Hey diazbro, I hear you on the L.P's and 335's. I've had both, my main guitar for years was a gold top L.P. Nice guitar, wish I still had it. I had a 335 in 77, then it got lost on a plane flight in Chicago O'Hairy airport. :( Got 700 bucks for it, but hopefully it's still out there somewhere. :)
These are my main guitars at this point - http://ruzicmusic.com/ruzic_guitars.htm I've also got an Ibanez 560 with the Floyd Rose trem, although it's not very photogenic, only good for certain stuff and a bass or two floating around.
The Fender Tele LE is my latest, got it last year. It's not a "true" Tele, but I played on at the Guitar Center in Hollywood and really liked the neck and slim body. It's got Fender's double coils, with a coil splitter to go to single on each. They're very much like Dimarzios. I have it strung with .010 - .052. Plays nice, solid, very dependable with a nice range of sounds.
Well...I can tell that I am WAY out of my league here. But, this is Way cool too. I loves to play guitar, even though I am not that good at it. I play some blues in E, and do some fairly okay flat picking, but really, I do not even consider myself a "guitarist". I do consider myself a harmonica player though, and will sit in with anybody in a bar or on a stage. But, I do love the git-tar, and would totally LOVE to be at the place where Icould jam in some simple blues key and just plain old backing up a harp player or have a keyboard player back me up...
But, technical things about guitars? Well, I'll just enjoy you boys talking about it, and learn what I can, for as the kids say these days; "It's all good....."
Thanks satori. The Tele is Korean. At the time I was looking at getting a Tele of some kind and when I played one of these I was surprised as it was a Fender but a Tele/not a Tele. Biggest surprise - it has a set neck, not a bolt on. The one at the Guitar Center had been abused by the armies of guitarists that come through everyday but I really liked the way it played and sounded. So I started checking aournd, found one and got it. The finish was perfect, and it plays true. I may have the headstock bridge changed out but I'm not sure. I like it the way it is at this point.
I'm casting around for a Gibson 175, don't know when that's going to happen but I'm looking.
JL, don't sweat it! Those EMG pickups - frankly I don't think of myself as a real techie type either as I know guys who can rattle off years, serial numbers and debate manufacturers of plate screws like it's nothing. I think the thing I've always liked about Fenders is that Leo Fender designed and built an affordable and fairly simple guitar in his first Esquire/Tele's that would be mass producable. I've read he and Les Paul met in L.A., and discussed designs and sound, and even considered working together at that point. The biggest thing they were concerned with was the sound and they felt the ideal sound to pursue was that of a pedal steel - clear, full bodied, bright. Fender went that way with his first guitars. It's no surprise that a lot of the unique string-benders like Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Jim Campilongo and many others have chosen the Telecaster.
The Strats continued that design concept. Teles and Strats have a very machine-shop feel to them, something a shade-tree mechanic with a few tools and some patience could deal with. Pop the pick guard off and everything's right there, pickups, volume and tone pots, wiring. Want a new neck. Not that big a deal. Strats have been used for every kind of music and playing style. Red ones - I read Mark Knopfler used to play only red ones!
Well...I can tell that I am WAY out of my league here. But, this is Way cool too. I loves to play guitar, even though I am not that good at it. I play some blues in E, and do some fairly okay flat picking, but really, I do not even consider myself a "guitarist". I do consider myself a harmonica player though, and will sit in with anybody in a bar or on a stage. But, I do love the git-tar, and would totally LOVE to be at the place where Icould jam in some simple blues key and just plain old backing up a harp player or have a keyboard player back me up...
But, technical things about guitars? Well, I'll just enjoy you boys talking about it, and learn what I can, for as the kids say these days; "It's all good....."
No you aren't out of your league at all. Its like haning around the barbershop and talking about things - in this case guitars.
Lots of this stuff is just picked up through experience so its not like anyone is supposed to know this stuff. It can be addictive though -
talking about guitars as opposed to playing them *laff*
These are my main guitars at this point - http://ruzicmusic.com/ruzic_guitars.htm I've also got an Ibanez 560 with the Floyd Rose trem, although it's not very photogenic, only good for certain stuff and a bass or two floating around.
