Thursday Evening Musings, aka L/R for 10/25/12

[zapcosongs]

Well, someone had to do it. We'll be brief, but hopefully, the responses will be fun.

Lunch today was some sliced oriental-flavored grilled chicken from last night in a hot-dog bun sandwich with lettuce, tomato and mayo. Doritos. Apple. Filtered water.

G&L: Set neck guitars: If Leo was alive today, do you think he'd have stuck to bolt-on necks, or do you think that by this time, he would have been (also) building set-neck guitars? What do you imagine he'd think of the Ascari and that other one whose name escapes me at the moment? Should G&L build set-necks in the USA or just abroad?

Non-G&L: For those of you who have been in band situations, have you found it more difficult for you to find a decent, reliable drummer or bass player? Would love to hear some real-life stories here.

Thank you for tuning in. We will now return to our regularly-scheduled broadcast. - ed

[darwinohm]

Ed, thanks for jumping in. The chicken sandwich sounds like something you could open a business with.

Set necks are fine and I think that they are great for sustain but what do you do if you have a bad neck. Leo was the bolt on man and the best there was. I don't think that he would have changed.

Now for the important question of the day:

For those of you who have been in band situations, have you found it more difficult for you to find a decent, reliable drummer or bass player?

No problem Ed! Good drummers and bass players are a dime a dozen but you can't always guarantee they are decent and reliable. Try to find a couple of fine ladies to front the operation and that is wherein the problem lies! We are lucky I must confess as the backup band is old dudes and these ladies keep us going!



-- Darwin

[RickT]

I think musicians by nature are basically unreliable .

I've been lucky with the current band personnel. Both the drummer and the bass player are excellent players and very reliable. We are also fortunate to have a back up drummer for those occasions where our regular drummer has business or personal commitments that keeps him from playing some gigs.

RickT

[blargfromouterspace]

I'd like to see a neck-through G&L.

I find that a good drummer is worth more than a good bass player. A bad bass player might not get every note right which may or may not throw you of depending on whether you hear it or not, but a bad drummer will almost certainly throw an entire bad off. It's not an instrument you can get away with timing issues on either. Still, even the best drummers make mistakes. At a relatively important show we did recently our drummer twice counted us in to wrong songs! That'll throw you every time!

Strangely, every single keyboard player I've ever played with has been not only and utterly fantastic player but a source of inspiration.

[jdavies]

Drummers and bass players - I ended up with my son on drums (who is now an excellent drummer and used to sleep in front of the kick drum during band practice many years ago). My bass player is one of my students who suits our band as he gets the groove right and understands melody having come from saxophone. He also remembers the songs well as we have a lot of them. So I bred one and trained the other from scratch and couldn't be happier.
As far as neck through goes I have a Yamaha SG 1500 that suits me for that style and feel no need to look elsewhere.

Jeremy

[willross]

Oriental chicken sounds good. Set necks are cool, but I can't imagine what Mr. fender would be making now... As for drummers & bass players, I've only had trouble with jobbers... It's hard to make a band let alone keep it together.


Cheers,

Will

[Boogie Bill]

Darwin, you're going to have to stop posting picks of your daughter. She's too beautiful, too talented...for a man of my age with a weak heart!

I don't think Leo would have embraced the set-neck. He was always looking for ways to do things cheaper, faster, better.

I have several set-neck Gibson and Ibanez guitars, and enjoy them immensly. What I don't have is a neck-thru. For some reason, I have never bonded with a neck-thru. Closest I've come would be a Gibson Firebird, but can't seem to pull the trigger on one.

Bill