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[quote=”lee_UK”]Vit, you have to change your UN to Sid Philips.[/quote]
I was just messin’ with you, Lee. Back in the day, one of my high school English instructors played guitar in a popular local cover band. He was heavily influenced by Buddy Holly and had an amazing arsenal of pre-CBS Strats and Teles from the late 50’s and early 60’s which he had acquired while in high school and college.
In the late 80ies when his band was at its peak, the only “luthier” in town was an apprentice violin maker. His main source of business was maintaining orchestra instruments for the local schools. Unfortunately, he also worked on electric guitars; a vocation for which he had little insight and no training.
For whatever reason, this teacher hired the violin guy to modify his two main stage instruments – a 1958 Stratocaster and a 1964 Telecaster. He wanted a Kahler bridge put on the tele and he wanted a Kahler bridge on the strat in addition to a new paint job, and so these two classic instruments were butchered. The tele bridge was installed slightly crooked and the strat had its beautiful tobacco sunburst sanded off and a hideous two tone sunburst applied in its place along with a new bridge – strictly amateur jobs that all but destroyed both guitars.
It’s my understanding that word of these atrocities spread rapidly and that other musicians were showing up at the guy’s jobs just to gawk at him and his ruined Fenders. As far as I know this was the extent of his efforts to customize his guitars. I took a valuable lesson from this.
Each strat that I have is modified, but all the old parts are carefully stored and labled and nothing is done that can’t be undone – no routing, cutting pick-guards, etc. You just never know what the value of something will be down the line…
Using your pinky instead of your ring finger to play power chords is definitely a bad habit. You will need your pinky to play suspended 4th chords, 7th chords, and to hit the 6th on and off while playing blues-type riffs among others.
Good Luck!
Sorry! My mistake.
I recently (last summer, I think) played one of these strats with the small headstock at a local music store. It was hanging with the Mexicans, seemed to play like one, and was similarly priced; hence my incorrect assumption. It wasn’t great and by no means exempt from some EVH-style customization. Really just the question of which Porter-Cable to use…
My fondness for the pink paisley strat that I have and the blue floral tele that I’ve come to covet can be attributed to my early fascination with 3 guitars wielded by 3 of my favorite guitar players:
Jimmy Page’s 1958 “Dragon Telecasterâ€
http://usera.imagecave.com/vitaminE2d/1page-tele.JPG
Eric Clapton’s “Fool Guitar†SG
and Jimi Hendrix’s Psychedelic Flying V
I always thought those patterns were more like the weird amoebic shapes moving around in the background of an old Jefferson Airplane video than actual flowers. However, after perusing the Daisy Rock site, I’m thinking maybe I should quit mincing about and get a black B.C. Rich Warlock instead.
Take it easy, Lee!
I’m fairly certain that Fender produced a brief run of pink paisley and blue floral Mexican strats and teles at some point in the last couple years. Also, I’d install stacked humbuckers to avoid any serious damage – who could put such a pretty lady under a router?
Geez, it bothers me to find this instrument so appealing.
As for the grandkids; when they enter my music room they’ll be rendered speechless… 😉
[quote=”lee_UK”]
Have you considered Tokai 1980’s telecasters? or maybe the Fender squire Jap JV series from the early 80’s? they are excellent guitars.
you can get both for quite reasonable money and both offer excellent investment, and of course they play and sound fantastic, not that i’m a Tokai / Squier fan :lol:[/quote]My Fender Esquire was a 1985 Jap Reissue. It had one of the fastest necks I’ve ever played and was a really solid guitar. The problem was the color – it was an awful pale yellow that was officially called butterscotch blonde but looked more like a paint job mistake. Unfortunately, Metal ruled the day and I got rid of it and ended up with a cobalt blue Charvel model 5 – soooo stupid. The Esquire supposedly ended up with the guy from the band Highway 101.
Since posting this question my attention has turned from an Esquire to instead picking up a blue floral Tele with a maple neck and outfitting it with all new black hardware and high-output humbuckers with push / pull coil tap pots; possibly another “soooo stupid” idea.
Here’s the current incarnation of my set-up. I built the board myself out of plywood and hardware from All Parts. Amateur hour, I know, but it sounds good and is easy to operate while half drunk on a dark stage. All the send and return levels on the back of the preamp are adjustable. The DOD chorus is junk and will soon be replaced by a T.C. Electronic. A volume pedal and a Mutron are also on the wish list, but then I’ll have to build a bigger board.
Great post rewindspline – you’ve given me a case of pedal envy! I am, however, questioning the lack of ground-in beer dirt on your gear… 😉
Thanks guys!
Lessons are going well. My younger student has great brain-to-fingers wiring and can already play all the major chords. She has the names of the strings memorized, can recite all the lines and spaces of the treble clef, but is still struggling with the concept of relative tuning.
My older student is also doing well. I have her hacking through sweep picking and have introduced her to the major scale, blues scale, and phrygian mode along with all the major and some minor chords.
Interestingly enough, I allowed her boyfriend to sit in on our last lesson. He was able to play some offspring and nirvana tunes, but didn’t know the names of ANY chords and had really no clue about any sort of theory – another victim of tablature; more like a player piano than a musician.
That is indeed a very nice website, Bob. We ended our last lesson with a flurry of E7#9 chords and discussion about tasteful playing and restraint. 😉
Great post – good question! It’s been my experience while playing live and loud that the best a guitarist can hope for is to cut through the mix. I can’t imagine thinking, “OK, I’ll play through this song with my tone on 7 and turn up to 9 for the solo!” IMO, those knobs should be controlling the circuits of an onboard Fuzz Face or Mutron. Perhaps more knobs translates into better sales.