Nice looking guitars. The Gretsch must have that buttery , mellow tone. Hook it up to a polytone and channel the spirit of
Joe Pass or Herb Ellis (I think Herb is still alive though). I'm not really a jazzer but I've faked it for a number of years using
Freddie Green style comping grips. The 3 note voicings that don't get in the way of anyone. The less you play the better they
think you are ! *laff* Well not exactly but its hard for the band to get mad at you if you make THEM sound good during their
solos. The only Gretsch I ever had was a Grestsch Country Gentleman like Chet used to play. Skinnier neck than the jazz
setups but no less toneful. The Tele looks nice. I sold mine years ago and regret it. I only have the Strat and an acoustic for
fingerpicking - a Takamine. I had the good fortune of studying at Berklee in Boston (just for a couple of semesters - a truly humbling experience) and saw that most of the best players there all seemed to have that one guitar from which they could get all kinds of sounds and tones. Of course that could simply be the student poverty lifestyle at work but once people started making money they did buy other guitars but it was funny - By that time they had gotten so used to one guitar that it became hard for them to switch ! Too funny huh.
My big "problem" is/are amps. I'm very picky about them and even though I've had good experiences with the Fenders (vibroverb, Twin, The Champ, Bassman) and the Marshalls there is always a sound I want that I don't seem to be getting. This of course is not uncommon with guitar players. I have been having a blast with the software amplifier simulations such as Amplitube and Guitar Rig and these things are a total blast. They have a ways to go before you could ditch your amps for live shows but for recording they are not bad at all. I'm a big believer in minimal setups just because I don't like to have too many points of failure.
Well, I do appreaciate that! I'm a decent student at best, but I appreciate that ma'am. And I've got things going but I'm the drag in the butt on JL's songs, almost have 3 finished for him. I tore my studio up and switched it right to left since I play right handed but do everything else leftie. So now it's in more of a wrap around design that doesn't tilt to the wrong side, something I finally realized a month or so ago. (don't ask - it's not worth trying to explain it ) and back in working order this last week. So I'm about to mix that one and a couple others started. JL's been patient.
I'd be interested in hearing more about Berklee diazbro. Never been there. My daughter's finishing her first year at M.I. in Hollywood and I've been down to visit a few times. That place is a true slice of heaven, although the curriculum is challenging to say the least. Every instructor is extremely versitle in their field, and the student body is very diverse. I had a few semesters of harmony theory, composition and one odd orchestartion class years ago, and have taken some lessons and workshops over the years.
That Gretsch does have a classic sound. I keep it on the wall most of the time, use it to record a little. I've got D'Addario Flat Wounds on it, .011 - .050. Round fat sound. The neck is very slender, easy to navigate.
I take the same approach - pretty much a utilitarian view of instruments. Growing up it took a long time before I had a decent guitar and I just tried to learn how to make what I had do what I wanted. Strat was my first good guitar, used and rented. Finally turned that over for a Telecaster in about '65 or so and I was hooked. Went to an LP gold top after that, and got hooked again. Right now the Fernandes Dragonfly has everything I want, a Strat pickup design and their Sustainer unit built into the neck pickup. The body's chambered with a maple top. I had the headstock saddle replaced and the action worked on, and have spent a lot of time messing with the vibrato setup. Right now it's pretty much what I want. It's got honk, smooth tones, a nice range. Which is funny as D-Flys are normally associated with shredding but this guitar has a lot of nice sound. For gigs I've used the Fernandes and Takamine. Now the Tele will give me a little more range and a backup.
Amps - I've got a Lab Series Spider 2x10. I couldn't afford the Lab Series Chorus I want, but this little guy's bi-amped, has a decent chours and models pretty well. Has a 4 channel switcher and it's got a very good clean Fender Twin setting, and a dead on Marshall sound. For bass I have a Sunn top and a bassman bottom.
I've got some Yamaha models and effects in my deck, but I pretty much try to get the sound I want thru a preamp setup that goes into it and then record that with as clean a signal as I can get. Got the girl a Toneworks AX3000 pedal board for Christmas. That puppy does LOTS of fun things.
Aw Chatty, that's the stuff! The Man.
my best guitar story is that i bought a 1936 gibson from a kid who needed
Well, I do appreaciate that! I'm a decent student at best, but I appreciate that ma'am.
Ah you are being modest.
I'd be interested in hearing more about Berklee diazbro. Never been there. My daughter's finishing her first year at M.I. in Hollywood and I've been down to visit a few times. That place is a true slice of heaven, although the curriculum is challenging to say the least. Every instructor is extremely versitle in their field, and the student body is very diverse. I had a few semesters of harmony theory, composition and one odd orchestartion class years ago, and have taken some lessons and workshops over the years.
Berklee is a buster let me tell you. So many talented people walk through that place. I mean scary good ! At times you wonder why they are there. Seems like they could have any gig they want but of course jazz is the music of unemployment *laff*. There is more than jazz going on there of course. (You might want to look at their new online school at www.berkleemusic.com they've got
some good stuff I hear). While you do learn a lot studying you learn the most hanging out and playing with others. Thats where you can steal all those great licks *laff*. I was greatly humbled by the experience. As I mentioned I only hung out for a couple of semesters. Lots of people did that. Take classes, ,meet people, form a band and then move on. I did the same but wound up going back to college to pursue a completely different course of study. Never stopped playing the guitar though.
