Res-O-Glass Introduction

The Guitar Blog is partially responsible for odd bouts of GAS or reminding me that I want something a little more often than I would like to admit but here they are again talking about Res-O-Glass guitar kits.

I love cheap stuff. Cheap stuff (not just guitars but stuff in general) is the stuff that normal people can afford to buy and even experiment with. The cheaper the guitar for instance, the higher your likelihood of buying it and then modifying it to your specifications (and I love modified equipment almost as much as cheap stuff). Cheap guitars also keep you out of the proverbial dog house with any significant others who happen to depend on your income as well.

As an added bonus, most people aren't going to be playing the same cheap guitar you are. They're saving their money for a more expensive guitar because they think it's better and in some cases, they're right. There are certainly strong arguments for quality of wood, prices associated with countries of production, materials, etc. but the chances of someone saving up, say, $2,548.00 for a PRS Mark Tremonti Signature guitar and then modifying it by adding a third pickup, or completely changing the wiring scheme is probably a lot lower than someone who spent $150.00 on a guitar that has potential.

I was genuinely excited when I saw the link but it turns out the company they're talking about doesn't sell guitar kits that feature res-o-glass bodies but just the bodies. You supply the neck. AND you do all the work when it comes to creating pickup holes, wiring, etc. Part of me thinks this is AWESOME. Instantly I was thinking of making one with a single P90 in the bridge position and another with two filtertrons and another with two Seymour Duncan P-Rails with all sorts of knobs (four knobs) and three switches (one for each pickup's "identity" selection and one for which pickup you're using) but the practical side of me - the side that isn't so keen on wiring anything - realizes that it would be a difficult task, no matter how easy they say it is.

And I would need to track down a neck (or necks if I was going to make them all) and that would make it expensive in a hurry, regardless of how cheap the body is.

Still, it IS a pretty great idea and I love the idea of a hollow fiberglass guitar that happens to be cheap and made to my specs. Practicality aside, I still want at least one of these to rock out on. Maybe it would be a good way to jump into guitar building. I can't imagine it would be TOO difficult or at least not AS difficult as working in any other solid body guitar since this one is completely open inside. you just take the back off with screws provided and you have access to the front's back.

Even with the additional work they guarantee, I still think this would be an awesome project. One I may tackle in the future. If I do, I'll keep you posted.

-Pappy

Going Classical

As I tucked the kids in for the night I grabbed my trusty Telecaster (my “play in front of TV while sitting on the couch” guitar) and sat down. I took a few deep breaths, decompressed a bit, let the ease of the night without kids who want to play running around and started to play. I was sitting in the “folk” position with the guitar resting on my right leg and almost immediately it started to hurt my fretting wrist as I played.

This has been going on for a while now, perhaps three or four weeks. When it happened in the past, I took off my watch and went watchless for a while (easier than when I was a kid with the advent of semi-affordable cell phones that also tell time) and laid off playing. I tried to go easy on the typing as well. I was told a few years ago that typing, like guitar playing, is shocking in the LITTLE amount of stress you need to exert. The person who told me said that playing with 13 gauge strings isn’t a really big deal because the amount of force needed to fret (just fret, we’re not talking bends here) is so little and once you get into the habit your playing will be better because you’re going to be faster and more precise.

Who DOESN’T want to be faster and more precise?

And like I said, the same goes with typing. I’m pretty rough on my guitar neck, I know this. I’ve had years of frustrated power chords to help guide fret to oblivion and have tried to lighten up but I MURDER keys. I don’t know what it is. Perhaps as a kid going through typing class I wanted to fake – no – EMBELLISH my typing skills by pounding on the keyboard. Must have worked too because I’ve never failed a typing class.

Anyway, I took off my watch (though easy at first using my phone to tell time, I quickly put it back on, though it was relocated to my more native right wrist), laid off playing, tried to lighten up on the keys and keep my wrist as motionless as possible when it wasn’t needed.

It seemed to help.

But here I was three to four weeks later, my wrist feeling fine again, my watch having migrated back to the left wrist and the pain comes back.

Of course, beside getting into a car wreck or accident leaving your hands a mangled mess (more mangled than Django’s), this is probably a shared fear among the guitar community. When it hurts to play, that really sucks, and no one WANTS to quit anything that they’ve put a lot of time and effort into, just ask Farmville players. But here I was, hurting and hoping it’s not carpel tunnel or tendonitis or even worse: arthritis.

I figured I was getting ahead of myself a bit thinking that my playing career has ended so early on and took the self-examination tests and they didn’t seem to indicate I had anything wrong with me.

Maybe it was just the angle of my wrist…

For giggles, I swapped the leg my guitar was on and moved into the classical position.

Handy tip: for those that either don’t have the classical step stool or are too lazy to find it, putting the foot of the leg the guitar is resting on, on your other foot (when that foot is turned sideways) is a good enough substitution AND it means you don’t have to look around for something to put your foot on at music shops.

But back to the story, I swapped legs and playing became easier. I don’t mean I was better at guitar or something though it certainly feels like less effort is required to chord and solo, but it was easier on my WRIST to have it this way.

