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humfree

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  • guitars
    '93 USA Sunburst w/Bare Knuckles Riff Raff bridge, Stock Duncan '59 neck, Slammer Series Eclipse w/Vintage Vibe Strat sized P90s, Reverend Sensei w/Bill Lawrence L90XL, Alnico II Pro neck, LTD ST-213 Strat w/BG Pups Vintage 60s, '61 Repaired Neck Gibson Melody Maker w/Lawrence L90XL, Wild Bill's Schecter C-1 Plus, Kramer Forum Bass
  • amps
    Fender Prosonic, Modded Gibson Skylark, Vox Valvetronix
  • fx
    Tech 21 Liverpool, PTD BettaKushBone Deluxe, PTD Plexi-Kush, Tech 21 Boost DLA, BYOC Chorus, Roland GR-1

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    Male
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    Bankruptcy, California
  • Interests
    Dripping tone, dynamic music, debate, sardonic retort, parody, Sharks hockey, science, history, gardening, comedy, tragedy.

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  1. Is any guitar really safe with you?
  2. What if they marketed as the 'Randy Hansen' Signature Model? What a Hendrix tribute artist probably would have played had they been available.. Sort of rolls off the tongue..
  3. I actually liked these, be it not for the obvious Jimmy slight.. Ash Strat with a rear mounted control cavity, reverse headstock, set neck, trem.. tree fitty? http://gear-vault.com/gibson-hendrix-strat-people-are-pissed/ What happened to all of those body parts?
  4. I would imagine there are exercises for both sides of the brain - maybe it's as simple as doing some mental calisthenics to sort of re-initialize your synapses. I never thought that having parts of my brain in sort of a dormant mode for extended periods before playing may have any effect. Good, I need more things to think about that revolve around guitar Maybe I'll look around for some sort of dexterity builders or brain stimulation and give it a try. For me, a medium Peete's coffee usually gets everything working.. but that's for gigs.. a coffee a day would take away from my equipment budget Thanks for making me think more.. just what every musician needs.. hehehe..
  5. The most epic and memorable (and nuanced) I've ever heard is from 'Big Trouble' off of 'Eat 'em and Smile'.. the beginning of the solo has a chirping squeal sent from somewhere not of this earth.. hehehe.. not going to bother embedding, unless the page does it automatically.. solo starts about 2:20, very early in.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CxKWXZvi0I
  6. Even with all of the baggage, Heart came out with the original lineup. THAT for me was special. Then they brought out their current lineup, which to me, sounded like a cover band. Not a fan of Kiss, but it's not about Kiss.. it's about those fans who have been there from the beginning - at least for me it is..
  7. I have an old repaired neck '61 batwing Melody Maker with a thin body and a fat neck.. would love to have a stable full.. Does anyone make guitars like that? The entire guitar vibrates like nothing else.. Sunburst or Special MMs.. seemed to me like a logical step along the lines of the 3/4 scale Standards.. those would be my workhorse line.. HBs, P90s.. bliss.. Peace
  8. $600 for that Carvin on my Craig's would not sell. Please check around for used costs.. Not sure it would sell for $350 even. I'm not trying to be an ass.. that's just what I've seen.. Here's a current list of Carvins that will not sell here: http://sacramento.craigslist.org/msg/3982105647.html - this one has been posted for two weeks http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/msg/3993319433.html http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/msg/3985754667.html Best of luck!
  9. When I was growing up, Carvin had the biggest, free catalog available. Always thought that was cool. When they came out with the Bolt (S-type) Hardtail, I loved the fact that they put a switch in to allow all pup configurations. When they began making them out of ash, I ordered one.. it's still, the best, most brashest, vocal piece of ash I've played. Also, the most uncomfortable neck profile I've played - should have been called the 'Wide and Flat' profile. It will never feel like an old guitar. However, the neck is pretty vibrant as well. At the time they were touting dual graphite bars imbedded in the neck.. it's fuzzy now.. might have been the truss rod itself.. at any rate, it's loud unplugged with great character and attitude plugged in. And.. of all the guitars I own, even those before I got the Bolt.. the Bolt shows the most wear on the frets of any guitar I own. The stock pups did not last 24 hours.. and they use 500K pots for their single coils, so it was a whole new harness to swap them out. Seems like I remember something about their humbucker mounting rings being a non-standard size? You have to replace them anyway if you change to traditional pups, but I want to say the screw spacing is different? Don't think I'd ever go new, but you see them pretty cheap every so often on the Craig's.. and it's always fun to play something different. We have way too many choices
  10. Called in favors, traded, sold, begged, borrowed and somehow funded this build from PTD (Paul Trombetta Design). Got to admit that I've known Paul since high school, but it doesn't jade my feelings toward his builds. I've had a chance to play a lot of his stuff as they are being developed, side by side with some of the premier boxes in the world, and his line is special. Starting at the right, the Mini-Bone Fuzz – both an overdrive and a fuzz.. horn sounds, low octaves, chime and spank through filthy grit that cleans up with your volume knob.. stole a few lines from the website, but it's not easy to explain. Then, the Kush, a low, med Overdrive.. V, T, G – the switch belongs to the Mini. And third, the BettaBoost, a clean boost, light OD with V, T, G and 3 EQ settings – very transparent and amp friendly. All are stellar as stand alone pedals, all pair up nicely, and all three work in concert. Asolutely, without a doubt, the highest quality, best tonal improvement to my rig in years. I'll post a vid sometime in the not to distant future. http://www.paultrombetta.com/ And here's the rest of my stuff.. Tech 21 Liverpool and Boost DLA in line.. off to the side, another PTD boost.. Rangemaster style.. and a couple of BYOCs.. chorus and phaser. Neunabar Stereo Wet and another fuzz from Paul are next.
