Comfortably Numb Solo on a Squier Mini Strat. Review & David Gilmour Tone Test.

Hey all! Fun little idea I had last night while sitting here in my studio looking at my son's little Squier mini Strat sitting against the wall.
I thought, "you know, I've never actually played or plugged that thing in, let test it out."
then I thought, what's one of the most iconic Strat tones ever produced? well there are lots actually, but since I pretty much know this solo inside and out, I quickly decided to give comfortably numb a shot with it.
fun night I had putting this short video together.
hope you enjoy,
cheers, Kelly
Paypal tip jar if you're so inclined paypal.me/kellydeanallen?coun...
support for my channel on Patreon is always greatly appreciated as well. / kellydeanallen
#biasfx2 #Squiermini #fenderstratocaster

[@zane.walker]

More evidence to support the premise that great guitar tones are less dependent upon the guitar and more dependent on the hands playing it. You even managed to 'squeeze' out those high notes out from the relatively narrow-spaced high frets. Sounded great! Would have never thought it was being played on a 3/4 size child's guitar.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Those high notes took a bit of finessing on a twenty fret guitar. Wasn't easy, haha.

[@tomasotomaso4936]

Good Lord! Awesome playing. I used to think of these lil minis as toys. But no more! You have just put an end to all that nonsense. Amazing little axe, amazing hands you have.

[@anthonyangelis1094]

Wow. Blown away Kelly. Not necessarily by the guitar. But by your playing! 👍👍❤️❤️

[@gardnercalibuso]

Wow!

[@thomasnolde2691]

my next guitar 🤘🙂👌

[@Tmotley01]

Omg that mini guitar is so freaking cool! I wish I had one of those when I was a kid. That thing is badass.

[@HappyHermitt]

The previous version had cheese tuners. But was fun. I lost it, a Telecaster, and a drum set in a flood in 2016. And much more. But I just ordered a white one with the maple neck. I have some classic vibe alnico 5s for it. eventually.

[@oldfisherman9682]

Thanks for this, I will buy it

[@CrankingBots]

Funny, I spent the day rewatching your comfortably numb videos to see which I want to attempt next.

[@crimadellaphone9374]

I have one of these, though I have the second version which is only the jack being moved to the bottom side rather than under the bridge. There are a few things on it that need to be fixed, the biggest thing being the strings not lining up with the pole pices. I used a bridge with rollers to fix it, so I could set a custom string width on the bridge. I haven't watched the video, yet, I'm going to though, as soon as I place this comment. It really needs custom PUPs made for it, which I intend to build. If they would had just used rails rather than round pole pieces it would have worked out right but with mine, as it came to me, the strings were very far off from the pole pieces. A lot of people say that doesn't mater and I'm not sure where they get that. It definitely matters less the thicker the string gets, but strings 1(E) and 2(B) matter a lot, and because they were so far off a down stroke would sound dead, barely any volume, while an up stroke had near full volume. I love mine, I'm switching to just the mini, as my primary guitar because stretching to reach the frets is way more easy. The short scale makes it a bit deeper in octaves and the action had to be pretty high, I fixed this by using a 10 gauge string set and tuning to F standard, that fixes it mostly, still a little deeper than a full scale but not that bad. My tuners that came on it really sucked, I think it's less the tuning machines and more the fact that on mine the mounting holes for them were ridiculous large, over 10.5mm. I know that because I got some Grover Mini- Locking Tunning Machines, the 10.5 bushings I bought to convert the holes to 1/4 or 3/4(can't remember, whatever the standard us now(I'm fairly new to hardware modifications)), they still had way too much play, like the bushings were too small so they just fall out, I had to thicken them up with a good bit of tape so they would at least fit a little tight, enough so they don't fall out. My understanding is they are supposed to be a lot tighter than what I ended with but I couldn't find any larger bushings. So once I got those in and opened up the nut slots so they weren't holding the strings tightly it started tuning right and holding tune good. Before I did all of the you could turn one of the pegs to tighten a string but it was so random in how much it would tighten that it was a real pain in the a$$ to try to get it turned and would quickly come out of tune while playing. But now I have to get a new neck, under warranty, because the truss rod seems to have been installed backwards. So turning the truss nut clockwise starts bending, from what I could tell, the neck inward rather than against the string tension. While turning it counter clockwise just loses the nut all the way getting to where you can turn it for ever because it's not on the truss rod. I also put a set of Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Psychedelic Strat PUPs on it, sounds great now.

