Ephiphone LOWERS Prices

In a world where the economy seems to be dwindling and more and more people either taking pay cuts or looking for jobs it seems like the prices of things just get higher and higher. And whereas guitars would definitely fall into the “not NEEDED” category when you’re out of a job and looking to support your family, perhaps your plight isn’t quite so drastic. If that’s the case, then you can definitely appreciate this news:

Epiphone is LOWERING the cost of not one but EIGHT models in their lines and the best part is they aren’t all from one specific segment of their offerings or appealing to one specific type of player. There are two acoustics, two Les Pauls, two basses, a Wildkat hollowbody and a Worn Firebird Studio. The highest price for any of these models is $399 which is a pretty great deal.

For more information, check out the link HERE. I love seeing companies lower prices. It makes me feel all warm inside so I thought I would share it with you.

-Pappy

Ibanez Giveaway

Ibanez has been a company that I’ve liked since I started playing guitar. To a young Pappy, it summed up aggression and progression. Where the Strats that the RG was obviously based on were polite, rounded, loaded with single coils and usually featuring standard Strat trems, the Ibanez RG featured sharp edges, inlays other than dots were jagged and razor-sharp, the trems were almost always double-locking and able to be bent all the way down to hell or lifted up to the Mesosphere (let’s not exaggerate and say it could go up to the Thermosphere). The pickups were usually humbuckers and often hot and Ibanez was among the first to incorporate more strings. In short, it was a rockin’ guitar and I loved it.

Then when I finally bought one, I realized that it was so much more than JUST a rock guitar and was astounded in particular at the jazz sounds I could coax from the guitar. It sounded smooth and nice and I was a huge fan of it.

And now you can win one! The Ibanez RG321EBK with a mahogany body, EMG pickups, and a Gibraltar bridge could be YOURS for the low, low hassle of filling out your information HERE (http://www.ibanez.com/atticus ). I know I did because selling mine was probably the biggest gear regret I’ve ever had and I would LOVE to have a replacement.

-Pappy

Japan's Marty Friedman to the Rescue

Thanks to Megadeth.com for posting such a great picture!

“I will be auctioning ALL of my guitars from the Megadeth era and will donate 100% of the proceeds to the earthquake relief. I am going to LA right NOW to the climate controlled lockup where all the guitars have been in their cases since January 2000. All guitars I used on all the Megadeth recordings, tours, videos, everything WILL be auctioned off. When I get to the lockup I will do my best to sort out which was used for what ( I suck at that…I`m sure many of you guys know better than I do) and notate as many details as possible.”

“Pictures, descriptions and how to bid will all be up on my US website as well as my Japanese website within 2-3 days. I have NEVER sold ANY of my guitars before, this is the only way these guitars will leave my possession. I urge you to please spread the word and most of all BID HIGH. You will be putting a huge deposit in the `karma bank` as and have some pretty cool guitars to show for it. DO IT!”

That was what guitarist Marty Friedman’s reaction to the tragedy in Japan was and I am all for it. I think it’s a great thing to do, and I fully commend him for it. It’s times like these that I wish Megadeth was even more well-known so even more money is generated.

Here are the links to watch for more information. I urge everyone to take a look and bid as much as you can to help out.

http://www.facebook.com/martyfriedman.official
http://martyfriedman.com/


If you would like to help out and NOT buy guitars, you can go to http://www.redcross.org/ or if you're in the US text "REDCROSS" to 90999 and you'll automatically donate $10.00. Score yourself some karma points and help out some folks that really need it.

-Pappy

Good News

A fan of the blog has recently been on a downhill slope and was diagnosed with cancer and had to have surgery on his back of all locations. Not only was this a dangerous prospect (the back is one of those areas no one REALLY wants to have surgery on), but he has been unable to play guitar since.

