The Importance of Personality

I was watching the documentary Fuzz: The Sound That Changed The World which is a GREAT movie for anyone who is 1) a guitarist or musician of any kind, 2) a tinkerer with electronics, 3) a general music fan, or 4) someone who likes the educational shows shown on the Discover Channel. I honestly think that just about everyone could find something in this documentary that they can like.

Here's an interesting story if you have time: I watched it thanks to my Netflix account and watched it many times. Many, many times. I deployed in the USAF with it and watched it in the desert and brought it back. I really like the movie.

I hopped on Netflix to see if anyone else was having a similar reaction and one of the comments said: "Whoever has this movie, please send it back in. It's gone from 'short wait' to 'long wait' and I really want to see this!"

Of course, this comment is gone now.

Anyway, I remember one of the pedal makers being interviewed and saying that a pedal maker has to be careful because some customers could be turned off by the pedal maker's attitude and not buy their products. Obviously this is something that doesn't happen to the same extent in bigger, more faceless companies.

Driving to work listening to the podcast found at http://www.sixstringbliss.com/ I heard an interview with Dennis from Pro Tone pedals. The interview was very interesting (episode 108, by the way) and Dennis offered something of a retort to Guitar Player who had reviewed his pedal the Body Rot II saying it was "more rock than metal - kind of like a smoother AC/DC." It went on to say " Cranking the distortion control thickened everything up and made single notes and chords sing with sustain. The tone still wasn't as metallic as I would have thought - more John Sykes than James Hetfield."

This review is located in the July 2008 issue of Guitar Player (I knew I kept my guitar magazines around for a reason!) right above the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Mayhem which had a review that definitely made it sound more geared toward the metal tone.

Keep in mind, there are folks out there like me who do not get the chance to actually PLAY these pedals before they order them so reviews of a professional caliber have quite a bit of attention paid to them.

Of course, the Twin Tube Mayhem is $229.00 so I haven't ordered it yet.

Dennis though wanted to know what the reviewer was playing with and playing through and something to the extent of "if you can't get James Hetfield out of this box something is wrong."

He then went on with the interview and answered all the questions with obvious honesty and I was incredibly impressed with his attitude and now I'm thinking about going with the Body Rot II over the Twin Tube Mayhem for a metal sound based solely on this.

Then I went to YouTube and found the video demo of the pedal (located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYR8HC7TDX0) and it further solidified the idea. By the way, the Body Rot II featured in the video is the older model. To quote Pro Tone pedals from their YouTube comment: "This is NOT the unit in the Guitar Player review, this is an older version.The GP reviewed pedal has just as much gain, but with much less noise!"

Here's a picture of the new pedal:

I know that it's a little silly to base a buy a pedal on the owner's personality, but Dennis' attitude made me pause on the idea of getting the Mayhem and do a little more research on the Body Rot II. I think I'll be more happy with it as it sounds like it will be just as heavy, but a little more raunchy and raw. Just what I'm after.

Of course, if any new gear comes in, the 5th Fret will review it for you.

-Pappy

Guitar TAB

5th Fret writer Nobody and I were having a discussion about guitar TAB and the pros and cons of them.

The pros are pretty obvious: you can theoretically learn any song you want and play it the exact same way that the artist plays it. This is assuming that it has been correctly TABbed out of course. TAB is easy too. This fret on this string and presto! The right note.

It is how an amazing amount of guitarists have developed their skill. I know it is how I learned, personally. I picked up a guitar, pulled up the TAB for White Zombie’s More Human Than Human and went to town.

The cons are surprisingly not talked about very often.

Since TAB is generally made and accepted because it is easier and it gets you playing the song you want to play sooner. It’s just plain easier. However, not a lot of people are using TAB to do anything MORE than just play the song of their choice.

It’s looked at more as this is how you play something and most don’t look any deeper than that.

To elaborate a little more on this, or to give a slightly better description of it I’ll quote Nobody: “TABs are learning to speak French by phonetics. You can mouth the sounds but have no idea what you’re saying.”

It’s a lot like playing Guitar Hero when you think about it. The TV tells you which button to push and when to pick and you do it. The same goes for TAB except you’re doing it on a string instead of a plastic button. This realization that I am basically playing Guitar Hero sans actual game is frightening.

Of course, you CAN use TAB to learn so long as you pay attention to what you’re playing. For instance, you can read a TAB of a single note song, say, Wipeout or the James Bond theme, and say to yourself the name of the note you’re playing then you will eventually be able to find the notes all around the neck. The same goes for chords. You can not only say to yourself the name of the chord (important as that is) but can also break the chord down note by note.

Again though, for the most part, not a lot of people are looking deeper than just learning the song and letting the TAB put the guitarist’s fingers where they are supposed to go with no “why” or “what am I playing” behind it.

Because of this, the whole “musician” thing comes into play.

I have rules for myself and they may be completely different for you (that’s part of the joy for self-imposed rules, I guess) and I would not consider myself a guitar player until I could play along with Fight Fire With Fire by Metallica. I will not consider myself a musician until I can properly jam with someone else.

Right now it feels like when I walk into a guitar store or meet another guitarist the words “Does Not Play Well With Others” is right under my face like some awful label. I don’t play well with others. For one thing, I don’t learn the most popular of songs, nor do I know anything about theory or chords or anything like that.

I am the individual that relied on TAB their whole guitar-playing life. As a result, jamming, real jamming, not a joint recital of a song with an occasional break for a solo, is absolutely terrifying. I dread them with such a passion that I often hang back saying something like “no, it’s OK. You play, I’m sure you’re much better than me. I’ll just focus and try to learn something.” I always feel like such a novice when this happens, like I’m not worthy of anything more than a Wal Mart guitar to learn on (because it’s obvious at these moments that I DO need to learn).

It’s very painful.

I bet I’m not the only one out there with this feeling either. I bet there are a TON of people that feel the same actually.

What I’ve been doing to remedy this situation is going through a Mickey Baker jazz book where he wrote out chords in the ever-handy chord diagram (this finger goes here on this string, this finger here etc. etc.) and instructs to play up and down the whole fretboard saying the chord name out loud. I’ll be honest, my knowledge of the fretboard is so rudimentary that I had to grab my tuner which has the whole musical letter range displayed and use that as I went up and down.

After you learn the first three chords there is an exercise using them together.

The process FEELS like a waste of time because, given enough time to guarantee a good bit of muscle memory, I could get through it no problem with TAB. That isn’t the point though. That is not what I’m trying to learn. I am not trying to learn jazz songs. I’m trying to learn MUSIC and the fretboard and as painful as this process is, it is preferable to another jam session where I have to be told what fret to start on for the key of A.

I just won’t let that happen again.

Back to the cons of TAB, their widespread use and easy accessibility means guitarists are finding them online and learning them instead of listening to the song to learn it. The ear, often said by the best guitarists to be one of the most important things a guitarist can develop, is in a state of atrophy from lack of use.

Yes, you play TAB and think this does or does not sound like the song, but if it doesn’t are you more prone to try to find the right note or chord yourself or do you click back on your browser and find another version of the TAB?

I can tell you which I’m guilty of.

By no means am I writing this to judge or criticize the guitarists who do use TAB or the guitarists of today in general. Absolutely nothing like that. This is just my personal experience and I think it’s more common than a lot of people are willing to admit.

I’ve admitted it though, that I can’t play guitar, but have a decent amount of practice faking it. Now that I’ve admitted it, I’m working on amending the situation. Maybe you found this encouraging or informative or insulting enough to say or do something about it. I hope it isn’t the latter.

I hope the 5th Fret isn’t labeled as a TAB hating site either. I don’t hate TABs because, like I said before, they can be used for good practicing, they can get you playing the song you want to play quickly and sometimes, just like in Guitar Hero, you want a quick result. TABS aren’t inherently bad, but as far as my case goes, they’ve crippled my music progress and now I have to go through some pretty painful physical therapy that should have happened at the very start of my playing career. Twelve years down the tube when they could have been used to maybe become a decent musician.

-Pappy

Guitar Show Newsletter

I remember reading in some car magazine, tucked away in the back, a breakdown of the next three or so months of car shows broken down state by state. I thought the idea was amazing right off the bat to have this kind of stuff in a national publication and I was able to plan a vacation to see a car show in Florida with my wife. We had a great time and I walked away from the experience thankful that the magazine had published such an easy to read guide to car shows so far off in the future.

I wonder why this doesn’t happen with guitar shows?

Now, you may say that the reason it doesn’t happen is because there aren’t nearly the same number of guitar shows. That’s a fair point. Maybe if there were publicized guitar shows that people attended, more and more shows would come of it. In all honesty, local car shows feature the same cars, just on different days, so what’s the difference between something like that and a gathering of guitarists and their gear?

