Who'd a Thunk It?
My cheapo acoustic-electric is sounding much better, thank you.
At first, it was kinda buzzy. The supposed Martin strings were too heavy for my taste, and, just dead-sounding. So I replaced them with some spiffy new D'Addario EXPs (Custom Light, 11-52) and it sounds so much better and a lot less buzzy. A few weeks into those new strings the buzz is almost gone and that pulsing sharp-flat-sharp-flat sustain is pretty smooth, too. I suppose since these things are wood, they take some breaking in. They have to season, like cookware(?). It doesn't smell like glue anymore, either. I was worried that I'd bought a complete dud, but now it's only half dud. And that was the reason I bought it. I didn't expect it to sound like a Martin! I wanted one I didn't have to worry about hurting.

Bike news: 2005 Ultegra 10 is out and, to me, looks way better than the 04 Dura Ace. My frame isn't worth hanging the new stuff on, but if Shimano follows their typical pattern, 10 speed will trickle down to 105 next year, then Tiagra in 07, unless they invent a new group, as they are also wont to do. So, a new bike or at least a new drivetrain is in the not terribly distant future. Now if they would just get those tubeless road tires standardized...