Freeper Guitar Thread

1/15/6 | me

[chasio649]

Just would like to start a thread and let Freepers list their guitar related equipment, gear they long for or gear they have recently tried....or just anything guitar related.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Yes. If you like thin necks and ebony fretboards, Carvin is the way to go - my DC400 is about perfect. The tung oiled maple neck option is worth considering, too.

Carvins are better than any other guitars I've played except Brian Moores and Paul Reed Smiths - but given the huge price difference, Carvins are well worth checking out. You won't be disappointed, even though you have to buy without trying it first.

[Uncle Jaque]

I forgot the exact dates, but MARTIN started making guitars in New York, relocating to Nazareth PA sometime around 1853 IIRC.

I can speculate, I suppose, that while in NY they might have put out some "lesser grade" units on contract for certain retailers in the City who would use their own label. Could "Victoria" have been one of them? We may never know.

We've been told by a Portland (ME) Luthier that my bridge is very much in the Martin style, so I suppose it's possible - although more likely an imitation or "knock-off".

It was badly abused when I got it - some yahoo had strung it with steel (which they were never designed for) warping the neck, and badly chewed up the deck with a pick. There was some water damage to the shellac, and the body was falling apart.

Several braces were busted or had come loose, and I had to re-make and install some of 'em. It was a "learning experience"!

The original machines had been replaced with cheap ones, and most of the knobs had broken off of those. The previous owner had been tuning it (or trying to) with a pair of pliers, chewing the remaining shafts all to hell.

Needless to say it took a lot of restoration, and could use more - but it's a neat sounding little box just the same.

Tuning gut strings can be a challenge, as is KEEPING them in tune; they break at the oddest places and most inconvenient times (like in the middle of a gig) but they are the only way to get that authentic 19th Century sound.

As an aside, I picked up a guitar instructional book by Justin HOLLAND, the man who really brought the classical guitar method to America and initiated it's popularity. His technique is probably what most Guitarists were using through the Civil War years right up into the 20th Century.



By using his manual and period song books, I try to duplicate both the playing and vocal style of the period when rendering the music of the time at a CW reenactment.

[chasio649]

"scalloped the fretboard"

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Yngie wannabe!

;)

[MikeD]

I've been playing seriously since '89, and while I haven't made a living playing guitar, I'm fairly good for an amateur who only has time to play a few hours a week. My axes include a Corinna acoustic-electric, an Aria Pro II Les Paul copy, and a Fender Precision bass. My amp is a Crate GX-80, and I purchased my first effects pedal (Zoom 505II) last Memorial Day.

Besides playing in my church every week (mostly), I've been working on figuring out Squeeze songs as of late, and love to jam along with Beatles, Queen, Clapton, and Floyd.

[Drew68]

Yngie wannabe!

Nah. Ritchie Blackmore wannabe. In fact, MTV used to air a live Rainbow concert and after I saw Blackmore coax some incredible sounds out of his Stratocaster, I decided this was the instrument I wanted. I received for Christmas (thanks mom and dad) a white Stratocaster with a rosewood fretboard and a large headstock. In short time I had scalloped the fretboard and added black pickup covers and knobs making it a fairly convincing copy of Ritchie's beloved '72 Fender.

Unfortunately, as a beginning guitar player I was unable to tame those single coil pickups at the volume and overdrive I wanted to play at. Ear-splitting feedback ensued. In short, while I had Ritchie's guitar, I did not sound like Ritchie! Haha! Frustrated, I routed out the wood, cut up my pickguard and dropped a Gibson "Dirty Fingers" humbucker into the lead position. I added a Floyd Rose a short time later and painted my guitar a bunch of day-glo colors with surfing stickers all over it. It was a pretty cool guitar for a 16 year-old wannabe. Played my first "Battle of the Bands" with that guitar.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Paisley Telecaster reissue, Epiphone Firebird, 1962 Fender Princeton amp. Great for surf music!

[Netheron]

Aren't we all?

[larryjohnson]

I would like to hear you someday. For that matter I'd like to view a CWR. My grandmother and her brother,born in the 1880's played an old fashioned 3 cord thumb-pluck style and sang songs back to the war.I have a notebook of hers wth words and little memory of the tunes. At least 3 of my greatgrandpaps were Confederate Veterans (Shen.Co,), I never got much beyond my 12 yr old guitar level. Now my one Maine grandson,11 plays and went with me to Nazareth.