For me the worst thing about being in a band is finding a proper name – it’s an irritating process. My current band mates feel the same way and we actually gigged together for over two years without a name. When someone would ask we’d say, “We’re not a real band and we don’t have a name (so ….. off).†We had plenty of work just the same. Nothing is worse than sitting around listening to a bunch of idiots shout out whatever drivel comes to mind – The Doorknobs, The Lint Traps, etc. – please pass the cyanide. Mercifully, a friend who works at a pharmacy suggested we call ourselves “The Vitamins.†We laughed our a$$es off at the sheer stupidity of that handle and decided to go with it. Other brilliantly stupid band names I’ve know include: “The Uncomfortable Virgins,†“The Results of Divorce,†“The Other Meat Puppets,†and “Jimmy’s Gay Haircut.†Sorry to hijack the thread – rock on.
Just a few points based on personal experience:
First, I spent several nights playing my strat through that very amp at medium to high volume (some guy had it set up in our practice space) and for a SS amp it didn’t sound too bad. I think maybe the EQ and 4 / 12 cabinet gave it some artificial warmth if that makes any sense.
Second, I’ll assume that rparker is referring to his Fender Twin as the best sounding Fender tube amp and not the best sounding of all tube amps. That being said, a friend recently picked up a slightly used Fender Hot Rod DeVille (60 watt 2/12) on ebay for around $500 that sounds great – I want one.
Third, I play lead guitar with a Marshall JCM 900 (a 100 watt half stack) that’s been nicely retubed and tweaked. Although a great amp, it can be all but buried in the mix by our rhythm player’s 150 watt Mesa half stack (we have the exact same celestion-loaded cabinets). It takes Duncan Hotrails and a Bos s GE-7 to cut through. Wattage can be an issue.
Fourth, NOTHING is better the sound of warm tubes in a smokey bar. The satisfaction of playing through a great amp far outweighs the extra $$$. The “cheap and loud†route of equipment buying is a dead end in more ways than one.
Do the right thing!
We drag out and beat this dead horse a couple times each year.
Perhaps my quip about the Brits from another thread came from my own feelings of guilt. I’ll add “No songs from Lee’s list” to my long rap sheet of musical crimes.
I’ve been pondering this thread for quite some time now. Although my good experiences on stage far outweigh the bad, there certainly have been a number of bad – equipment failures, failed musicians, cops, fights, projectiles, vomit (both mine and other people’s), the pitfalls of outdoor venues, irritating fans, etc. It’s difficult to choose an absolute worst moment, so here are a few:
When I was 16 my band drove to a nearby town and set up in the high school gym to audition for the junior prom that was to be held in the spring. It was a Saturday morning and the student council (charged with booking a suitable band) was there to decorate for an upcoming game. We only knew 10 or so songs and in the middle of our “set†about 100 little children in costumes and their moms filed in for a Halloween party. Before we could pack up and run, the lead mom asked if we would be so kind as to supply the music for the cake walk. I’ll never forget the looks on the faces of those 3 – 5 year olds as they “cake walked†to the strains of “Paranoid,†“Rainbow in the Dark,†“All Day and All of the Night,†etc. Plus, we were terrible and couldn’t stop and restart songs where we left off, so every time the lead mom beckoned for more “music†we had to take it from the top. They hired a D.J. for the prom.
This worst “moment†lasted for over an hour: At a wedding dance a couple years ago, close to 40 guys lined up for the dollar dance with the bride. Turns out they were all in the mood for a long conversation with the poor girl. We had only 2 slow songs on our set list and could maybe fake another 3. We went through these songs twice each and finally in desperation our singer / guitarist started shouting out chords in progressions and yelled “solo!†at me every couple minutes while he adlibbed ridiculous lyrics. The dollar dance dragged on and on. Towards the end our bass player summoned me to his side of the stage and informed me that he desperately needed to use the restroom. Before I could protest, I was playing bass (poorly) and trying to turn down the volume knob on my guitar with my foot having forgotten to do so during the swap. As if all that wasn’t bad enough, the bride and groom’s dance was next. This consisted of the bride performing a bizarre form of exotic dance up on stage using me and my band mates as make-shift stripper poles while the groom, making devil horns with his thumbs and pinky fingers, ran back and forth like a deranged troll at the foot of the stage. We agreed not to play anymore weddings.
One night at the age of 17 while playing a dance at a local auditorium, I had a special little fan dancing suggestively at my feet for several songs. I was thrilled at the prospect of possibly reaping some of the “fringe benefits†of being a “rock star.†Suddenly, a dark figure came plowing through the crowd. It was our drummer’s mom who had been hired to collect the cover charge and chaperone the dance. Well, chaperone she did! After observing this girl’s “dirty dancing,†she decided to take her aside and give her a long lecture about self-esteem and the long term consequences of such unladylike behavior. I’ve never been so embarrassed and went home alone immediately after the gig.
I could go on and on…
In ’86 or so I found a Wreckless Eric import EP in the bargain bin at the local record store – Rags and Tatters, Personal Hygene, etc. I’ve been a fan ever since. Politics aside, it’s too bad that a person can’t “unsee” things because that image really sucks. I’m gonna have to surf a lot of porn to erase that one. Thanks a bunch, Italos!