This blog was devised from listening to Six String Bliss where one of the hosts, Pipes, went to a vintage guitar show and complained that it was not well advertized at all. I believe it.

Coincidentally on the same day I was driving and saw a cardboard sign stuck in the ground below a stop sign at a major intersection that said “Coin Show” and gave the dates. I give it an “A” for effort, but I obviously don’t remember the dates and the location wasn’t given so all in all, I would say their advertising campaign needs some work.

So what I propose (to guitarists not the coin enthusiasts) is a publication either on the internet or printed (I imagine the internet would probably be much more successful) where guitar shows can have their dates and locations posted along with things like admission rates and little bullets like “award for best in show, furthest travelled, etc etc.” Putting just a simple description of the event would cost maybe five dollars, and if you wanted to put a full blown ad for the event in there it could cost ten dollars.

The cost should not be high because you do not want people saying that they would love to advertise their event but the price is too high and because of this no one shows up. You definitely want this open for everyone to advertise their shows on.

Some of you may ask why should you have to pay? How hard would it be to open up a Blogger account and post blogs with the months and then plug in the dates in the according blog post? Blogger’s free, so why pay?

I’ll tell you why: it’s basically for two reasons. You definitely want to keep the person running the site/blog motivated and money changing hands would help establish a contract and this small business would then be treated like a business, not a free for all. It helps you as a person who puts on shows know your ad will be put in the post.

Also, the site/blog is going to need to advertise in magazines that should be doing this anyway. They need their own banner ads on the internet too. If no one knows the site exists, no one will go to it and no one will benefit from it.

Sounds like a great idea to me. It sounds like something that the guitar world would appreciate too. If anyone reads this and decides to do it (I would but I'm just too dang busy) please email me the link and I'll favorite it. Thanks!

-Pappy

The 5th Fret Interviews Joe Carducci of Gretsch Guitars

Joe Carducci, the Gretsch Marketing Director, was nice enough to take time out of his busy schedule to answer some questions about the brand's past, the future, his past with FMIC and why quality is so important to him.

The 5th Fret: The Gretsch community has shown an incredible sense of camaraderie by organizing their own grass roots conventions across the country and even the world. How does it feel working to provide a product to such a friendly and tight-knit group?


Joe Carducci: The feeling is AMAZING! Everything about Gretsch guitars is cool. Especially the people that play ‘em! There’s like this secret world wide “club” of Gretsch enthusiast that when they get together, there’s a genuine feeling of brotherhood. I know for me when I go to events and meet fellow Gretsch-heads, it’s like a connecting with family.

It must be nice knowing they appreciate the products, right?


It’s more humbling than anything.

When did you start playing guitar?


After seeing the premier performance of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (1964), I bugged my parents for weeks to get me a guitar. They finally gave in and got me into lessons right away. I was 9 years old.

What was your first guitar?


It was a Sears “Silvertone” archtop acoustic.

And you still own that one, right?


Yes, I still have the guitar.

When did you start working for Fender?


Started working for Fender in November, 1973.

What was your favorite job (before the one you have now)?


Would have to say working at the Fender National Service Center. It was located @ 500 S. Raymond Avenue, on the corner of Raymond & Valencia in Fullerton, California. This address was the FIRST original brick building that Leo Fender constructed in 1953/1954 when he launched the Fender Musical Instrument Company. His office was in this building. Talk about a place with mojo! During this time I was repairing Fender guitars & Rhodes pianos. Not only did we repair the stuff there, but also talked on the phones to consumers & helped service techs trouble shoot defective product from literally all over the world. I shared a work area/office with a wonderful man by the name of Charlie Davis. Mr. Davis was a long time Fender employee who started working for Leo when he was 19 years old. He was an amazing guitar tech (also repaired Rogers drums) and had an “Andy Griffith” charm about him that could turn the most angry consumer into his very best friend in seconds. He also had a great sense of humor. I learned a lot from Charlie and man-o-man did he make me laugh. It should be noted that the 500 S. Raymond building is now a sports bar.

Can you tell us the William Schultz story?


(see attached photo) – The man standing on the conveyor belt addressing the workers is Mr. Bill Schultz. At that time Fender was still owned by CBS. Mr. Schultz was brought in as President (1981) to try & turn things around. The moral of the employees was at an all time low. The product that was produced during this time was being shoved out the door with little regard to quality. How do I know this? I was one of the two Quality Control Inspectors that was working on the guitar final assembly area when this photo was taken and saw it all first hand. My inspection “booth” can be seen in the photo on the right facing the camera.


Like I said, the moral of the employees was awful. To ensure no one was goofing off, EVERYONE had a daily quota to meet. That also included the QC Inspectors. There were two of us and each had to inspect 200 guitars a day, 5 days a week. Did that gig for a little over 5 years. The Tune Tester workers who set-up the guitars didn’t get along with the Inspectors because we (often) rejected their guitars (rightfully so when NO SOUND was coming out of a pickup… or if a neck was badly over bowed!), which they would have to re-work resulting in them getting behind in their daily quota. On the flip side, the string-up gals didn’t get along with the Tune Testers because they would send the guitars back if they weren’t strung up right who then would get behind in their daily quota. This was basically the mind set that existed on down the assembly line. I found it odd that in a place where they made musical instruments there was NO harmony among the workers.


That particular afternoon the lady who ran the guitar final area, Mary (shown in the photo holding a guitar and standing in front of Schultz) went around the department asking for everyone to gather to the front because Mr. Schultz wanted to say a few words. I remember everyone being annoyed of the announcement because now for sure they wouldn’t meet their quota. Even remember overhearing frustrated grumbles of, “who the F%#K is this guy?” and “what do they expect from us now?!”


Bill was met with a luke warm applause when he was introduced. The speech he gave on that conveyor belt lasted about 15/20 minutes. The basic message was that he was embarrassed that there were factories in Japan that were making Fender guitar copies BETTER than what were coming out of our factory. I remember him specifically stating, “THIS IS ALL GOING TO CHANGE IMMEDIATELY!!!”… He went on to say, “Even if it means stopping the production line to fix problems, that’s what’s going to happen!” He then asked for everyone to help to make the necessary improvements.


From the moment Bill stepped down from the conveyor belt, everyone cheered and EVERYTHING indeed changed IMMEDIATELY! It could easily be defined in lore as the moment Bill Schultz saved Fender. The invisible barriers between the departments came down. They got rid of the Union (IBEW) as that created a negative wedge between the workers & management. Everyone was now friendly with a common goal. The photo of Bill on the conveyor belt hangs proudly at our Scottsdale headquarters. Wish I would have know that then. Had I stood another 12 inches forward, would have been in the camera view to the right. Oh well, I guess it doesn’t really matter. To have witnessed that speech is enough for me.

How did you get into Gretsch?


My first introduction to Gretsch was in my teens. I traded a guy a Les Paul copy and some cash for a black Duo Jet with DynaSonic pickups. I LOVED that guitar! Though there was no internet at the time, I searched libraries & asked hip dudes that worked at music stores to find out all I could about Gretsch. It was my main axe for about three years. As young guitarists do when you're on that never ending search for the ultimate sound, I eventually traded it for a red Guild “Thunderbird” only because it was different.


Prior to taking on the marketing of Gretsch guitars on November 1st, 2006, was responsible for marketing the Squier & Fender guitars that were being produced off-shore from 1996 to about 1998. From my experiences of working with off-shore vendors and performing many of the guitar production duties during my early Fender years, I believe Mike Lewis & FMIC management felt I was a fit to replace Mike when he was promoted to Vice President of Marketing of all FMIC brands.

Is this your dream job? If so, what's it like working your dream job?


Is this my dream job? ABSOLUTELY! Gretsch are the coolest guitars on the planet! PERIOD!!! All day long the topic of discussion is all things Gretsch. Where it’s been! Where we’re going with it! If we were making plumbing parts I don’t think I would be as excited each day to go to work. I’m greatly appreciative of such a loyal community that can be found on the Gretsch internet discussion forums. They’re a great resource for information. Please know I’m completely aware how lucky I am to be a part of Gretsch during these exciting times. And from where I sit, I can tell you it’s going to get even better! Stay tuned!!!

How much is left in the evolution of the guitar as an instrument, or is it fully evolved like the piano?


That’s a good question. However, if we fixed everything that’s wrong with our guitars, it would no longer be a Gretsch. It’s part of the DNA and the charm.

Any plans for Gretsch models to come with carbon fiber fingerboards and stainless steel frets?


Not anytime soon.

How has the internet fundamentally changed the business model of musical instruments? Do we yet fully recognize it and how far along are we in that evolution?


The internet allows us to transmit & receive vital information instantly to/from far corners of the earth. I believe we’ve only scratched the surface in that evolution.

Do you read gear reviews of the products you manage?


Absolutely! I also read everyone else’s too.

How do you feel about the trade press and how they are covering guitar-oriented music?


