Monday, 1/30/12 -- Lunch Report: Meat and greet

[kakerlak]

(Actually, I'm a vegetarian, but I have a very difficult time resisting puns...)

Heading home here in a few and debating the choice between either cold leftover Taco Bell from the fridge, or Hot Pockets from the freezer.

I realize I (re)introduced myself a few days ago, but I thought I'd cover a little different ground here today. I have a M-F job working for a land survey company. I review, touch up, correct and finish out the surveys we do, working in AutoCAD. I also handle client communication for about half our residential orders and am in charge of contracting all our outside vendors. It's the kind of job that is hard to explain whenever somebody asks what I do and that likewise sounds pretty dull once I do. For whatever reason, I find what I do intersting, though. It tends to involve a fair deal of daily mystery-solving, creative thinking, use of logic, etc. So call me a weirdo; it won't be the first time...

I don't have an active band right now, just go home to my wife every evening. We met at nerd camp in our early teens and ended up dating in our early 20s. We've been married a little over 4 years now and, in spite of miscellaneous sad events in my life, the pains of growing up, etc., all-in-all, this has been the happiest period. She deserves all the credit!



So what about you guys: where do you live/work/etc.? Help me catch back up to speed here, since about 2/3 of you are new to me!

Going back to story time, I have a feeling I openened things with this last time I did LR (2-3 years ago), but I'm interested to see the responses with so many new faces...

My first G&L was a neat little Mustang-bodied SC-3, black with a white pickguard. It was $175 in a local pawnshop and I think I must have been about 13 years old at the time. It was one of my first guitars and hooked me on G&Ls bigtime! A lot of different guitars came and went after that one, G&Ls among them, but it's one of those ones that I've never wanted to sell. Not only does it hold sentimental value, but I couldn't help using it as a measuring stick for other Strat-oids and they almost always came up short...




So the question is, what was your first G&L, where'd it come from and do you still have it? This goes w/o saying, but pics are encouraged, lol. (I was going to take some new ones of mine, but alas, my wife has the camera today, filming her students' projects)

[sam]

Hey Colin,

Great to see you round these parts again, looking forward to your week and please post some clips, I recall enjoying them in days past!

"nerd camp" is where my kids will definately wind up, but only because of my wife's genes.

My M-F is sales/mktg stuff that leads to much travel. When not travelling I'm living in van down by the river.

My first G&L was a ASAT Signature ordered in 1992 following years of searching for the right one. Of course, that was the right one at that time and now there have been more "right ones". No such thing as too much of a good thing. Unfortunately can't get to my pics now.

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin,

Great to see you round these parts again, looking forward to your week and please post some clips, I recall enjoying them in days past!

"nerd camp" is where my kids will definately wind up, but only because of my wife's genes.

My M-F is sales/mktg stuff that leads to much travel. When not travelling I'm living in van down by the river.

My first G&L was a ASAT Signature ordered in 1992 following years of searching for the right one. Of course, that was the right one at that time and now there have been more "right ones". No such thing as too much of a good thing. Unfortunately can't get to my pics now.

I had aspirations of pursuing a marketing degree for a while, but the wheels kind of came off that one... To be honest, the more time passes, the gladder I am I didn't.

I'm not sure if it's me you remember musically. The only stuff I ever had online is some rough, half drunk practice tapes of my (now defunct) band. They're presumably still there in the ghost town that is Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thehookechoes

It is good to cya too, Sam.

[zapcosongs]

Great start, Colin. I suspect I'm not the only one here glad to have you back on board (I like puns too).

I'm mostly a full-time daddy these days, but I keep a hand in the practice of law by working a small handful of legal matters at any one time. I don't advertise and I mostly help friends and neighbors, their friends, etc., with contract and tort-related issues.

My first G&L was a Belaire Green ASAT Special. Yes, it's true that the lucky convergence of eBay and beer coupled with my mis-understanding the listing resulted in my introduction to G&L (hey, these aren't P-90's!).
I will always love this guitar, but sold it to a member here in order to fund an old SC-2 which are harder to come by, and have the same pickup configuration.

More to the point, lunch today was a couple of whole grain Eggo waffles and a couple of links of brown-n-serve sausage. I'm under the weather with a cold/cough today (very rare for me) and I needed something simple and comforting.

