Lunch Report For Wednesday June 30, 2010

First, as always my thanks to all of you who chipped in yesterday.

Lunch today - I decided to go with the first ever lunch report lunch and make a chicken sandwich. I had some leftover BBQ chicken in the fridge so sliced it up. I just put all the fixings in a bag because I am planning to nuke some Swiss cheese over the chicken. I will place the chicken now adored with the melted cheese on a croissant, add some mayo and banana peppers. Voila - a sandwich fit for a King and my homage to the first GbL Lunch Report. I will also be nibbling on my usual veggie selection. I brought a small thermos filled with coffee today- Sumatran.

One of our older and esteemed forum members brought up a good one yesterday when he mentioned he once sold a guitar a mere two weeks after he got his sweaty little hands on it. That has got to be a record. Can anybody out there beat it?

Another question - I have only ever bought one guitar new and that was my G&L Classic S. At first I bought used because I could not afford a new guitar. Yeah, like that did not work out well - I ended up with a 1958 Tele and a 1960 Esquire instead of a spanking brand new and shiny Fender. Today, I still do it because to be honest I am cheap.

So how about you guys - do you primarily buy new or used geetars?

Some G&L Thoughts
To me, G&L is much like its Fender kin in that they are shop project guitars. This ain't a slam , this is one of the things I love about them. Easier to fix and to mod to suit individual taste. This is part of the genius that was Leo Fender, George Fullertone and others who were there in the early days.

I also love G&L guitars because I am about as Old School as it gets. I don't want no guitar that tunes itself or is so tempermental you have a conniption fit trying to adjust it.

This brings us to amps. To be honest one of the biggest influences on me these days is weight. If I can't pick it up it ain't going home with me. But I do not really cotton to EQs, effects loops, or what have you. Heck, I object to master volume knobs. My present amp is a mid-1960s Silvertone Twin Twelve. A one trick pony amp with about the cheesiest vibrato known to man. But I like it.

So what's your poison? The basic plug me in and fiddle with the volume and tone knob amp or one with enough lots of knobs and switches to impress the guys at NASA.

My Back Pages in Amps. My first LR had a pic with the Silvertone in it but here are some others.

As always your pics are more than welcome.

1955 Fender Twin Amp (cab restoration by Greg Hopkins)



Titano Custom 260 - made by Estey/Mangnatone around 1962. The Maggie patented true pitch shift vibrato is worth the price of admission alone.



Another 1960s Maggie - a little M2 which I used primarily with an Oahu Tonemaster lap steel.



Catch ya'll tomrrow

Another question - I have only ever bought one guitar new and that was my G&L Classic S. At first I bought used because I could not afford a new guitar. Yeah, like that did not work out well - I ended up with a 1958 Tele and a 1960 Esquire instead of a spanking brand new and shiny Fender. Today, I still do it because to be honest I am cheap.

So how about you guys - do you primarily buy new or used geetars?

I buy primarily new guitars. Why is this? Mostly that I am finicky as >insert your favourite<. My 3 quality axes are all carvins, from the factory. My next quality axe will be an ASAT, from the factory. When I get an idea for a new guitar, I must have that idea to a t. I do not buy intermittent purchased in musical gear, I only buy what I want, no compromise. So if it means waiting a good while longer to get that covetted more valuable piece of gear, I do. Heck I didn't even have a guitar amp in the house as I gave away my practice amp with my squier strat for someone to learn on, and that was 2 years gone. Until I bought my Mark V that is, but that can segway to your last section.

Some G&L Thoughts
To me, G&L is much like its Fender kin in that they are shop project guitars. This ain't a slam , this is one of the things I love about them. Easier to fix and to mod to suit individual taste. This is part of the genius that was Leo Fender, George Fullertone and others who were there in the early days.

I also love G&L guitars because I am about as Old School as it gets. I don't want no guitar that tunes itself or is so tempermental you have a conniption fit trying to adjust it.

Want to do a setup for my Floyd Rose , in all honesty it is pretty easy if you are patient. It rarely needs anything done to it though, usually I pick it up and play w/o tuning, as I don't need to tune it. I like my guitars simple to an extent. My bass has full blown active EQ and piezo on board though.

This brings us to amps. To be honest one of the biggest influences on me these days is weight. If I can't pick it up it ain't going home with me. But I do not really cotton to EQs, effects loops, or what have you. Heck, I object to master volume knobs. My present amp is a mid-1960s Silvertone Twin Twelve. A one trick pony amp with about the cheesiest vibrato known to man. But I like it.

So what's your poison? The basic plug me in and fiddle with the volume and tone knob amp or one with enough lots of knobs and switches to impress the guys at NASA.

