sparquelito

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. 😔

When I lived in government quarters in the mid-late 1980's, on Fort Rucker, Alabama, there was talk among the Army housewives. It was said that if you rubbed WD-40 on your boobies, they would grow bigger. This was before the internet right?, But it was a form of urban legend nonetheless. Guys on the flightline talked about it. Different guys admitted that they were applying the WD-40 to their young wife's frontal appendages, just for fun sport. Anyway. I was standing in the checkout line at the Shopette/Class VI store one day in 1987, and idly wondering if the line was ever going to move. I stood directly behind a young blonde Army housewife, and she had her basket full of yoghurt and sodas and other such things. I had a 12-pack of some cheap beer, for the gathering after that evening's night flights. Funny thing though; I smelled the distinctive aroma of WD-40. At some point, I leaned forward to fetch a pack of gum off the stand there, and leaned over the shoulder of the sweet young thing there in front of me. She was lean and small breasted, and she reeked of WD-40. I smiled inwardly. I'm a very bad person. 😗

I have been blessed with good doctors and specialists in this area, for the past 21 years. But I did recently have an experience with a local foot doctor that had me fuming. I went to him because of some numbness in my feet. (Specifically, the middle toe on both feet are numb.) The guy was worthless. He argued with me about my condition, and he offered no concrete advice about how to remedy my situation. I had to coerce him into ordering a test (a nerve conduction study), and he later on refused to order an L-spine MRI. Said it wasn't in his lane, and that I would have to go see my general practitioner to get a referral to the spine & neuro center. And I kid you not, he was masked up to mid-eyeballs every time I saw him. Even sitting alone in his office. And wore neoprene gloves at all times. (Most doctors come to the exam room without gloves, and if they need to treat you, they wash their hands and then pull a fresh pair of gloves from the dispenser on the wall and put them on.) As Donald Fagan once sang, "I'm never going back...." PS: I refused to pay to go to my family practitioner just for the referral. Visited the spine & neuro center, directly I left the foot doctor, and they hooked me up with an appointment right away. Good people. The foot doc, not so much. 🤨

I don't follow basketball much, but I do pay attention every year around this time to see how far Auburn and Alabama have gotten in the tournaments. Usually they get knocked out pretty early. Played a lot of football growing up, little league stuff in the 1960's, and the middlin' Army leagues when I was in Junior High. Loved football. I was good at it. (Until later on, when everyone else grew up bigger than me. By the time high school rolled around, I was too small to compete.) My dad made me play basketball one year, I guess I was 13 or so. I sucked at basketball, horribly. Really never enjoyed it to watch either, over the years. Back when Pistol Pete Maravich was hard at it, I sat down and watch a few games on the TV with my older brother Paul. I find it interesting that Paul is an avid basketball fan. Lives near San Antonio, and has season tickets to the Spurs. He went to college at Kansas, a big time basketball school, back in the 1970's anyway. Guess we have just two genetic differences from our older brother Paul. 1. Younger brother Stacey and I are gifted at playing musical instruments, naturally easily and without training. We can hang and jam with any bar band, no problem. But we can't read sheet music, and never had any formal training. Paul has no knack for it, but went to piano lessons late in life, and plays the piano nicely,. But only off the sheet music. He can't jam or improvise, he can only play what's on the sheet music there. 2. Stacey and I don't care for basketball, at all. Paul loves it, and is a die-hard fan. Weird. 😐

When I was in the Army (as a Warrant Officer aviator), I learned to try and take care of my junior Officers. Those butter-bars and 1LT's were going to be Company Commanders and Squadron Commanders some day. And a lot of us Warrants, and the forward -thinking NCOs, felt that it was our job to make sure that they grew up to be really good senior Officers and Commanders some day. Shoot, my LT in the First Gulf War just retired last year as a 2 Star General. And he was a fine man and great leader at the end of it all. But I can't take credit for but so much of that. 🙂 https://www.army.mil/article/259333/amcom_commander_relinquishes_command_retires_from_active_duty_reflects_back

