Jeff R

We have the same five-piece Tama Rockstar kit at Polluted Womb Studios, and my 15-year-old son has one of them too. Incredible bang-for-the-buck kits - I think I got Joey's new and shipped to the door with hardware, Tama-branded cymbals, a throne, even gigbags for the shells and cymbals, in one big package deal for $450 shipped from MF a couple of Christmases ago.

+1 on Kiz's assessment - the man kicked absolute ass in what could be one of the toughest performance situations one could imagine (playing live in the rain, in a stadium, on a freaky stage setup, with everything rushed, worldwide TV audience, and I'm sure there are other hurdles for that gig we would never consider). After the show, my 15-year-old raced to my stash of CDs and dug out my Prince greatest hits compilation. I may have to rent "Purple Rain" for us this coming weekend - I haven't seen it since it was in the theater.

The induction ceremony should be a riot with all the VH in-fighting (DLR versus EVH, EVH versus Hagar, EVH versus Michael Anthony). I think we should put down bets now as to who throws the first blow, verbal or otherwise. If Cherone shows up, my money's on him LOL.

Echoplexing for the most part since I jumped into this one late. Faves in my collection: - Kiss - Alive and Alive II - Motorhead - No Sleep Till Hammersmith - Iron Maiden - Live After Death - Judas Priest - Unleashed In The East - Racer X - Extreme Volume I and Extreme Volume II. - Pantera - Official Live 101 Proof - James Brown - Live At The Apollo - Blue Murder - Screaming Blue Murder - Van Halen - Civic Pride (bootleg from December '77, mixing board recording!) - Dokken - Beast From The East and One Live Night - Black Label Society - Alcohol Fueled Brewtality

Condolences out to you and the family, Frank.

I just sold a USA Diablo on eBay for $400 a coupla weeks ago. It was a shred machine. USA Centauras are even more shreder friendly in my opinion. Again, in the $400 and usually under range. Nothing wrong with the XT set-necks, nice guitars, but I'd say be cool and patient for a USA bolt-on because it's MUCH better.

Incredible loss for many genres of popular American music and American culture in general. I swiped my Dad's oldskool LP of "Live At The Apollo" for a weekend back when I was in high school and I wasn't ever the same again. I think that was the first time I tried to play electric guitar without full distortion.

That's great, Kev. Congratulations to all of you!

Decent music but the buzzsaw voice turned me off. I tried to listen to it again a few years ago when I stumbled across a lost box of cassettes and couldn't make it through one side.

I got to endure a dose of the Wassholes this morning getting my 2-year old ready for daycare. Those songs are like crack for preschoolers. But I may just be sour grapes because the red-shirted Wasshole only knows three campfire sing-a-long chords and his gig pays a shitload more than any job I'll ever get, music or otherwise.

You guys are nuts. LOL

Now I'm craving moonshine.

I like the suburban New Orleans one for the used gear, me and Cajun Boy have scored some great deals on stuff over the years. I pulled a newer Sheffield-loaded metal-front Peavey 4x12 in stupid clean condition from it just last week for $225 and that was before I applied a $70 credit the store owed me.

I'll echoplex Cantrell and Alex Skolnick, and add three more names... Nuno Bettencourt Ronni LeTekro Richie Sambora

Comes With The Fall - The Reckoning EP. Hey Badger Dave, +1 on the EJ observation. I like his stuff a lot too but the new record can't keep my attention at all it's so lackluster and SOS.

If the Muse's is any across-the-board indication of wrap around Studio guitars, they are well worth the money.

I made it back to the swamp midday yesterday, so both me and the MN gang (especially Bruce!) can finally get a little recovery action going on. I personally slept like a rock last night and getting out of bed this morning was an exercise in determination and fortitude. Round two recap: Monday night was the perfect icing on the cake, what a great call for things-to-do by Bruce. Me, him and Eric (great player and the perfect partner for slammin' beers and hollerin') got to jam and drink a little and then off to Bunker's Monday night jam with Dr. Mambo's Combo, which could easily be summed up with just the word "wow." Man, what a house band - I honestly can't recall any house/cover band I've seen anywhere that came close to those guys. Period. Thanks again to everyone with whom I crossed paths and cut up with, and double thanks to you, BruceM. I'll never forget it.