This is also the reason I’ve been bringing my guitar up more and more as the years have gone on. Yes, James Hetfield is the epitome of awesome looking with his low-slung guitars and mischievous sneer, but I would rather have my guitar high or on the “wrong” knee and be able to play Metallica than wear it low and short out my wrists before I’m done playing.

-Pappy

Why I Want An Uke

I was living in Hawaii when I picked up the guitar. It was also in Hawaii that I got really into skateboarding. Looking back on it now, it seems like I missed the obvious attractions that the beautiful islands come stock with (ukuleles and surfing), but I stand by my decisions.

Anyway, while there I was at a friend's house and that friend had a ukulele (uke for short) and taught me a song or two in about a half hour. While it was fairly easy to grasp the chord fingerings, it was more the coolness of having a tiny instrument that sounded cool and was much easier looking to play than, say, a mandolin that planted the seed.

So here I am, roughly twelve years later thinking that an uke would be a wise purchase for a variety of reasons - reasons that I am more than willing to share with you because I do NOT think this is an island-only thing, nor even a coastal thing, but a world-wide thing and it should be more embraced than it is right now.

Reason #1: My daughter has shown a little bit of interest in playing guitar. The uke has a great set of features when it comes to using it as a stepping stone to guitar. It only has four strings, the scale is ridiculously short making it easy for little fingers to move between frets, the strings are plastic, they're light and oh so portable and (for the most part) they're cheap. Well, cheaper than a guitar that will probably be too hard for a small child to learn on meaning it will take up space in a closet somewhere.

Even if the child quits playing the uke, it takes up far LESS space in the closet so it's a win no matter what happens.

Reason #2: Competition.

This is the biggest reason for me. Since the first day I started to play guitar there has been some sort of competition, some sort of one-upsmanship that comes with it. You stumble your way through the opening bars of Nothing Else Matters and your friend is right next to you nailing the intro and wanting to tell you what you did wrong and whether they're meaning it as a good or bad thing, it still stings a bit.

Now, perhaps this exists in the ukulele world, but the number of uke players are so much smaller than guitar players that the odds of you stumbling on a friend who also happens to play the uke and happens to know the same songs are quite a bit less.

Also, though virtuosos exist in almost every field and certainly with every instrument, it seems to me that the ukulele is more about having fun and carrying the song than it is being self indulgent - or as self indulgent as two minutes of finger-tapped solos can appear to be - and this is a little refreshing. I think guitarists are so wrapped up in becoming better (myself included) that we sometimes fail to realize that a song is just a song and sometimes it doesn't need that much to make it great.

George Harrison always brought two ukes with him wherever he went so if he was with a guitar playing friend, they could jam. This came in particularly handy on planes where his guitars were in the cargo area or at the very least cumbersome to reach mid-flight.

There are certainly a lot of perks to playing the uke and one day soon I'll probably be getting one to learn a bit and see if it's as easy as I remember and if my daughter will see it and be more interested than she already is in my guitars.

Perhaps it's time to think about getting an uke of your own?

-Pappy

5th Fret Interviews

Interviews are fun. For those who don't know how the interview process goes here on the 5th Fret, I contact the artist or the artist's label, get approval to do an interview and then email my questions that the artist can answer as they see fit. I OFFER my editing skills in case I pick up spelling errors or some punctuation mistakes (I'm not saying I'm the best, but an extra set of eyes is a beneficial thing to have) and sometimes they take me up on the offer and sometimes they don't.

It's no big deal either way.

After they respond to my email I go over their answers and if the answers provided made me think of another question, I send the new questions back. Back and forth, back and forth, until the interview is fully fleshed out.

I think this is the best way to do an interview. I've read a few interviews where it was obvious that the artist MEANT to say something else or they let something slip and it wound up in a printed article. Or live interviews where you have to be super sharp and on your toes. This is more relaxed and the artist can expand however much they like (space isn't nearly as limited here on the Fifth Fret as it is in a magazine) and they can think about what they're saying.

This page is dedicated to the artists interviewed in the past and every interview that happens in the future will also be tacked on here for easy finding with the most recent at the top.

Enjoy!

Katy Perry's Patrick Matera

Tru Arc's Tim Harman

NOFX's El Hefe

Rock N Roll Relics

Skinny Jim from Skinny Jim & The Number 9 Blacktops

Victoria Amplifiers

DeLisle Guitars & Amplifiers

Tavo Vega (Who makes the Nocturne Brain pre amp)

Bruce Zinky of Zinky Amplifiers

Six String Bliss (Story and details for the episode of 6SB I did as a fan before becoming a host)

BillM (Famous Fender Blues Jr. modifier)

Pro Tone Pedals

Joe Carducci of Gretsch Guitars

Paul Pigat (Prolific band member and amazing guitar instructor)

-Pappy

Just Eat the Caterpillar

When my buddy Ted was in college, he went to a party and he saw a strange sight. Two guys were arguing at across a table. Between them was an incredibly furry and oddly large caterpillar and a stack of cash.

My friend leaned closer to hear what they were discussing. It turns out that the two guys were debating over how much money it would take for them to eat the caterpillar.

Ted walked away and chatted with a few other people at the party. About an hour later, he wandered back into the kitchen and saw the two guys STILL at the table and STILL debating over who should eat the caterpillar. The pile of money, however, had grown substantially.

