polara

You see the moment someone connected Vai's DI to the PA here Red.

Exactly. On stuff like Elephant Talk, where he has to play a set part, he was in the groove and can clearly play brilliantly while singing. But if he gets some time to fool aound, it becomes randomly grabbing the neck of the Parker, abusing the whammy bar, and triggering a half-dozen wacky effects. It's really cool if you do a few times a set for ten or fifteen seconds, but the mugging and grinning at the audience while making 2 full minutes of noise... I lose interest.

Went with my brother to The Eastern, a modern and well-run Atlanta venue. Sold-out show. They ran through a variety of songs from the Discipline-Beat-Three of a Perfect Pair era. It was energetic but a little strange. Danny Carey was the star of the show. Impeccable chops, and really balanced playing Bruford parts but making them his own. I couldn't pick up on a single error, and he seemed relaxed and happy the whole time. Levin was Levin. Switching between the Chapman Stick and two Music Man basses, his harmonies were spot on and he doesn't seem to age. My brother said he heard a couple clams, but nothing terrible. Vai looked like he was having more fun than on earlier tour videos I saw. The first set he was hard to hear, almost inaudible. One song into the second set a tech ran behind his amp stack and did something that suddenly made him absolutely deafening in FOH. He played a couple JEMs through a JC120 and two smaller amps, and while some key parts were essentially note-for-note Fripp parts, he was generally being Steve Vai interpreting King Crimson, which is exactly what you'd expect form someone of his caliber. A lot of really intricate tapping when you could see he was really focused, some rapid sweep picking, and not as much dive-bomb wackiness as you might expect. Belew. Well. He's always been a fun, energetic showman and he was still that. But there were a few times he got a little lost, especially in Frame by Frame. Whenever he actuated any solo effects loop (I saw a video of his pedalboard and it's like a space shuttle) it was overwhelmingly loud compared to his clean tones. He was fiddling with his amp a few times, and even opened his rack to adjust some pedal, and at one point a tech had to come out when a pitch shift wasn't working for him. By the end of the set his voice was giving out and he was yelping more than singing. The audio was pretty bad, frankly. Overall too loud for the room, and seemed to be volume wars going on, even as there were times low notes would hit a resonant frequency that made the room shake. As mentioned, Vail was almost inaudible before the intermission, then was suddenly way up front. Overall, the energy was low on stage and in the audience for the first set, but amped up considerably for the second half. The encore of Red was a highlight. It was a fun and interesting evening, and felt like, well, four all-stars jamming on the material of a beloved band. I don't think Fripp would have gone on tour with an outfit this loose, but it had it's own reckless rockin' energy.

Three, by Phantogram A mashup of hip-hop, shiny pop, slithery art music and a teensy bit of 80s synth-goth. Good stuff. Going to see them on the 17th The Mountain Will Fall, by DJ Shadow More turntablist soundscapes, ranging from almost fierce (the collaboration with Run the Jewels) to kind of chillwave, from a master of mixology.

Had a quick email exchange with Mike. No. 21 MAY have a finish that hasn't shown up yet in this thread, but I gave him the go-ahead to follow his muse. If he looks deep into the swirling wood and sees vintage natural, tobacco burst, or barbecue flat black, he should go for it. So this isn't me showing my new guitar yet, but it's pretty darned close now. Edited to add: HOLY CRIPES, TED! WOWZA! Every one of them has been a knockout.

I saw a post on the Shishkov FB page that was gushing about the Ultimates, from an ex-HFCer. So there may be some updates there with photos, though the person in question isn't in this forum any longer. I am actually planning in my head what angles and in what room I'll take my NSUD photos

This photo has me now waffling between 'burst and vintage natural. I HOPE I'm getting my "final details" letter from Mike soon so I can end the indecision and get prepared for the playin'.

I keep trying to spot the ones you got from me I'm slowly decluttering now. Like you, I tried a bunch but I keep gravitating to a few that really speak to me. The MotorAve is unique. As in, Mark only made one like this and how many times do you get to have a one-off from a "known" builder? The Strat because everyone needs a Strat "Goldie" the Studio Custom that looks like it went through World War III because I have fond memories of gigging that one with Mrs. Polara before Baby Polara came along And the Shiskov of course!

I was reading the Lace site and apparently the Alumitones have nothing in common with the Sensors, or really any other pickup. "This radical departure from electric guitar pickup design is aluminum based, rather than copper. Result: less resistance, higher output coupled to a "current driven design" as opposed to conventional voltage based guitar pickups. The aluminum water jet cut exoskeleton is then matted to a micro winding using 90% less fine copper wire, a low impedance/high impedance pickup is then created." Bless 'em for trying to do something different. I happen to really like my Blue/Silver/Red Sensors in my Strat Plus. They are not very Stratty sounding but are dead quiet, even, clear, and are fantastic clean and play well with my ZVex fuzz and with my Valvetech. I can definitely understand why someone would not like them, as we all have different reference tones in our heads. I happen to love Sugar and early Smashing Pumpkins, and I got this Strat not even knowing Mould and Corgan both used Lace Sensors. So I dig 'em.

Wondering what my Shishkov Ultimate will look like is the first time in my life I've given thought to flaminess or quiltiness. I think the guitars I have are just the finish they happen to have. I'm not too big on the neon graphic 80s stuff but otherwise I don't think about it a lot.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/sat/msg/4868966351.html I know some of y'all are knowledgable about these. It's Vai autographed.

Local to me. I may look.

Some hugs. A big Swedish dinner. I ate too much sil! The Bob Mould biography. Sweaters.

