Leaderboard

Final edits are done-book will be sent off to the printer's at the end of this week/ beginning of next. Looks like 4-6 weeks until it hits the streets! I'm going to be arranging a book signing at a local bookstore here in town for early Summer. My plan is to have some choice Hamers and maybe some special guests there too This is a very exciting thing for me-many thanks to everyone at the HFC for all of your support and assistance!!

I love that 612. If you're going to lose, lose big. Good job.

A New Guitar Extravaganza in Multiple Posts! When I signed up for the challenge, I didn't count on the effect of having my wife go back to visit the old country, leaving me on my own for nearly 8 weeks. I don't hide it from her, but she gets irritated with every guitar box that arrives, especially when someone uses styrofoam peanuts that get on the floor, because I never manage to get them all cleaned up. When she's out of the country, however, I can wheel and deal and bring them all in, send others out, and generally make a mess of the house for a few weeks, and she doesn't see it, so it doesn't irritate her. This one started because I was watching eBay while with her, and I picked up 3 guitars that I just couldn't pass up in the last week of my portion of the visit. Then I came home and, well, "in for a penny, in for a pound", and I had stumbled on the high-end Yamahas for cheap. One thing led to another, and it culminated in the red Yamaha Pacifica 812S I posted yesterday. Here are some of the others: Other High-End Yamahas: Yamaha Pacifica 1221: http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7508_zps4c80d9f8.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7509_zpscc1548fa.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7510_zps91e0eef3.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7511_zps27ff3724.jpg.html'> Amazingly low action and skinny neck. Great sound despite the aftermarket EMGs. No real story about this one. I jumped on it and got it with the high bid of $380, shipped. The total-access neck joint works as claimed. Yamaha RGX 1212: http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7512_zps9bd38e8c.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7513_zps4d129a7c.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7514_zps316efe5a.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7515_zpsb3343a8b.jpg.html'> This was the one that started my Yamaha obsession. I jumped on it because when you can get a neck-through, ebony fretboard guitar at the professional end of Yamaha's guitar lines for under $500, you do it. The mini-switches are all aftermarket. One is a bypass, one is a coil split, and the other one does nothing that I can tell. The seller had no idea, either. Great tone, great player, stays in tune without touching the fine tuners for literally months. It arrived in tune, I just pulled it out of the box and played. I have adjusted the fine tuners once since I got it in mid-February. The graphics are what made me look closer in the first place. It is just a decal applied to the front, and you can take it off w/o hurting the guitar...but I kind of like it.

Benny, old chap, I can't see Steve going any closer than Henley-on-Thames.

With that graphic finish, I think I can see through time. HNGD!

Yamaha RGX 612: http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7556_zps85dcdfb8.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7554_zpscd3959e4.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7555_zps080b468d.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7557_zpsace13dcf.jpg.html'> http://s716.photobucket.com/user/brainfertilizer/media/all%20guitars/DSC_7558_zps7f998d2c.jpg.html'> This is both an "eBay SUX!" and "eBay RAWKS!" story. He didn't have good pictures. Described it as a guitar he used to play but put away 10 years ago and hasn't touched since. Described as good condition. I figured I was getting a steal by getting it with a case for a bid of $150 ($180 shipped). Then it arrived. Look at my first picture. That was better than his best picture, but the missing parts still aren't obvious. Look at the 4th picture: obvious missing parts. He could have done the same, but didn't. Then again, the guitar sounds great, plays great, and actually stays in tune without the string clamps. I grilled him a little, and he sounded genuinely distraught and apologetic. I was disappointed, but in the final analysis, I still got a great deal, so I dropped the issue, thanked him for his sincerity, and gave him good feedback. Total Access Neck Joint still/also works exactly as claimed. I've got bunches more! But no time right now, will post later tonight.