The collection
Vintage guitars and amplifiers, and the electronics work that keeps them honest.
The rule
Nothing in the collection is a wall piece. If it does not get played, it gets sold to someone who will.
Electronics
Rewiring, cap jobs, the occasional full restoration. The same instinct as the company: understand the thing underneath.
The buffer rule of thumb
From the impedance guide below: under 10 feet of premium cable, a passive run is fine. From 10 to 20 feet of mixed-quality cable, put a buffer at the front of the board. Past 20 feet, or into a switcher with long internal paths, buffer at the pickup end and downstream. Keep vintage germanium fuzz ahead of any buffer, since a Fuzz Face relies on the pickup for its volume-knob cleanup. A tuner pedal placed first often supplies the buffer already.
Electronics reading
Four Strumly guides on the electronics between the guitar and the amp: the cable, the buffer and the power supply.
- Impedance and the First Three FeetWhere to put a buffer pedal: why the first three feet of cable do more to your tone than the rest of your board.
- True Bypass vs. Buffered PedalsTrue bypass vs. buffered: which preserves your tone, and which pedals need to be buffered on your board.
- Cable Capacitance and Frequency ResponseCable capacitance rolls off your highs: which spec to check before you buy, and why a buffer fixes it for good.
- Power Supply and Noise Floor for Guitar ToneWhich power supply spec kills your noise floor: isolated outputs vs. daisy chains, and how to fix ground loop hum.
Gear records and reading
- Suede DNA: Guitar Rig Archive of Signal ChainsThe archive side of collecting: rig diagrams preserved as artifacts, indexed by player, year and the gear decisions that made the records.
- The Signal Chain by Jason ColapietroThe long version: the gear, the history and the playing life behind the electric guitar signal chain.
- Keep the inefficient circuits. Remove the inefficient permissions and barriers.July 13, 2026. On amp captures becoming portable, and what gear companies compete on once they are.
- SixStringTV Allegations and the PRS Silver Sky DefenderThe SixStringTV review allegations and PRS's Silver Sky Defender, side by side: commercial relationships are not the problem in gear media. Hidden ones are.
When a piece stops getting played
A marketplace for passing an instrument on to someone who will play it.
- suedeMarket: Musical Instrument MarketplaceBuy and sell musical instruments. Built for agents and humans.