But good news was received today saying that his cancer is in remission and he's doing so good that he won't have to go into chemo therapy and that he's even able to play guitar. His wife decided she was going to learn and he told her to pick any song and he would teach it to her (a risky move for a first song) and she chose "Beautiful Tonight" by Eric Clapton.

Way to start out simple. ;-)

She says it's a really hard song but the silver lining is that if she learns it all the way through that OTHER songs will be easier in comparison. After this, "Frosty the Snowman" will be no trouble at all!

What guitar did he buy for her? An Ibanez which I think makes for a great starter guitar with their low action, thin necks and huge frets. Honestly, they're a beginner's dream and truly something that spoils guitarists. It's like you don't even have to work for the tone!

So we here at the Fifth Fret would like to say that we are delighted that our friend is healing and still has great prospects and we're also stoked that his wife decided to pick up the guitar.

Congratulations to both of you.

-Pappy & the Fifth Fret Team.

Press Release: Gibson SG Gothic Morte

The SG Gothic Morte. Extreme Power In A Double-Horned Demon
It might be a familiar profile now, but the sharp-pointed Gibson SG was entirely radical when it arrived in 1961 to replace the single-cutaway Les Paul, foretelling an aggressive rock style that was years ahead of its time. The SG Gothic Morte makes this double-horned rock icon radical once again. This outrageous new offering from Gibson USA points the way forward both for extreme style and unprecedented depths of tone and power, and embodies the SG’s evolution into a 21st century rock weapon. Employing a sustainable new tonewood variety, and carrying Gibson USA’s powerful new GEM active humbucking pickups—all dressed in extreme black styling—the SG Gothic Morte pushes the boundaries of tone and esthetics, while honouring half a century of SG tradition.

The beating heart of the SG Gothic Morte is represented by a pair of Gibson USA’s amazing new GEM (Gibson Electronics Manufacturing) active pickups. Made in the image of the greatest traditional passive pickups of all time, Gibson’s own PAF (“Patent Applied For”) humbuckers, the GEMs have Alnico II magnets and coils wound with 42 AWG enamel-coated wire. They also include active electronics for greatly improved output and extremely low-noise performance. The GEMs are powered by a single 9v battery that yields approximately 1500 hours of service. They have a voice and playing feel akin to Gibson’s popular Burstbuckers, with all of that humbucker’s characteristic “smooth with edge” tonal response, and they are immune to the loading effects of volume and tone potentiometers. They offer an extremely fast transient response for unprecedented articulation (yet with all the classic humbucker warmth and smoothness), and are extremely compatible with both effects pedals and clean amp settings. Suitable for all styles of music, the GEM active pickups represent a huge leap forward in performance and versatility.

Comprising the traditional solid-mahogany body and neck that has provided a rich, resonant platform for SG models for 50 years, the SG Gothic Morte introduces an exotic new fingerboard wood, African Obeche. A dark, dense alternative to Ebony, African Obeche is fully sustainable. As used on the Les Paul Gothic Morte, the African Obeche fingerboard carries no inlays or binding to extend the model’s “none more black” styling. In addition to the guitar’s Satin Ebony nitrocellulose finish, the SG Morte wears a black Tune-o-matic bridge with a black stopbar tailpiece, black Grover tuners, and a black Corian nut which has been precision cut on the PLEK for optimum intonation. Add it up, and it’s a radical reincarnation of a guitar that was born to be wild a full half a century ago—but is now propelled to greater extremes than ever with new active pickups, sustainable exotic woods and all-black styling.

Every SG Gothic Morte includes a padded Gibson gigbag and owner’s manual, and is covered by Gibson’s Limited Lifetime Warranty and 24/7/365 Customer Service.

For more information on the Gibson USA SG Gothic Morte please visit –

http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/SG/Gibson-USA/SG-Gothic-Morte.aspx

Speed Bump

No post at 4:00 AM this morning? How embarrassing! Well, don't worry because there will be a post published later on today.

