General Music Chat

What 's going on w the "standing up" bit, mike?

Back trouble? Health issues?

I'm a "standup guy" myself. I've been sitting down on gigs for the last month after I broke a bone in my foot. Been wearing one of those Frankenstein orthopedic boots.

Got the green light to lose the boot and stand up on gigs.... So I did that for BOTH of the gigs I played Friday! Two 3 hrs gigs on my foot... not a good idea.

Jook, the tolex was coming up on my cab too but I went a different route.

I pulled it off to reveal some very nicely grained pine w some fine looking finger joints where the tops and sides met. I put a light stain on it and then polyurethaned it. It looked so good that I then pulled pulled the tolex (which was
in perfect shape!) off the head and did the same w it.

Tell ya what....it looked like really fine expensive furniture!

Mark

I've been very ill and having to play sitting down. Very embarrassing to me although I know it shouldn't be. New treatment may put me back up dancing on top of the piano.

Talbot

Damn, mike....sorry to hear you've been dealing with that. I'll respect your privacy and just leave it that I hope you turn the corner on that.

First guitar- age 15, 1988

Black Squire Bullet (a name more often associated with basses, I believe) with white pick guard.
It was a Strat-like axe, but smaller, with one volume knob.

First amp-

Came with the guitar, matching set.

My mom placed a classified ad in the paper looking for a beginner set for my Christmas present request that year. This was what showed up.
I traded both for other stuff and have really held on to almost every other piece of gear since. I have given some stuff to kids or other musicians I know, but no sales/ more trades.

First guitar I purchased-


Red Series 10 Strat copy. Bought it on layaway for $115, I think. From a music shop between my house and my first job, about a month after I started getting paychecks.
Had it customized many times over the years. A friend dropped it in high school after jazz band practice and knocked off the tip of the headstock, along with a tuner. I moved the tuner to the bottom of the headstock, after cleaning the edge with a jigsaw.
I took it apart after I got bored with it and then realized I had no interest in it anymore. It's still in my shed.

First amp I bought-

Marshall Lead 12. $99 at a real guitar shop for my 16th birfday. I still have this one, still works. No frills. No reverb. Extremely low wattage for a solid state amp. My brother in law has the same amp from the same era, except it has reverb (Reverb 12).
They're fun to link together and rock out, so I left them at his house.

1st guitar...5th birthday, 1960 I got a Silvertone acoustic, sunburst, had it through high school when a friend's brother decided to play "el Kabong" with it and it split the back from end to end. I chased him all over the neighborhood and he can be glad he was able to outrun me...by the time I finally got to him his brother had managed to calm me down a bit...

1st electric...el cheapo no name Japanese similar to a Mustang single pickup.

1st amp was the record player that came with the no name guitar, then a tube radio someone had converted into an amp, sounded like crap and not much louder than my pocket transistor radio.

1st good guitar...Mosrite double neck, sunburst, bought it for $500 in 1974. Left it in Virginia when I hitch hiked back to Texas, never was able to go back and get it. About 15 other guitars since then, some good ones, some cheap off brands. Current line up is

Cort CL1500 hollow body
Squier Strat made about 1990 or so (my favorite guitar)
Peavey Patriot I think a 1984 model (don't pass a chance to check out a Patriot if you see one) Strat body with 2 single coil tele pickup configuration, best neck I've ever played except maybe the Mosrite. Mahogany body.
Harmony Bobkat made in 1966
No name telecaster semi hollow
Kingston 3 pickup semi strat that needs repair
Electromuse lap steel made around 1945 to 1950
Takamine electric acoustic. After playing this thing for around 10 years, I can definitely recommend cedar top guitars...

1st good amp, Kustom 1 Lead, played the Mosrite through it. Never did really like it that much once I started actually using it. Typical solid state amp, bass fell flat on its face onstage, thin sounding, too many knobs made it hard to dial in a sound I can get easily with the standard Fender tube amp I have now. I don't miss it. Then a Peavey Pacer, 3 or 4 small practice amps by Peavey, Gorilla and RMS, currently have a 1973 Fender Super Reverb, early 90's Fender Pro Jr, mid 80's Peavey MX, 1974 Fender Champ and a 77 Peavey Classic 50 watt 2x12 that needs a transformer.

Playing mostly the 15 watt Pro Jr right now since we play a lot of low volume gigs, found out Saturday night I have to open it up again, it has a loose solder joint on one of the tube sockets, gotta sniff some more solder...I'm not completely happy with the amp, aside from the crummy factory soldering job, not enough bass and sounds a lot like the small amp it is. From what I've found out, bass is also tied to the volume knob, instead of a separate one, so the louder you play it the more bass you get...can't wait to be able to afford a 12" speaker...it'll fit, but just barely. Sounds good cranked, maybe that's why Jeff Beck uses 2 of them these days...but I'm not happy at all with the sloppy soldering, and the thing was made in the USA, not China...

1st guitfiddle, was a guitar I "borrowed" once in a while from my twin brother, it was a Regal Stamp catalog guitar, and was an electric with no name on it, I presume it was a Japanese manufactured guitar and possibly Teisco made it, looked kike an overly non-robust strat but much thinner body and the bout widths were smaller too..1st guitar I owned was a Les Paul studio, bought off Chumbley in Des Moines..

First guitar? Suzuki acoustic at age 11. Strictly student quality but got the job done. I sat on it in the dark one night and that was that.

First electric? Used 1961 Fender Duo-Sonic at age 13. Student quality also but enough for my 1st paid gigs.

First amp? New Teisco Del Rey 13w 8x2 half stack. She was a pretty useless stinker but looked good.

First REAL guitar? Used 1967 Gibson SG Special. This was my main axe for 20 years. I still Have her but she is pretty played-out. I'd rather keep her as-is than do a major restoration and re-fret.

First REAL amp? Used Fender 1964 Super Reverb (touring model with variable voltage regulator). I gigged with her as my primary amp for most of my life. Still have her, still sounds great. Loud and heavy as hell.

A used red Silvertone w/ 3 pickups of no merit. Dad made me take piano lessons (from a nun in the Franciscan order, no less) before he would allow me to touch a guitar (he was a trumpet/cornet player in the 50s/60s). I've had other guitars over the years--including a great LP Custom that I had modded--and played guitar in various bands, but eventually stuck w/ the piano. These days, no one wants me to touch a guitar. Dad would be so proud.

Friends friend
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM1VK8xgl38

Damn! And check out his version of Classical Gas.

Lately I've been noticing a proliferation of kiddies who can really play. Like that Indonesian kid who's playing w/ Wynton Marsalis--has a couple solo albums out, is up for some Grammys and had 2 (2!) segments on 60 Minutes. Maybe it's because of the web, but that kind of thing was extremely rare back in the day. Maybe their parents took the right mix of drugs or sumpin'...