What was I saying? - ed

[kakerlak]

Great start, Colin. I suspect I'm not the only one here glad to have you back on board (I like puns too).

I'm mostly a full-time daddy these days, but I keep a hand in the practice of law by working a small handful of legal matters at any one time. I don't advertise and I mostly help friends and neighbors, their friends, etc., with contract and tort-related issues.

My first G&L was a Belaire Green ASAT Special. Yes, it's true that the lucky convergence of eBay and beer coupled with my mis-understanding the listing resulted in my introduction to G&L (hey, these aren't P-90's!).
I will always love this guitar, but sold it to a member here in order to fund an old SC-2 which are harder to come by, and have the same pickup configuration.

More to the point, lunch today was a couple of whole grain Eggo waffles and a couple of links of brown-n-serve sausage. I'm under the weather with a cold/cough today (very rare for me) and I needed something simple and comforting.

What was I saying? - ed

Sorry to hear about your weathers, Chief, but thanks for the re-welcome! I think I remember the minty ASAT and subsequent SC-2 (one of those orangish red ones?). Hope you get to feeling better; you've got dinner to cook soon!

BTW, lunch ended up being the leftover Taco Bell, plus some toast when I ended up still hungry... Hey, somebody's gotta eat it, right?

[zapcosongs]

seeing the words "leftover Taco Bell" somehow is not helping me feel better. I AM feeling a little bad for you now, though.... - ed

[blargfromouterspace]

Hey Colin, sorry to hear about the vegetarianism

I like the sound of your job, I quite enjoy CAD type stuff. I'm studying electrical engineering at the moment, with 1.5 years left. I can't wait until its over - we're planning on spending a month or so in the south of France when I finish. That thought keeps me going, as does the thought that if I give up I'll have to go back to painting peoples houses, and I swore to myself that I'd sanded my last ceiling a few years ago.

My first G&L was bought on ebay in 2008. It's an old school tobacco sunburst Classic S, it's a lovely guitar. I'm up to four now. Funnily I had three before I even discovered this GbL forum and despite all the GAS inducing photos have only bought that one since being a member here...

[darwinohm]

Hey Colin, it was leftover pizza day! Welcome back.

I picked up my first G&L in the summer of 2008 and have owned 20 since then. I still have 14 of them but not that first one. I stared lurking on this forum just after that but did not participate until a little over a couple of years ago. My M+F job is to stay retired. I am working hard at it. I like the picture of your SC-3. I picked up anew SC-2 last fall and it is a sweet one. I am probably the only white haired kid on this forum but I do have hair! Great start and I wish I would have discovered G&L 60 years ago. I could of had more of them by now!--Darwin

[JagInTheBag]

Did my original reply to this thread get removed?

[meowmix]

Hey Colin, glad to hear you came back.

If I became Vegetarian, would I end up looking like your avatar?

Lunch today is Turkey. Had plenty of beef last week. Needed something different.

My first G&L is still with me today. Cherryburst S500. No plans of getting rid of it. I guess sometime in the future, the frets will wear out to nothing and the neck becomes nil. Then it will be time to use it for parts, but that is a long time from now.

[yowhatsshakin]

Hey Colin,

Welcome back! Every time I read your handle I'm snickering. In Dutch is would have be spelled with double-k in the middle instead of your German spelling. And apparently someone must have turned the light off such that you could come out of your hiding place to scour for food and goodies on the forum

I work and live in Seattle and have been frequenting the forum since '99 when I got my first G&L (see below). Currently I am a software engineer for PopCap Games where you might call me the 'toilet paper' man: my work keeps the back-end for our online social games (read iPhone/iTouch/iPad, Google+, and Facebook) clean and working.

My first G&L is a '97 Cherryburst Legacy Special that is still with me. The G&L collection by now has grown to 34 without ever having sold one off. So she is still with me. With all the competition, she wasn't played a lot until I set her up for 11's which made a huge difference. Wonderful instrument.

- Jos

[gitman001]

Hey Colin, cool that you found your way back.

