LucSulla

You should watch the vid. The 7-string is definitely the most useful part, haha.

Thanks! We're still not as rehearsed as I would like, but I think the band has a lot of potential.

Here's a really out-there version of Cheap Sunglasses. I've been mixing and throwing stuff under a crappy phone vid all day. I think this is pretty interesting.

The purge has begun, starting with my much loved EVH guitar that I got to enjoy all of two months. In truth, it was an impulse buy, and buying the ES-335 kind of meant something had to go. I really almost sold the custom shop Charvel and kept it, if that tells you anything about the build quality of the EVH Mexico stuff. There's more to it than just that of course, but it played well enough to give my pause. So off it went. It did cross my mind that I was selling the guitar that I raved about out of the box to keep the one with the bullshit nut that has given me nothing but tuning problems. The Gibson is certainly worth more in the grander scheme of things, but if you had to play a show with one of them straight from the showroom, the EVH was the far better guitar.

I can feel a massive gear purging coming, which makes me sad as I only have stuff I really like left. The Mark III was the first... Hell, the Standard was really the first. I see guitars pop up that would actually be more useful for what I do these days than some of the things I have a lot of money tied up. Plus they cost 1/3 to 1/2 as much. I also need a good combo for a couple of reasons. Due to that, I can see some stuff I've always wanted having to go out the door soon. And honestly, it's a weird mixture of being sick to see it go and relieved to go back from a museum back to stuff that is just useful.

Jesus, the Mesa Mark III is bring out the morons on Reverb. "Is it loud since it's only 70 watts?"

Yet another show where I bring three guitars and still end up playing the Shishkov for 75% of four hours of music.

Your band will always have that one guy. That one fucking guy.

Honestly, any time I walk into a bar and Gibby Haynes isn't on stage swinging a microphone around, I am really let down. One day...

I tend to spend more on less when I'm gigging. I've got really top notch gear at the moment, but I actually own less stuff. I run through more guitars when I'm not gigging because I don't know what I actually want to play as none of it gets used for playing out. I find gigging pretty quickly makes clear what I have just to have and what I actually prefer for making music.

It's possible!

Maybe the club is on fire, but you can't stop rocking, so you need to play the whole set in one minute.

I haven't really listened to the most recent Van Halen album until this week. Maybe it took me 10 years to get over the Michael Anthony thing. Good lord! It kills! And as corny as DLR is, he just writes far more clever lyrics than Sammy. I've come to terms with it. DLR is the Keats of childish lyrics about getting laid.

Brian Wampler's YouTube Channel is endlessly fascinating. I'm addicted.

I often wonder if it's really GAS or if it's the actual acquiring and then moving along gear, thus creating a never ending stream of something to do with your gear, is really what guitar collections end up about.

When you are told to bring the bigger rig because the venue is large. Bog finna eat!

I have an old EVM from an 88 Mesa Mark III combo collecting dust. I keep meaning to sell it but then keep forgetting. If you're ever interested, let me know.

Is there anything more pretentious in all of guitardom than tube discussion threads? Everyone goes the same way - "Hey, I was wondering about this new tube I saw in my XYZ amp." The next answer is usually - "Oh you'll want this or that NOS tube." Variations include - "Hey, I was curious what you guys think of the new Mullard EL34 vs. Electro-Harmonix." Response: "Wehhhhhhllll... first of all, those are NOT Mullards. The originals were great, but those new ones are not AT ALL the same. I highly recommend you pick up this-or-that-now-defunct brand. They are a steal at the moment for only a first born child!" All to go in like a Peavey Classic 30 or something that some weekend warrior is just trying to rock at his weekly open mic. I have to wonder if these people ever actually gig this stuff. I don't care how good old Mullards sound vs a Ruby. I'm not loading up $500 worth of glas to play Al's Blood Bucket and Bar-B-Q. I know the patrons will long for the silky highs and warming mids in between Cuervo shots, but I just can't do it.

A good SG through a good Bogner Shiva is a pretty damned good time. Whoever had this house before me had a kid that put those glow-in-the-dark stars all over the ceiling of one of the bedrooms. I turned off the lights and just had the green light on the Bog and the stars on the ceiling for light. That was really satisfying.

I think that is why most people do it. I was that weirdo that at around 13 thought, "If I don't find an outlet, I'm either shooting myself or blowing the school up. I like music... maybe I'll try that first." And it actually worked, thankfully. I didn't strike me until my late 20s that even I could successfully use playing music to fill other spaces. It wasn't that I was too good to give it a go at 19, I just didn't seem like an available option.

I actually buy less when I am playing. I think I sublimate my lack of stage time into building a collection, and since I don't find it ultimately as satisfying as playing, it tends to get out of hand because I'm slaking my thirst with something other than what is necessary to quench it. Jesus - I think I just wrote a metaphor about my being single as well.

How quickly an I'm-great-at-guitar-day turns into an I've-wasted-23-years-trying-to-be-good-at-this kinda day.

It looks like an amoeba!

Mine's korina, so that would be a bear. I'd probably let the Tally go before the Standard. I still play the Standard pretty often. The Tally doesn't see fresh air very much anymore. It's a great guitar, but as I approach 40, I find I really just want to go back to my roots and play hard rock and southern metal. It's not that you couldn't do that with a Tally, but other guitars more naturally do that to me.