Lunch Report, Tuesday 5 APR 11

I woke up this morning thinking it was Wednesday. I seem to lack the ability to shake the feeling that I've lost a day somehow. What a great start to the day.

Lunch today was a sandwich nearly identical to yesterday's, with the possible exception that it was made by my wife, not myself. Therefore, it was infinitely better. Or so she'd have me believe. My response to that is, "They all end up in the same place." For years I would say that and mean "my stomach," not realizing the more, ah, final disposition one could infer from such a statement. As it turns out, she and I think differently about such things. I guess that explains why she found my witty repartee so distasteful for so long (even if it was unintentional). But, I digress...the sandwich was similar (turkey, swiss, mayo, mustard, lettuce) but today was accompanied by Cheeze-Its instead of pretzels. I also have managed to consume an apple and an orange thus far. I have a thing for fruit. Still drinking the dregs of this morning's coffee (which I carted back from what I affectionately refer to as "The Crapeteria." Working in a hospital has some drawbacks. One of them is the quality of the food. Unless you happen to like hospital food, I guess.)

I found the answers about traveling back in time to be thought provoking. I wonder if Leo would have let anyone else 'buy into' Fender in the late 50s. We know he didn't have a problem selling to CBS in the late 60s, so maybe. The Bassman amplifier question is interesting, as well. I've often wondered if they considered that amp a 'failure' seeing as it was more revered by lead guitarists than by the target market (or at least it seems that way to me; I reserve the right to be wrong).

The Bassman Question (as it shall henceforth be referred to), has me wondering:

What, if any, product would you say is G&L's "Bassman"?

Has G&L, either pre- or post-BBE ownership developed and offered a model or product that maybe failed to attract attention among its intended victims, er, customers but maybe took off in a different direction and was a raging success? Right off the bat I'd be tempted to say the Rampage, which I always thought of as a "student model." But, really, I think it was intended to be a shredder-ific, one 'bucker maelstrom of sound, so Cantrell's adoption of it--and it's subsequent success in the Jerry Cantrell model--is probably not a good example of what I'm asking about.

If you, like me at the moment, can't think of a single mis-directed, yet successful product, how about taking a crack at this:

Do you think that G&L will eventually have a "Bassman"-type success?

I wonder how much these fortunate accidents (a la the Bassman in question) affect the direction and future of a company. Without giving it too much thought, I'd have to say they can be a boon, but that it's impossible to know. Hrmm. Maybe I'll clear my desk, prop my feet up and contemplate this today.

On a non-G&L note, I am loaning a guitar to my nephew. Well, one of my many nephews. He plays in a band (which sounds a lot like distortion, arrhythmic banging and unintelligible screaming...all the high school girls apparently dig it) and has a couple of inexpensive guitars. His won't hold a tune or intonate properly, and one has a twisted and warped neck. They have a "Battle of the Bands" coming up, and the 'good guitar' that he had borrowed from someone else was withdrawn (I suspect a competing band, but what do I know?) .

So, he called and asked if I could possibly help him out. Having far more guitars than someone who only plays three chords should have, I said, "What? Are you kidding me? Get away from me kid, you bother me!" Errr, no. I said, "Absolutely. In fact, I have this old Hamer P90 Special that I picked up from a gigging musician out of Chicago. It's got some dings and cracks in the lacquer, but is rock solid and sounds awfully damn good. You're welcome to use it, but take care of it and absolutely you cannot sell or trade it." He's coming tonight to get it. It really is a great guitar and I'm a little worried about it disappearing (or worse). But, hey, if I can encourage a kid to play an instrument instead of dealing drugs....

Would you loan out one of your guitars? Any caveats, restrictions or strings attached if you would?

Oh..it snowed here again this morning. I'm soooo ready to move out of Michigan.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

Dick, great questions! I really thought a lot about yesterdays time travel question and loved the responses that you got. I am going to go back in time, to yesterday, and take a crack at that question.

Lunch - I don't know and nothing sounds good. I am home with a cold.

I don't know of any G&L related product misses, but I am not very knowledgeable about these things. I would love to hear the old timers thoughts on that, as well as other musical products with excellent undocumented features!

Edit: It's great that you lent the young guy a guitar. I played pretty crappy music when I was a kid, too. It's a lifetime sport!

Lunch: Taco Salad from our very competent and comparative Crapateria. Hey, I was hungry. It's fencing after work, so no dinner. Have to eat lunch. And my "lunch partner" for Tuesdays is mysteriously absent.

G&L Hit/Miss: Beats me.

Loaners: I've loaned guitars, amps, effects to my nephews. They've always taken good care of them. Even if they might have "forgotten" to return them in a timely manner. A 5 yr absence on the bass rig comes to mind. But, what the heck. They blame my brother and I for them even playing guitars. And I'm thinking ... I saw this wonderful MIA Breedlove over at his house ......

Lemon Meringue Pie....

what if G&L made a Bassman type amp and named it the "Leo" and didn't specify for guitar or bass?...something to ponder...

loan out one of my guitars?...What? Are you kidding me? Get away from me Dick, you bother me!....lol...i left my PRS SE SC at my daughter's house for her and my son-in-law to use...does that count?...she quickly learned the neck is too big for her, which i'd figured...but he loves it...though he's a drummer and what do they know...

Lunch: Skipped it, then the ladies with the tea & cookie cart came along. So . . .

G&L: Not sure what could be their next Bassman happy accident. I DO think the Rampage might have been one as I'd have expected the Invader to be the Metal Artist's guitar and the Rampage to be the more budget-minded student-orientated version. That said, I could see that going either way.

