustic electric and they had a damaged hard case that had a hole punched in the side and was reduced $10. When I asked if they'd take off another $5 they said no. Also, they had a guitar on sale back in November, but I was traveling for work and couldn't get it. They now have that guitar on clearance and I called 3 different times trying to just get that same sale price, but they won't budge from the clearance price which is $120 more than the sale price. How I wish I lived closer to other options. Oh well, guess I'll just keep dreaming of the day I get a deal on something like ya'll....

on the topic of dampening springs: before Weezer made it big RIvers Cuomo used a Heavily modded red Japanese strat he traded from Jason Cropper who was later replaced by Brian Bell. The guitar was one of the guitars used on the blue album; however, he was frustrated with hearing the springs rining and muted them with paper towels. The iconic blue Warmoth strat was partially based on the red Cropper strat. I believe he made it a hardtail due to his frustration with the spring noise.

THIS IS MY COMMENT TO GET THE BRIAN MAY GUITAR ON THE CHANNEL. Also… we need to find out what company that was that stroked his video…

Yes!

I'd check that Firefly out ASAP!, Firefly shipped them just in the cardboard box with no padding or stabilization at all and a lot of them arrived with major damage, cracks holes, and all out busted up.

Hi Phil, Thank you for your comment on the Fender Hot Rod Deluxe-I have one but it was too much amp (still have it) for my little condo. So I bought a used Blues Jr. 111, changed out one tube, swapped out the speaker for a more profound sound, and all without electrocuting myself! I got banned from Facebook for a month-I am still not sure exactly what I said-probably I offended someone.

My money for the community strike is on Peavey.

Man I would love a small 5150 combo. I have my 5150 50w and then a katana air to play in the living room, also a supro 10 for when I’m feeling something different. Love ‘em

I bought a 1998 Fender custom shop 1960 strat used a few years back used. The price was half the new price otherwise I would have passed on it. The reason I bought it was the look (vain I know) but it plays and sounds terrific. Having said that, my 2009 Musikraft strat and my 1982 Fender JV squier strat are pretty damn close and were way cheaper.

I have a buddy that won't play anything under 3K$ and mocks anybody who does(I have around ten medium-priced LTD/Schecter) He's also a metal elitist, surprise surprise. For me I need more guitars for more tunings over 2 or 3 2K+ guitars I think Keith Richards said he played stock guitars off the wall, if they were good enough for other working musicians they were good enough for him, something like that

Couple wine recommendations and both are great. Don’t know if it was mentioned. You have Caduceus Cellars/Merkin Vinyards/Arizona Stronghold in Jerome, AZ. This is a winery where Maynard James Keenan from Tool is involved. Also Claypool Cellars wines, (from the one and only Les Claypool), out of Sebastopol, CA.

Allparts makes an awesome locking tuner.

Great work Phil. I sent a message on another video asking you to please check out the Jet JS300 and other Jet models. I think you will be impressed mate.

It would be cool to see a video on the Sire S7 vs PRS se Silver Sky vs mim Strat

I missed some of this last week...so I thought, better catch up! LOL I'm looking forward to tomorrow's show... almost got myself an SE Silver Sky, but the shop that said they had one, ended up selling it to someone... one of the guys didn't see my name on the list!!! Argh!!! Anyway, hopefully soon! I really want to play one before getting one... it would be my 1st PRS! BTW... got an EVH Iconic 5150 80n watt head in Ivory... WOW... what a great amp for under $1000... hope you get a chance to check one out! Got mine at Guitar Center the day Johnny Beane and I shot video of it for his show... couldn't resist getting it... sounded so great!!! Oh.. and check out Three Chord Blended Bourbon by Neal Giraldo of Pat Benatar... learned about it listening to his interview on Tone Talk... pretty tasty!!! I have 2 bottles in reserve in my cabinet!!! Do you like bourbon? (new catch phrase! LOLOL)

Thanks for your content Phil, appreciate the topics and discussions on the livestreams. Sorry the previous Jalapeno Seltzer livestream came back to bite you with a community strike 😉 (that is my guess on who generated the strike) Also, your advice about hours of practice versus years is spot-on. I partially learned guitar playing as a kid, then went on to other interests as a teen & adult years. When I was 48 I was asked to be part of a Christian-Rock band because I could harmonize vocally. The leader of our band, who was my friend from church prior, sent me home with an acoustic guitar after our first rehearsal, scribbling the chord chart from one of our songs & asked me to practice the chords. I wound up completely enamored with learning/playing, spending more time than my wife preferred me to, practicing as best I could. I was able to maintain rhythm with our band for several of our songs after about 3-4 months. In the 13 years since, I still rely on chords & am primarily a rhythm guitar player, realizing my fingers are limited in what I can do on a fretboard. For quite some time I lamented not continuing to play from my teen years and earlier adult life, but realized even more importantly what a gift the Lord has given, to be able to do so at such a later point in life & be a lasting part of a band, especially since the five of us are literally a band of brothers from another mother. Thanks again Phil!

