Musician's Corner

[hellishhorses]

The previous owner may have swapped the single-coil for the humbucker.

 

[TXDARKHORSE361]

Some of the other shredders


The only bass I currently still own, Samick 4 string I replaced the neck on, did a custom paint job and upgraded all the electronics and hardware about a year and a half ago.

Laguna 3/4 scale I had with me in Afghanistan and painted like our sniper rifles, doesn't stay in tune worth a damn and is pretty much only a wall hanger.

Newest acquirement, father in law got it for me for Christmas, they sell them to just be hung up in bars and has a very cheap feeling neck and cheap electronics. Thinking about possibly changing out the neck and pickups and seeing if it could be made into an actual player.

Ibanez Artstar hollow body I got from fellow forum member V-tach a few years ago.

Ibanez RG series that is one of my main work horses.

Fender acoustic/electric

Jackson Phil Collin signature strat that has been through hell and back with me on the road over the past 12 years or so, likely letting this one go in the near future as it doesn't get played anymore.

And the newest axe Schecter Blackjack that I have yet to take possession of, currently in layaway while I try to figure out how to bring it home without the wife freaking out lol.

 

[hellishhorses]

Those RGs are a lot of guitar for the money if you can still find them.

What are you thinking of asking for the Jackson?

 

[Hunkerdown]

My best:

 

[TXDARKHORSE361]

Those RGs are a lot of guitar for the money if you can still find them.

What are you thinking of asking for the Jackson?

You can find them everywhere, at least I can lol but they are great guitars.

It's got some definite road rash and not as pretty as it used to be but still plays great, just installed a new input on it not that long ago. Thinking of asking $150 OBO and willing to take trades for other guitar gear.

 

[NativH]

Played classic rock in Houston, before it was classic (ie '76 through '82). Marshalls, V's, SG's, and LP's were the order of the day and I got out of live music until around 2002. Got some old Marshalls and new (then) Gibsons and got in a band. Didn't take too long to remember the hassles and why I gave up on that in '82. Now I can't find old farts (I'm 61) that still want to play good ole rock as it seems they all want to play the blues. With my work life, and present home nightmares, playing in a band wouldn't be fair to the others so I don't even attempt it. Maybe someday but most likely not. Still have three Marshalls, a Hiwatt, some Gibsons and Hamer, and my trusty '51 Martin D18 from my childhood. Music is perhaps the one thing that sooths my soul when I need it to, if I can find the time and privacy to just immerse myself.

 

[ROGER4314]

I sang for years in school and I loved singing in duets, quartets and choirs before fairly large audiences. I always missed singing and threatened to come back here in my next life as an Irish Tenor. There are a few problems.......I'm not a Tenor or Irish.....snicker. I'm good in harmony and stay on key.

I missed music a lot so I took a shot at getting a violin. Wow, was that a mistake! Giant fingers and violins don't mix. The zero miles fiddle looks pretty, so I bought a fiddle stand and it's a decoration in my living room.

Then I tried guitars and bought a beautiful Fender acoustic guitar. These fingers didn't make chords on that keyboard. No way!

Someone told me that a Classical style acoustic guitar had more space for big fingers so I got one. That was true but it wasn't enough for my big mitts! Now, both zero miles acoustic Fenders are on guitar stands in my living room as decorations.

Then came Harmonicas. That worked pretty well with all different sizes and styles. Got a sack full of harmonicas.

Then came a pretty nice Yamaha Key board. It's almost full size and I learned Beethoven's "Fur Elise" on it. There's some potential there!

That's my saga of trying to get back into the music scene.

Flash

 

[deemus]

Played classic rock in Houston, before it was classic (ie '76 through '82). Marshalls, V's, SG's, and LP's were the order of the day and I got out of live music until around 2002. Got some old Marshalls and new (then) Gibsons and got in a band. Didn't take too long to remember the hassles and why I gave up on that in '82. Now I can't find old farts (I'm 61) that still want to play good ole rock as it seems they all want to play the blues. With my work life, and present home nightmares, playing in a band wouldn't be fair to the others so I don't even attempt it. Maybe someday but most likely not. Still have three Marshalls, a Hiwatt, some Gibsons and Hamer, and my trusty '51 Martin D18 from my childhood. Music is perhaps the one thing that sooths my soul when I need it to, if I can find the time and privacy to just immerse myself.View attachment 41097View attachment 41098View attachment 41099View attachment 41100

Love that white hollow body. I was a couple hours too late at Guitar Center to buy an Epi with gold hardware like yours. She's a beauty.

 

[peeps]

I sang for years in school and I loved singing in duets, quartets and choirs before fairly large audiences. I always missed singing and threatened to come back here in my next life as an Irish Tenor. There are a few problems.......I'm not a Tenor or Irish.....snicker. I'm good in harmony and stay on key.

I missed music a lot so I took a shot at getting a violin. Wow, was that a mistake! Giant fingers and violins don't mix. The zero miles fiddle looks pretty, so I bought a fiddle stand and it's a decoration in my living room.

Then I tried guitars and bought a beautiful Fender acoustic guitar. These fingers didn't make chords on that keyboard. No way!

Someone told me that a Classical style acoustic guitar had more space for big fingers so I got one. That was true but it wasn't enough for my big mitts! Now, both zero miles acoustic Fenders are on guitar stands in my living room as decorations.

Then came Harmonicas. That worked pretty well with all different sizes and styles. Got a sack full of harmonicas.

Then came a pretty nice Yamaha Key board. It's almost full size and I learned Beethoven's "Fur Elise" on it. There's some potential there!

That's my saga of trying to get back into the music scene.

Flash

Thought about bass guitar?

 

[Rebel]

If I can find that elusive 25th hour in the day, I wouldn't mind picking up a trumpet again. Always liked Al Hirt.