My buddy leaned over and said, “Somebody just eat the caterpillar.”

One of the fearful debaters looked at him and said, “Why don’t you eat it?”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Ted scooped up the caterpillar, shoved it in his mouth and swallowed it. He walked out of the room, leaving the other two guys to pick their jaws up off the table.

It was a decision he would later regret, but, in an insane moment, Ted turned off his logic and just ate the caterpillar.

There is something really cool about putting aside all reason and cutting loose. It’s one of the great things about playing guitar. Get yourself lost in a song or a riff. Lose track of time and play for way too long. Just jam, man.

For the past few weeks I have been travelling without a guitar. When I returned home this weekend, I picked up my Benford electric and let the music fly. Too often I get caught up in finding the perfect tone or practicing a certain riff. Playing whatever came to mind on my Benford for an hour or so reminded me what I love about guitar playing.

A couple hours after eating the caterpillar, Ted felt a stabbing pain in his stomach. It was intense enough that he went to the emergency room. He spent the early hours of the morning flipping through insect picture books trying to find the caterpillar he had eaten so the doctors could figure out how to treat him. It turned out that all that fur on the caterpillar was actually thousands of tiny flexible spikes. Spikes that were now reeking havoc on his intestines. The doctors eventually decided there was nothing they could do except let the caterpillar pass through, um, naturally.

So yeah, cutting lose can be painful at times. But, at others, it can be pretty great as well.

And that is another benefit of guitar playing… no intestinal discomfort.

- PT

Rosewood GAS

Check this out: http://www.stratoblogster.com/2010/06/custom-shop-57-desert-sand-rw-friday.html

I love rosewood necks. I don’t mean rosewood fret boards because rosewood fret boards are pretty common and therefore easy to take for granted, but rosewood NECKS. Now, for coolness’ sake, the fewer pieces the better and the neck featured in the Strat-O-Blogster (SOB for short) is a one piece neck and reminded me of an amazingly sweet PRS I came across a few years ago.

I’ve always been a fan of PRS but unlike other favorite brands it comes and goes like the tide and sometimes I’m going through GAS pretty hard and sometimes not so much, but I don’t think I’ve ever been AGAINST PRS. I guess I do wish they would let their offshore producers copy almost all models EXACTLY, partially because I doubt I’ll ever be able to buy a PRS, but also because it would be a cool experiment to see just how important“Made in USA” is to people who have an exact alternative. Would people really be willing to pay one to three thousand dollars more for the patriotic pride that comes with supporting workers in the US if that was the ONLY thing they were paying extra for?

But I digress (and that’s a pipe dream anyway. No company would do that, shoot, even Epiphone can’t put a correct (Gibson) headstock shape on their Les Pauls).

The first PRS I ever played was a CE22. I’ve never needed more than 21 frets and I could probably get along just fine with 19 frets, so the 22 frets on the CE22 didn’t all get utilized, but I WAS a big fan of the five way switching that was controlled not by blade but by knob making it look classy and offering more tonal versatility than you would expect when you’re picking up a two-humbucker guitar.

I was also a pretty big fan of the tone.

At the same time I was looking at a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier and the salesman wrote on the back of his card the price of the head (which I believe was 1,800.00) and the sunburst CE22 ($1,600.00) and I walked out with neither mainly because I was a mere teen with a very low paying job.

But I saved up my money. I did have to pay for everything once I started working from food to school supplies, auto insurance, car repairs, etc. etc. (normal life stuff that’s incredibly hard to maintain on a part-time minimum wage paycheck so before I went off to college I was only able to go back to the shop and pick up a PRS Santana SE.

For those NOT in the know, the SE line is PRS’ offshore production line and at that time they had ONE model (the Santana SE) that was available in two options (hard tail or tremolo) and a small scattering of colors (I’m pretty sure they included black, red, and blue. I can’t remember any others if there were any). I wanted a blue one and I wanted it to be hard tail. I don’t know why I’m so against normal tremolos but they just aren’t on my usual dream spec sheet. Apparently a blue hard tail was incredibly rare, but the shop ordered one for me and I bought it for something like $500.00.

The SE got me through GAS for a while, mainly because I didn’t really know any better, but also because the poly covering on the SE is similar if not the same to the poly covering on most US models (PRS is apparently NOT a fan of using lacquer solely). Once my first year was over though, I was checking out a music store and found a PRS McCarty with a rosewood neck and the second I laid my hands on it I fell in love with a couple of things. For one thing, the feel of a naked neck against your hand. I have guitars with finishes on the necks (2 of 4) and they’re fine, but the ones with the naked necks feel the best to me.

I also fell in love with the feel of rosewood.

It’s such an awesome looking wood and it completely opened my eyes. Not to the extent that the seller was looking for, but enough for my personal satisfaction and I walked out with one more fairly large learningexperience in guitar playing history.

I kept the SE for a few more years because they are pretty great playing guitars but if you compare where they started to where they are now, there’s no competition. The bodies are now featuring more contour, the birds have made their way to the neck of the Orianthi SE, they have flamed veneer on some models and just recently PRS unveiled SE models made from Korina.

