BTW guys, I have worked with dozens of engineers from the UK and pretty much around the world in my 3 decade career so I'm used to the lingo, particularly British/Irish/Scottish.
Being a yank though I will of course absolutely butcher the Queen's English. You'll have to forgive me please. It's in my bloodlines now. ;-}
Arse/ass, boot/trunk, smoke/fag, chips/fries. I get most of them
@petejb Don’t worry, none of us speak the queen’s English either, not many people do. We all have our own accents and dialects, depending on the different regions we are from in the UK; there are many on these islands of ours.
Britain (Great Britain or Britain or GB or United Kingdom or UK 🇬🇧) = The 4 nations that are in the union. Scotland 🏴, Wales 🏴, Northern Ireland 🇯🇪, and England 🏴
These 4 countries together are called Great Britain or United Kingdom and all 4 of the flags have been combined into one apart from the Welsh one.
All four nations have their own language but we all speak English as the primary language. There are many English accents/dialects in England, and lots of different English accents/dialects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too. Scotland have Gaelic, as do Northern Ireland, and Wales has its own language too. In England, the accents can be so wildly different, they sound like different languages entirely but they are not.
It’s a crazy affair really but it is what it is.
Ireland 🇮🇪 or Eire is connected to Northern Ireland geographically but is a separate country and NOT politically connected to the UK 🇬🇧 It is part of the EU though 🇪🇺 Eire speaks Gaelic and English 🇮🇪
I don’t know anyone who speaks “the queens English”, it’s just nonsense. The common folk of all of these islands speak their own version of English, we all just do what we want really. 😁
Just a bit of info for you there regarding the English language as we use it here in Britain and Eire. We are all politically divided at the moment but there is one thing we all agree on. The Americans took our language and ruined it. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
I am joking of course (no I’m not 😂). All are welcome here, no discrimination, no matter what you did to our language. 😁👍 🇺🇸🤝🇬🇧
Boo.
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
I am going the "learn to walk before you run" route and that is to reproduce a guitar nearly identical to the one that Mark designs and builds
You can't go far wrong following Mark's course. I had never intended building a guitar before I stumbled onto Mark's livestreams during our Covid lockdown in UK. I build my first one from scrap wood just to see if I could do it. My second was a kit of parts bought from Mark and similar to his course design. For my current build, I'm using what I've learnt and kind of making it up as I go along, and learning more as I go. Post photos of your build progress when you get started and ask as many questions as you like, everyone in this group is very helpful.
I will. In fact I think that would help in diagnosing an issue should something go wrong along the way.
Here's an open question for the forum: Of all of the unique tools that Mark sells on his site which ones do you most recommend as "must haves"?
For me it is the curved chisel. During my first acoustic build, I noticed the advantage immediately when carving the braces. It is a big chisel, but it gets in all corners and it is amazingly easy to control.
I bought that yesterday morning. The round rasp too.
BTW guys, I have worked with dozens of engineers from the UK and pretty much around the world in my 3 decade career so I'm used to the lingo, particularly British/Irish/Scottish.
Being a yank though I will of course absolutely butcher the Queen's English. You'll have to forgive me please. It's in my bloodlines now. ;-}
Arse/ass, boot/trunk, smoke/fag, chips/fries. I get most of them
@petejb Don’t worry, none of us speak the queen’s English either, not many people do. We all have our own accents and dialects, depending on the different regions we are from in the UK; there are many on these islands of ours.
Britain (Great Britain or Britain or GB or United Kingdom or UK 🇬🇧) = The 4 nations that are in the union. Scotland 🏴, Wales 🏴, Northern Ireland 🇯🇪, and England 🏴
These 4 countries together are called Great Britain or United Kingdom and all 4 of the flags have been combined into one apart from the Welsh one.
All four nations have their own language but we all speak English as the primary language. There are many English accents/dialects in England, and lots of different English accents/dialects in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too. Scotland have Gaelic, as do Northern Ireland, and Wales has its own language too. In England, the accents can be so wildly different, they sound like different languages entirely but they are not.
It’s a crazy affair really but it is what it is.
