Guitarded III

I did spend about 40 minutes in the nicer guitar store before leaving Jefferson City yesterday. The same fellow helped me out. I think I will be getting a new guitar -- within the next 2-3 years, maybe. I think the salesman would prefer that I just buy something now.

Well, I drove 100 miles to drop off my guitar and have it refretted. M will probably be sore with me because I got the feeling I was practically in his backyard or something.



I played a few more guitars yesterday that I should probably comment on. I played an ES-137 Classic. Definitely not my guitar. I can get used to the neck (a little thicker than mine). But it did not sound that different from a Les Paul. Pretty strange given its outrageously hollowbody look. The pickups did not impress me.

ES-137 Classic

I also played an ES-335. This sounded nice (again, a fat neck), and the '57 Classic pickups might have played into that. If I get a new Gibson, it will have those pickups in it. (So, I need to try the ES-137 Custom, I guess).

ES-137 Custom

I really want to try a CS-356 (hard tail, of course).

CS-336
CS-356

I also need to go back and edit these posts adding a few pictures. I know that not everyone reads up on specific guitar models.

Finally, I played a few Fender Stratocasters. I will have to find the perfect one for me to consider getting one of those. I think I'd like a hard tail, (not really a strat decision), but I do like the out-of-phase sound of the 1st and 2nd pickups together. In fact, I love that sound.

Strat

--gh

Guitarded II

Okay, so I have a guitar that some people only dream about. In high school I saved for over a year and was still only able to get a used Les Paul Custom. It was a good investment because it probably kept me from a lifetime of guitar acquisition.

However, I have always wanted something else to complement it. This means trying things out and it means dealing with music retailers. (For some reason, I want my next guitar to be new - not used.) I found a decent store in Jefferson City - only, I don't live in Jefferson City. I come here every two months and may or may not get a chance to visit if I am in a hurry to get home. The last time I was here, I asked to play a Fender American Deluxe Telecaster. Nice guitar. He asked me if I had an amp preference and I told him no overdrive, no reverb, no effects, and make it as clean as possible. He gave me a strange stare and said that this was the first time in 8 years that someone requested this. I began thinking I was in the wrong store. In case you are curious, the guitar played like a dream. I will go back there because the guitar was set up so well (a mark of a good store).

I also tried a Gibson CS-336. What an amazing guitar. If I ever got a semi-hollow body, it would be this one. The top is actually two bookmatched pieces of carved maple, like a real arch-top. For fifty years, Gibson has been making hollow and semi-hollow body guitars by laminating layers of wood for strength. (Gibson uses 3-ply, Epiphone uses 5.) Well, they call it laminate - I call it plywood. So the CS-336/356 is a big advancement for mass produced guitars. Oh, and the back and sides are routed out of one hunk of mahogony (thanks to modern technology no doubt). If the neck is one-piece, then the whole guitar is four pieces of wood (or three if you count the bookmatched top).

Then again, maybe the perfect antithesis of the Les Paul is the Stratocaster...

I went to two music stores on the way to Jeff City today. I don't mind telling you that one of them was the clearance center for Musician's Friend. Over $100 million goes through that place every year, so they are bound to get some returns, and not all of them are happy stories. It was kind of a sad place and I don't know if I will go back. They have a whole collection of broken guitars. There is nothing sadder than a Martin D-28 with a snapped neck. (It was still going for $300, even though it is useless in its present condition.) Some of the guitars that were in good shape were still stacked up like green beans in a can. After a while, I just left.

Then, I went to one of those guitar super-stores. You know, 20,000 square feet, and guitars all over the walls. There would have been a time when it would have impressed me, but I was somewhat apprehensive when I stepped in. I asked to play some Telecasters again and the guy starts tuning it using the 5th and 7th fret harmonics (big mistake with tempered tuning, you know, what we've been using for the last 250 years). He was acting like he had perfect pitch at first tuning it by ear (he was off). But, it was nice that I was in a sound-proof room to play, away from the 15-year-old noodling going on in the main room. None of the guitars that I played were decently set up, even the American Deluxe. What a shame. In fact, on that guitar the B-string kept going flat. He tried to blame this on my aggressive playing (which is a little offensive, also - I have a light touch). I don't have this problem with my Gibson or Martin (acoustic). This guy also tried to get me to play the guitars all distorted and with reverb. Duh....

I tried to play an ES-335, which was pretty, but useless. The action was so hign I could fit my pinky under them at the 12th fret. Also, the nut was not cut correctly or soemthing - just barely playing it made the string pop out! I left somewhat disoriented and confused by the fact that anyone could actually get a decent instrument from such a place. I must be really picky or something.

So, I must check out this music store in Jefferson City before I leave tomorrow. Otherwise I will be in a guitar-stupor for another month or so. Oh, that reminds me of a funny story. In November I had to stick around for an extra day because of an event at Osage Beach the next day. So, I spent about 4 hours in the store. I started feeling bad that I was leading this guy on - his manager kept calling him aside and giving him pointers. One of the times he came back from one of those conferences and said that if I gave him my address, he would write a letter to my wife and explain which guitar I needed for Christmas and why. It was pretty cute. Two hours later I walked back in to the store and spent 10 minutes with another salesman and bought a trumpet for several hundred dollars. (It wasn't for me.) I think the whole store thought I was schizophrenic or something.