I am not too familiar with korina, besides knowing Gibson used them on Explorers and Vs in the past, but the Singlecut Korina SE is a great looking guitar and if it feels or sounds ANYTHING like the normal Singlecut SE, it’s a super sweet guitar.

I like the SE models quite a bit, but knowing now what a rosewood neck feels like and associating it so heavily with PRS, any SE purchases would probably have to wait for a bit until I can buy a PRS with a rosewood neck and scratch that itch. Of course, with the price of these guitars that won't happen for quite some time.

Still, the experience of playing the rosewood neck made an impression on me and if you haven't played a guitar with an unfinished rosewood neck, take a look around your local quality guitar store next time and see if they have any in stock (from any company) and give it a whirl. It will be worth your time.

-Pappy

Where's YOUR pick?

Guitar Lifestyle is a blog that I've been reading for a while and one I really enjoy. the author ordered some custom Guitar Lifestyle picks from Grover Allman with his blog's name on it and I was inspired to do the same, only I chose Steve Clayton to make my picks and used his design interface to make a seriously awesome looking pick. I'll be ordering mine on the 15th of July.

So what about you? If your local shops are anything like mine, a pick goes for about a quarter a pop unless you're buying thumbpicks, fingerpicks, or high priced normal picks or even boutique picks then the cost is way higher and it won't have your name, art, or band logo on it. But the order I'm going to place with Steve Clayton is going to cost $40.00 and I'll get 100 picks. That's 40 cents per pick.

That's far more practical AND you get to design it yourself!

So everyone, I say why not design your own picks? It may be just a bit more expensive but it's as awesome as you want to make it and if you're a blogger like me, you can give them away as prizes, business cards, trade them with other folks or just plain give them to friends. Why not?

For the longest time I thought a custom pick was just for the rock stars but now I can see it's for the normal folks like you and me and honestly, I'm not sure if I'll ever buy a normal pick again.

Of course I'll be posting a review of the picks I get so everyone who holds off and are interested in getting them from Steve Clayton will know what to expect of the whole process. I couldn't possibly be more excited, myself!

-Pappy

New Haircut?

So, providing that you're looking at the actual site and not reading this on an RSS reader, you've probably noticed the site looks a little different.

And if you ARE looking at this on an RSS reader, please visit the site to see what I'm about to talk about.

I think it looks pretty awesome. Look at the new logo! That was designed by a graphic designer and I think it looks particularly awesome. So awesome I'm planning on using it for picks in the future!

I put a little bit of work in getting the template the right size but realized my videos are a bit too big and push out into the side bar. Also, there will be more tabs on top to help navigate the site. Perhaps I won't have to move to WordPress after all!

Anyway, I'm looking for some feedback. Is the background too bright? Is it too distracting? Anything that will make coming here as easy and pleasurable as possible, please let me know and I'll see what I can do.

In the meantime, I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the newest contributing author, PT of Six String Bliss fame. I'm glad to have him on board hopefully giving you one more thing to look forward to with his weekly blog released on Tuesdays. I hope you guys and gals like his writing as much as I do.

So in summary: Please leave feedback on the new site layout and check out the previous post about guitar shop browsing etiquette.

-Pappy

The Etiquette Of Browsing

Hey gang, welcome to my first column for the Fifth Fret. My name is PT. I am the co-host of cult-favorite guitar podcast Six-String Bliss, a member of the cult-favorite comic book rock band Wednesday Heroes, but not a member of any actual cults.

Thanks to Pappy for having me.

For my first dispatch, I thought I would tackle a problem that has plagued the guitar community for decades… the etiquette of browsing.

I have spent countless hours in guitar stores, on both sides of the counter. Sometimes the experience has been great; other times, not so much.

I think that with some thoughtfulness on all our parts, we can all make the guitar shop experience a little better for everybody.

Let’s address four common problems one at a time.

Problem #1: Communication Breakdown

Guitarists love talking about guitar. If you need evidence of this, check out the countless guitar blogs, podcasts, magazines and message boards dedicated to our instrument. And there is no better place to chew the fat about our six-stringed love than in a guitar shop.

So then, why is it that the interactions at guitar shops can often be as stilted and boring as an old silent movie?

Here’s a couple of tips to help break the ice forming on the guitars.

- For the Sales Person: Yeah, ok, sometimes people who are really looking to buy play it coy by saying they are ‘just browsing’. But guess what? 90% of the people who say they are just browsing are ACTUALLY just browsing. Often times, the only reason we are in the guitar shop is that we didn’t want to go into the shoe store next door with our wife. So how about, rather than trying to determine if we are a ‘browser’ or a ‘buyer’, just talk to us. Instead of asking if we have any questions about your gear, ask US some questions about our gear. Find out about us. Cause even if we are a browser today, we are going to be a buyer sometime down the road. And please, avoid that terrible double-entendre of a question that ever guitarist has been asked at least once by a dull-witted salesperson: “Do you play with a band or do you just play with yourself?”

