Well a belated Happy New Year to you all .
I hope this year will be better than the last , should be easy . Actually I don't even think I will have to try and it will be .
Enough of that . Anyways I have had a week with my 2 kids and folks at Noosa .
It is a rare beach for Australia in that it is North facing . The other magnificent beach in Australia ( also North facing ) is at Byron Bay .
Most beaches on this side of the Country face East and are as wild as you could ever imagine .
while we were there the lifesavers a rescued someone who got into strife. Always swim between the flags in Australia.
So my question is where do you holiday a that you would choose over anywhere else in the World?
My next question is inspired by Louis and his disappearance from this great site.He always spoke his mind and I think he was misinterpreted sometimes but he contributed so much. It's always good to be missed when your gone. I miss you Louis !
Does anyone know what happened to him.?
Ever had someone disappear out of your life ? What would you have said to them if you had the chance?
I have no G&L questions , you all know how I love them but I have shacked up with a Mistress lately made by another great Ameraican guitar company . Hehehehehe
Practice hard and live well.
Anthony
Haven't spent much time in Oz but yes you have some pretty mean beaches there.
Louis got reprimanded for a comment he made - got temporarily banned and then chose not to return. Can't say I blame him. His comment was blunt per usual but not particularly nasty - i believe he was actually trying to be helpful but the other party took offence and left. Since this site is Corporate owned the PC Police had to have their way with him....can't say or post anything that might reflect badly upon their image.... Interestingly and perhaps a bit ironical traffic on this site took a big dive right after.
Cheers,
KF
Last edited by Katefan on Mon Jan 20, 2014 1:36 am, edited 1 time in total.
I missed the story of your mistress. What American made guitar would that be?
My choice for vacationing is a ski resort, Squaw Valley in California or Whistler Blackcomb in BC as long as there is plenty of snow.
There is not a trace of Louis online since his last post here as far as I have been able to find.
A good friend moved out of state. I would talk to him on the phone occasionally and we got together when he returned to the area for a week one year. We spoke on the phone a few times after that. He moved again and I lost touch with him. He was adamantly against using computers, email and forums to communicate with people preferring direct contact face to face or via telephone. Someone like that does not produce a blip on the radar and I had tried to track him down several times. At first I found a group photo and mention of his name in an article associated with the business he was in. Over subsequent years I was unable to come up with anything showing a location after his last known address. It had been about 13+ years. Things like People Finder have had time to collect information from sources that do not rely on an individual's activity online. Last month I decided to Google for anything I could find and to my surprise I discovered his death certificate. He had died within a year or so after the time we last spoke. It is particularly weird to me to realize he is no longer alive because I recall the many deep discussions we had about life. Everything to him was a sales metaphor. Those discussions are some of my strongest memories of him. Maybe if I had a chance what I would say to him is, "SOLD!" because he had so much I admired.
I am going to have fresh squeezed orange juice. I don't know about anything else I'll eat yet.
Hey Salmon, firstly sorry your friend is no longer here but you sound like you made the most of your friendship , lucky .
My guitar is a , sorry I'm a tease Rickenbackers have rubbish necks so what else could it be .
Hello Kate fan I have lots of Maori friends who would be happy with your greeting . If my memory serves me well you like Rampage's ????You are very cool , happy to meet you !
Anthony
This site does have a different vibe (and not in a good way) since Louis's departure. I have to admit he rubbed me the wrong way when he started posting here. He could be blunt, but his comments were never attacks or put-downs. I really hated that his departure was over a comment to somebody who only seemed to have come here (IMO) to market his son as an up-and-coming Blues God, and never came back again when we didn't all gush about his kid's playing.
I had a close friend in the Navy who sparked my interest in the field I now work in. We lost touch almost 25 years ago, when I met my wife-to-be and then was transferred to a different ship. I've always regretted losing touch with him. Anyhow, this LR got me motivated to track him down. It turns out he still works in the same profession, and we hold the same certification. I just found his email address in our certificant roster, and sent him a message. Hopefully I'll hear back in a day or two...
Good day Anthony! I have been munching on different things this morning so it will probably be dinner tonigh before I get serious.