At our office we get music trade magazines from all over the world that cover many musical styles. Obviously trade magazines that target guitar geeks (Guitar Player, 20th Century Guitar, Vintage Guitar), they do a good job of following who’s hot in the world of guitar oriented music. However, if you pickup a copy of say, Rolling Stone magazine, they’re target reader is a little more mainstream which you’re more likely to find a feature on Britney Spears or Baby Face than Los Strait Jackets or Jr. Brown.

Is Guitar Hero and Rock Band good for the music business? Is it good for music?


ABSOLUTELY! Retailers are reporting loads of moms & dads bringing in their son or daughter in to buy REAL guitars and signing them up for lessons. Basically they equating high scoring games as maybe my kid has talent. The kids are digging the feeling of the sound of a cheering audience. They’re getting bit by the rock-n-roll bug with these games.

Fashions and trends come and go in music industry. How does it affect your work?


Provided that the musical style incorporates a guitar, all is good. It’s well documented that Gretsch has been a part of every musical style that has surfaced in pop culture since they began making guitars in the 1930’s.

What do you think of this resurgence of archtops?


We’re diggin’ it!

What is your take on more companies offering low cost archtops?

As Gretsch has been growing & gaining momentum in market share, I totally expected to start seeing more “me too” companies surface with low cost archtops. However, there is only ONE Gretsch brand. Even if folks buy a low cost copy, if over time they get serious about playing, eventually they’ll want the real deal original, Gretsch.

With more bands playing these instruments that hearken back to different times, do you think we'll see a resurgence of the genres associated with the archtop like jazz, swing, rockabilly and blues?


Resurgence? We’re already there!

Gretsch seems to have a higher profile lately. I see more artists using Gretsch guitars, and have heard and seen noticeable improvements in overall quality since Gretsch became part of the FMIC family. What changes have you seen since you've become the Product Manager for Gretsch?


The credit for more popular artists using Gretsch guitars goes out to our dedicated Gretsch Artist Relations guy, Jason Herndon. His office is in Nashville, Tennessee. It’s well documented that the first order of business when FMIC became involved with Gretsch was to return the specifications of ALL the current models to the Brooklyn, NY construction recipe. This era of instruments were the most sought after in the vintage guitar market. They simply sound better & more authentically embody the Gretsch mojo. The changes I’ve seen since becoming the Product Manager for Gretsch is its global popularity.

How did the Patrick Stump model come to be?


Our Scottsdale Artist Relations rep, Billy Siegle made that happen.

A lot of the current Electromatic line seems to borrow heavily from the aesthetics of the pro-line models. Is there a reason the Corvette is labeled an Electro even though there's no pro-line counterpart? What criteria goes into an Electromatic?


Many of the Electromatic models are Gretschy, but not all the way. Historically the Corvette was an Electromatic model. The Pro Collection is the real deal Gretsch models. That’s where you’ll find the Country Club, White Falcon, Penguin, Brian Setzer & Chet Atkins models.

Certain raw materials used to make guitars are an issue in the industry. What do you see as viable options for instrument makers to pursue?


All the woods & materials used to create Gretsch guitars are not endangered nor have issues. The basic recipe for a Gretsch hollow body guitar is 3-ply maple top, backs & sides. If we used any other materials it wouldn’t sound the same. If we changed the recipe, it would no longer be the Gretsch that we all know & love. When the Baldwin Company took over Gretsch guitars in ’67 they took liberties with that sacred recipe. Look what happened! They ruined the guitars and the reputation. I will NEVER let that happen again!

Gretsch has had their fair share of gadgetry in the past. Guitar companies are introducing digital guitars, self tuning guitars, guitars with built in modeling circuitry, etc. Is there anything like this on the horizon for Gretsch?


The simple gadgetry affiliated with Gretsch from the past added to the charm of the guitars. As far as getting into hi-tech, self tuning, built in modeling circuitry, that’s not what we’re about. Gretsch guitars are simply cool. We have a very clear vision of what the brand should represent. We embrace the fact that they’re not for everyone. When you try to please everyone you become nothing. If you want all that other stuff you should buy the other brand.

What do you think about the wide use of Tabs these days?


Tabs are cool!

Where have the big guitarists gone?


You mean like Leslie West? He lost a ton of weight and still plays like a monster. ; )

What sort of musical gear do you own?


As far as guitars I’ve got two black Duo Jets and a White Falcon. All three with DynaSonic pickups. Also own two stock Fender Stratocaster guitars. One is vintage white & the other 3-tone sunburst. Play them through a Fender Blues Deluxe amp.

What is your all time favorite band?


Off the top of my head I would have to say “The Electric Flag”. Their first album titled, “A Long Time Coming” still knocks me out!

What is your favorite modern band?


The Living End

Do you have any other cool stories you would like to share with us?


Not at this time. It’s now 5:30am and I haven’t been to sleep since yesterday. How about we save that for another time. Cool?

Vintage Guitar Market A Myth?

I have been lucky enough to play a couple of vintage guitars from assorted years (at least one that was made when my grandfather was young) and while I thought that they were cool in that they are pieces of history and to think of all the stuff they’ve been through is stunning, I haven’t found one that I wanted to buy except one guitar and that was because it played exactly like my guitar, it just felt a little more worn in on the back of the neck. It was very comfortable and the similarity to my guitar was pretty mind blowing. They felt like they were made right next to each other (though the vintage one felt like it had received a lot more play in the neck to wear down to the wood in parts), it just so happened that one was fifty years older than mine.

Well, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration. It is fifty years old now. It is officially 47 years older than mine.

That’s still really close to fifty years though, which is a nice, round number.

Now, the fact that I haven’t been so blown away by a vintage guitar that I contemplated selling all of my modest collection and a kidney or two to get it is NOT indicative of what I’m about to talk about, it just plays into it.

I have little doubt if I were to say I’m perfectly satisfied with an ’08 Gibson Les Paul I’m sure someone would say that, while good, they just can’t compare to a 1958 Les Paul.

I have never played a ’58 Les Paul. They have reached mythical status as have other guitars that are famous. Strats, Teles, Broadcasters, Nocasters, Esquires, Les Pauls, and other guitars have all reached a point where they are worth so much money that I haven’t seen ANY of them in person.

I take that back. I have seen a ’59 Strat in person but I was NOT allowed to touch it at all.

If I’m not allowed to touch it, how am I supposed to know for myself that modern Strats can’t compare, or, more fairly, WON’T compare given the same amount of time to age?

I think this is something guitar stores and collectors are hoping to bank on when it comes to the vintage market. If they, the owner of the guitar, TELL their friend that the guitar stomps all over a modern reproduction then that friend is likely to tell some other folks something similar and then it will spiral out to everyone in the world. While YOU might not have been able to play one, you know a guy who knows a guy who’s really knowledgeable on the subject and you heard that they said there is no comparison. As a result, they’re hoping that you don’t even look at the American Standard Strat and go right for vintage stuff.

I’m not entirely convinced though and will remain so until I can play these mythical guitars. This is just me though. There are some folks that I trust when it comes to their descriptions, but I hope that they accept that I’ll never be entirely sure until I try it out for myself.

I hope they’re the same way. I hope they wouldn’t JUST rely on my opinion to determine yes or no to purchases. While the Patrick Stump Corvette is AMAZING to me in every way, you might not like it. If you buy it blind, ask for the shop’s return policy first at least. Just in case.

Anyway, until I find out for myself that a 1958 Les Paul Standard is so much better than a 2008 Les Paul Standard that it is able to command, what, $100,000.00 more, I’m going to find the idea a bit tough to swallow.

However, I think this seemingly wide-spread acceptance of superiority is good for the guitar business. It is forcing companies like Gibson or Fender to look at what supposedly made these guitars so desirable in the first place and there is a very visible commitment from both companies (and even more companies out there) to produce modern guitars that will age just as gracefully.

I think this is a great thing for companies to do. I think their slogans should be something like “if you were to travel back in time and buy one.” I do NOT think the price should try to compete with vintage guitars though. Some of us aren’t millionaires and can’t afford to reward what the company should have been doing from day one (making great guitars that will stand the test of time) by paying through the nose for it.

It may be just me, but if you can buy a completely handmade Telecaster style guitar built to 1958 standards for around 2,000.00 (which is expensive until you consider that it is completely handmade) it seems RIDICULOUS that a mass produced 1952 reissue Telecaster should cost 1,500.00.

If the gap is seriously 500.00 with line produced on one end and hand made on the other, I’ll save my pennies and get the handmade one.

But I do think the companies are getting better, the guitars are getting better, and even some prices are getting more reasonable. Playing the Epiphone Emperor Regent I felt like it could stand up to time without too much trouble. It felt solid but not ridiculously thick, if you know what I mean.

