The 11.10.11 Thursday Lunch Report

[Ledergeist]

GLDP Lunch Report. Thursday November 10, 2011

Still deciding on a sandwich choice for today, but all signs are pointing to some smoked turkey from the local deli. Along with another one of those killer apples, I try to keep it fairly light.
Maybe about once a month I'll grab some kind of carry-out grub to bring home after work. Since we're only 2 weeks from Thanksgiving, I'd like to share a great method to cook a turkey -

Trash Can Turkey -
This is a great way to do turkey, plus it leaves the oven free for other duties. Quite simple, and the results are fantastic.
Start with a new metal full-size trash can. Find a safe area on your patio/driveway, and lay out aluminum foil that extends beyond the of the can turned upside down. I then used some cinder blocks and bricks to make a foundation. On top of that is where you'll place the roasting pan or grill to hold the turkey. It should end up about a foot or so off the ground.
Use a charcoal chimney to get some coals going and then lay them out around the base of the bricks. Set the pan up on the blocks and place the trash can over the whole deal.
Then I also put hot coals around the base and on the top of the can. Cooking time is around 2 hours.

We did this a few years ago and are planning on doing it again this year. If it's too windy or raining, you can skip using the coals on the outside of the can, but the trade-off is a longer cooking time. Remember, safety first. For some reason, we didn't take pics of the cooking, only the results....




Would 'ye like a turkey leg....


Question -
Do you like to experiment with cooking methods? Or doing just fine sticking with convention.

G&L Question -
Has G&L ever released a 'turkey'? I find the X-body to be a bit gimmicky, but in a cool way. I have my faves, but there's not any one in particular that says 'Stay Away!'
Agree? Disagree? No Comment?

Tomorrows LR will "go to 11".....

BW

[Elemeno P]

This year we're going to try to deep fry one.

I've been a big fan of the oven bags lately. Doesn't look like your magazine cover turkey, but it comes out soooo juicy.

[bword4]

Haha nice post. How about: "Who releases the worst or most turkeys?"

As of late my vote goes to Gibson. (not to trash talk too much...but c'mon!)

[louis cyfer]

Haha nice post. How about: "Who releases the worst or most turkeys?"

As of late my vote goes to Gibson. (not to trash talk too much...but c'mon!)

that is for sure. dusk tiger, firebirdx, etc.

[bword4]

Haha freakin' robot guitars. That gets me everytime.

Did you guys see the "Jimi Hendrix Gibson" strat copy?? It was ridiculous. They caught so much shiza that they actually pulled all evidence from their site and acted like it never happened.

[darwinohm]

Brian , nice pictures. The little one has shown all the approval yo need for how you cooked this turkey! We Minnesotans are probably the top turkeys in the world. We are a top producer and when you go by a turkey farm you know it. I love to cook and have done turkey several different ways. I still like turkey on a Weber Kettle grill. Trash cans are still a favorite for making Booya, basically trash can stew.

There have been several guitars by different manufactures that could be turkeys. There are some older G&Ls that I don't find too appealing but I will bet that they are still good guitars. I nominate Gibson as the top turkey producer. I think that most of their artist models are in that category. Now if G&L wanted a dead ringer turkey, they could name a model after me. Especially if I had to demo it. I am planning to own a FirebirdX in the next couple of years. When the price hits rock bottom and they are on closeout, I may pick one up. There are still people who collect Edsels. I do like the finish of the firebirdX. It reminds me of the swirl finish that G&L used a few years back. I would still like a pristine Red Swirl.-- Darwin

[blargfromouterspace]

Your trash can turkey has reminded me to build a smoker. I really enjoy bbq'ing things and need to take it to the next level.

Can't think of any real duds in the G&L lineup, though the fact you can order one how you like it leads to some interesting colour schemes!

Trash cans are still a favorite for making Booya, basically trash can stew.

What's booya? Got a recipe?

[darwinohm]

Barg, I do not have a recipe but I will bet that some one here has one. They throw in all kinds of vegies, I'm sure some meat and probably those things hanging on the neck of your guitar for a little additional spice! Sorry-- Darwin

[Boogie Bill]

No, I'm not too adventurous when it comes to cooking...

...and Miss Leslie's favorite thing to make for dinner is...

...RESERVATIONS!!!!



