This thing punches waaaaay above its weight class in terms of price to playability. It is actually stupid how much better it is than my LP. Neck heel is beautiful, completely open access to the upper frets. A nice, chunky, matte neck, too.

It also has a coil-tap-but-not-coil-tap on the tone knob push pull that gives a little more bite and chime single coil character but with minimal output loss.

Another thing I really appreciate is that Yamaha took the time to wire the pots correctly so when I turn them "forward" (counterclockwise), the volume goes up. Some other, bigger companies do not always take the time to do this.

All in all, a solid guitar for a great price. Highly recommend giving it a look if you are in the market for a versatile HH guitar.

Finally found a Danelectro Chicken Salad for a resonable price (ie pre-JHS hype prices). Definitely a good Vibe circuit, but the casing is fragile. Do not fall for the hype and buy one over $100. At that price, you could get a BBE Soulvibe, which is just as good IMO, and has a sturdier case.

The Yamaha CH100 Stereo chorus was a neat find. Very much a thick, lush, 80s style stereo chorus. The manual and width knobs are pretty interactive making for some very cool sounds. Absolutelty S P A C I O U S in S T E R E O.

1294 games, 427 goals, 613 assists, a career +289, 6x Selke Trophy winner (nominee for TWELVE STRAIGHT SEASONS), Triple Gold member, and interstingly, the first and only player in history to win the IIHF World Championship before the IIHF World U20 Championship.

I attended this last year and it was a blast! Anyone in the area should check it out. Lots of big names like Walrus, EarthQuaker, Pigtronix, and Empress will be there, but also small local builders that deserve attention too.

I bought this bike six years ago as my first bike, and it only had ~22,000kms on it, not bad for a 35 year old (at the time) bike.

Its been my bike that I have learned on, not just rising, but hard lessons in general. Some of these include:

• Do not tarp your bike as soon as you are done riding, the tarp will melt on the exhaust pipes.
• Check your clutch cable regularly to see if its wearing out so it doesn't snap on you in the middle of traffic (and also the day before your road test).
• It is very hard to find a clutch cable on short notice on a Saturday evening.
• Oil changes require a crush washer, or you will leak oil. A lot of oil.
• On that note, it is recommended that oil changes take place a little more frequently than once every five years.
• You should bring your bike in for a tire change while the tires can still hold air for longer than 2 hours.
• Bring your battery inside in the winter so water inside doesn't freeze, and you wont have to boost your battery every 2 weeks.
• Also read the battery instructions carefully and don't overfill it, causing the battery juice to leak out onto your pipes and rusting them up.

Despite all my lack of awareness in maintenance and general care, this this is still going strong. So far all I've had to replace is the clutch cable (mentioned above), a headlamp, and a fuse. It is a testament to how well these old UJM bikes were built that its still running despite my less than regular maintenance schedule.