polara

Well, maybe underFAMOUS, as guitarists seem to know who these guys are... Marc Ribot Richard Thompson Dave Gregory (ex-XTC) Elliot Easton David Rawlings (Gillian Welch's guy)

We just have a general guideline that for any purchase over a hundred bucks or so, we tell the other first, as we share one bank account and try to set joint priorities (savings, home improvements, etc.) In the last year I've bought and sold quite a few chunks of gear and oddly have come out a couple hundred bucks ahead. The guitars I own basically aren't gonna LOSE value unless I tip 'em over and break the headstocks so it's not a big deal to tie up five hundred dollars in a guitar I'll clear $510 on six months' time when I see something elae I want

I think, from photos, that I play it exactly where BCR Greg does. They Jimmy Page low looks rawk, but barre chords can get tiring that low, as can some lead stuff. I don't like it too high, admittedly partly for looks but I have long arms and broad shoulders and a birdcage chest, built like a scarecrow. I like to have my picking arm fairly relaxed, and I just angle the neck to suit whatever I'm trying to do with the left hand. On bass I honestly like it low because I can keep my wrist fairly straight and comfortable. The exception is if I'm doing slap stuff, in which case wearing ti WAY high is the way to go, like most funk players wear it. I can't get that shumb slap thing going with my arm dangling down.

Have a great one, sir! Full of love and silliness and good music and good company. And may your year ahead be full of pleasant surprises, growth, and love.

hamerican gigolo, I also play through a small EL84 amp and need crunch-to-roar (but not scooped metal) sounds. The Fulltone OCD or Fulltone Fulldrive 2 work great. I suspect nearly anything based on a Tube Screamer kinda circuit's okay. I am now using a Visual Sound Route 66, which is basically a Tube Screamer on one side (with an added switchable bass boost) and a compressor on the other (with added switchable EQ). Mostly 'cos my Fulltone's switch broke and I had to get something else to gig with until I could get a switch! Lotsa good suggestions in the thread. Can you take your amp to a store and try a few?

Green

It's WESTERN NC that lacks BBQ, not North Carolina SInce I called Asheville home for nine years and still think of WNC as God's Own Country Where The Sun Shines a Little Purtier, I take umbrage at any anti-WNC digs. However I'll agree that the vinegar-based eastern NC barbeque is the best stuff, period. Beats the Georgia tomato-based variety.

"The nice thing about buying a guitar is that it isn't a terribly important decision. If you make a mistake and buy the wrong one for you, just sell it and find one you like better." Ditto. I guess you could get in the ballpark by measuring the "easy" (though not to me) things like neck circumfrence at nut and at 12th fret, pickup output and frequency response, and weight. Then list the components. That's more or less what a car magazine does: it weighs so much, has this much horsepower, and does 0-60 in this and brakes from 60 in that. But there are too many variables and not enough controls to make a really useful test, I think. Add to the very nature of a guitar (like most purcheses) being half or more emotional... and you you get ot the place car magazines get to, where they usually say "The Yogi XL12 was only third in the skidpad, last in the quarter-mile, and won only the braking competition. Yet there was an undefinable something that made it the most fun to drive of all cars in the test." Frankly, it doesn't seem that important to me. Just play the thing and if you dig it, buy it unless you don't have the scratch. Then play all the ones you CAN afford and buy the one you like best.

Izzit just me that doesn't want to gig with the really nice, shiny, pretty instruments? I'm selling my white Artist to Riffpowers 'cos it's practically perfect and I'm scared I'll bump it into a mic stand or drop it or spill a beer on it. The Special FM gets "oooooohs" from everyone who sees it (pretty transparent green finish, dang near flawless condition for a '94 that was $550 of the 'bay) and I doubt I'll play it outside the bedroom. But the '83 G&L that has been ragged out, stripped, repainted, restripped, gouged, routed, rewired, and basically drug behind a truck gets played. So does the '94 ArchstudioGThumbucustom, with its acute Hameritis, dings, and binding that's turned amber and is starting to show some gaps. Shame about the pretty ones. They both play like buttah but I don't want to scratch them!

That's great news, Steve. Wishing ya both well from WAY up north!

Weirdest fuzz I have ever heard is the Effector 13 Soda Meiser. In the "chaos" mode it's basically an AM radio drowning in a sea of boiling lemonade. On Mars. Total Radiohead/Flaming Lips/Sonic Youth bizarrity.

Thanks, y'all. Not too bad a way to turn over another number on the odometer: was directing a photo shoot in Chicago (taking architectural pics on a perfect 70-degree sunny day with a lovely 20-something shooter) then home to a home-cooked meal from Mrs. Polara. My brother's coming to town tomorrow, and we have a Friday night gig. Saturday's the CMJ Music Festival and a visit to the Rock Hall of Fame. So I may sound like a bundle of slowly snapping twigs when I wake up, but life is good!

Creakiness. I'm still FIT and not bald, and seem to have aged fine except that the BMX and mountain bike racing and snowboarding and motocross that helped keep me fit and feeling young broke a helluva lotta bones. Things are starting to get chronically sore, so I figure in twenty years I'll be using a cane. I do take glucoasmine and keep exervising, though.

Oh, I LOVE that amp. I was the original owner and custom ordered it for the photo shoot, as I designed the Valvetech page. It freaking rocks. BUT I was playing bass at the time and my guitarist basically comandeered it. For two weeks he raved about the thing and I decided I'd never be able to use it so grabbed it back and traded it to Cajun for a minty B12L. Wow, I am tempted to buy it back.

