Fretlight fun, and also cock fun??

Well I'm pleased to see my blog gets onto google, my recent post about my Fretlight expereince resulted in a request for contact from one of the new directors from Optek, makers of Fretlight, concered about the noise and nut issues I was having, a quick check on my blog list showed he'd been directed here from google....mind you so was some guy searching for "cock games"...ermmm????

He said he'd let me try a new cable in an effort to reduce the noise problems and I'd be happy to do that, since as it stands the noise when using the USB cable feeding back into the amp makes it hard to listen to. He uses fretlights on stage with no noise, I can well believe that, but on stage you don't generally have the USB tutorials plugged in.

As I said in the post and repeated to him, I find it a great learning aid for scales and chords but I don't "yet" see any song learming benefit above what tabs give you, at least as it currently is set up. I will keep trying though, but I'm not buying videos for it, Guitar Pro 6 gives me the best of both worlds.

I also asked if I could get a new nut from him, it seems they are changing the nut from the rather crappy transparent ones to something more normal. I think thats wise.

I noticed with a bit of google fu myself that a few people have posted quite negative reviews of the 400 series Fretlights, mainly due to quality..I kind of agree with that. From my own experience there are some clear quality issues, sharp frets, low nut, noise pickups and CPU noise are all issues that relate to quality.

But when all said and done, its not being sold as a high end Gibson, Ibanez or Fender, its priced at the low end of the guitar range but with the added plus of a fantastic training aid...Still..I hope they do manage to resolve these issues and push the product a bit further. The neck is really quite sweet, and bad pickups aside it has good sustain and feels quite nice, bridger and middle pickups give good if unremarkable tone qualities, so its on a par with a couple of my lower end guitars..I just paid a wee bit more for the neck.

I can also say that the software leaves a bit to be desired too...I would not mind having access to their SDK to see if I could come up with something a little more interesting, even if only for personal use...I might ask. (hint hint if you're reading this again Bill)

I hope the new director will be able to do something about that and ensure the playing side of the Fretlight becomes as much fun as the training side of it, which reminds me. After a week away, my fingers are getting soft..time for some scales and new chords, due to some holiday induced inspiration. I've been flooding my brain with loads of Ipod Peter Green stuff this last week...oh boy....just.....oh boy!!! I wish, oh how I wish I could have 1 tenth of that ability to make a single note sing......practice Brian, practice.





Ahthankyew