sparquelito

Well, that's certainly the most popular way to play a Fender. Though I do recall one guy famously using his teeth. (A method not recommended for kids wearing braces, by the way.) 😗

A very cool video, and some really nice guitar playing. Thank you for that, Bottier. Have you made a video of how one plays a Fender? 😃

Gosh. Rest in peace, good musician. You are missed. 🥲

I'm working on recording a song that my girl drummer and I first performed at a sports fest back in late September. She helped me to improve the song lyrics a bit, and then we practiced it maybe two times, and then performed it at the gig. But we never properly recorded a clean version of it. As a father of a softball league daughter (and a granddaughter active in her local rowing club), I have a soft spot in my heart for athletic girls. Heather and I laid down a live track last Saturday, with my intent to layer some bass guitar, lead guitar, and vocal harmonies. But I didn't save the file properly, and I lost all that we had done. 🤨

You are speaking my language, John. I love taking pawn shop prize guitar amplifiers and cleaning them up nicely to make them like new. The last one I got my hands on was so dusty and crusty, you felt like you needed to update your tetanus shot before even picking it up.

Praying for you, John. For peace and healing. A story for you. Not precisely the same thing, but I understand catharsis, and how divesting sentimental things can help with moving forward: A few years ago, I advised a lady out west on the potential sale of her 30+ year old Stratocaster. I provided a valuation, and gave her lots of good advice on how to sell it via Craigslist, Reverb, or local Classified adverts. (She lived near a major metropolitan city in the western United States.) The lady was a really nice person, and I liked her a lot. I checked on her months later, to see how she was doing, and to see if she had sold the guitar. She was frustrated, and fearful of meeting strangers, and haggling over the cost of the Strat. Finally she blurted, "Well, why don't you buy the guitar? I trust you, after all!" I replied that the shipping costs would be wicked high, and make the entire venture not very satisfying for either of us. But I did check with FedEx, and it turned out that shipping from there to northern Alabama would be less than $100. And the guitar would be in its original hard shell case. So, I called her and chatted about it, and mailed her a check for $1,300. $1,200 for the 1991 Strat Plus, and $100 for the shipping. She shipped the guitar to me within the week. When I opened the guitar case, in the presence of my wife and my bass playing buddy, we were stunned. The guitar was pristine. Brand new. 31 years old, and it was untouched. Still had the original strings on it. All the original case candy, strap, spare strings, Fender picks, Fender strap locks. The original sales receipt from 1991. It had never been played. So, the back story. The lady who shipped the guitar had been a struggling young waitress in California, decades before. She was in love with a local guitar player. The moon rose and set on this guy. She was mad about him. He had only a crappy Strat-copy, and he had a birthday coming up. So she went to a reputable guitar store, and put a down payment on a brand new 1991 Strat Plus. She didn't make much money, but she paid on the guitar in installments, while the guitar store guy held it for her. At some point, she got off early from work, and drove by the bar or club where her beloved was loading in for a gig that evening. She walked into the darkened club, and headed for the stage area. Back in the dark corner behind the stage, she saw her fellow, leaned up against the wall, and smooching on a little bar girl. He was kissing on her, rubbing her tender bits, and whispering passionate sweet things into her ear. My friend turned and walked out, and never, ever called him or saw him ever again. Months later, the guitar was paid off, and she slipped the case under her bed. It stayed there. Life moved on, and so did our lady. She moved to another State, kept getting better jobs, and eventually married a wonderful, faithful man. The guitar moved wherever she moved, and it stayed in the case, untouched, under her bed. After many years, she decided that the old memories, and the guitar, needed to be put out of her life. The guitar playing lothario had died a few seasons earlier, and the guitar was just taking up space under her bed, and in her heart. She posted to a guitar valuation website where I worked as an Admin and Moderator, and requested the info on how to sell the guitar. A year of communication between us later, and much soul-searching on her part, it was in my hands, and everybody turned that corner. My friend is happy now. Life is good for her. And that (now 33 year old) Strat is my one and only. I can never sell it. I promised the lady that much. It's actually in my Last Will & Testament, going to my granddaughter whenever I pass on some day. Anyway, long rambling story. Peace to you, my brother. Life it going to be good. Not as good as when your wife was here with you, but surely a different form of goodness. I pray it is so. ❤️

