sparquelito

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. 😐

I sort of fancy that Gibson AMD 64 Custom Shop Les Paul. Hmmmm..... 🤨

Now THAT is powerful! 😀

On another forum, some fellow posited that the Eric Clapton signature Stratocaster was many times more powerful a guitar than any humbucking Gibson Les Paul, and wondered why this was possible. I scratched my head over that, and waited a while to respond. My response follows here. I must confess, I have never heard of such a thing. Let’s unpack this. “Power” is a relative term. It may mean pure volume. It might mean sustain. It may be spiritual, and refer to the powerful feelings of wonder and joy that one guitar player may feel when playing this model of guitar over there, compared to playing that model of guitar right here. It may be a preference in tone and tonal qualities. Worth discussing is the fact that there have been many models of Eric Clapton Signature Stratocasters over the years, and there are dozens and dozens of models of Gibson Les Pauls equipped with a variety of models of humbuckers. That said, let’s assume we are talking about bark, the immediate volume of sound when a particular chord is struck. I did an experiment just last week. I set a 1x12 tube combo amplifier to 12 o’clock on the tonal Low, Mid, High EQ knobs, and two o’clock on Volume and Gain. Then I left the settings alone. (The amp is a hand-wired replica of an older Marshall 15 watt tube amp.) I tuned up a number of my electric guitars, and I rolled all the Volume and Tone knobs to 10. I set the pickup selector switches to the Bridge pickup, except where noted. I then plugged them in, one at a time, and I struck an A major power chord, and (using a quality decibel meter), I measured the immediate volume of each striking in dB’s. The decibel meter was firmly mounted on a mic stand, and the position never changed. It is a Dr Meter MS10 model, and measures noise from 30 dB to 130 dB, with a +/- 1.5dB accuracy. Each guitar got 3 or 4 passes, just to check for consistency of dB readings. I was extremely careful to phrase the A chord the same on every guitar, and to hit the strings relative to the distance from the bridge, precisely the same each time. The Les Pauls had various pickups in them, mostly factory stock, and the 1991 Fender Strat Plus was equipped with Fender Lace Sensor gold pickups, a favorite of Eric Clapton himself. I included some control guitars, (red herring guitars??) a Fender Telecaster a Stagg Les Paul copy, and a Gibson Firebird Zero. Here were the readings after the experiment was over: Gibson Les Paul Modern Lite - 498T humbucker - 110 dB Gibson BFG - Gibson 500T "Super Ceramic" humbucker - 110 dB Stagg Les Paul Copy - Stagg Humbucker - 106 dB Gibson Firebird Zero - Double Slug humbucker - 110 dB Fender Performer Telecaster Hum - Double Tap™ humbucker - Yosemite single coil - 94 dB neck humbucker, 100 dB bridge single coil Stratocaster - Lace Sensor gold single coils - 95 dB bridge single coil, 95 dB middle single coil As you can see, the Stratocaster was not as loud as the Humbucking Les Pauls, or indeed most of the other guitars period. Tonally, sonically, they all sounded wonderful. Which one was best? That depends upon your ear and your preferences. Some people consider Carried Underwood a much more powerful singer than Aretha Franklin. I'll just leave that right there. 😐

On one hand, I admire Gibson's nod to the history of this older design, and the never-realized guitar that Ted McCarty sketched all those decades ago. I sort of like the body shape, the switch placement, and the wonky angles on the pickguard. And I love the single Volume and Tone knob (four would have been overkill), and the frontal jack placement. On the other hand, even though it was what Ted McCarty envisioned back in 1957, the hocky-stick (okay, scimitar) headstock just looks dated and off to me. My 1986 Kramer Ferrington has that headstock shape, and it's one reason why I'm not comfortable playing it live. (I keep it high-strung/Nashville strung hybrid, and only use it for recording.) Oh well. We'll see if the Theodore sells. If not, we'll be able to buy one off of Reverb for 800 bucks next year. 🤨

It's funny in a way; I can't name a single Grateful Dead song. And I also can't name a single Taylor Swift song. So if I listen to her Workingman's Dead tribute album, will that be like crossing the streams in the Ghostbusters movie? Would the world end?? 😐

They go, used, for around $1,800 to $2,000. That model featured a custom inlay around the sound hole and what Gibson called, "hand selected woods". The Fishman Elipse Aura system is installed. The body design of the Songwriter Custom Shop was known as a "small dreadnought". The top was made from AA-grade Sitka spruce, while the back and sides were constructed from rosewood.

TONE IS IN THE GUARD (a poem) Tone is in the guard Or so Mr. Steve Ford said Whether chords are fingered or barred Or whether you pluck, strum, or shred Tone is in the plastic you see and the tiny screws and bits No really, please listen to me And in how the pickguard fits Tone resonates differently Through one-ply, two-ply, or three and the number of screws, incidentally according to John Frusciante and Flea So be willing to pay for that tone Vintage pickguards are worth the cash Please don’t ***** and moan Just fork over the money from your secret stash Pretty soon you’ll be playing like Eddie and that guy from Alcatraz You’ll sound just like the Kings, BB, Albert, and Freddie With flash, style, pizzazz, and razzmatazz So please take my advice And carefully heed my warning Get the vintage pickguard, at any price And you will the boss of Tone by morning fin I’m gonna shut up now. 😔