I think I fall in the enough knobs and switched to impress NASA . I am not much of a fiddler though, I do adjust it once or twice a week, but that is about it. I am not objected to master volumes, wait do you need me to say that one louder? I AM NOT.. you get the picture. Effects loops I like, especially when they are like the one on my amp and can be toggled off/bypassed by footswitch. They are a good place for ambient and modulation effects like chorus and echo, it doesn't get kerfuffled by the early gain stages and tone shaping. I don't really use Od/Dist pedals as my amp can do all those things in spades without them, I love me a wah wah pedal though.

Vibrato is a throw back I have never used. Had an old "paul' tube amp at one point I rescued from my grandmas basement. Was a warm little bugger and got the job done, from the 60's. I know nothing else about it. It was all good til I burnt out a resistor, when jumping the fuse to see why the fuse kept blowing (amp tech extrodinaire right here). Couldn't read the resistor bands anymore, so I could not replace it, I just ditched the amp (It was not taken care of over the years anyway, needed a recap (normal for the age I guess)just to get it going, corrosion, damp basement for 30 years...)


What is the deal with these 'silver tones'

Nice twin, don't know anything about the magnavox though. Vintage amps are really my thing, I am a bit high gain for that most of the time, I do like a good clean channel though (my amp has those too, I recommend sitting down and playing one if you ever get the chance, just ignore all the knobs and get someone who knows how to use it to set it up for you )

What is the deal with these 'silver tones'

Silvertone was the Sears house brand made by Dan Eelectro back in the 1950s and 1960s and is a sentimental favorite with alot of us geezers who used to sit there and just drool over the pics in the catalog. They exhibit some pretty sloppy soldering and I swear the cabs were made out of pressed cardboard or something. Most are pretty anemic sounding but since the channels are interactive you can jumper them and not be totally drowned out by the cymbals. They came loaded with Jensen speakers, had a nice clean sound and were easy to overdrive. Silvertones actually became lo-fi chic a few years back when Jack White started using the high watt version of the Twin Twelve. Silvertone also made one of the best solid state amps I have yet to hear, probably second only to Standel amps.

What is the deal with these 'silver tones'

Silvertone was the Sears house brand made by Dan Eelectro back in the 1950s and 1960s and is a sentimental favorite with alot of us geezers who used to sit there and just drool over the pics in the catalog. They exhibit some pretty sloppy soldering and I swear the cabs were made out of pressed cardboard or something. Most are pretty anemic sounding but since the channels are interactive you can jumper them and not be totally drowned out by the cymbals. They came loaded with Jensen speakers, had a nice clean sound and were easy to overdrive. Silvertones actually became lo-fi chic a few years back when Jack White started using the high watt version of the Twin Twelve. Silvertone also made one of the best solid state amps I have yet to hear, probably second only to Standel amps.

Sorry I thought I was getting information, but then my brain saw Jack White and had to start yelling boo internally and drowned out anything I might have learned. One of the most over-rated guitarist I have had the priviledge of cringing at. then again 90's music (and current music) is too simple for my brain to acknowledge.

Interesting thing about that amp though, it is mostly nostalgia not quality is what I get out of it.

I can appreciate the finer points of Yes, King Crimson and the likes, but there is something to admire about the new blokes. Hey, we all love Captain Beefheart, right? We don't critique Richie Havens technique, do we?

So, what were* we talking about? Oh the White guy. Yeah, he's awful...ly good too.


* Changed from "we we"

I swear the cabs were made out of pressed cardboard

You got that right! I had a twin just like in the photo. Not only was the cab made of cardboard, but the cheesy silver (painted?) finish was like none other. As someone else mentioned, the head was able to be stored inside the cabinet which made it kind of unique (sort of like the old Ampegs). Mine probably needed new speakers at the very least--it was unable to be played at a reasonable volume without rattles and buzzes and unwanted distortion. But hey, the price was right and got me through until my next amp which I also didn't appreciate--a black face bassman with the large 2x12 cab.

Did someone mention Captain Beefheart? Long time fan......got to see him a couple times "back in the day".

I can appreciate the finer points of Yes, King Crimson and the likes, but there is something to admire about the new blokes. Hey, we all love Captain Beefheart, right? We don't critique Richie Havens technique, do we?

So, what were* we talking about? Oh the White guy. Yeah, he's awful...ly good too.


* Changed from "we we"

To each their own, I don't even know who captain beefheart is. I like music that does something different, something new sounding, or something that can blow my mind with awesomeness. I don't like to see stuff where every one of the bands songs can be played by people who picked up a guitar the first time a month ago.

Don't mean to hijack this thread but here is a sample of Captain Beefheart for those unfamiliar. Discovered by Zappa way back when--Ry Cooder's first band.
Tons more on Youtube.
[youtube]WLdRh7qdi_g[/youtube]

Couldn't get this second video to embed so here a very early one from '67:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTo7OgXkbe8&feature=related