Steve Haynie

What kind of plating is on your bridge and tailpiece? How about your tuner buttons?

3of5 said stay away from the stainless strings. Go get a set of Elixers or maybe some of those newer color coated strings to make sure there is no nickel alloy touching your fingers. Frets are also made from a nickel alloy. If you could find something with stainless steel frets to play for a while that might help. If it turns out that you have a nickel allergy you could start having your guitars refretted with the stainless steel frets. It would be expensive, but worth it.

This week it has been the Sideburn album Jail and The Treatment's debut album This Might Hurt.

I have noticed the hands of some older players that are still touring. Some have rougher looking hands. You can still play, but the irritation is a price you have to pay.

This is some good stuff.

Do any of those kids get a regular music instruction in their school?

Now which guitar player will the kids like best: The one in shorts? The one in the cool shirt? The one with the cool outfit that matches his instrument? Or maybe the guy who adds a little mystery to his presentation?

What will you be wearing? The guitar and the clothing has to go together as svl has demonstrated in his signature photo.

He played like you would expect-- perfectly. His solo was a bit different as he played along with a synth track or triggered synth patches as he played. It was more than just percussion when he played. If you saw Neal Peart on the last tour or two you saw something similar to what Rod Morgenstein played last night.

Last night my friends backed off from driving up to Charlotte to see Winger at Amos' Southend near downtown. Of the three or four shows attended previously at the venue this one was the most packed I have seen. It was also one of the better crowds, too. There were people drinking, but no drunk assholes. There were a lot of people, but no one crushing up to the stage. It was hot, but no one was slammed against each other to make it even hotter. The opening act was Hair Nation. They have opened for a lot of heavy metal acts around Charlotte. This time there was a new guitar player who happened to play a Hamer Californian Elite for a few songs. He pulled it out for the first time when they played Cheap Trick's The Flame. They played an hour. Winger came on stage at 10:32 and played until midnight. Kip Winger has an Alex Skolnick hair style now including the white streak on one side of his forehead. What made me laugh is how low his microphone was so he could slump over a little when he sings. He was sort of holding a pose every time he was at the mic, but then he really was not posing. The guy put so much conviction into his performance that his positioning was necessary to express himself. Go watch this guy doing solo shows on youtube and you will see that Kip Winger does not do lame performances. Cannot happen. Kip only played a Warwick Streamer when he played bass. I cannot remember what he was using for an amp. There were times he sat behind an electric piano which may or may not have had the bass lines preprogrammed. If anything there must have been a split keyboard for some of the bass parts. There was an Apple notebook of some sort near the piano, and before one song Kip told the other guys his computer crashed so they needed to jam while he was waiting for it to reboot. No problem. The rest of the guys immediately jammed over a riff started by Reb Beach. After a minute or so they played the piano song, probably Headed For A Heartbreak. It could have been Miles Away. It was something nearer the end of the show. I could barely see Rod Morgenstein through his drums. His toms were high, and he was surrounded by cymbals. The drums were purple, like that really means anything here. Reb Beach has always looked like he is having fun on stage. If there is a guy who understands how to put on a show as a guitar player, Reb Beach is the guy. He never looks at his guitar during a solo. He looks at the audience and makes faces, rolling his eyes or putting on a fake grimace just to accentuate what he is playing. It was like he was playing a friendly game with the audience. The entire time Reb played a Suhr that looked to be koa with a little flame to it. If you go to his web site, the guitar he had was probably the second one on this page. I remember the wood grain on the body. There were two Marshall half stacks behind him. I got an orange Reb Beach/Winger guitar pick. John Roth is a far better guitar player than I remembered. When he soloed everything he played cool as could be. When he did his country picking thing it was really slick. The only other guitar player I have seen do chicken pickin' at a heavy rock show was John 5, and John Roth was better at playing that style. As far as I am concerned, Roth was more impressive than John 5 overall. Roth played a black Fender Stratocaster the whole time. He had a Marshall half stack, but there was a Boogie head with the hammered aluminum face sitting on top of the Marshall head. The hairspray and ripped jeans are long gone. The voice and talent are still there. Winger played like they were all having fun, not just "putting on a show." Just to add a little more Hamer content... Way back when Kip Winger (and former Winger member Paul Taylor) played with Alice Cooper through his first album he played Spector basses. Then he played Hamer Impact basses. The Warwick Streamer is based on a Spector design. It would be nice to see him brought back to Hamer if they would make him an Impact again. The set list: Pull Me Under Blind Revolution Mad Easy Come, Easy Go Stone Cold Killer Hungry Rainbow in the Rose Deal With the Devil Down Incognito Guitar Solo (John Roth) Your Great Escape Guitar Solo (Reb Beach) You Are the Saint, I Am the Sinner Drum Solo (Rod Morgenstein) Headed for a Heartbreak Can't Get Enough Seventeen Encore: Miles Away Madalaine Helter Skelter

Ken Hensley is the only guy you need to compare to Jon Lord. Those two were the heavy riff Hammond players! I have a tube that came out of Keith Emerson's Hammond. When I was bumming a Greg Lake guitar pick a tech said, "Here-- have a valve out of Keith's organ."

Metal rules!

Yup. The guy with the goatee, earrings, and Iron Maiden tattoo in the center. From the followups on the IM message board they are outing the guy on Facebook.

Oh, well. Sorry. Asshole hit a girl in the face as he pushed his way through. Guess which one he is in the photo? Some Iron Maiden fans posted a cell phone photo of him on Facebook and within a day they found him. By the way, see the kid in the front? The parents used him to work their way up front. He could be crushed, but at least Mom and Dad would have a good spot.

Cell phone cameras and Facebook are going to be the downfall of concert assholes. Someone posted a thread about a jerk at an Iron Maiden show in Newark, NJ. The thread gets interesting on page 9. Dickhead is ID'd on page 12.

I got an e-mail from a shop that showcased how they recreated Ace's smoking Les Paul. If it were a web page there would have been a link posted here. If you want to see the e-mail with all the photos on how to correctly build a smoking guitar send me a PM with your e-mail address and I will forward it to you.

Hmmm... I was thinking about posting that if you let a cat pee on your case the smoke smell would not be so bad. Oh, crap... group think.

A Jazz Bass has a more narrow nut.

The Music Man Stingray was Leo Fender's upgrade of the Precision. The main difference was the pickup. To me, it is the perfect bass pickup.

Someone here was looking into the old style straps. I think that ended because of the minimum quantity of woven checkerboard material getting too expensive.

Since this thread has popped up again this is as good a time as any to bring this up. Is it possible Hamer/Fender would grant permission to do a limited run of reproduction "Ultimate" T-shirts? They could ask for a $1 licensing fee or something like that. Surely there are enough of us who would buy something like that.

This one would be OK for someone with repair skills and parts on hand. There is a reason the guitar in the auction has been stripped of its parts. If it was that great to being with someone would have kept it whole. Then there are those of us who see a stripped Hamer and want to pay/restore it thinking it will be wonderful.

Brian and Vic-- it looks like 2012 is YOUR year. Live it up!

Go with "Passonate Prince."