Ireland 🇮🇪 or Eire is connected to Northern Ireland geographically but is a separate country and NOT politically connected to the UK 🇬🇧 It is part of the EU though 🇪🇺 Eire speaks Gaelic and English 🇮🇪
I don’t know anyone who speaks “the queens English”, it’s just nonsense. The common folk of all of these islands speak their own version of English, we all just do what we want really. 😁
Just a bit of info for you there regarding the English language as we use it here in Britain and Eire. We are all politically divided at the moment but there is one thing we all agree on. The Americans took our language and ruined it. 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂
I am joking of course (no I’m not 😂). All are welcome here, no discrimination, no matter what you did to our language. 😁👍 🇺🇸🤝🇬🇧
Boo.
Yes, I am aware of the structure of the UK but thanks for the details!
Just watched an interesting documentary the other day on Northern Ireland in fact.
Yes, I am aware of the structure of the UK but thanks for the details!
Just watched an interesting documentary the other day on Northern Ireland in fact.
@petejb Good on ya! 👍
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
Britain (Great Britain or Britain or GB or United Kingdom or UK
) = The 4 nations that are in the union. Scotland
, Wales
, Northern Ireland
, and England
The only bit that @boo missed out is that Scotland's inclusion in the United Kingdom is just a temporary arrangement.
Here's an open question for the forum: Of all of the unique tools that Mark sells on his site which ones do you most recommend as "must haves"?
I've just made myself a tool for filing fret ends, I haven't used it yet but I think its going to be one of my must haves.
@petejb Apart from the essential beer fridge, I would say the fret slotting jig with inserts. It means you can buy your own fretboard blanks and make your own fret slotted boards. Obviously we can all buy preslotted boards but they coast more and there is nothing like having the freedom to make your own out of any wood you want to.
Boo, it's on my list but damn those things are EXPENSIVE. I just spent thousands on tools and materials so I have to fill up the ole' bank account but trust me, that is high on the list. The price of a pre-made fretboard was obscene. I did however buy a pre-made because Mark very strongly suggested so for my first build. So it was not high on the priority list.
Any idea where I can get a good one?
Britain (Great Britain or Britain or GB or United Kingdom or UK
The only bit that @boo missed out is that Scotland's inclusion in the United Kingdom is just a temporary arrangement.
Here's an open question for the forum: Of all of the unique tools that Mark sells on his site which ones do you most recommend as "must haves"?
I've just made myself a tool for filing fret ends, I haven't used it yet but I think its going to be one of my must haves.
Is Scotland sticking with the EU? Unfortunately with all of the BS going on globally one cannot keep up on everything, particularly when the BS is layered with another layer of BS from the media. 😉
@petejb well.... I think I can recommend a fantastic fret slotting jig. The bagpress one that you can order from this site is phemonenal. https://guitarmaking.co.uk/product/fret-slot-jig-set. I am in Canada and ordered it in. It is extremely easy to use. I can not say enough good things about it. Also... if you order from this site, put a cool guitar making shirt in the order. One of my favorite shirts now. 🙂
Britain (Great Britain or Britain or GB or United Kingdom or UK
PEDANT ALERT!!!!
Strictly geographically speaking (although not Olympically) my understanding is that N. Ireland is not part of Great Britain as GB actually refers to the main island land mass and associated peripheral (small) islands. I only know this because a secondary school geography teacher used to hammer it home almost ever lesson for reasons that I have never quite worked out. N. Ireland is part of the UK however.
Anyway, that aside, welcome to your new home @petejb and I confidently predict you will never have felt more welcome, more quickly, anywhere in your entire life. We all love our guitar making whether it be entirely as a hobby or as our main or part time business and we all chip in with advice, comment or occasionally ridicule (normally only if someone shares a modern jazz number as their favourite tune!)
Mark enabled me to fulfil an ambition of 35 years standing, not by teaching me things I was incapable of doing already, but by breaking to entire guitar making process down in small, easily understood sections of progress and explaining how one step related to the previous or the next. As a teacher of anything, I have never previously experienced the like and I will be forever in his debt.
Boo, it's on my list but damn those things are EXPENSIVE.
Yup, when I bought my jig from StewMac I thought pretty much the same thing. And then I wanted to make a Maccaferri copy and StewMac don’t do a template for those scale lengths so I had to make my own. And then I thought, why does this thing have to cost so much? And so I designed the jig that Mark and Carol now sell in their shop. Each template has 6 scale lengths (five templates are available covering more than 20 scale lengths from odd, very short Fender electrics, acoustic, baritone and bass and the jig itself is much less than half of the cost of the StewMac version. Check out Mark’s review on his YouTube channel, it’s a great little jig even though I say so myself!
