I Survived Buying A Guitar At Guitar Center

The Know Your Gear podcast. The Know Your Gear podcast is brought to you by Patreon members, channel members, and viewers who like and subscribe. Thank you for making this possible. Hey everyone, welcome to the Know Your Gear podcast on Friday. What is the date today? The 6th. It's the 6th. March 6th, 2026. This came from Michael and says, Hey Phil, the Novo video was fun. I appreciate that you liked it. I did a Novo deep dive this week, or we call the breakdown videos, or we broke it down for you guys. It says, Do you get more keyboard warrior complaints in the comments on budget? Oh, it's about the guitar. I was like, for about me, I was like, Oh, God, I got them all the time. Okay, do you get more keyboard warrior complaints in the comments on budget gear, vids, or boutique high-end gear? Without a doubt, it's high-end gear. And the reason is by volume, by far. So you got to understand, the irony is that you get a lot more interaction when you do expensive piece of gear. People are more emotionally invested, even though it's not something they're interested in or know anything about, because it's expensive and expensive things make us feel, you know, you feel weird when you're like, I didn't even want this thing and it's a price I can't even afford or don't even want to pay. So it adds to your anger about it. Does it make sense? But I will tell you the thing that you get the most common is like, this is not worth, blah, blah, blah, right? Which is fine. And you know what? You know, I never mind those comments. I will tell you, though, that, that, what am I going to tell you? I'm going to tell you that the one thing I wish everyone would take away, and I've said this before, is that when you see high-end gear, expensive gear, sure, sometimes, you know, sometimes it could be, you know, it's all hype and it's junk or whatever. It's just all about sales and marketing. But for the most part, high-end amps, high-end pedals, high-end guitars, expensive stuff, even if you're not interested in it, understand that I believe that things cope from top down. In other words, you know, the reason why you have affordable guitars from Harley Benton, from Squire, from Epiphone, from Firefly, from anyone you can name, Sire, is because someone made a high-end version and that people liked it and either people liked it enough that they wanted more of it or more, more, more accurately, people who really either can't justify the price because it doesn't fit in their lifestyle right now or just don't have the means, want it, and this is how they get it. So like I said, and so what's funny about that is you're not going to see innovation come from bottom to top. In other words, you're not going to see, you know, I don't know, maybe, there's exceptions, but you're generally not going to see, generally, not going to see cheap guitars innovate the industry. So that's why I like doing both. Even though deep down, I know that if I do the inexpensive stuff, I get way more views and that's why I try to do a little everything. So you know, I try to mix it up. If you guys haven't figured out, we have, I've been working on this for a long time to get this formula that I wanted to do. It was really, it's really hard. It's just more like just, you know, you already have scheduling and stuff. I do an affordable instrument and an expensive instrument. Affordable instrument, expensive instrument. I'm just toggling it through that way. I think it's more fun. It's fun for me. Keep in mind, you know, if I'm not entertained, there's almost no reason to do this channel anymore because the fact that, you know, it's, it's just, it's got to be fun. It just has to be. Otherwise, I'll scrutinize everything like any sane person as everything is transactional and as a business, you know, only kind of thing. A perfect example that is the Novo video is doing very good. There's no way, no way we're going to break even much less make any money. This is definitely a loss. We forecasted that video at paying $4,200 for the guitar. We expect that when we sell that guitar, we're going to get the high 2000s that either that goes to the guitar for the threes and then after fees, we get in the high twos to mid high twos or if we find a direct purchase, you know, somebody to buy directly, same thing, mid high twos. So you lose like, let's just call it a thousand to hopefully not $1,500, but it's $1,200. If the video can do a couple hundred thousand views, like two thousand hundred thousand views, it might make that and then you break even. So basically I just worked for three days for no reason, except for I have a great video and I'm, I'm, that's kind of actually present as more, more important to me. And and there could be a situation where we may even make a couple hundred dollars, but I really don't think so. We're forecasting the video cost us a thousand dollars and it's a loss. We'll call it a loss leader. Somebody will be attracted to the channel, see that I do high end or breakdowns like that. Maybe they're interested and they will watch other ones and then that will kind of help. So that's the way I do it. That's why it's nice when we get companies to, to work with us sometimes. But, you know, if they don't, it's fine. We just, I'll get the, I'll get the guitars on the channel some other way. Let's see. Sorry, somebody caught me off with a question that I can't answer. Uh, Moet, the guitar guru says, what's my favorite pickup? I'll tell you next Friday. I think I'll tell you next Friday. I don't even know if I can tell you next Friday. Let's just say, I think I'll tell you next Friday. So we'll pin that for next Friday. Um, let's see. What else? So, uh, yeah, to sum up that basically, yes, more people complain of high end gear, but you know, people, you know, I look at this way. I have to agree. You know, the Nova was expensive guitar, a lot of the stuff is expensive stuff. And you know how I kind of feel about that stuff. It's interesting. It's cool. However, I find most of it doesn't stick with me. In other words, I don't find myself falling in love with the top tier of stuff. I always kind of come down. So, um, let's see. Uh, oh, this question was, how do you know if you're a hobbyist or a professional guitar player? That's, uh, it's funny. It would be funny in, you know, an odd question, uh, but it's, you're not the first person ever asked me that the first time I was ever asked that was at a event in 2020 in January of 2020. It was right before the NAMM show. I was at an event with a bunch of YouTubers. I probably told the story. I'll keep it brief. Bunch of YouTube channels there. I knew some of them. I didn't know some of them. You know, I was there for the day. If you go back to the videos, you'll see I interviewed, uh, Mike Saldano that day. I interviewed Steve, I that day. I interviewed Brian Wampler that day. And, um, and, uh, Rick Beata was there and that was the first time. Is that the first time I ever met Rick Beata? I believe it was. It might have been the second time of, you know, meeting him briefly for a second. I don't know him. So we don't like talk. I just, you know, I don't even know if he knows I make YouTube. So anyways, uh, uh, he, that he was asking everybody at the table, what makes a professional, uh, what makes you a professional musician and everybody was giving answers. And the number one answer I remember the table was, um, that, uh, you make money. And, uh, you know, I've thought about that question a lot over the years. I mean, over five years now, and I think like, well, what makes you a professional and then sometimes it's so easy to say it's money, but then there's players that play at what, what we would all consider a professional level, but they don't necessarily make money. So I'm like, I don't know. Um, so, uh, here's a joke. Let me go with this. Uh, I think one of the things that makes us a hobbyist and a professional player is not so much whether or not you get paid. That is a factor. I think, uh, electric guitar players and so well, guitar players, I think if the, if your sound, if your tone, I know this is going to sound stupid. First of all, I think if you make music, maybe, maybe that puts you professional. I don't know. But I think if you, if your thought process is the end of your sound is your speaker, in other words, you have a guitar and it plugs into paddles or no pedals into an amp and then they amp into a speaker and the sound comes out of the speaker, I think you're a hobbyist. Hold on. And then I think if the end of your sound, and I noticed I'm saying sound, not tone, but it could be tone, whatever the music you create, if that comes out of a PA speaker or a studio monitor, I think of you as more of a professional player or a professional, um, because I don't want to say if you're not making money, maybe you're aspirationally a professional, a professional, but I think if that every thought process of yours is that you're the end audience, you're the end. And that's how I translate that because at the end, if it's just your guitar, if you're just your amp, you know, if the end of your sound comes out of this speaker that I'm pointing at this amp, then it's just for you. You're the audience. Then you're definitely a hobbyist. It's never going to get past you. So therefore you're doing it for yourself. You see what I'm saying? You are the creator and the audience. That's kind of a way I'm thinking of this, right? Where, like I said, if this sound continues out into a microphone, into a PA or a microphone or something into a studio monitor, recording yourself, maybe the aspiration is to get that, that sound, that music that you have out, out to an audience. And then I'm going to say you're either a professional or aspiring professional. I think that might be, that might be a way to do it. I'm sure you guys can have a lots of different takes on that too. Just something I've thought about over the years, because I kind of deep down just don't like the idea that if you make money, you're professional. And if you don't, you're not. And the reason I say that is, you know, having this YouTube gig for many years, you know, there's so many, you know, content creators making money. And therefore by, I guess that definition of their, you know, if you're, you make money, you're professional, then they're all professionals. And I'm, and I go, I don't know. I mean, I guess that's correct, but I don't think it's because they make money. I think it's because they have an audience. And I think that's the goal when you make music is to get it to somebody else. Anyone else besides you. So that's just my, my thought on that. I don't know. Um, oh, you know what I just realized? I didn't have the Amanda screen up. Yes. Amanda has her own screen. She has an Amanda screen. It's, I, I, I tag it. It says Amanda screen. So that's how I know. She sent me some questions. This is from Ted Pikachu. I don't know if Ted, it's not Ted