polara

Schweet! Did that truck happen to pass through a time machine? Talk about clean and shiny.

I dunno, Caddie. I've barely skimmed the pro ranks so a lot of what I know is second-hand and false... the pros here will correct me. In general, from my recent talks with record company and publishing people this is the traditional model... The songwriter has a contract with the publishing company for a 50/50 split of royalties (collected by ASCAP or BMI who take a cut, too) and this'll include placement in TV shows or games or whatever. As far as royalties off CD or download sales, the recoupable costs and up-front BS mean the record company keeps 100% until you hit about 500,000 units sold. In other words, never. Then you get a whopping 11% to split among the band organization. The money to live off comes from performances unless you just sold a MASSIVE hit. Sometimes a management company will book all that and pay a flat salary to the musicians as employees. Friend of a friend makes $40,000 plus travel is covered, playing bass in a mid-level country band. Or you do the more common five-guys-in-a-van, making phone calls and collecting cash and hiding it from the IRS. In the DIY/independent world, all this can change. If you have the balls and energy and connections and talent, you can set up a corporation, self-publish, self-promote, self-record and self-distribute. You run it like you were running a landscaping business or consultancy, and so you get a way higher percentage of the money and split it as you like. I know a couple of singer-songwriters doing this and making a modest living. Ani Defranco does it and makes a nice living but she is one of my heroes and has loads of talent and energy. So yeah, in an old-school business model, the songwriter will do vastly better financially from a "hit" than his non-writing bandmates.

DavidE, thanks for the background! Interesting. I thought it was common knowledge that a songwriter gets the money for a hit. If you're in a band and not writing published songs, your income is from performances. Period. Well, if you sold a BUTTLOAD of records you'll get tiny royalties off sales but my statement about Tom Gray making bucks wasn't about, say the drummer from the Brains hitting the big time, but how if you WRITE a hit, it's a good thing. If you only play in the band of a hit songwriter it might mean you get to play more gigs, thus getting more money.

There's the catch 22. It's unlikely a "decent song" would get some airplay! ;-) you are correct. I had a song get some respectable airplay in a few college towns. It WAS fun when we were unloading in Auburn, Alabama and a girl comes up and says "You're like... those guys, right? Who do that song, like, the one, you know, that goes (and she hums the chorus), right?" Replying that we like, were, indeed, you know, like those guys, she promised she'd bring all her friends and they were excited. Good gig.

For what it's worth, a friend knew Tom Gray. He had a band called The Brains, who recorded one of his little songs, "Money Changes Everything." Then Cyndi Lauper covered it. Apparently his first royalty check was for $80,000. This in 1980-something dollars. Hootie and the Blowfish sold sixteen MILLION copies of their first CD. Now they play small clubs and, from what i read, love it... they get to gig, no pressure, and they are all set for life. Give me the hit, baby!

I guess I'm sorta doing a rock face.

Hijack number 1,000,0000... Grohl can PLAY the drums! Sometimes it can be forgotten but MAN the drumming on Killing Joke's 2003 release is mighty. That was another band Grohl is a fan of, but this time he DID get to sit on the throne with them.

Um, that was kinda a tangent that no one had brought up. I sense hostility here! C'mon big guy, group hug! I rip off everyone, SHAMELESSLY. Good artists borrow, great artists steal.

I think JP is only partly sloppy and a lot of his stuff is just phrasing and timing that is his style... lots of blues and jazz involves bouncing off the edges of the beat and the scale, and he sure knows it and feels it. I'll jump in with those who'd rather see an unusual style played with some ragged edges than hear Satriani play scales all day...

I'm not even quite sure what that comment meant. Was there someone other than page playing in those videos? When I saw the Page/Plant tour they were better than any Zep live recording I'd heard... FEROCIOUSLY tight.

The Hitchcocks at Nophest, a 3-day thing at Parkgrounds in East Atlanta. About a zillion bands, films, etc. Dog-friendly. We're 6pm Saturday. http://nophest.com

Wasn't HHB an official Hamer endorser? Wasn't that how he got the Sprucerpro? His band wasn't selling much, but I guess playing like Jeff f'ing Beck DOES help tilt the scales. I need to call HHB up...

Very best hopes, prayers and vibes to all of you. It's so hard to see your loved ones suffer...

I wouldn't say that. I have one of the 2002 NAMM Bluesbirds from a run of 35 the Fender Custom Shop made. The thing is freakin' flawless in every way, as good as any Hamer I've picked up. I'd not be surprised if Fender, like any intelligent company, looked at their portfolio of assets and decided how to brand them so that they complemented each other and helped the overall holding company, and sold off a few assets that didn't fit this vision. Perhaps a... Custom shop bolt-on electric: Fender Custom Shop Custom shop set-neck electric: Hamer Custom Shop (new designation) Top-end bolt-on electric: Fender USA Top-end set-neck electric: Hamer USA Top-end traditional acoustic: Guild, Tacoma (maybe they'll sell off Guild or Tacoma) Top-end "modern: acoustic: Adamas Mid-line bolt-on electric: Fender import Mid-line set-neck electric: Hamer import Mid-line acoustic: Ovation, Tacoma (?) Budget bolt-on electric: Squier Budget set-neck electric: Slammer Specialty rock/country electric: Gretsch Specialiy shred electric: Jacksn, Charvel Specialty rock electric: EVH Might be a good portfolio of brands to really saturate the market.

iPods are better today than the were in the past.