-Pappy

Armor Gold Cable Review

There’s a lot of emphasis on cables today and for good reason. They’re a major player in your sound. I seem to remember reading a story where Dimebag Darrell had a friend who played guitar and had quite a bit of money. He had assembled quite the rig with expensive guitars, amps and pedals yet he was unsatisfied with his sound. He called up Dimebag who came over and looked over the rig and found the culprit right away. The cables.

It was silly, he said, to spend all this money on this great gear and then connect it with lousy cables. They went out, bought some new ones – high quality ones – and hooked everything back up and Dimebag’s friend was suddenly satisfied with his tone.

That’s how the legend goes, anyway.

And there’s debate over whether really expensive cables provide a quality of sound that is worth the increase in price, but one undeniable truth is that cables DO sound different. It’s been proven on Six String Bliss when host PT took as many variables out of the equation possible using the same guitar, amp, pickup position, licks, microphone, microphone placement, etc and only changing out the cord. The difference was remarkable. Between some cables there was a subtle difference that you would have to REALLY focus on to hear and in others the difference was staggering. You probably couldn’t pick it up in the room with all the volume and your attention dedicated to the instrument but on the recording, the difference is there and ranging from subtle to obvious.

Armor Gold sent me two cords to try out, a ten footinstrument cable with one straight and one right angle jack and a pedal patch cable and I was impressed by them.

For one thing, they’re thick. The cords that I normally use are the bargain basement ones with a guitar store’s name printed on the side of it. They’re wicked thin and my cats make short work of them. But Armor Gold cables are thick and feel durable. Perhaps it’s the outer mesh layer that they emphasize is NOT cloth and say “prevents damage from stretching, pinching, bending, slicing, kinking and other common hazards of stage use.” Holding it in my hands, I believe the claims. The cables are flexible and easy to move around but not flimsy in the least.

Armor Gold also seems to have struck a good balance between durability (I saw zero issues with the cables) and weight. I’ve seen cables wrapped in METAL and it boggles my mind. If you were to just plug in to your guitar the weight of the cable on the jack would be ridiculous and you would be forced to plug in and then put the cord between your guitar and your strap so the weight is handled there and not by your jack. But REQUIRING someone to do that with a simple instrument cable seems a bit much to me. Not to mention you would still be lugging around all that weight in cases or bags and across stages. But AG cables are a nice light weight while still letting you know they’re there.

The name of the game with AG is durability. You only need to look at their website to see that they’re dedicated to it not only by listing everything that they do the cables to make them last (as well as what they use to make them sound good) but the last bullet they provide is that the cables have a lifetime warranty against defective materials and/or workmanship.

That’s pretty sweet too.

They say the best way to test out a cable is to plug it in and turn on your amp and then try to make the cord crackle by moving the cable around or fiddling with the area just beyond the jack. If it crackles, put it back. My AG cable was dead silent.

So let’s talk money. We’re all practical folks, right? We’re looking for the best bang for our buck and don’t want to get ripped off by shyster pillow talk or fancy buzz words. We know how much money we have and we want that money’s worth of quality. You’re in luck. The instrument cable I was sent costs $34.99 direct from the website and the pedal patch cable costs $13.99. That’s not a bad price at all when you consider the quality.

In the end, I was so impressed with these cables that I took money out of the Les Paul Refurbish fund and bought them. I’m done with cheaply made cables.

You can learn more about them HERE.

Thank you to Armor Gold for sending cables to demo (and eventually buy).

-Pappy

Happy Birthday, Telecaster!

Ah, the Telecaster. Truly one of the most awesome guitars out there. And now it’s the big Six-Oh and thanks to the popularity of relicing, shows its age appropriately.

Was that too tongue in cheek? ;-)

The Telecaster is amazing to me because of its simplicity. I mean, when you think about it, it’s as bare bones as you can get. Two pieces, bolted together and wired with simple electronics. There was a beauty to it, sure, but the beauty was in the starkness of it. Everything served a purpose and has a reason for being there with very little frills. Later binding, flamed and quilted tops and more pickup and switching options would come up and spruce up the starkness but honestly, you can see the popularity of the original design not only in the price if vintage pieces but also in what is demanded now.

