tomteriffic

My dad was blessed to do what he loved, writing and advertising, all his life. He was a little lucky at first, and then phenomenally successful. When he wound up getting promoted to the Imperial Mafoof and Big Cheese, and no longer was getting his hands dirty, he retired. What did he do? He found himself a small office next to a music studio (so he could hear the little kids play piano), that had a golf course halfway between the office and home. Then he set about doing what he loved again, pretty much for free.

Jeroen. I've never owned a retail shop, just managed one. That got me close enough to realize that, above all, you have to have tenacity, nerves of steel, and hopefully enough start-up capital to get you through two or three years. The rest is less important and will become obvious if you have the first two things I listed. I know the other dealers will chime in, but that's just my 0.02 euros worth.

Teens? No, we're not. Hormone crazed and obnoxious? Hell yeah! Dang, Marty, sorry you have to miss it. Unless you get a terrible case of Intentional Flu. After the year or so you've had, I think you deserve a case.

Hey Ben, getcher self that Golden Buckeye card, free checking at Club 53, AARP discounts and all that good stuff and start cashing in! On the flip side I know darn well my next one is going to clobber me (55, yikes!).

Hippo birdies to a couple of Ohio dudes!

Mike loves it when he's left.

I had a Pearly of Jack's that drove me nuts until I undid the tape around that pair of wires and found out it was an iffy solder joint. Sometimes I had the whole pickup, no buzz, sometimes half the pickup, all the buzz.

More like a break in one of the hot leads that only becomes apparent when the wire is bent a certain way? That would account for the hum and the 'tapped' sound.

I believe the Rios follow the Duncan color code scheme. I wonder if something is winding up getting grounded that shouldn't be?

Steve, mine had the Alnico in the neck but a PAF in the bridge and it all looked original back then. Loved that neck PU sound.

I always tell the young bucks that come in the store that the first guy to play a Daisy Rock with Pearl finish is going to garner more attention from the opposite sex than any other dude. IMO, the more comfortable (or non-phased) a man is with feminine things, the more manly they probably are. Dave, or it may have nothing to do widdit at all. Hell, where else are you gonna get a 12-string thinline with firebird pickups for anywhere near that kind of scratch? Still, I'm with Willie on this. I'll take bass boat over pearl.

Dave, that's one of the few shots of a '59 Burst that translates well. A lot of them look great but just don't photograph well. My Standard Custom that came from jisham/belikerick photographed like a ketchup/mustard burst, but is actually a luscious tangerine/light tangerine burst, very close to that one. That said, the '59 Burst is probably the most ubiquitous Hamer finish out there. I'll admit that it's not my favorite, just because you see it so often. Not that it's bad, or the guitar/wood is anything less than full-bore Hamer great, it's just, well, common, I guess. Not a flattering word, but it's what comes to mind. Hell I've got two and love 'em, but you do see that finish a bunch, in varying degrees of great. The one I'd like to see more of is an honest ta gawd tobacco sunburst (as opposed to the diaperburst I've seen/had on a few Specials). Somebody around here has a Studio in that finish that is just snazzy.

Steve, my second-ever eee-lectric git-tar was one of those right there. But 'cept some mo-ron at the factory put a PAF in the bridge position. $150 in 1969 or '70.

Yezzitis the Smakatus we know and love. Dang, why did that have to pop up now? Somebody buy my Mesa!

Am I the only one who finds no joy in this guitar design? No you are not alone. Add me to the list. Me 3.

Woulda sold twice in one hour if you didn't already have all my money

I've got a pair of the Schlabotnick Bruce Sutter models (searing, flaming heat that will knock you out at 60 feet, 6 inches) , but, since the next set will probably get delivered to my son's estate, next up would be old Gibsons. Nothing better, it's what I was raised on. I don't have that much experience with modern production other than Duncan and Pete Biltoft and like them both for what they are.

I think we oughta have a special contribution level at which Poe's ass is automatically blocked, whether it's on the main board, the FS/FT/PIF board or the OC. I'd rather pony up for that than a Yanni concert DVD from my local PBS station....

Welcome to the fortysomethings, Dave!

I stayed at the Red Roof in Lansing last year, only because my son could get me an employee discount. Tolerable, and pretty easy to get to the Muse once you figured out the back way out of the hotel/restaurant area right there by the highway. There are several other mid-line places right there as well. For the price differential, though, we'll probably do the Hampton this year. The construction on 80 failed to be any kind of fun whatsoever.

WOW! Tres cool! Bet the Joneses and the Spruce are a nice combo.

Rob, one thing that appears to have been overlooked is your guitar sound. Does it sound like kwap only though this system, or is it pretty much the case no matter what you plug it in to? If it's only this system, that points to the input overload factor. If it's more universal (i.e.: it sounds fuzzybuzzy no matter what you plug it into), the solution to that particular piece of the puzzle lies elsewhere. +1 on input gain controls being essential. Also, from experience in an acoustic duet with no bassist, where I cover the bass notes on a plugged-in acoustic and the bass whump comes from an electronic kick setup in my wife's percussion rig, you need more power and low end rsponse than you might think. Expand this out to a trio and you can see where the power requirements, even for very small venues, add up in a hurry. We settled on a Mackie 808S brain. Speakers vary with the venue, but even with a 1 main/1 monitor setup, I've seen the output level meters peaking, and the system is putting out 300 watts per channel on those peaks. Just a thought, because what you're describing sounds like a combination of input overload and insufficient power output, especially in the low end. The other thing that wasn't mentioned is: check and clean all of your connections and wiring. An iffy connection in your guitar signal chain, for instance, could cause a lot of this mess. Edit to add: Evidently Dave and I were posting simultaneously

I've got Gamma 2 on CD. There are quite a few good cuts on that one. The first one is not bad either. But I think "2" was the best othe 3 releases they did, that I am aware of. I never knew there was more than 1. I have the first one and it floored me. Now I have to go looking. Once in a while a pop song just jumps out of the radio and grabs you by the throat as it drags you into the back seat. Radio's pretty lame these days, but one time I remember that happening was the first time I hear the Pusette-Dart Band's "Amnesia". Most Esteemed Redhead and I still do that one to this day. I just couldn't believe how cool that record sounded and how different it was from everything else that was ozing out of the ray-dee-oh at the time

(Tom squirms wildly at his desk, waving hs hand madly) OOOH! OOOH! I know that one!!! On the Ocarina, even!!!! Last one to have an involuntary bowel movement wins. My work here is done.

(Tom squirms wildly at his desk, waving hs hand madly) OOOH! OOOH! I know that one!!! On the Ocarina, even!!!!