So whereas some people are content to accept second-hand stories about the greatness of vintage guitars, so much so that prices like $10,000.00 is considered “cheap”, I am throwing this blog of doubt out there. I’m more than willing to say it stems from fairly complete ignorance too. But the blog is out there. I’m a doubter in the mythical vintage models and am becoming a believer in the modern guitars.

-Pappy

The Winds Of Change Just Keep On Blowing

In a couple of deleted posts that probably ended up in at least some of your Blog Readers, I said that the 5th Fret was moving.

I've changed my mind. The 5th Fret is still here, still breathing and still very much alive. It seems that just about any name you can think of has already been taken and during a post edit I accidentally put the wrong address in the link to the new (now non-existent) blog and when I clicked it to make sure it worked it took me to a custom guitar builder.

I apologize for any confusion this may have caused you, the reader, or my staff. I am very sorry.

More guitar blog posts to come (and they'll be located right here).

-Pappy

A Lighthouse Shines

I don’t know about your area, but mom and pop guitar stores seem to be treading water at best and sinking fast at worst. In my area I have two guitar stores, one that seems to be getting by by offering entry-level gear for people that are just getting into playing or maybe even just getting their feet wet performing the experiment to see if they’d like it. Maybe even a parent is buying their child a guitar just to see if they like it.

The other store sells gear that isn’t that much higher in quality or price, but it is small and the stock that is there doesn’t change very often so people are not visiting the shop to see what’s new. They know what’s there. As a result the shop is not doing so well. The owner is lamenting to customers about his woes.

I feel bad for these shops and I do not think that this is exactly a strange occurrence here. With big shops like Guitar Center in places and a wealth of music stores on-line it has to be tough to compete. It has to be tough to compete the old fashioned way, anyway.

I asked a shop owner (Joel at Shanghai Music & Sound in Ponca City, OK) when his shop was opened and when they went online. They opened their doors in 1999 and started selling goods online somewhere between 2000 and 2001. He says that starting to sell things online probably saved his business. Now, keep in mind, Shanghai is not an exclusively online store. It is very much brick and mortar and you can still go to the store and talk to the staff. He is merely offering his goods online as well as in the store and is also offering the option of ordering merchandise for the customer from the brands that he has deals with. For instance, he has a few Gretsch guitars in stock, but keeping them on the shelves is probably an expensive undertaking and there’s no guarantee that it will be exactly what the customer wants. But you can call him and say you want a black Gretsch 6120 and he can order it for you. When it comes, he’ll set it up to your specs if you’d like him to and even offer any modifications you’d like.

When it comes to the topic of the Internet and how local shops would be wise to use it, he says that when you do not offer your goods on the Internet you are purely a local shop and when you are purely a local shop you are trying to sell just to your area so your loyalty is limited to the area and you will always be competing with the Internet. He says that since the Internet will always be there competing with you, you might as well be on there as well.

And loyalty plays a part even outside your local area. By providing great service and constantly putting his own time aside to help customers, he’s ensuring repeat business from his patrons, regardless of where they live. It’s very possible to build a loyal INTERNATIONAL fan base to a store that is only about 2,200 square feet.

I think that the normal Mom and Pop store mentality needs to change and fast if they hope to survive and make a profit. By offering quality service and products to match you can end up with someone states or even countries away saying “If I ever need gear, this is the first place I check.”

Most of these smaller shops are not chains and therefore you can get familiar with the staff and eventually when you call or email, you know who it’s going to go to and after a while they can probably even be called a friend. And with shipping being as fast as it today, the difference between local and distant stores is little more than a few days of waiting for your guitar and not being able to play it before you buy it.

This is probably the biggest concern of buying on the Internet: How do you know the guitar you’re buying is a quality guitar?

Joel's response is this:

"Returns are kind of a weird thing. I try to tell buyers to research as best they can. Even if it's a competitor to get out and play the guitars they're looking for. To me a return policy used incorrectly basically rewards the buyer for bad judgement. Today, money is so scarce that it's my opinion that people shouldn't make large uninformed purchases. Impulse will always be a part of the buying process but when the price tag exceeds$1000.00 then it's a bit weird. From the customer's perspective, they don't want a "new" guitar with a million shipping tags on it. Also, it's not the dealers fault if a customer buys an orange guitar and a week later they decide they don't like the color. That's not the dealer's or the manufacturer's fault. That's just an ill informed purchase on the part of the buyer. To me return policies kind of reward this buying behavior.

That said, we do want the customer to be happy. If they bought a new guitar from us and we get a call back that there's a finish issue we've missed, a defect in the production, the paint was put on right, etc we do everything in our power to make them happy. If they however bought a Gretsch Nashville and decide the Nashville wasn't what they wanted then it gets a bit more complicated. If it's a guitar that any Nashville lover would kill to have, a flawless instrument and they just don't like it then that's really not ours or Gretsch's fault. So in the end, we do not sell lemons. No customer will be stuck with a lemon or a guitar they're not happy with. We just encourage asking questions, researching discussion boards like the Gretsch Pages and if possible playing the guitars. That's usually the best way."

About the difference between stores like Shanghai and Guitar Center?

“We actually own the place whereas when you call a place like a big box chain, you might be dealing with someone who may not have as much stake in the business,” Joel says. “It may be just one of many jobs they may have in their lifetime. For us it’s kind of personal and anything negative reflects directly back on us. You can’t just pass it on to another department or the next salesman on another shift.”

He also sees a bright future for the Mom and Pop stores out there:

“If the economy keeps going the way it is you may see a resurgence of Mom and Pop shops, not just in the music area. I know lots of big businesses are cutting jobs right now so if you can’t find a job creating one is sometimes a good option. So, going into business for yourself can be a pretty attractive option. Especially in times like these.”

-Pappy

Things Always Look Good On Paper

With NAMM now behind us and four things looking interesting and buyable to me I’ve been spending some time looking at specs, trying to find flaws and ways to feel better about not being able to buy them (I’m sure I’m not the only one who does this).

Now, one of the four is exempt from this because I’ve played it (the Patrick Stump Corvette) and KNOW it’s a good guitar. I have no questions about it. It is quality through and through.

The other three items are the LTD Kirk Hammett Ouija KH-602, the VOX AC4TVH, and the VOX Night Train.

Marketing Specialists excel at making products tough to find holes in and as a result, a ton of gear probably looks amazing to you until you play it or plug it in. I researched the Tiny Terror with an unbelievable dedication and thought it was a perfect amp for me. YouTube videos were further proclaiming the potential I was looking for (jazzy cleans and metal gain) and I was all but sold on the Tiny amp.

The opportunity to play it arose and I sat down only to feel disappointed. The bass response was not really there and it certainly wasn’t focused enough. Perhaps it was an unfair comparison because I had just gotten done playing a Rockerverb which has exactly what I was looking for gain-wise (I was not looking for the kind of fuzz where notes get lost but very clear sounding notes that happen to sound as if they are rising from the flames of Hell, that’s all), but I was disappointed anyway.

That experience has taught me to reserve judgment on anything I haven’t plugged in and heard for myself but looking at these other amps, there seems to be so much potential. Especially the idea of stacking the AC4TVH on top of the Night Train. Imagine you are in your room and you have your cab and these two heads on top of it (stacked or side by side, I’ll leave that one up to you). It’s late at night so you can’t turn it up and even 7.5 watts is probably too loud (7.5 watts is very loud by the way. The fact that rock stars use hundred watt heads but honestly, the volume of even five watts will probably surprise you) you can turn on the A4CTVH and then work your way down in power until you’re sitting pretty at a mere .25 watts.

But imagine it’s daytime and you want a little more volume than 4 watts can provide. You probably don’t live in an apartment, but let’s go with it. You need more volume, the Night Train seems perfect. If you need more volume than 7.5 watts provide, just turn it to 15.

I look at these amps as sort of continuations of each other, like they seem built to be used together on a linear line of volume, but I could be completely wrong here. Remember, I have never played either amp.

Even if you were to look at it in a linear way though volume-wise, there’s a little something extra for you in the Night Train, namely the “chunky/bright” switch. This is the big draw for me and something that seperates it from the AC15. I like the VOX chime but I do not want it all the time. I like chime in certain parts and think the VOX chime is incredibly tough to duplicate so I can’t imagine going through my whole guitar playing “career” without owning at least one VOX.

Sometimes (probably most times) I am NOT looking for that chime though and that’s what appeals to me about the chunky switch. Coming right from their website they say the following:

“…the THICK setting bypasses the tone circuit to boost the gain and create a chunkier, heavier sound.”

That sounds very appealing. I’d love to try these amps out. The price of both of them seem very fair too. I’m definitely going to be keeping my eye out for one to try of each.

As far as the KH goes, I’ll be looking for one to play because I’ve never played one with that particular neck carve and over 1K is a lot to spend not knowing how you like the neck.