When it comes to turkeys it made me think: Leo was never really able to duplicate the successes he had with the Tele, Strat, Precision Bass and the Jazz bass. Neither the Jaguar or the JazzMaster had much commercial success, and they disappeared from the lineup in the CBS era.

The exceptions might be the Sting Ray bass from Music Man; and the L-1000 and L-2000 basses from G&L. It's safe to say that none of his other instruments from his later companies had the sales, or the impact of his first efforts with Fender in those early years. The Sting Ray in particular, though, garnered tremendous acceptance right from its debut.

So from one perspective, perhaps all the Music Man guitars and all the G&L instruments are turkeys.

But one man's trash is another man's treasure.... I love my MMM Sabre IIs; I love my G&L Legacy bodies. For me, the Legacys, Comanches, S-500s and Legacy Specials I own are vast improvements over the original Stratocaster concept.

Nope, the only turkey is the guy playing them!

Bill

[cmguitar]

I have to agree with Bill.
Early Music Man and G&L they don't have the name recognition or sales of early Fenders. Are great guitars I know someone who owns a SabreII and Stingray. They are killer guitars
For modern day bonehead stinkers/turkey I have to sayis Gibson. The Gibson brand is being corporately run in the ground. With the Epiphone brand helping Henry laugh all the way to the bank selling Epi Les Pauls.
There is a reason I own a Ibanez 335 instead of a Gibson 335.
Nuf Gibson bashing for me.

My wife going to bake a Turduckhen this year

Chet

[zapcosongs]

Haha nice post. How about: "Who releases the worst or most turkeys?"

As of late my vote goes to Gibson. (not to trash talk too much...but c'mon!)

He's a Witch, I tell ye! Lol!

- ed

[KenC]

I'm with bword4, Louis and Darwin - Gibson is the turkey king these days. It seems like everything is either a special edition (as if a stoptail '55 LP copy really needs to be a distinctly separate model from a Tun-o-matic '55 LP copy), or else proof positive that blindly feeding lumber into CNC machines and not bothering to fill the grain before spraying a finish produces a really crummy guitar. I got very excited when the Melody Maker re-issues came out a couple of years ago, but the finishes and unfilled end grain completely turned me off. I've seem some great deals on used ones over the past two years, but every one of them has just been too ugly to want in my house...

I just got the new Musician's Friend catalog this week, and was very amused by the descriptions of the new Les Paul models. Most of them were along the lines of "this model is based on the idea of a '55 LP that had its finish stripped (or hardware removed) by the original owner and was professionally updated to look like the new '57 models". I believe one even commented that a model used "the same Burstbucker pickups as the early Les Pauls".

OK, sorry for the Gibson-bashing. I generally don't prefer most of their instruments, but I would love to pick up one of the LP Special re-issues if it has a smooth finish with a gloss coat. And of course an ES-175 or ES-330 for my jazzy moods.

I haven't tried the trash can method or had booya, but it does remind me of food I had at a post-game rugby party back in South Carolina many years ago. The host team took a 55-gallon drum (hopefully cleaned out - at least we weren't near the radioactive waste site in Barnwell), filled it with rice, whole roaster chickens, and okra, and cooked it over the kind of fire Brian described. Everything blended in together, and was ladled out into bowls. It was the kind of meal you remember thirty years later.

Ken

[Michael-GnL-Michael]

Going by the picture the results of the garbage can oven turkey look tender and moist. I love food cooked on/in a que. I love turkey. But I do not like BBQ'd turkey because it makes the turkey taste like any meat except turkey. I think I just need to have turkey more often. Then it would not matter and I could enjoy it both ways. I only have it once or twice a year so I prefer the common baked with stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, etc.

I agree with blarg's suggestion that the G&L turkeys are most often created by people doing a custom order who have no aesthetic sensitivity.

Getting in on the LR late I hope people still pop in: What is the best Gibson not made by Gibson? ..........a Heritage?

[louis cyfer]

Going by the picture the results of the garbage can oven turkey look tender and moist. I love food cooked on/in a que. I love turkey. But I do not like BBQ'd turkey because it makes the turkey taste like any meat except turkey. I think I just need to have turkey more often. Then it would not matter and I could enjoy it both ways. I only have it once or twice a year so I prefer the common baked with stuffing, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce, etc.

I agree with blarg's suggestion that the G&L turkeys are most often created by people doing a custom order who have no aesthetic sensitivity.