Pikachu, but just kind of made me laugh when I saw Pika, Pika, Pika, Pika, whatever. Ted, Ted says, I'm trying out two different fee, uh, freed, freed. Fender, tweed. Let's calm down. Okay. I'm trying out two different fender, tweed, champ clones. Do they always sound fizzy with gain? Yes. To my ears. Yes. I'll not go, I'll not go or ceramic. Uh, I think you're talking about speakers or as the, as the, as specific to them. Uh, to me, yes. Once the amps get small like that, uh, there's always this fizz. A lot of it has to do with the speaker size. The speaker, the type of speaker is going to make a difference, but there's only so much I think you can do with the physical speaker size. So to me, 10 inch speakers are fizzier than 12s and they have less bass, but, and sometimes I like that when it's quiet at night because the 10, you know, is kind of moving a little bit more than a 12 wood at quiet levels. And therefore you get a little bit more of a thump out of it. Uh, but still, I feel like it always has a little bit more fizz. That's why like I think of a four 10 speaker, like a basement, the nine or something like that is having a little bit more fizz than a two 12 or a one 12. Um, and an eight to me is it gets really hard to manage. There's always this top end fizz that I just, I can never seem to really dial out fully. Um, but, but this is a perfect example of, you know, for you or for, you know, playing with some, you know, some other musicians, sometimes those small amps, they sound fantastic in a mix, especially in a little, you know, a little jam session or something or on a small stage, that top end fizz kind of goes away, gets mixed out or blended out with all the, you know, the symbols and the other frequencies that get, you know, taken up with the bass and all that stuff. So there's some, some love those amps come back. So, you know, that's one thing I think about all the time. There's amps that I have definitely found that are just great for at home play, great for practice and great for performance. And then sometimes you get lucky in some crossover, all three of those categories. But, um, for me, the small amps, which should in theory sound great at home cause you're trying to keep your volume down. They do the opposite for me. They just make everything just yuck, uh, for the most part. So I like, uh, for a 10 or a 12. So, um, but, um, yes. So that's, so I'm just telling you, I agree with what you're, what you're saying is you're hearing those frequencies. That's what I hear too. So in fact, I'm doing some, uh, videos right now of a couple of amps and two of them have, uh, one of them has an eight speaker and one of them has a 10 inch speaker and, but the 10 inch speaker one is even really, really low wattage. It's sounding pretty good, but it's still got a little bit of fizz in it. Cause it's just the way the, you know, the amps, you know, got its power pushes, but the eight inch speakers is constantly giving me this top end fizz that I'm just not in love with. So I'm just trying to get around it and see, see if there's a way around it. Just like you. And then, so, you know, for the record, that amp that I'm talking about has a very expensive speaker in it. So it's not like I can go, oh, let me get a different speaker. That'll help. But I mean, I'd be yanking out an expensive speaker. Um, this is, uh, Joseph. Joseph says, Hey, Phil, I'm interested in getting a ES 335. What are your opinions on standard versus custom shop models? Is there a difference worth it? Uh, you know, I've played a bunch of ES through 35s over the years, worked on a bunch over the years, and, uh, I like the year through 35. I like the epiphone years through 35. I think that's a good guitar. I think the Gibson is sometimes slightly better. They can be worse, uh, depending on, you know, which luck of the draw. I think once you go, give Gibson custom shop, something that I would suggest is to look at other high end builders, uh, because you're in that price point now. And you might as well go look around. But, um, I just recently played a Gibson custom shop ES to 35 and, um, uh, and I just saw the opportunity to play it. It was at a, you know, a private room, what do you call it? Platinum room at a guitar center. And I picked it up and played it. And, oh, actually it was two in there. I should be clear about that. There was two. And they were both okay. Like I wasn't feeling like, wow, way above my Gibson ES through 35. But, you know, um, I think the epiphone is when I think of epiphone's, and I think this way with all kind of, uh, affordable line instruments, whether squire epiphone, um, PRSSE, some are really good. A lot of us will go, Oh, they're really good. There are some really good ones, but then there are just a few to me that just stand out to me. If I was like, if you said, Phil, you have to own one epiphone right now. I would say first it's going to be an epiphone, like 335, you know, uh, you know, hollow body, dot style, semi hollow body guitar. Absolutely. That's what I would pick. Um, and I feel pretty confident that I'm going to, you know, be happy with it. Uh, the Firebird epiphone is another one that I thought was just an amazing, uh, guitar compared to the Gibson equivalent. But I would say with epiphone, I'm going to stick with 335, uh, just like with squire, I think one of the best squires I ever play is the J. Mascus, uh, Jazzmaster. In fact, I have a video coming soon or a deep dive or a breakdown. And one of my issues with the J. Mascus is I think it's better than the almost $3,000 vendor USA vintage. And better is a hard thing to call to qualify. But when I, when I say, well, actually paid price factored in it, it feels a lot better, but I mean, just, it just feels a little better. And I don't know, it's just a little nicer, uh, overall quality. So, um, but, uh, and then, um, uh, but, uh, you know, and then, um, uh, they, I think it's they, it's Andrew, whatever. Hey, it's, that's what it is. It's, Hey, Hey, it's something craft. Andrew Kraft, I'm going to go with that. He says the heritage 335 style guitar is awesome too. I have not ever really picked up and heritage 335 style guitar, intimately and played it. I might have, uh, believe it or not, I might have played Marty Schwartz's when he had his, cause I was there at the studio with all of them for two or three days. So at some point I had to hold his guitar and play it cause we were swapping guitars back and forth. Um, but again, not intimate. When I call intimate, like I need to spend time with stuff. You know, I don't necessarily need to take it apart and dissect it, but I do need to spend time to get a general idea of what's going on with it. I'm really, really interested in the heritage 335 because the, um, uh, it's like three more videos out, but there's a, if you're looking behind me, there's a Collins, uh, there, um, Collins, right there. Uh, guitar that is, uh, a, uh, breakdown video that will be breaking it down. And, um, it's so expensive and, and, uh, I really got me thinking about the heritage is like, I was thinking about like alternatives to the Gibson style guitar. So maybe I'll reach out to heritage. Maybe they'd like to send one out. I don't know if not, we'll find our, our find way to get one, but I'm really curious to try it out. But, um, and that would help probably for, you know, give you some feedback. So, um, on a side note, I still have my Gibson is 35. I don't really need it anymore, but for some reason just can't let it go. So I think maybe if I love the heritage, I'd do it, but I don't know. I don't know. Again, it's all speculation at that point. I'd have to, you know, I need to physically play them both and then find the spot where I like one and not like the other. Um, let's see. Okay. Hold on a second. And I'm just grabbing stuff for quick. Okay. I don't know what the JM is. So, uh, we'll see if I can dissect this. This is from Dale. Hey, Phil, I got a JM copy from Texas toast. So to me, JM is like John Mayer copy. That's what I'm thinking. J. Mascus, guys help me out here. What else can JM stand for, uh, for copy? Right. Please help me out if I'm missing it sometimes. Anyways, from Texas toast, it seems like a great guitar, but the screws on the saddle won't stop coming loose and buzzing. Every time I fix them, they're back out. Can it replace with others? Absolutely. You can. Um, you can, um, uh, you can, uh, I'm trying to think what they're called. Bolts.com. Something. Bolts.com. Hold on. Let's just see if I can find it. Bolts.com. Cause it's the one I use all the time. And I, for some reason, I can't think of anything else. Uh, Bolts.com for here, we'll find it. What's great about search engines is you can get close. Um, monsterbolts.com. Dot com. Remember that when they used to do that stuff. Monsterbolts.com guitar replacement screws and tremolo parts. This is where I recommend they are not sponsors of any videos I've ever done. I'm not a sponsor of any videos I've ever done. I'm not a sponsor of any videos I've ever done. I'm not a sponsor of any videos I've ever done. They are not sponsors of any videos I've ever done. I just been going there. Um, and I can find all the little cool little fasteners and pieces and grub screws and all that stuff and you absolutely can find that stuff. Um, my guess, I haven't seen your guitar. I don't know, but my guess is with Texas toast, they usually stick to everything. Hip shot. And so monsterbolts will have all the hip shots, uh, sized components and parts and screws and pieces and stuff. So you can do that as well. So it also makes me think maybe you have a defective part. So I don't know if it is hip shot, I might even reach out to hip shot, um, because they are a good quality company. Oh, somebody says jazz master. Okay. See, okay. So a jazz master. So it's a jazz mouse style guitar. Um, I would reach out like I said, uh, if it is hip shot, I'd reach out to hip shot and see if you, if you tell them the problem, they might have a solution or they might be aware. So you got to understand sometimes when you have a component that's a malfunctioning with the guitar, it's no different than some other industries. When you contact the actual manufacturer, they sometimes are aware that they had a batch that was bad and you can't, you know, I can't begrudge them entirely, but they won't admit that to you. A lot of times they'll just say, Oh, we'll send you out a replacement. But that kind of tells you right away when they're really fast with the answer. Oh, no problem. We'll send what's your address? We'll send you a replacement. That means like they already knew about it. But because otherwise they hit you with the, what? I've never heard that before. Um, so yeah, I would say if it's hip shot, reach out to them. If it's not, if it's an off brand or something. Um, yeah. And Steven says no joke, hip shot has world class customer service. I've had great luck with hip shot over the years. Again, I don't really have any kind of