Lunch Report For Friday, October 7, 2011

[Boogie Bill]

Well, we made it through to the weekend. TGIF!!!

Next week’s nominee for Lunch Reporter is Michael-GnL-Michael. He did such a good job covering the Open Mic last week, he deserved a shot for the whole week. It’ll be his first time, so be sure to come by and PARTICIPATE.!!!

Not sure what I will be doing for lunch, as I have a ton of errands to run with Miss Leslie. We were planning on going out to dinner for my B-day tonight, and if we do, we’ll be going to one of out favorite places. I’ll probably get a filet mignon, and theirs are to die for.


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Some random thoughts and questions….


Got a junk drawer? Would we find pedals or pickups you don’t use, or an old strap?? Any oddball stuff that is music related? Are there promo pictures of you in virgin, free-range polyester with your ‘70’s funk band?

I’ve got some pedals, including a couple of original blue MXR 10-band EQs, and a Peavey Accelerator Overdrive. The MXRs are really great, but I don’t need them with the Mesa amps in the band I’m in. The Peavey Overdrive is mediocre at best for single note solos, BUT it is THE BEST pedal I’ve ever used for that Bonnie Raitt slide tone. There’s something about using it for slide—it’s like the pedal was made for slide guitar. I’ve got a really cool old JBL “bullet” tweeter in there that I don’t know what to do with. Oh yeah, and me in poly, circa 1976. I can’t believe I was ever that young!

What is the coolest thing in your junk drawer?

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No doubt about it, Johnny Hiland is a terrific guitar player. But to tell the truth, he irritates me! Why, you ask? His endorsements! That guy endorses EVERYTHING!!! He’s endorsed three or four guitars and at least three amps; capos, polish, EVERYTHING! Can’t blame a guy for taking the money, but sheesh!

Do you put much stock in artist endorsements?

I don’t anymore. It might intrigue me if I see the product advertised, but I won’t buy a XYZ guitar just because (insert famous artist here) plays one.

But, if you were going to endorse a product, and appear in the ad—what product would it be?

I’d love to be in a G&L print ad, and it would go like this:



“Nobody plays G&L….”

“My name is Bill. I’m a nobody, and I play G&L. I’m from Portland, Oregon and I’ve been playing 45 years. I don’t have a hit record, just a little rock and roll band that plays clubs, weddings and private parties.

“I like G&L guitars because of the workmanship and the outstanding quality and value. The Legacy I play uses the Leo Fender-designed PTB control system that gives global tone control over the Legacy’s three vintage alnico pickups. The DF Vibrato is the smoothest in the business, and the guitar stays in tune without a locking nut. And the neck feels like it was custom-made for my hand.

“I’m a NOBODY, and I play G&L.”

I’d have 10-12 different guys of different ages from all over the world give a short little testimony about why they bought G&Ls. And they’d be guys like us, not “stars”; just nobodies who aren’t famous, who love their G&L guitars.

That’s the kind of ad I would pay attention to. Having a regular guy in an ad has more impact on me than the guy who has a signature guitar from all the major companies; or the ads with the curvy bimbos. (Though I must admit, I look at THOSE ads VERY carefully!! LOL!)


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Thanks for participating this week. I always have a lot of fun doing the LR. And thanks for all the kind comments this week.

I’m going to curl up on the sofa this weekend with my Cold-Eeze, some Day-Quil, my box of Kleenex and apply liberal doses of Cuervo Gold while I cheer the Washington Huskies and the Seattle Seahawks on to victory. (They say you’re supposed to drink lots of fluids when you have a cold! Whooo-hoo!!!) Probably watch some baseball too—I’m rooting for the Phillies, but anything can happen.

Be sure to tune in next week for Michael’s reports.

Bill

[Dave_P]

Happy Birthday Bill! and thanks for a great week of lunch reports, looking forward to hearing from Michael next week

Junk Drawer: I have a whole junk room! That's for all the junk in the house though, my music junk drawer just got a few additions. I was going through the attic the other day and found a few things I thought were long gone. Like a guitar strap, 3-4 mics, a little battery powered amp, a guitar stand and an old Ibanez(MIJ) Phase pedal. The Phase pedal is probably the coolest thing in there, I have a couple older (90's) Dano pedals (Fab tone that's broken and a cool cat chorus) a zoom 1010 multi fx (pretty terrible sounding) a bunch of tubes, and some harmonicas. Oh....and the Canadian flag (folded properly, until I have a good place to fly it)

Artist endorsement: I don't pay any attention to artist endorsements, although it is nice spotting a "star" playing a G&L. Plus those guys tend to sound like themselves no matter what they're playing. Jimmy Paige is a prime example, a tele and a les paul are very different guitars but you never hear anyone say, Led Zeppelin 1 doesn't sound like Jimmy Paige because he's playing a tele.