 

[NativH]

Love that white hollow body. I was a couple hours too late at Guitar Center to buy an Epi with gold hardware like yours. She's a beauty.

Ah yes, that is a Gibson Alex Lifeson ES355 (#170) which they sold out within days of announcing them. I had a Gibson dealer in San Diego I bought from and he saved it for me. I was a Rush fanatic from their first gig I remember in Houston on October 4, 1974 when Neil Peart had been with them for all of a few months (he joined in mid August). Neil blew us away as much as Alex did.

It looks great, plays great, but is a rock guitar only. Not a ES335 by any stretch. But if you want classic Rush tones from your Marshall or Hiwatt stack, it'll do just fine.

 

[ROGER4314]

Thought about bass guitar?

Great idea! Being retired in a rural area, I'm alone a lot. Figured I needed to play the melody. Playing bass along with recorded music, is a fine idea! I'll check it out!

These fingers aren't very long, but they're the same diameter as Oscar Meyer Wieners at the ends and even bigger at the base!

Flash

 

[hellishhorses]

The longer you play, the skinnier your fingers will feel. You'll also learn to play chords differently. I couldn't for the life of me play a three finger "A" when I started. Now I can, but I don't. I use one finger and bend the knuckle over the hi-e. B7 is another one, four fingers on the first two frets? Forgetaboutit! Now I just fret the A-G-e strings and mute the D string with my first finger. As you play, you'll get creative in chord structure. Bonus though, you can play bar chords a bit easier than us small-handed guys.

 

[peeps]

Thought about bass guitar?

Great idea! Being retired in a rural area, I'm alone a lot. Figured I needed to play the melody. Playing bass along with recorded music, is a fine idea! I'll check it out!

These fingers aren't very long, but they're the same diameter as Oscar Meyer Wieners at the ends and even bigger at the base!

Flash

Hell yea. That's how I did it for at least a year...The advantage you have, being in a rural area, is you won't need to plug everything into headphones like I did lol. Bass really carries to the neighboring apartments!

Shoot, you might like it that way anyhow. I plugged my computer audio out into a tiny tiny Peavy bass combo amp. Prob a 6" speaker. Sounded terrible on its own. The blend sounded great from the headphone jack in the amp though. You could do an mp3 player into it too, but the PC always sounded better of course.

 

[karlac]

Thought about bass guitar?

Great idea! Being retired in a rural area, I'm alone a lot. Figured I needed to play the melody. Playing bass along with recorded music, is a fine idea! I'll check it out!

These fingers aren't very long, but they're the same diameter as Oscar Meyer Wieners at the ends and even bigger at the base!

Flash

take it to heart ...

 

[hellishhorses]

Thanks to tc_Matt for the newest addition, Schecter Hellraiser C1 Black Cherry Maple:

 

[ROGER4314]

I'm so proud and happy that I sent for my bass guitar! The guitar came with a strap, cord, picks, carry case and a 15 watt amp. The price? A massive $129 with free shipping. Is it a good one? Well............who knows?

First, I unpacked the Davison Guitar. It was well packed and arrived unharmed. It actually looked pretty good, too. The bass choice was good as my giant fingers have plenty of room!

Next came tuning. Good grief, those strings stretch! I kept re-tuning with an electronic tuner until the guitar became stable.

Next....hook her up. Crap, the Amp was dead! The problem was easy to isolate to the actual amp. Cord checked OK. Weighed the options. As a master Technician in several crafts, I decided to tear it apart. There was no schematic and all I had was repair experience. (It's termed "Fix it or F it" in the business).

A careful exam exposed that someone got rough with the circuit board, scraped a couple of the circuit runs completely off and tried to bridge the gaps with a splash of solder. That never works. Traced the shadows of the broken runs, bridged the gaps with tiny wire and soldered them in place. In industry, I would have sealed the repair under epoxy. Fired it up and TA DA.....ran like a champ!

My Bass guitar goal is to play John McVie's bass tab in the Fleetwood Mac song "The Chain." Last night I found the tab online and was able to pick it out! It's gravy. Most of it is on the "A" string with two hits on the "E" string. I KNOW I can get that! Gotta get a new goal.

G|-----------------------------|
D|-----------------------------|
A|--0~-0-2-3--2-0---0-2----|
E|-------------------3-----0~-|(x2)

The lines didn't copy/paste well. But.there it is.

Incidentally, Fleetwood Mac was in a bad place with Lindsey and Stevie splitting and much tension. John put down that base track with the now famous bass solo for a song he was working on. The group heard it, and plugged it into their "Chain" song just as it was. The whole song was pieced together like that because the group didn't get along well enough to play together.

So far, so good.

Flash

 

[peeps]

Man that's great stuff Flash! Down to the DIY repair...Big respect!

Fleetwood Mac songs are super fun...Since you're into tabs, check some of these sites. I used them plus more to learn the ropes.

http://www.911tabs.com/bass_tabs/

https://www.songsterr.com/a/wa/search?inst=bass

I also recommend grabbing a bass tab book. They'll have lyrics, standard music notations, and tabs for hundreds of songs! Typically more accurate than online tabs

 

[ROGER4314]

Thanks! Most often, electronic malfunctions are caused by mechanical damage so that's what I looked for first. Broken wires, cracked boards damaged pots and switches or defects around plugs or mechanical connections. I got lucky.

I thought about the little Chinese guy/girl who messed up that board and got it through inspection with those solder bridges. It may have spared the worker a beating.

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out. It's slow going as I have absolutely NO training, experience or musical talent. I just have "want to."

Already found out something they didn't show in the book. A big part of playing bass is to mute the strings that aren't being played. Man, those long strings will vibrate for a long time.

Flash

 

[peeps]

For sure! You plan on playing with a pick or no or both?