Just another Manic Monday

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Allow myself to introduce……myself. My name is Phil. I feel like a new kid up the front of the classroom waiting to be hit with a paper aeroplane. But everyone seems nice around here so I'm not real worried.

I'm a chemist by training and work at a biotech company in Melbourne, Australia that develops anti-flu drugs. I've been playing guitar on and off since I was 5 years old, but only started taking a keen interest in my late teens.

Thanks to Jamie for putting together such an entertaining series of lunch reports over the last week. It is indeed my humble honour to have this second highest honour bestowed on me, being a relative newb and all. In fact I’m not that new – I used to hang around on the old board but didn't re-register till recently.

Lunch
Lunch today is a sandwich of 7 grain bread filled with roasted capsicum dip, double smoked ham, tomato, mature cheddar cheese, cucumber and rocket lettuce. It looks kind of healthy and my body is urging me to buy some fries to have with it. Surprisingly it tastes pretty good. The roast capsicum dip comes to the fore and makes the whole thing nice and zingy.

Dessert is an apple and the first juicy peach of the season. Bring on the summer fruits….. This was all washed down with a cup of black Bushell’s tea. Caffeine is my friend today due to my 2 y.o. daughter hollering between 1-3 am last night.

Non G&L Topic
Jamie outed me earlier as another Aussie, and I think he’s cleared up a lot of the mythology regarding Australia – walking upside down, white pointer sharks in the swimming pool and hunting crocodiles etc. etc.

I don’t believe he mentioned that Foster’s beer is not widely consumed in Australia, or that we don’t often throw shrimps on the barbie. When we do, we call them prawns and not shrimp. The water also spins down the plug hole in the other direction here. No joke.

Kangaroos occasionally appear in our backyards too. This snap is a wallaby in my backyard a few years ago.



This guy levelled my raspberry patch one evening and followed up with dessert in my neighbour’s herb garden. My neighbour nick-named him ‘Marinated’.

Although I live in Melbourne now, I was born in Tasmania and have lived most of my life there. Tassie is the small island at the bottom of Australia. Here’s a map for people who like maps.



The reason for the lack of roads on the western coast is dense, impenetrable rainforest, wild rivers and rugged mountains. If you want to visit there you have to walk or fly in.

In the 19th century Tasmania was the dumping ground for the worst criminals in the British Empire. Back then it was called Van Diemen’s Land and there’s been a few heart wrenching songs written about being sent there as a convict. A U2 song on Rattle and Hum comes to mind....

These days Tassie is more famous for good beer and as an eco-tourism destination. The most popular brews are Boags from Launceston and Cascade from the capital, Hobart.

Being an island there is a big sailing culture and there are some fantastic beaches and inlets to sail around. It’s also a fishing paradise. Alas I’ve never fished or sailed so this is all hearsay…



Most of you have probably heard of the Tasmanian Devil, a truly evil looking little creature with a fearsome growl. They feed on road kill and can grind bones into dust with their powerful jaws. Fortunately they don’t hunt humans (yet).



An equally famous Tasmanian is this guy. He hunted women and died of tiredness and venereal disease.





G&L Topic - In praise of the Tribby.

The main reason I got into G&L guitars is due to this baby.



Ginger is a 2004 swamp ash MIK ASAT Special. When she was new she was a straw, nearly blonde colour with a stark white maple neck. She was my gigging guitar for 4 years. Over the last 6 years the wood has progressively darkened and the neck has developed some really cool flaming on the front and back. Unfortunately it's only barely visible in the photo.

She has been a reliable workhorse and has survived the odd trauma like being knocked off stage by a roadie from another band who was throwing a kick drum around.

Although most of us aspire to own a USA made G&L, in Australia new US G&L’s are in the $2000-3000 price bracket due to freight and hefty customs duties. The fickle exchange rate usually works against us Aussies too. This means the first exposure most of us get to G&L is through the Tribute range.

Thankfully G&L have got the Tribbys pretty much on the money I reckon, and they are a tantalizing introduction to the rest of the G&L range. Sure the USA guitars have an aura about them, but as regular gigging guitars that can take some punishment the Tribbys are hard to beat.

