Guitar Trek Summer '09

Yesterday, fellow 5th Fret contributor MASK, and I headed to Atlanta to go guitar shopping. I was mainly along for the ride because he was the one actually doing the shopping. His stories are in the archives of what he thought he wanted based on specs but really, it was between two guitars. The new Squier John 5 Telecaster and a Fender Jim Root Telecaster.

Stop #1: Midtown Music

Midtown Music is one of my favorite guitar shops ever to play in. They have incredibly high quality gear, they don't follow you around the store, and they are incredibly helpful. I once emailed them asking for every model of Dr. Z head they had and they wrote back saying they had them all except X, and X. I emailed back saying the reason I ask is because I'd like to see which one(s) I liked and asked if there was any way I could come in and try them all? Sure, they said. We coordinated a date and I showed up and they had stacked all of the heads on top of one another and then connected the cab to an Airbrake and told me to just move down the stack until I found the one I liked. They knew (because I had told them) that I wasn't looking to buy but just do research and they were completely fine with it.

They also came back after about five minutes and told me to turn it UP, that I wasn't bugging anyone and the only way to hear the amp is to hear it LOUD. Let me tell you, I was playing plenty loud but if they wanted to better hear my playing (which leaves a lot to be desired), I'll adjust the volume for them.

Unfortunately, Midtown Music was closed. Closed until the 11th of July (it is the 7th of July as I write this) which meant I couldn't check out the shop. That's a huge shame, by the way as it has been years since I've been there.

Disappointed, we headed to the next stop.

I said I was coming along for the ride but I was also coming along because I wanted to try some things out. It had been years since I've come to Atlanta and was able to do anything more than take a quick glance at guitars wherever I have gone because I've always been worried about my family that was in tow becoming bored. I wanted to try out the new Marshall Haze 15, a Squier Classic Vibe Tele, a Roadworn Tele, and an Epiphone Les Paul Gold Top with P90s. Those were the big things I was looking to try out.

Stop #2: Guitar Center Atlanta

We arrived early enough that, while there were people in GC it was not the cacophony GC is known for. Metal head youth wasn't running around cranking up guitars and amps to show everyone their excellent renditions of something from System of a Down.

Yet, anyway.

I don't have a problem with these people. I'd just like to point that out. It's just that I'm sitting here, playing a guitar either acoustically so I can hear its acoustic power and resonance or plugged in but at an incredibly reasonable volume with the goal that everyone can do the same and be happy, and someone plugs in and turns up. Then someone else does the same because they can't hear themselves. Then another, then another.

This is a common complaint about GC.

Anyway, I was able to walk around looking at what they had. I instantly saw a guitar on the wall I wanted to try out, but walked on instead to see everything else. They had a 1990 PRS CE24 which didn't really play all that well nor sound all that great but it WAS a 1990 model, which, to those who don't know, is a pretty good year for collectors. PRS changed the neck heel in 1994 or 1995 to a larger and because of this, some folks are after those guitars. Playing a brand new one and this 1990 one I didn't see why, honestly. I felt no difference and it was just as easy to get up to the higher frets.

They also had a used SRV Strat without the whammy bar that I played and it played pretty great. It was very jangly and inspired a lot of time on the high strings. Very cool. These were both part of a used wall that also included vintage guitars. I pulled down an old Gibson just to hear the P90s and was less than impressed. I didn't base my opinion on the whole P90 range on this one guitar though.

I found an LTD Ouija Kirk Hammett sig and tried it out (and didn't like it, so scratch one off the G.A.S. list), a roadworn Tele, which, while a great feeling and playing guitar, was missing almost all of the finish on the back of the neck. I know this and the fretboard wear is deliberate, but the finish was missing from the top three strings on the 13th fret while the 12th was missing nothing and this struck me as odd. Perhaps they should offer the Highway One Telecaster with an all nitro finish (even on the neck) for people to relic on their own.

Unfortunately, GC did not have the Marshall Haze or the Classic Vibe Tele. They did have something though, the guitar I mentioned earlier. It was a Gibson Les Paul Gold Top with P90s. I had wanted to try Epiphone's version but none were in stock. The salesman pulled it down and I plugged it in and my heart SANG from the tone of the P90s.

So here's where it gets a little controversial, I guess. I have always heard two things 1) do what YOU like and 2) Vintage is better. Playing these vintage guitars though often left a lot to be desired and I do like modern things. I guess I'm not a vintage kind of guy after all. The Les Paul was a custom shop 1956 Les Paul. It had an AMAZING tone. Tone unlike ANYTHING I had ever heard before and man oh man, did I like it. It was rough and growly when I leaned in and clean as a whistle when I backed off. The neck pickup wasn't too dark at all which would make jazz a bit of a departure if played from the tone most associate with jazz, but it still sounded great.

I took it to MASK and said try this. He did and said he liked it but the neck was too thick (more on this later) and it was really bottom heavy sitting down. He was right on both parts, but most LPs are bottom heavy when you're sitting down especially when you're playing with a folk style with your guitar on your right leg when you're strumming with your right arm (tip: if this is a problem for you, play classical style while sitting down with your guitar on your LEFT leg. It helps out quite a bit. Of course, this is assuming you play right handed. If you're a lefty, reverse the instructions). I find this bottom heaviness to come in handy though. My Gibson Les Paul Studio is very much like that and when it's strapped on it hangs at the perfect angle for me. Maybe that's because I grew up learning on it and I'm just used to it, but I love the way it hangs.

And now that I heard this, I wanted to take it home too.

Unfortunately it was $3,000.00. It's times like these that I think to myself that I would be more than willing to hand over three grand for a completely custom guitar that was handmade for me. Now, truth be told I would want the headstock to be shaped like a LP but this is just because after years of seeing them and playing them, anything other than the Gibson headstock just looks wrong to me. But if a custom builder WAS willing to make me a Gibson copy, I could fix the neck to mirror the one on my LP Studio which I'm very used to. The one on the Custom Shop was very thick. So thick that after a while my hand started to cramp. Maybe if I played with my thumb around the neck more than on the back...

Anyway, three grand is a TON of money, especially when you know it's not all going to the guy (or girl) that built your guitar.

Back to MASK though. He played a ton of stuff and ended up walking to the counter asking if any of the other shops in the area had the John 5 or Jim Root Tele. The salesman said no, none of the shops do for some reason or another so we headed out to the next stop.

Stop #3: Maple Street Guitars

On the way I was just thinking about that Les Paul. I could build a Warmoth copy for half the price, and send it to a finisher so they could put a lacquer gold top on it. But then I would have a bolt on Les Paul and while I have no problem with bolt on guitars, a Les Paul seems... weird.

Or I could buy the Epiphone and upgrade the hell out of it but I have never seen the gold in person and if it's anything like the Slash Gold Top that I did see (and play. What a disappointment after the Gibson both in tone and feel) it would be too sparkly. Then there's the fact it wouldn't age gracefully with a poly finish. Then there's the headstock which not only doesn't look right, but is almost impossible to cut into a Gibson shape. There's also the wood.

Every Epiphone I've picked up has been lighter than just about every Gibson I've picked up and while some might say this is a good thing, I don't have any problem with a heavy Les Paul. I've been playing one my whole playing life. I prefer them.

At the end of the day I think I would just know that it isn't the guitar that I want, which is really depressing. I guess I'll be looking on Gbase and eBay to see the going rate of second hand Gold Tops for research's sake. Maybe that's what I'll save my cans for. That way I can buy the guitar and then use cash to have a luthier shape the neck to the one on my Studio.

We pulled up to Maple Street Guitars and it was very nice, but it was obviously a store that mainly catered to the acoustic side of life. The store was very quiet and the salesman followed me around being helpful but after having free reign of guitars at GC it's tough to appreciate the sign on every guitar saying ask for assistance before touching. I asked to see a PRS SE One, a Les Paul Junior copy with a P90 in it and that P90 left a lot to be desired too.

Damn it.

They also had a ton of Eastman guitars which would have been great to play but after asking to see a five hundred dollar guitar and seeing the salesman NOT leave my side once I had it and then watch him clean the guitar after I handed it back to him (MASK was of the mind that he should have at least waited until I walked around the corner before treating it like I left some sort of disease on the guitar) I decided it might not be best to ask to see a 2,500.00 arch top.

Oh well.

Moving on.

Stop #4: Guitar Center

We went to another Guitar Center and this one was pretty interesting. I was able to play a vintage Airline like Jack White's and have to say that it had some binging issues on the neck but it was incredibly fun to play. I was also able to play a Melody Maker that FELT like a vintage but it turned out it was made in '07. I wasn't able to get the story behind it.

I also found two Epiphone Les Pauls hanging up that had a very similar burst. Both were the same model but one was almost a hundred dollars more expensive. I asked what the difference was and the salesman said nothing. Nothing at all. Then he said that he would sell me either at the lower price which is good for me, but makes me wonder if he would extend that courtesy to people who didn't notice the similarity.

I took a closer look at them and noticed that the more expensive one was missing something.

You see this often at Guitar Center. Switch tips mainly. I heard a rumor that when people break their own they go into GC and steal the ones off of their guitars so GC beat them all to the punch by removing them. I may be able to believe the whole stealing thing, but enough guitars still have switch tips to not believe the second half of that.

