The iPhone 6s Plus

The iPhone 4 I've had for all these years finally went kaput.  It happened the other day as I was minding my own business, just casually attempting to cross a raging creek, when all of a sudden, I went over the falls and my phone got soaked.  As South Park would say, "I've learned something today."

Don't take your phone into the river!  :)

Well anyway, after some persuading, I got ahold of a new iPhone 6s Plus.  It is essentially the same as the 6s but is much larger, has image stabilization, and I reckon there are a few other differences.  But they are essentially the same.

Size:

I've wanted a larger phone for a while now, but I've got to say; the 6s Plus takes some getting used to.  I've only used it for a day or so now, but the whole one handed use thing I was familiar with, with my old 4....that is no longer a thing.
 
Occasionally you can hold it and do a few things with one hand, but really, this is a beast of a phone and requires two hands most of the time.  That being said, the screen is massive and immersive.  Email, texting, blogging, general use is all improved with the larger screen.  Casual checking of the time, or addressing and ignoring an alert: somewhat more involved.

If you're in the market for a new iPhone I would strongly suggest trying them out; either at the store or try one of your amigo's phones.  Most reviews online segregate fairly evenly about people's opinions of their 6s Plus' size.  Try before you buy.

The screen size is pretty conducive to reading.  I never got into book reading on my iPhone 4 because of the small screen and very slow operation.  Hopefully now I'll find myself reading a bit more.

Sound:

The sound quality of the phone is good too.  On my first call with the new phone I noticed how much clearer and different the other person's voice was.  I'm used to the standard "telephone quality" of a person's voice, and now I could really hear them.  Quite nice.

iOS:

The primary reason I bought a new iPhone is that I have an iMac and it's just a lot easier when everything can be synced together.  If you have a Windows/Linux machine or if the cross device synchronization isn't a major selling feature for you I'd suggest you check out the Galaxy S7 Edge.  It has stronger features overall:  Screen, camera, storage (SD card), waterproofing, curved edge, etc.

However, if you're an Apple person, obviously get an iPhone.  I'm still learning all the new little features with the 3d touch screen, etc, but overall it's still similar to all the other iOS releases.  It comes with a bunch of apps I don't need/use like Stocks, Health, Watch.  I do like the new News app or whatever.  It aggregates articles for you in an easy to read way which is nice.  The big screen of the 6s Plus also makes it great for reading these articles as I had mentioned earlier.

I haven't used the Apple Pay Wallet thing yet, so I'll refrain from reviewing that, though it seems secure/easy to use.

Siri is pretty cool.  I especially like how I can set it up to be a female Australian voice which is rather pleasant.  The iPhone 4 did not have that.
Siri is fairly helpful, though I have found the most fun asking Siri silly questions like.
"Hey Siri, what are your thoughts on Cortana?"
"Hey Siri, what is the best color?"
"Hey Siri, which of The Beatles' records is your favorite?"
"Hey Siri, please tell me a joke."

Hilarity ensued.  :D

The nicest thing I like about the iPhone 6s Plus/iOS 9 is the fingerprint sensor on the home button.  It takes some setting up, (so you can set it to use either hand's thumbs, etc.) but overall feels extremely natural.  Just lightly press and voila, the phone unlocks.

Again, iOS 9 is a lot like previous releases, albeit with a few new bells and whistles.

Camera:

I wanted a new iPhone and wanted one with a big fancy screen.  But the main selling point for me was the camera.  Wow.  It really is amazing.  Depending on the situation, the photographs it yields either match, or get extremely close to the quality of an SLR camera.  Except it fits in your pocket and can play music, call people, check email, etc.  This is really why I bought it.  The image stabilization is natural and very helpful.

I was used to rather unsatisfactory results with my old iPhone 4.  The 6s Plus camera however is very impressive.  Photos are crisp, and are lighted very close to real life.  The live photos thing is interesting, not quite gimmicky, but not quite amazing.  I'm more impressed with the quality of the photos, not necessarily 2 seconds of me moving the phone slightly.

The video that the phone can take is wonderful.  4k?  Really?  Wow.  It's like production quality.  So, so nice.  I remember the days of my blackberry way back a ways, and I gotta say, mobile technology has improved by leaps and bounds.

Honestly the 4k video is too much for every day use, especially if you only have the 16GB version as I do.  But 1080p video capture at 60fps, in a handheld device (lol, okay two hands)....that's just incredible.

One final note about the iPhone 6s Plus' camera/storage:  If you take photos regularly in the field, or are out for a while taking lots of photos, videos, I'd strongly suggest getting a version of the phone with larger storage space.  I have the 16 GB.  For all intents and purposes it is fine for me.  But if you are a journalist, or photographer, compulsive picture taker, get the 32 GB or the larger 64GB.