MI is good also. There are lots of great teachers there. One guy named Don Mock is absolutely fabulous. (Many of them are of course). I think that back in the earlier days of MI it was much more rock oriented but thats changed. I ran into lots of MI guys back in the early 90s who were into the speed thing - string skipping, sweeps, and taps and while it sounded okay it was really only impressive to me when executed by the top of the line players like Frank Gamable or Alan Holdsworth. I'm not so much into fusion but those guys are definitely kings of that area. Anyway as time went on I met a few more MI grads who were more well rounded so I think over time they have definitely expanded the cirriculum to involve many different styles and harmony. While I went through my speed demon phase (doesn't every guitar player) I cooled out on it and would like to think I took a different more mature direction.
Amps - I've got a Lab Series Spider 2x10. I couldn't afford the Lab Series Chorus I want, but this little guy's bi-amped, has a decent chours and models pretty well. Has a 4 channel switcher and it's got a very good clean Fender Twin setting, and a dead on Marshall sound. For bass I have a Sunn top and a bassman bottom.
Sunn ! Now theres a name you don't hear much about these days. Those amps were everywhere throughout the 60s and early 70s. They did make a newer model I think. Or are you talking about the vintage stuff ?
I've got some Yamaha models and effects in my deck, but I pretty much try to get the sound I want thru a preamp setup that goes into it and then record that with as clean a signal as I can get. Got the girl a Toneworks AX3000 pedal board for Christmas. That puppy does LOTS of fun things.
I've got the Line 6 POD and thats fine for portable stuff. I'll tell you an interesting piece of gear is the Electrix Repeater. Its akin to the Lexicon Jam Man and it lets you layer up loops of your playing - sort of like the old EchoPlex but with greater precision and more control over the loop. Very good for experimental playing or just practice. But its got lots of creative potential.
diazbro
have you had the chance to hear and see the new bows pa? 37 speakers in on 5 foot thin light weight tower
pretty nice and affordable
socks nope i don't
i gave it away!!!!!!!!!! to a picker much better than me and who would enjoy it more
me i'll stick to my yamaha clavinoa
I've seen them - the bose PA but haven't heard them in action. Obviously it would be great if systems like those
did the job. Lots of people would jump right on in.
Don Mock, yes, know the name.VERY good. Berklee would be a blast. The girl was looking at what it would take to do it, but Boston's a long ways from the west coast. :( Bad enough being in L.A. just a few hours away.
Mi.I.'s got great instructors, she studied with Dan Gilbert and Steve Hunter there, several others she's spoken about. Beth Marlis, the director, is a killer guitarist and a GIT alumnae herself. Really nice person and supportive of women entering the music field, as you might expect. I met her and Andy Ellis last year visiting and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to talk music.
Frank Gambale = :) Oh yeah. What is it - "the thunder from down under"? I've downloaded some of his lessons from Trufire.com, great site. I got some usable stuff, but I've given up on being the fastest gun. Plus as you say, when guys like that do it it's clean and trim. I still practice some things, maybe someday I'll get it. It's hard to break out of the alternating up/down stroke pattern, which I spent years working on. I just try to get where I need to go now.
Someone I'm very into is Tom Ribbecke, a luthier north of us about a half hour. He builds some of the best guitars in the world. 20,000 bucks and up. Absolutely spiritual, we're talking. He's got a design that's his answer to the Gibson 335, or where he thinks it should have gone. I played a finished model last year at his shop and it was - wonderful.
His thing is archtops, perfectly tuned bodies, finishes that are so rich they're edible. Only builds a few every year at most. I've watched him work - really talented.
Nice to see you and the rest sharing about your guitars You six and twelve string pickers are a family you know.
Was talking to Lepenski the other day and I thought about the time we talked about doing a rockin' down home blues band. Man we would have rocked the joint for sure .
John.I have played all the cuts I have of you for my Moony and told her listen to that ain't that dude the best .He plays with heart from the depths of his soul and she agree's cause the gal knows talent
I tried the Bose. Heard the Bose band when they came through. It's more hype than truth. Sure, they all exaggerate, but Bose is really making some bold claims, and charging a lot for its design, so it deserves extra attention.
It's impressive for a moment, but if you stand back and just ask yourself what you're hearing, it falls flat. The idea of all them little speakers is to create an array, a virtual speaker, capable of moving lots of air with little effort.
But most Bose products have problems, and this product does too. It doesn't deliver its promise. The sound is brittle, the frequency response is unnaturally "dry" despite the impressive design. Plenty of bass & highs, but the mids didn't travel nearly as well.
