Good evening, from the UK

[magirus]

Hello there everyone. After many years of infrequent messing around with a Simon & Patrick SP6 I decided that at 60yrs old this coming June it was high time I made a concerted effort to learn to play guitar hopefully somewhat reasonably. I had some money from Christmas presents, so I added some spare cash to that and bought a GS Mini Koa from WildWire Guitars, great service I have to say. A month in I've got half a dozen chords off and I'm starting to get a little faster and smoother with the changes and I'm working on a couple of songs to keep the interest going too. I clearly can't contribute but hope to learn a lot here. I had a choice of quite a few individual guitars from 4 or 5 dealers, but with a little discount and dodging a price rise by 24hrs I picked this up for about the same as a spruce top with self fitted electrics.....

[TaylorGirl]

Welcome! That sure is a pretty GS mini. You'll enjoy this forum, glad you joined.

[SoCalSurf]

Welcome! I think you'll find this forum to be very informative and interesting. Enjoy and have fun.

[NavyChap]

Welcome to the Forum -- and congratulations on a BEAUTIFUL guitar!!  Where in the UK are you -- my grandmother came from Liverpool (before the Beatles, of course!)
Jim

[mgap]

Welcome to the forum magirus.  I think you will enjoy your GS Mini very much.  Yours has some nice looking figuring to it. Congratulations.   

[Strumming Fool]

Welcome to our forum magirus!

That is a very unusual koa top - quite lovely and distinctive. Glad to hear you're enjoying the journey. Again, welcome!

[magirus]

Thanks all for the warm welcome! I looked at lots of different examples before this one caught my eye, some with really extreme figuring on both top and/or back, but I wanted something with nice grain on both sides without being too extreme and this was right on my taste. I'm thinking some ebony bridge pins with inlay, and a TRC to match will look nice eventually. Re Liverpool, I'm on the other side of the country but not too far away, I live a short stroll outside of Durham City, part of which you may recognise from a product of another hobby..........

[captaineasychord]

A little tip... If you want to reduce wear on the top, find or buy a tablet screen protector and cut a scratchplate yourself. It's dirt cheap, barely visible, stays in place well but is easily removed and does a great job of protecting the finish.

[magirus]

A little tip... If you want to reduce wear on the top, find or buy a tablet screen protector and cut a scratchplate yourself. It's dirt cheap, barely visible, stays in place well but is easily removed and does a great job of protecting the finish.

Thanks for that tip. I've been thinking that I will either have to protect the top where a scratchplate would be, or in the future if the area shows signs of wear that bother me, then fit a scratchplate to cover it. I've thought about trying some Heli tape, which I have fitted to the rub/wear ares of my bicycles. It's virtually invisible when fitted, very tough, and can be very easily removed and/or refitted. I've had some on the top and down tubes of my good bike for 3 years and it's never come away in those high contact areas so I'm sure it'll work ok on a guitar top. Here's a link to where I bought it.  http://www.paragontapes.co.uk/gallery/0-36mm-tape 

[captaineasychord]

That stuff looks good, I'd just be very careful to make sure it doesn't damage the finish if you do want to remove it in future. Maybe try a little bit on the back of the guitar first.

[magirus]

That stuff looks good, I'd just be very careful to make sure it doesn't damage the finish if you do want to remove it in future. Maybe try a little bit on the back of the guitar first.

That's my only reservation, it's one thing using it on painted aluminium where the paint finish is very hard and polished, but you are quite right about trying it on wood. I think I'll contact the seller for advice and also do some test strips on some old drawers and offcuts I keep in the garage. Also I've discovered there's a very good luthier in a village near me, so perhaps a quick phone call there may be helpful.

[zeebow]

welcome! nice guitar. one day i hope to visit the uk!

would be awesome to see ed sheeran perform in the uk, that would be super cool

[magirus]

welcome! nice guitar. one day i hope to visit the uk!

would be awesome to see ed sheeran perform in the uk, that would be super cool

Thanks! Better than Ed Sheeran, if you visit the UK and get to Durham I'll buy you a pint of Castle Eden Ale in the Dun Cow....  ;-)

[zeebow]

welcome! nice guitar. one day i hope to visit the uk!

would be awesome to see ed sheeran perform in the uk, that would be super cool

Thanks! Better than Ed Sheeran, if you visit the UK and get to Durham I'll buy you a pint of Castle Eden Ale in the Dun Cow....  ;-)

lol nice! not a u.k. beer but my favorite beer is chimay blue grand reserve. yummy!

[Saxacat]

welcome! nice guitar. one day i hope to visit the uk!

would be awesome to see ed sheeran perform in the uk, that would be super cool

Thanks! Better than Ed Sheeran, if you visit the UK and get to Durham I'll buy you a pint of Castle Eden Ale in the Dun Cow....  ;-)

Ahhh the Dun Cow, popped in there a few times when visiting the daughter at Uni; nice pint :-)