What does it mean if Fender doesn’t recognize your Fender guitar’s serial number?
Not much. With the Squier CY—, IC— and ICS— series numbers, it means nothing other than that particular guitar didn’t get scanned into Fender’s serial number tracking system at its port of entry. I have a Squier IC guitar (a 2004 Strat) that is not in the system, a Squier ICS guitar (a 2018 Bullet Mustang) that is, and a Fender MX guitar (a 2007 Lonestar Strat) that is. Strictly hypothetically, nothing from the Corona or Ensenada factories should be left out of the system, but it’s certainly possible.A greater danger is getting a guitar that looks and feels new but has an anomalously old serial number in the tracking system. Counterfeiters are more likely to try to duplicate valuable instruments.
Is Ibanez a good guitar brand?
Yes. Ibanez is a very good brand of guitar.The things I like best about them are their consistent quality and their very reasonable prices.Anyone who’s played a selection of 1970s Fenders for example, will know how much individual examples of ostensibly the same guitar can vary in terms of fit and finish, playability and sound. You can pick up pretty much any price point range of Ibanez and it will play well. Much like a Yamaha.If I’m advising someone on purchasing their first electric guitar, then Ibanez is always at the top of the list.The reasonable prices are (I think) down to several factors.Firstly, the clever use of materials. A lot of Ibanez electrics have bodies that are quite compact, and slim. As well as making the guitar lighter and less tiring to wear, this also saves wood. You could probably get two Ibanez electrics out of the wood blanks used for a single Les Paul!Secondly, they use the same basic handful of designs, then produce models at all price points based on those. The higher up the range you go, the nicer will be the hardware, the wood finish and the inlaying, etc. Maybe a tremolo where the base model has a fixed bridge and such, but that base model guitar will still be built to the same quality, and available to you if you don’t need or have the budget for any of the extra fancy stuff.Thirdly, economy of scale. Ibanez makes a hell of a lot of guitars in a year. They have refined and developed these models over many many years, so what you buy now is the culmination of all that experience. Ibanez know how to make a guitar very efficiently. They know what hardware is not only good at its job, but reliable and cost effective. They know that a slim neck is not only easier to play, but also cheaper to produce, because you get more necks per blank of wood. They know that if you want an angled headstock, then the most materials-efficient way to make it is to produce a flat neck, then join the headstock on afterwards. Gibson, for example, will machine the entire neck and headstock from one piece, which wastes a lot of wood.I guess you can sum it up as using traditional luthier craftsmanship with modern production engineering principles.You really can’t go far wrong with any Ibanez.
What color should we paint an acoustic vintage guitar for a giveaway?
Aye aye aye. NEVER paint an acoustic instrument. Not even if you got it from Walmart.... well, OK, if you got it from Walmart go for it. How about this- NEVER paint a vintage acoustic guitar. Even if it looks terrible. Part of what makes a guitar vintage (versus old) is it's inherent wear. This patina, if you will, is part and parcel of what makes it vintage. If you are thinking that painting will make it look better, forget it unless you are going to have it done professionally. You can't just use any old paint plus the old finish must be removed and the surface prepared carefully. If you think that painting will make it more attractive to buyers then think again. A truly vintage guitar is MUCH more desirable in it's original condition. On top of that the sound will be ruined making it just another guitar relegated to the firewood pile. This same thing goes for most "old" (versus vintage) instruments. leave them alone.
Can I plug a microphone into a guitar amp?
With that cable you can. If you run it mild, your speakers should be ok. It’s not going to giving a very full sound on your voice however. A guitar amp is not really made for voices just like they’re are not really made for bass guitars. You can run both through a guitar amp but it’ll sound thin. Also too much and you will shorten speaker life. The first couple of bands I played in, the singer sung through a guitar amp. We sucked so bad it didn’t matter that we sounded bad. You alternative would be to get a small PA.
How can people take so much enjoyment out of material things?
All things are not created equal. With your logic, you could be happily condemned to eat only MREs and Soylent Green for life; after all, it is food, and all food is the same.All cars are not created equal. A reliable vehicle that allows stress-free commuting is not equal to the one that breaks down twice a week. Or what about the rush of adrenaline you get from driving an exotic sports car? That is something that will genuinely make a person happy and excited. Why is it bad to desire that feeling?All guitars are not equal. I’ve played for 8 years, on $50 guitars, to $6,000+ guitars. Yes. There's a massive difference, don't even get me started. I'd rather play something which delivers rich tones that make your spine tingle, than some piece of junk that goes out of tune every 30 seconds.Why do we collect things? I have a friend who collects horror-movie memorabilia and props. Why is this bad? While it's not necessarily my thing, he's enamoured with them; those items are meaningful. People can be interested in history, cinema, music, etc. and owning a physical piece of that is highly enjoyable.Sure, the ‘hedonic treadmill’ isn't good. No matter how nice your things are, there are always better ones out there. This warrants contentedness at some point, but until that point, yes, I truly believe that we can be made happy by material things. But, everyone is different; if you would like to renounce your worldly possessions, go right ahead: you're the minority.
Will a speaker get damaged if the wires for positive and negative are reversed?
Loudspeakers have two radiation pattenrs.The front radiation that is usually in phase (if you connect a AAA battery to the plus and minus of the driver in the correct order the cone moves forwards)But the rear of the speaker has an opposite radiation pattern (out of phase)If you connect the speaker with the wires reversed it will just work the other way around. If it receives an impulse to move forwards it will move backwards instead. In fact that is the principle used in “active noise cancellation”.If you connect a low frequency driver in the “correct way” and another 180º out of phase (wired the other way around), they will cancel each other. (the headphone noise cancellation principle in a very a simplistic explanation would be: if you send a “positive signal” in phase to the speaker along with an equivalent “negative signal” out of phase, the cone will not move)Although the result may be called a destructive interference, it does not mean it will destroy the driver itself.It will “destroy” the output wave.It works like mathematics.Two loudspeakers working together in phase create a “bigger” sound wave (constructive interference)Two speakers working together out of phase create a “smaller” sound wave (destructive interference)Just like a small DC motor. Connect your DC motor to a battery and observe the direction of rotation of the shaft. Now! Change the polarity and also observe the direction of the shaft. The result you see is the how polarity reversal causes the shaft to change direction.To answer your question:Will a speaker get damaged if the wires for positive and negative are reversed?Loudspeakers work with alternating current. They are always moving forwards and backwards.Changing polarity will only change the direction they will be working. Nothing else.