or...a 61 fender...

..for a mere $39,995....4 times the price of the one I was offered a month ago...

check out the prices....

so, who wouldn't want an original '53 and '54..
$58995 .....$46995....seriously....

When ur goin to San Fransisco...

So a few days in San Fransisco is nearly over and its been an interesting time to say the least.
I say interesting as there are so many homeless people and down and outs, male couples and complete lunatics screaming at every street corner, you kinda wonder just how much lsd and acid was dropped in the summer of 67,8,9 etc..

Due to budget restraints I booked a hotel in an area I had no idea about, only that it was close to the centre and the conference. SAMO is indeed the edge of sanity between rich, poor and insane and the blend is an eye opener.It actually becomes quite amusing ( in an sad way) to see the SUVs, Hummers, Porches driving past the homeless sleeping on the pavement or screaming to an invisible friend now and again behind their own style campervan which is of course a shopping trolley filled with items of their life story.

As I walked past people in the street, norms, I'd mumble loudly that this was indeed a good example of the american dream of opportunities...

So far it hasn't got scarey, but then again I don't hit the night life...

I found the oldest guitar shop in SF, called Real Guitars.I asked in Haight Ashbury Music.
All the guitars of interest were outta reach costs but nice, 69 Gibson les paul custom with 3 gold pickups, a couple of 63 fender strats...and of course a host of old cabinets. However, the kr aint worth jack so don't expect any super deals. A '77 les paul standard for $3000..
I did however pickup a pedal which I had too, another Ibanez SM9 metal distortion pedal which nobody really seemed to care about. Price was right anyway.
Nice to know I now have a back up of my favorite distortion pedal. I'll probably let it go once I return.

Road trip...

Birthday today.Work anyway as tomorrow I head off at some god awful time to the airport to catch the plane to San Fransisco for a few days, then off to Denver.
Conferences and hopefully a look at some nice instruments whilst I'm over there.

Been a while since I've been to the States, last time was '93 and ended with a week at daytona beach.

I'll be online and scippling if anything outside the work load happens.

Pretty cool Youtube posting.

Read the story and whose playing the music and watch, it seems like so many years ago which, of course, it is.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rqqaw9iN0Js&feature=related

following on from Jimbo comment..

www.srvjimbo.com

Thanks IFLEE for the story on the comment. Funny enough here is a pic of my own built up telecaster which is a bitsa but similar in a way...or not...the neck is a cracker and worn down, and she has hand wound pups.

If I had 19,500 dollars .......

http://cgi.ebay.com/Gibson-Les-Paul-Jimmy-Page-66-Murphy-Aged-59-1959_W0QQitemZ150331406338QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item150331406338&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1729%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

..and again, JP with a tele

..in keeping with asymmetrical player and guitar.

Today's surprise picture that I found was Jimmy H playing a Gibson les Paul Custom. So here we go again, getting away from the stereotype SRV Number 1 , here is the master with ..??

I have to say that everytime I watch SRV he blows me away with the feeling, passion and sheer MASSIVE ability. I'm not sure if the original SRV fender is a 12" radius neck? Not sure they made them that big back then, vintage are running 7,5 and more moderns are 9,5 apparently.

I suppose it does help both Jimbo and Stevie that they had hands like shovels when it comes to getting those chord variations they pull off. Necks really make a huge difference which is why I enjoy having different variations.

Going from my Sami mk1 with the SRV signature neck to the 61 gibson melody maker neck is actually very interesting. In fact everything is interesting when your landscaping with chord progressions and moving from neck to neck, string height highs and lows, baseball bat, shallow c, d and all the rest. I have to say the neck which fits me the best is a split decision between The heritage rosewood neck or the fender telecaster (with a neck from Springsteens Luthier apparently?).

next up? who knows, but there are some rather interesting objects on ebay at the moment so maybe that SRV neck may be moved aside for a 69 neck..

I'll have to look into that..

Joe Bonamassa on tour

So, following on from some great guitarists and the good news is that Joe Bonamassa will be appearing in Europe soon and indeed is playing the local kindergarden disco here in Gothenburg.Tickets are purchased.
He's been around a long time and played with just about all the greats from a young age.Once again he's a mixer of styles from legato to jazz to classic but subtle blues.
What I like is his switching between fingers and pick (usually thumb apparently) and also his tone is fantastic.
Apparently he was a fender man but just heard time and time again that he was a poor mans SRV which once again seemed very unfair.I can't say, I only listened to him recently and he impressed. Should be interesting.

Not good enough to play legato..........

...or in his own words, " I don't play fast as I'm not good enough to play fast"...

and who cares...amazing sound.

JH, The man

Being a huge fan of SRV and inline with SRV being a huge fan of Jimbo it was only natural that the jazz chords that hendrix was familair with would bounce here and there into the rythm of his blues..

If you haven't looked at a decent official hendrix tab I suggest you do. So technical and features everything bar the kitchen sink, including effects and of course you have to use your thumb on more than one chord...

As I'm a newbie in the game and I firmly believe in improvisation (due to my lack of talent..as yet) I find its great to borrow some of these chords and throw them in to some simpler foundations. One thing I found, especially on Sami (SRV neck , 12" radius) is always keep the tuning one semi down (d#) and maybe not use the favorite jazz III small pick, hendrix used a jumbo pick and it does effect the sound.Obvioulsy Marshall and Fender without too much gain.

Don't get me wrong, I'm as close to Jimbo as Nasa are at putting a chimp on pluto, but the more I investigate his jazz chords and mix it with some simple blues it really works to fill void...

But respect with a capital R, the man in my opinion hasn't been surpassed..

To relic or not to relic...that is the question

Reading the most recent Guitar Techniques magazine and there seems to be a major issue with the question if reliced guitars are worth the money asked. By all accounts the masterbuilt custom shop relics are amazing. Even the pick ups are hand wound by the same guy who wound them in the 50's...that would make him a pensioner by all accounts..anyway, I don't have the budget for one of these guitars.The most recent Malsteen custom shop is a cool $12,300...

The whole aging process is amazing, with secrets galore and machines that bodies are strapped on which then vibrate them into yesteryear for that authentic look.

Regardless if you like the idea or not, there's nothing better than a guitar that looks like its been around the block.

I found this website which gives some great tips and tricks on relicing, so if you have a spare G maybe you want a go?

Sami mk 1, my first build fender strat is probably changing again...you see, I've found a John Cruz rosewood neck up for grabs and I'm tempted on changing my SRV signature neck for it...

The pup covers, control knobs and tips are gonna be changed from bakelite copies to more 60's reliced types. The EJ body is amazing and remains, based on a 57 and two tone, I'm gonna give it the hot and cold treatment perhaps, although the body already is looking used and abused...

here we go, enjoy!

http://relicdeluxe.com/

Otherwise, if you want some really good prices on aged parts, from hardwear to necks and bodies including leftys, look here:

http://www.grguitars.com/

project "Hedgehog"..61 rosewood neck amazing!

Time to thin the collection..?