I asked the Bose engineer about what I heard. I also pointed out that the little Fender tube amp he brought along for "side-by-side comparison" with the "famous tube sound" was EQ'd about as badly as possible. I asked (privately) why not compare it with a Fender at it's best? It was the worst sounding Fender amp I've ever heard. He didn't really respond.
The Bose' projection properties are intended to kep the volume almost the same wherever you go in the room - isn't exactly true either. It does project some of the sound well, but they don't mention that the frequency response of the Bose varies dramatically from one part of a room to another, front to back, side to side, moreso (to my ringing ears) than a standard pair of decent Mackie 12H's (or whatever the model # is).
Boise speakers are good for some things commerical products the older 601 series that I have used for PA but when it comes to recording and using for near field monitors like forget it.
So far the best studio monitors I have found and use are Behinger's Powered Trurh Monitors and they don't cost an arm and a leg either
After the mix and I want to hear the full sound than the Cerwin Vega's get cranked Then when I have my jollys I take the so called final mix and play it on a squack box ( cheap cd player) and if it sounds halfway decent perhaps I just might have something going.
Anyways Socks did not mean to derail your guitar thread eh! Satori
Tom Ribbecke[/url], a luthier north of us about a half hour. He builds some of the best guitars in the world. 20,000 bucks and up. Absolutely spiritual, we're talking. He's got a design that's his answer to the Gibson 335, or where he thinks it should have gone. I played a finished model last year at his shop and it was - wonderful.
His thing is archtops, perfectly tuned bodies, finishes that are so rich they're edible. Only builds a few every year at most. I've watched him work - really talented.
Ribbecke has some really nice instruments there!
What's up with this one though???
Left handed guitar, strung for a right handed picker?? :blink:
Well now. I am certainly enjoying reading this thread. It seesm though as I've not much to add! But'ts all good here. Now, the Red Strat. Well, it's red. has the whammy bar deal on it as I suppose all Stratocasters have, and I am playing it through a small 90 watt Fender Automatic GT amp. There are numerous dials that give various different sounds, and what I have found to like is when I mess with it until I get a good bit of distortion. I have learned and anow able to play some bar chords, and dig that a whole lot. And, I can play some nice blues riffs to go along with them. At this point though, I really could use some instruction, for, just playing by ear and "figuring things out" is no doubt a way slow way to go.
I do have an instructional DVD of Brian Setzer (now there's another gui-tar man! love his stuff!) that I gave to my heavy metal "shredder" son, but, he never did check it out. So, I guess I'll just do that my ownself.
I did check out those EMG pickups on the net, and did find them to be fairly spendy. Maybe my friend paid more for them up here in Alaska, since things here are so durned expensivo...
And my worst guitar story is that when I was in North Dakota on my interim year, some local guy gave aour LC (D*v*d Schm*dt) a very old, small bodies Martin accoustic guitar. Daviddidn't play it, but enjoyed holding it when we talked. He liked to hear me play it, and of course, I loved playing it. The guy who'd given it to him said it was realy really old How old? I don't know. But it played really nice and had sort of a funky ragtime sound to it. And so, everytime I went to Bismarck for a visit, he'd always make sure to get it out for me so I could play it. And then one day, out on the patio, while he was pretending to be Peter Townshend and playing the opening chords to Pinball Wizard, he smashed it down on the flagstones and it splintered all to hell! It was awefull! Well, that didn't really happen. Gotcha! Actually the reason it is my worst story is that David used to tell me throughout that year that he was either going to give the guitar to me or this one other person. And of course, I begged God to tell him to give it to me, but in the end, he gave it to the other guy. :(
And so, my old Yamaha FG75 had to do me until I later married my wife who came with a nice 64 Ford shortbed pick up truck, three shotguns, and a nice Guild D-50 accoustic steel string guitar. The truck is gone now, but the shotguns, the Guild, and the wife remain!
I don't have a digital camera to take pictures of the real thing, but this is the oldest guitar I own. It belonged to my Uncle Frank, who was killed in WW II. Although it has more than it's share of battle scars, it still plays great, and has the coolest rockabilly twang to it! It is also the guitar I learned to play on. The Recording King was actually made by Gibson, and sold in department stores.
These old B&W pics don't do it justice. Has a sunburst finish that has held up well after all these years, except for things you would expect, like the finish being worn off the back of the neck close to the top, and top of the body where your arm would lay while playing. Between my Uncle's and myself, there have been many thousands of hours of music played on it.
I've learned that it's worth "slightly" more now than the original purchase price. :) It will never be for sale though. I will find someone in the family to hand it down to one day.
