BadgerDave

My 2 cents. It's an interesting guitar that belongs to someone else. I have no opinion on what he should do with it. It is completely his decision. The guitar is not HFC communal property and, while everyone is entitled to an opinion (and to voice it), this has been discussed ad nauseum. As a courtesy to the owner, whom we can all thank for the availbility of this forum, I suggest we back off. If any thing changes, I'm sure he will announce it here. If not, so be it. Now let's start a thread about raffling off one of your guitars!

I have to say, that wasn't bad. Except for the parts where he was singing.

Mayer is one of a small handfull of musicians that I actively dislike. Others include Kenny G. and, of course, Dave Matthews. The common denominator is that, while all three have technical ability, none of them use it in a creative or challenging way. There is no "soul" in their music. They don't offer anything that causes you to perk up your ears and say, "That's interesting". Pleasant, yes, good dinner music, yes. Nice to have on in the background, OK. Of course, that's true of many other musicians as well. In fact, the entire pop, light jazz, easy listening, MOR, AOL, modern country, etc. formats are comprised of similar acts. So why does Mayer piss me off every time I hear his name? Because: a. he oozes affectation and b. he's a smug. pretentious smarmy little bastard. Here's a perfect comparison. Listen to just about anything written and recorded by Richard Thompson. Note the singing. Note the guitar playing. Then listen to anything by John Mayer. Most of us would agree that Mayer is a technically better vocalist and his guitar playing is "better" in terms of playing the expected notes and patterns. But listen to the lyrics and how the singing and playing fit the song. With Meyer you get cliches and syrupy pablum. With Thompson you get irony, dry humor, creativity and a mastery at hitting exactly the right "off" note to make you go "Damn!" Meyer has never, ever made me go "Damn!" Another comparison. JM is fast food. Serves a purpose, takes no effort and leaves you with a sort of greasy, queasy feeling after.

I get FedEx and UPS boxes intended for my neighbors pretty regularly. 982 looks a lot like 962 on those little bar code labels. I've caught a few as I was about to open them. Why not cut the neighbors some slack instead of automatically assuming that they intended to steal your guitar? When a delivery comes to your door how much time do you spend studying the address label? Especially around the Holidays, it's common to get deliveries that you don't expect. In any event, that's a gorgeous guitar - congratulations!

At the top end of your price range you can find a wide variety of used high-quality guitars. IMO, with non-mass produced acoustics, you get much better quality, sound and playability as you move up the price scale, at least to a point. If I was looking to spend $2K on an acoustic, I wouldn't even think of buying new. The $2K you spend today will most likely leave you with a guitar that you could have bought used, in near mint condition, for $1,200. Similarly, you can get a guitar that sells (street price) for $3K for under $2K pretty easily. You can buy a used Breedlove master class guitar for $2,000.00. Or a high-end used Taylor. Martin, Larrivee, Lowden, etc. Greg has had a used Santa Cruz on his website for a while that looks like a great bargain. Your price point is right at the break between "really good" and "exceptional". Based on the guitars that I've played, there is a significant difference in guitars that retail above $3,000.00 or so. Why not let someone else take the depreciation hit and get a much better instrument for the money?

The guitar in my photo is a Newport 12 string. The finish is the regular natural - no toner.

I'm partial to trans purple, but natural is nice, too.

And Dave, remember to bring your strap this time

Ouch! Probably just a severe case of crotchety old-fartism, but I've never warmed up to the victory inlays. The only exception would be upside-down victories on a Vector, but the answer has been no to that one so far.

Gone but not forgotten: Still in the stable:

Wow! Love the top and finish on yours, David. Very "old school elegant". Letting the cat out of the bag on the stealth comments by McChris, I did some work on his CE-22 last week, including a pickup and wiring swap. Turns out the mounting tabs on the pickups he bought had been drilled out, necessitating an alternate mounting technique. I went with the EVH "bolt 'em to the wood" approach, using springs and foam under the pickups. I drilled out the mounting holes on the mounting rings so you can slip a small screwdriver through to adjust the pickup height. Chris declined the switch to black mounting rings, but he's wrong. Judge for yourself:

I picked up the McCarty this morning. Turns ot it's Raspberry. But it's the darkest shade of that color I've seen. Looks very similar to a purple PRS I once owned. No masked binding and virtually mint condition. I'll post a photo. i haven't had a chnce to plug it in, but I'm very pleased so far.