Lots of members have bought these and I think most rate it reasonably highly so have a look and see what you think. For sure, buying your first few fretboards preslotted is no bad idea but you will pretty soon find that you have the urge to also take this part of the process in-house.
I wish you every success and very much look forward seeing photos of your builds.
Regards
Darren
Is Scotland sticking with the EU?
I'm not really very political, but here's a brief summary on Scotland's membership of the EU.
During the Scottish Independence Referendum (Indyref) campaign, the Scottish people were scaremongered by the UK government into believing that the only way to remain in the EU was to also remain as part of the United Kingdom. Consequently the vote went marginally in the favour of remaining. Then of course, England decided to leave the EU and despite the Scottish majority vote in the Brexit referendum to remain in the EU, Scotland as part of the UK are no longer in the EU. You might guess that I'm slightly biased towards Scottish independence and inclusion in the EU. One of these days I might be on the winning side if a vote. But guitar making is multinational, there's no borders there.
Is Scotland sticking with the EU?
I'm not really very political, but here's a brief summary on Scotland's membership of the EU.
During the Scottish Independence Referendum (Indyref) campaign, the Scottish people were scaremongered by the UK government into believing that the only way to remain in the EU was to also remain as part of the United Kingdom. Consequently the vote went marginally in the favour of remaining. Then of course, England decided to leave the EU and despite the Scottish majority vote in the Brexit referendum to remain in the EU, Scotland as part of the UK are no longer in the EU. You might guess that I'm slightly biased towards Scottish independence and inclusion in the EU. One of these days I might be on the winning side if a vote. But guitar making is multinational, there's no borders there.
While I don't want to get political on a guitar site I know a little about Europe and the EU because first I am a big history buff and my rather young nation (if it can stay one) has it's roots from Europe, European history is critical to understand where and why the world is where it is today, and secondly, I manage my own investments (NOT a professional at all, nor officially registered as one) and I base my investments on geopolitical events. That said, if you are in the UK and use the pound sterling then you may find yourself fortunate in my not-terribly-informed opinion because I think within 5 yrs it'll be "among the dog's with the least fleas" (to invoke an American metaphor) in terms of purchasing power. In fact, I am considering moving some of my US dollar cash into pounds. There's a lot more to it but no way do I want to open a can of worms on a guitar-building site. I'd rather talk woods, techniques, and machine heads!
Britain (Great Britain or Britain or GB or United Kingdom or UK
PEDANT ALERT!!!!
Strictly geographically speaking (although not Olympically) my understanding is that N. Ireland is not part of Great Britain as GB actually refers to the main island land mass and associated peripheral (small) islands. I only know this because a secondary school geography teacher used to hammer it home almost ever lesson for reasons that I have never quite worked out. N. Ireland is part of the UK however.
Anyway, that aside, welcome to your new home @petejb and I confidently predict you will never have felt more welcome, more quickly, anywhere in your entire life. We all love our guitar making whether it be entirely as a hobby or as our main or part time business and we all chip in with advice, comment or occasionally ridicule (normally only if someone shares a modern jazz number as their favourite tune!)
Mark enabled me to fulfil an ambition of 35 years standing, not by teaching me things I was incapable of doing already, but by breaking to entire guitar making process down in small, easily understood sections of progress and explaining how one step related to the previous or the next. As a teacher of anything, I have never previously experienced the like and I will be forever in his debt.
Boo, it's on my list but damn those things are EXPENSIVE.
Yup, when I bought my jig from StewMac I thought pretty much the same thing. And then I wanted to make a Maccaferri copy and StewMac don’t do a template for those scale lengths so I had to make my own. And then I thought, why does this thing have to cost so much? And so I designed the jig that Mark and Carol now sell in their shop. Each template has 6 scale lengths (five templates are available covering more than 20 scale lengths from odd, very short Fender electrics, acoustic, baritone and bass and the jig itself is much less than half of the cost of the StewMac version. Check out Mark’s review on his YouTube channel, it’s a great little jig even though I say so myself!
Lots of members have bought these and I think most rate it reasonably highly so have a look and see what you think. For sure, buying your first few fretboards preslotted is no bad idea but you will pretty soon find that you have the urge to also take this part of the process in-house.
I wish you every success and very much look forward seeing photos of your builds.
Regards
Darren
Done! Just put the jig in the basket. Mark may not get rich from me but he'll be able to enjoy a few extra pints this month at least. I figure he deserves it given the value-to-cost of his course.
