The Shark

My Sunbursts... Bad Bart...restored by Murkat. A treasure... Then Jay recommended the best guitar available. Bubs delivered...

It could go for $1,199 plus shipping, if nobody else bids! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Robin-Avalon-Flattop-Flametop-Only-One-Ever-Made-/331358076630?pt=Guitar&hash=item4d267afed6#ht_101wt_900

I've been a political columnist in my "hometown paper" for over a decade. It's a bi-weekly periodical that's been around for over five decades in one form or another. I've been in an advisory capacity for ten years. Frankly, they use industry specific analysts and run their recommendations past me for feedback. It's a tough business. I'd be very careful. Advertising income is much more important than circulation. Free periodicals are some of the most profitable in the industry. A business valuation is important, but very expensive if you really want a professional "opinion" as to ongoing concern. A break-even business after three years is not an opportunity. It's a failure. Frankly, restaurants and periodicals require less staff than is needed and more time and money from the owners than any other business, if long-term success is the primary goal. Don't do it. Professionally speaking of course.

How about $1,500 shipped in the lower 48?

Now on eBay. Never to be seen again....unless someone here makes me an offer!

The only one like it ever made!

New lower price!

I've been looking at one of these for a long time. They are so cool.

This one lately... until this one shows up...

I have a P90 and mounting ring that I'll throw in with the deal!

Thanks to Mr. Kizanski. Accepting offers. Need to pay for the PRS Santana I. Thanks.

I'm guessing the foam is to protect the guitar, if it "kicks" out of hand.

Time for some of my money to come home, Bubs? It's really as good a guitar as it looks.

Major purchase on the horizon. I'm going to sell some real gems. The first is my 2006 Robin Avalon flattop flametop. Ernie Santella can tell you it's killer. I think it's the only one Dave Wintz ever made. Guitar's neck is a little wider. Not thick. Not thin. Very comfortable. Under eight pounds. Coil taps yield very usable sounds. One knob has a visible crack, but is structurally sound. Case logo is peeling away. Guitar is sold.

Surely, you jest! Brunette's in the "neck and bridge". Farrah in the middle. It seems intuitive!

Fantastic analysis. What excites me most is the attention paid to the middle position. When both pickups are right, the middle postion is (in my mind) the most dynamic and expressive. My experience is that a warm vintage style neck pickup with just enough sparkle is best matched with a darker and slightly more powerful bridge pickup. I don't need no chickin' pickin' sound from my humbuckers. That's what Strats and Teles are for!

My guess is that they know a fluted body has a much different midrange "hump" than a heavier solid body. I prefer darker pickups like the Rio Grandes I have in my "weight relieved" Standard. I'm guessing Mike had a hand in it's creation...

I've really been considering selling all my vinyl. I keep promising myself that I'll bring a box home and start playing them. Kind of like promising myself I'd start reading my Guitar Player/Guitar World magazines. Those wound up in a construction dumpster behind my local Office Depot. It took two trips.

I'd bet you can get any configuration you want. Covers or no covers. Zebra, double white or double black. Some examples will, however, be much cooler! It's in the eye of the beholder.

Happy Birthday, Michael. Many more.

I think Bubs is on to something. I've been imagining about four different guitars for my second Shishkov. Maybe I'd be better off to get in on the ground floor with one of Mike's original creations. In fact, that's what I will do. I'll wait until Mike offers up the "models".

I really buy into a craftsman's vision, when he understands all the variables. I think the pick you use defines your tone as much as anything. If wood and hardware is the heart of the instrument, the pickups and the strings and the pick are the soul. This is just getting better all the time. Thanks, Josh. You're one of these "Zen" guys. Have at it.

If Mike wants to have a little fun, he should randomly pick one build in the "First 48" and make it serial #0000. It might not be the first one done, but it would be "special". Kind of like a lottery that doesn't end with stoning!

I never think of the Improv when I think of Hamer. Probably one of the reasons Hamer's not around anymore.

Our drummer finally met Charlie Huhn in the Walgreen's liquor store the other day. He told Charlie about the guitar, but couldn't remember the name "Hamer"! Charlie told him, "If it's the one I think it is, I sold it for three times what I bought it for!" He's bringing a six-pack over next Wednesday night, if he sees our cars in the cul de sac. Vince told him we're mostly working on Steely Dan, Foreigner and Yes stuff right now. He said, "Really?" I'll get pics. I'm thinkin' the Huhn Standard otherwise known as the "BubsBurst" is worthy of mention in the second book. Bubs can tell the history of when he secured it.