I'm hoping it's Black Cherry - my favorite PRS finish, but it looks like there's no masked binding, which would indicate Scarlet Red or a custom finish. Who can tell from those photos, though? I'll find out tomorrow if I don't get "rolled" during the hand-off. DavidE, I need to get connected with your sources. The going rate for a decent McCarty around here is several hundred more than I paid for this one. CE-22s are selling for $1,200.00 and up. Of course, I'm looking at eBay and retail stores like Dave's, not Craigslist or private sellers. Chris, I will be doing the EVH mod, and depending on how the McCarty pickups sound, I might add a set of Fralin Unbuckers and one of those RS kits with the coil-splitter. I'll bring it along to the Blue tomorrow.

After all of the crap I went through with eBay over the past couple of months, including multiple attempts to hack my account, a misdirected suspension by eBay, and a couple of extremely irritating auction "winners", I was ready to walk away. But . . . I've been jonesing for a PRS and spotted one on eBay that had some of the earmarks of a potential bargain. Primarily really bad photos and a mid-week, mid-day ending time. Best of all, the guitar is located within 10 miles of my job! I was hoping nobody else would bid and sniped it this afternoon. I pick it up tomorrow morning. Take a look, did I do OK? PRS Auction Linky

I won't be late if I say: "Happy BirthWEEK, Herr Uber-Host." Party like it's 1999 my friend.

Can you tell me the exact weight of the delay pedal? Just kidding. I'll take it if it's still available. Let me know. Your PM inbox is either full or disabled.

I agree with Steve. I've subscribed to Guitar Player for almost 30 years and I'm seriously considering passing the next time my subscription expires. I enjoy Vintage Guitar. For gear reviews, I think the class of the field is Guitarist Magazine from the UK.

I think we need to impose a new rule. No Waterloo speeches unless you've actually established a presence on the board.

Tell him to take it to a reputable repair shop that you can verify is legitimate. You want an expert opinion on the condition of the guitar and the extent of the work required (if any) to get the guitar in good playing shape. Talk to the repair tech yourself - don't take the buyer's word. If the frets are actually flat the guitar will need, at minimum, a fret crown and dress - possibly a partial or full refret. It all depends on how worn they are. Not trying to be an ass, but if I bought a guitar and the tops of the frets were flat, I would not be happy (unless, of course, the condition had been acurately described). Flat frets indicate a significant amount of wear and require a good bit of work by a skilled tech. Otherwise, it may be impossible to get reasobaly low action without buzzing and the guitar will not play as "in tune" on all frets as a guitar with properly crowned frets.

ebay listing This looked very interesting. But scroll down and read the seller's response to the question about the neck repair!!!!!!!!!

Ugliest . . . carpet ever! GORGEOUS GUITAR, THOUGH. Bring back the rusty basment doors.

www.stewmac.com High quality, great value lifesavers. Under $16.00 for both sets. One end is “regular”, the other has the ball feature for angled access. (Go ahead, MC, I set you up). $13.00. I own a professional quality lug wrench too. I hate cheap tools.

I'm working almost exclusively on bass. The goal is to stop playing bass like a guitar player and start playing more like Paul McCartney and, ultimately James Jamerson.

Having heard "no" from the folks at Hamer a few times, I just assume that Jol has his reasons and move on. Sometimes he doesn't want to revisit old concepts (no FBs or "beer" guitars) sometimes its a production issue (no reverse victory inlays) and sometimes he won't build something that he does not believe fits with Hamer's current image or Jol's personal design or aesthetic tolerances. That's a diplomatic way of saying that Jol won't put the Hamer name on something he considers "butt ugly". Regardless of how much a customer wants it or how much someone is willing to pay.

I haven't heard anyone else promoting that headstock as desirable on a Vector. Or any other non-traditional LP Special derived body shape. Except for one very adamant ebay seller who was trying to promote it as "adding value" to a Blitz. You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I think the line is going to be pretty short to board that bandwagon. Good luck, though, today's "no" often turns into tomorrow's "yes" with Hamer.