- For the Browser: Man, I’ll tell you what. Being a guitar sales person is much less fun and exciting than you would think. Your paycheck depends on your ability to get your customer to fall in love with a piece of gear. Because of this, your own love of gear can be put in jeopardy. Not only that, but you are constantly surrounded by cool gear that you MUST stop yourself from buying. The temptation, as you see customer after customer leave with gear you want, is insane. Far too many sales people blow far too much of their paycheck in-store. So, as the customer, instead of being on guard around the sales person, or seeing them only as the guy who hands you the demo cable, how about asking him some questions? What gear does he have at home? What piece is he currently lusting after? How about asking them to demo a piece of gear you’re interested in? Make nice with the salesman or lady, and not only will it help you when it comes negotiation time, but you will actually be talking to a real live person about guitar!

Problem #2: “No Stairway”

There is nothing better than plugging in, turning up and rocking out in a guitar store… as long as you are the one doing the rocking. Here are a couple tips for demoing gear.

- For the Sales Person: You know what’s great? When somebody walks in off the street, grabs a guitar and brings it up the counter to pay for it. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us guitar players like to try out our equipment before we buy it. And sometimes we need to do it at a volume slightly above a whisper. Sometimes we need to try a guitar four, five, or ten times before commit our cash to the purchase. And you know what? That’s ok. Because each time we play a guitar, that guitar’s place in our head grows a little bigger. And soon, we can’t help but plunk down our hard earned dollars. And it is much harder to negotiate when the salesman knows you’ve been in five times this week drooling over the same guitar. So let the customer play! If they are go on too loud or too long, maybe offer to move them to side room or lesson space where they can play in a bit more privacy. Because nine times out of ten, that investment will eventually pay off in a sale.

- For the Browser: Cold, hard fact time…. I don’t care how good you are; your playing will not impress the salespeople in the store. Jimi and SRV could walk in, grab Strats and play a duet of ‘Little Wing’ and the salespeople would sigh and look at their watches. Does that mean you should not demo gear, or that you should feel self-conscious demoing gear? Of course not! Just know that you are playing for yourself, not the other people in the store. If you are there to impress the salespeople or other customers, you are working at a futile task, my friend. So play as long as it takes to get a feel for the gear. But be aware that the longer you play, the more the salesperson knows you want the gear and the less willing to negotiation they will be.

Problem #3: Care and Feeding of the Guitars

It’s hard to know if you want to spend money on a guitar without holding the instrument in your hands. However, when you are talking about an instrument worth sometimes a thousand dollars or more, the salespeople get a little nervous with Joe Public rubbing his grubby fingers all over the thing.

- For the Sales Person: Let’s face it… they don’t touch the guitar; you don’t make the sale. If you have to be nervous, be nervous on the inside. But never let it show. Never make the customer, any feel bad for wanting to play, and never judge who can afford which guitars. End of sermon.

- For the Browser: Here’s a quick tip to show the salesperson you have respect for their instruments… before you play a guitar, take off your jacket. Yeah, I know, you’ve been playing guitar for 9 zillion years, you would never scratch a guitar, you are careful with your jacket zipper. But, the thing is, the salesperson does NOT know that. Is it really that hard to take your jacket off? It’s a sign of respect to the establishment. It is a sign to the salesperson that you take this thing we call guitar seriously. So, when in doubt, ask if you can try something, and don’t forget to take off your jacket. But leave your pants on.

Problem #4: Purchase Price

- All involved: In today’s society, we don’t have a lot of opportunities to negotiate. Well, now’s your chance. Have some fun with it! Can we all agree that negotiation is part of buying a guitar? The customer is not a jerk for offering a lower price than what’s listed and the salesperson is not a jerk for saying no. So get in there, negotiate a far deal for everyone and move some gear! That’s what it’s all about, right?

That’s all for this week. See you next Tuesday. Until then, bliss out.

- PT

Pro Tone Monster Fuzz Reviewed

Dennis at Pro Tone is an interesting guy and makes interesting pedals, with both visual and sonic properties that usually put them over the competition and the Monster Fuzz is no exception. It has a unique visual appeal and would stand out on your pedal board (the knobs are sometimes just knobs but are also sometimes EYES to the fuzz monster) and in the mix.

Dennis is also responsible for the oddest of revelations, two of which I stumbled on using this pedal:

1) Fuzz makes me play sloppy BUT also allows me to have some amazingly great fun.

2) I have to play barefoot.

That sounds weird, but don't worry, we'll tackle this and it will all make sense in the end.

So beginning with the second revelation (see that? I'm just keeping you on your toes) let me explain. The pedal has three knobs: volume, tone and fuzz and once you set your volume you're free to experiment with the tone and fuzz and both knobs offer a ton of versatility and your TOES come in very handy for changing the tone because it minimizes the amount of time necessary to tweak the knobs.

Luckily, even with toes, the knobs are easily adjusted and this allowed me to change the tone mid riff. My favorite thing to do was play palm muted power chords with the tone knob turned down (more bass) and produce an insane, earth shaking kind of tone and then turn the tone knob up to about 3:00 (approximately - it's really tough to be accurate with your toes) for solos or little runs on the high notes. The bass becomes less and less as you turn the tone knob up and the highness of the notes was pleasant.

The TONES found in this box are everything that is good in the world of fuzz. The sound is raunchy, ratty, dangerous, and unpredictable. I like the level of unpredictability but after a while was picking up on trends like an awesome kind of choppiness to single notes when I let them ring. If I bent the note the choppiness went away so I started accentuating notes, refreshing boring scales, lingering on some notes letting that chop come in, bending some others to make a more smooth tone.