Funny you should ask that. I have acquired a vintage Sunbeam toaster, and the serial number is 6341088. Does this mean it's a 1963 model, made on April 1st, or am I reading this wrong. The guy who sold it to me said that April 1963 Sunbeam toasters are very collectible. That's why I paid $1,800 for it. I hope I didn't get ripped off. 🤨

I think I figured it out. THIS POSTING IS NOT OKAY. A blonde gets a job as a physical education teacher of 14-year-olds. On her first day, she comes to watch the kids playing soccer. She watches as they all get together and starts playing. However, she quickly notices a boy at the end of the field standing alone, while all the other kids are running around having fun. She takes pity on him and decides to speak to him. "You ok?" she says kindly. "Yes." he says. "You can go and play with the other kids you know." she says encouragingly. "It’s best I stay here." he says. "Why’s that sweetie?" asks the compassionate teacher. The boy gives her a weird look and says, “Because I’m the Goalie.” and then so, THIS POSTING IS OKAY A blonde guitar player gets a job as a physical education teacher of 14-year-olds. Her name is Orianthi. On her first day, she comes to watch the kids playing soccer. She watches as they all get together and starts playing. However, she quickly notices a boy at the end of the field standing alone, playing his guitar while all the other kids are running around having fun. She takes pity on him and decides to speak to him. She puts down her Gibson R9 Les Paul burst, and walks over to the boy. "You ok?" she says kindly. "Yes." he says. "You can go and play with the other kids you know." she says encouragingly. "It’s best I stay here." he says. He plays an arpeggio on his vintage 1970 Gibson Firebird I. "Why’s that sweetie?" asks the compassionate teacher. The boy gives her a weird look and says, “Because I’m the Goalie. And I'm trying to decide if this Les Paul I found on Craigslist is a fake. ” 😐

Sheepdog1969 – Thank you for seeing me on such short notice, Doctor. Psychiatrist – You are very welcome. Shall we continue where we left off last week, with how your father treated you unfairly and subjected you to corporal punishment? Sheepdog1969 – No, Doctor, what I came to tell you is… Psychiatrist – “Spare the rod, spoil the child,” he used to say as he whipped you cruelly. That had to have a profound effect on your psyche. Sheepdog1969 – No, what I came to say is that I finally overcame my fear of the truss rod. I got the tools to…. Psychiatrist – Yes, of course. I have endeavored to equip you with the tools to deal with all the childhood trauma in your life. Sheepdog1969 – I got actual tools, Doctor. From a guitar luthier supply house! I tackled the truss rod, and I won. I am free of fear of the truss rod. I don’t need to come see you, ever again. Psychiatrist – Whoa, whoa, hold on now. I still have kids in college. I can’t afford for every Sam and Sally to just go fix their own problems and stop coming to my practice. I have bills to pay! Sheepdog1969 – Well, thank you, Doctor. That’s what I came to say. I’ll pay up with your secretary, and show myself out. Psychiatrist – Wait. What about clowns?? I know you are really creeped out by circus clowns. Sheepdog1969 – Meh. Not so much. Psychiatrist – They hide under your bed at night you know. With their creepy makeup and oversized shoes! Sheepdog1969 – You are reaching now. Psychiatrist – And heights. Climbing on ladders is dangerous. We need to talk about that. Sheepdog1969 – I’m leaving now. Goodbye, good sir. (departs, and closes the door) Psychiatrist – Well, s#1t. I should have gotten him hooked on mood ameliorated substances, months ago. The doctor drummed his fingers on the desk. Psychiatrist – I should have listened to the Nuns at Saint Bartholomew’s, and gone into plumbing. 😔

I'm keeping my yap shut on this one. I've already been tossed from the telecaster forum. 🤨

Welcome back, Californiaman. Nice BB King guitar indeed. 😉

Great job by you, Sheepdog 1969. I'm proud of you for overcoming the anxiety, and am grateful to you for offering us such a deep-dive into the subject. ☺️