Some Suhr amp content would be cool to see. Cheers!

I love the story about wives embarassing their husbands in front of their youtube idols! What legends they are!

Thank you Phil for another Friday of guitar related entertainment! I'm going to throw out for what soon as you should put on the essay even though it's not listed how about steinberg!?. I have no idea what the headstock looks like being blind so but I would think they're pretty attractive pick up I'm sorry pretty attractive tuners. They are Chrome in the front and really nice. Again I don't know how they would what kind of space they could occupy on a headstock that I can't see but yeah what the hell it's only a comment right lol? I have I have a pair of the pair it's a six of them LOL on my firebird and they came with it they are my favorite and easiest tuners to use and that's also considering I'm blind so my use of things is kind of need a different criteria than most people. I also want that to suggest that the monoprice 20 that monoprice 15w. I own one I have it so I don't know 7/8 months now maybe a little longer and I think not for the money before it's footprint and wattage output it can't be beat. There are lots of videos there that's compared against Blue Junior compared against the vintage champ you know I don't know if it was Uncle Doug or old man something did pretty in depth review and demos on the 5 Watt and the 15w. Now usually also if you have a five line amp and it's reviewed really well taken apart parts going over and how it's made on and on and on you can get a pretty good idea of what kind of products they make and kind of extrapolate that to up to the 15w. They also made a 30 watt then newest is a 50-watt 2-channel amp head 400 heading combo 500 and I think they also sell a single a vintage 30 in a cabinet that you can get for the head. I've been thinking about this you know because really you know it doesn't matter how expensive you could cause it or how good you play the sound is only going to be as good as your amp and we can even take that a step further your sound is only going to be as good as your speaker right? I think so! Right now I have no space for any of this I'm hoping to get into a different room that has a closet where I can finally unpack my life LOL basically I moved into a new place 3 months ago and I'm living out of a bag and a couple of boxes and not the most homely type feeling. That's better than the roof over my head at all right? :-) yeah I think the monoprice 50w is called an SP 20 I think anyway something I've been thinking about 400 bucks and I'd like to pair that with the Holly Benton vertical 2x12 with the celestion vintage 30s in them. I also was thinking about using that with my 15 watt because there is a speaker output external cabinet output on the 15w. But it's crazy the 50 watt I think a three different ohms selections you can make I think they're they're three actual outputs for the speaker. I think this also a line out I mean it's just it's just loaded with and I haven't heard one bad review on this amp at all. Although there's tons of reviews on the previous iterations of the amps i-515-30 w they don't see this that doesn't seem to be all that much I guess yet on the 50 watt. And it's not like I can go into a store and check it out because they sell direct but like anything else you can always send it back right? All right that's my opinions for tonight so sincerely was, Bob the blind bedroom guitar

Would love to see a brian may guitar. I too drool over his tone

It was Dean wasn’t it ? 1:09:00

I have a black star silver line and stinking love it. It got so much hate in reviews but I went to a store and tried it side by side with a. Katana for a few hours and to my ears the black star destroyed the katana

Gotoh locking tuner for the se. We need to see if it'll fit there.

I'll just gonna wait for a second hand se ss. Pretttttyyyy sure it won't take long till a month or two

I second the Brian May guitar.

I've had a Blackstar HT1H and a Studio 10 KT88. Both were great amps, but were almost impossible to sell for a half-decent price.

Man I have 2 mim strats and I'm still thinking of the SE silver sky. I'd like to see the kluson non-prs tuners installed just because I'm sure the PRS stuff will be fine and easy. I'd rather see 3rd party mods

@phillipmcknight I was thinking about the Silver Sky SE, but your Strat comment is changing my mind...maybe I'll wait for you to put it up against a Sire. :)

I have 4 electrics, a bass, 2 acoustics, most expensive is $600, most around $200, my philosophy is I'm finding the guitar style and sound I like before dropping mine on a usa fender or gibson

Regarding the conversation about the fix being more expensive than the guitar not being worth it, I would say it depends. My first and main is a Mexican strat classic player 60 and it plays better than most strats I’ve ever player. Over the almost 20 years I’ve had this guitar I spent more than its price on work on it and would keep doing so without thinking about it.

Gotoh tuners for the Silver Sky SE!

One vote for Klusons on your Silver Sky SE.

Makes more sense to go Gotoh or Kluson. Can't imagine spending twice the money (or more) for PRS branded tuners. I have the locking Klusons on two guitars, and I went with the Klusons because of the 19 to 1 ratio. Gotohs are 15 to 1.