After all, while there ARE pretty Telecasters out there, it’s usually the ones with solid or translucent colors that are popping up more often in people’s collections. People are always asking on forums how they can make their brand new guitars be modified to look like vintage ones either in specs or appearance and if it is indeed appearance they’re looking for, they’re asking how to make it look like it had just rolled out of the Fender plant or how to make it look like it’s spent the last 60 years being used by a guitar-abusing demon with sandpaper arms and fingers who toured 365 (or 366 depending) days a year for the entire time.

And everywhere between.

Speaking of everywhere between, the Telecaster has been used in bands small to gargantuan, almost always looking cool slung low ala Keith Richards or slung high like Tom Morello. The Tele has been on tracks from the softest to the heaviest of bands and in the hands of players commonly associated with other brands/styles. One guitarist who is so specific about his sound that he is only really known for using one kind of guitar from a specific period with a specific finish because he says that this kind of guitar is what is responsible for his sound even admitted to having used a Telecaster on a popular track from the band. The Tele gets around.

For good reason.

It’s even recently seen a huge resurgence in the indie circuit. I can never figure out the indie folks beyond the fact we generally like the same music and clothes, but it seemed to me that when Teles were first being used they were statements for various ideas, frugality, practicality, a showcase in an individual’s skill even though the guitar isn’t decked out in sustainers or boutique pickups, or even irony (I hear they’re big fans of irony).

Now, of course, the statements – if they were there in the first place – has been replaced with a genuine love of the instrument and the popularity has led to more companies making their own offerings in the Tele bloodline and we the players can rejoice. I don’t think there has ever been a time when you had such a wealth of options when looking for YOUR Tele, be it from Fender’s plethora of offerings, big name clones or even small indie companies. There’s also the option to BUILD your very own Tele either from kits that are sold complete just needing you to assemble or you picking out each component with a company like Warmoth.

That’s something I’d like to do in the future. Perhaps my resolution of 2012 will be to build my own custom Tele with Warmoth parts. It will be a unique one, I can tell you that much. I’ve already got ideas rolling around in my head.

Beyond normal players like you and me, there are a wealth of signature players that defy any stereotypes you may have, from emo Jimmy Eat World to country Brad Paisley to the bone crunching tone of Jim Root to the shred-tastic John 5. It seems that while every guitar under the sun CLAIMS to be the most versatile guitar in the world, that credit has to fall with the players that choose them and what they choose to use them for. If a company’s guitar is good for all genres yet every buyer plays nothing but metal then it will be known only as a metal guitar and yet the Tele hasn’t had a problem with that. Or at least, if it did, it outgrew it in a hurry.

So here’s to the Telecaster. Sixty years behind it and an undeniable probability to another sixty in front of it.

-Pappy

Guitar Lessons

In another “why haven’t people hopped on this whole “internet” thing?” post I tackle video guitar lessons.

Seriously. This is getting a little ridiculous. There are companies that are making their living based solely on selling the instruction of how to play specific songs to people who want to learn them. Songs either written or popularized by popular bands. And while they do an amazing job at the best times at laying out instruction and getting you from Point A (wanting to play the song) to Point B (playing the song) in an easy and timely fashion, I think it’s safe to say that we all think it would be cool to have the actual guitarist show you how to play it.

After all, that’s why the artist lessons on GarageBand are so cool, at least to me. I mean, sure, there’s other things that make it cool: tabs and fingerings displayed, the ability to record yourself playing along with the song and see how accurate you were not just with notes but timing – those are really cool features.

But honestly, what’s stopping a guitarist from laying out a section-by-section video and releasing it on the band’s website for money? If Kirk Hammett broke down Enter Sandman into tiny chunks played at speed and SUPER slow (I know speed can get away from him) and then piece them together making larger chunks until a whole part of a song is covered and then go through another part, then join the two together, then go through another part, etc. etc. until you could play Sandman accurately and all the way through, what self-respecting metal fan WOULDN’T shell out 5-10 bucks for it?