Tom, the ad was form a 1939 Montgomery Ward catolog. Found it on the internet on a page about Recording King guitars. The only thing we know about the one I have is my Uncle had it before he left for WW II. The one I have looks identical the the second one in the pic, which is the zoomed-in pic below. 1939 would probably be close to the date of mine.
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socks
Hey diazbro, I hear you on the L.P's and 335's. I've had both, my main guitar for years was a gold top L.P. Nice guitar, wish I still had it. I had a 335 in 77, then it got lost on a plane flight in Chicago O'Hairy airport. :( Got 700 bucks for it, but hopefully it's still out there somewhere. :)
These are my main guitars at this point - http://ruzicmusic.com/ruzic_guitars.htm I've also got an Ibanez 560 with the Floyd Rose trem, although it's not very photogenic, only good for certain stuff and a bass or two floating around.
The Fender Tele LE is my latest, got it last year. It's not a "true" Tele, but I played on at the Guitar Center in Hollywood and really liked the neck and slim body. It's got Fender's double coils, with a coil splitter to go to single on each. They're very much like Dimarzios. I have it strung with .010 - .052. Plays nice, solid, very dependable with a nice range of sounds.
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J0nny Ling0
Well...I can tell that I am WAY out of my league here. But, this is Way cool too. I loves to play guitar, even though I am not that good at it. I play some blues in E, and do some fairly okay flat picking, but really, I do not even consider myself a "guitarist". I do consider myself a harmonica player though, and will sit in with anybody in a bar or on a stage. But, I do love the git-tar, and would totally LOVE to be at the place where Icould jam in some simple blues key and just plain old backing up a harp player or have a keyboard player back me up...
But, technical things about guitars? Well, I'll just enjoy you boys talking about it, and learn what I can, for as the kids say these days; "It's all good....."
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satori001
Nice Gretsch. Tele American?
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socks
Thanks satori. The Tele is Korean. At the time I was looking at getting a Tele of some kind and when I played one of these I was surprised as it was a Fender but a Tele/not a Tele. Biggest surprise - it has a set neck, not a bolt on. The one at the Guitar Center had been abused by the armies of guitarists that come through everyday but I really liked the way it played and sounded. So I started checking aournd, found one and got it. The finish was perfect, and it plays true. I may have the headstock bridge changed out but I'm not sure. I like it the way it is at this point.
I'm casting around for a Gibson 175, don't know when that's going to happen but I'm looking.
JL, don't sweat it! Those EMG pickups - frankly I don't think of myself as a real techie type either as I know guys who can rattle off years, serial numbers and debate manufacturers of plate screws like it's nothing. I think the thing I've always liked about Fenders is that Leo Fender designed and built an affordable and fairly simple guitar in his first Esquire/Tele's that would be mass producable. I've read he and Les Paul met in L.A., and discussed designs and sound, and even considered working together at that point. The biggest thing they were concerned with was the sound and they felt the ideal sound to pursue was that of a pedal steel - clear, full bodied, bright. Fender went that way with his first guitars. It's no surprise that a lot of the unique string-benders like Roy Buchanan, Danny Gatton, Jim Campilongo and many others have chosen the Telecaster.
The Strats continued that design concept. Teles and Strats have a very machine-shop feel to them, something a shade-tree mechanic with a few tools and some patience could deal with. Pop the pick guard off and everything's right there, pickups, volume and tone pots, wiring. Want a new neck. Not that big a deal. Strats have been used for every kind of music and playing style. Red ones - I read Mark Knopfler used to play only red ones!
Here's a link I found on EMG strat replacement pickups - might be those. http://www.mikelull.com/pickups/emgsc.htm
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diazbro
No you aren't out of your league at all. Its like haning around the barbershop and talking about things - in this case guitars.
Lots of this stuff is just picked up through experience so its not like anyone is supposed to know this stuff. It can be addictive though -
talking about guitars as opposed to playing them *laff*
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socks
Ditto! And acoustics too of course, classical/nylon....all kinds!
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
a friend of mine bought an ibanez last week at an oppening of a new music store in portland maine last week for $100.00
they had 200 of them as a special
i guess there were mega lines and of course not every one got to buy one
but what a deal!
my best guitar story is that i bought a 1936 gibson from a kid who needed
ready for this??