official, uh, thing with them. I really like hip shot. I reached out to him years ago about, you know, sponsoring some videos and stuff. And, um, they were, they were fine. No, no, no bad or good. Um, but you can tell, you know, when, you know, you do this for a long, as long as I have, you can tell when you reach out to companies and they're talking, they just don't have any idea what the hell you're doing. Like they just don't know. And it's like a hard thing to explain. Like if I, at this point, if I have to, when I contact a company and we're talking back and forth and if I have to go, oh yeah, I make YouTube videos and like, what's the benefit of us working with you? And you're like, ah, crap. Right. I don't know. All the audience is guitar freaks who like to buy guitar crap. That might be good. I, that might be good for you. I don't know. Maybe, but, uh, but you get the idea. So, but I still buy all their stuff on the regular and, um, and, uh, like I said, love them dearly. And yeah, my, my, uh, my, uh, experience with their customer service has always been a good, um, let's see. Then let's go to another one. Thank you guys for telling me Jazzmaster copy. I don't know why I didn't think Jazzmaster. I'm just like John Mayor, John Mayor. Okay. Uh, this is from Steven says, have you ever found a scorpion in anything guitar related? Uh, no. So, uh, that comment, uh, is cause he knows I'm in Arizona. We have scorpions. If you're not from Arizona, you probably don't know that they are little and they are see through and you find them with black lights. So, you know, uh, they glow in black light. So you can find them in, uh, in the, uh, uh, at night. In fact, I've done hikes with the, the wife. We've done hikes where you hike and you take black lights and like a bunch of people and then you look out and it's like the stars out in the desert. That's how many scorpions around you. And before you guys don't get freaking stuff, they're very tiny. Okay. They're not, they don't like attack people. It's not like in the, the mummy movies or stuff. The only problem with scorpions is they're so small that they can go underneath door that you're, you know, I guess what you call it underneath the door. Is that the door jam? I don't know what you call that. Underneath the door. They can just go right under it cause they're like flat and they don't like the cold at all. So if it starts getting a little cold outside, sometimes it's when they'll sneak theirself in and, uh, the little ones are the most dangerous because they don't, they, uh, they're so small, they're, uh, adolescent. They don't know how to control their, their, uh, the poison gland for their stinger. And so when they sting you, they kind of give you the whole amount of poison where the more mature ones know to just dose you a little bit, just enough to let it hurt. The other thing is, is that cats are technically immune to them because of their fur, the scorpions can't really sting the cats and stuff. And so cats like to play with crap. So cats are notorious. I have, so I'm giving you the story. I can't tell you I've ever had this problem. I've never had it, but of course now you probably jinxed me, but I have many friends, not one, not two, many friends whose cats have brought scorpions in and put them like in their shoes and drop them in places in their house. Um, and it's tough because when you're walking around barefoot at night, they're see-through. They're like, you can't see them. They're on the floor. They're tiny and see-through. Uh, so it's not like you're walking around with black lights. Um, but yes, uh, I have not. Uh, so, you know, it's not something I, in fact, I have never seen them in my pool, but I've had neighbors who had them in their pool because you find them, like sometimes they go in the pool and they sink and then just there. Guess they hold their breath. So, yep. Uh, yeah. Scorpions. Uh, yeah, good stuff. Um, for the most part, they're not deadly. They can be very dangerous though, uh, for little kids. Uh, one of my friends, little, uh, son, uh, when he was a toddler got stung, uh, because a scorpion fell out of an air conditioning vent. It got, uh, from a tree, it went into the tree onto their roof and a guest got in there, that's what they think. And then it fell out of the air conditioning vent on him and he freaked out and he started flipping and it's just kept stabbing him. Uh, you know, stinging multiple times. I had to take him to the hospital and I can't remember. I kind of remember they gave him, I think they gave him an antidote for it. They really, really won't do that. But I think in his case, they did. At least I think I remember that. I just remember he went to the hospital. Hey, he's fine, obviously, but, uh, all right. Now, scorpions. Yes, we have all of them. Scorpion, snakes, all the stuff. It's a desert. Nothing's supposed to live here. We terraformed it. Nothing, nothing's supposed to live here. It's just cactuses and dirt, scorpions, snakes, lizards, and some javelinas, uh, and, uh, that's it. And then a bunch of people who decided be damned, we're going to get air conditioning and grow lawns and just going to make this work. So that's how it works. I always tell my, I always tell people not from here, I go, it's just like in the movies, you know, Star Trek, when they go to a planet and they terraform it or the movie where the aliens come, they terraform the planet. That's exactly what Arizona is. It's a bunch of people who made it look like you could live here, but it's really not. Okay. Um, this is from Angel says, Hey, technical question, please. I've had my Taylor 814 CE for a couple of years and the wood picker doesn't age well. I need to replace it. How would you do it? Um, I don't really, I mean, I have one right there. I mean, how I do it, you know, it is, I don't want to tell you because I not looking at your, your pick guards. So, I mean, I have a spatula that I heat up and I scrape it out very slowly and I lift it off and the heat makes the glue very malleable and I get underneath there and I, I just take it off over time. You've got to go slow. And then once I do that, you just kind of take down all the glue out. And then once you got it smooth, you put a new one, but I'm not looking at your situation and that's what's tough about stuff like that because if you do anything wrong, you can damage the guitar. Um, I would imagine that Taylor guitars has to have some kind of video for that. And if not, I will see when I talk to Taylor, I will jinx it right now. I'm supposed to go to the Taylor factory. So we will see when I say jinx it, it's like, it's not a bit officially planned. It's in the negotiation works right now to, to have that all happen. It's one of the factories I'm looking at going this year. There's three and, um, and, uh, the answer has not started with a no. So it looks like it will happen because usually the answer is pretty fast. No, right. Fast no or slow. Yes. I'm getting slow. Yes. Right now. Um, okay. Hold on a second. Um, uh, I want to say. Dynodian bass man says, what's the most expensive bass you have ever played and did not like or was overhyped. I have played so many expensive bases. Uh, I've played a lot of expensive guitars, but I have played almost everyone's expensive bass. Now, of course, you know, any fedora, right? Roscoe, um, you know, uh, F bass, uh, you name it, right? It's, it's some point. Um, and I might've owned a ton of those at some point too, because I, there was a time, like I said, I didn't play guitar. I didn't play guitar for like years and years and years. Like I had a guitar and I was a bass player only. So I just had, I would cycle through all these high end bases. This is many, many years ago. And, uh, you know, Zon's modulus, you name it. I've, you know, um, uh, height. I don't know about height. Uh, I can tell you this. I found, I didn't find a whole lot of love for a lot of the high end ones. Um, for no particular reason. It wasn't like I could tell you, I don't want to think, what you think, like when I, I never found a fedora that I loved, but that doesn't mean fedora weren't amazing basses. I just didn't find the one I loved. Um, and, uh, so I mean, you know, I don't know. My current base, the main bass I play now is a very expensive bass and, uh, I love it, but it's, I don't know. It's one of those like I can't really just, in fact, it's behind me. It's funny to jazz that. That's my custom shop Warwick that was made specifically for me by Warwick to my specifications and, um, and, uh, it's off the charts, uh, crazy expensive. So, you know, I've told the story before when they built it for me, um, I, I knew which one I wanted and, uh, they decided to give me artist pricing. And so in fact, a funny little funny tidbit to know, uh, Pete Thorne has a Warwick bass, he was there the same day we were at the factory the same day. And Pete Thorne and I ordered a custom bass each and they gave us both artist pricing or at least, you know, that's what I'm my understanding was. And so, um, that was my first time experiencing that. I didn't know what that really meant. They were just like artist pricing. I'm like, Oh, okay. What's artist pricing? And basically you can, it means what you can imagine. It's just, they're going to give you an obscenely low price point for it. Um, because the exchanges there is going to be value like, Hey, we're talking about today on a podcast and, uh, what happened was when, uh, Marcus, the head of the factory took me downstairs. Uh, they didn't show me anything. They didn't show me price sheets. They didn't show me anything. So he would ask me questions like, Hey, what kind of tuning keys you want? And I go, Oh, I don't know, like regular tune keys. They're like, Oh, well, do you want tuning keys to match your, your neck? You know, so my neck is winged. And so the tuning keys, like you want winged tuning keys. I'm like, okay. You know, right. And he's like, do you want a maple cap or do you want a solid maple? He's like, and the way he was talking, I, I, uh, I don't want to say I perceived it. I understood everything as this was just like a list and it was like pick off the list and then this is the guitar you get or the bass you get. But what really was, it was a price list that he wasn't showing me. So things that I added, the things I ordered on that base were very expensive add-ons. That was just keep adding, adding, adding, adding, adding. And I didn't know it. Uh, so when he would go, how about this? Do you want the church bell brass frets? Sure. Let's do that. Do you want a bell brass nut? Yeah, I do. I want that. Do you want a custom preamp or you want a regular preamp? Let's do a custom preamp. This is, you know, right? Do I want a USB charger for it? Sure do. So I was just like, yeah, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. And then what happened was they had already told me a price up front. So you can understand they said, this is going to be the