David

it should be interesting too see how this turns out, and if othe manufacturers decide to make magic (the name of gibsons system) compatible gear it could come out with some very cool and new ideas, then again it could go the way of the sinclar c5 David

the fact its a fender means it aint really designed for playing metal, fenders are more designed for lovely clean sounds and a little bit of drive. the only real advice is to try and sit down and play with the controls, on both the pedal and amp and keep playing and tweaking until you find something that sounds nice to you, the parametric mid control on the metalzone can make a big difference... David

neck thru giving more sustain is bollocks there are many other factors that influence the sustain than just the neck thru, my guitar is a neck thru, but since it has a floyd (which suck sustain) it probably has less sustain than many bolt ons, the bridge and how it is attached to the body make a big difference, as does the general quality of the instrument, a well made, tight neck join on a bolt on will di just as good a job as a neck thru. it all depends on the particular guitar and how well it is made and the choice of hardware on it as for cheaper guitars being just as good as more expensive guitars, thats also a load of rubbish, a more expensive guitar will have better woods and hardware and better general construction making it sound and feel nicer to play, a cheap guitar will sound poo and not play/feel nearly as nice, whether htere is a need to pay for a better guitar when a cheaper one does the job is down to personal preference and whether you would like to play a better instrument, or save your money for other things, though as you get into the 1k+ range of guitars the money will go towards nicer more exotic finishes and smaller touches, like fancy inlays or binding which dont really make a difference to playing the guitar, but are nicer to look at. i have two guitars, one worth 560, and one worth 100, and i know the more expensive one feels and sounds much better than the cheaper one meaning i like playing it more, so i am happy i spent the extra cash on it. David

they have one virgin in at the moment, not sure what series though black with the floyd speedloader (ie, no tuners on the headstock) looks cool, but havnt played it David

probably the chapman stick, they sound very very cool when played properly, just cost lots to buy second choice would be bass guitar, but as i am already a guitarist that isnt really that hard to pick up David

for metal active pickups are certainly a good idea, emgs or possibly some sd livewires (not sure if they stil make then though) David

valve amps have more volume compared to a similar wattage ss amp due to the fact the rating on a valve amp isnt actually always the output, a valve amp can be driven more and get more output where as a ss amps rating is the maximum output it gives the wattage on a vlave amp isnt the maximum output it gives, it can vary between the clean headroom (ie, turn it up more and it will distort naturally) and the max output, most amps are rated somewhere in between these extremes i have a marshall DSL401 (40 watts tube comb) and it puts out roughly 30watts clean and can go up to about 45 watts distorted and my amp can easily handle gigging, its only 40watts tube but this means i can crank it more than i could if it was a 150watt amp, so i will sound better. for gigging all you really need is about 30-40 watts tube or about 65-100 watts ss, that will give you more than enough stage volume to deal with smaller venues, anything that would need you louder than that should definately have a pa (or the mix will sound shit anyway) David

it depends on what you are wanting to do, breadboards are good for checking to see if stuff works, but arent good for permanent stuff you can get protoboard, which is like a pcb but with copper stripes on it, so you solder stuff on it as if it was a pcb, this is probably best if you intend doing a few small circuits, another version ive seen is a board with lots of spots all unconnected, so you can solder componenet onto the board, then connect them up separately with wires, this is probably a bit simpler to work out a wiring diagram for, but involves more soldering the most proffesional way is to make pcb's this is costly though and would only really be worthwhile if you inted making lots of curcuits David

i think it might be a good idea to check out marshalls, they should give you waht your after David

try www.regentguitars.co.uk excellent place David

stick me down for a chapman stick too i have seen/heard some very impressive playing done on them, it would be cool to learn (but hard) David

as long as you are happy with MXR style cases and not fancy boss ones they are simple enuogh, you can buy a plain enclosure then all you need to do is dsrill the holes for switches/pots/leds/etc... id check out www.diystompboxes.com in the forums theres a complete guide to making one fx with everything you need to know to make the effect (a simple distortion one) and they are very helpful with any quesitons you have, no matter how simple and obvious they are David

if you dont want to spend loads of cash check out kent armstrong pickups, supposedly just as good (if not better) than seymore duncans at half the price David

or how about a BC Rich ironbird bass like this one (owned by ian-the-bassist) David

this exact amp Marshall JCM2000 DSL401 combo basically the same as what robins getting minus a few controls, minus a few watts and in a como form (ie, with a speaker), which is better for me (i dont have the room for a halfstack) i already have it though as i have been using it for gigging so i didnt have to borrow amps of other people David

on a piano, when you play a note when you press down the key the string gets hit/plucked/whatever pianos do then almost immediately after, damped by a small hammer, kinda like if you hit a not one your guitar then muted it with your palm straight after what happens with piano sustain is that the pedal you press down stopps the hammer from muting the string after so it rings out for longer than usuall. i know this from a thing i saw in bruce millers oneday, basically a model of one piano key so you could see all the gubbins behind it, not saure if its still there or not (was through in the piano/sheet music bit) David

would you be thinking about selling ity at all? and what model is it? David

*waves white flag* i admit defeat that is a pretty damn accurate copy though David

most fernandes guitars have sustainers in them, there isnt a 'sustainer' model in particular, and i dont think fernandes have made a mockindbird type guitars and i havent heard of bc rich licencing out the shape, the closesnt i can thik of is the maveric x-1 actually you can get cheap mockingbird copys, but not proper good quality guitars David

its BC rich mocking bird, its a custom one though, check the control layout, its not the standard one the headstock looks like a standard one too, you would need to see the whole thing to see if its a 'rich one, they have an extra pointey type bit on the very top the cloud inlays are also ones ive seen on quite a few bc riches, the second mockingbird has them on it too, and i dont think ive seen them on any other types of guitars David

i should go find that thread where i managed to prove, via a discussion on the subject with the monkey, that bassists are indeed idiots David

but did you replace them with new strings or just unwind/rewind the old ones cause restringing strings is bad, and will lead to breakages very quick David

i thikn this is a pretty dumb arguement, try listening to some jaco pastorius (sp?) or some rhandy rhoads and say what sounds harder... David

Graeme's thunderbird would be an excellent buy, tokai make some excellent quality gear. my other choice would be to have a look at the peavey grind series, they have the 5 and 6 string versions in bruce millers and there is a 4 string version available, they are slightly over budget, but absolutely excellent basses, and well worth saving a little extra. David

i think fenders have humbuckers (or p90 style pickups) and not single coils, so thats one part custom made..... David