-Pappy

Guitar Player February 2009

If you can still find this issue on the newsstand, I recommend picking it up. I am not the kind of guy that buys a lot of guitar magazines but lately while my daughter's been watching something like "Wow Wow Wubbzy," I have been aching for something with pretty pictures to look at so I bought this issue. This is the issue that features James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett in front of a red background on the cover. I tried to find a picture of it but failed.

Anyway...

I was giving some serious thought to NOT buying it, but skimming from back to front to check out the articles I saw a review of the PRS SE Custom Semi-Hollow and then saw they were having a shoot-out between a bunch of hollows and semi-hollows. This is very interesting stuff to me as I am a far bigger fan of hollowbodies than solid bodies, even for my most raunchy tonal quests.

I also saw articles about the new Traynor guitar amp, the Orange OR50, the Carr Slant V6, an interview with Metallica that really concentrated on guitar playing, why they tuned in standard for most of the new album, and most importantly what they think about the nasty comments some people are making about the compression of the audio quality on Death Magnetic when the Guitar Hero tracks are so clear. They have interesting responses and I agree with them. Coincidentally, while listening to DM before I bought this magazine a similar thought had hit me about the album and how I LIKED how (non-deliberately) distorted it was.

Speaking of Metallica, there's also two pictures detailing both Hetfield and Hammett's touring rig of guitars and amps, something you just don't see enough of in interviews.

Still, with all of this good stuff I was contemplating putting the magazine back and not getting anything at all when I saw that there was an interview with Scotty Moore. That was it.

The stars aligned and this magazine was made, a great cross between historical and modern, classic and new, there's a ton of reviews (honestly, I'm a sucker for interviews and reviews. I don't really need anything else in a magazine) to gawk at and there's even an Yngwie interview if you tilt more toward the shred side of the Guitar World (pun intended).

Check it out folks.

-Pappy

Ouija Said It Would Come Back

I am a fan of Metallica and have wanted a KH-2 for a very long time. It used to be that I wanted to normal KH-2 with the skull and crossbones inlays but as time wore on, the pirate cliche wore thin and I was - am still - not a fan. The KH-2 model that I thought was the coolest looking was this one:

From what I can gather from the all-mighty Internet, there were about fifty of these guitars made from 1997 to 1999. I also read that Kirk kept numbers 1 and 13 to himself (I would probably do the same thing but add number 11 in there as well) so that's two out of circulation. These things seem to be rare, rare, rare. The white on the guitar glows in the dark too and honestly, what on this great big marble in space is cooler than stuff that glows in the dark?

In high school I would post bids on eBay for the normal KH-2 and always be on the lookout for this one. My highest bid never won on eBay and these things never popped up.

They were stopped in production because (rumored) Park Brothers threatened to file suit with ESP because they didn't ask permission to use the famous board's pictures.

Lawsuits. They keep the coolest stuff from coming out.

Anyway, because of this threat, ESP did away with the graphic and what became of it was a ton of people buying ESP M-2s, or KH-2s and finding bootleg graphics to stick on the guitar. You can do an eBay search right now and probably find at least five sellers all trying to sell you the graphic.

But part of the coolness of the model isn't JUST that it's got a Ouija board on it (though that is wicked cool) or that it glows in the dark (though again, wicked cool), but that it's a real signature guitar and even the cheaper signature guitars made by ESP's offshoot, LTD is still pretty awesome. In the KH realm there are basically (BASICALLY) four tiers. You have the ESP KH-2NTB (Neck Through Body), the ESP KH-2 (with a bolt on neck), the top end LTD KH-602 which is very, very close in specs to the ESP NTB, and you have the lower end KH-202 which is not only bolt on but also constructed of a completely different wood (basswood VS the normal alder).

Before there were four tiers of basically the same guitar there was only one, the KH-2 which came standard as a neck-through. Then LTD came out with their version and it was remarkably close to the KH-2. It was neck through, it had the same pickups, same controls, same body wood, the only difference if I remember right was that the bridge was Floyd Licensed, not a real Floyd Rose. But still, the cost was very good and the specs were so close, owning an ESP seemed like a completely unnecessary luxury.

But now things have changed! Maybe ESP talked to Park Brothers after they saw that the bootleg graphics were out there and "Kirk Hammett Ouija" was such a popular google search (3,380 results) but for whatever reason, they decided to reissue the guitar with some upgrades in the ESP version.

Here are pictures of the new ones:

The upgrades include mirror inlays and an ebony fingerboard where the first ones had a rosewood fretboard. The LTD version of this guitar (the one that I would buy if given the chance) has a rosewood fingerboard and the guitar is close spec-wise once again. Neck through body, EMG 81 and 60 pickups (bridge and neck respectively), the wicked cool graphic and the awesome inlays.

They're also offering it in white (as shown above) in the ESP line. In my opinion, and this is just one blogger's opinion here, I really like the white and think it will stand out in the usual arsenal of metal guitarists. However, I like the black more and since they don't come in glow in the dark anymore, I would be awfully tempted to paint the white parts glow in the dark and spray some clear on it (or maybe have it done professionally. Surely something like that wouldn't cost THAT much).

Am I excited? Oh, you betcha. The fact that these guitars are only available for one year, a year where there is no gear buying in the foreseeable future is pretty painful. Who knows though? Maybe ESP and LTD will flood the market with these and I can find one in the classifieds later on.

Of all the things to come out of NAMM this year, this and the Patrick Stump Gretsch Corvette are the only things I've been really impressed by.

Take care!

-Pappy

FMIC Lunch

Before I get too into this, I'd like to say that if you are in the Scottsdale AZ area, there is a Mexican restaurant called Julo G's that has an awesome dish called Raspberry Chipotle Chicken. I thought it would be pulled or shredded chicken, but it came on the bone and not wanting to look like swine, it took me a long time to cut off the chicken from the bone so by the time I had eaten half of the meal, I was full.

The music playing was good, unlike most restaurants where the music always seems to be phoned in from a good distance away. Classic oldies (good selection too, songs you know and songs you don't instead of the usual either you know every song or you don't know any varieties) could be heard outside, but inside it was at a significantly lower volume allowing for pleasant conversation without shouting.

Written on the wall of Julo G's is a saying from a previous Phoenix AZ mayor that went something like: "There's nothing in Scottsdale but a bunch of rocks. No one will ever want to move there."

But he was wrong. Scottsdale seems to be an amazing town, not just for the delicious food (again: go to Julo G's!) but for the people that live there, or at least the people I met.

As Mark said in his blog about it, we were given the opportunity to come up and take a tour of the facility. Every employee we bumped into and chatted with was incredibly friendly and more than willing to take time out of their busy day to talk to us. The offices were mostly empty due to the fact that Christmas had just passed, but the employees that were there were busy packing things up for Winter NAMM in Anaheim, CA. This fact was not lost on me as they stopped working to chat with us. I kept thinking that at every office I had ever gone to, if someone was doing something - if they had a task to perform - they wanted to get it done. They were probably on a roll and nearly finished when you came in and derailed the progress. Most employees would not be pleasant toward you, or at least, not many have been pleasant that I've seen. The employees at FMIC though were always courteous and they seemed genuinely happy to be there.

This is a big deal. I strongly believed that "job satisfaction" was a myth and that work was work and if work was fun it would not be called work, it would be called something like "awesome fun you get paid to do." Maybe it would be called a "dream."

So it hit me that this is a dream job. When I told my wife a while back that I thought it would be very cool indeed to go work for FMIC she scoffed and said something like "What, do you think they play guitars all day?" Well, for the record I don't think they play guitars all day. But every single cubicle I passed had at least one guitar in it and I heard no less than two people playing and even saw a bit of a jam session go on, so yes, I think this would be a great place to work. I was telling just about everyone that they seemed so lucky to work there and while you may hear that at your job, you may think the person is a little nuts. I fly in the US Air Force and sometimes people say I have the coolest job in the world but I know the truth because it's my job. I'm very familiar with it and not incredibly satisfied so I sometimes say something like "you'd think so," or "there are definitely people that truly enjoy it." I don't want to give off the impression that my job is horrible, but no job is going to perfectly fit the employee, do you know what I mean?

And yet, every single employee I talked to said they know it's the coolest job in the world and they wouldn't want to be anywhere else. While the cynic in me would love to claim that they were just giving me lip service, I could tell they weren't lying. They know they're lucky to work there and the job satisfaction is written all over their face.

Walking through the facilities, I was impressed by how many guitars I saw. It wasn't like Guitar Center where there's a million guitars on the wall, or a music practice space where things are a little... less organized. It was one guitar in this cubicle, leaning in the joint of the desk, these three guitars hanging on the wall of an office within easy reach of the employee. The offices of the higher ranking individuals (most of whom were on vacation) had even more guitars and I thought this in particular was strange. Surely the higher you went the more busy you became and therefore the less guitars you had nearby. But here I was, proven wrong again.