Non-G&L: It would depend on the guitar and how much I trusted the lendee. My good guitars? I doubt it UNLESS I really knew I could trust them. Even then, I'd rather have decent-but-not-irreplaceable guitars for that (not that my guitars are ACTUALLY irreplaceable). In fact, if/when I have somebody asking to borrow guitars, I'd rather get some that would be fun but that would not be tragic if anything happened. They're tools after all and accidents can occur. I'd rather not have to provide any strings except to say "be careful." If I could not trust them to do that I would not be lending them a guitar. If I COULD trust them, well, I'd probably still be selective on which guitar. If my daughter is asking once she's older and mature enough to handle it, it's hers.

Speaking of Hamers, yeah, I'd bet the Hamer P90 Special is awesome! Total rock & roll guitar there.

-Cheers

Hey Dick

G&L happy accidents - I'm stumped too. I think the G&L branded stomp-boxes may have been a plain old accident as no-one seems to own one, but that's opposite... Wasn't the SC2 a student model too? They seem pretty popular.


Loaning guitars - I don't do it. Within the family it would be different, but no-way I'd lend one of my guitars to someone else. It's very good of you to lend him that guitar for the gig, let's just hope someone else doesn't knock it off.

Your nephews band sound like a lot of the bands I played in as a kid! I wish they'd stop billing these gigs as a 'Battle of the Bands'. Why can't they just call it a gig? It would be better for everyone involved and the bands would probably mingle more with one another if they weren't competing. And since when was music a competition?

Lunch: Protein shake, summer is on the way need to lose some pounds

G&L Bassman: hmmm...not sure either, the Bluesboy was no accident but was intended to be a limited run and took off like crazy.

Loan out guitars: If I had some lower end guitars laying around I wouldn't have a problem, but the herd is down to 2 ASAT's and an acoustic that had a neck repair. The acoustic would be the likely candidate but I'm pretty attached to that one, it's the one I've owned the longest and the delicate neck rules it out. Sorry kid, you're out of luck

-Dave

On Loaning out a guitar:

Oooh, sore subject. Loaned one of my guitars to the son of one of best friend to take to college--it was stolen from his dorm room, along with his laptop. Not an expensive guitar, but full of sentimental value for me. His folks interpreted it as a gift, and it was never replaced. Caused some strain in our relationship. Never again.

Bill

What, if any, product would you say is G&L's "Bassman"?

I'm with Dave_P there. The Blues Boy (note 2 words) was Tim 'Buffalo Brothers' Page's first project guitar and produced as 20 solids and 12 semi-hollows in mid '99. There was such a large demand after the series sold out that about 2 years later G&L decided to reintroduce the model as the Bluesboy (now one word). Did you know that G&L initially wanted to call this model 'ASAT HB'? Fortunately, Tim called Darth Invader to tell him that that would be silly since everybody by then referred to this model as 'Bluesboy'. So why not use the name?

As a second nominee, I would bring up the Broadcaster/ASAT. There had been plenty of requests from working musicians for a model like that. But Leo was not very much in favor. When he was on vacation, Dale Hyatt used his absence to actually have the first one produced, to Leo's initial chagrin! But the Broadcaster/ASAT (Special) is now one of G&L's mainstays.

My third nominee is the one offered by blarg: the SC-2. A student model that resonanted with working musicians and in the end led to the existence of the ASAT. Its reintroduction is well deserved!

But on the opposite side you have models like the HG-1/HG-2, '04 version of the ASAT HB, John Jorgenson Signature, ASAT JD-5. where either people liked some other version better (HG series), production just halted after a short run (ASAT HB), or something went wrong in the endorsement/marketing of the whole thing.

Do you think that G&L will eventually have a "Bassman"-type success?

Don't know. That is hard to predict. Hoping that the '04 ASAT HB comes back because with a hog body and neck, AW4370B G&L bucker in the bridge and a Vintage Style Alnico V Legacy pup in the neck it is actually a pretty cool sounding guitar.

Would you loan out one of your guitars?

Not much experience with guitars only an Lab Series L-5 amp I loaned to a friend and never have seen back. I moved, friend moved, lost contact, etc. Oh well ... I would be incredible nervous in loaning any of my equipment now. Would do the same as for any rental: have them sign a check for say half the value only to be cashed if the instrument is not returned by a certain date.

- Jos

With all of this talk about "Bassmans" I had better chime in. LOL

G&L actually has a lot of "Bassman's". By that I mean guitars and basses that are building more respect and favor with musicians as they get better known.
The G-200, the Broadcaster, the original S-500, and th eSC1,2 and 3 guitars.
In the bass world, G&L has fostered the SB-1 bass, SB-2 bass in both versions, the L-1000 and L-2000e and L-2000 and aL-5000 basses, the Interceptor bass, the El Toro bass.

All of these instruments are sought after, and treasured by musicians today at much higher levels than ordinary guitars and basses.

Loaner guitars and amps:
I am a sucker, I have loaned out my Fernades Strat, My Legacy and my 75 Fender Pro Reverb amp on a semi permanent basis to the guitarists in my bands. I figure the band sounds better when they play cool gear.

Respectfully,
bassman

Bassman is on the scene!

Well, as long as you're here, let me ask a question I've always wondered about regarding the Bassman...tweed or blackface? Don't cop out and say something like "horses for courses," either. Inquiring minds want/need to know! Who better to ask than the Bassman himself?!

Heh.

Tweed for me...i can plug in to the Reissue Tweed Bassman...use the Clean Blues setting on the card, and pretty much have my tone right there...