posted December 15, 2008 03:30 PM         

I currently don't play in a band, just doing a lot of solo acoustic stuff. I may sit in with a local funk band. I don't care to play funk... lots of dominant-7th chords and tons of wah pedaling... but they need a guitarist and it'll probably be a fun time. An old highschool drummer friend may move back to town, and I know he'll want to start up something. We'll see.

I'm happy right now just working on solitary acoustic stuff.

I cut a studio album in 2002, but my sound has changed and I don't have anything recorded since then. Last week I bought a Presonus "Firestudio Project" interface. I haven't installed it on my laptop yet, but I will this week. I figure within a month I'll have some recordings.

And yeah, the '65 Meteor plays sooo well. The neck is as round as a baseball bat, with a narrow fretboard, which causes it to fit so nicely in my palm and I can really wrap my hand around it, allowing any finger placements to be very comfortable. The frets are small, making for some smooth and quick transitions across the fretboard. Great guitar in my opinion.

Apparently Harmony is back in production and they've done a semi-reissue of the Meteor, essentially the same but with a couple improvements, like better pickups and tuning machines (long ago someone swapped my crappy stock tuning machines for some nice Grovers). I can't quite understand the new Harmony pricing though... the new ones are retailing for about the same price as what the original 1960's ones are currently selling for... somewhere around $800, I believe.

I really want to get that Meteor in top shape with some new pickups. Ah, soon.

The McCarty sounds like angels singing. It's truly a work of art. Its so resonant and balanced and powerful. I have fairly large hands, but the neck is huge and the frets are huge, and for someone who has grown up playing Fenders it can be an awkward transition when I pick up the McCarty. Ted McCarty did a lot of work with Gibson in his earlier days, and this neck is definitely reminiscent of a chunky Les Paul. For me, the McCarty is a whole different beast to play on, and I'm actually a bit frustrated that I haven't been able to get entirely comfortable with it.

Moving on...

AMPS!!!

So you have Fender's Stage 112SE amp as well? Ever have any problems with it? I think I know why Fender discontinued it. I've blown mine up 4 times, with 3 times under warranty. Twice I blew the speaker, the amp is just too powerful for one speaker in my opinion; I believe it is a 120W output head feeding into a 100W speaker? It seems like a stupid idea to me... And twice I fried the circuit board, as was the case this last time, about a month ago. The thing actually had smoke pouring out if it. I don't want to deal with it anymore, and certainly not pay to fix it, so it's dead and just sitting there while I decide what to do about it. Maybe give it away to an amp technician who can fix it and perhaps they can make a profit.

The amp beneath it is a Peavey Bandit. It sounds like sh*t, but it's bulletproof. I can crank up the volume and know it can handle it, so it makes for a solid emergency backup amp.

My main amp is the Fender Twin Reverb '65 Reissue. Amazing sound. I'm very satisfied with it, I know it won't blow up because with 85 tube watts through two 12" speakers, I don't need to push it when I want to get LOUD.

posted January 21, 2009 10:35 AM         

And I know we both have a weakness for hollowbodies, so of course I'd love to try that Epiphone Casino/Dot/Sheraton or whatever model it is.