Photograph Examples:  

Here are some sample photos I took while walking around one of my favorite places in the whole world:  Blunn Creek.  I'll let the pictures do the talking for me.

And now a sample video.  It's like Perfect Dark on the N64 vs the remake on the XBOX.

Final:

Overall, I'm very happy with the iPhone 6s Plus.  It's a great phone chock full of lots of features that will make anyone a happy customer.  It is very large though, so try one out before you sign your complimentary 2 year contract.  Many thanks given to both the designers of the phone and the souls in the Apple supply chain who made this fancy device possible.  Thank you!

Fender Mustang - Double Seymour Duncan Pickups - Installation

     I finally got a new neck pickup for my Mustang!  It took a long time to get it soldered correctly.  Turns out it's important to make good solder points.  The pickup I picked up was a Seymour Duncan Little '59. 

    

The bridge pickup I already had was a Seymour Duncan JB Jr.  I wired it up pretty much like the default Mustang, where you can can get a number of pickup options; though I find the "Out of Phase" positions do not typically sound pleasing.

   Originally, many moons ago, the goal was to put in the Hot-Rodded Set; the full size humbuckers:  the SH-2 and SH-4.  Well, being rather hesitant to chop off a large portion of the Mustang, I made the compromise purchases of the next closest pickups, the Jr. and then later, the '59.  

The Standard Mustang body is routed for single coils only.
Dual Full Size Humbuckers require routing
the Mustang like the picture above     

Overall, I find the combo suits my needs exactly.  It has just the right amount of versatility for cleans, leads, rhythms, etc.  The Mustang now has all the warmth and thickness of a Les Paul.....hehee, well maybe not quite that much.  But it's pretty close considering the small Mustang body.

All wired and strung up.
Complete with new tuners too!

   While the '59 sounds very good for clean rhythm playing and soft lead work it's absolutely different than the stock Mustang neck.  There is a significant loss of "clean"; you know? that crystal clear single coil clean tone with lots of amp buzz?   :)

For the music I play, the change is preferable, but if someone is going for a Fender clean, I'd suggest getting a different pickup.  This one has got the standard warm neck tone of a Les Paul in a Mustang body.  Not much else to it than that.

Bye Bye Old Buddy

Hello New Friend

 The Seymour Duncan website had wiring diagrams and lord knows a plethora of forums did as well, each with a myriad of variations.  None of them seemed to be exactly what I needed so I used this one.  This is the set up that works for me.  Wired basically exactly like the standard default Mustang, except I got the phase in and phase out modes switched.  So when both switches are facing out, or both are facing in, the pickups are in phase whereas the default Mustang would have that setup as out of phase.  To get it like that I believe you need to have it so that both green wires are on the bottom middle two posts and both black wires are on the top middle posts, and not flipped like I've done.  Honestly it makes close to zero difference; it's just a personal preference.

     Included below is a diagram of the wiring schematic I used.  The blue background is to help ID the white wires.  Speaking of, the white and black wires that criss cross on the switches...Those are the standard ground and live wires that the Mustang came with.  So please do not confuse the black "ground" wire with the black wires of the humbuckers.  

Pickups To Switches

The red and white wires of each humbucker are soldered together and then black electrical taped together.  The green wire goes to the middle two posts of one side of its switch, and the black wire goes to the opposite middle two.  The bare wire goes to the ground of the switch.

Switches to Pots and Jack

The black wire that's sticking up?  That goes to a spot under one of the bridge posts (not pictured).  The little green circle on the tone pot is a capacitor, and the dark grey squares on the pots are solder points.

There are five permutations of switch positions.

All except "Both Off" have 2 versions of the same thing.

Switch Options are:

Neck      Bridge       Description

---=---     ---=---        Both Off

---=---      =------       Bridge Only      

---=---      ------=   

=------     ---=---       Neck Only

------=     ---=---   

=------     =------       Both On - Out of Phase

------=     ------=     

       

=------     ------=       Both On - In Phase

------=     =------

****Extra Obvious Advice From Personal Experience****

1.  The Duncans will come with very long wire.  Do not trim too much though, because if you make a mistake, splicing will just be extra work you don't want to have to do.

2.  The Mustang has close to no room inside it so everything will be a tight fit.

3.  Get little cups or plastic bags to hold all of the screws you remove.  DON'T lose the screws!  If you drop one in your carpet you're gonna have a bad time.

4.  Don't fully string up the guitar until you are sure everything is wired okay.  It sucks when you've strung it up only to find that the neck pickup is now shorting out.

5.  Don't touch the metal part of the soldering iron when it is plugged in.  :D 

It is muy caliente and a new blister is not fun.

6.  Put some music on and drink a refreshing beer.  Use the cold bottle/can to soothe your new blister.   :)

  

Woo, I finally set up the CNAME and all that jazz.  No more white screen.