Ouch. Sorry to hear, but maybe you dodged a bullet there?

I'm not really keeping track but to me the most righteous ain't the prettiest or most desirable but the ones that have the richest HFC history and keep getting sold back and fort, round and round. Seems like the big factor is if they are known immediately amongst us by their "The" title. Examples: The PunisherThe CreamsicleThe AceburstThe Phantoglide

A guitar doesn't get that much wear unless it's a hell of a player.

Nope, doesn't count. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that some had Kahlers on 'em. I like that one, but...would it have killed the boys from Kalamazoo to install two more dots on the fretboard? I mean, it looks a tad incomplete, as is. The extra dots seem to have materialized in the form of several extra switches and knobs. I keed, I keed. Someday I'll try a Heritage. I never see 'em around here and I have to admit none have ever looked very sexy to me. But we don't play looks, we play sounds and feel.

Nathan and I did a little horse tradin' this week, and he will soon the the proud owner of The Swiss Cheese Sustainiac Chap I scored for cheap off eBay. In return I got The It's Green Eclipse. I've never been a fan of the Eclipse shape. It's like someone took a Special and did all the RIGHT things ergonomically - cut away the treble side for better access to the high frets, beveled the top and back - but they WRONG things aesthetically. Looks...lumpy. And then to make it all-mahogany with no maple cap, a wrap-tail, and mini-humbuckers... all cool features but unusual. Strip the controls down to master volume and master tone + a pickup selector, make most of the finishes opaque and/or metallic (was there ever a 'burst Eclipse?) and the result is unique. A little bit Gibson, a little bit Ric and all Hamer I guess. So I pick up It's Green. Medium weight, bordering on substantial. Typically terrific build quality, slinky-low action. Beefy ol' neck, a nice handful. A Real Man's Guitar, people. Plug it in... Sparkly, jangly, very articulate. Now, instead of the stock Duncan mini-buckers this guitar has Lollar Firebird-style pickups, which Lollar's site says are not constructed like mini-humbuckers but have their own thing going. I had a guitar with Lollar P90s once and the sound is not so different. I think Jason Lollar must like low-ish output, clear, balanced, very... detailed-sounding pickups.Very sensitive to how you play, and even with some gain on tap I hear each string very distinctively, no murk and thump, very tight low-end on these. I A-B-C-Dd it against my Giffin Vikta (Dimarzio P90s), the Hamer Studio (JB/59) and a Squier Strat I have for kicks and giggles. It fell between the Giffin and the Strat for jangly, chimey, clear sound. NOT a humbucker sound at all, and really surprising. I'll be curious to hear what it's like through the Valvetech at full volume this weekend. Anyway, Most Esteemed Missus Polara at first said she liked the Giffin's sound better, but upon reflection preferred the clarity of the Eclipse. Since the planets have aligned so that my favorite drummer in the world and my favorite bassist in the world are on board to re-start the band Missus and I had prior to her doing PhD coursework, I take this as a good sign. Maybe the Eclipse will be the guitar of destiny.

I'm wowed by how CLEAN everything is. Clean cuts, precision, no slop. This is hard-edged workmanship. Part of me likes seeing the pics because I've no idea which is mine (and I don't wanna know 'til it arrives.) Kind of cool to see a bunch of wood and imagine which one will become the vintage natural with dots, à la Zandard 0004....

Not much. I've gotten a couple cheap guitars that were just too tinny and abrasive sounding and swapped for whatever was handy and decent. Good guitars usually come with good pickups and I kind of like that they have unique voices. I will say that the Rios that came in the Koa Studio absolutely did not do it for my ears/amp and I put Seth Lovers in the next morning. I keep going back to Dimarzo Super Distortion and PAF for humbuckers and whatever come stock in Daytonas for singles, but it's not a burning enough need for me to remove the stock 59/JB combo from my Duotone or Studio. As long as they basically sound "good" I learn to appreciate the unique feel and tone of each guitar

I useta play 11s and then for some reason put 10s and have stuck with that. You just have to play more gently with 10s, but I don't feel like one or the other is better for me. Just different feel. 9s feel kind of weird to me, like I just woke up with gorilla hands.

Giffin Vikta. I loves my Hamers but this is what I'd a designed if someone gave me a blank sheet of paper. All mahogany and LIGHT as a cloud Contoured top and back for comfort Chubby neck goes from a soft V at the nut to a round profile at the body I do tend to think a single-cutaway guitar is more solid feeling, more vibration-y. Might be in my head. P90s by Dimarzio Intonatable aluminum TonePros wrap tail Simple V-V-T controls and a selector switch I can reach quickly Straight string pull at headstock, stays in tune Bone nut, nice fretboard, perfect frets As a bonus built by the Baker crew at PBG. Feels solid.

I agree with everyone. Run. But. IF you can take a very serious look at the balance sheets with a hard-nosed accountant.. IF it's your passion IF you can find an unfulfilled market niche best filled by print, i.e. a shopping weekly or a local music and arts rag or something best read outside and away from it all like like an outdoors/hunting/fishing/backpacking paper and IF that subject is your passion too and IF you have a partner with income/trust fund... Go for it.

Mine was my old Dual turntable. The best I could get for my budget. I still have a Japanese import Stranglers LP and some old vinyl my bands did that are gonna get put on this JVC.

Kiz, I'd take it... I JUST dug out my old vinyl, including a translucent gold Cheap Trick at the Budokan, and have been jonesing to build a vintage hi-fi rig at the family cabin up the road. PMing ya!