This Les Paul wasn't missing a switch tip though. It was missing its input jack. In its place was just a black hole. I asked the salesman if he thought it was strange that the more expensive guitar didn't have a jack and he said yeah, that it probably just fell in and is not a big deal.

Think about this: a jack falling in is not a big deal. Perhaps this means it happens all the time and if that's the case, why do I as a consumer want to buy one?

MASK meanwhile was still looking for his guitar and in the end couldn't find it. So we headed home. It was a good trip all in all, I got to play a ton of guitars find one in particular that had a tone that kept me up all night. Unfortunately, MASK didn't find his Telecaster.

No worries though, I said. I pulled out my phone and called Dave's Guitar Shop and asked them for a quote on the John 5 and the Jim Root and they had a price that was better than any I had ever seen or heard on the Jim Root so I think MASK is going to go for that. So at the end of the day he had his dream guitar in his sights, or at least, he had a really great price quote from a reputable shop so it turned out to be a pretty great guitar day after all.

-Pappy

Rusty Cooley Wants To Help You Out In These Tough Times

Do the times have you down? Not a lot of expendable income flowing in? Too much month and not enough money? AND you’re unsatisfied with your tone?

Have no fear, Rusty Cooley’s here to help.

Well, actually, Dennis Mollan from Pro Tone Pedals is here to help with the help of Rusty Cooley.
If you go here: http://blog.protonepedals.com/2009/07/27/enter-our-drawing-to-win-an-autographed-rusty-cooley-overdrive.aspx you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Now, I probably don’t need to tell you who Rusty Cooley is, right? Well, in case you do want to know a little bit more about him, he’s an amazing guitarist with lightning fast fingers, he has his own signature Dean guitar, has two instructional DVDs out called Fretboard Autopsy (two points for the really cool name, Rusty), was featured in the widely acclaimed Mark Tremonti guitar DVD, and hey, he has a signature pedal from Pro Tone pedals.

And Dennis at Pro Tone pedals is offering one for free. All you have to do is type in your name and email address and you’re entered to win.

Now if you don’t happen to WANT a pedal that looks amazing, sounds great and is hand made in the US by a tone freak who’s catering to the modern rock crowd VS the far more common vintage boutique crowd, you don’t HAVE to enter. That makes my chances of winning even better.

However if you do want to put your name in for a pedal that retails directly from Pro Tone for $249.00 for free, maybe to get your first experience in the boutique world, maybe to expand your collection, maybe to just sit on your pedal board and look pretty, whatever the reason, are you really going to turn down the opportunity to get a free pedal?

-Pappy

Thumbpick Assistance

Have you ever thought to yourself that you may want to try out a thumbpick? Maybe your pick keeps flying out of your fingers as you play, or maybe you’re interesting in fingerpicking but want a little more oomph on the bass strings while you play the melody on the high strings with your other fingers.

If you have never tried a thumbpick, I recommend you give it a try. Even if you don’t like it – you hate it more than anything else in the world – at least you know.

“And knowing is half the battle.”

Besides, you may love the freedom it gives your hand. You can go from flatpicking with your thumb and index finger to letting your index finger fall away as your thumb starts pumping out bass notes and your other fingers can start plucking out the melody with your other fingers without any awkward hand acrobatics like tucking the pick in between your fingers or lining up flat pick after flatpick crammed into your pickguard only to have you play, drop a pick, grab a pick, play, drop a pick and so on and so on. If you do flatpicking and also occasionally dabble in fingerpicking, this is just the easiest way to go.

But thumbpicks are odd in a lot of ways. They come in a wide variety of styles, thicknesses, and prices.

The traditional plastic thumbpick though is the one that I bought. I bought three of them in S, M, and L (small medium and large) that (unfortunately) are all heavy in thickness. I usually play with a medium pick or .73 preferably and like that thickness a lot. If I want to thrash and need a bit more sturdiness to the pick, I bend it a bit lengthwise, like you may see people eat wide, NYC style pizza slices, and if I want to strum I don’t bend it. It’s easy to use and flexible not just in thickness but also in tone.

To be fair, if the whole piece of plastic was .73 it probably wouldn’t stay securely on my thumb and that would negate the reason to buy a thumbpick.

So I deal with the thickness. I’ll probably get over it.

But besides the thickness there was a big problem with these thumbpicks (National thumbpicks, by the way) was the length of the actual pick. The length of the pick required me to push and pull my wrist away from the strings far enough to kill my picking speed and the leverage created from having such a long pick makes the pick twist on my thumb and eventually come off it. It was enough of a pain that I stopped using the picks flat out for quite some time.

But then I heard that the trick to thumbpicks and the length of the pick was that the length was not really meant to be used stock but with some alterations, they can be amazing. That’s what I heard and here I was with three picks so I started experimenting. I kept one stock and it remained vastly unused throughout the whole process because of what I said above.

The second one I used a pair of scissors on and tried to cut to a length that was more usable. I do not recommend this method AT ALL. It is imprecise, it is probably going to get messed up and hey, it might even be dangerous what with flying plastic coming away from scissors.

Like I said, I wouldn’t recommend it at all. Especially when I’ve got a better method.

I can’t take credit for it at all (the credit belongs to a mysterious person known only as Norm) but if you take a nail file (like you can get at Target or Wal-Mart or any department store in great quantity and little price) you can file the picks down toa more manageable size.

When I read it I though 1) that would take forever because these picks are kind of thick and it’s a nail file and 2) it may be difficult.

I was wrong on both counts. I started by filing straight across the tip down to a level that, without my guitar around, I thought would work well or at the very least give me some extra room for future filing. In SECONDS I had it down to the imagined level and then treated the pick to more precise filing to bevel the edges to (hopefully) make for some easier picking. It was easy. I do recommend putting a trash can under your hands as you do this to catch any dust, but that’s the only recommendation. Here you have a quick and precise method to shape the pick to your EXACT specifications and maybe make the greatest pick you’ve ever played for less than half, less than a 10th maybe, of the price of boutique picks.

So armed with this knowledge, go out and try thumbpicks out. See what I mean about trying to use one stock and then grab a file and go to town shaping it to something you can use and maybe even love. Worst case scenario: you hate it and you’re out two whole dollars. Best case scenario: for two measly dollars you have discovered a pick that will help you shape the tone you hear in your head, through your hands without too much hassle and attention paid to the pick and honestly, that’s what we all really want anyway, right?

-Pappy

Gretsch 6120-RHH

The Gretsch 6120 comes in many, many flavors. There is basically at least one 6120 for anyone. Do you want poly or lacquer? Humbuckers? Single coils? P90? Trestle bracing or sound posts? 2.5” or 2.75” deep? Black? Blue burst? Natural? What about orange? Do you want it to be vintage orange, or flamed maple? Do you want block inlays, hump block inlays, neo-classical inlays, or western inlays? Rosewood or ebony finger board? What kind of radius do you want?

There are tons and tons and TONS of options for the 6120 so it’s easy to get lost and maybe even give up. Don’t. No matter how overwhelming the options are, it’s all basically the same guitar just with a couple of differences. Think of it like Gretsch’s Stratocaster. Lots and lots of flavor but the base is almost always the same or very similar.

To me, you can split the 6120 into three groups: trestle braced with humbucking filtertrons, sound posts with filtertrons, and single coil 6120s. And of those three categories, my favorite (in the same order) is the Brian Setzer SSLVO, the Reverend Horton Heat Model and the 6120-1957. Yes, they are all orange and look similar but they make for very different sounds and maybe down the road we’ll cover the other two, but right now I want to talk about the RHH model.

As a 6120 it stands apart in a few ways from the more than 15 6120 models. For one thing, it features western inlays with an ebony finger board. Western inlays have always been used on a Rosewood finger board and while rosewood is a fine wood, ebony is much cooler to me both in feel and in looks. It makes the block inlays really POP off the fret board.

It also has the switches reversed. Here’s how it works on almost every single filtertrons-equipped Gretsch. The two switches above the strings do two things: one is a pickup selector and one is a tone switch. The tone switch goes from fully open (the middle position) to half way (or half-mud if you’re into the Gretsch lingo) when it’s switched to the down position and all the way down (or full mud) when it is turned to the up position. Now, I’m going to ask you a question and don’t think about it too long. This is a reflex kind of question. These two switches are right next to one another, one closer to your picking hand than the other. Which one do you think is the pickup selector? The one closest to the bridge and your picking hand right? The one you would be switch the most would obviously be closest to your picking hand.

Wrong! The pickup selector is actually closer to the headstock. Both Brian Setzer and the Rev (as well as many Gretsch owners) swap the switches though, and this is reflected in their models. Why Gretsch doesn’t do this on all of their filter-equipped models is beyond me, but I guess it makes these ones stand out even more.

It also comes loaded with TV Jones Classics for pickups. TV Jones is a wiring genius, sure (he came up with the wiring for the Patrick Stump model even though it doesn’t feature TV Jones pickups), but his pickups are AMAZING and what he’s mainly known for. He’s famous in the Gretsch world for making modern boutique pickups that are as close to vintage-sounding as you’ll probably ever get. But he also offers different pickups in the filter shell (amongst others) that have different magnets, different levels of hotness, etc. His most famous though is the Classic which is what most people recommend if you want that “Great Gretsch Sound” from a filtertron. I have Classics in my Gretsch 6118T and can only say they’re amazing. In the bridge position it’s got a ton of twang and clarity that only gets MEAN when you crank up the gain. In the neck position it’s nice and jazzy but not muddy at all (you can use your tone switch for that) with a smoothness that walks hand in hand with clarity. Each note stands out and is balanced. Because honestly what’s the point of playing intricate music if the notes just get buried among each other?