PS. Sometimes pedantics are necessary to add color and detail to describing a situation or state. The word has been made into a "bad" word unfortunately mostly by quibblers that seem hell bent on winning arguments rather than by seeking to discover the whole truth of certain matters. That's my philosophical 2 pennies for the day, which is about the value of it. BTW, sometimes I have a habit of speaking the obvious. It's a bad habit and not a reflection on who I am speaking to. You can ask my wife. She'll whole-heartedly agree with that statement!
@petejb well.... I think I can recommend a fantastic fret slotting jig. The bagpress one that you can order from this site is phemonenal. https://guitarmaking.co.uk/product/fret-slot-jig-set. I am in Canada and ordered it in. It is extremely easy to use. I can not say enough good things about it. Also... if you order from this site, put a cool guitar making shirt in the order. One of my favorite shirts now. 🙂
BTW, I ordered a ton of stuff on 2022.03.01 and it JUST found its way to Memphis Tennessee! International shipping has been ridiculously slow since this COVID thing made it debut. But the good news is that Memphis is the global hub for Fed Ex so I know my package should arrive within 2-3 days now.
@petejb well.... I think I can recommend a fantastic fret slotting jig. The bagpress one that you can order from this site is phemonenal. https://guitarmaking.co.uk/product/fret-slot-jig-set. I am in Canada and ordered it in. It is extremely easy to use. I can not say enough good things about it. Also... if you order from this site, put a cool guitar making shirt in the order. One of my favorite shirts now. 🙂
BTW, I ordered a ton of stuff on 2022.03.01 and it JUST found its way to Memphis Tennessee! International shipping has been ridiculously slow since this COVID thing made it debut. But the good news is that Memphis is the global hub for Fed Ex so I know my package should arrive within 2-3 days now.
Memphis BTW is only about 1200 km NW of me so it's getting closer!
@petejb Yeah I can understand that. At this point I will just be glad that the world isn’t drawn into WW3 because if it is, then nothing will matter, we will all be gone, apart from the super rich who will be hiding in nuclear bunkers (how is it justifiable that the super rich scum would be the only ones to survive a nuclear war?).
I for one am not really interested in money, certainly not gaining vast amounts of it. As long as I’ve got a roof over my head, have good food to eat and a workshop to make guitar etc in, I’m happy, that’s all I need. I think the world has taken a really nasty turn recently and it’s yet again to do with greed and power, the things I hate.
As far as politics is concerned, this isn’t really the venue for it, I know. I will say that if we are not careful, the UK and USA will fall victim to Russia’s attacks on our democracies (let’s face it, Russia has weakened us, divided our societies politically and we are playing into their hands). It’s now clear that the “left and right wing” arguments are obsolete, Russia created that to weaken us. With Russian actors in both countries, they have had us fighting amongst ourselves whilst pressing on with their own plans to take back a lost empire. If we don’t pull together and fight off their misinformation campaigns, our democracies will turn into Russia-like dictatorships, where none of us will have the freedoms we cherish.
I think the Trump movement in USA and Brexit (Johnson et al) in the UK are all part of the big misinformation campaign. They have infiltrated conservative political parties to get a grip on our democracies. That is not an attack on conservatives, it’s just the parties, in this case that have been utilised.
Yes it sounds like a conspiracy theory but it’s becoming more and more apparent every day. It’s a misinformation war that started about a decade ago, maybe longer and we all need to wake up and fight it, wherever you are on the political spectrum. A true “patriot” we defend his/her country from external and internal threats and since 2016 (maybe earlier) we have been suffering both. Instead of recognising it and fighting back, we have been fighting each other in our respective countries, divided, right fighting left, it’s all a con. The Russian actors in our democracies that help this agenda need locking up.
Any healthy democracy needs political parties across the spectrum that will work together for the good of their populations, whichever party is voted into power. Nobody should have “absolute power”, that is not a democracy. What we have instead are parties highjacked, that isn’t normal behaviour for democracies. We should have conservative representation, Labour representation, Green representation and all in between. What we have are parties working to undermine democracy on behalf of Russia.
If we truly want to live in free countries, we need further progression towards that, not slide backwards from it. If we listen to loud mouthed disrupters then we are surely on the path becoming more like Russia, an autocracy, and it feels like we have been such an easy target so far. It’s time to really “take our countries back” from the Russian misinformation attack they have waged on us.
