Guitars I love: 1989 Fender Stratocaster

1989 Fender Stratocaster
Originally uploaded by Tater X

I bought this guitar brand new in Chicago back in 1989. I always used heavier guitars and darker tones, but wanted to add the Strat to my aresenal. I kept the pickups all original, along with everything else on the guitar. It played great right out of the box. It has played many gigs in seedy clubs and smoky bars but still looks great. I removed the whammy bar and tightened the bridge all the way down to make it a hardtail. Great for garage rock, indie and screechy punk. The maple neck is my favorite feature. I also added Straplok to keep myself from dropping the guitar. Best song to play on it? Soup is Good Food by the Dead Kennedys or What's So Funny Bout Peace Love and Understanding by Elvis Costello.

Yamaha Digital Grand YGP 625- Great Gear for the Price!

I wanted a nice digital piano. Many of the ones I checked out had a few voices and not much flexibility. Then I tried the Yamaha YGP series of keyboards. 500 voices, mucho flexibility in the ability to alter these tones to get what you want. Nice drum tracks and samples, and very easy to use. It can interface with your computer via USB port. For the most part, the voices all sound excellent and true -to-life. The horns, woodwinds, and drums all offer a nice realistic tone, especially on recordings. I laid down some jazz tracks just for fun, and the drums and horn (muted trumpet) sounded pretty real. The midi synced up nice with my digital recorder as well. It is rugged enough for the kids to bang on as well. The keys offer real touch and feel of a regular piano. Check it out if you are looking for a great piano. Built in speakers sound great!

Dean Palomino- Large Archtop Tone for Small $$$

Seeking a mellow-sounding instrument to give me more tone possibilities, I was off in search of a moderately priced archtop. I played many, but ultimately bought the Dean Palomino. It is a hybrid with 3 P-90 single coil pickups. Based on a couple of great vintage guitars, namely the Epiphone Broadway from the 1950's, and the Gibson ES-175, it is a nice player with great tone. I have strung it up with jazz strings (.014-.54's) as well as normal guage round wound strings. I have played it through a Peavey DB210 Delta Blues, a Mesa Boogie combo amp, a 68 Fender Bassman and a Marshall half stack. The neat thing is the versatility. On the front pickup, through the Mesa, I used a Boss reverb pedal and digital delay. The result was a nice smooth jazz tone that would impress tone snobs everywhere. On the overdrive channel, I could get Strat-like leads on the bridge pickup, though not as cutting as a Strat. The tone seems to always have a nice roundness due to the depth of the arched top.

Overall, if you are looking for a nice, reasonably priced archtop on a budget, this Dean can be found in the $450-600 (US) range all over the internet. Great for jazz, blues, rockabilly and garage rock, you can't do much better for the money.

REM's Peter Buck's Prized Rickenbacker Stolen

REM's Peter Buck
Originally uploaded by kiltedlibrarian

According to the BBC, Peter Buck has had his prized Rickenbacker Electric stolen. A reward for the return of the Rickenbacker guitar, which was stolen following a concert in Finland, has been offered by the band. It was taken from the stage after the gig in Helsinki on their current tour.
Buck has used the guitar both live and in the studio since the band released their debut EP Chronic Town in 1982."Needless to say, this instrument means a great deal to Peter and to REM," the band said.
They added: "It is our sincere hope that whoever is responsible for the loss, or whoever has information which can help recover the guitar, will come forward to receive a generous reward, no questions asked."
Ironically enough (pardon the pun), rock band Iron Maiden asked their fans to be on the lookout for a guitar stolen after a concert in Athens. The British group offered a signed tour jacket and a letter of thanks from guitarist Adrian Smith as a reward.
I have a prized '76 Les Paul Deluxe that I have always guarded with my life. It would be like losing a child or something. Hope he gets it back soon.

Fender Joe Strummer Telecaster

Check out this axe. I want one really bad. I need one. Like a rabid NRA member needs another shotgun.

Joe Strummer (of The Clash- but you knew that of course, or you are on the wrong blog) used the Tele, the most utilitarian of guitars. Like Joe, the Tele is a worker. Unpretentious. Battle-scarred. Joe bought his Tele in a London pawn shop back in the seventies. Not much of an artist, he used automotive spray paint and stickers to decorate his axe.
The automotive spraypaint wore off badly, revealing bare wood in some places and the original tobbaco sunburst finish in others. Joe just kept on playing it. Even in the last days with his band The Mescaleros, he still played this shopworn Tele.
Fender has issued a nice tribute to Joe Strummer in the way of a Mexican Tele that has aged parts, decals and the trademark worn black spraypaint, same as Joe's guitar.
I had a 69 Tele reissue a few years back, and got rid of it in a guitar trade for a 76 Les Paul. I need a soulful Tele to replace it in my arsenal. Could You Be The One? (the Husker Du fan asks himself). The Muddy Waters signature Tele is also a guitar worth looking at, but that is a blog for another day. Time will tell.

The Weapon of Choice

My entire childhood, I was a diagnosed Fender freak. I played a Fender Mustang and thought Fender was the be-all end-all. I always viewed the Gibson Les Paul as a large piece of furniture. A few years ago I purchased a Gibson NightHawk. It played nice enough. Then a friend offered to sell me his old Les Paul Deluxe for a sweet price. I am now a card-carrying Les Paul convert. I love the low profile frets, which they have called "the fretless wonder". I love the mini-humbuckers, which offer a nice balance between single coil crunch and Les Paul wall of sound. It weight a ton, but is a great player. It is my favorite axe in the whole arsenal.