Ken said
This site does have a different vibe (and not in a good way) since Louis's departure. I have to admit he rubbed me the wrong way when he started posting here. He could be blunt, but his comments were never attacks or put-downs. I really hated that his departure was over a comment to somebody who only seemed to have come here (IMO) to market his son as an up-and-coming Blues God, and never came back again when we didn't all gush about his kid's playing.
I am afraid that this may have a lot of truth. I miss the activity and I think that after all was said and done the person who was promoting his son was in and out of here like a tornado. Kind of a one hit wonder. That is my interpretation of a troll. There have been others who appeared, are experts on a lot of everything, sling some hot facts and are gone as quickly as they appeared. I am a relative newbie but it seems to me that this forum has been self sustaining by the members for years. It has been a great technical forum with members who have a lot of knowledge. Craig has also been a terrific ( and seems to be the best ) interface to the factory. If the forum gets much slower, most of the technical support offered here could be lost. I would be curious if G&L is prepared to handle that. There have been several new members recently and have had questions and received answers. I guess that time will tell what is really needed form this forum and I am afraid that we members need to let that be known. It is G&L, who in the end, decides the importance of all this anyhow. I check in on the Grosh forum now and then and there is very little activity but their sold numbers are much lower than G&L. They are very civil and share their love of Grosh instruments and do some tech talk.
Anthony, I am at a time in my life where the greatest place for me is home. I had traveled for business for years and became so tired of it that I didn't want to fly anywhere anymore. I have had too many airport delays and whatever. A few years ago, after a return from Sweden when our passports had been stolen, I told Ginny when the plane hit the runway that this was my last landing. The feelings haven't changed. When I travel now, it will be in our van or my Gold Wing.
In reviewing this post, it probably seems negative to many coming from the happiest guy in the world. Winning the lottery could boost that happiest to even happier ! -- Darwin
Darwin, this forum is a treasure, contributors like yourself and the involvement of Craig make it so.
In my experience, it's unique among guitar-based forums; it's calm, respectful, well-informed and generous; while the great majority of the others are crippled by the prevailing arrogant, ignorant insecurity that has tragically infected enthusiast-level musicianship (marketing departments, magazine publishers, youth-enthusiasm-exploiters, you know who you are). The G&LDP is a godsend.
It means a lot to me, remote here in England from the USA guitar world, to be able to be part of such a good knowledge / wisdom / discussion pool.
I discovered G&L instruments, for my own use, relatively late in life (in my 50's) almost by accident when I was looking for a B-bender instrument and came across a Will Ray.
The instruments are "expensive" here in England, but not out of proportion to the alternatives. I am super-impressed with G&L. They have prioritised what is really useful, superbly.
I've spent an entire pro lifetime in music, the second half of that pretty much at the top end, and although I've only contributed occasional guitar of my own, I've had the pleasure of working intimately as an engineer with many wonderful musicians, and learning from them.
All the while, I kept my own "guitarism" alive whenever I could, using the usual suspects, but G&L's instruments really do address all the issues of "how to make it better" that I have found in my life's experience of electric guitar.
Two more new G&L's will be joining my little gun-cupboard soon. They will be far better than what I would have ended up with had it not been for:
That Will Ray, for an intro,
and
All the generously offered information on what can really be had from G&L, that is available here at G&LDP.
Otherwise, I simply wouldn't have been equipped to make the best choices. I repeat, it's a treasure.
Since you asked Salmon.
Got to love a Blonde Mistress. I had to have a stop tail piece so that rules out 1965 to 1981 ish. And forget about 58- 64 unless you want to pay big bucks. Actually G&L made some of the best guitars in history in the 80's so I was inspired to try a Gibson from the 80's. I met the original owner in a car park and when I saw it had a one piece mahogany neck I knew I had to have it. Gibson have some weird necks maple, 3 piece maple, 3 piece mahogany or like mine 1 piece Mahogany. A lot of people don't understand how much of the tone comes from the neck.
I bought it as a Christmas present , figured it was a good way to look after myself.
That's awesome you've been inspired to find an old friend. You absolutely made my day when I read that.
Well said Darwin, as always.
And Nick, it certainly is a treasure. This place needs everyone to contribute MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As Joni Mitchell sang so well. You don't know what you got til its gone.