I saw guitars that were from the past. I saw guitars that were going to be released unto the world later on. I even saw guitars that were "maybe" guitars. Guitars that MIGHT be made into production models, they had one or two whipped up in house to see how they would play or look and judge from there.

I was seriously taken aback by this. MAYBE GUITARS? Can you imagine? This is how I imagine the Jim Root Tele coming to be.

"Hey Bob! Would you mind wiring a Tele with EMGs? I think that would be pretty cool."

"No problem, Bill!"

Of course, I'm sure that's not how the JR Tele happened, but that's as good of an example as I can give you.

We were let in the R&D room where these guitars were made and some of the guitars hanging on the wall there were VERY interesting. Some of the guitars we saw on the shop benches in assorted levels of completion were ALSO very interesting.

Don't think I wouldn't love to tell you what I saw. I would LOVE to tell you. I would love to have been able to pull out my camera and take pictures of me touching and holding "maybe" guitars thinking "well, now I have to keep my eyes peeled for THIS!"

Joe was leading the way and he was a great host. I was incredibly nervous in the vault - incredibly nervous near most of the guitars even. I kept thinking "Oh man, I would hate to drop/break this. My wife would KILL me if I set us back however much this one cost." And then I thought, hypothetically, just how much would it cost? Then it hit me, US made one-off completely handmade custom guitar from FMIC? I thought if I did indeed drop anything the best course of action would be to just run as fast as I can.

To Mexico.

I didn't drop anything though and it was Joe that was pushing them to me.

"Try this guitar out."

"Feel how light this guitar is!"

"Plays great doesn't it?"

I was thinking before the tour started that this is like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but this was a little more. This would be like if, in the great Chocolate room, Willy Wonka himself were to steer you toward the candy that was PARTICULARLY good. I mean, he's Willy Wonka! Is he going to steer you wrong?

And Joe did NOT steer me wrong, not on a single thing I played.

We walked around the facilities and then went to lunch. When we came back we chatted for a bit in Joe's cubicle and I heard a CD playing next door. Oh, that's no CD, that's a Jackson employee playing.

This is the secret of FMIC. Not only do they fill the building with some of the best employees around attitude-wise, but they're some of the best players I've ever seen. I can name famous band after band that could have blown away by this guy sitting at his desk playing his heart out for a couple minutes. And yet, you wouldn't know it talking to these people.

In the words of Joe (I'm paraphrasing here. My memory isn't THAT good): "These are some of the most unassuming people in the world, but you give them a guitar and they'll rip your head clean off." I'll tell you something else, I don't think they get into any head cutting competitions out of malice or showmanship or anything like that, they're just THAT good at guitar. I was impressed by the obvious skill these employees had and even more impressed that, loaded with this skill, they weren't walking around like god's gift to the guitar. This is very much like your friend at work who doesn't even mention he plays guitar and then when the random opportunity comes to play, he'll knock your socks off.

After the whole "Dude Next Door" performance, Joe took time away from his day to photograph one of Mark's guitars about to be featured in a book. While I was certainly expecting at most the use of the facilities, Joe used his camera and took the photos himself and he took plenty of photos too. I would have thought that surely a person as busy as Joe is would take one, maybe two photos and not even check the quality of them before saying something like "Moving on!" But Joe took his time, set up each shot the way he thought would look the best and took some great photos of Mark's guitar.

We went back to Joe's cubicle where there were several guitars hanging on the wall including a Patrick Stump "Stump-O-Matic" Corvette, the very one I used to review the model a few posts down, and a couple of other undisclosed guitars that were also a joy to play.

I grabbed one of the mystery guitars and played a little Travis picking lick I know, nothing too special and the guy across the hall poked his head out and asked if it was in an alternate tuning and when informed that it was not he said that it sounded really good and that it was a very cool lick. I felt pretty dang complimented. To me, someone who doesn't have any reason to feel obligated whatsoever to say anything nice about you or your playing, for them to come out and say that nice thing just blows me away every time. Maybe I'm just easily impressed but I was still impressed.

I also started playing a song I wrote for my wife when she had Post Partum Depression after the birth of our beautiful daughter Annabelle (named after my Gretsch Annie). I will not even pretend to say I know how to write a guitar solo and the song is all chords but you can feel it in there - a need for a solo. But what kind of solo? What kind of mood or attitude would it have? Should it be slow or fast? Where do I start? These are the questions that are blocking me from writing a good one (or one in general - it doesn't have to be good).

But as I'm playing, Joe reaches out, picks up another guitar and lays out this beautiful solo on top of it that fit the song perfectly. He didn't try to overshadow the song or run the solo on forever, it was just the right length and had the right mood and tone to go with the song.

After all I had seen and done that day, this is the thirty or so seconds that meant the most to me and if I may wax poetic here for just a moment: I think there's a strong correlation between Joe's very fitting solo to my song and his management of Gretsch. See, the Gretsch community are an odd bunch that consists of a ton of different varieties of players from rockabilly cats, to swing guys, blues guys, rock guys, any kind of girl, punk folk, psychos, etc. etc. And yet here's Joe, putting out this model and that model and for the most part making the vast majority of the community applaud. It's tough to please everyone, but Joe's coming incredibly close considering the differences in the buying crowd.

And so, we depart, Mark and I. I'm looking out to the sunset thinking about all the great stuff I had seen and played, all the great people I met, how lucky they are to work in such a great place, and the amazing feeling that the customer was more than welcome and treated like family in the doors of FMIC.

I was also thinking of how I'm going to squeeze two more guitars out of my wife.;-)

Many, many, MANY thanks to FMIC for putting up with us and to Joe for taking time out of his busy day to answer our questions and let us take a very lengthy look behind the curtain. We truly appreciated everything about the day and I'm sure it'll live on in our minds as one of the best we've had. I know it's in my top ten days of my life.

-Pappy

Les Paul Project Follow Up

Well, as promised, here is the follow up to my previous blog about the build your own Les Pauls. The submissions are great as you can see for yourself. Thanks for participating and sharing them with us!

-Tsar Nicholas

-Tartan Phantom

-Rukian

-Pete

-MASK

-MASK

-MASK

-MASK

-MASK

-MASK

-Connor

-Connor

A couple of interesting notes: Most of the guitars were made by guitarists and guitarists of an adult age at that, but Connor, who made the last two entries (the black and white one is my favorite of his) is only ten! Rukian doesn't even play guitar and look what she came up with!

Thanks again, everyone who played. I appreciate it! Take care and thanks for looking!

-Pappy

Leadership Case Study: "A Visit with FMIC: aka Lunch with Joe"

[After reading and enjoying Synchro's article this morning, regarding his and Pappy's visit with FMIC/Gretsch and with Joe Carducci, I was compelled to share some observations for us all. At first, I wrote it up as a comment to his article. But it is something I feel so strongly about (it is, after all, what I do for a living) that I wanted to offer these thoughts as a follow-on article to his, in hopes of emphasizing his points, and not to take from them]

Well done, Synchro.

You know, it's interesting to stand back and take note that the primary theme of your account is about Trust and Confidence.

Your article is all about whether you feel confidence in how the company will be run, and whether Gretsch will continue its pursuit of excellence and uniqueness. And the question of that confidence is reflected in trust for a person...Joe C.

I point this out because, over the past few years, we have seen this time and again from committed Gretsch folk. By and large, this seems to be a common thread amongst us. We are passionate and proud about these instruments, about the Gretsch legacy, and we hold strong opinions regarding its misuse during an earlier era. We are attuned to it, and watch it closely, and it could be identified as a significant part of our Gretsch Culture.

And so it leads to the second key point: the answer to your concern...and ours...was found in a person, Joe C.

This is where the answer is always found. It is not in the business plan, market analysis, the pipeline, or anywhere else. To be more fully accurate yet, it begins with Fred Gretsch himself, in his philosophy of, "don't want to build the most, just the best." And then in Joe's capability to make that reality.

And this is not just a management thing, but is a question of Leadership...Selflessness, Integrity, and Courage, Loyalty, Enthusiasm, Endurance, Judgment, and all of the other 14 battle-tested traits of leadership. Joe is the leader and our confidence in Gretsch hinges on our confidence in Joe. One must merely meet Joe one time to get the picture. He is knowlegable, yes. But it is his character that matters. He abhores "the easy way out." "Good enough" is never enough. He wants to blow people away. He wants everyone to be as excited about Gretsch instruments as he is. He wants Loyalty to the brand. But his ability to quickly earn your personal loyalty and trust is remarkable and natural.

This is the key to long-term endurance and excellence in business...a person. You nailed it.
And so Joe deserves our enthusiasm and support in return. And he will take care of Gretsch for us.