My name is Scott and i am a professional guitar teacher from up in the Great White North (well Great Green North this year....) I am fairly new around here, only started posting around 9 months ago after lurking for a few. I had 5 G&L's before stumbling on to the board and the collection has quickly grown to 9 - the one that started it all is a mid 90's s-500.



I bought it from a guy in Calgary after a student had brought one into a lesson... His s-500 blew me away, it was what i had wanted my american strat to sound like. I quickly found one and the rest is history....

Its cool that you have been with your wife since you were young, i too met my wife when we were only 16. I moved to LA when i was 18 to attend G.I.T, and when i got back we picked up where we left off. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this past year and this February we will have been together for almost 20 years! A happy period for me as well, and she certainly deserves the credit

I have 2 little girls, ages 5 and 3, so time on the board is few and far between.... i think there are only 3 places i go online anymore - ebay, NFL.com and here! Welcome back and looking forward to at least reading everything this week Have a good one

Scott

[JagInTheBag]

Hey Colin, cool that you found your way back.

My name is Scott and i am a professional guitar teacher from up in the Great White North (well Great Green North this year....) I am fairly new around here, only started posting around 9 months ago after lurking for a few. I had 5 G&L's before stumbling on to the board and the collection has quickly grown to 9 - the one that started it all is a mid 90's s-500.



I bought it from a guy in Calgary after a student had brought one into a lesson... His s-500 blew me away, it was what i had wanted my american strat to sound like. I quickly found one and the rest is history....

Scott

Scott- that is one gorgeous guitar! Love the cream pick guard and white pup covers. Pleased to be properly introduced! ~Patrick

[Craig]

Did my original reply to this thread get removed?

I didn't remove it.

Did you view it after you hit the Submit button?

You'll need to re-post it.

I don't see any errors in the logs. It's a mystery to me what happened.

[zapcosongs]

I'm guessing he ran into the situation where someone else posted while he was composing his, got an unnecessary and confusing message requiring full attention, and lost his post. Please consider ditching this "feature." So what if someone else posted something in the interim. Not worth folks losing their (often well-considered) posts for. Please. - ed

[Craig]

I'm guessing he ran into the situation where someone else posted while he was composing his, got an unnecessary and confusing message requiring full attention, and lost his post. Please consider ditching this "feature." So what if someone else posted something in the interim. Not worth folks losing their (often well-considered) posts for. Please. - ed

Sorry Ed, but it's not a switchable feature that I can turn off. And I make it a rule
not to hack into the forum code.

[Dave_P]

Hey Colin, welcome back!
My current gig is director of A/V at a local hotel. The title means I'm a tech that gets to do paperwork too, lucky me
I like the people I work with and that is half the battle any place you work

No nerd camp for me, I opted for eagle camp (Boy Scouts). I did not meet my wife there

No active band for me either right now, every once and a while I get together with some friends to play. These past couple of weeks I've been responding to CL ads for bands but have not gotten a single reply.

That is a sweet looking sc-3, love the earlier mustang body.
I got my first G&L in 2009 (I think?) a 2006 ASAT I bought off of Craigslist. It was actually my second choice, there were none local and the first one I found the guy didn't want to ship. So I bought my second choice and it turned out to be fantastic! Same as you, I judge all other guitars by this one and I have yet to find anything that I like better, G&L's included. Still have it an it's not going anywhere for the foreseeable future


-Dave

[JagInTheBag]

Did my original reply to this thread get removed?

It's a mystery to me what happened.

Well, let's try this again. Colin, I can relate to your job- my first position out of college was that of a Cadastral Cartographer, digital heads up drafting using machines that have less computing power than my smart phone. Now, I own an online vintage muscle car brokerage company, ShowYourAuto.com bootstrapped in 2003. How that chicken crossed the road is another story entirely.

I too am married. We have a "non-traditional" relationship, met in HS, dated through college and married after graduation. Three kids, ranging from 3 to 11, keeps my playing out to twice a month or so. The middle one, age 9, began playing guitar this year.

Colin, your SC-3 one sweet lookin' axe. My first G&L is the Wil Ray signature Tribute Z-3 purchased from the same store I purchased my very first guitar.


WilRay by ShowYourAuto!com, on Flickr

I only wish it cost me $175!