Getting in on the LR late I hope people still pop in: What is the best Gibson not made by Gibson? ..........a Heritage?

my washburn wp80 (les paul) is a better lp than any gibson i have played. it is a heavy beast, but plays and sounds brilliant. it is an early 80's prototype actually. heritage is pretty good. the only gibson i have liked recently was the las paul 50's traditional studio. it has p90's and a chambered body. around 750 street price for a us made guitar.

[KenC]

Non-Gibson Gibsons:

The guitar I bought to get back into playing several years ago was an Epiphone Genesis. It was Epiphone's final attempt at the electric guitar market in '79-'80, before they became the "brand" for imported Gibson copies. The Genesis is basically an all-mahogany Les Paul, with double cut-aways and a slightly different control configuration (I would place the circuit closer to an F-100 than an LP). The workmanship and playablility is equal to a Les Paul, in my opinion. Lee Ranaldo (Sonic Youth) has used one on occasion.

The one big flaw in the Genesis design was a top-mounted jack on a carved top. They are notorious for splintering out, but it was an easy mod to install a standard LP jack and put a second tone control where the original jack had been. I'll try to get a picture up shortly.

Ken

[Boogie Bill]

I think the real lesson here from Gibson is: Be very careful when you start introducing products that move you away from your core business.

Gibson has never had much success with innovating new products; remember that the Vee, Explorer, and Moderne were resounding failures. Fer cryin' outloud, the discontinued the Sunburst LP in 1960, arguably the most iconic guitar in rock and roll history--because it wasn't selling.

I have ten LPs and a 335; and I've owned three other Gibsons. (I'm not counting the Wine Red LP Studio that I bought dirt cheap specifically to flip for a profit.) Of these guitars, I'd say only the ES-150DCN was a turkey. Part of those problems could have been rectified by a qualified luthier. But the biggest part of the problem is that the guitar failed to live up to my expectations, which were largely unrealistic. Still, it was a very beautiful guitar and very well made.

I am very pleased with my current Gibson guitars. I do have a couple of complaints; for example, I do not like the factory pickups that came in my LP 1960 Classics and my LP Supremes. (The 496R and 500T Hot Ceramics in the Classics sounded very good, but are very high output and caused havoc with my Mesa amps; the 490R and the 498T in my Supremes are good sounding individually, but for my purposes they don't work well together. This is easy to fix.) My 335 has a slightly asymmetrical neck profile--it's quirky, but I can adapt to it. While I might prefer a different profile, there is nothing wrong with the guitar.

Make no mistake about it, when Gibson gets it right they do a very fine job. I think that since the mid-1990s, they are building some of the best guitars they have ever built. Mistakes will occur--they are not perfect--and I don't expect ANY guitar to ever be perfect, since it is man-made--regardless of price.

And no matter how much I like Guild (pre-Fender), Hamer and Heritage gutiars--I have seen some quality issues over the years that have kept me from buying any of these guitars. And when I look at resale values, they do not hold their values as well as Gibson. Even in the bad economy, blue book prices on my Gibsons have increased over my term of ownership. Hopefully, they will continue to appreciate in value.

I'm no fan of the Robot, or the new Firebird--though that is a guitar that is very innovative--ahead of its time. It remains to be seen if it captures a share of the market.

But I will tell you that I am a HUGE fan of my Historic Custom Shop Les Pauls and my ES-335. The sheer musicality of these guitars is amazing. My flame-tops--Elegant, the two Supremes, the two Classic Plus LPs are drop dead gorgeous and deliver classic LP tone and power. The two GOTW Classic Antiques are limited editions, and feature exciting finishes on a lighweight version of the LP, They are resonant, lively--terrific rock and roll guitars.

I bought my 1960 Strat back in 1972, and fell in love with it. I've owned a Leo Fender-designed guitar nearly all of my professional life. I struggle with Gibsons, they feel unnatural to me after so many years of Duo-Sonic, Tele, Strat, Sabre IIs--and now G&L. A Legacy is my Number one guitar, and I can't imagine trying to play a gig with only a Les Paul. But I can't imagine NOT having one, either.

When I'm onstage, wailing away--putting my soul into my music; and feeling like I am the luckiest guy in the world to be playing music--and feeling so connected to my guitar, my band-mates and my audience: It's just a terrific feeling. Just like my G&Ls, my Gibsons put a smile on my face. That's really all I can ask of any guitar.

Bill