I’m probably going to be stuck in my office this morning putting out fires. Not the best way to spend part of the day, but a necessary part of the job. I’m sure we all have parts of our job that we really don’t like, except for gw, who just packs it in and takes the band on the road. The best advice I ever heard in regards to dealing with some of the more dreaded tasks at work was to a secretary/clerk. She admitted to hating - absolutely hating - about 20% of her job. Her boss asked why she spent 80% of her time dwelling on the 20% she didn’t like? Get it done and get away from it!
LUNCH:
I’ll probably be home for lunch, unless I get the fires put out early. If I’m here, I’ll probably have a bowl of tomato basil soup. I think we have Campbell’s Select Harvest, or some other low cal brand. It’s pretty good and is good for ya. I’ll add an apple and a big glass of water.
G&L TOPIC:
Short scale necks? G&L wound alnico single coils instead of MFD’s? Breaking the mold? Why not??
I’ve checked in a few times and some of the discussions are almost word-for-word in line with previous discussions on the GbL. When the Tribute series came out, some thought it was a great idea while others felt it signaled armageddon. Our emotions can really take over when we feel passionate about a product/company, etc. The G&L fan base is no different.
While I like my ASAT, that body style is not my first choice. (although I keep buying them and eventually sell them.) My hands always seem to be in the wrong place. I thought about trying a short scale neck to see if that would help, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. It’d be a pricey experiment, for sure. Probably not worth the money.
How do you feel about G&L stepping outside their comfort zone and trying something new? I know there were real mixed reactions to the Ascari and Fiorano, and the passion showed when the discussion turned to the Cort connection. Do you think it’d be worthwhile to try a short scale neck for the ASAT? I believe G&L wound alnico pickups for the JD ASAT, so why not offer an alnico pickup version of the ASAT Classic, or would they just be entering a market that is already flooded with fan favorites? What about a Legacy with a Robin Ranger type set-up? I’m fascinated by that arrangement and could be tempted to pull the trigger on something like this if G&L put together this configuration. Yea, this one is ugly as hell, but imagine a Legacy with an ASAT Classic bridge, single coil middle, and a G&L wound hummer in the neck. Tempting . . . very tempting.
For me, I think companies need to push themselves in new directions to test the waters. It’s about growth and discovering untapped markets, but it has to be well thought out and done with specific goals in mind. Sometimes companies strike gold, while others are scraping dookie off their boots!
NON-G&L TOPIC:
Boo-teek amps? Yesterday we touched on boutique guitars. I thought we might as well talk about boutique amps while we’re here.
I really liked my vintage Fender amps. I had a couple Princeton Reverbs (’68 and ’74), a Deluxe Reverb (’73), and a Vibrolux Reverb (’73). I believe the Vibrolux resides with our own Webmaster Craig.
I was happy as could be with my old Fenders till I drove through Dayton, Ohio and stopped at a dealer to check out the Tribute series guitars when they first came out. Yes, the guitars were nice, but they plugged me into a Carr Rambler and that amp has haunted me ever since! I eventually sold my vintage gear and started a journey that led me through Rivera, Bogner, Mesa, and eventually to Dr Z and Top Hat. I totally dig my Dr Z MAZ-18. Great amp, and very versatile. My Top Hat is kind of cool in that it’ll take 6V6’s, 6L6’s, or EL34’s without having to bias the amp. Pretty handy.
As I recall, we had some interesting amps on the old GbL. Some real interesting vintage gear, some hand wired high end stuff, and I think gw wanted a Two Rock. Not sure if that happened or not. Did you ever get that amp, GDub? I know Jay has some real cool gear from Carr, Chicago Blues Box, Swart, etc, and some vintage Fender amps.
Have you checked out any boutique amps? Got a favorite? Sticking with the vintage stuff, or is a Hot Rod Deluxe more than enough? I know an astounding player here in the Detroit area who owns tons of vintage gear - Marshall, Fender, everything. He’s a gigging professional, studio, union jobs, you name it - he can do it. His gigging amp of choice??? A Hot Rod Deville. Clean headroom, fat sound, and takes pedals like nothing else. I keep telling myself, if it’s good enough for him . . . but I don’t listen!
See you later . . .
Ches
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