And the tones is what it all comes down to in the end, no matter how cool the packaging. I can move from bassy fuzz-tastic tones to higher fuzz-tastic tones and almost every tone I've come across I could use. You could go from vintage fuzz tones to Jack White-ish tones and everywhere between. You can really make some noise with this pedal AS WELL AS add some serious spice to your tone.

Speaking of noise, let's swing back around to point number one: fuzz makes me play sloppy but I have a good time doing that. In the movie Fuzz: The Sound That Changed The World, a builder said that all fuzz is, is a broken circuit or a circuit that isn't working well and the bassist from Beck said he wants to surrender to a pedal's unpredictability. At first I thought that was a little silly. Why would you want to surrender your tone?

I found out why: because it's FUN. Single notes ring through but when you start adding more notes that are ringing either by playing chords or just not muting a note when you move to the next, it doesn't make a joined sound like you may be used to but instead creates a wall of sound where the notes are all blended in a beautiful but unintelligible mess. There was a threat of feedback, there was amplified string noise, there was everything you would THINK you wouldn't want in your guitar tone but in practice open up all sorts of new doors for playing. At the VERY least it's a change from the routine.

The level of craziness is controlled by the fuzz knob, so if you want more articulation, you can turn it down and get great tones that aren't so in your face with plenty of definition.

Let's take a break here for a second for some video before we go any further:

So is the Monster Fuzz worth buying?

YES.

I already said it but it bears repeating: it's everything you know and love about fuzz in one convenient and awesome looking package. It's fun to constantly tweak the knobs and find new tones and... Well, I just love it. While I borrowed this one from a friend who is deployed (and will sanitize the pedal before he gets back), I'm giving serious thought to saving up for one of my own.

Of course, this ALSO makes me wonder what Pro Tone Pedals' OTHER fuzzes sound like.

If I were more of an authority on fuzz I would say we should have a shoot out but since I'm new to the fuzz game, I'll just say that this pedal is fun to use, has no bad or unmusical sounds that I can't use in writing and looks awesome. I have a good time playing with it and it's invigorating to play with. What more do you want in a pedal?

-Pappy

Gibson Comes Through!

I know how it looks, the many posts that I've written about Gibson, and I can say that I am NOT a Gibson basher. I am merely a concerned Gibson fan that thinks that Gibson only needs to tweak certain things about the guitars they make and the business decisions they practice.

LO! And BEHOLD!

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/Les-Paul/Gibson-USA/Les-Paul-Studio-50s-Tribute.aspx

First, let me say "Way to go, Gibson!" THIS is what I've been talking about this whole time! An affordable (well, very affordable in Gibson land) apparently solidly-made instrument with P90s and a fancy, DESIRED finish.

Let's break it down like this:

1) It's something the people would want.

2) It's something that's within the people's reach.

THAT is a winning combination and I am SUPER happy to see this. You may remember a while back when I said I was super into the 1956 LP reissue but it was way too pricey. This is something that would contend and almost 100% sure win in the battle for what I would buy. I look at this guitar and I want it. I would sell MY LP to get it if my LP wasn't the first real guitar I ever owned and from my mom and therefore attached with sentimental value.

But if you don't have a Les Paul and you're thinking of getting one, I would advise hopping on this one. It looks amazing and if it sounds anything like the '56 reissue, it's a guitar that's going to keep you warm at night with it's great tone.

Man, I wish they would send one my way to review so I could let you all know how it is!

-Pappy

We Need More Drop Down Menus

Almost all guitar companies have a page where all of their guitars are displayed and some, like Fender, let you get a little more specific in your search be it by price or guitar shape but I don't think this is good enough (though it is good). I've seen a lot of questions on the internet where a potential buyer wants a guitar (and since I already used Fender as an example we'll roll with it a little more) like a Telecaster but he wants it to have as much lacquer as possible, with a chunky neck and vintage frets and maybe a 12" radius. While he can go through all 38 Fender Telecaster models listed on their website and look at the specs for each model, perhaps making a spreadsheet himself to reference later, that's a lot of work for the potential buyer.

I think that when it comes to someone who's coming to your site to look for a guitar to buy, you would want it to be as easy as possible for them to find what they're looking for in the shortest amount of time and perhaps capitalize on the impulse of the hunt. They may have just been doing research but with such an easy navigation they found exactly what they're looking for OR the closest thing possible (and it happens to be something he/she would agree with) and then boom, plastic is being pulled out and phone calls are being made to find the nearest dealer with that particular guitar OR they're going online shopping for the model at retailers like Sweetwater.

Car Company Pontiac used to have a "build your own" section as most car companies do on their websites where you can pick the features you want and with every click you made, inventory would show up. This would not be hard to do in the guitar world.

Imagine if a person logs on to Fender's site knowing they want a Tele. They click Telecaster (38 now in his grasp), then they click and say they want humbuckers (10 now match his request) but he thinks a maple neck looks cooler than a rosewood neck and says so (6 now match) and so on and so on until he reaches the end. He could always go back and look at the previous offerings. Perhaps none of the maple humbucking Teles have the radius he's really comfortable with so now he's looking just for that feature.

