The Shy Guitar Hero’s Strat

Please excuse the low-light, funky color photo

Eric Johnson must be the nicest guitar slinger around. At least he doesn’t present a hyper attitude like so many lead guitarists do. When you see him, the phrase “favourite son-in-law” comes to mind. Bleached strands

Cobalt Strings

I dunno what a Slinky is except for a fun toy. Well, then again, this might be fitting!

Put new strings on my Les Paul and the Nashville Telecaster today and decided to try out Ernie Ball’s new Cobalt strings in a 10 – 52 set. So far,

It Goes A Long Way…

… towards a versatile amplified guitar!

Last Sunday was a fun day. Europe’s largest online music store had it’s annual summer party in the little village in Franken where this family-owned business is still situated (one would not be amiss to say that Treppendorf is an annex to the Thomann warehouses!). It was cool event with nuclear-level Blasmusik followed by gigs of different groups on the wickedly nifty stage in a large beer tent. Plus workshops and tours through the impressive warehouses. I’ll have more to post on that event on my other ‘blog shortly, when I’ve developped the film.

Spruce and Rosewood vs. Mahogany

My son (the real musician in the family) fretting out the "A Hard Day's Night" chord on the Martin HD-28

Buying and selling guitars has become part of my quest for guitar proficiency and the unattainable “right” tone.

The Marshall Plan, Carried Out

Ok, this is how deep the rabbit hole goes…

Spotlight on my new Marshall JVM410H

I feel like I’ve made a commitment to guitar playing by this investment. I’ve had a Marshall plan for a long time,

Of Substance… and Learning

Sometimes the gear is good to you, and makes you want to learn

My posts on this ‘blog have been rather materialistic, gear-oriented, and I’m sorry for that. This is not what music is about. If one’s not careful, they’ll turn into a guitar collector in no time. If, like me, you’re a few steps down that road, fear not. There are exit routes. From time to time, along comes a piece of gear that makes you use it.

Alter Schwede! *1)

*1) literally translated: Old Swede! Esp. in northern Germany, it’s an exclamation of surprise, respect and awe. As is fitting.

Greeting you with my new Strat

It’s been long since I posted, but now I’ll have to or I’ll burst from excitement. And with the new guitar that is hanging around my neck in the lead photo, my musical forays finally approach the title theme of this ‘blog. You see,

Tone vs. Cost

Fender Champion 600

This is rather embarrassing. You see, I got a very inexpensive tube amp by Fender called the Champion 600. Man, does it have tone!

The Right One

Only to be viewed with proper eye protection

I think I found the right one. Guitar, that is, and to be more specific,

Used (Look), Cheap (Relatively) and Good (Tone)

Reason # 17 guitars are better than women: They age beautifully (even if it's fake aging)

It was bound to happen. I finally fell prey to Fender’s relic craze. Mind you, I can’t justify spending thousands of Euros on a Custom Shop Heavy Relic model (though this looks good). In my mind, these are more collectors objects than instruments (though it would be cool to play one sometimes). As has been Fender’s stragety in recent years, the relic treatement has received a trickle-down in the model line, only it isn’t named thus. There’s the Road Worn series and the Road Worn Player series, and both show these imitated signs of wear and come in nitro lacquer. There are some other Fender signature models that sport a used look as well (like the Wayne Kramer “American Flag” Stratocaster), but they are painted in thick polyurethane. This is a significant distinction, the nitro laquer models have much more overtones and character. For once, this isn’t just advertisement blurb. Play one at your dealer, it is immediately apparent. You can even feel the body and neck vibrate more.
So, in the last few weeks I’ve been putting up my Baja Telecaster and my American Standard Strat for auction and getting a Road Worn Player Telecaster in black and a Strat from the same line in off-white. Both have had an astonishing amount of detail taken care of in the relicing process. It’s not just the rubbed-off patches on the body and the neck that you see in the photos, it goes down to the smoky smell and fingerprints (indelible, I don’t know how they did that!) on the Tele’s pickguard and grime in the Strat’s knob’s serrations (more in the Volume knob than in the Tone knobs!). Crazy attention to detail!

Dirty Tele, dirty tone (not that there's anything wrong with that!)

Soundwise, the Tele is full of character and combines the ususal bridge pickup with a Seymour Duncan humbucker pickup at the neck. So, in addition to the Tele Twang, you get fat, greasy but still seperate notes to rock out or lay grunge foundations. Oh, and the control panel is topsy-turvy!
In the Strat, the tone knobs control the middle and neck pickups, leaving the bridge pickup to be it’s undiminished jingly self. Play that one through stacked Fuzzes and distortion stompboxes, saturate your amp’s endstage and you’re gonna be heard!