“Save western democracies!”
“Let’s go Vlad!”
(This is not racism against Russian people, this is against psychopathic/sociopathic leaders)
OK, I’ve gone on a full political rant but it’s over now. I apologise for ranting about politics in this wonderful guitar building forum but sometimes I just need to let off some steam and make an important point.
Here in the forum, we talk about guitars and everything connected to them, and sometimes politics can affect things for us such as availability and cost of woods and parts, so we can’t always ignore it. Whether geopolitics is not a conversation for non political forums or not, we are human and we should be concerned about world events. Whether it’s for your investments or how safe the world is going to be going into the future, only us humans can keep this world working economically and ecologically, only we can save ourselves.
🌍✌️
“Let’s make guitars!” (Not destroy ourselves) 🎸
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
@petejb Yeah I can understand that. At this point I will just be glad that the world isn’t drawn into WW3 because if it is, then nothing will matter, we will all be gone, apart from the super rich who will be hiding in nuclear bunkers (how is it justifiable that the super rich scum would be the only ones to survive a nuclear war?).
I for one am not really interested in money, certainly not gaining vast amounts of it. As long as I’ve got a roof over my head, have good food to eat and a workshop to make guitar etc in, I’m happy, that’s all I need. I think the world has taken a really nasty turn recently and it’s yet again to do with greed and power, the things I hate.
As far as politics is concerned, this isn’t really the venue for it, I know. I will say that if we are not careful, the UK and USA will fall victim to Russia’s attacks on our democracies (let’s face it, Russia has weakened us, divided our societies politically and we are playing into their hands). It’s now clear that the “left and right wing” arguments are obsolete, Russia created that to weaken us. With Russian actors in both countries, they have had us fighting amongst ourselves whilst pressing on with their own plans to take back a lost empire. If we don’t pull together and fight off their misinformation campaigns, our democracies will turn into Russia-like dictatorships, where none of us will have the freedoms we cherish.
I think the Trump movement in USA and Brexit (Johnson et al) in the UK are all part of the big misinformation campaign. They have infiltrated conservative political parties to get a grip on our democracies. That is not an attack on conservatives, it’s just the parties, in this case that have been utilised.
Yes it sounds like a conspiracy theory but it’s becoming more and more apparent every day. It’s a misinformation war that started about a decade ago, maybe longer and we all need to wake up and fight it, wherever you are on the political spectrum. A true “patriot” we defend his/her country from external and internal threats and since 2016 (maybe earlier) we have been suffering both. Instead of recognising it and fighting back, we have been fighting each other in our respective countries, divided, right fighting left, it’s all a con. The Russian actors in our democracies that help this agenda need locking up.
Any healthy democracy needs political parties across the spectrum that will work together for the good of their populations, whichever party is voted into power. Nobody should have “absolute power”, that is not a democracy. What we have instead are parties highjacked, that isn’t normal behaviour for democracies. We should have conservative representation, Labour representation, Green representation and all in between. What we have are parties working to undermine democracy on behalf of Russia.If we truly want to live in free countries, we need further progression towards that, not slide backwards from it. If we listen to loud mouthed disrupters then we are surely on the path becoming more like Russia, an autocracy, and it feels like we have been such an easy target so far. It’s time to really “take our countries back” from the Russian misinformation attack they have waged on us.
“Save western democracies!”
“Let’s go Vlad!”
(This is not racism against Russian people, this is against psychopathic/sociopathic leaders)
OK, I’ve gone on a full political rant but it’s over now. I apologise for ranting about politics in this wonderful guitar building forum but sometimes I just need to let off some steam and make an important point.
Here in the forum, we talk about guitars and everything connected to them, and sometimes politics can affect things for us such as availability and cost of woods and parts, so we can’t always ignore it. Whether geopolitics is not a conversation for non political forums or not, we are human and we should be concerned about world events. Whether it’s for your investments or how safe the world is going to be going into the future, only us humans can keep this world working economically and ecologically, only we can save ourselves.
🌍✌️
“Let’s make guitars!” (Not destroy ourselves) 🎸
While I must pay attention to the matters of the world because, like it or not, they affect us profoundly, I do not dwell exclusively on them. Because at least for me that would be a surefire way to earn a ticket to the insane asylum. So, to decompress - so to speak - from the pressures of life, I lose myself in my woodshop (and metalshop) work. It's an art form and art is expression but it's also creativity which is so rewarding for the soul.
