My son and I were in Wal-Mart and we saw the First Act guitar isle. Well, they are guitars, had to look. There were some straps hanging there for $8.88 and they had cool patterns. Well, a First Act strap would be beneath the mighty TR ..... ummm .... wait ... that thing has a "Dickies" lable. I picked it up and it is very sturdy nylon/canvas strap with good leather ends. I got one with a checkered pattern ALA Cheap Trick and my son got the camo one. Well now it is time to truly slum it. A first act guitar cable, 20 guage, 20' shielded cable made in China a blatent monster cable knock off. What the heck, $8.88 right? I bought it, so far it is OK. I have a made in USA Rapco cable I bought at Wal-Mart a few years back and it still functions. Oh, I do have a couple low end Monster Cables, made in China as well, and so far not a lot of difference for a lot less money.
What do you know, Musicians Friend has the strap ...... only it is $9.99 on clearance. A buck is a buck. To quote Gene Simmons, "If any of you have a dollar you don't want then give it to me." :lol:
Does anyone else buy cheap accessories like this from time to time? I'm here to tell you the straps are winners. The cable needs to run the test of time.
Note: I do not believe that the guitar cable affects tone directly. It is purely a matter of shielding and impedence. Better cables are tougher, better shielded and have lower resistance hence less noise and more signal but are not a tone shaping device. So, depending on your rig a good cable could make your it sound better but I don't feel it has much effect on mine. Durability will be my only issue.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
China's great at copying (infringing) on stuff. Just WAIT until 600million people say "I ain't gonna work for these chump wages!"
Cat
"Feel what you play...play what you feel!"
Just WAIT until 600million people say "I ain't gonna work for these chump wages!"
Cat
They'll be taken out and shot.
One in five people on this planet is Chinese. There are five of us in my family so that must mean one of us is Chinese. I don't think it's my mum or dad, and I'm sure I'm ok. It could be my brother Ho-Chung Wah but I think it's my cousin Angie.
Sorry, old joke and sorry if Ho-Chung Wah turns out to mean something rude in Chinese, I just made it up.
China is going to be able to produce cheap goods for a long time yet so if they're producing usable and durable stuff then go for it; especially in these difficult times.
A :-)
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
Wedding music and guitar lessons in Essex. Listen at: http://www.rollmopmusic.co.uk
TR...3:09am???? You having issues sleeping?
The last strap I purchased was around $20. As long as these Wal-Mart cheapies hold on to the guitar, I'd wouldn't mind having one.
On a related note: many moons ago I used to work in retail. It was an outdoor store. You know, camping, hiking, fishing...It was, from what I could tell, an upscale kinda place. I mean, there were brand names that I never heard of before and based on speaking to different people, the store carried really good merchandise. Thing is, I got to work with the store manager and was able to see invoices for clothing we had just received. If I remember correctly, one sweater was costing the store $15.00 and the retail price was somewhere around $160.00. Now, retail mark up is no big surprise but my god...I was horror-struck. Now, the sweaters were not cheap either. They were good quality sweaters. I HAVE to go into business.
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Note: I do not believe that the guitar cable affects tone directly. It is purely a matter of shielding and impedence. Better cables are tougher, better shielded and have lower resistance hence less noise and more signal but are not a tone shaping device. So, depending on your rig a good cable could make your it sound better but I don't feel it has much effect on mine. Durability will be my only issue.
The cable capacitance is part of the impedance story, and often more important than the resistance. That's where high end roll-off can occur. A guitar itself cannot drive the capacitance of a really long cable without losing some high end (more noticeable on single coils, than the 'bucker guitars you favor, TR). Funny thing about shielding: less effective shield (bad) often => lower capacitance (good). Tradespaces everywhere. But if you use a buffering effects pedal near your guitar, most of this is not a problem.
Nice straps, would look tre cool with my new Eastwood Airline Map or Ichiban guitars.
-=tension & release=-
nice straps. being Chinese made I wonder if there is any Led in them. ? :lol:
Actually, China is starting to experience some of the same problems US companies face. I watched 60 Minutes a few weeks ago and they showed one province where hundreds of factories have shut down and there is mass unemployment. Many Chinese companies are beginning to outsource their work to even cheaper countries like Vietnam. :roll:
If you know something better than Rock and Roll, I'd like to hear it - Jerry Lee Lewis
Many Chinese companies are beginning to outsource their work to even cheaper countries like Vietnam. :roll:
Give the current financial meltdown a bit more time to run and the Vietnamese will soon be able to outsource yet again, to even poorer countries like the USA and Australia..... :o
*Cough*
I'll be looking back at Christmas and smiling at that won't I? Won't I?... won't I?....
Exit stage left mumbling, off to pull sock out from under mattress and count small pile of well worn coins for the umpteenth time...
Well, the straps are certainly good ones, I have found them online at Musicians Friend, Sam Ash ect...... genuine Dickies only they want more money at the music stores. :lol: The cable will be another story. That was the First Act item and the one I'm not sure of.
Gnease, you hit the nail right on the head. I guess thats why my rig is impervious to cheap cables. :lol: I use humbuckers and pedals, all kind of signal getting to the amp through any cable.
The important thing is this cheap chinese Wal-Mart cable seems to have the same specs as the cheap chinese low end Monster Cables I have minus the lifetime warranty. First Act cable = $8.88 Cheap low end Monster Cable = $24.99. Had to give it a try. It's a third the price.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Oo I am going to have to check out those straps next time I am at Walmart. I knew ours had the First Act guitars but I had no idea they sold accessories.
On the subject of cheapness in general, I have to say again that I have a $79.00 acoustic guitar that I bought at Meijer one Christmas a few years ago. It is a Savant, which was made in China for Gibson, and it is actually made better, stays in tune better and sounds nicer than my $270.00 acoustic electric that I bought from Sam Ash.
All my life I wanted to be somebody. Now I see I should have been more specific.
Funny thing about First Act is they do make some very nice, mid to high-end guitars. Every year, I see these at their lobby booth in the Las Vegas Convention Center during the Consumer Electronics Show. Those guitars are nice. They also are the models that appear in the First Act guitar mag adverts.
-=tension & release=-
The important thing is this cheap chinese Wal-Mart cable seems to have the same specs as the cheap chinese low end Monster Cables I have minus the lifetime warranty. First Act cable = $8.88 Cheap low end Monster Cable = $24.99. Had to give it a try. It's a third the price.
Wouldn't surprise me if they're the same item out of the same factory with a different name.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
The important thing is this cheap chinese Wal-Mart cable seems to have the same specs as the cheap chinese low end Monster Cables I have minus the lifetime warranty. First Act cable = $8.88 Cheap low end Monster Cable = $24.99. Had to give it a try. It's a third the price.
Wouldn't surprise me if they're the same item out of the same factory with a different name.
Like the Ag-hiles ?
Yeah, they seem to be the same as the Korean Tokais.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
i bought strings from wal-mart that lasted pretty well, and i saw that exact same strap at wal mart too
"The Beauty of Music is my Sanity. Without it, I would simply lose my gravity, and blow away with the breeze." - Ness K(Aka Matt Harris)