  11. I started creating my own music because I really didn't have an ear or the patience to figure out how to play mainstream music. I had a Roland TR626 that I used to create patterns, chained them together, created breaks or bridges and then forced myself to come up with something that would fit the framework. This is how I started to write. Lyrics came easier for me once I had background. I produced two 'albums' of material on my trusty Tascam four track.. 6 originals on the first, 2 of which were instrumental with a couple of covers, and ten originals on the second, with one instrumental. Over the next ten years, I wrote infrequently, producing a couple of new songs a year. Then I joined a cover band that worked on average about every other week for almost four years. Didn't even think about writing, but managed to put together a handful of progressions that were essentially complete sans lyrical content. I did get a better drum machine.. a Roland R5 that still works on its original battery After the cover band folded, I naturally got back into writing, only now, I don't have a job where I can allow my mind to wander for 6 hours a day. A friend gave me the book: 'How Music Really Works', by Wayne Chase. Well, I taught myself theory and chord circles, so relearning something I already knew and trying to apply Wayne's vernacular and proper names to something that is abstract to me, was counterproductive. I put the book away for a couple of years before I found myself committed to sit in two hours in a waiting room for a family member. I brought the book along to keep myself occupied. Turning to the back of the book, I found several chapters on songwriting that changed my approach completely, and refined my style. One thing that stuck with me was the fact that writing is difficult for everyone. Anyone who claims they wrote a song in ten minutes and that it just 'came together' isn't being truthful. Songwriting is hard work if your end result is going to be a really good song.. and your end result should be just that. Anyone can write a song, but writing a good song that reaches people is a needle in a haystack. Don't be discouraged by taking six months to develop a really good song. There is a reason that pro bands spend so much time recording. Give your lyrics energy by choosing compelling words. Avoid using the word 'we', instead make it about yourself or a specific subject or proper name. The words you choose should be interesting. There was a lot of specific information about rhyming and applying emPHASis properly. What I found to be a necessary toolbox for me, is the creation of seed lists: Roget's is not an alphabetically organized Thesaurus – words are organized descriptively under headings such as: Space, Matter, Abstract Relations, Intellect, Volition, Affection, etc. Buy it. Make yourself a spreadsheet – column headings Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives. Nouns are broken into three categories – characters, places, and things. I have a column for characters and places, two columns for things, three columns for verbs and two for adjectives. Using Roget's, the book suggests collecting a few words from each category. Spend fifteen minutes a day, or three times week, adding to your list. Over the course of a month or six weeks, your list will fill out nicely. The cool thing about this collection, is that if you pulled them from the categories equally, the words cover a cross section of the language. This was all I really needed to get me over any dry spell. The book goes on to suggest that you should pair words together from the list, making still another list of 'phrases' from which you get your ideas. I have plenty of ideas, just need some options. An underlying message throughout was that there can be no hurry in creating good songs. Don't put a time limit on anything. If you are having trouble, put it down and sleep on it. One should have faith in their sub-conscious to solve some, if not all of the problems you are having with a particular piece. You have to forgive me if I didn't explain this properly. It wasn't easy to condense a couple of big chapters into a post. I am by no means an expert, so any direction or teaching moments I spout about, are directives from what I read. It helped me focus on the power of individual words. Of the thirty or so songs I wrote before I read the book, when I revisited them, I found that the best ones actually exhibited characteristics described in the book. And of the thirty or so I wrote before, objectively I think four of them are pretty good.. which probably means only one is barely above water.. hehehe.. This idea that you shouldn't just write songs, you should try to write good songs, wasn't even part of my thought process. I used to write for the sole purpose of entertaining myself. I ended up with a catalog of songs that no one is really interested in hearing. I find them interesting and unique, but try playing one of your songs back to back with “Life in the Fast Lane”, or “Black Dog” and you wonder, what was I thinking? Of course now, nothing gets finished because I am constantly trying to improve it.. hehehe.. not actually true, but I do see improvement.
  12. Looks like it ate Brian May's guitar.. that's going to turn some heads! So.. how's it work? On/off switches for each pup with reverse phase? I see six white squares on the pickguard and am a little surprised no one has asked. The volume and tone knobs look a little out of reach.. out of the way of the trem, eh? That's a masterpiece
  13. Always thought Reverend and Hamer were kindred somehow - perhaps in their obscurity. I agree about the Korean line being as good as the USAs.. they are night and day side by side - the mids are scooped in the USAs and the Koreans are Korina. The maple 'tops' on the Sensei line are 1/16" - surprisingly effective. Not a big fan of their humbuckers.. a nice vintage set sounds sooo much better.. humble opinion and all. Recently came across a sales reciept for an Avenger 'Workhorse' I bought just after they cancelled the 'Avenger' line for $469. I think it weighed 7 ounces or something.. They used to build guitars for shows and then when the show was done, they would sell them on their site for $50 off - and they never took dogs to their shows. They still always answer their phone or call you back. I bought a Sensei second hand and the pots were heavily molested with a soldering gun.. called Reverend and they sent me a fresh set and spare toggle switch - and I had my wallet out. Great customer service. Fat necks. Good times..
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