The best part is in the middle it sounds like the guitar. I don’t know how else to describe it. There’s no coloring, no “oh yeah, that’s definitely X pickup.” It sounds like the guitar, just louder. Amazing.

I can see why the Rev wanted these in his guitar.

According to legend, Gretsch made a few prototypes and sent one to the Rev and he rejected it because it had trestle bracing and he’s more of a sound post kind of guy. My 6118T has trestle bracing which reportedly helps control feedback caused by the top and bottom vibrating at different frequencies by connecting the two with two pieces of wood that go along from the bridge, and under both pickups. It also tightens up the tone. Not to a crazy extent like a Gibson ES 335, but it is tighter than sound posts. That is trestle bracing. Sound posts are two significantly thinner pieces of wood connecting the top to the bottom creating a more open, acoustic tone. These models were still released but called the 6120-FTW (or Filtertron Western, NOT the popular punk phrase). Are there feedback issues? Well, it’s hollow and while everyone seems to think that JUST because it’s hollow it’ll squeal like a stuck pig all the time, that’s just not the case. There are things YOU can do to stop feedback. Most feedback comes from the pickups picking up their own sound from the amp so if you stop facing the amp or standing a foot away front of it, or playing too loud for the room, or you invest in some plexiglass to act as a blocker in front of the amp, or maybe just use a longer cord, you should be set. If ALL THAT fails, you can stuff it. Duane Eddy uses fiber-fill. Some folks have cut foam and squeezed them into F holes where they then expand.

Another difference between the RHH and the FTW is the hardware color. The Rev’s is aluminum and nickel plated while the FTW was gold plated.

A difference that sets the RHH apart from just about EVERY 6120 out there is the Bigsby handle. The handle is something you probably wouldn’t think about, even after you got the guitar in your hands. If you’re anything like me you’d just assume it is standard or at the very least not changeable. If you play a normal 6120 and then switch to a RHH you’ll be AMAZED at the difference in feel and responsiveness. It takes less effort to deliver warbles in tone and amazing dips (or raises) in pitch some deep, some shallow, and fits your hand VERY well. It is hands down the best Bigsby handle that comes from Bigsby right now.

The last difference is the lacquer. Most Gretsch guitars come with a poly finish and while most of the complaints of poly don’t exist with Gretsch (more on this later), poly is poly and will never age quite as gracefully as a lacquer finish. If you play it a ton you won’t wear down to the wood where your arm always sits after fifty years or so. It will look bright and shiny new for MUCH longer. It’s up to you, the buyer, if you want your guitar to age with you as you play it or give it every chance possible to resist the aging effect, but I know I like the idea of a guitar aging with me.

So on to the side note about poly complaints: A lot of people say that wood can’t breathe when it’s wrapped in plastic (that’s what poly is often referred to). As true as this might be, at least half of the wood is open to the elements and is able to breathe on a Gretsch hollow (they don’t paint the INSIDE of the guitar after all, and the F holes sure do make great breathing holes). That’s usually the biggest complaint and completely moot in the Gretsch hollow world. I hope this is a good lesson for anyone thinking that this is the reason that they’ll never buy a Gretsch hollow.

So we’ve covered the switches, the ebony finger board, the pickups, the Bigsby handle, the finish… Did I mention is has locking tuners?

Let me tell you something about the Bigsby: it makes for interesting string changes. A handy tool that you never ever thought you would use with your guitar is a pink pearl eraser. You bend the string near the ball, push it onto the pin that attaches it to the Bigsby, jam the eraser uner it, wrap it around the Bigsby pole and proceed like normal from there. This isn’t to dissuade you from getting a guitar with a Bigsby. The tone is worth it and it’s still easier to change the strings than a guitar with a Floyd Rose.

Well, if you have locking tuners, you can use them as you would use the eraser, just on the other end of the guitar, tightening up the string and then working down to the bridge. A lot of people say it helps with tuning issues, but honestly, most tuning issues with Bigsby-equipped guitars stem from the nut, not the bridge. Still, locking tuners are welcome.

So that’s the RHH in a nutshell and what an amazing nutshell it is. The guitar has a nice, chunky neck (chunky, not fat and unplayable) that you can really wrap your hand around and tone, well, we’ve already covered tone. Added to all this, the western inlays and G brand will set you apart from the multitudes of folks that use the more visually stripped-down models with plain tops and neo-classical inlays. It’s an amazing guitar, and well worth checking out.

-Pappy

GAS Hits Hard

I've been looking around at my guitar collection and I've been thinking that I have most of the major bases covered. I have a Gretsch 6118T for that classic Gretsch 50's sound all the way to a really great punk sound and even into the metal territory if you don't mind how it looks, I have a Squier Telecaster for the country picking, and I have a Gibson Les Paul Studio which mainly falls into the classic rock area or if I tune to drop D, the Tool area.

But I don't have a dedicated shred guitar and as I get more and more into the genre I'm wanting one more and more. I'm a big fan of the Jason Becker guitar from Paradise. I really like the colors and the inlays and think that in this modern world, the thing that's missing the most is bright and vibrant colors. Is this one more thing you can throw on the pile with all the other things 80's hair metal is blamed for? I think so. A bright guitar is loud by nature visually and the opposite of what the grunge movement stood for which was way more subdued and... common place I guess. Thinking about clothes, say, no one is really going to walk around the grocery store looking like Poison. No, they'll be walking around looking like Kurt Cobain.

I miss the colors though and that is what Jason Becker's guitar strikes me with first. That and the inlays. I really like the inlays, both the number aspect and the colors.

However, I'm not a huge fan of the wood chosen, nor the construction of the guitar and it is almost three thousand dollars which is a TON of money to spend on a guitar.

So I thought what do I want in a shred guitar and came up with either Jackson or Ibanez and Ibanez won with their RG model RGT42MDX which features a white finish on a mahogany body (something I really like), a maple fretboard and a tone knob (not to mention one of the coolest headstock shapes ever and a bound one at that). There are other things too, like the fact it only costs $700.00 which is a far cry from the lowest JB model which costs $2,499.00.

Just look at these great pictures taken by proguitarshop.com!

I would be giving up the inlays, but the black shark tooth inlays still look pretty cool and if I swap out the pickups for the same ones used in the JB, a PAF Pro, a Tone Zone and a DP116, all from Dimarzio, I can still get cool colors.

In all honesty though, Paradise guitars DO have their humbuckers custom colored, the PAF Pro has two colors on it, red and yellow and the Tone Zone has blue and pink which you can't just order from Dimarzio. I can however get my pick of those two colors that I like more, say red with the neck and blue for the bridge and the DP116 is available in green to the customer as well. I BET I can even track down purple knobs.

Originally what drew me to the guitar was Paul Gilbert's simulated F hole model but honestly, those F holes bug me. I don't even like simulated F holes on guitars that are the appropriate size for F holes, not even Gretsches. No, I like REAL F holes. If they offered Paul's guitar without them, that would probably be what I would be looking at as it already has a middle pickup and I wouldn't need to do any surgery. Alas, they do not. That's OK though, because the shark tooth inlays look amazingly cool. The thing about Paul's that I really liked was the maple fretboard and how his looked after all this time. Certain spots on the fretboard were dirty. The same thing happened on EVH's Frankenstein. That's just what happens on an unfinished maple fretboard and I really like it. I love the looks of use.

But of course you can shred on anything. I've been re-learning how to pick using just two fingers and how to fret with as light of a touch as I can on my Telecaster which has the thinnest neck in my collection, but when I plug in the tone just isn't there. It's too nice of a tone already to go altering it too. And when I close my eyes and think guitar rock or shred or guitar instrumental, I always think of loud colors and Strat style guitars. Big frets and Floyd Rose tremolos. I also have fond memories of my old Ibanez RG7620, a great playing, great sounding guitar that ended up having one too many strings on it and had to go. I did really hate that Floyd Rose bridge. It seemed absolutely impossible to change the strings myself and I loathed it because of that. Also, if one string popped, all the other strings went WAY out of tune whereas on a normal guitar the others may go out of tune - would probably go out of tune - but it wouldn't be by that much. When a string broke on the Ibanez it was unplayable until a new set was put on.

But I feel like I can do it now. I can do the research and practice restringing a complex bridge like that. I have significantly more patience than I did back when I was sixteen. It doesn't scare me anymore and the tonal benefits of being able to make your guitar just scream with harmonics and dive bombs is very tempting.

I am a little curious why a Jackson Dinky DK1, the shred guitar I had previously picked out as a shredder guitar costs over a thousand dollars more with a bolt-on neck, VS Ibanez's neck through.

Anyway, this is my shredder pick. Hopefully one day soon I can take a drive and try one out and see how I like it. It looks to be amazing on paper, but we all know the difference between paper and the real thing.

-Pappy

When Is It OK To Steal?

On the internet there are lots of different opinions regarding music piracy and with so many people in the pool already, I doubt I’ll make waves by jumping in with mine.

I try not to steal music (and how can it be considered anything but stealing?) but I do burn music from friends to check out and if it’s good I buy it when I can, and if it isn’t it usually gets deleted. I personally don’t see anything wrong with this. It’s similar to listening to radio except I can listen to the songs at my convenience.