And for smaller, less popular bands this can be even BETTER. Think about it. Everyone and their mom is tripping over themselves trying to teach you Enter Sandman because it’s so popular (though KH teaching you to play it would probably still sell pretty well) but what about the lesser-known songs and bands? If the Reverend Horton Heat wanted to sell a lesson on how to play Bathwater Blues I would buy it in a heartbeat.

So what’s the deal? We have the technology, we have the obvious skill of playing. Even if a guitarist is dead set on the idea that they’re a horrible teacher, they can view OTHER instructional videos and see how they do it and consider their own approach. Should they have numbered tape markers on frets? Just how slow SHOULD they play (answer: nothing is too slow)? How small should the sections be?

Remember, this doesn’t have to be an online SCHOOL or anything. There’s no need for a guitarist to record how-to’s for every song in the catalog and basically take on a whole new job but if a guitarist were to spend a little bit of time playing a song and going through it slowly, section by section, and put it up on a website for sale, there would be a market for it. As it is right now there are people – amateurs – that are recording themselves in bedrooms the world over giving out lessons so it’s not like this is an impossible thing to do. One camera would work or if you really wanted to go nuts, three cameras, one on the picking hand, one on the fretting hand and one covering the whole guitar would be all you would need. After that you can send it to an editor (and beyond editors that charge money, I’m sure there are FANS who are skilled in the editing process since it’s becoming so popular and I’m sure these fans would be willing to edit your video and send it back to you for either a low cost or perhaps just an autograph or free tickets to the next show. If you ask really nicely, I’m sure they would be willing to keep it confidential and not leak it to YouTube too) and VIOLA! You have an instructional video that the world can digest and they can appreciate that their favorite guitarist is teaching them to play, you get a few more bucks that you wouldn’t have gotten, you have more people playing your songs in guitar stores as their demo piece (you know what I mean) and perhaps this will lead to more listeners and more listeners means more money.

The best thing is that this can happen at the guitarist’s convenience. Whenever they want to record the next song they can.

It’s perfect.

So really, why hasn’t this happened?

-Pappy

Demos

Tiger Army released an EP of all the songs that were recorded before the first album was released. You could either look at it as a demo album or an EP, but the technical name was EP (perhaps because it sounds better than “demo”) and included in this EP was a note from singer/guitarist Nick 13 saying he was releasing this because he knows how HE is as a music fan. When he likes a band he wants EVERYTHING from a band.

I’m the same way. That’s why I bought an EP of all the songs released by Tiger Army before their first album even though most are redone on following albums.

So there are at least two people in the world with this completionist attitude and I’m willing to bet there are more. Perhaps a LOT more. Maybe that’s why in the craze of pirating music my roommate in college was only going after the rare songs that weren’t available on major releases. It makes sense to me. And his attitude was that if the artist wanted to get paid for the release they would have actually released it. He said HE would prefer it that way because the recording quality would no-doubt be better than the bootleg acoustic versions he was getting.

And he’s got a point. Why NOT release your “rare” songs? This is the age of the internet, after all! This is the age of not buying whole albums anymore! This is the age of having the potential where you, being a sensitive artist or maybe just wanting a little bit of contrast – the calm in the storm, so to speak – and you sit down with an acoustic to play a song for a crowd, you can just as easily go into a studio for an hour and record it for real and release it on the internet the same day.

Potentially, anyway.

It’s something to think about.

Anyway, back to demos. With more and more bands getting away from having big name backers and being able to take their careers into their own hands and succeed or fail based on their own merits and not being racked and stacked by faceless record companies, or with the rising of small record companies, there’s a definite advantage to the potential releases of material and the speed of said release.

