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God I hate laptops. Old School here with full keyboard.

A brief history lesson or just reminiscing?... another reading link “I gave Eddie Van Halen the parts, and the next time I saw the guitar he had used a spray can to paint it white with black stripes”: How Charvel spawned a custom shop revolution – and became the premier guitar maker in the age of shredders | Guitar World https://share.google/ueMlja37yOCNXBwet

RIP, Jay.

I have one for the experts: I am actually playing again. The band is using MultiTracks to build and share setlists, then I am able to use their ChartBuilder to practice and develop my parts for each song. I'm using an iPad (A16 if it matters, it likely will if I ever get to the point...) to run ChartBuilder both during practice and performance (synced with other band members). The question (I'll throw in today's Python reference: "GET ON WITH IT"): with the guitar plugged into the iPad, I would like to combine the ChartBuilder playback with some sort of amp simulation. All of this should be portable as much of my practice time happens during lunch at work. For options, I find: iRig HD X Apogee Jam X The reviews on these seem to be either 1 out of 5 or 5 out of 5 (for both), which concerns me as I deal with IT all day at work (I am a finance guy. How did I get here?) so I the last thing I want to deal with when I have a guitar in hand is some sort of technical fiddliness. Has anyone used either of these or any other portable interface that works and works well? The advantage I see of the iRig over the Apogee is if the amp sims are good, one can use the second iRig output to go to FOH. Apogee apparently has no such facility.

So I looked up Arthur on YouTube so I could get more than a snipit in time. It's obvious to anyone who plays guitar that AI hasn't caught on to rhythm and fingers on strings. But if you concentrate on the face and voice, it's over. And it would seem song writers may be in trouble. You will always have a star but that star may just let AI write their hits in the future.

Yup, it's all good... I'm just happy people are participating 🤣

Yup, same here, I was fooled by this one as well... thought the dude had an incredible voice 😳

Okay, I was fooled by this one just now. But then I clicked to see the full video and went to a subscribe page. I looked at some pictures on the profile and obviously AI. https://www.facebook.com/reel/1429554912335225 ETA: At least someone in the comments let us know it's AI "Gravel & Grace is a viral music project featuring Americana, gospel, and Christian songs centered around themes of redemption, grief, and faith. The project is uniquely known for its AI-generated fictional persona, Arthur Hayes, whose voice and weathered appearance are entirely synthesized using generative artificial intelligence. !!!!! Bamboozled !"

Yes, Love them!.. I've been to quite a few... I've had bugs of different types/models in my youth... I guess I was trying to relive some of my awesome memories of driving around in my old van, but the truth is, I came to the conclusion that I don't have the wherewithal to keep searching for parts, wrenching on these things anymore... I have enough car projects around here as it is 🤣

It was not politics or religion, so it is all good.

Conversation went from what band this is to tire size 🤣

Well any or all of this video could be done with common plugins available now using real video without AI. I see the tree movement Saul talked about but that could also be the transition effect as it makes the van turn but could also be an AI background.

Not really sure about the video, will look again but ever been to a BugJam? We have one near where I live every year.

If it matters or if anyone cares, both tires mount on a 16" wheel. The first is 215mm wide, the second 235mm wide (8.46" and 9.25" wide, respectively). Seventy is the aspect ratio - the ratio of sidewall height to width, so in this case the sidewalls are 215 * 0.70 = 150.5mm tall and 235 * 0.70 = 164.5mm tall, respectively. So, the tires are: ((150.5mm * 2) / 25.4 mm/inch) + 16" = 27.83" tall (164.5mm * 2) / 25.4 mm/inch) + 16" = 28.95" tall [/random car-geek-enabled calculation]

Had a guitar buddy listen to them back-to-back. He preferred the Rainsong over the McPherson.....

Ouch!!

Just stumbled across this beauty: (no affiliation) https://reverb.com/item/99649096-robin-usa-ranger-series-2005-wood

I wouldn't doubt this is a real van. I thought it could be an actual video that was shot by an agency working for Slaughterhouse and then pushed through some sort of AI generating / enhancing stew mix. Not sure. But the result is in the video and a song we can't find. It could also be several still photographs, say 2 on each side for a total of 6 that are fed into the AI machine and turned into a video. The result definitely isn't real.

I guess I really don't understand the true definition of AI... because I'm under the assumption that AI is computer-generated "artificial" "fake", but this VW bus is a real van... So wouldn't this just be considered a enhanced video with special effects?

As for the tire, AI sometimes just makes up details. There is a YouTube video out there that explains enhanced video for television shows from the past. They are made to look like contemporary high definition video. AI enhances the viewer's perception of clarity, but details in the background sometimes get filled with garbage details. Award certificates that were never meant to be read have some nonsense spelled out. Sports team banners may have incorrect names or spellings. "Home Sweet Home" can become something else.

The color and saturation for one looks AI to me. Then the "camera" circles around to the dark side of the van/truck and the clarity is not natural. The "sun" is blinding but there's no lens refraction and as it makes the corner to the dark side you can see the trees in the background kind of appear and disappear in a weird blurry fashion. But in the beginning the way the drums make the image vibrate is definitely an effect. Also the outer tread on the front tire isn't quite right (I had to zoom in) and the lugs on the front tire are wrong with 4 evenly spaced and the fifth just kind of filling space. Basically it looks like a cartoon after you get over the flashy presentation and music. But the tell-tail sign was the trees in the background as it rounded the right corner panel. After that I started zooming in to find more details. One was tire identification code that ended with 170R16 which means a 16" rim but that's all I know about tires. So I looked it up. Google came back with 215/70R16 or 235/70R16. I don't know what that is either. But after some sleuthing I found a tire that looks similar: Blackhawk Ridgecrawler. But the treads don't fall as far down the sidewalls. So, either wrong tire I.D. or AI can't quite keep up with those details yet. These are things I started looking for after the obvious cartoon look. I just wanted to see how close AI is getting now. I have been fooled by AI in the past so I'm on a quest now not to be fooled again. I too searched for a Creep video I haven't seen, and I've seen them all as it's one of my favorite songs and have considered a cover of it myself for my own reasons. I thought at first it was the "Oceans" cover. I've heard it before but couldn't remember. Well that wasn't it, and I knew it wasn't Leo's cover, and there aren't too many more covers of it in that genre. I was disappointed because it did sound like a cool cover.

ISSUING A SPIT TAKE WARNING! 🤣

Only the first few/earliest 4-digits. By the time the Sunbursts were in production, those were long gone, despite decades of dealer and internet rumors and misinformation! It's always possible that somebody put a set of real PAFs into their Hamer after the fact, but...WHY?

Have a rainsong 12 fret parlor. Easy to play, stays in tune, great for the couch or travel. I dont worry about it like i do an old Martin. Feel like sitting by the pool on a hot and humid day w a beer and playing, go for it. Take it back into ac. All good. Row your floatie in the pool? No problem (clearly after many beers). Have not played it yet plugged in but it is sufficiently satisfying as an acoustic.

I didn't know about the body thickness difference on these. I've not played a I but Im guessing its probably a bit more like a PRS in that sense. Every time I shoot a demo video with my II the body looks crazy thick on camera. Its definitely a chunky guitar without being heavy.