[larryjohnson]

pls ping me on future threads

[Cymbaline]

I've been playing since the 7th grade (I'm 40 now).
Here's my current stack of stuff:

Guitars:
Fender MIJ Strat with EMG David Gilmour active pickup set
Ibanez RG7620 7 String
Jackson USA Kelley
Old Hohner acoustic

Amps:
Carvin Valve Master 1/2 Stack (W/Celestion G12T-75s)
Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head (Loud enough to blow the balls off a charging rhino at 60 paces)
Peavey Renown 2x12

Various pedals:
Cry Baby
Tube Screamer
Rotovibe
Digitech Whammy
Boss Metal Zone
Boss GE-7 EQ
Boss DS-1 Distortion
Boss BF-2 Flanger
Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
Boss GE-5 Chorus Ensemble
E-Bow (Great toy BTW!)

Good to see a guitar thread here in FR! How long you been playing?

[chasio649]

Oh i have noodled for 20 years...nothing serious...it's therapy for me...i would hate for my playing to become work!

[chasio649]

EMG David Gilmour active pickup set

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I am thinking of getting new pickups for my 1977 Ibanez strat copy (great guitar actually)....How do you like this set?

[Uncle Jaque]

If you'd like, PM me with an e-mail where I can send you an MP3 or *.WAV file of one of the tracks on my album "Home From the Hill".

When I recorded it, the old parlor guitar was having a bad day (they do that, what with the gut strings and all) so I had to cheat and use the steel strung Yamaha - it's a 12-string that i only string up with 6 in order to facilitate my fingerpicking style.

You might like Old "Lorena", which I'll bet your "War for Southern Independance" Ancestors knew quite well.

Where in ME is your Grandson? If he's anywhere near the Portland / Freeport area, my Reenacting Unit
(the Third Maine Volunteers - http://www.thirdmaine.org/introduction.htm ) -
is having a meeting and drill here in Yarmouth tomorrow (Sun. Jan 22) at 12:00 which he might be interested in.

[Cymbaline]

They are very good. Listen to Pink Floyd's "Pulse" or "Delicate Sound Of Thunder"; they sound like that. They're a bit pricy, mine cost $250 but I think they're worth it.

They have a "expander" control, which boosts the lows and the highs, giving a more hi-fi sound, and a "Presence" control that boosts the mids, giving more of a humbucker sound. I usually keep this cranked when I rock out.

Go here for info:
http://www.emginc.com/displayproducts.asp?section=Guitar&categoryid=11&catalogid=56

[larryjohnson]

We are in Washington Co. I am going on a winter trip but I saved your unit's website and maybe we can get to something this summer. Yes I have word to Lorena, that yellow gal. I'd like to get your CD sometime. My webtv does not do wav and mp thingies.

[Mushinronshasan]

Someone told me once that the best way to discourage playing the guitar is to get them a crappy one to start out on. What would be a good starter electric guitar?

What price range is an entry level instrument in, if you disregard the cheap stuff that is crappy?

I've seen Fender "something"-casters for sale in places like circuit city or best buy for around $180. Would that be a good buy?

[chasio649]

What kind of guitar music are you interested in?

classic rock, metal, death metal,jazz, country, funk, fusion,strum and sing.....?

[Mushinronshasan]

Mostly 60's & 70's classic rock. I strum and pluck around on an old accoustic, but would like to get a playable, but affordable electric for playing some of the oldies for my own personal enjoyment and to annoy my wife.

(Honey, if you are reading this, I am just kidding).

[chasio649]

http://www.zzounds.com/item--IBAAM73

I think for the money...these just can't be beat....very versatile guitar...just don't play death metal on a hollow body like this...awful feedback ;)

for 60's and 70's rock....this is really an incredible price...Korean made i am sure....of course not American quality like Rickenbacker and such.

[chasio649]

What do you think of Gilmour's latest solo cd?? Mixed reviews so far from what i have read.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B000E6UK5K/ref=cm_cr_dp_2_1/002-1056495-9491233?%5Fencoding=UTF8&customer-reviews.sort%5Fby=-SubmissionDate&n=5174