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Biz Prof

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Everything posted by Biz Prof

  1. I change strings when I see/hear/feel the effects of corrosion and wear...or sooner if a string breaks. I have pulled a set earlier than necessary if I was compelled to swap pickups and/or do a minor repair or a full set up. But...the sweat/oils from my hands are apparently mild compared to some other people's. Now, when I was 22 years old, single, and gigging full-time, I changed strings every week on both of my primary guitars--a floyded Strat and a '93 Special. I got a great deal on a huge shipment of D'Addario XL 120 sets ( think I paid an "artist rate" plus shipping for six or eight boxes) thanks to a connection I made with the company's AR guy via Carroll Dashiell, a music professor and jazz orchestra conductor at ECU. Carroll is an incredible bassist and was a D'Addario endorser back in the early '90. He's well known in jazz/R&B circles, especially in/around the DMV area where he grew up and attended university. Cool dude and nice enough to help out a non-major music student.
  2. Yeah, exactly. I was part of virtual fraternity of 16-year-old smart asses. Oh, to be young and dumb again. But to our credit, we had good taste in guitars and would have salivated over Jim's graphic and metalflake shredder hot rods. Hell, I salivate over them now.
  3. Band names used to be a lot of fun. Two of my high school bands: Cruel Dungeon (metal) Chachi's Nazis (power pop)
  4. Ded Mullet: One of my all time favorite band names.
  5. Verily. But he apparently has solid command of the verbal crutch "anyways".
  6. That's my understanding, as well. My wish is that the thieves could be exported to a Turkish prison or a Siberian labor camp.
  7. To me, the most significant attribute separating the Cent from other models is the dinky body.
  8. Not sure how the thieves think they can dispose of that many of those types of guitars...unless they figure out a way to export them overseas.
  9. That's a wicked build by Paul Hamer. Related topic: Rick supposedly ordered a set of checkered Explorers from Gibson CS a couple of years ago, but I've not seen them out in the wild. WTH happened to those?
  10. I think you stumbled upon the subject matter for the design of your next graphic finish, Jim. 😄
  11. Ironically, I had the same thought based on some interactions I've had recently with a few local players. While it's not a hard-and-fast rule, my experience has been that many of the guys in my suburban neck of the woods who have the nicest boutique gear (Suhr, Gibson CS, Fender CS, PRS, Nash, Huber, McInturff, etc.) are all relatively mediocre players--most openly admit that they're average at best. Technically, it's not totally inversely proportional, meaning that's not to say that the best local guitarists play Squiers and Epis through shitty practice amps; they don't. But many of the better players have older stuff (as in gear made in the '70s, '80s, and early '90s) and partscasters they've tweaked to their liking. My guess is that they've spent much more time honing their chops than shopping for gear. Having said that, I really do enjoy opening Jim's latest thread to see the latest '80s hair-metal throwback he's commissioned, checking out Shark's latest highly figured acquisition, or ogling Luc Sulla's most recent purchase. All of these dudes can play their asses off, proving that there are many exceptions to the "rule" in the HFC.
  12. It actually started OK, but the bass drum(s) ended up distorting badly. When Alex used his double pedal, it seemed to overwhelm everything else. Eddie played well, Wolf hit the high harmonies, and Dave actually sounded good.
  13. Sound quality at the 2007 Van Halen (with DLR) show in Greensboro was just horrible. Painfully loud, mushy, distorted drums and bass. Guitar tones were quite shrill. The canned synth used for "Jump" was set at the wrong pitch and therefore out of tune with the band. In the years since, I've heard similar complaints about the Charlotte show. Those two concerts were the first on that tour and while I've long believed a tour-opening show might be plauged with technical gremlins and mistakes, the abhorrent sound quality at that Greensboro was far beyond the realm of teething pains.
  14. The diverse range of subgenres is largely what makes rock music so pervasive and durable. To each, his own, you know. As I get older, I tend to be less openly critical of artists, styles, and subgenres of which I'm not a fan... ....But I've never been as consistently and militantly challenged when asked about one of these artists as much as when Dead fans grill me only to discover I find nothing appealing in their catalog. It's as if they cannot conceive how a lifelong musician can harbor no appreciation of all that is "the genius of the Dead." In fairness, though, I've gotten similar incredulous reactions from some friends when I admitted that I found JJ Cale/'70s Clapton "boring as hell" and "musically lazy". Same as with my brother in law's worship of the perpetually stoned and sleep-inducing Jack Johnson. Sacred cows die hard, it seems.
  15. Only two fretted instruments in 2023: The Boss 429 hot rod Tele (technically I finished and strung it up on December 30th of last year, but I didn't get it properly set up and in gigging shape until January.) And then there's this Fullerton F-style mandolin. Perfect for the Celtic jig Nigel plays after the narrative interlude on "Stonehenge".
  16. I picked up a Victory Countess Mk II. It's very British and has both clangy Vox and chewy Marshall tones in it at a more reasonable volume and with much less white noise than my four holer. So, that's pretty much top gear for me.
  17. Always found it amusing how Carlos Santana and Dickey Betts both have the habit (almost a nervous tick) of constantly reaching down and "adjusting" the volume knob.
  18. I guess late '85 marks the actual change to the Standard neck heel, then. Interesting!
  19. Worthy of note, too, that Standards went extinct in '85 only to re-emerge over 10 years later with a very different headstock and an ugly-ass neck joint (Korina Standards notwithstanding).
  20. That's one of the spotting features that originally made me think it was a Standard.. But mid/late 1985? Standards of that era had the elongated headstock and the blended heel. They also had a slightly different heel/neck joint geometry. That triple bucker guitar looks like a heavily optioned Blitz to me.
  21. Just a point of clarification. Upon closer examination, both have Blitz neck joints, so I'm inclined to call both of these custom ordered Blitzes, even though I always though the gaudy one was a Standard. https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/category/bon-jovi/richie-sambora/ https://www.rockstarsguitars.com/products/bon-jovi/richie-sambora/richie-samboras-custom-hamer-standard/
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