The 1971 album, E Pluribus Funk. (Grand Funk Railroad's 5th studio album.) Round, shiny album cover instead of square. Looked like a big, irreverent coin, of course. The title is a jab at the Latin motto of the United States of America, E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one") and translates as "Out of many, Funk". I wore out that record back in the day. 🙂

God bless you, T-man. The prayers of a fallen former altar boy probably don't count for much, but I'm praying for you some peace, healing, and comfort. 😔

And meanwhile, at 221B Baker street; "Blast it all, Holmes. Don't just sit there scrubbing your bow across that retched fiddle. There's a mystery here to be solved!" "And a most vexing mystery it must be then, to have you in such a lather. Please elaborate." He put down the violin and tended to refilling his pipe with a course black shag. "The very thread in which we find ourselves this evening contains a guitar-related mystery, and then so two pages of posts follow of a highly detailed, (and dare I say) dark and sinister allusion to some very unsavory guitar photography staging misadventures!" Holmes scratched a kitchen match across the arm of his reading chair, and spent a moment smoking and reflecting upon the information before him. Finally he inquired, "Is this perhaps a matter for Scotland Yard, or perhaps even some Admin or Moderator to handle? Why should an esteemed physician and London's most famous consulting detective get involved?" "For the thrill of the hunt, man! How many weeks are we going to sit around these dark and musty chambers, reading newspapers and cataloging forensic cigar ash remnants? I yearn for the chase, the adventure, and the quest for truth. An infamous couch has gone missing, and there are numerous dissatisfied, perplexed forum members left flustered and befuddled. Aren't you the least bit intrigued?" "Is there a chance that Moriarty is at the bottom of all this, Watson?" "I'm convinced of it!! A couch once owned by a seasoned, sea-going NCO, disappearing into thin air'? Who else could it be, man?" Holmes rose suddenly and secured his coat and hat. He seemed to have made a decision. "Abandon your house slippers and lace on your sturdiest boots, John. And please bring your service revolver along. I believe that we just may need it." "You mean to say that we are taking on this case, and that newsworthy adventures are surely to follow?" "Yes! Let's move quickly, Watson, and make haste. The game is afoot!!" "Good show!!" 🙂

Congratulations. That's a fabulous guitar! 😀

My only Tele, next to my only Strat. Both are keepers. American made Strat Plus from 1991. American made Performer Telecaster hum from last year. Love them, lots. 🙂

I would normally post a photo of something other than puppies, but I had a stern warning from a Moderator or Admin over such things last year. Back-story. We were at a picnic in Germany one time, many years ago. It was a big German/American 'partnership day' featuring live music, cook-outs, and games. It was summer, so shorts, sneakers, and t-shirts was the dress code of the day. One of the Army housewives showed up and mingled with my crowd, and she was a real cutie. Kind of like Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. Anyway, she had on a low cut blouse, and her tanned, attractive frontal features, sprinkled with freckles, were very much on display. My buddy, a Cobra pilot, remarked, "Ah, I see you are taking the speckled pups out for a walk in the sun today. I approve!" It was funny. Anyway, many decades later, I still think of those speckled pups, and I have to smile. 🙂

I actually have one guitar pick that I got from Rick Derringer, at the side of the stage in a rock and roll bar in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1991. Edgar Winter with Rick Derringer was playing The Batschkapp in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, not long after I got home to Germany from the first Gulf War. It was a memorable night, and Rick was a guitar hero to me. I can never let that pick go. 🫠

I marvel at players who can use the thicker picks. In my younger days, I was a fan of the Fender Medium plectrum, and in the past 15 years or so, I have evolved to using just the thin ones. Fender Thin, Gibson Thin, and the Jim Dunlop textured 0.6 mm are my favorites, though any fairly thin one will do. In fact, I have come to realize that I own a LOT of picks, medium thru very thick, that I never use. Some were made from hotel card keys, using the Pick Punch. If anybody reading this thread wants them, I'll gladly mail them to you. At least one of them was sent to my by Carol Kaye. I'm keeping a small handful of thick plectrums in my music room, for visiting musicians, and my bass-playing brother. He gravitates toward the beefy ones. Just PM me if you are interested. 🙂