$100.00
awesome
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diazbro
Nice looking guitars. The Gretsch must have that buttery , mellow tone. Hook it up to a polytone and channel the spirit of
Joe Pass or Herb Ellis (I think Herb is still alive though). I'm not really a jazzer but I've faked it for a number of years using
Freddie Green style comping grips. The 3 note voicings that don't get in the way of anyone. The less you play the better they
think you are ! *laff* Well not exactly but its hard for the band to get mad at you if you make THEM sound good during their
solos. The only Gretsch I ever had was a Grestsch Country Gentleman like Chet used to play. Skinnier neck than the jazz
setups but no less toneful. The Tele looks nice. I sold mine years ago and regret it. I only have the Strat and an acoustic for
fingerpicking - a Takamine. I had the good fortune of studying at Berklee in Boston (just for a couple of semesters - a truly humbling experience) and saw that most of the best players there all seemed to have that one guitar from which they could get all kinds of sounds and tones. Of course that could simply be the student poverty lifestyle at work but once people started making money they did buy other guitars but it was funny - By that time they had gotten so used to one guitar that it became hard for them to switch ! Too funny huh.
My big "problem" is/are amps. I'm very picky about them and even though I've had good experiences with the Fenders (vibroverb, Twin, The Champ, Bassman) and the Marshalls there is always a sound I want that I don't seem to be getting. This of course is not uncommon with guitar players. I have been having a blast with the software amplifier simulations such as Amplitube and Guitar Rig and these things are a total blast. They have a ways to go before you could ditch your amps for live shows but for recording they are not bad at all. I'm a big believer in minimal setups just because I don't like to have too many points of failure.
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ChattyKathy
A thread on guitars!
wav or mp3
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moony3424
Socks
Ted and I were just talking about you the other day. We both agree that you're still the best guitarman around!
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socks
Well, I do appreaciate that! I'm a decent student at best, but I appreciate that ma'am. And I've got things going but I'm the drag in the butt on JL's songs, almost have 3 finished for him. I tore my studio up and switched it right to left since I play right handed but do everything else leftie. So now it's in more of a wrap around design that doesn't tilt to the wrong side, something I finally realized a month or so ago. (don't ask - it's not worth trying to explain it
) and back in working order this last week. So I'm about to mix that one and a couple others started. JL's been patient. 
I'd be interested in hearing more about Berklee diazbro. Never been there. My daughter's finishing her first year at M.I. in Hollywood and I've been down to visit a few times. That place is a true slice of heaven, although the curriculum is challenging to say the least. Every instructor is extremely versitle in their field, and the student body is very diverse. I had a few semesters of harmony theory, composition and one odd orchestartion class years ago, and have taken some lessons and workshops over the years.
That Gretsch does have a classic sound. I keep it on the wall most of the time, use it to record a little. I've got D'Addario Flat Wounds on it, .011 - .050. Round fat sound. The neck is very slender, easy to navigate.
I take the same approach - pretty much a utilitarian view of instruments. Growing up it took a long time before I had a decent guitar and I just tried to learn how to make what I had do what I wanted. Strat was my first good guitar, used and rented. Finally turned that over for a Telecaster in about '65 or so and I was hooked. Went to an LP gold top after that, and got hooked again. Right now the Fernandes Dragonfly has everything I want, a Strat pickup design and their Sustainer unit built into the neck pickup. The body's chambered with a maple top. I had the headstock saddle replaced and the action worked on, and have spent a lot of time messing with the vibrato setup. Right now it's pretty much what I want. It's got honk, smooth tones, a nice range. Which is funny as D-Flys are normally associated with shredding but this guitar has a lot of nice sound. For gigs I've used the Fernandes and Takamine. Now the Tele will give me a little more range and a backup.
Amps - I've got a Lab Series Spider 2x10. I couldn't afford the Lab Series Chorus I want, but this little guy's bi-amped, has a decent chours and models pretty well. Has a 4 channel switcher and it's got a very good clean Fender Twin setting, and a dead on Marshall sound. For bass I have a Sunn top and a bassman bottom.
I've got some Yamaha models and effects in my deck, but I pretty much try to get the sound I want thru a preamp setup that goes into it and then record that with as clean a signal as I can get. Got the girl a Toneworks AX3000 pedal board for Christmas. That puppy does LOTS of fun things.
Aw Chatty, that's the stuff! The Man.
Hmmmm....tell us you still have it! :)
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coolchef1248 @adelphia.net
diazbro
have you had the chance to hear and see the new bows pa? 37 speakers in on 5 foot thin light weight tower
pretty nice and affordable
diazbro
have you had the chance to hear and see the new bows pa? 37 speakers in on 5 foot thin light weight tower
pretty nice and affordable
socks nope i don't
i gave it away!!!!!!!!!! to a picker much better than me and who would enjoy it more
me i'll stick to my yamaha clavinoa
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diazbro
Ah you are being modest.