There has been one album that I knew I would like though, an album that I wanted to buy not only because I think the artist deserves the money for the project but because I wanted to send a message with my money (voting with my dollar and whatnot) that there is a market for this kind of stuff.

I’m a huge fan of Brian Setzer and in 1999 he recorded a live album called Rockin’ By Myself where, surprise surprise, he rocked out by himself (for the most part). If you have the DVD from the Stray Cats Rumble in Brixton there’s an easter egg in the chapter selection where Setzer performs Rumble in Brighton all alone for a VH1 recording.

When you’re playing all alone and singing you really put it out there. It’s just you, nothing to hide behind, no bassist to keep the rhythm if you miss a note, no drummer to drive the crowd to hand clapping / fist pumping / swaying or something similar. It’s just you, your guitar and your voice and this is where the bones of the song matter and you can really see the worth of a song. Terrifying and exhilarating, all at the same time.

This is something I LOVE to see from bands. It started with the stripped-down acoustic versions of songs from punk bands and I ended up hearing about this album and about how great it is. After seeing the easter egg on the Brixton DVD, I believed it and I sought it out. As of right now Amazon has two copies. One is used for $48.81 and one is available for $100.00.

A hundred bucks for a CD where, for the most part, one guy performs live.

The reason it’s so expensive is because it was released in Japan and Japan only. Some folks have reported that they have friends or relatives in Japan that found the album and sent it to them. Alas, I had no such friend.

What I did have however, was a business trip to Japan coming up where I was being sent to Okinawa for a little while. I was super excited. Not only would I be going back to Japan (I used to live there), a country that I dearly love because of weather, culture and the incredibly nice and polite inhabitants, but I could finally find this CD.

The time came and I spent a little while there and while there I went to every single CD shop I could find and scoured each and every one and every one had Nitro Burning Funny Daddy and Wolfgang’s Big Night Out but NONE of them had Rockin’ By Myself.

I even got a chance to go to South Korea (where you can find ANYTHING) and STILL could not find this CD.

It isn’t available on iTunes either, which blows my mind. Honestly, how much effort could it possibly take to upload an album to iTunes for an established artist like Brian Setzer?
So when I came home I caved and downloaded the album. With a little bit of sadness I listened to it and sure enough, it is amazing. It’s probably the best album of Setzer’s that I have ever heard. It’s great.

But I really liked the idea of buying the album to show whoever is watching that there is a market for this and not just the great people of Japan can appreciate it.

I honestly feel bummed about this. And for the most part, I say that stealing albums is wrong but I don’t see anything else I could have done. Buying them used at a RIDICULOUS price would serve NO purpose because only the seller, some shop or person who lucked into the album, would get the money (and the votes, so to speak) NOT someone who may realize what the money is going toward. I went so far as to GO TO JAPAN to try to find it. That’s above and beyond when you think about it as most people don’t happen into trips to Japan.

What else could I have done?

While this may not be some crazy, high selling album, if it was released domestically, Setzer HAS to be losing money with this album. I know I’m not the only one that want(s/ed) this album.
So I stand today and say that yes, I stole this album and yes, I feel kind of bad about it and there are probably some ethical holes in here that people could exploit like how I didn’t HAVE to download it and didn’t NEED to hear the music. I know. But if you’re out there, Brian Setzer, send me an email at rhythmandboos@gmail.com and I will personally send you the average cost of any of your domestic albums (about $15.61) not only because I would be game for paying for the album (obviously) but because you and EVERYONE else needs to know that there are folks like me who find this solo stuff incredibly interesting and enjoyable.

It doesn’t have to be acoustic either. This isn’t MTV Un-Plugged. This is rock and roll after all, so if you want to plug into your amp and use pedals and all that, go right ahead. In that case, this album is a great example of what I’m talking about. Another artist I would love to see do this is the Reverend Horton Heat. I bet he would put on an amazing solo show.

So yes, I’m a pirate, but I’m as unwilling as a barely willing pirate can be, so sue me.

No, wait!

-Pappy

My Tele Problem And How I Fixed It.

On one of the guitar forums I frequent there was a recent thread on playability. Folks discussed the factors that determined "playability", and there were many opinions on these factors.. I was thinking about this same subject when I went Tele shopping a few months ago.

A few years ago my wife bought me a made in Mexico Fender Palo Escrito Telecaster - a really great guitar. The Palo Escrito comes with a 12" radius fretboard with a medium C neck carve, making it a fairly rare bird as far as Fender Telecasters go. I changed the bridge to a Wilkinson Compensated Bridge with brass saddles and put in a Lollar Charlie Christian neck pickup and a matching Vintage bridge pickup. The result was fantastic - the CC has a unique sound, somewhere between a vintage style single coil and a P90, and sounds great clean or with a helping of dirt.

But one Tele isn't enough for a Telejunkie, and since then I have played and owned 6 or 7 others since then, looking for a companion for "Charlie Mexico". In my search I found that playing on a 7.5" radius aggravates a tendon injury in my left hand after about a half hour, so a 12" radius has become pretty important. I knew I wanted an ash body, 12" maple neck, jumbo frets, with a single coil bridge pickup, a humbucker in the neck and a lacquer finish – butterscotch or natural with the traditional black pick guard.

I had a Made In Japan '52 RI for awhile. It may have made a good foundation for my dream Tele, but I couldn't get used to the 7.5" fretboard radius. I considered the boutique luthier route, but the prices were all well beyond my means. I got pretty close with a Fender '52 RI Hotrod Tele. I found one to try out, and it gave me even more to think about. The stock mini-humbucker was good, but not what I was looking for - I wanted a more Filtertron sound (go figure). Second, I added a Bigsby to the requirements, and third, I really needed that 12" radius and slimmer neck profile. I guess I was wanting too much, since I couldn’t find an off the shelf Tele that fit the bill. After much consideration, I had pretty much resigned myself to buying a used Hot Rod or a Highway One Texas Tele, adding the components I wanted, and would just live with any of the shortcomings.

Then a member of the Gretsch Discussion Pages (http://www.gretschpages.com/) showed off a Telecaster he had custom made by RS Guitarworks (http://www.rsguitarworks.net/), in Winchester Kentucky. While it wasn't exactly spec'ed like my dream Tele, it got me thinking about a custom guitar again. I'd dealt with these RS Guitarworks before, so I had a talk with Scott Leedy, one of the founders, about features and pricing and decided to take a chance on an "Old Friend" slab guitar. That was about 3 months ago.

WOOT!

Today my Old Friend arrived and on first inspection I’m very impressed. I got all the features I wanted for less than a discounted Fender ’52 Tele Hot Rod. Fit, finish and fretwork are first rate. Lacquer finish, TV Jones Supertron in the neck, Fralin Hot Broadcaster in the bridge, and a B5. The bridge is a cutdown Glendale with brass compensated saddles. The radius and neck carve are exactly what I asked for, the swamp ash body nicely figured and the whole thing comes in around 7lbs. I figure it will take a few weeks to settle in, and I’m really looking forward to it. Let the honeymoon begin! I’ll follow up in a few months to see if the thrill has staying power.

-FieldhDJ

Laughin' And Cryin' With The Reverend Horton Heat

You may remember all the hubbub associated with the recent release of Chickenfoot’s album. A lot of guitar bloggers, being guitar players, were very excited to see the band that consisted of half of Van Halen, one fourth Red Hot Chili Peppers and one whole Joe Satriani. They were more than happy to share that excitement and post any and all updates on the progress of the album for the world to enjoy.

I wasn’t very excited though. I was excited to hear at least one song and when I did hear that song, I wasn’t really interested to hear any more. I guess it just isn’t my kind of music.

But I was a little bummed that I didn’t have that album that I’m so excited about that I would write about it here. Where was MY Chickenfoot album?

On the 21st I opened my email and saw where it was. It’s in the can right now, but set to be released on the first of September.

The album? Laughin’ And Cryin’ With The Reverend Horton Heat.

There are few guarantees in life, but here’s a few of my own: if a new season of the Simpsons or Family Guy comes out, I’ll buy it. And if a new Reverend Horton Heat CD comes out, I’ll buy that too.

For those of you who don’t know, you are missing out. The Reverend Horton Heat, led by guitarist/singer Jim Heath is a band that transcends genres, and, while it certainly is rooted in classic styles is more than willing to shake those roots for a little while.

In an interview, Jim Heath said that he knew an artist who always used popsicle sticks in everything he did. No matter what, those sticks would be there. He went on to say that the lesson is used in the RHH and no matter what there’s always going to be these core things and sounds, the popsicle sticks, but he is always experimenting and is NEVER satisfied to just sit back and write song after similar-sounding song. He’s progress incarnate.

And I am a HUGE fan.

His guitar work is absolutely stunning to watch and it never interferes with the quality of the song. Sometimes the song takes a back seat to the guitar player who wants to show off. This doesn’t happen with the Rev. The song is the first thing and showing off second. Some of the instrumentals he writes will blow your mind. Check out the song Show Pony from Lucky 7 is you don’t believe me.

So what do I know about this album? Not much more than what Yep Roc Records released but that’s OK because it doesn’t really matter to me. But what about you?