About a month or so ago, after this nagging urge to build an electric guitar I rather sporadically did a search on "How to Build a Guitar" and found both of Mark's classes. When I took them I literally did not stop watching them except to shower, work, sleep, and eat. And then I watched them 2 more times! BTW, I am on my third watching. Always little tips that you miss. Always. And these courses are packed with them.
Ahh, I had found a labor of love. And a master teacher who could communicate the lost arts of the trade in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.
So it's funny that this came up because a HUGE motivation for me to start down this long journey (I hope it takes longer than I live, I mean, how long does it take to make hundreds of guitars? 😉 ) is to find some natural relaxation therapy to counter the insanity of the world around me, that as an adult, I simply cannot hide from, nor should I. It can be maddening indeed, but woodworking, and in particular luthier work has been so far, for me at least, some of the most therapeuticic and enjoyable playtime that I have ever experienced.
Friends, I'm addicted. I've already become a luthier junkie and am proud of it. Now on to actually learning and then the long long road to mastery. But again, it's the journey that is more pleasurable, not the destination.
Mark: I've recommended your courses and this site to two relatives, a good friend, and two co-workers who are also woodshop hobbyists with a similar interest. I hope that they are fortunate enough to bite on the suggestion of mine.
BTW: Thanks all for the tips and advice so far. I happen to be an electrical engineer with 30+ yrs of experience and a master at designing amplifiers so if anyone is engaged in a DIY amplifier design then please, by all means drop a post or an IM if you have a thorny issue and I'll be more than willing to return the favors. I myself have actually taught and mentored in this area and done this kind of stuff for a living so I have seen most of the major snags that pop up and understand the "why" of how they happen too. Thanks.
@petejb Yep, building guitars is one of a few things that keeps me going and semi sane. I’m juggling a lot of things in life right now but it’s all good stuff, it’s just taking a lot of work to get there. I do try and cut myself off from the wider world but I do need to know what is going on and read the writing on the wall.
I did the same as you in terms of looking for a way to learn guitar building a few years ago now and found this website and Mark’s wonderful courses; I’ve never looked back. I was in a deep depression at the time and needed something to help me out of a big hole, the multi faceted world of guitar building was and still is, making guitars. This place saved me and continues to do so.
I see you are quite the expert on building amplifiers, that’s definitely something I would take an interest in one day. My knowledge of electrical stuff is pretty much zero and my soldering skills are not that good either. I wouldn’t know where to start but I may buy a kit one day and hope I don’t blow myself up.
I look forward to watching you build a great guitar. 👍
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
@boo Jigs are being built now. I actually spent a few hours on the humbucker pattern/jig to hone it to precision. First a rough cut on the bandsaw, then an internal smoothing on the drum sander, then to the various sized round wood files and finally fine sandpaper. When I am finished with all of the jigs, patterns, and cauls I will post them here. Then, as I said prior, I will practice on softwood and create a dummy body and neck so that when, not if, I make mistakes I can learn the most important of all lessons, and that is what not to do.
I am in no hurry, no rush. In fact, the more meticulous and detailed that I am, the more memories that will be contained in the final work, which when hanging from the wall will radiate more personal value to me.
As far as electrocuting yourself, well, grounding and shielding are the MOST important aspects of any amplifier design, beyond safety, so that's where I would focus the heaviest on. Bad grounding can ruin an amplifier in so many ways, and worse, get you or a loved one seriously injured. Of course the latter trumps the former. Most people struggle with "ground loops" which is far from an easy concept to understand. Here's a simple start off: No metal is free of resistance. And voltage = current x resistance so if the current is high enough, and on amplifiers it is, then you only need small differences in resistance and/or current flow between two ground points to generate two different voltages on each respective ground point. If the voltages are the same V2 - V1 = 0 then you are safe. BUT if they are different then you have a "potential difference" and if you touch the points where voltages V2 and V1 are located then you are touching a live voltage on the ground structure ( V_hurt = V2 - V1 ) and current can flow through YOU. This is how you get yourself killed. One technique to solve this is to use a technique called a "star ground". Search it on the net. There is ALWAYS a voltage on the ground. You just want that voltage to be as close to the lowest voltage on the device as possible. Otherwise the former will happen and the voltage at the grounds near the electronics will "bounce up and down" with the music, which create additional non-linearities in the transistor circuits, which in turn completely wrecks the sound.