• Brian May/Fender wiring hybrids

    Posted February 18 by Simon Croft

    Starting next month in Playmusic, I'll be looking at wiring mods that might deliver a Holy Grail: classic Burns, Fender and Brian May Red Special tones in one workable instrument! The hard part is not just working out how to combine series and parallel wiring options, it's reducing the number of swi...

  • Scrapheap Orchestra

    Posted December 12, 2011 by Teddy Tench

    We should all try to watch/record a TV programme that features Playmusic member Andy Taylor, who built the tuba that appears on Scrapbook Orchestra. The programme is repeated on BBC 4 Wed 14 Dec 19:30 and Thu 15 Dec 02:00. It's well worth watching, even if you're not normally into orchestral music.

  • Wiring options

    Posted December 9, 2011 by Simon Croft

    OK, I have my 'dry build' guitar up and running. It's great but there's a lot more it could do sonically. You can actually take a stock Telecaster, put in a five-position switch and get five different tones from the pickups alone. How come? Well, typically, a Fender guitar combines pickups in parall...

  • Hot-Mod custom guitar

    Posted November 4, 2011 by Simon Croft

    Hello, this month I'll be putting together my custom guitar as a 'dry assembly' to make sure everything is fine before I take it apart again to shield the electrics, spray the body and finalise the wiring scheme. I'll post this as a video - part of the on-going series - very soon.   Cheers, ...

  • The Pop Record

    Posted October 21, 2011 by Dennis Weinreich

    Hi kids,   So after 22 years away from the producers chair I am back in the studio with a very talented young singer song writer. In the ensuing period I have done lots of remixes and recorded backing tracks for some acts that wanted a traditional studio experience, but have stayed away from ...