Well, first off, September is a long way off, so if you haven’t heard the Rev and have any faith at ALL in the 5th Fret or my opinion specifically, go to Amazon and pick up a copy of Holy Roller. Holy Roller is a good sampler of the stuff the Rev did back when he was on Sub Pop Records and it’s filled with great songs from front to back. There are fast songs, slow songs, funny songs, serious songs, and as far as a handshake, it’s the best way to get the gist of the Rev.

After that, if you’re after more, check out the album Spend A Night In The Box which has hands down the most amazing tone I’ve ever heard recorded. I don’t usually pay attention to tone per se, but when I started listening to this one I instantly took notice. I love it. To this day, this is probably my favorite Rev album.

Still want more? No problem. Check out the albums Lucky 7 and Full Custom Gospel Sounds. I’d say that within these four albums you would have a good collection of the Rev and be ready for this new release.

Speaking of this new release, kudos to Yep Roc for making a special edition that seems truly “special.” It comes in a speedometer shell with the face of the speedometer being the actual CD and also included in this is a CD of covers from other bands – great bands like Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers and Los Staitjackets – that can only be bought in this set and a shot glass as well.

So yeah, kudos to Yep Roc, but I’m not a big shot glass kind of guy and I definitely want a normal CD case because I’ll be moving often and don’t want to have to worry about crushing an odd-shaped case in the assorted moves. Unfortunately, this means I don’t get the extra cover CD which kind of bugs me as I’m a big fan of that kind of stuff. I like covers in general and the idea of Rev songs covered by great bands like Th’ Shack Shakers? Ah, it breaks my heart I can’t partake in that.

Yep Roc, I’m all for including this as a bonus, but please reconsider releasing it on its own, maybe down the road. I would buy it on its own, no problem at all.

The deluxe set is $49.99 for the pre-order and is limited to only 1,000 so if you think this sounds cool, you may not want to put off pre-ordering.

As for me, I’ll stick to the cheaper regular edition and hope that Yep Roc considers releasing the cover CD on its own later on.

Once it comes out, I’ll post more about it. Until then, I’m really excited for this. It’s been a long time since the last non-Christmas RHH album came out and I’ve been jonesing for some new songs.

And since this is a site that has a soft spot for Gretsch Guitars, we will most definitely be talking about Jim Heath's signature guitar very soon. Stay tuned.

-Pappy

Edit For Follow Up: If you go here: http://www.yeproc.com/news.php?articleId=6209 you can listen to samples from the new album. WELL worth checking out as is his whole catalog. Now that it's out there for the world to hear anyway, I guess I don't have to write a review of it once it comes out but I'm still satisfied that I could push this out a little more to people that may not be hip to the Rev's jive.

And we will STILL be covering his signature guitar very soon.

-P.

The Misfits

It seems like you can’t go to a shopping mall or a skate park without seeing a teenage wearing a Misfits tee shirt. That’s not a problem with me, though. I love the Misfits.

As far as bands go, consider this: the Misfits that are generally accepted as THE Misfits (more on this later) lasted only six years from 1977 to 1983. During these six years they released only three full length albums (Static Age, Walk Among Us, and Earth A.D./Wolf’s Blood) and yet their footprint is absolutely stunning.

For one thing, they are responsible for coming up with the horror punk genre, and some people even go so far as to add them as cornerstones if not the fathers of both hardcore punk (the hardcore punk is seen mostly on Walk Among Us and Earth A.D.) and even thrash (Earth A.D.).

The list of bands influenced by the Misfits is long and filled with amazing bands from Metallica to the Dropkick Murphys, from My Chemical Romance to Marilyn Manson. They are largely responsible for any modern rock or metal that has a darker edge to it.

If you went out and bought those three CDs though, you would not have the whole Misfits catalog even though the catalog isn’t all that robust. The Misfits was largely funded by bassist Jerry Only and guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein (sing Glenn Danzig rounded the project out as far as permanent members go, with multiple people coming in to play drums and guitar before Doyle became old enough to join the band) and legend has it they would save up enough to record a single or EP and then try to sell it.

As far as compilations go, you can check out the albums Misfits (or Collection: features a black skull on a green background), Collection II and Legacy of Brutality.

With these six albums you have everything (or just about) from the Misfits and in some cases, multiple recordings of the same song enabling you to hear progress made by the band as far as recording value and song construction. I think it’s cool to hear that kind of stuff. I’m a big fan of raw and I’m a big fan of progress so hearing something progress from raw is one of my favorite things. I could take or leave Static Age, but Walk Among Us and Earth A.D. are very worth listening to.

This is the Misfits that inspired generations of rockers, the Misfits that mattered more than they would have probably ever thought they would.

This is not the end of the Misfits though. Like some of their song content, the Misfits may be dead, but the corpse was only waiting to get risen again.

And sure enough in 1995 it did rise again, this time without Glenn Danzig behind the microphone much to everyone’s dismay.

The new Misfits consisted of Jerry Only on bass, Doyle on guitar, Dr. CHUD on drums and Michale Graves singing. While it would be easy to pass the band off as trying to squeeze blood from a turnip, Graves and Doyle actually made the band legitimate, supplying a completely different sound to the band. The rawness was gone in favor of obvious production value, Doyle’s playing was heavier with more distortion and a heavier slant toward the metal side of the aisle. Graves’ voice is ridiculously different than Danzig’s but not so much to make covers of previous Misfits songs not enjoyable.

My point is that the only things that would make you think “Misfits” was the look and the name.

And while American Psycho has its moments (Dig Up Her Bones is probably my favorite Misfits song from this era) it feels like they were still finding the sound of the band. This sound was discovered and refined with the album Famous Monsters, which is by far the best album from this time period.

The band fell apart though, with only Jerry Only remaining and trying to make the Misfits something greater than it was. The sad part about all of this to me is that the Misfits have become this HUGE thing among punk rockers and rock fans in general (the Crimson Ghost skull is ridiculously famous and easily recognizable) but the vast amount of attention is paid to the older, Danzig-equipped Misfits. And while I can’t say with a clear conscience that they should reunite JUST to make more music with complete disregard to what they want to do individually, the truth of the matter is that the Misfits that everyone wants to see, the Misfits that could very well be everything that Jerry wants it to be, is Doyle, Jerry and Danzig.

I love the Misfits, like I said before. I am not blindly in love with the Misfits though. Jerry’s Project 1950, which may have been something cool released under a different band name, was pushed out as a Misfits record filled with covers like Runaway, This Magic Moment, and Great Balls of Fire as was received less than enthusiastically by fans.

It seems so obvious to me, a fan, that Jerry wants the Misfits to be huge and it also seems obvious how that can happen, yet Jerry’s there trying lineup after lineup trying to get there, like a kid trying to push their way through a wall to get outside when a door is open three feet away just because he doesn’t WANT to take the door.

Regardless of Only’s nostalgic trip down memory lane with Project 1950 and the constant recruitment of punk rock legends to fill the band, the Misfits are no less important and no less worthy of checking out.

I personally think the following albums are required listening and strongly recommend picking them up but I also know that buying six albums is expensive so I’ll list them in priority order from “have to buy” to “cool to have.”

1) Misfits

2) Walk Among Us

3) Collection II

4) Legacy of Brutality

5) Famous Monsters

6) Earth A.D.

Do yourself a favor and check them out. And spread it around. The Misfits are very underrated for what they did and the impact they had and seem to be running the risk of being buried by time without the proper respect. The fact that they have not been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame but the other cornerstones of punk (the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Clash) have not only blows my mind but makes me doubt the R&R Hall of Fame’s capability to choose the inductees.

-Pappy

News Below The Fold:

A lot of you read the 5th Fret via blog readers so you may not see the updates and this is just a handy little "check it out" notice.

The 5th Fret has added two very worthy charities to the column on the right (Guitars for Vets and Northwoods Jam which is part of Guitar Club International). GCI is still in its infancy so for right now you can't donate via the web site but once the web site gets up to full steam, I'll let you know and get rid of the text links and put in a picture instead.

There is also a new directory in the same vein as the Podcast Directory, this one dealing with Guitar Blogs. The same rules apply for adding blogs you like: include the URL, blog name, your name that you want posted, and why you like the blog and I'll update the list.

As far as the picture goes, let me know what you think of it. Can you read what it says on the paper?

Thanks for reading and that is your news below the fold.

-Pappy

Blog List

Well, it seems that the guitar podcast directory was a good idea and well received by those that saw it and sought it out but honestly, not a lot of hits come from that page. That's not a big deal or anything, my wife often says I'm one of the few that genuinely enjoys listening to other people talk, even when it's about something I love.

I think this one will be much more popular as there is a reason you're HERE, right? I'm assuming of course you didn't just stumble across the site and decided to spend your time going back through the catalog even though your favorite thing in the world is, say, scrap booking.

We here at the 5th Fret know that we are but one blog and we certainly don't think you should read JUST our blog (though you should read it any chance you get). I know in my blog reader I have 63 blogs that I subscribe to, 46 of those being guitar related. Unfortunately all of those 46 aren't really worthwhile or they have ceased posting new material. In that case, if the older material is still worth while, I'll include it.

This is just my list though and if you have a guitar blog you would like to recommend, please leave a comment and do so. I would really like to read it. 46 blogs sometimes just isn't enough and I love to read.

So for those of you who would like to add a blog, make sure it isn't on the list yet and then leave a comment with the blog title and URL, your name (or the name you would like to be posted anyway) and why you like the blog. I'll make sure it's a legitimate guitar blog and not just random spam and add all of that info to the list.