So hey, let’s say you’re a band and you have no label. What’s to stop you from recording and releasing your demo on iTunes? You tour, you get your name around, and people have access to your stuff not just in physical form (because there’s always going to be somebody that says either “I want to support the band directly and maybe get an autograph” or “I’m too stubborn to take part in this whole “internet” thing”) but on the web too. The WORLD-WIDE web. That’s not a bad prospect and if/when a record label person comes up and asks if you have a demo you can say yes, it’s available here in CD or on iTunes. By all means, check it out. In the meantime, hopefully the more you tour and the more energy you spend on your band the more copies of your demo you sell so it’s not just a wasted effort, a cassette or CD dedicated to giving to some guy/girl that may or may not show up. You’re hopefully making money while waiting on this person.

And say you get picked up by a label but it’s a while until you get your big hit. Say, your second album. But the single hits in a big way and now there are fans like me who are exposed to your stuff and want it ALL. The demo is there for folks like us.

So I say release the demos! I want to hear where my favorite bands came from and how they cut their teeth and there’s no good reason not to release them for the fans like Nick 13 and me. We’d appreciate it.

-Pappy

Squier VM Jaguar Mini-Review

Greetings all and welcome to another mini-review! Of course, for those who aren't in the know, a mini-review is a review that is done with at least one obvious deficiency in the reviewing process. Usually this involves not enough time with the gear, not being able to plug it in or turn it up, etc. etc.

But there's a gist and that's what really matters, right?

So let's get this one started! Squier unveiled the VM Jaguar early this year and I instantly fell in love with it. It's a definite step up from the Jagmaster with an angled Strat plate and a toggle switch on the upper bout, and a new bridge.

While shopping for a new strap for my Flatline, Georgia Music in Macon, GA had one on the racks and I practically tripped over myself to try it out.

The bridge was my biggest concern and it was a baseless one because the bridge was very comfortable and didn't mess up my playing at all.

The scale was amazing. Because the scale is shorter, the frets are closer together and as a result, everything is easier to reach! Playing in general was just an easier task. Even the neck carve was comfortable. Thin enough to be able to move around quickly, thick enough to make playing chords comfortable.

On a side note, a customer was in the acoustic room looking for her first real acoustic because she had just started taking lessons (kudos to her) and I was once again reminded of my opinion on learning on acoustics. With a guitar THIS easy to play, it blows my mind to think that someone would want to start on an acoustic.

Especially considering the Jaguar is so acoustically resonant.

Did I mention it was acoustically resonant? Because it is. Shockingly so.

The unfortunate part of this review is that I wasn't able to plug it in and hear how the pickups sound, but what I was able to experience was all good. I wasn't so keen on the colors, but when you think about it, the guitar costs about $300.00 and that's a GREAT price-point to modify a guitar to your specifications. If this includes a different paint-job, it's well within your reach. Honestly, when I was looking at this I was thinking that it would be cool to have one modified (if it couldn't do it naturally of course) to be a classic/punk rock machine and one to be loaded with EMGs to become a full fledged metal monster.

I say "good job" to Squier! This guitar is a BEAST and even though I wasn't able to plug it in, I knew at the store that if I had $300.00 to spend I would have left with that guitar because it was just too fun to play to pass up.

If a shop in your local area has one to check out, by all means, venture forth and check! These guitars are a blast to play.

Thanks to Georgia Music for having this in stock and giving me some time with it.

-Pappy

Kauer Guitars Daylighter Jr.

In today's incredibly short post, I just wanted to bring everyone's attention to Kauer Guitars' new Daylighter Jr.

Here's the blog post from Kauer about them and they have a slew of photos of the production process and the finished products on their Facebook page. Check them out! I'm a huge fan of offset bodies and P90s and here's a solid option!