PRS locking tuners please Phil 👍

.....I place more cred in Phil & what he says about the PRS se John Mayer than Mary Spender.

No desire for a PRS. I love my MIM Strat. A few minor changes and it is mine, you know. But really I just built a tele from random parts a cheap maple necK($60cdn) and Wilkinson M series ceramic pickups, tuners and bridge. Have the M series alnico in another tele but think the ceramics actually sound better.Fender pots and switch etc. Under $300 cdn total. I can't put it down. Sycamore body that I swear is balsa it so soft and light. But sounds awesome, afraid to paint it. Under 6 lb for a tele. Comfort carves that fit me, heel too. Probably all in my head but I think is best axe I've ever played and I am 66.

Hi Phil, does the PRS Silver Sky SE have the reverse middle pickup for hum cancelling? Would be interested in seeing upgrade to PRS locking keys as well, thanks for everything you do 🙂👍.

I got the prs ones for my se

Free Speech is everything. So is consumer information. Good job.

I vote to see Gotoh on Silver Sky SE

I put the gotoh kluson locking in my SE Paul's

I'm going to purchase a silver sky SE as soon as they are available American Musical Supply

I got some Neural dsp plugins and the amps are so good,I haven't been playing my tube amps.

Phil!!!!! Do a Caparison Dellinger Prominence! Would be awesome

Hey Phil, if you are getting into wine these days? The best wine I’ve had that was made by an artist/musician is definitely Caduceus Wine by Maynard James Keenan fromTOOL And he and the winery are Arizona. Check it out man. Cheers

I like how you say you won’t say which brand is the likely culprit for your strike but you do feel obligated to say “not Gibson.” Damn what a good business Gibson is if crazy crap happens by an unidentified business and the market will look to Gibson being like “this is the type of crap you do so…”

I bet it was Peavy that complained with the violation

Regarding Brian May tone: if you’ve got the Brian May guitar, a Vox, and volume, but are still missing it, try adding a treble booster.

Marshall jcm 900 is the best tube amp if you rock hard. And fender twin reverb is simply great. If you can own both of these tube amps , you don't ever need another amp. These are the best 2 tube amps period. Theirs other amps that are great. But my advice is dont be a gear head buying everything . Spend your time practicing , thats the most important. And the 2 amps i mentioned you can't go wrong. Im saving you time and money . I been playing guitar almost every day for the last 38 years. Get 2 good amps that cover your needs and the guitars that cover your needs and stop their and practice as much as you can. Gear browsing never ends and takes your money and your playing time.

Hi Phill!!! I have a lot of trust in your opinions. So, what are your thoughts on the D"Angelico Bedford Premier model with the modern F hole, and what upgrade ideas can you suggest?

"oh yeah i see you every week..." :]] hahaha this is funny for me on two levels: my wife and i work from home, both sitting at computers all day. I love guitars and working on them and i constantly watch the episodes and then practice stuff like changing pickups, switches, etc. i'll always get pumped about learning something and i'll be at her desk going on and on about how cool it is and the look on her face is like 'uh-huh.....uh-huh....' lol, i tell her she should just record that noise and play it on a loop. Also, i was in the army back in 2009 and stationed in germany, where a buddy of mine introduced me to the pc game EVE online. really nerdy stuff:] everyone was playing it then and when we'd get together the wives and girlfriends would have that same look like "aww, jesus....him too?" it was great. as always thx for an awesome show, its more than educational its damn inspiring! ...i think i'm gonna go tell my wife allll about it.

Just responding to a live comment; the Tea Party are from Windsor, Ontario.

Gotoh locking tuners on the PRS SE

Would love to know what you think of the Gotoh locking keys!

I've been fortunate to play a lot of very high end guitars and the great guitar neck I ever played by a noticeable margin was the Vigier which has a zero fret. Compared to some I've owned and played it's not really that expensive but man it played so well. If low action is your thing my opinion (as a luthier) is a zero fret makes a huge difference. If higher action is your thing it's less beneficial but still marginally 'better'. If you change your action periodically than the zero fret can be problematic. Ostensibly I'd say the zero fret in general is a superior way of making guitars but not without its issues. Never understood why they went out of favour.

I've played guitar for 55 years. I now don't like guitars with any radius other than compound. Preferably 12 to 16. I play low action and bend strings alot and have grown weary of steep radius necks with a tendency to fret out. That said , I can't see why anyone who hasn't played a compound radius neck isn't at least curious to try one out. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Blackstar are the Affliction t-shirts of amps.

I always miss the podcasts so my question is this; why do you think most companies don't so the reverse headstock? Especially the metal brands. You would think with the extra string length on the string that gets drop tuned it would add more stability. Thanks, phil, I've been enjoying your live streams. :)