So let's see this list!

http://www.heartwoodguitar.com/WordPressBlog/ A Guitar Teacher's Lesson Notebook. I'm not entirely sure why it's called that though. It's just a really good guitar blog.

http://www.blog.frugalguitarist.com/ Frugal Guitarist. Oh, FG, you are always going to end up on my favorite blog lists.

http://guitartone.blogspot.com/ Brian Wampler builds pedals. He's the reason things like Wampler Pedals and Indy Guitarist are around. Recently he went to Summer NAMM and did not get a booth. He just went to walk around and document for us because he's a guitarist first and a pedal builder second. There's something really cool about that. Definitely worth checking out.

http://www.blackhearteng.com/blog/ Clogged Arteries. This is a Blackheart Amps blog and while a lot of companies toot their own horn and use a blog as a way of getting good press and testimonials out to the public and this is no different, it's from Blackheart Amps, a company that seems to deserve some attention. You have to admire a company that has a section of their web site dedicated to the modifications users are doing to their amps. That kind of thing would make most amp makers pull their hair out.

http://www.jemsite.com/blog.html "The Community Blog." If you hang around guitar blogs long enough, this term will probably come up and they are probably talking about the community blog at Jemsite. Not just limited to Ibanez Jems, but guitar in general, often with helpful tips and great news articles, it's definitely worth a look.

http://www.electric-guitar-review.com/ Electric Guitar Review. I am a huge fan of reviews. I can't get enough of them. Between the new all-in-one budget Amplitube Fender package (that retails for $100.00) and the 1.1 update to the regular Fender package (which retails for MUCH more) I think I've read about a dozen or so reviews on Amplitube's Fender packages. I don't mind at all. Consider them all second opinions and you'll be set. What one reviewer might miss another won't and in the end you'll have enough information from enough sources that you'll be able to form something that resembles and educated opinion all without playing it yourself.

http://www.fender.com/blog/ Fender Front Row. Oddly enough, with companies like Fender and Gibson (more so with Gibson) their blogs - their official company blogs - often feature amazing stories that have little if anything to do with the company. I think this is awesome as they seem to enlist the help of some of the best writers around to write for them.

http://www.fretbase.com/blog/ Fret Base.

http://www.gear-vault.com/ Gear Vault. Not to sound like I'm limiting the blog or anything (because there is a ton of great stuff here) but if you have a blog entitled Metallica VS Megadeth you now have my attention.

http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle Gibson Lifestyle. This blog features one of my favorite writers (Jonah Bayer) and some of the coolest articles around on a variety of topics. Whether they want to show you the new VOX book that details the history of the company or whether they want to talk about how P90s are becoming the most sought after pickups (they are in this household) or they want to show you a list (my god, do they love lists and who doesn't like to read a good list, especially when it's about the best stage fights, or favorite named guitars, or bands that feature siblings) this is one of the blogs that is just required reading.

http://www.guitarnoize.com/ Guitar Noize.

http://redwingguitar.blogspot.com/ Guitar Repair and Construction. I wouldn't look here to figure out what's wrong with your pickups or how to set your intonation. This is a blog maintained by a guitar building teacher with pictures and stories from his classes. The students come in and build their own guitars and we get to sit at home and watch it and say "MAN, that looks AWESOME!"

http://guitarspeedsecret.blogspot.com/ Guitar Speed Secret. To a guy like me who would love to shred or at least put a fast solo in a song or two, this blog is invaluable. Who doesn't want the ABILITY to go nuts whenever they want?

http://www.guitarticles.net/ GuitArticles. Maintained by the same guy as Guitar Speed Secret (Tennyson Williams) this is another truly helpful blog. Well worth the time to check it out.

http://www.guitarvibe.com/ Guitar Vibe. It isn't just the fact that this is a good blog that made it onto my list. For the last few days I've been following his progress through National Guitar Workshop and let's just say it's been amazing to read about it. You rarely see people document their way through a school like this.

http://www.iheartguitarblog.com/ I Heart Guitar. Apparently I Heart Guitar is turning into one of the biggest Guitar Blogs out there and getting recognized by print media left and right. Kudos to them. They deserve it.

http://searcystringworks.blogspot.com/ Searcy String Works. Clint Searcy is an interesting fellow who makes pickups, records some great music and often does reviews on Six String Bliss' podcast that are informative and easy to understand, even if you have no experience with, say, an envelope filter. He'll explain it to you without talking down to you and the stories he talks about on his blog are incredibly entertaining too.

http://www.sixstringbliss.com/. Six String Bliss. They have the longest running guitar podcast in the world and as a fan, I include them on this list though it would be wicked sweet if they would take the news stories from Guitar News Daily (http://www.guitarnewsdaily.com/) and also upload them to the blog for those of us that can't access the site from work both sites need to be checked out (and again, if you have an iPod, why are you not listening to them?).

http://stratoblogster.blogspot.com/ Strat-O-Blogster. This one is one of my favorite blogs, a blog that, when it pops up in the reader with others, will probably be read first. There's all sorts of cool stuff here, so much cool stuff in their articles that it doesn't even matter that I don't like Strats at all! It's just that cool.

http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/ Street Musician. Street Musician recently released a series of posts about busking, what to expect, the stereotypes, how to handle them, the purpose of it all and it was an amazing read especially for a guy like me who lives in a small town where busking just wouldn't work. He also constantly includes ways to make your playing better and runs the Top 100 Guitar Blogs (of which the 5th Fret is number 110).

http://truthinshredding.blogspot.com/ Truth In Shredding. While it would be easy to assume that TiS is about nothing but shredding, that would be an incorrect assumption though shredding does play a part in a lot of it. It's just a great blog worthy of your attention and subscription.

http://bookerjwood.blogspot.com/ Your one stop shop for recording tips and tricks in a digital world. Very handy stuff for getting past the learning curve of home recording.

http://www.muzicosphere.com/ This particular site is in French, but there's a language toggle in the header so you can read it in English. It's a very well-written blog that should be checked out!

http://leftyfretz.com I've always been curious about left-handed guitars. Do left handed players look at right handed guitars and think they look as weird as I think left handed guitars do or are they so used to seeing them that left handed guitars look weird to them too? For a look into the life of a left-handed guitarist, check this site out.

http://ajobteachingguitar.wordpress.com/ Want to learn how to play guitar? Want to learn how to TEACH guitar? This site's for you!

http://onlineguitarbooks.com/ Want to learn theory, scales and modes, but don't know where to go to get the goods?  This site has it in spades!

http://www.guitarfail.com/ One of my good blogging friends started a blog all about Guitar Fails and it's quickly catching on!  Well worth throwing this in your RSS!

So there you have it, my list. Submit your favorite guitar blogs to be added per the instructions at the top and the list can be updated and added to by you the reader.

Thanks for reading.

-Pappy

Signature Guitar Benefit

Have you ever talked about the merit of a signature guitar with friends or on the Internet? If so, someone probably remarked that the guitar may bring new listeners to the band and this opinion is more than likely quickly swept away with talk about how the pickups aren’t what the player uses, or how someone doesn’t like the tuners etc. etc.

But the disregarded opinion is a good one.

I say so because I have my own example. I love music but I know I haven’t heard nearly anything that vaguely resembles anything close to all of it. This is happening more and more as people younger than me have favorite bands that I have never heard of. My planner is covered with stickers from bands I don’t know because the pack of stickers was cheap and I liked some of the bands already like Bullet For My Valentine and Less Than Jake, but mainly because I needed SOMETHING to let me know at a glance which side of my planner was the front. It also came with a sample CD featuring many of the bands that I now have stickers of, so I’m excited to pay attention to that and listen to what the folks younger than me are listening to.

Anyway, the reason I say it’s a legitimate point about signature guitars is because I have never paid attention to Sonic Youth. Besides their appearance on the Simpsons episode “Homerpalooza” (on which they covered the ending theme very well) I have not heard anything from them and since that episode there has been no stimulation from friends or the Internet to check them out. Like so many bands that you’ve never heard of, they might as well have not existed to me.

But then their signature guitars came out and all of a sudden people were talking about them and the band and now I’m interested in them.

Their guitars, by the way, are very interesting to me. It features one of my favorite body styles from Fender but instead of all the gizmos and doo dads on the normal Jazz Master, these feature a volume knob. The two are remarkable different from each other though which is even cooler to me to think that two guitarists in the same band are so completely different from each other in preferences. It seems to me that two guitarists would more often play similar gear than complimentary gear.

One guitar features P90 looking pickups (not specified as P90s but Seymour Duncan Antiquity pickups), one humbuckers, one features huge frets, one features vintage frets, bridges, pickguards, etc. They’re very different.

The great thing to me, before we get into the real topic here, is that the green one seems to be made for me. Huge frets, P90 looking pickups (I really wish they would say what pickups they are), single volume knob, and green finish. It’s awesome.

The whole reason for this post though, is that the reason I looked into Sonic Youth was because there was outside stimulation and in this case, it happened to be their signature guitars. There HAS to be other ways to get a band’s name out there though. Even if the guitars had come out and no one had written about them, I would probably not see them and therefore not look into them. The fact is that the guitars inspired the bloggers and whatnot so they wrote about them and I read them. It’s the Internet that inspired the looking into the band.

Armed with this idea, I have a list of bands that I think should be checked out by you the reader and instead of waiting around for them to get signature guitars, I’m going to push out the information that will hopefully inspire someone out there to check the band out.