My first USA is the S-500 and I have a Tribby ASAT Delux Carved Top on lay away. I figure I will start my own collection of the rare and significant Leo Era G&L's. An SC-3 is must have on the list!

[Miles Smiles]

Although it's one day too late, my first G&L has been the Legacy I still own, and which is still the only one Legacy I've got. I bought it in 2006 from a guy in Germany, whose brother once ran a store for musical instruments. As his brother gave up the business, the guy was allowed to choose one out of several G&Ls. He took the Legacy, but didn't play it or guitar at all very much, so the guitar ended up on Ebay almost like new. I was looking for an ASAT at that time and the Legacy wasn't a major target, but I took the opportunity and I'm happy with it.

<- click

It took me two years of regular search and bidding, until I got the next G&L, it was that ASAT.

<- click

But now I'm holding at 8 G&L guitars and one G&L bass guitar and I'm out of space. So some of my guitars have to live in the case and I have to get rid of not original cases too. Three instruments, not G&Ls, are stored near the rehearsal room, so I could drive there with no instruments.

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin, sorry to hear about the vegetarianism

I like the sound of your job, I quite enjoy CAD type stuff. I'm studying electrical engineering at the moment, with 1.5 years left. I can't wait until its over - we're planning on spending a month or so in the south of France when I finish. That thought keeps me going, as does the thought that if I give up I'll have to go back to painting peoples houses, and I swore to myself that I'd sanded my last ceiling a few years ago.

My first G&L was bought on ebay in 2008. It's an old school tobacco sunburst Classic S, it's a lovely guitar. I'm up to four now. Funnily I had three before I even discovered this GbL forum and despite all the GAS inducing photos have only bought that one since being a member here...

Jamie,
You're more disciplined in than I, both with your studies and purchases!

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin, it was leftover pizza day! Welcome back.

I picked up my first G&L in the summer of 2008 and have owned 20 since then. I still have 14 of them but not that first one. I stared lurking on this forum just after that but did not participate until a little over a couple of years ago. My M+F job is to stay retired. I am working hard at it. I like the picture of your SC-3. I picked up anew SC-2 last fall and it is a sweet one. I am probably the only white haired kid on this forum but I do have hair! Great start and I wish I would have discovered G&L 60 years ago. I could of had more of them by now!--Darwin

Congrats on retirement (and a better lunch than I had)! Still love looking at that gold sparkle job you've got!

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin, glad to hear you came back.

If I became Vegetarian, would I end up looking like your avatar?

Lunch today is Turkey. Had plenty of beef last week. Needed something different.

My first G&L is still with me today. Cherryburst S500. No plans of getting rid of it. I guess sometime in the future, the frets will wear out to nothing and the neck becomes nil. Then it will be time to use it for parts, but that is a long time from now.

That's a pretty S-5. Something tells me you won't have the heart to cannibalize it when the frets wear out...

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin,

Welcome back! Every time I read your handle I'm snickering. In Dutch is would have be spelled with double-k in the middle instead of your German spelling. And apparently someone must have turned the light off such that you could come out of your hiding place to scour for food and goodies on the forum

I work and live in Seattle and have been frequenting the forum since '99 when I got my first G&L (see below). Currently I am a software engineer for PopCap Games where you might call me the 'toilet paper' man: my work keeps the back-end for our online social games (read iPhone/iTouch/iPad, Google+, and Facebook) clean and working.

My first G&L is a '97 Cherryburst Legacy Special that is still with me. The G&L collection by now has grown to 34 without ever having sold one off. So she is still with me. With all the competition, she wasn't played a lot until I set her up for 11's which made a huge difference. Wonderful instrument.

- Jos

Your instrument total makes me feel very sensible to only have "several!" BTW, my handle was the result of registering for things in the '90s and needing some sort of word nobody had used already. Being a high school German student at the time, it's the first thing that popped into my head. Sometimes I regret it...

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin, cool that you found your way back.

My name is Scott and i am a professional guitar teacher from up in the Great White North (well Great Green North this year....) I am fairly new around here, only started posting around 9 months ago after lurking for a few. I had 5 G&L's before stumbling on to the board and the collection has quickly grown to 9 - the one that started it all is a mid 90's s-500.



I bought it from a guy in Calgary after a student had brought one into a lesson... His s-500 blew me away, it was what i had wanted my american strat to sound like. I quickly found one and the rest is history....