Yep! I think they tend to use better wood, better seasoned, and take a little more time to make the instruments themselves. I also like that they are usually functional... not that they aren't pretty and some are real inlaid, plated knockouts, but the seem to be designed to be guitars first and objects d'art second.

I think between shipping, Ebay fees, PayPal fees, and how people can get a quick look at whatcha paid and do so much comparison shopping, it's PROBABLY easier to make that money with a job. I do the same thing from time to time but it's more of an occasional thing for pocket change. I recently snagged a lovely B12S for $795 and wanted to keep it 'cos it's so cool. But the bassist in my band borrowed it, and now she's offered a thousand bucks for it, so I'm selling. I got a Teisco Del Ray a few weeks back at Guitar Center for $39.95, and it came with a super-clean 60s Vox Phantom hard case that's worth probably one-fifty or two hundred. So there's another potential profit. And sometimes pawnshops and even flea markets have decent guitars that simply are badly in need of a setup, some cleaning, get the pots clean, maybe fix a solder joint. You can turn the occasional profit of twent, fifty, a hundred bucks there. And you get to play cool instruments as long as you want 'em around your house!

Wishing you a gret one! The white Artist is in my office now, and it has made me quite happy, byt the way...

Age 11. Learned guitar to play Smoke on the Water Age 15. Heard the Clash and Cheap Trick. Picked up guitar again. Age 17. Playing in bands. Age 24. On the radio, playing the southeast. Age 26. My friends are in Rolling Stone. It's assumed my band will follow. Age 28. I join a band that is written up, glowingly, by Rolling Stone. We're working on the Long-Anticipated Second CD. Age 29. I realize I hate the music business. Age 30. I've sold all my gear and am devoted to my career. Age 37. A friend gives me a guitar. I have not TOUCHED one in seven years. Age 39. I'm backing up a singer-songwriter. Age 41. I'm playing solo gigs in Iceland. Age 42. I'm lookiing at studios next week to record a CD with a new band. Quit. Don't quit. You are a musician, and the music matters, not the way you express it this particular week or year. The music will wait for you, copper.

My wife (she was my girlfriend until last week -- I'm a newlywed!) plays keyboards and cello in my band. She is also Swedish. Life is good.

Well, I DID say it with a wink! Tastes vary, and most of the HFC would think what I like is utter crap. I just don't "get it" when it comes to rock shred. And it's not like I don't like technically accomplished music, 'cos I grew up listening to pretty much nothing but classical and bebop. I've got Cannonball Adderly and John Coltrane and Oscar Peterson CDs in my collection, and those cats are NUTHIN' if not chops monsters. I guess where I differ from some here is that to me, the shred guys sort of have one foot in each world (again my opinion): that is, they're trying to be technically flawless and show off a lot of finger coordination and perfect timing and phrasing while still playing rock tunes. To me, rock 'n' roll needs a directness, an almost "folk music" appeal that goes straight to the gut (or maybe a few inches lower) and makes you want to move your hips: to fight or cry or screw or jump up and down. I love lots of stuff that isn't rock. I also dig a few guitar virtuosos. Ever hear David Torn? The guy flat RIPS but his music is waaaaaay out there so it's kind of a cool environment for cerebral playing. Or Wes Montgomery, or Chet Atkins, or Robert Fripp, or Joe Pass, or Pat Metheny... sometimes even Allen Holdsworth. I prefer the context in which they shred, if that makes sense. They're playing "art music" with "art technique" instead of slapping chops over music that I happen to think is best played by Chuck Berry or The Ramones. I don't wanna hear Leyontene Price singing "Satisfaction", nor do I want to hear George Lynch play it. I also don't want to hear Mick and Keef tackle "Le Nozze di Figaro." There is a place for technical precision and a place for dumbass rawkin', and they rarely blend well. In my opinion, of course. Tastes vary, as I said.

"...the guys mentioned above, I would leave the U.S. market and go to either Japan or Europe." I'll pitch in to buy their tickets.

Ah, tastes differ. I liked Cobain's sounds (um, Butch Vig's and Steve Albini's sounds) on Nevermind and In Utero. And loved Hendrix's sounds most of the time. I've enver heard a distorted tone as thin and whiny as Reggie (sp) Wooten. If you see the Wooten Brothers you'll have fun, and they all have chops to spare, but he plays this Kramer into a Peavey practice amp and he either uses a broken speaker or some sort of rig with bumblebees in a tin can for his distortion. Amazing.

True about the lack of surprise on the split or car. Still, fer what it's worth the guitar I bought from Joe was pristine and fairly priced, and he's helped me out getting info in the past.

I agree, Ted. Oddly, when I mix the stuff I record, I try to strip away plug-ins and EQ as I go, and try to only compress and 'verb the overall mix. I ALWAYS end up, in mixing, going down to just a couple modulation things like a little flange on a drum part and some vocal compression.... then apply a multiband compressor to the overall mix and a add little overall room reverb. So often, less is more and simply panning the guitars a little differently or removing a part to let other parts "breathe" beats adding another gizmo.

Vinyl by Izotope. It's a combination of a compressor, hig-and low-pass filters, amp model, and noise generator that simulates the sound of a vinyl record. Use it very subtly, with no noise, to warm up a recording by compressing and equing it, or crank it up so your song sounds like an old Edison record.