A Visit to FMIC (AKA Lunch with Joe)

The following article is from my web site and can be accessed directly from this link.

Lunch with Joe Carducci
Recently a Pappy was visiting Arizona and had asked if Joe Carducci, product manager for Gretsch guitars, would meet him for lunch. It was my privilege to join them that day and I came away very impressed with what I saw.

Upon arriving at Fender’s Scottsdale headquarters it struck me that the setting was pleasant, but nondescript. One could easily drive right by without suspecting that a major player in the musical instrument business was headquartered in this business park. I was also very impressed with how obvious it was that you were in a special place as soon as you arrived at the main building. The Fender logo on the building is just the beginning, the three giant Stratocasters decorating the reception area are even better but perhaps the most amazing thing was the attitude I observed, starting at the reception desk. I knew that there were some very cool people there from the moment that I spoke to the receptionist. The atmosphere was friendly and informal yet everyone I met was obviously very dedicated to their jobs. Every work cubicle that I saw had a guitar stand in it with a nice guitar. Spending your break quietly jamming would not be a problem in this office building.

Joe showed us around and his pride in both FMIC and the Gretsch brand was obvious. He has worked for Fender since 1973 and I expect that he will work there until he retires, preferably at the age of 110. Never have I met someone more devoted to their work. Joe believes in the Gretsch brand and would not allow anything to cheapen it. It would be hard to imagine Gretsch being in better hands.

Tip of the Iceberg

Visiting Fender’s headquarters was a dream come true, something I had wanted to do since the ‘60s. Add in the fact that Fender’s headquarters is also the headquarters for Gretsch guitars and now I’m fulfilling two dreams at one time. I have dreamed about visiting Gretsch guitars since the first time I looked at the cover of a Chet Atkins recording. When I saw how dedicated Joe Carducci was I was impressed but as I discovered, he is only one example of how Fender has built a company that is unique in the business world.

FMIC, A Refreshing Approach to Business

As I mentioned earlier, when you visit Fender it is immediately obvious that this isn’t just another company that manufactures and markets a product. Everything about FMIC reveals their unique approach to business. One of the first things that Mr. Carducci pointed out was a simple black and white photograph in an 8” x 10” frame. This was a picture of William Schultz addressing workers on the production floor shortly after taking the helm at Fender. As Joe Carducci explained, everything changed (for the better) after that address took place. No longer were instruments rushed out to dealers with little if any regard for quality control issues. They knew that if the guitars weren’t up to snuff that the customers would not be satisfied so they focused their attention on building quality products. In spite of formidable challenges they have stepped forward to greater and greater success ever since.

I strongly believe that their ethics are a big part of this success. Fender does not bully their vendors by withholding payments or other strong-arm tactics so common in the business world today. As I write this on January 1, 2009, the world’s economy is in turmoil and a big part of this comes down to the ethical bankruptcy of many in the financial industry. It’s truly refreshing to see that there are still companies out there that believe in earning their keep and doing so in an ethical manner.

Perhaps equally important is the way they seem to treat their employees. I met a number of Fender employees on this visit and every person I met struck me as being satisfied with their job. The value of this is immeasurable. Happy employees tend to do a better job and are more likely than not to put forward the extra effort required to ensure that whatever the task is it will be done right.

One key to this is the fact that Fender’s employees have the freedom to succeed. William Schultz had spent 12 years working for Yamaha and no doubt was at least an indirect beneficiary of the work of W. Edwards Deming, the consultant that helped Japanese business to attain such incredible success as the Japanese economy emerged from the devastation of World War II. One key to this was allowing production personnel to make decisions and allowing them to do as they saw fit when it came to issues that could have a negative impact upon quality. This sort of mindset seems to permeate the corporate culture of Fender and their success even amid economic difficulties in the economy at large reflects the efficacy of this approach.

Putting the Consumer First

Another thing that I learned from my conversation with Joe Carducci is that the consumer is never far from his thoughts. Anyone that wants to sell a product needs to know their potential customers. It’s probably the most important bit of information that a manufacturer or marketer can possess. Joe showed us a presentation that day which proved to me that he knew his customers very well. He had a very good idea of what sorts of people were attracted to Gretsch guitars and how they saw themselves. I also had the strong impression that he not only liked his customers but he respected them too. He is selling to people much like himself, the genuine article. This is very good news for every Gretsch consumer.

While I can’t talk about some of the things I saw during my visit I can say this much, Gretsch fans will not be disappointed. Gretsch will continue to offer wonderful instruments in striking colors and with the level of functionality and playability that consumers demand. Historical correctness and interesting feature sets are two things we can count upon all the while keeping an eye cast to the future.

One fine example of this is the G5135-P5 Stump-O-Matic Electromatic Signature Guitar, a new take on the classic Gretsch Corvette and I couldn’t help but be impressed with it. The person that buys a Stump-O-Matic may well be back to buy a 6120, a Duo Jet or even a White Falcon in the future. Like I said, it would be hard to imagine Gretsch being in better hands than Joe Carducci’s.

Make Your Own Les Paul

http://www.guitarlifestyle.com/archives/2009/01/12/design-your-own-les-paul/


I woke up today with this is my Google reader and checked it out. The author is right, is is tremendous fun to make your own Les Paul. Whereas some companies limit you to varying degrees, this program is pretty much wide open and that's part of the fun to it. If you want red frets, you can have red frets.


Of course, the sad thing about it is that you can't order the guitar once you're done designing it, but it's still fun (and I think mine would have been very expensive with all the multi-ply binding I put on it).


Here's my dream Les Paul.

I like the look of the vintage Gibson tuners, I like ebony fretboards. I like other inlays, but I think that the trapezoid inlays actually look the best with the silverburst. I love how much silver is in the silverburst and I think, as classy as it looks, the exposed bridge pickup gives it a hint of menace. There's no telling just how hot it is. As far as the string-through bridge, I like string-through bridges on non-trem guitars.

Give it a shot and let us know if you had fun making YOUR Les Paul. You can even send your finished product to rhythmandboos@gmail.com to be posted as a follow-up blog. The way I did it is once you're finished, press "PRINT SCREEN OR "Prnt Scr" near the F12 button (on a PC). Open up Paint and press "Cntrl" and "V" and then crop the image. When you email them to me, be sure to include the name you want attached to it.

Have fun!

-Pappy

Timmy and me

Last summer I got a few minutes of hands on with two overdrive pedals by Paul Cochrane, the Tim and the Timmy. At the time I had never heard of these pedals, but when I did a little research I found both are highly regarded "boutique" effects. Today I’ll review the Timmy.


The Timmy is a true bypass, light overdrive pedal, very well constructed with a metallic powdercoat finish. Controls consist of Gain, Volume, Bass and Treble. Internal dip switches provide asymmetric clipping options, for more compression and sustain. The Op-amp chip is socketed, allowing gearheads to try different op-amp chips with no soldering. The bass and treble are “cut style”, that is turning the knobs clockwise decrease the tone. Paul Cochrane explains that this method makes for an even taper, with no deadspots. This was new to me at first, but it was easy to get use to. It is powered by a 9v battery or 9v PSA adapter.

I used the Timmy with a Les Paul Special, Gretsch 6121 Nashville, Gretsch 6116PTV, and ‘50s RI Fender Telecaster. The amps used were a Vox AC15H1TV and a Fender ’57 RI Bassman.

I’m mostly a rhythm player and normally used a Keely modded Blues Driver for a bit of boost and light overdrive, and it was almost always on. The Timmy one ups my BD2, simply by preserving the natural sound of my guitars pickups with just enough grit. With volume at Noon and gain at 11 o’clock, my P90s keep that trademark growl, the TV Jones sparkle, twang and keerrrang, my Tele keeps that quack, snap and twang without that weak compressed sound or midrange hump that other OD pedals have. Crank the gain to 3 o’clock and it gets pretty nasty, not Tubescreamer nasty, not cranked Marshall nasty, but a character all it’s own.

As a standalone pedal, Timmy is very, very good. Stacked with a Tubescreamer it shines again. By adjusting the gain a bit on the Tubescreamer or tone controls on the Timmy I dial in just the midrange/gain I like. I had a similar experience with the Keely modded Blues Driver. I put Timmy in front and I’m now dialing in a bit more BD2 dirt than usual and loving it. I had good results stacking with other pedals too, including the Seymour Duncan Twin Tube Classic, an Allum-modded Boss SD-1 and a Zvex Box of Rock. With all these pedals, stacking before or after, the Timmy seemed to bring out a wide range of tones. It was a pleasure to experiment with.

The Timmy is a permanent addition to my very few everyday pedals. Even with a 7 month waiting list and a $130 price tag., it is a pedal very much worth having.

Patrick Stump, Fall Out Boy And Gretsch

Gretsch has announced a Patrick Stump "Stump-O-Matic" Corvette featuring three pickups that can all be on at the same time (something unique to three pickup guitars).