Its cool that you have been with your wife since you were young, i too met my wife when we were only 16. I moved to LA when i was 18 to attend G.I.T, and when i got back we picked up where we left off. We celebrated our 10 year anniversary this past year and this February we will have been together for almost 20 years! A happy period for me as well, and she certainly deserves the credit

I have 2 little girls, ages 5 and 3, so time on the board is few and far between.... i think there are only 3 places i go online anymore - ebay, NFL.com and here! Welcome back and looking forward to at least reading everything this week Have a good one

Scott

Scott, that's a cool story. Liking the 500, but I get a kick out of that metalflake SC-2 in your avatar, too. So, seeing as how you live in Ontario, why is it NFL.com, rather than NHL.com (or TSN.ca, lol)?

[kakerlak]

Hey Colin, welcome back!
My current gig is director of A/V at a local hotel. The title means I'm a tech that gets to do paperwork too, lucky me
I like the people I work with and that is half the battle any place you work

No nerd camp for me, I opted for eagle camp (Boy Scouts). I did not meet my wife there

No active band for me either right now, every once and a while I get together with some friends to play. These past couple of weeks I've been responding to CL ads for bands but have not gotten a single reply.

That is a sweet looking sc-3, love the earlier mustang body.
I got my first G&L in 2009 (I think?) a 2006 ASAT I bought off of Craigslist. It was actually my second choice, there were none local and the first one I found the guy didn't want to ship. So I bought my second choice and it turned out to be fantastic! Same as you, I judge all other guitars by this one and I have yet to find anything that I like better, G&L's included. Still have it an it's not going anywhere for the foreseeable future


-Dave

Hey Dave, your ASAT reminds me of the maple-board one I sold a couple years ago. It was a really good one. Honestly, blindfolded, I preferred it over the much prettier one that I kept, but it was so run of the mill that I figured it was pretty replaceable...

[kakerlak]

Did my original reply to this thread get removed?

It's a mystery to me what happened.

Well, let's try this again. Colin, I can relate to your job- my first position out of college was that of a Cadastral Cartographer, digital heads up drafting using machines that have less computing power than my smart phone. Now, I own an online vintage muscle car brokerage company, ShowYourAuto.com bootstrapped in 2003. How that chicken crossed the road is another story entirely.

I too am married. We have a "non-traditional" relationship, met in HS, dated through college and married after graduation. Three kids, ranging from 3 to 11, keeps my playing out to twice a month or so. The middle one, age 9, began playing guitar this year.

Colin, your SC-3 one sweet lookin' axe. My first G&L is the Wil Ray signature Tribute Z-3 purchased from the same store I purchased my very first guitar.


WilRay by ShowYourAuto!com, on Flickr

I only wish it cost me $175!

My first USA is the S-500 and I have a Tribby ASAT Delux Carved Top on lay away. I figure I will start my own collection of the rare and significant Leo Era G&L's. An SC-3 is must have on the list!

Hey Jag,
Thanks for taking the time to re-do your post! Those Will Ray Z-3s are cool, but I know better than to think I could learn to use one

[kakerlak]

Although it's one day too late, my first G&L has been the Legacy I still own, and which is still the only one Legacy I've got. I bought it in 2006 from a guy in Germany, whose brother once ran a store for musical instruments. As his brother gave up the business, the guy was allowed to choose one out of several G&Ls. He took the Legacy, but didn't play it or guitar at all very much, so the guitar ended up on Ebay almost like new. I was looking for an ASAT at that time and the Legacy wasn't a major target, but I took the opportunity and I'm happy with it.

<- click

It took me two years of regular search and bidding, until I got the next G&L, it was that ASAT.

<- click

But now I'm holding at 8 G&L guitars and one G&L bass guitar and I'm out of space. So some of my guitars have to live in the case and I have to get rid of not original cases too. Three instruments, not G&Ls, are stored near the rehearsal room, so I could drive there with no instruments.

Miles, what's the story on your triple pickup ASAT. I remember seeing one like it at a guitar show once (prior to it being a model offering). Is yours something somebody hotrodded? Very cool!

