The winners of the GNW #71 Pyramid strings giveaway are: Keith Materi of Upton, Wy USA and Craig Brown of Greenslopes, Queensland, Australia. Congratulations to you both! If you are not Keith or Craig - don't worry, stay tuned for another Pyramid strings giveaway coming up!

To be a winner in the GNW#71 contest, you had to take a look at this page:
"Restoring a '57 Fender Deluxe Amp"
How a few replacement parts can turn an eyesore into your pride and joy!
http://www.guitarsite.com/ampFender.htm and tell me how many numbered steps are outlined in the restoration process.

Here's Keith's correct competition answer & entry:
1. If you should choose to follow exactly Shane Nicholas's advice on restoring a classic '57 Fender amp, you would do so in a 15 step process. This looks pretty good and very productive to me, except in this part of the country I have had trouble finding replacement blades for my riding mower, let alone something as extremely cool as a classic Fender amp.

2. Ok, here's why I need those strings. A few days ago, as my wife and I were driving in our car, I was moved, as I always am, by the Beatles playing "Hey Jude" on the radio. I looked over at my wife and noticed that she too was moved. In fact she had that dreamy glassy eyed look she gets when something fun is about to happen between us. "Hey" I though to myself, "Wouldn't it be cool if I could learn Hey Jude good enough to serenade her and create a little magic at home?"

That night, as soon as the kids were asleep, I got out my freshly strung and tuned accoustic guitar and started in with the beautiful melodic chords and aprregios which comprise the song. I played it over and over thinking " Yeah, she ought to be busting in here any second, and won't be able to control herself as she hears me playing this". But alas, that didn't happen. Well, appearently she couldn't hear me in the other room, so I bravely took my guitar into the room she was in so she could better hear what I was doing for her.

Instead of the expected and much anticipated result, I got an icy stare and "Hey would you pipe it down, I'm trying to talk to my sister on the phone!" Now, I should explain that she is no dolt when it comes to music. She knows what she likes and she knows what sounds good and what sounds like crap. I was very perplexed. Certainly it wasn't my playing technique as she is my best critic ... I was playing in the style she likes best, and.....well, you know this song was supposed to really do the trick.

I decided that she couldn't concentrate on the beautiful sounds eminating from my expertly played guitar while talking to blabbermouth....er.. I mean her sister, so I just softly strummed the easily recognized chords to "A Day in the Life". After a few minutes I heard her exclaim to blabbermouth in an exasperated tone, "I'll have to call you back, I can't talk with all of this racket going on in here..........No, for some reason, he came in here and keeps looking at me like a school boy as he's hacking out what I think are Beatles songs.........go figure.......OK, see ya later."

I must have had quite a shocked and hurt look on my mug as she turned to glare at me. Noticing my confusion, she asked what it was I was hoping to accomplish with this silly interuption to her evening. "Well..........." I nervously stammered,......"I noticed how much you liked Hey Jude and I thought.... that.......well, maybe if you heard me playing it.......that, well.......(nervous laugh)........you know........".

"Oh for Pete's sake honey" she said. "I would have thought you would have known that you can't achieve that awesome Beatles-type tone that inspires me so much on those piece of crap strings you have been using for years." "You just can't get there without the pure and fine sound which can only come from Pyramid's Pure Nickel Roundwound sets." Boy did I feel stupid. Everything I've played since that night just hasn't sounded the same. In fact, after such a blow to my confidence, my playing has suffered immeasurably. I am not even confident I can hack out the traditional Christmas Eve "Silent Night" with any confidence, and that's one of the sure night of the year, if you know what I mean.

So, I'm asking you please, man. Put the romance back in my marriage. Make me look cool to my sweet-heart, make me sound good again. Send me a set of Pyramid light accoustic strings, so that I may show her how much she means to me, and I will no longer insult her affections by playing with crappy, second rate strings.

by Keith Materi of Upton, Wy USA

You may not all have Keith's way with words, but don't worry... stay tuned to GNW for another chance to win strings real soon...

To win a set of Pyramid strings in the GNW giveaway contests of #72 and #73, all you had to do was go to the 2000 Guitars Database and look at the Tablature page: http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Tablature/

You just had to tell me the name of the last site listed. The answer was: the Zelaznog guitar tab page, which offers tabs, tuition, midi and Zelaznog - seriously weird!
http://www.guitarsite.com/database/Tablature/rec/108/

The winners were:
Paul Watson of Victoria Point, QLD, Australia and Terje Roesand of Trondheim in Norway.

For your chance to win this week, all you've got to do to win a set of Pyramid strings for yourself is go to this page: http://www.guitarsite.com/discussion/

Tell me the name of the person who made the first original entry on that page on (or after) Jan 1, 2000 and you will be in the running for the next strings giveaway! Winner will be announced in GNW during February 2000.

Mail me: Neil Shedden, GNW Editor GNW-Editor@hitsquad.com.

Don't forget to tell me your name, email, and contact details, plus the correct answer and the reason you figure you deserve Pyramid strings!