Much like Tsar Nicholas, I love the Corvette anyway, and this one in particular speaks to me.

But there are rumblings amongst the Gretsch playing community about why Gretsch endorsed Patrick Stump and Fall Out Boy. This is what I'd like to weigh in on, NOT how much I'd love to own this guitar and how it looked amazing and played very well when I was able to lay my hands on it at FMIC headquarters when I visited (did I mention I went to FMIC headquarters? I didn't? Well, that's a blog for another day, my dear reader).

Gretsch's list of signature models include the likes of Brian Setzer, Jim "The Reverend Horton Heat" Heath, Bo Diddley, Billy Gibbons, and G. Love which is the only guitarist I'm not familiar with and a few others. These are some pretty varied players playing different genres but I guess you can say they're all rooted in classic genres, but still, the differences are there.

When Jim Root received a signature Tele, the Telecaster crowd was not exactly thrilled either.

I think instances like these, the Jim Root Tele and the Patrick Stump Corvette are good things - great things even. The Telecaster crowd and the Gretsch crowd are already sold and everyone else has fairly set ideas as to what the average Gretsch or Telecaster player plays (even if they're completely wrong) and it's this idea that might be keeping them from looking at those guitars.

But these are just potential buyers, buyers who might watch Fall Out Boy and think it's an awesome looking guitar, and the tones Patrick Stump is getting aren't bad at all so maybe they'll check the guitar out. Maybe they'll even buy it. And then maybe they'll like it so much they'll buy even MORE guitars. They can become the converted over time. A new customer. A new player.

This is what companies want, right?

This seems like the ideal way to get them to try the companies out.

As far as this amazing guitar goes, when I had it in my hands I was as good as sold. I had some initial concerns looking at it on line before I was able to play it and those were weight, balance, the look of the silver, and the idea that maybe the middle pickup would interfere with my picking. I could only imagine holding a pick and down-picking and always hitting that middle pickup. I was scared the action would be so low that this would happen all the time. If it did, I would probably either mover toward the regular red Corvette or take the middle pickup out. On my hollowbody, because the neck is so high off the body, you probably are not going to be hitting the pickup (or the pick guard for that matter) and this is something that is easy to get used to and makes you nervous playing guitars like most solid bodies. So this concern was pretty high on my list.

Of course, taking the middle pickup out wouldn't make much sense unless I was in love with the color.

So let's tackle it concern by concern.

Weight: It had to have weighed less than three pounds. It was like a feather in my hands. Picking it up you could feel the instant relief at knowing that you can play this guitar live for hours and hours only stopping for an occasional tuning. That isn't to say that this guitar was going out of tune, but if you play a guitar for long enough, it will need a bit of an adjustment here and there.

Balance: With the weight being as low as it is you would think that the guitar would be neck heavy. That's how I usually see it, anyway. I can't go into a guitar store without finding a guitar that had its weight considered in development and was routed or whatnot leaving you with a light body and a heavy neck.

I'm happy to say that since this guitar was light all around, not just in the body, balance was NOT an issue.

This guitar was honestly a joy to play. It didn't slip around on my leg like a Strat would, it didn't require me to lift my right arm and hang it over the guitar like I would have to on a bigger Gibson-Style hollow body, it was just a good guitar. Weight wise it reminded me of Parker Flys (probably not that light, but that was the first thing that popped into my mind) but unlike the Parker Flys the neck had a more rounded radius, and to me, a more comfortable feel. I could sit back with this guitar in a chair and just play it. I would be able to play in any chair because even when you lift the neck to accommodate the left chair arm (La-Z-Boy needs to come out with armless chairs that are comfortable) it would still be easy and comfortable to play. This can not be said about my favorite personal guitar, my Gretsch 6118T.

So let's get a bit more shallow and talk about the finish: The black stripes have a more sleek look to them, as if the silver around it has more of a matte finish and the stripes have a glossy finish. Of course, the silver is not matte, it has some definite sparkle to it. It isn't like a Gretsch Sparkle Jet with so loud of a sparkle to it, but the silver will play under lights. The stripes compliment this to no end, too. The contrast not only in color but in the gloss VS a more matte finish looks well thought-out, and it came out beautifully.

All these things though, would probably not matter if I kept hitting the middle pickup while picking.

I have read in multiple places that your brain - a guitarist's brain - automatically adjusts your playing style to solve whatever "problem" you are encountering right then. Say your amp is set up with ice-picky highs and you can't get to it to change it. You'll probably, without even thinking about it, lessen your attack on the treble strings. That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about.

Armed with this knowledge I tried my hardest to pick regularly, maybe even putting more pick out there than I usually do. I'm INCREDIBLY pleased to say I had no problem playing it, I wasn't hitting the pickup and had ample clearance between pick and pickup.

I already knew I loved the Corvette, loved the pickups (Mega'Trons), loved the feel and fret size but the Bigsby on a Corvette always seemed like it was going to get in my way when playing the planned genres (I'd like to record a Misfits project with this guitar) so this guitar in particular appeals to me.

I fully recommend this guitar to anyone who is looking for awesome tone and amazing looks in a very stunningly playable package.

Bitter Disappointment, A Ray Of Blinding Light

I recently went on vacation to Tucson, Arizona. This was a great opportunity for me to go to guitar stores. Where I live the guitar stores are few and they do not stock much that anyone beyond a beginning guitarist would be interested in. It is sad, but it is true.

I got to play the fabled Guild CE-100 I blogged about here so long ago and am sad to say the flame just wasn't there. In the acoustic room it was still my "go to" guitar while Synchro was playing a Gitane Selmer guitar.

Honestly, so many of the guitars I was hoping to play and thinking I would like turned out to be disappointements. Even a guitar that was so close to my Gretsch 6118T (a Gretsch 6118T-125) didn't have the same feel. Not that I expected them to or anything, I just expected to like them. To clarify: I did not expect to find a copy of my guitar just in a different color or size.

And yet, just about everything that I picked up made me think that my personal Gretsch fits me so much better and modifications were popping up left and right in an effort to raise whatever I was playing to my anniversary model's level of quality. This is also not to say that what I was playing were bad guitars either, they just didn't feel as good.

Except for one guitar. I picked it up to try out the neck size and instantly fell in love with the whole guitar.

The guitar?

An Epiphone Emporer Regent.

Isn't it beautiful?

The sound is pretty amazing too. I recorded a video of it to remember the tone in case I start to think it must NOT be as amazing as I remember it to be and figured I would post it here too, for you to enjoy. Please excuse the playing and the recording quality. I'm sure some of the magic was able to be caught though and I think it still sounds good, even recorded on a small digital camera.

Enjoy:

-Pappy

The Gretsch Corvette

Corvette. The name alone is synonymous with speed, danger and that great thrumming V8 rumble. This guitar evokes similar imagery and emotion, it's razor sharp outline resembles the illegitimate son of a Doublecut Les Paul Junior and an SG, but with a little bit of that Great Gretsch Mojo.

From the moment I picked this guitar up I knew it was a straight ahead rockin' machine. So much so that when I plugged it in and turned it up for the first time 'Won't Get Fooled Again' came crashing out of the amplifier. I didn't even think about it, my fingers were called to action by the sheer rock and roll spirit of the guitar. (Do I sound like a loon or what?!).

Let's move away from lyrical waxing and superlatives for a moment to talk about the nuts and bolts of this guitar. The fit and finish is very impressive for such a low priced, Made in China axe. Mind bogglingly so. The solid mahogany body looks gorgeous, no problems at all with the finish. You've got to look very hard to find the join.. I still haven't found it. I can't be sitting there with my nose to the grain with this machine in my hands. It commands attention.

The Bigsby vibrato and Adjusto-Matic bridge work very well together, with ample give and take between the two to ensure tuning stability. I'm not sure what the nut is made of, it seems to be some sort of imitation bone. It does it's job perfectly well. Of course, it's very important to have the nut cut properly for the string gauge you prefer in order to ensure that it doesn't bind and cause you tuning problems when you're hanging off the Bigsby sideways (or tastefully wobbling it).

The most intriguing part of the guitar is the mystery pickups. What you've got is two Gretsch Mega'Trons, pickups I know next to nothing about other than that they're extremely capable. I've got to say, I think they're quite Fender-y, but with a more body than your average single coil. They may look like Humbuckers but there's nothin' remotely 'Buckery about them. They're twangy as can be, snappy and percussive. Of course, an amount of that is due to the fact that it's a big mahogany slab.

They without a doubt come into their own when you crank up your amp and let them roar, and roar they do. Like sticking your head out the window of a speeding muscle car. Hold onto your eardrums, ladies and gentlemen!

So, in conclusion, the Corvette is a most solid and rocking guitar!

-Tsar Nicholas