Tag: guitars

Stuff

All this talk of the new Pentax half frame camera has me wanting stuff. What kind of stuff? I don’t know, stuff.

I’d like a bunch of new lenses for my mirrorless camera. I’d like a bunch of new lenses for my two film cameras. I’d like to get my hands on a decent medium format camera. Rather than stepping down the resolution with a half frame camera, let’s up the resolution with a great big honkin’ 120 film. Maybe a Pentax 67 or something. I think an old (ancient) folding camera would be cool. Maybe a Zeiss Ikonta. The downside being that these cameras were initially manufactured in Germany prior to World War II which means there may have been slave labor involved. I would have to make sure the manufacture date of any camera I bought would be post-war. Just for my own piece of mind.

I want a new guitar. A Les Paul Junior. A Les Paul Special. A Les Paul Deluxe. A Firebird. An ES-135. An ES-125. An ES-355. I want a new amp. A Marshall 1962. A Marshall Plexi. A Mesa Boogie California Tweed. A tweed 4×10 Fender Bassman. A tweed Fender Deluxe.

I want a new MacBook Pro. I want a new iPhone, but not a 15. I’m willing to wait for the 16.

Forgive the conspicuous consumerism. I am just in a retail therapy kinda mood for some reason. Not honestly though. I’m saving my pennies for not one but two future trips to Disney World. Well… that and getting film developed. There won’t be any money left over after those two things.

Still…

I want. I want. I want.

Fender Stratocaster

2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the Fender Stratocaster. Despite a lifetime of playing Gibson guitars and thinking that Fenders were clearly inferior, I have a sudden desire to own a Strat.

This is the second time I’ve felt like this. The first time ended while at a Daddy’s Junky Music store (RIP) invitation only sale when I played a Mexican Strat and actually got as far as the checkout before coming to my senses. Since then I decided if I ever bought one it would have to be an American model, despite the nasty fact that they cost about three times more than the Mexican models.

These days I don’t think I’d be quite as picky. Some of the Mexican models actually look pretty slick. The Japanese models look pretty good too. Then there are some less expensive, lower end made in USA Strats to consider as well. If I were serious (I’m not, really) I would start there.

Besides, you don’t buy a Strat without planning to modify it at some point. I want to keep both of my Gibsons as close to stock as possible, but with Fenders, it’s all mods all the time. The only criteria I’d have is a maple neck. I just like them better than the rosewood.

Then again, maybe it doesn’t have to be a Strat. Those ’72 Telecaster Deluxe reissues with the humbuckers and the Strat necks are pretty sweet looking…

Gear Acquisition Syndrome.

It’s a sickness we all get eventually.

Maybe I should stick to Gibson and get an SG… Or an ES 175… Or an ES 135… Or… Or… Or…

Feeling Goofy

That picture I posted earlier today that got something like 70 hits out of the blue over on Flickr, along with thinking about what I need to do to get ready for the RPM Challenge which starts next week, has me feeling musically goofy.  I went over to the ancient photobucket account that I stopped using when I joined Flickr in 2009 and found some Break Even stuff.  hehe

My wife (and anyone else who was living in Salem, NH 10-12 years ago) will get a chuckle out of this.
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Here are two of the three Les Pauls in the previous post in action. My sister took this at the Mammoth Road Club in Dracut.
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This was our “press shot”. Taken at Burgundy’s in Derry, NH.
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And finally… the fat boy singing. This is from J Rags in Tewksbury, MA, possibly at our first show.  Laugh to your heart’s content!
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Alex Lifeson Interview from 1977

This little video has just popped up.  It’s Alex Lifeson of Rush talking about his guitars back in 1977.  It’s funny to hear him picking on Les Pauls when he uses them everywhere now.  One other comment… was he playing up his accent?  He sounds extremely Canadian at times.

The camera man probably should have spent some time showing the actual guitars, don’t you think?  Oh well.

Potential Banner Pics

I’m in full on nerd mode right now.

I wanted to change the photo in my banner. I figured something guitar related would be appropriate. I had a couple of pics that might be good source material…

This one has received over a thousand hits on Flickr.

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This one seems to have a little too much going on, but after cropping it down it might be okay.

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I don’t want to use camera phone pics, but this Hipstamatic of my 12-string is a minor favorite.

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In the end I decided to take a couple of new pictures of my Les Paul and try those.

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I ended up going with an attempt at redoing the banner on my Google+ profile, which is a camera phone pic taken on the day Jim Marshall died.

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And there you have it… A nerd and his camera and his guitars.