price. Before we even walked down and built it. He goes, this is your artist price. And so, um, any other time, any other way, if this went down any way, I would have, I would have, it would have not worked out this way, which I'm glad it did this way. If that would have known they were comping every add-on to me, I would have been like a friend who you're taking out to dinner and it's like, Hey, do you want steak and a big potato? Sure. You want a lobster tail? I'm like, no, I'm good. Right. Like, even though you're not paying for it, you're like, no, I'm not going to run up this guy's tab. Does it make sense? So I didn't know I was running up an insane tab. And when they were done with the, the sheet, he handed it to me and I saw the price tag and I went, now keep mine. I knew I wasn't paying that because I already had a predetermined price. When I saw their price tag on that base, I literally was like, Oh my God. I said it out loud, like just like that. And I, to him, and he was like, you okay? And I was like, uh, yeah, I'm good. I, you know, so, um, so yeah, expensive basis. Uh, it's great. I don't know. I don't, I mean, I love this base. I will never get rid of it. I've been playing it now for seven years, maybe longer. And, uh, I don't even know today if I could, and I don't know what the price is today, but even the price that it was supposed to be there, then I don't know if I would ever actually buy a base for that price point. So pretty crazy. Um, and that's why I have a Kiesel version of it that I travel with because I was, uh, cause the Kiesel I can, I can, I can emotionally take the traveling of this thing. Um, if this is gone, I'll never get this again. Oh, there's no way. I would never ask them to do that kindness a second time and I could never justify paying that kind of money for an instrument, uh, ever again. That was pretty crazy. Okay. Um, let's see. Um, okay. Uh, Eduardo says, uh, what is needed to run a quad cortex? Okay. Does it plug into a cab? Um, do you, do I need a computer? Quick quad, quad cortex for dummies run down. Sure. All you really need is, uh, you need, you, you need a something to amplify it. So think of it like any other pedal. Think of the quad cortex, although it's a, it's, it's the sound is coming from this, the complete sound, the preamp, the, you know, you're going to have room sounds and IRs and impulse, impulse response, all that stuff. You have to understand it works just like if you bought yourself a metal zone pedal in the concept of all you have as a pedal, right? You need to output it to something. It's not going to power its own speaker, right? A metal zone. I'm just using that because it's a pretty easy basic thing. You know, a boss pedal is not going to power a speaker cabinet. So you could, you need something to amplify this thing. So the quad cortex needs like a powered speaker or a PA system, or yes, you would output it into your computer and maybe listen to your monitors or headphones. You need something to, uh, for two reasons. One for you to hear it. So for you to hear it, you could do headphones, a headphone jack in it or run it to your computer and listen through your monitor or your, you know, your studio monitors or whatever you have. And if you're doing performance, you definitely need something to amplify it. And that's all, that's how you want to think of it is it's, it's everything in one box, except for amplification. It can, it can sound like an amplifier, but it can't be an amplifier because it doesn't have any power. It doesn't wait to power a speaker. So, um, so let's see. Um, let's see. Um, let's see. Um, hold on. Phil, is it worth getting the victory power valve 200 to be used with the quad cortex? Danish Pete had a video on it and it sounds so good. Uh, I need your time stamp approval. Um, yeah, all of those powered pedals. I'm not played the victory. Power valve 200. I have not, I hear it like you, I heard good things, right? Um, I would say all of those will work, uh, as far as I know. So, I mean, well, I know, I know they're going to work. They all work. Does one sound better than the others? Is this one, does the victory power valve sound better than the Seymour Duncan one? Does that sound better than the new Wampler one? You know, I just don't know. That's what I can't, I can't, we context, but I would imagine they're all going to work. Well, they're all going to work. And they're all going to sound pretty good. So, uh, um, so, yeah, so, um, let's see. You guys are still talking about scorpions. It is, uh, it is a thing. Um, although. Yeah. Okay. I was like, I do have another scorpion story, but I'm not going to tell it right now. Maybe at the end of the show. Uh, let's see. Okay. Let's do this one. Hmm. Oh, okay. Uh, this is from Kevin says, Hey, I bought a small builders as style from a dealer that got bad fret sprout this winter. Reach out to the bill builder or the dealer or deal with the spirit of the builder or the dealer or deal with the sprout myself and move on. Um, well, you could reach out to dealer first. So if they're the ones that sold it to you, always go to the person who sold it to you first. You know, sometimes as we know, we're in the new world where there's rhetoric on our packaging that says, don't go back to the dealer only contact the manufacturer. And, uh, I can tell you a little insight in our industry. I can't speak for other industries, but I can tell you some in our industry. When you get, um, you know, a product and it says, Hey, if this, if you have issues with this, don't go to the dealer. Go to, to us, the manufacturer. That is because that's in the contract they've worked out with the dealer. So in other words, they're not, they're not, they're not providing any resources to the dealer, like financially to handle your problems. That was something that I had never really heard of. And it started popping up when we had a store. All of a sudden we would handle problems, but then they would tell us like, Oh, we're going to handle it now. And I'm like, Oh, that's cool. But then they would lower the amount of money we'd make. And, you know, then they didn't have authorized repair centers and stuff like that. So, but ultimately what I always go with is whoever sold to you, go with them first, because they have the incentive to help you first, because they sold it to you. I know the manufacturer built it too, but that just, first of all, a dealer is supposed to have customer service built in intuitively. So some, in my experience, not all manufacturers have customer service built in, you see what I'm saying? So I would start there and tell them your problem. And then I hear my best advice always, Kevin, whenever you have a problem, have a resolution. I know there's people that say like, you can have a problem if you don't have an answer, stuff like that. Look, that's fine. All that stuff's great. However, what I'm going to tell you is, is that when you're, when you're, when you ask them, it's always shocking to me how dumbfounded they all still are. You're like, Hey, I have this problem. They're like, huh? What do you want to do? You want to return it? You're like, well, okay. Yeah, there's, okay, here's some resolution ideas. So like for me, if it was me, I would say, Hey, can you, is this something you cover as a, like as a warranty or as the dealer or as, you know, can you contact, you know, can they contact the manufacturer and get it done so you don't have to ship this thing? You know, maybe the manufacturer can then pay them to do the service. In other words, can you get the service provided? If, if, and that's the first ask, right? Super easy. If they don't, then ask them if they can compensate you to get the service. In other words, like, Hey, will you do a reduced cost service for me if I bring it here? Because otherwise, why would I bring it here? I'll go somewhere else because I'm done buying here. You didn't take care of me. You don't have to say that, but kind of like, I always think that a little bit in my head. Um, and then if they can't do that, then maybe can they apply something as, you know, like, Hey, can you, you know, give me a credit on this purchase? Like maybe a $20, you know, anything, anything. Cause again, you're giving them the opportunity to fix the problem. And hopefully they'll either A, fix the problem or B, give you an answer that at least makes you feel good about the fact that they're not going to resolve your issue, but why somehow it's just, you know, I don't know, you know, I don't know what they're going to say. But I've had it, I've had it go that way with me. I've had people explain like, yeah, we just can't do that kind of thing. Like a good example is like there are just wearable things, right? Oh, you know, let me give you a back backdrop on that. Um, you know, as a retailer, for one of the things that you would get from people, sometimes that was a little odd was not all, this is not your circumstance, but I'm just going to give you one that's kind of an odd one for a dealer. There are definitely wearable items, you know, uh, on a guitar, let's say it's strings. And I was always shocking the first time, but then after every time after that, when somebody would buy a guitar from us and then like three months later come in the store and go, Oh, I broke a string. I need a new set of strings. And then you would get a set of strings like, well, what brand do you want? And they'd go, Oh, you know, what do you recommend? I go, Oh, like the Dario and they go, okay. And you hand them to Dario and they go, Okay, well, you're going to put these on for me too. Right. And I go, well, it's, it's, you know, $25 to put them on. And they go, Oh, no, no, I bought this here. It's defective. The string broke. Like they're expecting free strings in service. And then you have to explain them like, Oh, no, these are wearable items. Like these wear out, like you're supposed to change your strings on a rate. Like sounds like it's been about three months. Like, yeah, they break sometimes, you know, I could give you a discount and I can even discount the service for you, you know. So that's what I'm saying. That would be one scenario where, you know, but in your case, and I've found it used to be a frat sprout was a thing that was covered. If in fact, I've talked about this, that's, I can tell you for a fact, frat sprout was a thing covered by fender for a long time. We would sell a fender and you get frat sprout and you bring it in and then we would service it. And then vendor would pay for it. And then one day Fender goes, I told you, it's the last CEO or the CEO before him. You can find the official post. They posted like, that's just something that happens to guitars now. And it's not their fault. That's what they said. You can go Google it. Somebody go Google it. And it's what Fender says. It says, Hey, it's just, it's just what happens and it's not their fault. Tone shield says, Hey, have you ever tested amp shields like clear sonic? I have no idea what a hell tone shield is. Like I have no idea. I'm going to look up what a tone shield is. I have no, literally no idea what a tone shield is. It sounds like a, nope. A tone shield. Or amp. Is it, Oh, it's like a plexi shield. Oh, I wouldn't need a plexi shield. I wouldn't need a tone shield ever. So I assume it's like this. I'm looking for an actual tone shield, but there's clear sonic. Okay. So again, if I'm wrong, I apologize. What's coming up, I'm going to go to images. What's coming up is like those plexi shields in front of amps. I don't crank crank any amps. So it's not something I would need. Even, even when jamming other people, I mean, I'm, I don't have to, I don't really play any amps that have to be cranked. And then you have to figure out how to get them, you know, face them away from you or anything of that. Everything I play, if I go and play with somebody with an amp, I'm definitely got a master volume and I can adjust the amp. That's what I said. I got amps that I like, you know, you know, in the room. And I got amps that I like when I'm playing with the musicians. But yes, a lot of musicians need them for sure. That's what we're talking about. But I've never experienced them. I've never had anything to do with it. Yeah. And you're saying clear sonic, which is what I think came up to. So, but yeah, in my, so have I ever tested amp shields? No, it's not something that I would be interested in. So it's not something I would actually do on the channel. So, because like I said, I don't run that loud. Um, okay. So Damon says PSA, during your tour, Sweetwater Shop told you they had two-week turnaround, but they had my guitar for eight weeks and said still not assigned to a tech. So turn two week turnaround for the, for a refrat or two or two week turnaround for. So yeah, when they said two-week turnaround, I think my reaction that was like, that was pretty shocking. So thank you for letting us know it was eight weeks. I'm pretty, I was pretty skeptical of two weeks. That's why I asked them twice. They seemed pretty confident in it. However, keep in mind, this is what sucks about content and videos that, again, I'm not making excuse for them. I have no idea. They could have been full of crap from the start or they could be, he could have just not known any guest out of his ass. But I asked Phil many times to clarify, whether it was in the video or not, it was definitely something we discussed multiple times. But one thing that unfortunately happens, and it could be my fault, and it could just be the world as it goes, they get way more booked and then they're way behind. And so that information is dated. Now, even if you, I'm just letting you know, even if you said, oh, I know I did it right when you did that video, that video was months. Okay. So I filmed that in June. I don't know when that video came out. You'd have to write me and Phil from, Phil Richards from Sweetwater, but we filmed it in June and it was put out much later, or at least a month or two later. So I don't know. But, but it sucks to hear eight weeks. Sadly enough, what I was telling him was that's how long everybody, that's how long everybody takes is eight to 10 weeks. That's right. What it takes to get most repairs done with most shops. So, so, and it sucks that hasn't been assigned to a tech. Maybe if I get a chance to talk to them again. So funny enough, I'm supposed to do a video with them. I believe in April about mods and modifications and repairs, and that would be a good, you know what, so that's a good, let me, so I don't forget. Oh, what a day. All right. I don't have it with me. Hold on, let me type this in because I'm gonna make a mid, otherwise they'll, I mean, I can time stamp it, but I just want to melt it. Sweetwater timelines. So that would be a good thing to discuss with Sweetwater is timelines, more realistic timelines than where they're at, really at right now. Timelines, okay. So we'll discuss that. Sean says, the reason it takes eight weeks is because if they hired enough people for it to only take two weeks, if they get a slow month, people don't get paid. Oh, okay. So yes, they're on, right. So that's kind of was my thought process is they could be backlogged right now. And that's where it gets a little messy. And yes, it usually they would not. So this one's from lemonlust says, hey, Philip, do I need the early wine neck jig to do a proper refreading and leveling as a beginner? No. You know, it's all of almost all stew mac tools, especially tools like that, are convenience. They make your life a little easier. They dumb things down. Need is not a thing. You can do anything without, without any, you know, any of their fancy tools. Like I said, I, most of the tools that I recommend and use daily basis from stew mac are for convenience. They just make my life a little easier. And, and I have learned over the years that time is money, but more importantly, time is the only thing that you can give to your family and your friends. And so anything that can give you more of that is sometimes more perceived is more valuable than money. So, so I started doing that years and years ago. Let's see. Okay. Is that hold on a second. Oh, okay. You guys are talking about strings. Like, what are they talking about? Okay. And then let me refresh this and then I'll grab something. Nope. Let me get out of that. Here we go. Second batch. I know I'm missing one. Hmm. Oh, that's weird that it. Um, this is from Matt Sanders says, Hey, question, does Mr. McKnight see himself as a teacher? Curious. Well, I make, I make educational content. That's what you would consider it. I mean, I think it's entertainment as well. You know, sometimes they call it, you know, info, Tame it, it's information and entertainment. I definitely try to make it entertaining. I work really hard to make stuff entertaining. But I mean, at this point, I mean, if you look at people that, you know, take my, you know, watch my clinics, my live clinics through the paid, you know, if you want to do the paid service and watch clinic live clinics, you take that number, you take the people who have watched all my instructional videos. Um, I mean, it's, it's an insane number. So I'm going to say yes. Like I said, I just don't know if the word teacher instructor, but I mean, I definitely make the content that is that. So maybe instructional content creator is what I would really consider myself. And in that, you would be a teacher. I'm not trying to play semantics on this. I'm just giving you my logic. I don't really think of it in any other way than, you know, um, you know, so, um, Jordan says, Hey, uh, love the Novo video. How do you like the bridge and tremolo? Are they worth the price? I think they're the whole, I think they're the star of the show. I think that's, I think, um, they make that Novo in a hardtail. And me personally, if I would have got the Novo, this is why I went the route I did. I kind of heard this from friends, you know, about Novos. When I was buying the Novo for the video, I almost bought the hardtail. I could find one at a little better of a deal. And, uh, I'm glad I didn't cause I don't think I would have really, uh, enjoyed the guitar. And then that changes the vibe of the video entirely. You know, there's only so much you can do with your enthusiasm. You know, so, you know, in the, in the guitar is not, you know, if you're not excited about the guitar, I was mostly excited about that bridge system. And that helped me, you know, really kind of like, okay, I can see now why somebody's digging this guitar. There's a lot of cool things like the neck feels nice and the fret work was done really well. And of course the Lindy friend pickup sound good. So I'm like, okay, now, see what I'm saying? Now you're building like, okay, I'm totally feeling now why somebody likes this guitar. Cause that's essentially what you're trying to do. And a video like that is try to figure out, you know, what it is that makes this guitar cool, that makes somebody want to want it. And then also what about this guitar is something that somebody should know before they have to purchase it. Um, you know, I, I, I personally love and enjoy the fact that I even if, you know, I, that I get to buy a guitar like that and make a video and experience it on that level. And then share it with you guys. Cause now you, cause let's face it, one, most of you can't do that. And then the ones that can would be emotionally distraught. So, you know, a perfect example, let me tell you a funny story. So let me share, I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to give a shout out right now. Since we've talked about retailers, let me give a shout out to a retailer and it's a good, bad story. Okay. So here's how it's a good, bad story. So I'm going to switch to the next one. That's a good, bad story. So I'm going to switch hats. Look at this. So I bought, this is my hat. I bought, I bought an amp from Palin Music. Look at that. Um, and they gave me some hats. They were established in 1963. They sent me some hats. That was really nice. Right. Look at that. So, uh, Palin Music, uh, I bought an amp from Palin Music and it is the experience that a lot of us understand. You have to buy to try, right? You used to try before you buy, which is like the SG, the downfall, what I'm trying to say. The story about the guitar center. Yeah. That was weird and it was cumbersome, but at least I knew the entire time I loved the guitar. Like I love this guitar. If I can just get this through this process, I'm ending this with something I'm really excited about and I really enjoy and I got home and that experience continued on. Palin Music, which had, I bought an amp from them, was some of the best customer service I've ever experienced. Great selection. Made the purchase. Immediately got the email back. Immediately got the follow up. Immediately was, you know, just felt really good about the retail experience. But like a lot of us, I was trying or sorry, buying before I can try. So I was buying something because I'm like, I was doing my best guess. I think I'm going to love this amp. I absolutely did not like this amp. I got the amp, I plugged into it and the first 10 minutes I was like, this is not going to do what I wanted to do. I was trying to hopefully replace an amp that I currently have that's a little on the large side and a little power, it's a powerful amp. It's really powerful. And this amp, I'm not telling you the amp because I don't want to talk about it. Because here's why it's a painful. Okay. So two things I will tell you. One, it's the most expensive amp I think I've ever bought. If not, it's second most, but it's in the most expensive vein of amps I've ever bought. I bought it thinking it's going to be a smaller version of something I already really like. And instead I got it and it's nothing like the other thing. And it's okay. It's not that it's a bad amp, just with that much money into it, like that Novo, you got to really like it at that price. So, yeah, so same with the Novo, it's like it's really nice if you can find some things you really like about it. But I want to give a shout out to Paley Music for the great service. And it's not their fault that I didn't like the amp. Everything was great except for the amp. And it's not the amp's bad. There's nothing wrong with the amp. And by the way, it's not even that the amp itself isn't good sounding. It's just not doing what I was hoping it was going to do, which is sound like a different amp that I have that's in the same vein. And then for the record, I watched three, maybe five, but definitely three YouTube videos of this amp. And they all basically claimed, oh, it's like a smaller version of this. And I don't agree. So, all right. Okay, I'm done. I'm sorry. I'm just soaking in the, oh yeah, I was a little bummed out. Trust me, when I plugged it in, you guys know that feeling. You get it and you plug into it, you know, right? And you get the first chord. And all of a sudden you're like, oh, this isn't what I was thinking it was. And so, let's get into something else. This comes from, and I'm going to mess up this person's name, so I'm just going to go right to the question. It says, hey Phil, starting up my own shop, sometimes people are shy to ask for post-setup adjustment. Yes, what questions do you ask and what do you observe to make sure that it's perfect for them? Sure. Questions that you want to ask a player if you're going to do a setup for them. In other words, if you're going to adjust their instruments, is you're going to ask them, I don't like questions like, are you new or you're experienced, are you professional or you're intermediate, right? People don't like to answer those questions. People who have been playing for a long time, even if they're really good, they're going to be humble and they're just going to say they're intermediate and they're not, and you're going to adjust to that and it's not going to be right. What I like to say is, do you play aggressively? Do you hit hard? See, it doesn't even require a genre of music, right? Things that I think matter to a setup, when you're talking to somebody about how they might like their setups, okay? I would say, do you play aggressive with the pick? Are you aggressive on your picking technique? Are you light or are you heavy? Are you aggressive on your fingering technique? Are you pushing down hard or do you push down light? Do you strum heavy or do you strum light? Those are some things. Do you use lots of distortion or do you play clean? What percentages? Because here's where it gets tricky. Somebody goes, oh, I play a lot of distortion, but they may only play that 60% of the time. Then if you set up a guitar and you get that low action they want and distortion, those buzzy notes hide themselves really well, then they play clean and all of a sudden it sticks out and it's just not that great. So you want to be like, no, I play mostly distortion, but I do play clean. It's really nice when somebody says to me, oh, I play really aggressive. I only play metal and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna kind of come figure out where you're gonna, you know, what the action needs to be. And we also know what's gonna hide, you know, that sound of that action. Because low action comes with problems as we know, but sometimes those problems are highlighted through the amp and sometimes they're hidden by the amp. So it was the best way to put that. So that's the kind of conversation I would have. But my favorite thing to do when talking to somebody about their setup is talk about their love of the music. And I find that that you can get them to just kind of start speaking about, okay, you know, like some of those questions and you go, instead of going, what style of music do you play? Go, what style of music do you like? And people like to tell you the style of music they like. Oh, I love the Beatles or I love, you know, Metallica or I love, you know, Kenny Chesney or whatever they like. They don't like to tell you, you know, the style they play. First of all, no one even seems to agree on that. How many times have you upset a friend and said, oh, your band sounds like the chili peppers? And they're like, my band sounds nothing like the chili peppers. So see, you're going down a wrong, as I said, take them out of the equation, in other words, the personal part. Just go to the thing they love. And I find that, I really, I find that helps when you're trying to assess that, especially if they're buying a new guitar and you're trying to make some adjustments for them so they might enjoy the guitar. And then the guitar doesn't come back, which is nice. Which is nice. I'm gonna do that. Let's see. Verde, V-sign, I'm gonna say V-sign, seven says, how hard do they press down on the frets for intonation? I don't know if that's a question if you're stating it. If it's a question, yes. It's one of the things we care about because it will in fact affect the intonation. It also tells you, again, it helps you with gauge of string, understanding what kind of gauge of strings are gonna work for them. Also is gonna help you with how low or high the action should be. It helps with a lot of stuff. It also tells you how problematic it is. Like I said, I've said this before, I'll say it again. When somebody says, oh, I like my action super low and I like really small strings and I hit really hard. And I'm like, okay, well, this is gonna be a problem. Right? You're demanding, think about this way. You've got to think about it like you're demanding a lot from a guitar to do that. You know how many times, and this is about as nice and rude as I can be at the same exact time. You know, I'm trying to be kid-gloving some rude information. I have played so many people's guitars. That's an experience that you get only if you repair guitars. You brought, a customer brings you a guitar and it's their guitar. And I can tell you that a lot of players, you get their guitars and it plays absolutely horrendous. And I don't mean like, oh, this guitar plays horrendous. Please set it up, make it better. They come in for all kinds of things. Maybe they just want pickups. And you're playing this guitar and you're like, this is set up horribly. And then you watch them play. And when you watch them play, you go, oh yeah, this setup makes total sense. Look at them. Look what they're doing. And it's not a negative. It's not like they don't know what they're doing. It's like, yeah, based on that style, that's how the guitar would have to be set up. You know, I have a friend who plays really light strings, super, super low action, and he plays light overdrive clean, like Eric Johnson. And his touch, his picking touch, and his fingering touch are so light that anyone else, if you hand in the guitar, they're going to go, why is this buzzing? In fact, this happened to me a funny story, because I told you guys, I don't actually hit very hard on the pick. I'm pretty light. I had a friend once pick up one of my guitars when we were on a trip. And he was like, oh, I thought your guitar would be less buzzy than this. And I didn't say anything. I was like, oh. But I say, you know, I was like, yeah, it's because I was listening to it. And he was just smacking the crap out of it. And I'm like, yeah, I had light strings. I think I had nines, or I might even had eights on it. I think it was nine hybrids, or eight hybrids. They started as eights and they went to a 42. And I had the action super light on that particular guitar. And that's just the way I like that play on guitar. So everyone, you know, everyone has a different technique and style. And that definitely puts a different, I don't want to say requirement. It puts a different situation on the guitar. So yeah, some guitars are tricky. Yeah. I mean, some players, like I have a friend, his name's Thor. And one of my favorite things is Thor likes his action high. He likes just high action, tall frets and high action. It's great. It's the easiest setup on the planet. And it just works for him. Kepzilla says, I would describe my style as hamfisted. Yeah, I've heard Dave Freeman mention concrete hands. Some players have concrete hands when they play. I'm like, yeah. But what's funny about that is, is that it's really a funny thing because some players style and technique, you know, as a tempierce would say the DNA, their DNA, the guitar player's DNA, the way they think, the way they play, the way it works, works for whatever they're doing. And then it's horrible as soon as you pick them out of the environment. Like, there was a guy who used to come in our store and he was in a local band and they were one of the most, like, I don't want to say prestigious, but they were definitely one of the best local bands. Like when I say best, I mean, huge crowds, you know, like they played huge venues. They were one of the most like bands and they were pretty much for years going to be the, you know, everybody was in town was like, this is one of those up and comer bands is going to be huge. And so they did good. And they got a lot of radio play, especially local. So again, we would call that what, hometown heroes? And he said something to me once that was so honest. It really kind of changed me as a person when you hear somebody say certain things like this. And he said, and he was talking to Shawna, he was actually at the store, he was talking to Shawna and I was there and we're all talking. And somebody asked him to play something. And he said, you know, I play in a band and I play in front of, you know, hundreds, if not thousands of people and I can, I can play all our songs. He goes, but I'm good at that. Like I'm good at, like I can play the music in my band and I, we're tight and we sound great. And I do, you know, but I'm not a virtuoso. So like, so when somebody at a party is like, play me something, nothing I play them is going to impress them. He's like, what am I going to play? Like these chord progressions. Oh, look at these chords. Look at how well I play the rhythm section of my band. He's like, but in my band, I'm almost like a star, you know, like people are like, Oh, you're, I love your music. But he's like, but out the context of my band, I'm just this guy who plays boring stuff. And, you know, he's like, and then he's like, but then when this discussion we had, which was great in context, he's like, but then that flashy player that can impress somebody for a second, they're horrible in the band. He's like, you put them in a band and it's like, they're just a, you know, crap show. And I felt that way my whole life, especially as a bass player, you know, somebody be like, play me something. And I'm like, I don't know what I'm going to play that you're going to like, you know, and a skill set that I've had to work on on YouTube forever is that in my, I'll say my genre and my, my, my lane, right? Like I think I would get this on YouTube. And this is a weird thing to say, but it's just true. The thing that I would happen to me on YouTube that happened early on within the first, I'd say three, four years, I would go places and I would play with other musicians that knew my YouTube channel. Cause at that point it kind of poked out enough to where people were aware of it. And I don't mean every time, of course, but so many times, the majority of times, anytime I jam with somebody, they go, wow, I didn't think you were that good. Like I don't mean they're saying I'm bad now. They, they're always seemed impressed that I played better than what they thought. And I always thought that was kind of weird. And then I started thinking about it more and more going, right? Well, cause what we're playing now is what I play. And I like playing this and I've put my thousand hours in or my 10,000 hours in on this. But when you see them in YouTube, I'm trying to demo a different guitar every week. And I try to demo it in a way that the person who might like the guitar will cut, you know, I can't, you know, it's kind of like, I don't know what you guys, I don't really dig the YouTubers that, um, um, I know offense them, but I'm like, they demo like, here's a strat and then the next week is here's a day electro. And then here's that eight string. And then here's, you know, a Les Paul and the next one's like, here's a, uh, Rickenbacker. And yet they only play death metal on everything. It's just one genre of music, always one style, because that's their style. And I watched that and I think to myself, oh, I get why they're doing it. Because if I could just stick to what I think I do, okay, I think people would have more respect for my playing. I'm not saying that they think it's good. I'm just saying they have a little bit more respect for it. It's whenever I'm dipping outside of the thing, also the thing that happens on YouTube and this all ties in. So you guys know, in case everyone wanted to start doing YouTube, is that you're most of the time you're playing a guitar that's just not right for you. It's not, you know, there's a, like this SG, there's a type of guitar that I just like to play style, feel, neck. And then when I play a guitar that's totally unlike that, but I need to give some kind of a demo to you guys. It's so weird. Because I'm like, I don't know how, what to do this? This is inhibiting my abilities and they're not that great to begin with. So it's really tough. So, but anyways, that's my tangent, but I just want to stick with what he said, which is, I remember just thinking how honest that was with him saying in my band, I'm great, but alone, I'm, you know, I can't impress anybody with, you know, his circus, acrobatics, you know, kind of thing. And I'm, yeah. Um, let's see. Oh, so, uh, a soil sample says I suck a guitar, but my tunes are sick. You know, this is a thing that I think is very, I identify with that. Not only as a player, but just that concept, like, yes, you know, it's, it's like, yes, you can, you know, yes, I feel the same way. In other words, I have a kindred spirit to that idea. Let's button up the show. Let's do it. Let's just make sure that I'm not forgetting anyone here. And then let's see. Uh, Okay. Oh, uh, here's one. The DBB Dale, something, man, you got a long name, something, Bedinsky, Bedinsky band. Let's, let's give it a shot. The DBB, which I think then is the, the acronym for Dale, but it, but in ski band, like the way I see that Dale is being a but in ski means you're interrupting, right? I just want to make sure if I'm getting the vibe of what you're putting down, right? I've heard the term but in ski a lot, like they're a but in ski, which means they interrupt, right? So I'm going to imagine it's the Dale but in ski band, Dale, right? I says, Hey, Phil, any opinion on the upcoming new epiphone future, future line? You know, I, I gotta tell you, and you guys hear this a lot for me. I don't pay attention to anything anymore that's new because, you know, I'm not on any of those things. And what ends up happening to us here on this channel is, is by the time I can get the guitars, everybody's put out a video and then I'm putting out the video so late that none of you guys care because, you know, and I put out the video and then the comment sections are all the same. Oh, I saw they, so-and-so did this. Oh, somebody did this two weeks ago. Oh, I saw this last month. Oh, I saw this person. Yeah, I watched these eight people's videos of it. So we're always so behind but let's take a look from epiphone. Epiphone. All right. Back to the future. See, I don't even see this listed anywhere. The, oh, few, 2026 plans, future, for, for, why am I saying this? For, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for, for lines. I'm going to say like that. Guitar world. Let's go to guitar world. This is what guitar world is showing. Takes the most iconic Gibson body shapes and remixes them with modern professional grade features. Epiphone looks. Feature with hot rotted futura guitars. Oh, stainless steel frets. What epiphone? What are you trying to do? Says the mixer epiphone debut, long awaited. When did this come out? January 23rd. I will do my very best to get one and do a video. We'll do a breakdown of it. I'll absolutely do that. So, so we'll see what we can do. Yeah. Thank you for the heads up. So you guys know, you know, anytime you want to suggest stuff like that, you can put in comments here, but you can just send them to us. You don't have to send, like I said, don't send us a story. We won't read it. It's just, you know, we're like, say, we're always 10 days behind on any given day. So new things to do is just not something we're looking for. But sorry, I'm going to finish this and then I'm going to read this comment. This funny made me laugh. So, but if you say, Hey, look, did you see this new product lines coming out? Sometimes I can try and try and buy one like you guys and see if I can get it soon enough. But what I'm noticing now that's tough is the manufacturers outsmarted all of us reviewer channels and they, what they do is they get the new product line, they send it to the demo channels before it's even out to the public. All the videos launch, then everybody sees it and then they get it two, three weeks later, a month later. Well, then by like I said, by the time I do it, it's so late. No one, you know, no one thinks it's hot, hot news anymore. So, and yeah. So anyways, the comment that made me laugh was somebody said, Oh, look at Epiphone getting into, you know, getting into the 2015s. Yeah. Look, they're a little late, but hey, at least it's moving in the right direction. It's something interesting. You know, what are they going to do? Do something interesting? I mean, you know, and then Bird Rockin says, Hey, thoughts on the Nashville style roller, roller, tunamatic bridge versus standard. I mean, I've never had a problem with the standard bridge. Some, some players like it because again, they think it's going to affect this tuning stability. I think the bridge, the bridge is part is a, is a partly of part of the situation that causes the guitar to stay in tune or go out of tune. The nut is a bigger issue. I just, I have experienced that so many times. So is it everything? So if your nut is perfectly done, do you stay in tune and have new issues? No, not ever, not always, not ever, not always, but I have strats like that custom shop strap right there with the standard vintage tremolo system. I mean, I just can't knock it out of tune. It's just set up and put, you know, it's been put together really well. So, I mean, I know it's a different style bridge, different style guitar, but you understand what I'm saying. So, I mean, it's up to you. It's not going to hurt. It's always, everything's an improvement. Everything's going to, like I said, the more you reduce friction of any kind, whether it's through some kind of lubricant, some kind of surface that is more lubricated or smooth, or some kind of service that then moves, because again, anytime you, anytime you remove friction or reduce friction, you're improving tuning stability. Absolutely. It just doesn't mean it's a, that one thing guarantees anything, but obviously it's a summation of the parts and it's a good idea. So, and if you're into it, and then some people like to do it just because they like the way it looks, and it looks cool, and it improves tuning stability. So, so I guess my official answer on that is, it's a good idea. It's not just, it's just not necessary. I think you can achieve tuning stability on an instrument without having to go to the roller bridge. And that goes for anything. I know we're not talking about the roller nut, but roller nuts as well. And then last one, Scotty's Animal says, Hey, after renting a strat style for a year, okay, my first guitar was a Red Crackle Series 10. I've looked into buying back mile childhood guitar, but I can't just find the Stalgiburches yet. Don't do it. Don't do it. I have done it all. It never works. You cannot go back. The problem is, and there's going to be somebody who's, look, put it in the comments. Phil, no, no, I did it. It's amazing. Some can, okay. Some are lying to themselves though. You're going to get a factor that in, okay. I've tried. I've tried to buy the guitars that I had when I was younger. Like, yeah, why did I get rid of them? I need to get them back. You know, look, yes, in my case, just in, so you know, in my particular case, most guitars that I had when I was younger that are gone. It was economic issues and why they're gone. That's fancy talk for broke. I was too broke. I had, they had to go. I was broke. So I sold them because I was broke, and therefore I don't have them anymore. But really later, it's not that I grew out of them because I was broke. So that's why they were gone. But I did get better stuff later, and because I got better stuff later, now you go back and you go, it's not the same. It's not, they don't hold up. You know, when we say all the, they don't make them like they used to. Sometimes they make them better than they used to. Especially in the guitar world. Not everything was a winner. And the bigger problem is, a lot of them take a lot of abuse, especially inexpensive guitars. Inextensive guitars, just the amount of time and effort you're going to put into it. Now, when we were in a world, pre-2019, where you could pick up those guitars that you loved, those serious tins, for a nickel, you know, yeah, maybe I did. So you know, I bought a West Tone that I always wanted, a West Tone guitar that it was like a, oh man, I thought that was a cool guitar, and I really wanted it. And I bought one, and I paid, you know, 250 for it. And I didn't love it, and I sold it for like 250 or whatever. Now, when you go and look at them, they want 700 bucks, you're like, okay, let's just trust me. You're not going to come away and press with it, for the most part. In fact, here's what I suggest to you. This is how, well, in the show, with some good advice. You know, I like this guitar because it's light. It's not because I don't like heavy guitars. It's because I figured out that for me, I want to create a perfect storm, if you will, to buy a guitar. So for me to justify a guitar, it has to be a guitar that I love the way it looks. I love the way it plays. It's light, right? I'm trying to put as many factors as, it maybe has a little bit of a discount to it. Some kind of deal, some kind of opportunistic thing that makes this, all the stars have aligned. How could you not do this when everything is so lined up perfectly in order is a great idea, right? It's light, it's a good price, it's beautiful, it plays great. Buy it. I try to create that environment because otherwise, my addiction is an addiction, which means I'd be like, oh, I'm going to buy this guitar. And then you get it and you go, why did I buy this? And then you realize now, if you had a couple steps in between just buying it, you wouldn't have done it. So here's what I suggest when you want to go back, when you want to buy those old guitars that you loved, whether it's a Silver Tone or a Series 10 or a Charevel, or whatever the dream guitar that you had when you were a kid. Play it, which is almost impossible. You go, wait, I can't play it, Phil. I can't even barely find them. I have to find them online. And what I'm telling you is, but if you add that as one of your criteria, to do, that's your restriction. You can buy it if you find it and you can try it. And that's, like I said, put more things in place than just you can afford it. Because what happens, or at least what's happened to me, is the older I get, the more I can afford a thing. And the more I can afford a thing, if that's the only excuse I need, then I do it and then I go, why did I do this? And it's because the only criteria was I could afford it. And your logic is, well, I couldn't afford it back then and now I can, but like I said, put more things in place than that. So that's my two cents on that. But otherwise, you don't do what you want, but I know the rules that if you say you should buy a guitar, we say yes. And then this is, because it came in last, it's from Charles. Charles says, hey, have you noticed an increase in guitars with fret sprout? Actually, I've noticed a decrease. Let me tell you why. There's so many in stores here in Canada, especially guitars from Indonesia. Yes, two things. First of all, there is an increase in fret sprout. So let me just tell you, so there was a massive increase in fret sprout in the last year. And there was a massive increase in fret sprout in the last 20 years. In 2005, I'll just tell you what Shauna was saying. Shauna was selling some of this the other day. She doesn't even remember fret sprout in 2005. I also don't remember it. I remember the first, my first experience with fret sprout. We both remember it. We both remember the day we both saw fret sprout. It was a Washburn Lion guitar. So it was Lion by Washburn. We were a Washburn dealer. It was in 2006. We bought some Christmas packs and I, instead of selling the packs, I thought I'd pull them out and set them up and make sure they play great. I pulled a Lion by Washburn guitar out and I was holding the neck and it was outside the box. And I said, wow, this feels horrible. And I let go of it. I'm out of frame. I let go like this to let it slide back into the box and it ripped my hand open and I started bleeding. And Shauna goes, oh my, are you okay? And I go, oh yeah, what the hell? And it didn't cut my hand. It didn't slice my hand. It ripped it. It ripped my hand because obviously the weight of the guitar, I let it go. And I was like, the frets ripped my hand open. And it went, no, don't get me wrong. It wasn't like a hospital trip. It was like, she went to the grocery store and got some band-aids because we didn't have any. And I band-aided my hand up. But I was like, what was that? And we started seeing it. I remember that day and then we'd start seeing it more and more. And it was on Squires. It was always on inexpensive student grade instruments, which makes sense because those instruments are called fast instruments because they're made quickly. We started noticing that they were quickly processing the wood. So in other words, they weren't air drying the wood. They weren't doing the process. I've talked to people now that explain like, you know, why the new process is just as good. But we know now, I know now. I don't want to say we because I don't think we have gotten up to this pace yet, but I know now that it's not as good. And it's not, it's not that I'm indicting the industry for that. I'm just saying this is the problem. It's not what it used to be. What I'm noticing now though, let's, that's 20. So in the last 20 years, Fretz sprout has gotten worse and worse and worse. Yes, epidemically to where it's like I said, the CEO offender has went from, they went from, yeah, we, we will correct it to now it's just the thing that naturally happens. And we're not responsible for that. So obviously they've got, they've seen the increase too. That's why they want to stay away from fixing it because that's a hell, lacious cost to add to them. However, on that note, I'm noticing now it's decreasing. Look at how many companies are decreasing. And, and the reason is, is because the thing they can't change, which is the wood, although they are trying to roast the wood a little bit more, they're just changing the process in which how the Fretz are done. And you were talking about guitars, a lot of them for Indonesia. Sure, there's a lot of manufacturers in Indonesia. So that tells you a lot, but, but they are working on improving it. And the reason why they're working on improving it is, because so many more YouTube channels are focused on it. And they're not dumb. Their job is to sell guitars. And when the, when you have somebody, it's not, it's not like it's like, Phil McKnight said, it's bad, we got to fix it. They could care less what I think. What they care about is what you do. And what you're doing is saying things in the comments like, oh, that didn't do well. I'm not buying that. And what they see is, oh, we're going to lose sales. So they are working on improving it. And I've seen a huge improvement. The problem is, I'm going to tell you right now, mostly improvements at certain price points. And there's just no way to guarantee it. The one thing that, you know, one thing that sucks for them is not that I started this YouTube channel and started testing Fret sprout and started testing that stuff and talking about it. Not that I was the only one by far, but I'm just saying here's what I added to it. Not the test, although that's a funny thing that it did. I also am in pretty much the driest, if not one of the driest climates in the entire country. So you got to stand Fret sprout happens here, the probably the most, if not one of the most. If you think about dry climates, it's other than if you live in a cold climate where you're running your heater all the time, it's really dry climates are very unique like mine, right? We are in a very dry climate. So the problem is actually exaggerated here, which is good because if it's, if it's going to happen, it's going to happen here. So, and then Dank Forest says, Philip McKnight, is it true that most guitar brands don't level and crown their frets from the factory? No, they all level and crown their frets. No, everyone does everything the same way. It's just how long you do it. So let me, let me Dank Forest 1641. Let me explain it to you this way. If you paid a kid $5 to wash your car in the front yard, and he did it in 10 minutes, I want you to think about how clean your car is. Okay. And then if you paid a kid $50 to wash your car and he spent two hours on it, I want you to think how clean your car is going to be. Okay. Obviously both are doing the same process. They're going to hose your car down, then they're going to suds it up, then they're going to wipe the suds off, then they're going to dry the car. Right. But the kid doing it in 10 minutes or five bucks, he's like this, right? He's just like down out of here. Right. The other kid, he's got the air gun out. He's air gunning out the, you know, the water out of the lines. He's taking the time. Okay. They all are doing the guitars the same way. No factory I've ever seen or been to has skipped any process. Okay. Or eliminated a process, but they definitely the amount of time on it. And just so you know, and I've said this many times, a fret level. Okay. So a fret level and crown when they're doing the frets in a factory overseas, it's 15, 20 minutes of work in the, some of the factories in the US, including the fender one, it's 30 minutes of work at the surf facility. It's like an hour. It doesn't sound like a lot. That's huge difference. It's twice the time doing the same job, not twice the time to do many jobs, the same job. That's why I like the car analogy. You have the same size car. Right. Even you can make the, for my analogy, make the kid, the same kid both times. Right. What happens if you give somebody twice as long to do the same job, besides accounting for the fact that sometimes they're lazy and they're not going to do it? We're talking about apples to apples. They're going to do the same job, but they're going to do it twice as long. They're going to catch all the mistakes. They're going to fix little issues. They're going to polish things out. So that's what you, that's what you notice. So, um, that's just my thought on that. All right, guys, on that note, I'm going to let you go. You guys got a weekend to do. Thank you guys all for supporting the Novo video. Look for the next video, for the next breakdown video. And if you haven't subscribed or check out the second channel, check out the second channel. It's, uh, it's beating this channel. I'm laughing because it kind of bugs me. Just a little, a little bit, not a lot. It's both, I guess they're both my channel, so it's good. I'm excited. The second channel broke 700,000 views. And it's actually getting more subscribers than the main channel now. So people seem to like the content on the second channel as well. And I have to admit, I have to, I get to watch it now because like I said, it's, I don't see it until it goes out. So even I'm like, oh, that's a different, different take on something I did or said. But anyways, I want to thank you guys all. Check out that channel if you want. Check out the Patreon page if you want to join Patreon. We have not done the bonus podcast or the guitar clinic this month. There's still time. If you join the guitar clinic, it's $19 a month, but there's a coupon code you'll see when you go to Patreon for 50% off for the year. So that makes it like $100 and something, like $115 or $114 for the year. So just think about that. And then on that note, I'm going to let you guys go until the next time, know your gear. Then know your gear podcast.