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Nice set of Strats but they wouldn’t last long in my house, the wife likes to pretend she’s Pete Townsend at the end of the show. Ironically I practice on a strat at home, but the les paul stays at the studio locked in its own room far away from her destructive tendencies. I figure as good as the strat is I can replace it, but not the Les.
Like Les Paul said, its not how fast you play but playing the right note at the right time. Jimi is #1 without a doubt. To me it is his subtle use of melody that often goes over looked. There are windows in his music, spaces and rests that make the lead have some emotion. Subtle notes that make the song, its as if he isn’t thinking about what he plays, he just listens to it happening. I rate John Fogarty up there as well, some of his recent releases of early CCR stuff is flat out amazing. Check out the leads on “I heard it throught the grapevine” or “I put a spell on you” on his CCR Revisited.
For tuning I like the Boss Pedal Tuner. I made the lead and bassist get one too. When onstage there is a great comfort level knowing you can mute your instrument, visually see whether you are sharp or flat, get in tune before the next song, and no one heard it happening. When the whole band is in tune some wonderful harmonic relations occur.
No, I don’t think the Mrs. cares about the lead singer, as flat out gorgeous as she is I like her singing abilities more. My wife knows I lust after music more than other women. She is my daughter’s age besides and we are like older, much older, brothers to her. We got lucky with Leilani, her father put her in a sound booth at the age of four and she has recorded all her life. Where can I post an MP3 of her?, she is worth hearing.
LA? Huge monstrosity of a suburb. If your down in OC way the Guitar Doctor on Euclid right up from Guitar Center off the 405 can fix it, but the previous entries are the way to go if you have a few tools. The Doc can also trick it out. He is one of the best I’ve ever found at set up, intonation, electrics, action. Just make sure to bring him a brand new set of strings that you will always use, he is pricey however at 200-300 for a guitar, don’t know about a bass.
Hey I like the term “liftin skirt”, could be our new band name, although the female lead singer might not take to it. Funny thing is my wife would probably rather have me liftin skirt than the Les Paul! At least then the beatings would have some logic to it.
The nearest I’ve come to having to move out was when I claimed to be having dinner with the boss, but was secretly at practice. I was busted when I came home at 11 and admited my lie. So rule one, don’t lie even for music, one of the last true religions. I spent a week on my buddy’s couch before she realized the rent was due, then it was all forgiven. So now I just tell her I’m going to play and as long as that is on a regularly scheduled practice night she’s fine with it! But they never understand crawling in at 4:30 in the morning after playing from 9-2 breaking down, driving to the studio, unloading and being a zombie until late afternoon, but it was so much fun.
Yeah getting her to party with the band would be interesting. She likes the music we play but has no desire to see a gig or even a practice. There is the occasional band party for a birthday or a holiday that she will come to. She’s more at home in a bookstore trying to find a first edition. She likes it when I play along to a favorite band of hers on a cheesy little practice amp, but heaven help me if I’m five minutes late getting home from practice. There was a magical moment one time when we walked into a Guitar Store and she saw a Marshall Amp sitting there and she asked if I wanted it, like I’m gonna say no, and later I found out she liked it because it was sexy! Not for the screaming tube tone, but just because it looked good to her!! She’s never even heard it played at a gig!!
lee,
well does your drummer need a roomate? I guess the wife is gonna win this one too. It’s like the old adage can’t live with em, can’t live without em. We have a comedian who puts it in the proper perspective, upon marriage we don’t “commit” we “surrender”. So as much as music and playing guitar are my favorite pastimes the wife should come first, maybe 2nd after the beagle, however many of you will find after 20 plus years of marriage that certain desires can become a conflict. For one month I’d like to go to the studio at 6 in the morning play til midnight and see what gets created. In the scheme of free time a working husband is lucky to get one or two nights to himself, I should consider myself lucky to have this time at all.
Thanks for the advice guys. Just keep the guitars out of the house. She knows nothing about guitar values when swinging them into the wall. Thts why I keep the mexi strat at home to practice on, go ahead take your best shot I can get another one tomorrow. Can’t be said of the LP, so it stays at the studio. After 20 years our kids are in college, (they cost me more than ever), the wife and I get along until music comes up. No matter what problem arises, music is to blame. So I say screw this, more music, more gigs, more recording and mixdown, or its chauffeur time and trek the princess around all weekend and stay up with her as late as I play music, impossible, I’m good for like 15 minutes at my age and then its lights out. I know I can’t get rid of her but getting her to see the positive side of music isn’t easy unless I play her favorite songs, then I occaisionally get lucky.
Ebay can be risky. You could sell it, get paid, ship it off, and then if the buyer has bought it with a credit card he can legally back the payment out and come up with any number of legitmate complaints to tie your money up for a month or more complaining all the way til you lower your price, or worse he could be using someone else’s credit card. My wife sells a ton of stuff on ebay. Her advice; list it close to what you want to get for it, take only cashiers checks, (this will lower the amount of people bidding on it and maybe the selling price as well but you will get your money up front.) Avoid allowing payment by credit card, easy to get scammed, but if they have lots of positive feedback (200+) at 100% then you have a good buyer. Do not accept buyers with zero feedback unless they pay by cashiers check. By the way cashier’s checks can be scanned and forged so make sure it clears your bank before shipping. Know all you can about it before you sell it. Check out the serial number and verify year and condition. (I have over 1000 feedbacks at 100%).
The more stock it is without modifications the better. I might be interested in it myself (I have over 1000 feedbacks at 100% on ebay) if you have any photo’s. Or put it up for sale on consignment at a good guitar shop in your area. Tell them what you want and let them show it off til it sells. They make 10-15% you make only two trips to get your money. If it were me I would never sell it!
I have to go with lee_uk on this one. The amp is everything. Valves have a quality that can be noticed by the average person when they are pushed. Put a digital amp next to a valve amp and push them both at max. You will be able to listen to the valve amp much longer due to some roll off of harsher frequencies whereas the digital can get very abrasive after awhile. Flip the test to other effects and the digital modeling pedals have some great sounds on the delay, chorus, reverb side that a valve amp doesn’t offer. I play rhythm mostly and lead or harmony lead so I prefer a fuller sound with lower treble noise from distortion. We have found that there are openings between bass notes and lead treble notes where a warm and slightly overdriven sound fills the sound and the room better than having two guitars peeling paint off the walls. The only reason to play is to play live, nothing better than seeing an audience go crazy.
Lee, you got me wondering about my les being a “standard” or just a “les paul” from the mass prodcued era, 68++++. It is one from the mass produced “no name” era and I’m checking on it’s real heritage. I think the most amazing part of guitar playing is that the intsrument is only half the sound. The lead guitarist in our band can’t stand my favorite guitar and I loathe his strat just about as much. Its got wimpy strings that never seem in tune, yet he makes every note sound great, like wise he can’t stand the mediums I put on my mine. Play a certain set up long enough and the ears tell you what to do. Digitally recording the band has done a lot for each of us to fine tune our parts. There are so many tricks of the trade but probably the most important one regarding any guitar is it has to sound great played clean through a good amp. In tune everywhere along the fretboard. I took a tip from the lead guitarist of Blink 182, can’t remember his name (sorry), but he pointed out it was a sin to put too many sound affects between the guitar and the amp. A pure overdriven tube amp can be better than all the foot pedals lined up. A great Les Paul only sounds better with the right strings suited to the playing style of the guitarist through an amp that is also selected for it’s ability to reproduce and enhance the style of music played. I’m not a big fan of the 1000 sound digital amps that have come out. Try plugging one into a good tube amp at 3/4 level and let the guitar sound come through. Off the thread a bit, but a good guitar deserves a good amp and only subtle sound modeling. I write way too much.
I would have to check my guitar book on the history but I believe 68 was the first year of re-introduction of the les paul. You are right about Gibson discontinuing production from the Kalamazoo plant but after the mid 60’s success of the heavier rock sound Gibson brought them back and started building them out of the new Nashville plant after National Music bought the company. I thought 68 was the first year. You can tell the mass produced standards of that era because they lack the nice matching maple tops and are slabs of mahogany with either unfigured maple or alder tops. Mine is a tobacco finish with a yellow to dark brown sunburst. What I love about it is the tone. Silky smooth with lots of woodsy sustain in the midrange. What amazes me about this guitar is it never goes out of tune. I like Markley blue steel mediums on it. I really abuse it however. It hardly ever goes into a case except for gigs and living in So CAl along the beach it gets humid to dry conditions year round and stays in tune. I play alot, perhaps 40 or more hours a week in practice or gigs so it gets tuned regularly, but I never need to adjust on stage much. The band also has a newer les paul black beauty and several strats and all have there place. The black beauty sounds dull though, less harmonics and a more trebly sound. It also doesn’t hold tune as well but does have a faster neck and lower action. I would find as many les paul’s as you can and play em all before buying one. Intonation seems off on most new ones I have picked up, even the 8k-10k top of the lines, but every once in awhile you pick up one that plays itself, with thick rich overtones and harmonics. I watch the strings to see if they start moving on their own with the slightest notes or chords to see if they are picking up harmonics or octaves. In any case find a good guitar doctor when you get one to go over the intonation and frets with strings you plan on using all the time, the extra 200-300 bucks can bring out the magic in a guitar.