Berklee is a buster let me tell you. So many talented people walk through that place. I mean scary good ! At times you wonder why they are there. Seems like they could have any gig they want but of course jazz is the music of unemployment *laff*. There is more than jazz going on there of course. (You might want to look at their new online school at www.berkleemusic.com they've got
some good stuff I hear). While you do learn a lot studying you learn the most hanging out and playing with others. Thats where you can steal all those great licks *laff*. I was greatly humbled by the experience. As I mentioned I only hung out for a couple of semesters. Lots of people did that. Take classes, ,meet people, form a band and then move on. I did the same but wound up going back to college to pursue a completely different course of study. Never stopped playing the guitar though.
MI is good also. There are lots of great teachers there. One guy named Don Mock is absolutely fabulous. (Many of them are of course). I think that back in the earlier days of MI it was much more rock oriented but thats changed. I ran into lots of MI guys back in the early 90s who were into the speed thing - string skipping, sweeps, and taps and while it sounded okay it was really only impressive to me when executed by the top of the line players like Frank Gamable or Alan Holdsworth. I'm not so much into fusion but those guys are definitely kings of that area. Anyway as time went on I met a few more MI grads who were more well rounded so I think over time they have definitely expanded the cirriculum to involve many different styles and harmony. While I went through my speed demon phase (doesn't every guitar player) I cooled out on it and would like to think I took a different more mature direction.
Sunn ! Now theres a name you don't hear much about these days. Those amps were everywhere throughout the 60s and early 70s. They did make a newer model I think. Or are you talking about the vintage stuff ?
I've got the Line 6 POD and thats fine for portable stuff. I'll tell you an interesting piece of gear is the Electrix Repeater. Its akin to the Lexicon Jam Man and it lets you layer up loops of your playing - sort of like the old EchoPlex but with greater precision and more control over the loop. Very good for experimental playing or just practice. But its got lots of creative potential.
I've seen them - the bose PA but haven't heard them in action. Obviously it would be great if systems like those
did the job. Lots of people would jump right on in.
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socks
Don Mock, yes, know the name.VERY good. Berklee would be a blast. The girl was looking at what it would take to do it, but Boston's a long ways from the west coast. :( Bad enough being in L.A. just a few hours away.
Mi.I.'s got great instructors, she studied with Dan Gilbert and Steve Hunter there, several others she's spoken about. Beth Marlis, the director, is a killer guitarist and a GIT alumnae herself. Really nice person and supportive of women entering the music field, as you might expect. I met her and Andy Ellis last year visiting and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to talk music.
Frank Gambale = :) Oh yeah. What is it - "the thunder from down under"? I've downloaded some of his lessons from Trufire.com, great site. I got some usable stuff, but I've given up on being the fastest gun. Plus as you say, when guys like that do it it's clean and trim. I still practice some things, maybe someday I'll get it. It's hard to break out of the alternating up/down stroke pattern, which I spent years working on. I just try to get where I need to go now.
Someone I'm very into is Tom Ribbecke, a luthier north of us about a half hour. He builds some of the best guitars in the world. 20,000 bucks and up. Absolutely spiritual, we're talking.
He's got a design that's his answer to the Gibson 335, or where he thinks it should have gone. I played a finished model last year at his shop and it was - wonderful.
His thing is archtops, perfectly tuned bodies, finishes that are so rich they're edible. Only builds a few every year at most. I've watched him work - really talented.
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TED Ferrell
Hey JR
Nice to see you and the rest sharing about your guitars You six and twelve string pickers are a family you know.
Was talking to Lepenski the other day and I thought about the time we talked about doing a rockin' down home blues band. Man we would have rocked the joint for sure .
John.I have played all the cuts I have of you for my Moony and told her listen to that ain't that dude the best .He plays with heart from the depths of his soul and she agree's cause the gal knows talent
Love you my dear friend say hello to Janet for me
Your Friend Forever
Ted
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satori001
I tried the Bose. Heard the Bose band when they came through. It's more hype than truth. Sure, they all exaggerate, but Bose is really making some bold claims, and charging a lot for its design, so it deserves extra attention.
It's impressive for a moment, but if you stand back and just ask yourself what you're hearing, it falls flat. The idea of all them little speakers is to create an array, a virtual speaker, capable of moving lots of air with little effort.
But most Bose products have problems, and this product does too. It doesn't deliver its promise. The sound is brittle, the frequency response is unnaturally "dry" despite the impressive design. Plenty of bass & highs, but the mids didn't travel nearly as well.
I asked the Bose engineer about what I heard. I also pointed out that the little Fender tube amp he brought along for "side-by-side comparison" with the "famous tube sound" was EQ'd about as badly as possible. I asked (privately) why not compare it with a Fender at it's best? It was the worst sounding Fender amp I've ever heard. He didn't really respond.
