Emerging gear trends of the 2018 gear season?

[Ghost Hip]

The accordion in jack on the Fender Excelsior was my fav. More accordion in jacks?

[gnomethrone]

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I'd like to see Fender do updated offset reissues without terminally botching at least one key aspect. I feel like all they need to do is put on a tune-o-matic bridge with roller saddles, use a trem with the design/spring tension of the AVRI, have a trem arm that can stay under tension and keep the pickups on the hot side of vintage voiced.

Dude yes. The trem and stock bridge on my blacktop jazzmaster were so half assed it was like they just threw their hands up and said "eh there's aftermarket stuff available, YOU make this work.". I put a cheap bridge on it that fixed the spacing and had to wonder why it didnt come that way.

[infamousalien]

I will echo the more soft touch switches sentiment. After playing pedals with them I will never buy a pedal that doesn't have them again. Too many horrible switch popping noise experiences.

[Kacey Y]

Dude yes. The trem and stock bridge on my blacktop jazzmaster were so half assed it was like they just threw their hands up and said "eh there's aftermarket stuff available, YOU make this work.". I put a cheap bridge on it that fixed the spacing and had to wonder why it didnt come that way.

In general, it seems like Fender and (to a much worse extent) Gibson approach most of their reissues this way. If there's something that people frequently upgrade or fix with aftermarket parts, they fixed it in the 80's and threw a bunch of other wacky modern updates on it, it didn't sell...so now they just kind of lean on the "if people had a problem with it, they wouldn't buy it" attitude. Even though it would take anyone minutes to find thousands of examples of people online complaining about the same design flaws over and over and over again and what they think the best fix for them is/would be.


Also, +1 for soft switches. As long as it's got an LED, I'll know when it's on and off and I'd like to have effects and not STOMP boxes.

[BetterOffShred]

I too would like more soft switches.

Also if builders who implement top jacks could offset the input/output from the power supply so I could actually plug it in without much hassle/cramming that'd be great. See the new top jack Great Destroyer for good example of successful jack placement.

On all my clone stuff I've been building I've been doing top jacks and the power plug on the top right side. I have right angle power supply cords I made for these, and it's very trim and tight.

I guess I'm in the "hey if you make it a little bigger I'll still buy it" camp. It's like cell phones.. they got really small for a hot second, and then all of a sudden people wanted to pull a bigscreen tv out of their pocket to look at Facebook. I've been using 1590XX enclosures on a couple things lately and I really like the extra space for bigass knobs etc.

I'd also like to see more inspirational stuff like the HEQ1.. as pointed out in that thread, it's so refreshing to get something actually new and unique, instead of another 4 transistor muff derivative with some tonestack tweaks and some clipping, being touted like it's the second coming of Jesus' shred band "Lambs of Gosh" or whatever.

I'd also like to see Agile offer their multi scale 8 and 9 strings with maple fretboards..

[tremolo3]

More $350 chorus pedals and $200 big muffs.

[jrmy]

Well, that's a given.

[rickenbastard]

JHS ruining more good pedals with mods then upcharging a ton

[$harkToootth]

I think more companies should use 'New Sounds' and 'Sonic Exploration' in their ad copy.

[friendship]

more shit needs to be "-o-rama" again

[Muff_Diver]

I think strats will be the new offsets. And more p90s.

[Ghost Hip]

more shit needs to be "-o-rama" again

I think strats will be the new offsets. And more p90s.

I think more companies should use 'New Sounds' and 'Sonic Exploration' in their ad copy.

Good shit right here.

I too would like more soft switches.

Also if builders who implement top jacks could offset the input/output from the power supply so I could actually plug it in without much hassle/cramming that'd be great. See the new top jack Great Destroyer for good example of successful jack placement.

I guess I'm in the "hey if you make it a little bigger I'll still buy it" camp. It's like cell phones.. they got really small for a hot second, and then all of a sudden people wanted to pull a bigscreen tv out of their pocket to look at Facebook. I've been using 1590XX enclosures on a couple things lately and I really like the extra space for bigass knobs etc.

100% on board with this. I also prefer bigger boxes and wish more stuff was DBA sized. And side jacks don't bother me BUT if a pedal has top jacks and its smaller enclosure like a 1590 B or whatever give it some offset so my wonky big fingers can hook it up.

[retinal orbita]

Boutique metal zone clones

Boutique DOD Death Metal clones

[Inconuucl]

Somebody is going to try to go modular on pedals and fail miserably. I'm not talking Console here, but like full on "patch the gain stage to the three separate eq modules to the tr00tube(tm) module to the out module to get a distortion" type of modular. It's going to be dumb and expensive and sound like shit but we are going to love it as we do, as we are programmed to.

[BetterOffShred]

When I do top jacks in a 1590B I have a little template where the insulator rings are literally touching the pillars on the inside of the box where the bottom screws thread in.. And I file the lip off that end of the bottom to gain clearance. I could probably do board mounted jacks..

I also hope we get more glittery enclosures. I just did a white pearl with glitter and it's seriously tits as fuck. Just saying.