This isn’t just for bands that have been stalled or broken up for years either, but maybe bands that have a current catalog that is not their greatest. It makes me sad to hear a mediocre album from a great band and think that maybe THIS is the album that someone picked up as their first from the band and THIS is what they’re judging the band’s whole catalog on.

So that is what is coming down the pipeline right now. Of course, normal 5th Fret articles are still going to be written – this isn’t going to turn into an exclusive “hey, check this out!” site or anything – but I figure these would be good to have, ESPECIALLY if someone has never heard of the band, checks them out and realizes that they just found their new favorite band.

Stay tuned!

-Pappy

Guitar Charity

As guitarists most of us collect gear. We need to have multiple guitars that all do basically the same thing just in a slightly different way creating a slightly different sound through different amps that do the same thing with slightly different voicings. And before you go getting all defensive saying "oh no, not ME! There's a HUGE difference in sound between my VOX AC30 and my Fender Princeton Reverb!" you can rest assured, that I (as a guitarist) know that there's a big sound difference to us. I'm less convinced it sounds all that different to the uninitiated or if it did, how many of them think it's the guitar or amp and not just the player?

Anyhoo, my point here is that most of collect or want to collect as much gear as we "need" (which basically means we want to collect as much gear as possible).

How many of you have honestly thought of giving something away though?

Not selling it to finance more gear, or trading it for something else. Not cashing in on it to pay the power bill. Just giving it away. Maybe even just giving it away to someone who doesn't even play guitar? Someone you don't even know.

How does THAT hit you?

When I was in high school I had a friend who expressed interest in learning guitar so I gave her my very first guitar (which I don't regret as I still have my first REAL guitar) and showed her a scale and how to read TAB and hopefully she's still playing.

That's a pretty good thing if she did make a real hobby out of it or if it inspired some passion for the guitar or even more for music, but all in all, it's a pretty small thing. I wouldn't say it was a guitar charity by any means, just one friend helping out another.

Michael Peterson on the other hand DOES know something about guitar charity.

Curtis Bias volunteers teaching guitar at a Middle School in Louisiana that he teaches Visual Art at. The only problem was that the class, which consisted of 18 people, only had 12 guitars.

Not to side track for TOO long from Mike (whom this blog is really about in case you haven't figured it out), but none other than James Burton dropped by the school and bought those twelve guitars, and some Kustom amps and cables.

James Burton.

If I had been in school, playing guitar at lunch and James Burton came in to donate guitars and amps, and sit down to play WITH ME, I think that would be pretty much the best day of my life. His work with Ricky Nelson to this day is some of the most inspiring rockabilly licks out there. He often gets credited with being among the first rockabilly folks but very seldom gets credit for coming up with the light gauge string for guitar. The story goes he strung his Telecaster with banjo strings so he could perform bends with more ease.

Amazing.

But back to Mike!

Mike stepped in after that and donated the remaining six guitars so the whole class would have something to play on. Then he stayed connected with Curtis and whenever a student wanted a guitar and their parents couldn't afford one, Mike stepped in and made sure that the kid got a guitar.

Since then, the amount of students in Curtis' class has risen from 18 to 20 which may not sound like much, but that was the cap set up by the school. More than 50 kids signed up and a first-come-first-serve basis in the twenty minutes before class that they were allowed on the premises. As a result the school has hired a guitar instructor to teach guitar class after school.

Here's some words from Curtis himself:

"Mike donated 6 electric guitars, about 100 packs of guitar strings, and sent a box full of gear specially marked for a blind student at the school that wanted to play the electric guitar. Mike sent him a wireless system, wireless microphone, standard mics and cables, effects pedals, a rack mount tuner that played the notes so they could be heard and make tuning easier for him, and a small mixer. I can't remember everything that Mike sent. Lets just say that he sent a big box of stuff. There was enough equipment for the student to outfit himself and a few friends if they wanted to play live.

" Mike has also sent several other guitars to students that simply wanted to learn to play or who came from homes where the family lived well below the poverty level. A musical instrument was simply out of reach for these kids. Mike made it possible for them to have a guitar that they could take home and keep. I'm still in touch with many of these kids even though they have moved on to high schools in the area. A couple of them still come by my house and say hello every now and then. At this point, we have enough instruments at the school for each student to have an instrument in their hands in the class. There are always a few kids in the class that have instruments already."

That's pretty sweet.

But was Mike done?

Nope. Not even close!

He told Scott Nixon, an English teacher that volunteered time to teach music as well at an inner-city school that wasn't even a mainstream school but a school for the kids who could not function in mainstream schools (kids that were constantly getting into fights, or drugs, or gangs that had parents that were either in jail, high, prostitutes, negligent or any other thing that would negatively impact a child's maturing to the point where they would really want to do everything that would make them get kicked out of school) that if any of the kids in his music class showed a love for music, got their grades up to a B average, and got a job, that he would buy them a complete set up.

This was after he donated guitars and amps to the class.

He said that the set up (which included everything you would need to plug in and make noise - the guitar, cords, amps, I even think a tuner was gratefully donated as well) may not be new, and may not be the "best" but it would be free and anyone could make noise on it and Mike's philosophy was that so long as the kid was making noise - not even music but just having fun - than he wouldn't be on the streets doing things that will get him in trouble.

Well, unless volume would get him in trouble.

While this may sound like an after school special now, that impression will only get stronger soon. Just keep in mind this is all true.

One kid did what Mike wanted and he turned out to be the worst kid in school. That's what the teachers knew him as. His grades were the worst and so was his attitude but when he got his hands on a guitar he turned his life around in a very dramatic way. He raised his grades and became the editor of the school newspaper. He even fought long and hard with potential employers who had ALL heard about his less-than-appealing attitude and did not want to hire him and ended up getting a job at a music store.

Later, he was presented with his set up on stage in front of the school.

THAT is charity.

It's pretty impressive no matter how you look at it that Mike was willing to donate his own gear, and often go out in search of good deals specifically to donate to these worthy causes or getting instruments in kids' hands. The man is the definition of "philanthropist."

He could call it good right now and stop and STILL be talked about as someone who really made a difference in kids' lives but did he stop? Nope.

He STILL isn't done.

A couple years ago he organized a little get-together of Gretsch fans in the woods of Minnesota and it went well. The next year he organized the same get-together and saw that it had grown exponentially. That was this year.

He is already planning next year's get-together and instead of JUST getting together he is putting together something REALLY special. He rented out the entire fairground nearby. There will be multiple stages to jam on and at night bands will play, there will be clinics and workshops for playing different genres and styles, there will be food, all the food you would normally expect at a fairground from breakfast food to dinner, fair food to Mexican, grilled to fried. The American Legion will be there supplying the beer but being careful to make sure they do not observe and that no one gets sloppy drunk. Not only does Mike want to keep this VERY family friendly, but it would reflect poorly if people were leaving the fairgrounds just to get pulled over and popped for a DUI leaving the get-together.

The best part about this is that it is going to take place over days and anyone and everyone can attend, regardless of favorite brand of guitar, style of choice, instrument of choice or age. Five year olds can come in and play with experienced musicians and that is the attitude of the whole get-together. Just a bunch of musicians reveling in the joy of music and playing.

It's amazing.

And while I said that the best part was above, I was lying (just a little). The absolute best part is that Mike is going to do two things here: he's going to try to network with guitar manufacturers in an effort to get low prices when he buys gear from them because all the gear will be donated to schools where teachers or normal every day folk will donate time to teach kids how to play or get classes together to learn something specific, just so long as they're making noise.

The second thing he's trying to do is raise money for the exact same thing. He wants to raise money to buy gear to donate to schools. He wants to see this charity grow.

And if you can't attend the Minnesota get-together (known as the Northwoods Jam) but still want to donate money, gear, even packs of strings or picks, don't worry, you can. You can head over to http://northwoodsjam.org/ and see what's going on. The web site is still in development as this charity, called Guitar Club International, is in its infancy but it won't be long before the site is up and running at its best. It also won't be long before the paperwork that makes Guitar Club International (or GCI) is turned in to make it an official non-profit organization.

We here at the 5th Fret will be helping out too by posting a link to the right to their site where you can donate.

Mike was raised in a family with TWENTY-ONE foster siblings and EIGHT blood relatives and learned by Mel Bay books and he says that if he had been given the opportunity he's trying to give other kids with this charity, he would probably be a much better player today.

This isn't the only thing he does that helps out the guitar world or the world in general either. He and his band perform for people at the local retirement home which may not SOUND like much, but if you've ever visited one, you know they would love to hear some music and Mike is there to give the people what they want.

So, Mike, here's to you. Hopefully this blog will be replicated on other guitar blogs to get the most traffic and donations possible because getting a guitar in someone's hands - ANYONE'S hands - is an important thing. They don't have to all be inner-city kids, though they are the ones who probably need the music the most, hopefully this charity can become big enough that any school can reap the benefits and schools can have music programs that don't just specialize in trumpets and flutes, but strings and distortion, something kids could really be inspired by.

Who knows? Mike could be the catalyst for the next guitar boom.

In all seriousness, be sure to visit http://northwoodsjam.org/ and donate anything you can. You'll feel good and the money will go to an incredibly worthy cause. Just looking at what Curtis said, it's obvious that there is a desire amongst the youth to try out music and with school music programs dwindling and fading away because of lack of fund or supposed lack of interest, this is something that needs to happen right now.