That's the most important part of the selection though: let the customer decide which features are important to him/her. If ALL he wants is to look at single pickup Strats then he shouldn't have to wade through fretboard woods to get there.

And while we're at it, how about information about that feature? What difference does radius make? What sonic properties do humbuckers have compared to single coils? Etc.)

The best part about this is that price may or may not (maybe price is the important factor) really matter as much because the buyer is seeing the guitar that would be best for them and a price to save up for instead of thinking "it looks similar and it's $500.00 less so I guess I'll get that."

That's settling and it's a gamble because they may be so uncomfortable with some feature that they never want to buy that model (like a Tele) or even a Fender again because they associate that feature with all of the company's guitars. It could happen.

So there you have it, guitar companies. Another completely free tip on how to make hunting for that perfect guitar easier and faster for all involved. It would be educational and easy for the buyer and you the company would end up with more satisfied customers and more satisfied customers means more repeat customers and better word of mouth. It would be a win/win.

-Pappy

Shanghai 64/1 Videos

Hey everyone, Pappy here. These are the videos I recorded for the Shanghai 64/1. There will be a few more videos int he future either showing off the 64/1 directly or using it to review other products so be sure to subscribe to the blog, and "like" us on Facebook (I liked it so much more when you said you were a fan instead of "liking" something) so you never miss anything that happens here on the 5th Fret.

For right now, here's the first one:

-Pappy

Shanghai 64/1 Review

Joel and Jay Hibbs run a guitar store in Ponca City, OK, a small town where the effects of sending jobs overseas are not only seen but felt first-hand. It doesn’t help that more and more small guitar/music stores are being closed because of the advent of the big box music store.

Because of this, their music store, Shanghai Music & Sound, has adjusted some business practices in an effort to appeal more to people and offer services that the big box stores don’t. An example of this is their Gretsch Pro Jets (cheaper version of Jets) that you can buy already modified with parts that are on the significantly more expensive Gretsch Jet.

They have also decided to start making their own amplifiers. Their first amplifier, the 64/1 is something else entirely in the amplifier world. These amps are made one by one but unlike other companies that make their amps one by one by hand, these are made to order. You call or email, specify what you want (a 1X10 combo, a 1X12 combo, a head and optional 2X12 cab) and then you specify what color tolex you want, what kind of grille cloth you want and what kind of knobs you want – basically you specify how you want your amp to look based on what YOU want.

For the technically curious, this amp is covered in surf green tolex with cream chicken head knobs and silver sparkle grille cloth.

We can pause for a second here to reflect how cool it is that there is no “stock” model just sitting on the floor taking up inventory and floor space.

And once we’re done reflecting, we can move on to the sound and tone of the amp.

The 64/1 is based on a 1964 Fender Princeton Reverb (hence the “64”) and it is their first amp (hence the “1”) but has been modified to include a mid knob (which is handy) and an additional control for the reverb.

Why did they need an additional control for the reverb? Because they added another spring going from two to three springs and it gets crazy when you crank it up. When it’s turned all the way up notes can get lost and afraid like babes in the wilderness.

The amp also offers vibrato but contrary to the absolutely insane amount of reverb on tap, the vibrato is much more subtle and just adds something to your tone and YOU know it’s the vibrato, but some people might not pick up on it besides hearing something “more” to the mix if you know what I mean. The notes have a bit of shimmer to them, but it isn’t overly obvious. The second I turned it on, I left it on. It’s a nice addition.

The amp also offers vibrato but contrary to the absolutely insane amount of reverb on tap, the vibrato is much more subtle and just adds something to your tone and YOU know it's the vibrato, but some people might not pick up on it besides hearing something "more" to the mix if you know what I mean. The notes have a bit of shimmer to them, but it isn't overly obvious. The second I turned it on, I left it on. It's a nice addition to the tone.

Both reverb and vibrato are controlled by the included foot switch.

As for the tone once you cut off the reverb (that isn't JUST crazy, but ranges from adding a little juice to notes to playing in a gigantic ancient chapel) and vibrato, you're left with a high quality amp anyway and the reverb and vibrato are just the icing on the delicious cake.

The best part about the amp is that it maintains its clarity at volumes that range from playing at night when babies and toddlers are asleep without waking them to filling up an entire house, closed doors and all, with a wall of sound. As far as volume goes, it packs a wallop. And the amp lets your GUITAR'S tone come through with amazing clarity as well which is what we all want, right? You don't buy a guitar and change out the pickups, experiment with strings, different pots and caps etc to make your AMP sound better after all. You buy it to make your guitar sound better and in order make your guitar sound better you need to have an amp that will allow these changes you're investing in to shine through.

It works too. The amp lets every characteristic of your guitars come through, from a Telecaster twang to the slight boom of a low E string on a Les Paul to the greater boom the empty spaces of a hollow body contribute. This isn't to say it JUST lets your guitar shine through because the amp does have some characteristics that are always there, just in greater or lesser degrees depending on guitars like beautiful highs that are never ice-pickish, and an overall tone that makes you happy to be playing.

It's versatile too. Another thing Joel does is teach guitar and one of his students uses this amp as a jazz amp while Joel uses it as a rock amp.