The Bose' projection properties are intended to kep the volume almost the same wherever you go in the room - isn't exactly true either. It does project some of the sound well, but they don't mention that the frequency response of the Bose varies dramatically from one part of a room to another, front to back, side to side, moreso (to my ringing ears) than a standard pair of decent Mackie 12H's (or whatever the model # is).
It does look cool. $2000 will buy a lot of cool.
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TED Ferrell
Socks back on top where he deserves to be The cat has paid his dues
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TED Ferrell
Satori
Boise speakers are good for some things commerical products the older 601 series that I have used for PA but when it comes to recording and using for near field monitors like forget it.
So far the best studio monitors I have found and use are Behinger's Powered Trurh Monitors and they don't cost an arm and a leg either
After the mix and I want to hear the full sound than the Cerwin Vega's get cranked Then when I have my jollys I take the so called final mix and play it on a squack box ( cheap cd player) and if it sounds halfway decent perhaps I just might have something going.
Anyways Socks did not mean to derail your guitar thread eh! Satori
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dmiller
Ribbecke has some really nice instruments there!
What's up with this one though???
Left handed guitar, strung for a right handed picker?? :blink:
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ChattyKathy
David, perhaps this covers both needs. :)
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J0nny Ling0
Well now. I am certainly enjoying reading this thread. It seesm though as I've not much to add! But'ts all good here. Now, the Red Strat. Well, it's red. has the whammy bar deal on it as I suppose all Stratocasters have, and I am playing it through a small 90 watt Fender Automatic GT amp. There are numerous dials that give various different sounds, and what I have found to like is when I mess with it until I get a good bit of distortion. I have learned and anow able to play some bar chords, and dig that a whole lot. And, I can play some nice blues riffs to go along with them. At this point though, I really could use some instruction, for, just playing by ear and "figuring things out" is no doubt a way slow way to go.
I do have an instructional DVD of Brian Setzer (now there's another gui-tar man! love his stuff!) that I gave to my heavy metal "shredder" son, but, he never did check it out. So, I guess I'll just do that my ownself.
I did check out those EMG pickups on the net, and did find them to be fairly spendy. Maybe my friend paid more for them up here in Alaska, since things here are so durned expensivo...
And my worst guitar story is that when I was in North Dakota on my interim year, some local guy gave aour LC (D*v*d Schm*dt) a very old, small bodies Martin accoustic guitar. Daviddidn't play it, but enjoyed holding it when we talked. He liked to hear me play it, and of course, I loved playing it. The guy who'd given it to him said it was realy really old How old? I don't know. But it played really nice and had sort of a funky ragtime sound to it. And so, everytime I went to Bismarck for a visit, he'd always make sure to get it out for me so I could play it. And then one day, out on the patio, while he was pretending to be Peter Townshend and playing the opening chords to Pinball Wizard, he smashed it down on the flagstones and it splintered all to hell! It was awefull! Well, that didn't really happen. Gotcha! Actually the reason it is my worst story is that David used to tell me throughout that year that he was either going to give the guitar to me or this one other person. And of course, I begged God to tell him to give it to me, but in the end, he gave it to the other guy. :(
And so, my old Yamaha FG75 had to do me until I later married my wife who came with a nice 64 Ford shortbed pick up truck, three shotguns, and a nice Guild D-50 accoustic steel string guitar. The truck is gone now, but the shotguns, the Guild, and the wife remain!
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Bluzeman
I don't have a digital camera to take pictures of the real thing, but this is the oldest guitar I own. It belonged to my Uncle Frank, who was killed in WW II. Although it has more than it's share of battle scars, it still plays great, and has the coolest rockabilly twang to it! It is also the guitar I learned to play on. The Recording King was actually made by Gibson, and sold in department stores.
These old B&W pics don't do it justice. Has a sunburst finish that has held up well after all these years, except for things you would expect, like the finish being worn off the back of the neck close to the top, and top of the body where your arm would lay while playing. Between my Uncle's and myself, there have been many thousands of hours of music played on it.
I've learned that it's worth "slightly" more now than the original purchase price. :) It will never be for sale though. I will find someone in the family to hand it down to one day.
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Tom Strange
neato... you don't say when that ad is from, but if it's pre ww2, then that would make the retail around a grand or so in today's dollars wouldn't it?
...there are a few for sale on ebay if anyone wants a guitar like bluzeman has...
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Bluzeman
Tom, the ad was form a 1939 Montgomery Ward catolog. Found it on the internet on a page about Recording King guitars. The only thing we know about the one I have is my Uncle had it before he left for WW II. The one I have looks identical the the second one in the pic, which is the zoomed-in pic below. 1939 would probably be close to the date of mine.
Rick
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