I love the blonde 335. I bought my first 335 new about four years ago. The color is called Antique Sunburst, with a very flamey top. I've been wanting a blonde for quite some time--fueled a little bit more each time I see one of Paul McCartney's guitarists use one. I finally got a very slightly used one late 2012, and it is drop dead gorgeous, with a slightly fatter neck than the AS. Then in May of 2013, I got a really good deal on a Vintage Sunburst from the Seattle Guitar Center. This guitar had been dropped in the store and had a broken headstock that had been repaired. I spent a few dollars more to have the repair touched up a bit cosmetically. This one might be the "Baby Bear" model--everything seems to be, "Just right!"
I used to have an Iced Tea c. 1970 ES-330, and that was a really sweet guitar, and one I really regret selling--I loved those P-90s. I also had a similar vintage ES-150DCN in natural. Like the 330, it was hollow but a thicker body and thus prone to feedback. The guitar had some problems with intonation, too. I finally traded that for my first Music Man Sabre II--a horrible trade money-wise, but the Sabre was a much better guitar.
I also have my Artstar AS-120TR (Transparent Red). These were MIK, and the workmanship is top notch. I bought this one off EBay for $450, and it was a great value. The neck is very similar to the Gibson 1960 Slim Taper, but it's the pickups on this guitar that really excite me. They're the Ibanez Super '58s, and they are a wonderful vintage sounding pickup. They have more clarity than the Gibson Classic '57, but are still warm and versatile. And finally, I also have a late 1970's Hondo 335 clone that I bought for $140 back about 1995. It is set neck with a fantastic profile, and I think DiMarzio PAF pickups. Great playing and sounding guitar, but it needs a rewiring job done--probably not worth the money, and not a high priority at the moment. These were not cheap copies either, the list on this one was $1000, back when a 335 was about $1200. Cool guitar.
So I have a real fondness for the 335 family, and in my current band, that are a perfect compliment to my G&L Legacys, S-500s and the Comanches.
As for Louis, I won't pretend to know the whole situation. But I do think some of his responses to my posts were rude and uncalled for, and I'll leave it at that. As far as I'm concerned, I think Craig acted appropriately, and I will back him 100%.
In November, I discovered that one of my old girlfriends had passed away, of a brain tumor. We were no longer close, but there are some things I wish I could have said to her before she passed. And a few days ago, I heard of one of my old college buddy's passing. I guess I am getting to be that age....
Anthony,that Gibson is a cool guitar and you were lucky to find it. In the picture with the Stop tail removed, were you just changing strings or did you have to do some other work? -- Darwin
Hey Darwin . Good question mate.
This guitar is almost perfect .
This guitar is all original including the frets. You can tell because Gibson has the binding nibs over the frets themselves.
The original owner didn't want to change the frets because this thing has the lowest action ever. It's just a great versatile guitar . Funk , blues . Rawk. Anything
When I took the photo I was just investigating it , I pulled all the parts off and had a close inspection . I put some fingerboard lube on the rosewood board .
It has the quite acclaimed Tim Shaw pick ups. Tim was a Gibson engineer who had a brief to copy the old P. A. F pick ups.
Gibson always reserved the best wood for Blondes .
Anthony
Hey Bill, yes when ever you shag someone you have a closeness even if you grow apart .
I'm sorry to hear of your friends passing .
I guess it's best to tell people things when you have the chance .
I am getting on the phone after this and chat to some long lost friends.
BTW I am also incredibly interested in every post of yours.
You may be old but you my friend are very wise.
As for Blondes I'm hoping to get away from chasing blonde woman. There just always been trouble for me.
Thanks
LeoF The Champion wrote:
BTW I am also incredibly interested in every post of yours.
You may be old but you my friend are very wise.
As for Blondes I'm hoping to get away from chasing blonde woman. There just always been trouble for me.
Thanks
LOL! I might be old, but I'm not dead yet. But you are right my friend, blondes are ALWAYS trouble!
Hi Anthony , I miss Louis too .....he seemed to have had most of the answers to my stupid questions , yes he was rough on the edges but I really looked forward to his opinion and knowledge , the guy has tried every amp and pick up ever made ...lol .... I miss his input , I even learned from the actual post that got him in trouble , now when I practice I make sure my fingers aren't to far away the finger board and relax my hands more instead of the death grip I used to use ...lol ..... I appreciate all of your guy's input