[@markfreitas9833]

Wow! Unbelievable both guitar and the musician lol nice work.. buying mine tomorrow for my kids 😉

[@dwaynejessome1728]

Those are great little starter guitars. I got one of for my kids about 10 years ago. Sadly, they never took it. I recently sold it off because they're big enough now that, if they ever get the itch, they can use one of mine. I'm putting together a partscaster in a couple weeks. I've enticed my son to learn how to solder, and help me out with the whole project. The secret hope is that he'll be happy with himself to the point that he grows an attachment to that strat & maybe starts playing. It'll be his if he does. Hopeful but unlikely.

[@andrewuliana6140]

Damn man, I have a $1500 Strat and you just made me want to go out and get this one

[@StevenWood96]

Great video! So impressive and important that big brands are focusing on beginner and childrens guitars which are easy to play and affordable

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Agreed.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

That cute Mini Strat has that Gilmour Tone.

[@RobertLofrano]

The software doesn't hurt to get it to sound this good

[@willpalmer8894]

i love your energy

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Thanks Will! Love what I do.

[@user-bv1kq7lh6m]

i'm buying this.. thank you for your review and sound testing.

[@enomusic_]

Comfortably Numb is one of best Gilmour's solos. Thank U and nice Squier...

[@thomasd9237]

Sounds pretty good .👍👍

[@BradRocker]

My first electric in 81' was a mini Bradley Strat. So nice to learn on with small hands

[@asmongoldsmouth9839]

Deadly demo, bro!! Pink Floyd is incredible!!

[@Yorkie285]

You're the Best!

[@robertclarkguitar]

Aaaaand here I am!!! Hahaha 😂😂😂 I wonder if you thought id make it here for this one? Hahah. I have never tried a Mini. But wow. Cool man!!!!!! Bend for miles I bet!!! Hahaha. Love and I mean LOVE THE SHOW.

[@robertclarkguitar]

Christ you nailed it ...again. And on a short short scale !!! Sounded AMAZING TOO

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Thanks Robert! Like I said, have had this guitar for a year and never played it. Was time to check it out and give her a test play.

[@avalon1734]

I have a 1992 MIJ Fender MST32 Strat. It is even smaller than the Squier at 18" scale. It looks like a toy but has the quality as any other MIJ full sized Strat.

[@Douger318]

i got 1 fender mini 1 jackson and 2 ibanez mikro great guitars

[@baynesstreetblues]

This is a fair plug Kelly for the Squire mini. I bought my 6 year old granddaughter a similar guitar which she picks up to copy grandad when my band are rehearsing underneath the house. She straps in on left handed which naturally I see as Hendrix-esque potential talent. Truth is, she’s not that into guitars despite my encouragement. My longbow conclusion about your video is that any old/new/cheap/expensive guitar in expert hands played through Bias FX can sound brilliant. It’s the latter two essential elements that produce the quality. Impressive sound though.

[@psychedelicguitarartbyjima3850]

Fender needs to send you a check. I've had so many students in the old days, that would bring in some sort of Squire guitar. I would tweak their guitar and change the strings and then play it. I ran it through a 5 W tube amp and always got the cool Strat sounds from off-the-shelf standard pickups. Fantastic solo Kelly, it might take until your kid's 13 before he wants to play guitar, and he probably won't want to play a mini. Good Luck, he might want a set of drums.🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🏴‍☠🛢🥁🥁🪘

[@jacquesnel8384]

Nailed it ! Just bought my 8 year old kid one of these for 100 bucks.

[@mitzzzu_tigerjones444]

Damn son! Where’d ya find this!❤

[@stevenhowes530]

I had one too. Same story, bought for my son who played it a bit and lost interest. It sounded more "Straty" than my strat! you're right about the sustain, severely lacking. Fun to play but man, doing an A cowboy chord took some work to get all the fingers in there.

[@MrSmoothasf]

That's fkn sick. I need more information on getting that tone

[@seanhayes2998]

Well I fear you could pull off that solo on a 2x4 with baling wire, so not sure how useful it is in that dept: but a joy to listen too nonetheless 🤘🏼

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

I totally agree, it goes to show how much weight the player himself has in the final result of all the equation. You could spend thousands and millions on gear and gadgets and whatnot and get nowhere close to this.

[@fretbuzz4983]

Dude you so awesome. please share your settings.. PLEASE..

[@sergebraida5622]

Tone is pretty decent for what that guitar is. By the way, please upload this preset to the tone cloud for bias FX 2. It's really good!

[@okandemirbaykal5597]

What effects were you running on this? Sounds great, I could never get my classic vibe 70s Squier strat to sound like that with the vsts I'm running.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Noise gate, compression, Mesa Boogie dual rectifier with lots of gain. Chorus, delay at about 420ms and plate reverb.