Be sure to check out the videos to see what kind of tones I was able to coax out of it. They'll be posted tomorrow.

One of the things Joel mentioned when he was telling me about it was that it's incredibly pedal friendly and this is important for two reasons:

1) Almost all of us have pedals and therefore want an amp that will let them sound good through it.

2) This amp does not feature a master volume control so if you're looking for dirt at a low volume, it's probably best to be looking for a quality overdrive or distortion pedal in addition to this amp.

I'm not terribly concerned with the lack of a master volume though. Even though this is only my second non-master volume amp, the clean tones are great enough that I still enjoyed playing and listening to my instrument. The clean tones are so impressive that even a dedicated distortion junkie like myself was spending just as much time with the clean option as I was with pedals.

When I plugged my Telecaster into the amp with the highs all the way up and the mids and bass both at noon and a Digitech Bad Monkey and I found the loveliest punk tone. My kind of punk tone. Clangy crashness is a good description of the tone I like that I recently stumbled on and it fits to a "T." Very Clash like and I LOVED it.

The other thing I wanted to talk about before we dived into amp specs and prices is the size of the amp - the 2X12 cabinet in particular. It is not the same size as most 2X12 cabs. It's thinner and lighter. This came from Joel having problems using a normal 2X12 at gigs because he had trouble loading them into the back of his Chevrolet Camaro. He lightened it up, trimmed it down and what was left was less cumbersome and WAY more easy to carry (and, should you happen to have a 90's Camaro, you can rest assured that it will fit in the trunk).

Also, the amp features the coolest, most luxurious handles I've ever seen. Thick, padded, comfortable leather at locations that make sense and help make it even easier to move around.

Just look at these:

Alright, everything seems just about wrapped up except for the prices and specs so let's get to those next.

The amp is available in two combo versions, a 1X10 and 1X12 and a head version with optional matching cab.

A 1X10 or 1X12 combo goes for $995.00 plus the cost of the speaker.

The head goes for $995.00 and the matching cab goes for $495.00.

The tolex, knobs and grille cloth are not included in the price but there isn't an installation fee, just cost of materials so if you email Joel or Jay or give them a call, they'll give you an estimate or instructions on where to go to see the materials that are your options.

The specs are as follows:

Preamp tubes: three 7025 (a/k/a 12AX7)
Output tubes: two 6V6GT, fixed-bias
Rectifier: 5AR4
Controls: volume, treble, mid, bass, reverb (volume, dwell), Vibrato (speed, intensity)
Output: 12 to 15 Watts RMS

If you're looking for one of these amps, you can call Joel and Jay at Shanghai Music & Sound at (580) 718-9122 or 1-(866)-517-6863 or contact Joel directly at joel@shanghai-guitars.com. He'd be more than happy to help!

The legal acknowledgement here is that I traded ad space on this site for the amp because 1) I love the shop, 2) I think it's the coolest idea behind an amp ever and 3) I had no doubt at all in the build prowess of Shanghai and look. I was right.

-Pappy

The Mighty Atomics

I honestly don’t think there’s any genre better suited to guitarists than garage rock. Sure, there are many more genres that are more identified with the guitar like thrash, or shred, or finger picking, but I think those things all come AFTER the guitar bug has bitten and that bug is the biggest when it’s in garage rock.

After all, where else are you going to find a genre where the music is exciting, accessible, with a stripped-down sound where the guitar is so far in the front of the mix? The guitar is right there, making all sorts of noises, giving you the hooks and more often than not sounding good while NOT sounding too difficult (of course, some garage rock is pretty difficult but it doesn’t really sound like it most times) so you’re tapping your foot, singing the choruses, listening to the magnificence of a loud and distorted guitar and thinking that you MIGHT be able to do that yourself.

I know that not many of us came to guitar through garage rock though. I came through nu-metal, tons of people came through classic thrash, there are punkers and Beatles fanatics, but since playing guitar, no other genre has said “guitar” more than garage rock. I think this is why bands like the Raconteurs and the White Stripes are so popular.

So I’m obviously a huge fan since it’s high energy, very guitar-oriented and all about the feel and vibe.

And it is an absolute pleasure to say that there’s a new album out there that is very garage rock that happens to be loaded with a few guitar-heavy bonuses and YOU should check it out.

The Mighty Atomics are a band from Ireland that specialize in this genre and their guitarist Nicholas Appleby is a skilled guitarist and has packed no less than THREE instrumental tracks in their 12 song debut album, some that nod heavily to his love of surf music as well.

The album is self-titled and is available on iTunes, CDBaby, and eMusic and a physical release will be coming out next month. The album is full of energy from front to back, but not an obscene amount where cohesiveness is lost. The album is very focused while retaining a loose feel and you can tell that they really worked at writing the songs, but are still having a great time playing them. From the first second until the last second of the entire disc, it never gets boring and the songs are great.

And the guitar tone is something special too. Raucous rock and roll at its best with distorted (but not insanely distorted, more like a naturally overdriven tube amp) tones and crazy twists and turns and some classic-sounding solos.

So far, this is the best album I’ve heard in a couple of years period, but when you look at JUST the genre of garage rock, this album stands head and shoulders above competition.

Check it out. You’ll love it.

-Pappy