bobmeyrick

All this talk of H530s started me thinking that one would be quite nice, then I got a message from Cliff Brown of 633 amps. One of his customers had an H530 to sell and, knowing I was a fan of Heritage guitars, would I be interested? Er, yes... Cliff gave me his contact details, I got in touch and arranged to have a look at the guitar, which was located about 1.5 hours drive away. Suffice to say it's a 2018 model in Antique Natural, and playing it through a 633 Firefly (like the one I recently bought) was enough to convince me to buy it. It's light, 2.69kg or 5lb 15oz, and those Lollar P90s sound great! Some pics...

I should add that the Faber posts came with a metal tube that fits over the thread so you can use a hammer to (gently!) tap them in. Also there was a fine-tuning version of the Schaller tailpiece...

I've changed a few Schaller bridges/tailpieces and I can confirm that both the Schaller and Nashville bridge posts are 5mm thread, so you don't need to change the inserts if you're replacing the Schaller bridge with a Nashville bridge. Same with the tailpiece studs, thought the thread is 5/16" rather than metric. On my H150 VSB I'd replaced the Schaller with a Nashville setup, and decided to replace the Nashville with the Faber ABR-1 conversion. This involved using a 5mm bolt to gently extract the bushings. I needed to make the hole slightly deeper, but aside from that the process was pretty straightforward. Some photos of the procedure...

I can recommend a book by Dave Stewart (keyboard player with Hatfield and the North, Bruford, and his duo with Barbara Gaskin, not the Eurythmics guy) called "Musicians Guide to Reading and Writing Music". It was published quite a while ago, so may only be available used.

Playing in a band should be fun, and that sort of behaviour is totally unnecessary. Getting gigs is hard enough, without alienating the person who runs venue. Luckliy the four of us in the Pete Donaldson Blues Band get along well. On the subject of guitars, do you have any particluar idea of what you want? I have a couple of H150s that aren't getting much use - a Trans Black H150CM and a Gold top H150 Special (a slightly thinner and lighter body). I've changed the bridge and tailpiece on both for Nashville units, and reinstated the original Schaller pickups - at one time the Trans black had a pair of Phat Cats in it, and the Special a pair of P-Rails with the Triple-shot rings. Hmm... I might put them back in. Let me know if you're interested. Yamaha make fine guitars - I used to have a PAC1511 Mike Stern model, a bit like a Tele on steroids, with a Seymour 59 in the neck and a Hot Rails in the bridge.

Hi Mark, good to know you're out there playing. If you're in the market for a new amp I have one that might be of interest - a Seymour Duncan Convertible 2000 1x12 combo. I need to make some space as I've ordered a 633 Drive King, and the Seymour just isn't getting used. If you're ever down Nottingham way pop in and give it a try. Send me a message if you're interested.

Vocalists, eh? In my experience you're lucky if they have a decent mic of their own. Here's a thought - do you know anyone who has a small PA you could hire, possibly another local band? When we (the Pete Donaldson Blues Band) gig, we use a mate of our drummer to provide a PA for a fifth of what we make on the gig. If he can't do it, we use my PA, which is a modest affair I've put together from a mix of second hand and new bits. I got a Studiomaster Powerhouse 300 8-channel mixer-amp (300W per channel, built in digital FX) for a couple of hundred quid via the local paper and a pair of RCF cabs (12" plus horn) for about the same from a local shop. Pete has his own Shure SM58 plus stand and a Peavey powered monitor. I bought an SM58 and powered monitor for myself. This setup is more than adequate for pub gigs. I suppose my point is that it's possible to assemble a usable PA for significantly less than £1200. Anyway, best of luck and I hope you get it sorted so you can use that 555 in front of an audience!