All hail the humble Tribby! I liked mine so much I bought another one.




Anyone else been turned into a G&L fan through the Tribute range? Anyone noticing cool things happening to your axes as they get older?

Great start Phil! And nice photo's of your guitars - make sure you make the bed before your other half gets home

Ginger looks great! That's a very nice grain on the Swamp Ash, I bet that it sounds great too. I became a G&L fan because of a Tribute series guitar too, albeit a Japanese one. The neck on my '97 ASAT Classic has darkened considerably from what it would have been like when it left the factory. Someone here actually thought it'd had the gun oil treatment, but it hasn't - just old age!

I'm guessing you're in the outer suburbs if you get Wallabies and Kangaroos in your backyard - I'm in Northcote, none of that here!

I want to go to Tassie one day. The band I've just joined said they played a benefit gig for drought affected areas and after the show a local millionaire flew them around the island in his helicopter to show them the extent of the drought. That's how I want to see it! Someone told me that Errol Flynn died mid-coitus. Do you know if that's true, or just urban legend?

And thanks for showing us your "map of Tasmania"!!!! I don't want to explain that one, I'll leave it to you!!!

And thanks for showing us your "map of Tasmania"!!!! I don't want to explain that one, I'll leave it to you!!!

Ummmmmm, I don't want to explain that one either. I knew someone would pounce on the famous euphemism when I posted that piccy up.

Some things should probably stay within the borders of this country.......

If you saw the patterns on my carpet you'd understand why the bed was the only safe place for photographing guitars!

I'm in Forest Hill - not exactly rural but with enough parkland and reserves to see wallabies and possums.

I knew someone would pounce on the famous euphemism when I posted that piccy up....

Oh no! I've become predictable!

BTW, love the look of the axe in your profile pic!

BTW, love the look of the axe in your profile pic!

Hey thanks Jamie. It's my first USA G&L, a '97 S-500 selected from e-bay by my missus of all people!

You're way ahead of me in the desirable ASAT stakes though brother.

Nice Job Phil! very informative, I'd love to take a trip down there one day but you guys have way too many poisonous things. Snakes, spiders, jelly fish, stone fish, even snails!!! How does anyone survive?!

...it just dawned on me this could be a ploy to keep down tourism

-Dave

Interesting, my knowledge of tasmania ends with Tazz from Looney Tunes

I was not drawn in by the tribute range, but the USA ones. Probably because I wager I can score a USA in canada for the same price as a tribby for you. So unfortunately I cannot chime in there, your tribby aged blonde looks very, very nice though.

This is a very interesting post! Thanks for taking the time!

My first G&L was as USA, and that is how I got into them. And I don't have a lot experience with Tributes. I bought 1 ASAT, it was black, and I got it for about $250 USD. It was my second tele-style guitar. I had a friend over, a very good player, and he picked up the tribute we jammed. He was totally impressed with the guitar. I told him the story that I bought it used, had done no setup to it, and it was, as far as I knew stone stock. (I bought it from a guy who had bought it for his kid, who quit after 2 lessons.)

He said something that gave me a little perspective on how good we have it when it comes to instruments, "When I started playing, there were basically no guitars this good to be bought at any price." He is about 58-59, I am guessing. His experience was that even the most expensive instruments had major setup to do, and the electronics and pickups etc, were wildly inconsistent.

I could probably be happy with nothing but Tributes, but I love to buy USA, and prefer to buy used USA than new Tribute. And I think that USA are superior, but boy the delta is not THAT great. Do any of you other experienced guys have thoughts on the good/bad old days and electric guitar quality.

I honestly have never played a tribby, there's only one dealer locally that carries them (or any G&L for that matter) and when I was in the market to buy one he had none in stock
So my first G&L was a 2004(ish) US ASAT I got off of craigslist for not too much more than the cost of a new Tribute ($650), and that guitar has turned me into a raving fan!
I'm happy to say I'll be adding a second G&L to my collection today, I went looking for a tribby, again, to set up for slide and ended up with a 1990 ASAT, which should be waiting for me when I get home tonight

As for cool things happening as they age, I've only had my first asat for a bout a year and it was virtually unplayed when I bought it, so nothing yet, but I'm looking forward to it

-Dave

I have USA G&Ls because when I started collecting them they were not as expensive as they are now.