I like your ad Bill, something like that would catch my attention. I'm so used to seeing some rock star with a guitar I'm a bit desensitized to it, well except for those curvy bimbos, they still catch my attention but I usually have no idea what product what they're advertising

-Dave

[darwinohm]

Happy Birthday Bill, and thanks for the entertaining and informative week. The Lrs are really fun especially when there is a lot of participation.

I sure you could find junk here but everything is prime to me! I do not have old guitar parts laying around. I have many parts but they are all new/ replacement stuff.

Endorsements? I do not buy because of endorsements. I did buy a like new Johnny Highland PRS because I knew it would have a wide tonal range and it does. It is also a well built guitar but I bought it used and definitely cheap. I also have an as new Custom Shop Clapton Strat which I also bought very right. It is not a player and an investment. Have you looked at what these are going for on the bay nowdays? I have several investment instruments and they will not be regular players as such. Artist models new are grossly overpriced, and they still sound like me when I play them! In my opinion there is only one thing more overpriced than artist models and that is reliced models. I have become much more aware of good builders and I think that is what Jay found with his C P Thornton models. I have an Ovation Adamas composite acoustic, a 12 fret and If I were going to spend big bucks on an acoustic I would explore more of the composites.

My grand daughter (11 years old) insists that I am the best guitar player on earth. I remember sitting on the couch one morning and I was doing some riffs and she looked at me and said "Wow". I wish I could impress everyone like that! Probably the only endorsement i will ever see . Thanks again Bill and I am looking forward to next week!

[astutzmann]

Great Week Bill and Happy B'day.

Hope you get over that cold, they can get nasty.

I have several junk drawers, not too much guitar stuff, an extra pickup or two, a ton of picks I'll never use, and spare parts I order from time to time.

I actually have a junk room in the house for old audio video stuff, but mostly in it is all old computer stuff, I have been doing the computer stuff since 1977 and got my first PC in 1982, so there is tons of old hard drives, cables, hubs, switches, monitors, etc etc

But what really freaked me out last time I moved, is that I must have hundreds of power adapters for technology. I saved them all and still can't find the one I need when I'm looking.

I hate endorsements. Guys get paid to say nice things about products they don't really like. I endorse this guitar, but outside of this commercial, I never play one!

I understand that when Nike signed Tiger, Nike didn't have many types of clubs, so Tiger told em that he would play Nike clubs if they "copied" his mizuno blades. They did, he plays them. I'm sure its the same with the ball, he started using the nike ball after he told them what kind of ball he plays and they made one.

Now, where I like endorsements is where Tiger is now wearing a new shoe, looks more like a tennis sneaker. Its was just released. Its cool because he designed it with them and told them this is what he wants and needs to get the job done.

Still won't make me want to buy a pair.

Thanks for a great week!

[jonc]

i not only have junk draws, but junk bins and a whole junk storage unit. cables, pedals, screws, more cables, rack units, tuners, capo's, tubes, tubes and more tubes, Yamaha MT8X cassette 8-track, Ensoniq Paris DAW, more cables, thumb harps, jaw harps, more tubes, more cables, amp parts, speakers, etc., etc. and then there's the pile of records, cd's, dats, etc., i've worked on. i was thinking that i should just call that "Pickers" show and let them have at it. endorsement's are fine by me but i put no stock in them and dont' have any signature guitars other than a Pete Anderson Larrivee acoustic which is very sweet. i did have a Knopfler Strat that nailed his sound dead on, and owned a Eric Johnson Strat for a while, whic imho is probably the best production Strat Fender builds. the only signature guitar i'll eventually get will be a first year George Fullerton with the deep "V" neck but no rush on that one. great week Bill!

[sickbutnottired]

Junk Drawer? I have a junk room, a junk garage. I can't throw anything away. How many set's of guitar strings do I have around missing one or two strings? Nothing cool at all. How about the dumbest thing? My wife is hell on equipment and she routinely mows over hoses. So i recently bought some hose splices. Unfortunately, I am an idiot, and bought 3/4 inch splices for a 5/8 hose. Can't return cause i threw the packing away. But i got those $2.49 brass splices tucked safely away in case I ever get a 3/4" hose and my wife figures out how to put the spark plug back in the lawn mower.

Loved everyone's responses to artist endorsements. Pointless.

I am heavily influenced by what I learn from other players and see them doing. You know, the nobodies. There are just to many options for almost everything out there, that is a good fast way to narrow down some choices.