That's not a guitar face - I was reacting to being told I had to share the purple one. LOL! Wow, what an evening. What a fucking weekend. I could honestly keep you guys reading for a while with just the shit I remember (we emptied so much aluminum, I could fund my way back to the swamp via recycling). Holy shit, what an experience. Quick observations: -- BruceM is the ultimate host, the perfect ambassador to his home city and one of the absolute coolest guys on the planet. And the 4-3-2-1 Jam: Fellas, the notoriety on this board is well deserved. A "must-do" experience for all HFC'ers. Make at least one in your lifetime. -- The Minneapolis area chapter are a bunch of incredible musicians and even more incredible people. I had so much fun just shooting the shit around the grille and the kitchen with all these kind folks serving up the Cajun goodies. I tip my Millah can in thanks to all of you, and next time I'm gonna catch that damn rabbit runnin' round Bruce's backyard and I'm stewin' his ass Cajun-style. -- "The Cat's Fuckin' Ass" guitar honors for the evening is a tie between the purple Studio Custom Custom Custom Custom and BadgerDave's newest homebrew tele-from-helly. Ebony board, double bound hollow body tele with Bardens. Good god, it vibrated your ribcage it was so resonant - I was offering to buy it off him before I even heard it plugged in. And I gotta give an honorable mention to Bruce's silver Standard, which probably fueled the first Hetfield runk-chunk rhythm display in 4-3-2-1 Jam history. -- Got to finally meet our HFC Den Mother, Ted. I can't express enough gratitude and appreciation for all that you do for us. You are the man. -- Last but not least, The Muse. The Motha-Fukken Muse. I don't know where to even fucking start with this crazy bastard, he needs to change the "MC" in his handle to "MF." Fucking priceless experience of a weekend I'll never forget. Thanks so much, brother.

HBBM

I like Rat pedals too. Either OD or dist depending on how you dial it, I haven't played an 80s Rat since the 80s - anyone care to tell me the difference in the "good" vintage Rat versus the current "Vintage Rat Reissue?"

I had a '91 or '92 Drop Top for a little while and it had the best fretwork I've seen on any guitar to date. Agree that you should buy used - Anderson consistency is pretty much across the board like Hamer, so you aren't likely to get a dud. Also agree that Gerard Melancon's guitars are in the same ballpark craftsmanship-wise, but substantially cheaper.

And if me foggy memory serves me right, he plays a B.C. Rich-made ML clone on one of the live performances on their first home video, "Cowboys From Hell - The Videos."

Here's a cost-effective option if you are handy with a soldering iron. http://www.buildyourownclone.com/fuzz.html I built BYOC's script logo Phase 90 kit this past weekend. Easy to follow instructions, took me a few hours and it sounds INCREDIBLE.

One thing that may help is minibuckers. The first time I ever test-drove a Les Paul Deluxe and a Crate Vintage Club 30-watt 1x12 combo (my gigging amp at the time) I was playing Skynyrd rhythms and licks non-stop because it was "that" sound. Never got as close again until I tried one of my friend's stock Firebirds through the same VC combo. Nailed it again with Cajun Boy's stock Eclipse when he first got it and his Super Reverb with a FDII out front in "boost" mode.

The Floyd-is-a-tone-robber theory is BS IMHO, after owning countless guitars with and without. I've had relatively cheap-cost Floyd'ed guitars that were tone and sustain monsters and high-dollar hardtails/other trem-style guitars that sounded or sustained nothing like the price tag/perceived value should indicate. I also think the thing about butting a Floyd down against the body to enhance tone and sustain is BS too. Then again, I'm a full-floating Floyd advocate. I've "enhanced" the sustain of my Floyd-equipped guitars with Tremol-No units but they didn't have crap sustain to begin with. If you are die-hard to get a Floyd but still want some of the benefits of a hard-tail, I STRONGLY recommend the addition of a Tremol-No unit. In summary, consider the guitar in question for its own tone and sustain, regardless of the bridge, electronics, etc.