I was steadily putting in the garden all afternoon today. I'm about 30% done with that week-long project. It was solid overcast, so no chance of seeing our northern Alabama eclipse (with the sun mostly covered, with a crescent sliver on the left shining on). At some point though, the clouds parted, and I mean sporadically, and just barely. I ran and got the eye filters that I got from the University last October, and it was pretty cool!! And then the clouds rolled back over, and I resumed work on the garden. 😐

When I was in prison, the "sound hole plug" was a whole other thing. Man. Disturbing memories. I should probably check out of this thread. I'm gonna shut up now. 🥲

YES! Well played, sir. 🙂

I put in a bid on three different Dweezil-owned guitars on that site, but was out-bid on all of them. Then I posted this message to him, earlier today. Dweezil, I was doing yard work the other day, and was struck with a great idea. What if your next project was a covers album of Carol King songs? You could get of photo of yourself for the album cover, seated on a window sill bench, with cats. Then you could call the album 'Zappestry'. 🥲 (I'll go ahead and be quiet now.)

Wow, such a great guitar. Congrats! 🙂

It's okay. I'm on to more important scientific experiments and developments now. I'm working on developing a Tone Meter (or computerized tone measuring apparatus). Think about it. You can measure, and therefore quantify, a guitar or amplifier's sound in terms of Volume, in Decibels, using a decibel meter. We can measure, and therefore quantify, a guitar's sustain, in amplitude and seconds, using an oscilloscope. But to this date anyway, you can never measure or quantify a guitar's, amplifier's, or player's TONE. Not scientifically anyway. Tone has always been discussed as an intangible, emotional, subjective opinion more than anything else. I'm building a digital catalogue of song passages featuring the guitar playing of noteworthy guitar playing artists noted for their unique and exceptional guitar tones. The reverend Billy F. Gibbons. Jeff Beck. Mark Knopfler. Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bonnie Raitt. Link Wray, Wes Montgomery, Edward Van Halen, Jimi Hendrix, Malcom Young, Eric Clapton, and even Slash. And possibly more. I'm also developing a computer algorithm (or multiple algorithms) that will measure human physiological response to dozens and dozens of different recorded guitar song passages, and transpose those into a tangible, measurable figure or score. Each human subject will voluntarily place themselves into my care, one at a time, and they will be seated in a comfortable leather recliner, and fitted with a quality set of audiophile head phones. EKG leads will be placed on their bodies, along with equipment that will measure respiration rate, perspiration, and forehead skin temperature, I considered using a rectal core temperature probe instead of the external skin temperature measurement, that that introduced a variety of confounds and undesirable variables. Once the data are compiled and fed into a high speed computer, we will finally be able to assign a numeric score to any given guitar player's tone. Following that we would introduce variables such as types of wood body construction, fret size, guitar pickup types, and yes, even the type of pickguard. I consider this to be quite possibly as noteworthy a scientific advancement as Louis Pasteur's development of pasteurization, Thomas Edison's invention of the light bulb, and Albert Einstein's authorship of The Theory of Relativity. I'm steadily building the lab, but I'm going to need around a hundred volunteer test subjects, and a grant for no less than $17,000,000 in US Dollars. Do any of you know of any wealthy philanthropists or government agencies interested in funding my study? If so, I could sure use a hook up or introduction. Thanks in advance! 😐

I'm fully retired now. I have LOTS of free time on my hands. 😀

The guy I responded to in the internet posting in question claimed that the Eric Clapton signature was sixteen times more powerful than any Gibson Les Paul equipped with humbuckers. I'm aware of the mid-boost circuitry on the EC model, but I don't think our friend understood the math. I endeavored to give him just a bit of comparative data, within my equipment left and right limitations. 🥲

I do have an 18 year old granddaughter. She graduates high school in May, and I'll be down in Florida to be there with her. I think she's going off to the Navy to become a nurse after that. She's pretty much a fan of Charlie Parker and Chet Baker. It's weird. 😐

I just put a bid in on it. 😐