[@0000song0000]

I have been thinking about getting one of this to keep on a higher tuning. But have never layed hands upon them. We all know the feeling of when first holding a guitar. (at least after having a few) Immediately you know if the neck carve feels nice or nope. e.g. An Epi LP special ii 2017 i held monts ago. 😂😂😂 I still dream about how comfy that was😂😂😂 yet i didnt buy because "why would a buy a guitar cheaper than all the others i have" 😅😅😅 i guess i need to get rid of that snobby part

[@Jessyizonfire]

Hey Kelly, as a fellow Canadian can you recommend any sites/stores for guitar parts? Seems most places with half decent pricing kill us in shipping costs.

[@mattshul]

That was fabulous as always! Any tips on keeping the mini in tune? On my son’s the slightest bending of a string and it’s instantly out of tune.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Properly locked and wound strings on the tuning pegs. kzbin.info/www/bejne/paHQmGmigJ15obs plus a little graphite dust in the nut under each string works wonders. Pencil lead will work just fine. Or you can buy a tube of graphite dust at any hardware store for a few bucks.

[@dahliafiend]

You might deck the tremolo which is basically putting a wooden block against the springs in the backside of the guitar which stops the whammy bar from moving. Those are notoriously hard to keep in tune under even the best of circumstances.

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

@@dahliafiend Then again, he might not... 😉 On other models, your mileage may vary. I've never had significant out of tune problems with the (2-point) tremolo in my late 1980 's Fender American Standard Stratocaster, and certainly none from bending strings. I agree with Kelly's remarks on tuning peg string slippage and nut slot lubrication. If these still don't work, maybe the nut slots and/or saddles need some filing to proper size and shape, which shouldn't be expensive (although that may be relative to guitar price) but that I 'd highly recommend be verified and done by an experienced luthier. This might also improve sustain.

[@thebrutalpostman]

Also, switch the strings to a heavier gauge (10s or 11s) because of the shorter scale. Better tension = better tuning.

[@flyrecorder]

Hi!! Version 1 and 2 of squier mini has the same body size??????

[@davethompson3364]

How good is the neck? Planning on building a 62 spec Duo sonic and would like to avoid making a neck. The mini would be 1/4 inch longer scale

[@BM-ue4dt]

are the strings still 9; or did you change them to 10?

[@muhammetbatuhanklc2066]

is keyboard comfartable?

[@newkurosawa]

I bought my daughter one. Cool little guitar but impossible to keep it in tune.

[@rifaatdagher9423]

Dean, I got this guitar for my son, I cannot figure out why the D chord always sounds out of tune.

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Probably intonation is off.

[@ChunkyMonkey204]

What amp/amp settings is that?

[@mai9inc]

what is the string gauge?

[@superearth2297]

ooof

[@crunch_amp9282]

So you intonation at the 10th fret because it has 20 frets

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

You check intonation at the middle of the string, i.e. at the 12th fret. The problem with intonation is that the string stretches when you push it onto the fretboard and this stretching changes the string pitch, which must then be compensated by intonation. Maximum stretching occurs at the middle of the string, so it is where intonation setting will be more precise.

[@crunch_amp9282]

@@Pedro_MVS_Lima that's not a standard scale guitar. Intonation is a coardal balance, harmonic balance. Strings don't stretch at the 12th stretch closer to the nut not clearance it has to be precise or your cords go out of tune from the first to the 4th fret .The slots should be only deep enough so 1/3 of the string is above the top of the nut and 2/3 in the nut.

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

@@crunch_amp9282 Setting intonation would be required just the same on a fretless guitar. Why are you talking about the nut and string clearance?

[@crunch_amp9282]

@@Pedro_MVS_Lima your guitar will not stay in tune properly or intonate properly if the nut height is too high That's what throws your intonation off most guitars nut heights or way too high most nut height needs to be filed down with nut files for proper cord and intonation. Gibson and fender are two brands of guitar that nut height is usually proper most of your Floyd Rose guitars nut tight this proper if not the proper not type but not needs to be slaughted with nut files. Most people don't understand this.

[@Pedro_MVS_Lima]

@@crunch_amp9282 ​ I see. Actually, I do know and understand what you seem to be talking about. But I also know it has nothing to do with "intonation at the 10th fret because it has 20 frets". Take care.

[@mdhj67]

Bought a used Squire Mini Strat. It's not bad at all. The Epiphone Pee Wee guitars are trash.

[@giutarmastersergey]

player more important than guitar

[@clickpond7825]

bro looks like lalo salamanca

[@charlesbukowski9836]

No homo but your stash is all you....good move..looks way better than shaved....

[@KellyDeanAllenGuitar]

Haha, thanks Charles! Wife despises it.

[@charlesbukowski9836]

@@KellyDeanAllenGuitar you got a Ray Davies look ..lol. From the video Come Dancing

[@micheldenostredame5521]

Holy shiiiiiteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I just bought the pink one from Amazon