-Pappy

Historical Accuracy

Historical accuracy is a dragon that everyone seems to be chasing and I’m here to ask why. It doesn’t make a TON of sense to me, so I’ll lay out my logic and please, fill in any holes or correct any false logic I have. I don’t pretend to be an authority on every nuance of guitar and am always aiming to get smarter and be exposed to different points of view so it is completely without sarcasm that I say “post your comments” because I genuinely want to know what others think. I’ll even break it up into numbered sections for easier correcting on your part.

1) Historical Accuracy comes from a goal of playing a newly-built vintage guitar. This is my assumption anyway. I mean, why ELSE would you want to play a guitar with all the details set to the exact same settings as vintage ones? Vintage guitars are pricey, the companies still exist (for the most part) and technology should have made it easier to reproduce the magic of yesteryear.

At least, this is why I like the idea of historical accuracy. Some guitars are classic and should be made as close to the original as possible because that’s what people love and that’s what people want. What they don’t want is a heavy price tag for a vintage one because that’s the only way you can get whatever specs you’re looking for.

2) Of course, this puts the guitar company in a tricky situation. If they don’t currently make guitars as good or better than their vintage counterparts the fans are upset because vintage is the only way to go. But a high vintage price makes people think they can buy a current model and in sixty years it too will be worth a ton of cash. It inspires a collectible mentality and as a result, there are more than a few guitars stuffed under beds or tucked away in closets being treated as investments.

3) If the guitar company gave in and made as close to a carbon copy as possible, the price of vintage gear would go down, lowering the prestige and collective mentality, yet they could charge more for a “historically correct” model than a normal one and that would lead to higher profits and more sales. Who wouldn’t like that? Well, losing that prestige is a huge bummer actually. Consider Beanie Babies. They were all the rage and the company that made them found out that their rare ones are going for a TON of money and they figured if they made more then THEY can get some of that sweet, sweet cash. As a result, the market became flooded of “rare” beanie babies and the fun of collecting – searching for that hidden beanie baby in the racks at various shops that sold them and then holding it over their friends’ heads because YOU found one and THEY didn’t – all that went away. Interest faded. Sales plummeted.

4) But it’s really impossible in the end, isn’t it? I mean, try as you might, you’ll never be playing a vintage guitar until it has the age, you know? No shortcuts. And you’ll know it. It might look like the guitar and feel like the guitar, perhaps even sound like the guitar but are you going to be satisfied with that or are you REALLY looking for the vintage guitar? The original builder of Way Huge pedals said that he built a pedal that looked and sounded exactly like a pedal of his dreams yet he still wasn’t satisfied. I honestly don’t think this is going to be a rare occurrence.

5) My biggest thing is that a company, if they wanted to make historically correct guitars, should not STOP at that. You need progress because progress is the opposite of tradition. I’m not alone in being interested in JUST the guitars that my heroes played. If that was the case we wouldn’t have Parker or Normandy and what kind of world would that be?

Answer: a boring one.

6) I don’t think EVERYTHING needs to be treated with historical accuracy. Perhaps guitar companies need to send out a poll to their email list and let the players into the world of guitar design. Sometimes a guitar is just cool regardless of historical accuracy. The new Squier Jaguar, for instance, is a killer looking guitar but is most definitely not historically accurate.

The best example I can think of is the Gretsch Falcons. In 2006 the filtertron-equipped models were changed from the amazing-looking hump-block inlays and vertical headstock logo to a much more pedestrian thumbnail inlay and a horizontal logo taking away a great bit of flash from a guitar that is supposed to be as flashy as possible. All in the name of historical accuracy. I cried foul because “historical accuracy” made it look less cool.

7) Don’t try to plant history, either. Back to Gretsch, the Silver Falcon is NOT a historical model, yet it was also changed in 2006 and now the differences between it and the Black Phoenix are slim and as a result, more people are buying the Phoenix (at least it has a vertical logo) and ignoring the guitar that reports say USED to dominate the Phoenix in sales.

So those are my thoughts, folks. Let me know what YOU think about historical accuracy. If you boil down my thoughts, they would read “historical accuracy has a place and should be embraced by companies but not alone and certainly not at the expense of progress.”