I think I hate guitar stores...

--gh

Guitarded

I have been thinking about a new guitar for almost a year now. I don't have an acquisition problem or anything -- I have the same electric for over two decades. I guess when you find something that works, you don't mess with it.

The problem is that the frets are worn out, seriously worn out. In the late fifties, Gibson put low flat frets on a black Les Paul Custom issuing two terms into the guitar vernacular: Black Beauty (the guitar), and Fretless Wonders (those frets). Twenty years later, they were still doing it. In 1985, when I bought the guitar (used, of course), there was slight wear on a few of the frets, no big deal.

Add twenty years of weekly playing and you have a guitar that is on the verge of being unplayable. It is on every fret between the 1st and 15th. I guess I am an equal opportunity player and don't stay in one location. (The fact is, due to a problem with the nut on the 4th and 3rd strings, I stopped playing in the "open" position a dozen years ago.) So, now you might be thinking that I am a neglectful player.

I am in the process of looking for a luthier for the refret job. I will also have this person (I should just say "he," they are all guys from what I have seen) cut a new nut - probably from bone. Finally, I need the fretboard planed around the 16th fret (a common problem with mass-produced guitars with set necks - a hump or spatula develops).

It is hard to find a luthier. Few have web pages, and the ones that do look like web pages from the mid-1990s. Many that are on the web seem a little proud of themselves. In fact, it is common for them to write things like "I have refretted 5,000 guitars in my life, so you might want to think that I know what I am talking about..." or "no one cuts fret slots like I do, in fact they don't even know that poor fret jobs can compress the fretboard and backbow the neck..." I saw stuff like that everywhere. Some say they put a dab of glue in the fret slot, and others say only ham-fisted luthiers do this. Others say that they retain the binding nubs on Les Paul necks, and others say that players who want this are "dips."

So, it might take a while to get a conversation going with an area luthier and work out a price. I hope it costs less than $500.

You might think that $500 goes an awful lot towards a new guitar. But this guitar turned 27 years old last week (January 11 - it was the 76th guitar off the line that day in Nashville). From the information in this paragraph only, some guitards could tell you the exact serial number of my instrument. I have after-market pickups (SH-55s) that are nice and understated (not DiMarzio or anything).

I have been playing other guitars because I am considering medium or medium-jumbo frets. So, this makes me think about adding a second guitar. But what do I get? That's another blog entry entirely.
--gh

Most used song titles

My daughter started talking about a song title that was used by different bands and artists. After claiming that she knew 5 artists who used the title "Breathe," I said don't forget Pink Floyd. So, she was happy to make it six.

I had the same thought about 20 years ago, and concluded that "Round and Round" was the most used song title. So, after our brief comparative argument, I started searching for some proof to resolve this issue.

The songs need to be unique. This is not about the most covered song ("You Keep Me Hangin' On"?). So, point out any mistakes or duplicates and of course, ommissions.

Using searches like "Breathe lyrics," yields:

• Fabolous
• Michelle Branch
• Faith Hill
• Anna Nalick
• Evanescence
• Kylie Minogue
• Disturbed
• Sixpence None the Richer
• Roxette
• Avion
• Maria McKee
• Ignition
• Nickelback
• Killah Priest
• Kitchie Nadal
• and, Pink Floyd

For "Round and Round," I found:

• Ratt
• Aerosmith
• Perry Como (yeah!)
• Bonnie Raitt
• The Fantasticks
• Prince
• Fabolous (again?)
• The Cure
• Lionel Richie
• Tom Paxton
• Kottonmouth Kings
• Emma Bunton
• Gil, Frozen Ghost, Nathan these sounds made up, so I'll list the together
• Mary J Blige
• Neil Young
• Dokken
• Olivia Newton John
• Sugababes
• Germs ok, this is a cover of Chuck Berry's "Around and Around," but retitled, does that count?
• Spandau Ballet
• Edgar Winter
• Bodyrockers
• Los Lobos
• and of course, Van Halen (or make that Van Hagar)

Obviously, by this analysis, "Round and Round" is the clear winner. Please comment any additions or corrections, though...

--gh

Faeries!

My wife woke up today and told me that she dreamed about faeries. In this dream, I was seeing them everywhere. I have always been afraid of faeries -- they are the heathen dead. She also dreamed that houses were blowing up all over town.

I saw a strange thing last night. I was in the dining room and was trying to adjust the action on my Les Paul and was frustrated that only a refret job will actualy fix my problems. Just then the entire house shook. It sounded like someone dropped a piano upstairs. I happened to look out the back window and saw a huge fireball 2,000 feet away. It must have been over 100 feet high and filled the night sky with light. I said to my wife "oh, you're going to have to see this."

Everyone will be talking about this because the entire town could feel that house exploding. Also, as we took our evening walk, we could confirm what our daughter had told us. She said that the parents of several friends jumped into their cars and drove to the scene. From the park, we could see that hundreds of cars were driving around that area over a period of one hour.

Back to faeries, I think I will listen to Ozzy sing about them wearing boots and such. (I really do not understand that song.) Pixies are good, faeries are bad. I really like the scene in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town when the old ladies from Mandrake Falls describe Gary Cooper as pixelated. I have started using that term more often.

--gh