-Pappy

Distortion Pedal Noise

Do you have problems with noise when using your distortion pedal?

If the answer is yes then you need to read this. Dennis at Pro Tone Pedals as written an e-book about where the noise comes from and how to tone it down.

Who better to write this too? How many pedal makers are making ultra high gain pedals? I know everyone has a “metal” pedal, but if you’ve played many of these, they really aren’t that far away from the standard distortion pedal. There’s no doubt though, that the Body Rot II is most definitely a high gain pedal.

What better time for this to come out too? More and more guitarists are looking for high gain sounds below the foot, not from the amp itself. Usually great high gain sounds come from 1) expensive amps and 2) lots of volume, neither of which is particular useful for a guitarist that lives on a budget or in an apartment, or doesn’t practice in an arena.

So check it out if you’re having issues with your pedal.

Pro Tone Pedals' Guide to Taming Distortion Pedal Noise.

-Pappy

Bruce Zinky Interviewed by the 5th Fret

On the 29th of June of this year (2009), I posted an article about the Vox AmPlug and about how int he future I would be buying a Smokey amp or two to bring out to the desert with me next time I deploy. I asked Mr. Zinky if perhaps he'd like to answer some questions I had and he accepted and the following conversation took place.


The 5th Fret: How's Arizona?

Bruce Zinky: I live at about 7000 feet elevation (outside of Flagstaff, AZ). It's very un-Arizona like here. I've never seen temperatures get above 90ª F, but I have also seen -10º F. We've got pine trees instead of Saguaro cacti, and a pretty good chance of surviving any great flood. Been in Flagstaff a little more than 10 years...everything's good so far.

What was your first guitar?

A Teisco copy of a late 60s Supro, solid body electric. Complete junk! I replaced the pickup with a Mighty Might tele pickup, which I promptly broke and then re-wound by myself (at age 12). Used some wire I had found in the garage. Very week, but it sounded better. It's amazing how much better the cheap guitars are today, well, most of them.

How did you get into playing?

I wanted to be like Roy Clark, KISS, Don Rich, and all the other cool bands / guitar players I saw on TV in the 70s. My brother got the guitar at a garage sale, and I wheeled and dealed with him to get it.

What made you venture into the amp world?

Wanted a Marshall (because that's what was pictured on the album sleeves). Couldn't afford one, but I could get the schematics, and worked on building Marshall circuits from other parts. Later, I found that a) Marshalls weren't necessarily what was on the record, and b) Even real Marshalls didn't always sound like I wanted them to. So, I experimented with the circuitry until the sound got to be what I thought it should be. Interestingly, the first amp that had "THE" sound for me was a Supro. Now, we make the Supro amps, and they sound at least as cool as the great old ones.

How did you end up at Fender?

Robben Ford got one of my custom 100 Watt tube amps and liked it. The brass at Fender back in the 80s were big Ford fans from way back. Robben almost always used Dumbles, so when he uses something else, people take notice. They did and called me. I made a series of custom prototypes to "Audition" for the job. Interviews with R&D didn't go well. Eventually, the marketing department made a new division for me, as R&D would have nothing to do with me. By the time Fender actually hired me, I was unemployed and living in LA (during and just after the Riots). I would have taken just about any job! That's how the amplifier custom shop got started. I promised Fender I'd get top name guys using new Fenders, on stage. Not from bribes or free crap, but just from selling the artists what they wanted- Great sounding amps with the familiar Fender look that wouldn't break. It all worked in retrospect, but it was all pretty radical at the time.

Wikipedia says you're responsible for their rise in quality int he early 1990's. Any thoughts on that?

Quality? Um, that's a word that encompasses many aspects of the products. I think Mike Lewis was the guy who turned that company around, period. Oh, sure, there were others higher up who hired and listed to Mike, but Mike was/is a Fender fan who was/is also a player who also had owned a music store and knew what players wanted/needed in a guitar or amp. Not an engineer by any means, but he knew what an amp should be and how it should sound. He was the guy who shifted the cosmetics back to traditional Fender looks from the 60s (and tweeds) for the whole line. Engineering and manufacturing got better because of directives from marketing and management. Anyway, Mike Lewis & I worked on the sound and function of a lot of tube amps during the period mid 1992- early 1995. If he liked it and I liked it, it was usually a winner. The Vibro King, the Custom Vibrolux reverb and the Pro Jr were three amps we worked on that are still made today. Mike left amps to do guitars, later left the company, and is back with them now. Pretty much he's the old school guy, and I was the modern, out there guy. If the amp worked for both of us, then we knew we had something. That was the goal, to make the amps work really well for a wider range of players. I didn't do all the amps, but when you've got Vibro Kings and Prosonics and Custom Vibroluxes laying around, the sound standards go up for the rest of the guys. So, to answer your question, I think I re-shaped what Fender amps sounded like for a brief period there. I think the sound of the amps that came out later was hideous, and that is only starting to change now. The new "Band Master" sounds good to me (I don't know anything else about it, but it's the first Fender tube amp with a good dirty and a good clean sound in years). Most Fender amps now sound good with a Strat clean. Fender guitars seem better than ever, at least from what I saw and played in January. Still, the high end stuff is really, really expensive, and doesn't seem to justify the price. The really low end stuff (Fender Starcaster anyone?) is so bad you need a tetanus shot before you pick it up. But the Mexican and American stuff is very nice.

What made you want to strike out on your own?

Changes. The new marketing guy I had to work with ( I thought ) was an boorish, pompous ass, who was also tone deaf. The new R&D boss (I thought) was a kiss ass company man who couldn't design his way out of a paper bag. Showing up became more trouble than it needed to be, so I stopped going. I think they figured it out after a month. That was in 1996. Actually, though- we were doing restorations and repairs until 1997. It was in the Summer of 1997 that we starting making and selling the Smokey amps. Before that, I had no plans to start an amp company.

How did the Smokey amp come to be?

The Smokey was my first amp, built the first version when I was 12. I was 16 before I could get it into the cigarette box. Totally forgot about it for 10 or so years, decided that was just the thing for folks who wanted a hand made, made in USA amp but couldn't afford twenty five hundred for a Vibro King. This was twenty five dollars! Been doing them ever sense (prices go up, new Vibro Kings are over $4600!, Smokey Amps list for $32 and $34.

Was that the first Zinky amp?

The first Zinky® branded amp was the MOFO, which first out in 1999. However, I was making some one-off custom tube stuff around 1982. I had a kid at the Junior high making chassis in metal shop, another making cabinets in wood shop, and I'd build amps from surplus parts. I sold them to local players. Lower powered amps, mostly, under 50 Watts. Some of them sounded really, really good.

Are all of your amps made in the US?

Smokey® Supro® and Zinky® are our brands. All of them are made in our shop, in the USA. Smokey makes the battery powered amps. Supro has one mini amp, which is a Smokey in the Polycarbonate case, but with higher gain. Really, that's a Smokey product, but it's the first Supro amp we did, about 2004 (with tube amps coming immediately after). Supro also makes a line of tube amps, from the 13 Watt Model 50 to the 60 Watt Tremolectric™ and Thunderbolt™. Supro's got that vintage vibe, but with greater versatility and performance in a simple, easy to use package. The Thunderbolt and Tremolectric are similar to the Vibro-King, but with about 12 more years of development. Zinky amps have the versatility and performance (with high gain ability) in an easy to use package, with tasteful yet modern cosmetics.

Where did the Supro idea come from?

Supro was a brand started by some guys who were associated with Dobro, Rickenbacker and National back in 1935/1936. They produced electric and acoustic guitars, lap steels, amps, etc from at least 1937 until they went bankrupt in 1968. There were several ownership changes during that time, and often, the product quality would vary when the ownership did. For me, the golden era for amps was 1937 to 1961 (They all sound good), and for guitars, about 1956-1961. Because the company was shuttered, and the name abandoned, we picked it up in order to prevent the Chinese (or someone without the reverence for the old amps and guitars that we had) from taking it. We also produce the new Supro® guitars, which have found fans with some top pros. We also license the Eastwood Supro® tribute guitars. While they are imported, the quality on those things is really, really good, and they provide the 60s style in a modern guitar for well under $1k, which we just can't do at this time. Hendrix played both the Ozark guitar and a 2-10" Supro amp prior to the Experience. Jimmy Page used the same amp (Modded with a single 12") to record many of the early Zep hits. Jimmy Reed, Howlin' Wolf and others rocked the Supros back in the day as well. We wanted to take what we liked in the 50s Supro products, improve it where we could (leaving the cool stuff intact), and make the guitar using what we've learned in the last 50 years. While we've been selling the guitars since 2005, and the amps since 2004, we're always looking to see how we can produce them in USA, and the highest quality possible, for an affordable price. These days, there are lots of great guitars, and some of them don't cost much. Right now, we can make a world class guitar, but the price is $2k-3k. We're working on making the guitars available at a price more players can afford. The amps run from $1k to around $2500. Don't think we can do much to lower the price and still keep the quality where it should be, so we'll just produce them in the quantities we've been making them.

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Many thanks to Mr. Zinky for taking time out of his busy day to answer questions from a small but growing blog. I really appreciate it and I hope you enjoyed it too.

If you would like to learn more about Zinky or Smokey amps, you can go to this URL: http://www.zinky.com/index.html.

-Pappy