[Miles Smiles]

Miles, what's the story on your triple pickup ASAT. I remember seeing one like it at a guitar show once (prior to it being a model offering). Is yours something somebody hotrodded? Very cool!

Yes, as you can see on the picture below, the middle pickup has not been added by the factory. I got the guitar from somewhere around Indianapolis and the auction text said, the modification has been done by a professional. Anyway, with the pick-guard on you can't see.
When I got it, the pickup springs where put over the screws and as far as I remember there were 3 of them, professional?
I glued the springs in the middle of the cavity with hot glue and put some foam in them.

It came with the original 3-way switch and the extra switch did just add the middle pu, so running the middle pu alone wasn't possible. I ended up with a new 5-way and a new mini switch. The latter does swap the middle and the bridge pu on the 5-way. So in one position of the mini-switch I have the 5-way in regular strat behaviour and when I flip the mini-switch, in Positions 1,2,3 (counting from neck) of the 5-way it works like an ASAT with just two pu's (1=neck, 2=neck,bridge, 3=bridge (unused: 4=bridge+middle, 5=middle))

So I can switch from Legacy- to ASAT-mode but can't activate all 3 pickups together, but that's a sound I didn't like.

I hope, that's not too confusing.

[desertrat07]

Hey Colin, Adam here. A day late but wanted to make sure to introduce myself. Although I first picked up a guitar when I was about 13 years old, I only started playing with any clue about what I am doing (and that's debatable) about 6 years ago. My first G&L was a 1981 F-100 that I got off of Ebay. It had a lot of "character" (i.e., knicks and dings and nail polish (yep)) and I couldn't resist the price. After taking it in for a fret level, I was hooked. I had never really heard a guitar that sounded quite like that one. I've since gone through about 8 or 9 electric guitars (G&L, Fender, PRS) and I've arrived at a manageable 4 guitars (all G&L) that all speak to me and my eclectic musical tastes in different ways. Here's a shot of my (almost) current herd (I've since replaced the ASAT Special Deluxe with a 1983 SC-2 - an AMAZING guitar):



Like Zapcosongs, I am mostly a stay at home daddy for my 5-year-old daughter right now and I am also a lawyer (I guess we're two of the smart ones, eh zapcosongs?). I settled a couple of cases last year that put a little bit of change in my pocket, and I took that as an opportunity to spend more time with family and re-evaluate my life's priorities. I've since started a solar power development company and we have our first big deal in the works - we'll be selling solar energy to a local electric utility from a 1.5 Megawatt system that we are going to build and own. It's all been very exciting, lots of ups and downs, lots of opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Looking forward to the rest of your posts this week. Peace.

[kakerlak]

Miles,
that routing job isn't too bad, but I wouldn't call it professional, lol. Still, no real issue with it and a pickguard will always cover it anyway. Pretty neat ASAT and I like the color, too!

Adam,
sometimes photos (my own included) don't make their way past the 'net filter here at work, but I'll be sure to check your out when I'm home later! I notice from your sig that you spun loose of the F-100. I'd kind of like to own one someday. As I recall, they have a uniquely bright, thin sound that has its merits, though they might not be the best all-round utility axe...

I envy you stay-at-home dads (well, the stay at home part at least )

[sirmyghin]

Hey Colin,

Kyle here, I live in Ontario, but I work in BC. I do not have a M-F job, I have a 3 week rotation, 21 days of work, 21 days off as a field engineer on a tunneling project. It is a great one. Being home 21 days at a time is actually a challenge in some ways, hard to keep your days full.

I have my first G&L, I played an ASAT around the time I bought my wife her engagement ring (alls the pity), about 6 months later I had an ASAT special built. It has a very special pickguard which many here have seen, being anodized aluminum with a vine of life laser cut out of it, but I do no currently have pictures online to post. I don't really keep pictures hanging around on this internet thing.

[Muleya]

A day late here, myself! I'm Jonathan and I do mortgage lending for a mid-sized credit union. Married with two daughters, 9 and almost 6. Stopped gigging shortly after my first daughter was born, so you can do the math on that!

My first G&L is the 1998 Legacy I bought used in 2007. Last year I ordered a Legacy HB, which is my second G&L. The first one is the one in my Avatar, but heres a bigger pic: