Wei-kwan's Guitar Stuff

Thanks for surfing into this site, basically, it's a description of the stuff I have accummulated over the years that I have played guitar [more of a result of satisfying my addiction to gear rather than need :-) ]. It's gonna take a little while to load but don't worry, most of the files are pretty small.


Ovation Celebrity Deluxe

My first expensive guitar that I actually saved money to buy...still remember the price - US$750. Yep, I got this while I'm still the poor college kid struggling to make ends meet (that's in 1992). Similar to a lot of other Ovation models the action is a little high but after a bit of filing, it becomes OK. I love this guitar because it is one tough axe. I can bring it from a aircon into the hot Singaporean outdoors and the strings stay in tune. And I'm not afraid of dents or anything like that because the graphite body can actually take knocks pretty well.


Epiphone Les Paul Standard

The Les Paul is my first solidbody guitar that I bought in Singapore. Cost me S$550 which I think is a great deal. One complain is that it is so heavy, almost backbreaking due to the mahogany body. But the neck is so smooth and the action so low, it's great to play on this. I changed the original pick-ups to EMG 81 on the bridge and the EMG 89 (adjustable single and h/b) on the neck.


Fender Stratocaster California Fat Series

This guitar is discontinued from the Fender line. In fact, I don't even have the actual picture of it but got something similar to it. Anyway, mine was red and when I first got it, it has a lot of hiss due to the Tex-Mex single-coils. What I did was to shield the pick-ups by placing aluminum all over the pick-up cavity and soldering a piece of wire to the selector...and that got rid of the problem somewhat. Neck is solid maple with vintage hardware. I even resisted the urge to change anything on this guitar...mine is stock!


Yamaha FG412-12

A Yamaha 12-string guitar. I bought this during a sale...always wanted a 12-string acoustic guitar. However, it has limited use. Why? Becos' it's a 12-string...at the most I can only strum and play rhythm (but very nice rhythm, especially on slow songs).


Boss ME-30

This is a pretty good multi-effects unit, and what's nice about it is that there is actually a website out there for a people to exchange patches. I copied some of them and had some great results, only for the clean sounds though. The distortion sounded pretty yucky...I think due to the digital nature of the unit. Excellent chorus, and delay effects.


Line 6 POD

I can't say enough good comments of this thing...my greatest decision in all my gear. This is one "must-buy" for every guitarist. I mean, how many of us actually have the cash to get super amps for US$270 that this portable gear can simulate? Let's see: Fender, Marshall, Matchless, Soldano, Mesa-Boogie, Roland, Vox...all this amps in one small box, wow!


Boss Chorus Ensemble and the Digital Reverb/Delay

The CE-5 provides both the thickening chorus, and also the tremolo shimmering water-y type of chorus by adjusting the rate. The RV-3 has plate reverbs that sounded great when playing solo over a slow rhythms, mainly for ballads. One complain on the RV-3, it sucks battery power...so I got myself a 9V-adaptor just to save money.


Boss Auto-wah and Metal Zone

I'm still using the AW-2 today 'cos I have not found anything yet that can actually replace the effect it does. Really great for funky sounds or if I just wanna make a happy "sound". The MT-2, as the name suggests, is for heavy-stuff...I use it for lead playing but kinda restricted nowadays due to my church's sorta laidback-piano ballad preference. At times, this still comes useful but usually I lend it to another guitarist playing lead when I'm playing rhythm. Somehow, the effect doesn't work when only one guitarist is present in the band...unless we're doing a lead rhythm such as the intro to "sweet child o' mine".


Boss Compressor-sustainer and Equalizer

Hmmm, really nothing much to say about these 2 effects if you already know what they are for. I use them basically to make myself sound a little better but they don't do too much to change the sound...just enhance it a little bit.


LR-Baggs Preamp Equalizer and the Dean Markley Pro-mag pick-up

This is one of the better systems I have used for amplifying an acoustic guitar. The Pro-mag pick-ups fits on the soundhole of the acoustic guitar, and it is then connected to the Pre-amp which gives it the extra "oomph" when connecting to the amplifier. Love the sound...similar to having a real acoustic-electric guitar (minus the cost).


ProCo Rat2, Snarling Dogs Varitone, and Dunlop Crybaby

The pedals are really nice toys to play with. The Rat is a distortion pedal which is quite good if playing thru a Les Paul. It has, however, a trebly sound which does not seem to work with the Strat. The Varitone, according to the manufacturer will modify the guitar sound so that it will sound like a jazz guitar, a semi-acoustic, et cetera. Not too bad but a little too much hiss for my liking. The Crybaby is a Wah pedal, pure and simple. Hafta practice a lot to use this effectively.

Anyway, that's about it for my gear collection. Hope you have as much fun reading it as I have collecting them.

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most recent update: Nov 2, 2001
Copyright Ng Wei Kwan 2001 all rights reserved
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