Happy B-Day, Bill. Great week. looking forward to next as well!

[Kit]

Hey Bill, I don't have time today, but just the same I want to wish you a Happy Birthday!

Kit

[repoman]

Artist Endorsements:
I usually put zero stock in artist and/or celebrity endorsements. I think it was a Buddy Guy interview where he said he doesn't even use the same pickups that are in his signature Str@t.
I've often wondered why corporations even bother paying big bucks to their celebrity pitchmen. C'mon, am I really going to buy a certain brand of AA battery just cuz Shaq has a commercial telling me to? But I do like your ad idea featuring a "nobody" and touting the features of the guitars.

Junk Draw:
I've got a couple of junk draws and a junk closet in my man cave. Nothing cool though. Unless you consider a bunch of cables, adapters, assorted strings, a couple of unused FX pedals, old cassete tapes, CDs, and a broken mic stand cool. Then I'm the coolest guy in town.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Bill.


-jeff

[willross]

Happy Birthday!

Endorsements: I've endorsed myself a few times... Junk drawer: I recently re-found my Taylor Humidiguide. Still works.


Cheers,

Will

[blargfromouterspace]

Happy birthday Bill. Hope you enjoy that filet mignon. Food doesn't get much better than a steak wrapped in bacon

I ignore endorsements, it's all just advertising and we all know advertising is total BS. Some signature model guitars might be very nice - the Eric Johnson strat Jon mentions is a fantastic guitar - but I wouldn't buy one just because it said another guys name on the headstock. I really like your idea for the ad. Great tag line too.

I have a junk crate. It contains a bunch of leads which may or may not work, a couple of pedals I never use and the Hipshot B-bender I flirted with for a while. That's probably the coolest thing in there.

[zapcosongs]

Happy Birthday!

Endorsements: I've endorsed myself a few times....

Cheers,

Will

Ha! I'm a married man so you can forgive me for "endorsing" myself a couple times a week too! Ha!

Seriously though. Happy birthday, Bill. Still waiting for you to post an image of your mug so I can include it in your shrine over here ;+)

Junk drawers: Just checked mine. Lots of partial sets of various strings. So valuable are they.... I have a couple of quality EV mikes (which came with their own individual frequency charts) and lots of mike cables. Kinda sucks that I really can't sing very well. Picks galore. Lots of widgets from radio shack that permit me to connect anything with just about anything else to the extent that I could blow something up in the (likely) mis-match of impedance or whatever.

Endorsements: Don't pay much attention, except when this guy endorses something (which he has rarely done).
http://youtu.be/sTkSjx6nhE4
Martin is my favorite guitarist, and when he endorsed Hamer, I bought one. When he endorsed GHS strings, well, I found that they were rather good. Early on, he endorsed Marshall amps (though he now uses Soldano Decatone heads with Marshall cabs). I'm still dreaming on that one.

Hope you feel better, and have a great weekend! - ed

[sirmyghin]

I don't have a junk drawer, I have a junk closet. All my tools, strings, soldering irons, pickguards, materials, cabling supplies, excess pedals, paints, lacquers, you get hte hint. Currently the coolest things in said closet are my new radial J48 active direct box for some up and coming recording on my part.

No clue on adds, I put no stock into endorsements, I am a picky bastard. When people tell me that what I want is less relevant because 'X player uses this', I tell them to take the long step off a short pier, his preferences are not mine (and him being a professional does not make his preferences better).

Sorry I haven't been around much, wedding planning and such, all that is now taken care of now.

[zapcosongs]

Good to see you again sirmy. When's the big day?

[Philby]

Happy belated birthday Bill. Hope the filet mignon met your expectations!!

[sirmyghin]

Good to see you again sirmy. When's the big day?

Yesterday Ed, now I need to edit my entire thesis and write a few more pages, have a draft for wednesday. I'll be trying to hit the LR's again thereafter, I just haven't had the time to read em, nothing but quick in and outs.

[sam]

geat job this week Bill, hope all is well.

Short reply and late for LR:

junk drawer has ASAT covers, various switches and a few p-ups, an acoustoc p-up, a Weber MiniMass and a Foxx Wah /Volume. The pedals are there because not sure what do do now. The coolest thing has to be h eFoxx pedal because it is so subtle an dthese things are carrying some serious coin lately.

Yes, Johnny Hiland is a terrific guitar player but come on, artist endorsments aren't worth the celluloid thy're printed on.

If I were to endorse a product it would be an ASAT Z3 (SH in my case) with Will Ray in the wings. The most amazing guitar I own..... especially since I put a WR bridge p-up in it!