Maple has the tendency to show more figuring as it ages. I have noticed this on many of my guitars and basses.

Maple grain tends to be more figured than you think.

I also bought a Tribute L-2000 bass that has impressed me very much.

I would love to visit Australia and Tasmania.

One question: When did Australia and Tasmania cease to be penal colonys?

One question: When did Australia and Tasmania cease to be penal colonys?

They stopped? I had no idea

You crack me up Sirmyghin!

Tasmania had more or less stopped being a penal colony by the 1880's. I seem to recall that Western Australia was the last Australian state to receive convicts from the British Empire. Mind you, transportation of convicts only stopped because of opposition in Britain to such an inhumane practice. The Australian colonies would have gladly continued receiving convicts while the British government subsidised them to do so.

Please, no more stories of $250 used USA ASAT's. It's more than I can bear.

Re. Poisonous nasties, I sometimes think God was playing a joke when he designed Australia. There are some of the best beaches anywhere in the world here, but wherever the water is warm enough for a swim you have sharks, crocodiles and stinger jellyfish. The waters that don't contain jellyfish and crocodiles are so cold that you have to wear a wetsuit, and even then a shark could still eat you. So you decide to go for a walk in the native forest, but you'd better look out for tiger snakes and copperheads and taipans. One bite and you're dead. So you drive home for a well deserved trip to the john only to be bitten on the ar$e by a redback spider.

I don't have a lot of time today, but I want to thank you for the great start to the week and for your fine introduction. Very pleased to know you!

Never have tried a Tribby but would love to one day. I'm mostly a "T" sort of fellow, but I do get a hankering for something new and different from time to time, and I think a Tribute Invader or something like that might do the trick.

Man, that Tasmanian Devil photo you posted really scared me as it vividly brought back some bad memories. Back in high school when we were just figuring out what's what (if you know what I mean), I (briefly) had a girlfriend who I swear must have had a mouth like that. After several remedial surgical procedures, lots of therapy and the passing of many years, I really thought I had put the whole ordeal behind me. Apparently not. Yikes!!!!! ;+) - ed

PS: Beautiful guitars you have there!

The $250 wasn't for a USA, it was a Tribute. But a good deal still, I sold it for about the same amount, to a friend that still has it.

All this talk about penal colonies reminded me of something interesting.

At the end of the second world war the United Nations did a feasibility study about establishing the new Jewish state of Israel in the remote south west of Tasmania. Strange but true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_for_the_Jewish_people

All this talk about penal colonies reminded me of something interesting.

At the end of the second world war the United Nations did a feasibility study about establishing the new Jewish state of Israel in the remote south west of Tasmania. Strange but true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeland_for_the_Jewish_people

Now that's interesting. The Kimberley would be a very strange spot to start a Jewish nation. I wonder how the Indigenous Australians would have liked that - that's probably the reason Curtin denied it.

While there are a lot of poisonous things around here, I have never been attacked or stung by anything worse than a common bee - and our bees are about half the size of the ones in Europe. It's no reason to stay away I worked with a guy who was bitten by a redback spider while cleaning out one of the sheds. He didn't go to hospital or anything, just left it. The bite showed up as a rectangular, and I mean almost perfectly rectangular, bruise. He was fine, but this was a guy who'd tell stories about the time he injected Bourbon . I glad not to be working with him anymore.

He was fine, but this was a guy who'd tell stories about the time he injected Bourbon .

That's too funny!

International people - please don't let the creepy crawlies stop you visiting us. Blarg is right, most of the venomous things that live here are so afraid of humans that they flee when they hear you coming. The important thing is to be LOUD so they get plenty of warning!

Hey Phil, nice post! I just recently joined the forum after lurking around for a couple of years. Nice to know those Tributes are living up to the G&L name. I met a woman from Tasmania called Blackie several years ago in Holland. She had a heckuva singing voice. Justin Sandercoe (justinguitar.com) is also from there. You Tasmanians must be a musical lot!

We have a few bad bugs around here too. I took these pictures this year:






Cheers,

Will