-Pappy

Gretsch 6120 Book

Before I begin the review, I’d like to point out that I’m a little biased.

And in this case it’s a good thing.

See, a lot of Gretsch fans are… emphatic. As a result when something comes out with the Gretsch name, it immediately goes under some serious scrutiny. Body shapes, depths, scale lengths, inlays, etc. etc. are all examined closely, and when something comes out that talks ABOUT Gretsch, it’s scrutinized even further. There are a lot of people that dedicate a lot of time to memorizing history and trivia of Gretsch Guitars and when something new comes out, it’s almost a NEED to go through and point out the errors (perhaps so someone doesn’t study the wrong data).

So when someone puts out a book about the Gretsch 6120, every Gretsch fan just hopes that it’s a solid product with correct information, beautiful pictures and a well-written tone. Basically, I hope that the book can somehow be on par with the guitar it talks about. If it wasn’t up to par, I’d tear it apart. These are the guitars I love after all, so I think they had better be treated with as much respect as possible.

Edward Ball nails it in his book about the Gretsch 6120. He has a conversational tone in his writing that also conveys a good bit of authority that comes from studying the guitars for so long and being entrenched in the minutia that historians and hardcore fans will identify with. This isn’t to say that book is bogged down with details – it’s not. It’s a fun read that covers Gretsch history and the guitars that led up to the 6120 and then the 6120 itself and its changes through the years. It’s hard-bound and filled with amazingly beautiful pictures. It’s packed with information not only about the brand and the guitar but also the players that played them.

If you like Gretsch already, you should probably own this book. If you know someone who likes Gretsch then it would make for a great gift. If you’re interested in this guitar and are looking to do some research to possibly find out which model from which era is right for you, you can do no better than this book. If you’re looking for pretty pictures of pretty guitars, you’ll also be pleased with this book.

I say you should buy it, not just because it’s a solid book from cover to cover but because this is a task of passion for the author and you can read that between the lines. As in everything, if passion is there, you can sense it and books are no different. Passion makes everything better and Edward Ball brought it in spades with this book.

Pick it up!

-Pappy

Keith Richards' Life

My knowledge of the Rolling Stones begins and ends with the songs Brown Sugar, Jumping Jack Flash, and Paint it Black as well as a skit on Saturday Night Live.

I still like them more than the Beatles. ;-)

That doesn’t mean I’m not interested in them though and when I received Life, Keith Richards’ biography/autobiography, I was thrilled. Reading it exposed me to what it was like to be in the Stones and I felt that Richards didn’t really hold back while at the same time being as polite as possible. It was an interesting read filled with great stories, some guitar-oriented stuff (stuff I love), and it is written in a way that makes you think “Keith Richards MUST have written this.”

He had help though, but honestly, having read a few biographies over the years, I prefer the artist to have a little help from a professional writer to keep the book from getting too scatter-brained or hung up on one particular issue. Amazingly, the author that helped out Keith, James Fox, was able to retain the feeling that Keith himself must have written it based on sentence structure and wording. It’s hard to explain but when you start reading it, you’ll understand what I mean.

And I think you should read it. By all means, this book is interesting and well written and, while some could read it and feel like they have a good grip on the Stones, it isn’t written as a history of the band per se, but just Richards’ part in it. This is all HIS experiences, not the whole band’s, which is refreshing. I like that he’s not pushing the book as the history of the Rolling Stones but merely, humbly, a history of himself.

He also has a lot of guest writers come in and fill the holes in the story or offer their own perspectives of events transpired. This is also pretty nice. I don’t think it was a goal, but it gives you a breather from the writing style and a unique perspective is something that a lot (most) biographies are missing but it’s a welcome addition.

While a short review, I really can’t go into it more than saying it’s a very interesting book. If you like the Stones, rock and roll, guitar, or music history, this is required reading. Check it out and enjoy!

-Pappy