Anyone else noticed that for pretty much anything musical people say "Oh, the older stuff is better." Yeah I can see it with a '62 Strat or whatever but people now are waxing poetic over the Norlin-period Les Pauls that were considered crap in the 80s, and even weird Japanese stuff like Vantage guitars that were considered jokes when I was in high school. Maybe the stuff was good then. But also maybe we're knee-jerking "old" = "vintage" = "best." So what is BETTER now? Or at least as good as it used to be? iPods are better. So are computers. Cars last longer. When I was a kid, 100,000 miles was an OLD car and now I'm just getting it broken in at 100K. Better? Hmm. Well, safer and better mileage. Hamers are as good as they've ever been. I can buy better coffee now. What else?

99% sure the phase was added by a previous owner.

Trouble with Gibsons is that (my opinion) you need to play a Gibson first to see if it's a keeper. Their quality control is pretty random, and I hear it varies based on the batch of wood at hand, the pressure the management happens to be under to cut 20 seconds off assembly time, etc. I have only played one Hamer that was not very good. It's not that you can't buy a GREAT Gibson, but if you must buy based on photos and words (as we all must sometimes) the odds are better if you choose a Hamer, or for that matter a Suhr, Macinturff, Robin, etc.... a maker not as pushed to have a good bottom line. P.S. Regrding the store near yer house... um, the dude's dangerous! Actually he's a leading poster here at the HFC and that is an early example that has a lotta collector value and probably plays like a dream.

I was thinking of all the possessions that stay "in the family" here. To wit: Mobster orders a custom orange 12-string Duotone. Sells it to Spidey. Who sells it to me. I trade my Valvetech to cajunboy for a B12L which I sell to Moose. I buy Johnny Thunders' white Artist and sell it to riffpowers. And I sold the gold Studio Custom to iownit4. This week Discountsounds is selling my custom-made EL84 amp back to me after a month of trying it. Why don't we just make the dues a thousand bucks a year and toss all the gear in a communal pot to check out, like a gear geek libraray? Sometimes it seems that way! But ain't it cool that we have a trusted community of buyers and sellers, all fickle, here to share with?

Yeah, from what I can understand from the convoluted Hiwatt history, the amp I'm looking at would have been called a Reeves if it had been brought to the US under the licensing agreement with Fernandes, as the first Reeves were made in England by Music Ground. Why I like it is that: I dig EL84s, I want two 12s to move a lot of air, I want low-ish (15 to 30 watts) so it can be pushed hard, and I only use one channel. Compared to an AC30, this Hiwatt is wired point-to-point, which I like not for amp snob reasons but because if something breaks a tech can fix it easily compared to something where the tube sockets, pots, etc. are mounted straight to a board. I don't really care about the "Hiwatt sound" which is more assocated with their EL34 amps and that kinda ballsy blast of barely-distorted mayhem. I DID like the sound of this amp: a compressed, midrangey EL84 breakup. I just didn't know if the price was a ripoff, but sounds like the consensus is that it's too high. My short list is AC30, Laney VC30, and the Hiwatt/Reeves Studio Stage. I'd be into an Aiken Invader if I could cough up enough coin. Budda is a possibility, too. Anyone else have ideas for an EL84-based amp that is reliable? I'll prob'ly end up with an AC30... Thanks and keep the ideas coming!

Well... English combo amps, one channel with boost, 30-ish watts, 12ax7s in the pre and EL84s in the power section, open back, two 12" speakers. Seems like there is some basis for comparison!

So no Hiwatt fans in da house to tell me if this deal is a good 'un or to take a pass? I figure it's less'n the AC30CC price (well the AC30 with Alnicos) but being rarer and hand wired and such it's not an outrageous price. But I don't see many Hiwatts except for the trés chere Harry Joyce-era ones.

Mods, please move this if it should be in For Sale, but I'm just looking for advice. GC has a Hiwatt (English, not Fernandes PCB) Studio Stage combo for sale, used. It's the EL84 thing switchable between 20 and 40 watts, power scaling, single channel, two 12-inch Fanes and red Tolex, cosmetically great condition. Plugged into it last week and it sounded great. Really tight lows when overdriven, not flabby at all, very arrticulate, very ballsy. Not hi-gain, but had that sort of loud, angry roar and a bit of the Hiwatt "blizzard of nails" feel. Went back two days later and asked for a cable for a second listen. The kid there raves about how they had it "cranked" yesterday and it was so cool. Plug in and it goes "pop, pop, phuuuuuuuutttz" and then whimpers along at low volume. And there's a burning smell. I'm no tech. Power tube I'd guess, hope it didn't take any capacitors or a transformer with it. The kid says they'll check it out, and I'm guessing from CG standards that means they'll leave it untouched or at the most replace one tube. It looks like I'll have a firm offer in hand for a new job next week, and as I made a bit selling my old stuff, I do want to buy an amp. GC has this marked at $1499. I'm thinking of approaching them with a $1300 offer but it MUST be checked out by my tech and they must take it back if it's fried. I'd put it diplomatically, of course. What would you guys do? Or is that too high a price anyway? Thanks!

Yyyyyeah. I don't really see Brian May, Adrian Belew, Robert Fripp, Slash, Robben Ford as under-the-radar guys that are languishing in the dusty cutout bins of history. Rob Fetters...heck yeah. Guy's amazing, wish I'd thought of him.

Sonja, check out Marc Ribot with his Cuban band... Marc Ribot y los Cubanos Postizos. Really wild, free, fierce playing, at once melodic and unpredictible, with this great pure tone and lots of emotion