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#96


Toadroller

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1 hour ago, BubbaVO said:

Uber flame ... awesome

I paid a visit to Shishkov World Headquarters* last summer on a motorcycle trip around New England and spent some time with Mike and Trish and the dogs.  A wonderful afternoon!

Shishkovian guitar highlights included:

  • Playing an Improv.  The thing weighs -2.4 pounds.  Seriously.  You have to hold it down to keep it from floating away.
  • Seeing the "Hello Kitty" guitar Mike built for one of his daughters.  It has sparkle paint!  My nine-year-old Tadpolerette would just die!

  • Hearing the @JGravelin Charlotte twins.  Yup.  Them.  'Nuff said.

  • Playing a Studio (IIRC) with Duncan Double-Ds in it.  We were thinking one might have been wired out of phase, because when in the middle position, everything dropped out.

  • There was this bodacious blue Monaco 3 on a stand, but as I had one at the time, I let it collect dust.  @Montelovesco you really should get one of these some day.  I'd be willing to do an assist any time!

  • Trying to describe what I wanted for a neck carve had been a challenge via email and spec sheets.  Fortunately, when I played the Shishkov prototype, its neck was exactly what I was trying to convey.  "Make it just like that."

  • The best part was kneeling on the floor going through the stash of top-material blanks, oohing, awe-ing, and sorting into possibles, probables, and "yeah, that's the one."  Iffen ur gonna get a Shishkov, take the opportunity to pick your own top if you can.  As you can see, I wanted straight, flame, with cross hatch.  And a touch of chevron.  Chef's kiss.

There's a minor personalization to #96, but the guitar itself will, fundamentally, be the culmination of what I like in a guitar- what a custom order should be.

* Not one of the field offices, no.  Straight to corporate!

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8 hours ago, BTMN said:

That scene is some crazy movie watching. I forgot that is where Nikki Sixx seems to have gotten his Flamethrower bass idea.

THREAD DERAIL:  Love the first two Mad Max flicks, but I remember being amused by the illogic embedded in the plot of this one. You know, gasoline being scarce to the point of unobtainable, but all the cars having huge V-8 mills with massive Roots blowers sitting on top of most of them. Yeah...I cannot seem to find any gasoline, so I think I'll keep driving this '72 Charger that gets 4 mpg...that's the ticket.

And yes, I do realize that fast cars were both part of the appeal of the movie and seemingly required by the characters to escape captors and/or pursue prey. It was still illogical.

 

Now, back to #0096:  I love the teaser pics. What color are you going for, Master Toadroller?

 

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5 minutes ago, Ed Rechts said:

Let's face it, "Mad Max" told with Prius's and Ford Fusions is just downtown Portland Oregon at rush hour

...or the Beltline around Raleigh or the 485 loop around Charlotte.

Verily, verily.

 

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  • 2 months later...
  • 5 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...
  • 2 months later...

Initial impressions:  My fingers and ears hurt.

This thing is tight and light.  I played for about ten minutes before I thought to consider the neck.  Which is to say that it so naturally fit what I like in a neck (and it's beyond vintage carve, headed into Paul Gilbert territory) that I hadn't even noticed.  My 19 year old picked it up and said, "whoa, big neck!"  It's a Gibson scale; the strings are tight, the action where I want it to dig in to the strings.  The "tight" reminds me very much of my 'hog Standard.  Precise, touch-sensitive, have to work for the vibrato.  If your fingers can do it, the guitar will reward you.  It's not loose and slinky like a Strat. 

Then I plugged it in.

Ah, the Schlabotnik twins.  Take'em on a date.  Strong, clear, great tonality.  Dynamic.  Small adjustments on the volume and tone knobs bring out a variety of sounds.  I like playing with sounds and controlling the amp from my guitar more than the knobs on the amp.

What I wanted for 96 was *the* representative of the single-cut, mahogany/maple, dual humbucker, Gibson scale breed.  That it is.  My tastes were for a flat top with a rich but symmetrical and even pattern, and visiting Shishkov World HQ let me sort through way too many options to find the one for me.  When it comes to the inlays, it's a whimsical nod to "Toadroller" and makes the guitar mine.  I was trying to find/draw my own cartoony frog when Mrs. Toadroller suggested I ask my 19 year old graphic-artist what he could come up with.  You see the result.  I've also got a stencil of it on my motorcycle helmet and a shirt. My own personal brand!  I love the tongue snapping out for a fly.  How Mike turned a detailed  Adobe Illustrator file into such a detailed inlay on such small real-estate is amazing.

I'll try to get Mrs. Toadroller to capture the color better with her fancy cameras and Photoshop skills.

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