As far as other strings go, I can always tell if someone’s using Ernie Balls. I hate the tone they create, no matter what kind of EQing you do to fix it. I used to be an EB user exclusively, but they break or get played out to a dead tone sooooooooooooooooo much quicker than any other string on the market, that I just got fed up one day.

EJ doesn’t hear those things because he babies his ears, it’s because he trains his ears better than most people do. It has very little to do with protecting his hearing, though it helps him CONTINUE to hear that well. Those “cans” are monitors. He’s pumping everything we hear through them… I don’t think they were even noise cancelling.

One last thing: the difference between digital (CDs) and analog (LPs) recordings is so minute that it is beyond the human capability to detect… So you can’t REALLY tell the difference, no matter how good the system is. You’d need sophisticated equipment to detect which is a wave form and which has a mathematical sampling rate.

Then again, I’ve never been the huge fan of his tone.
Sans Direction´s last blog ..How To Not Suck, Chapter 20: Tune Your Ears

Not sure if you ever visited the Gretsch discussion pages or not, ( I just lurk there ) Next month, they are having their ‘get to gether’ this year up in Donner. I guess last year they had it at one of the member’s place in Penngrove (I didn’t know about it then. btw… I’m up here in Santa Rosa. Gonna be working in Fairfax soon tho)

My Gretsches are my favorites, but the Guild is close behind. The GAD-50 is sure a bargan for a solid wood acoustic. From reviews I’ve read, about 1/3 the price of comparable Martins or Taylors. My Black Falcon (production #26) is purportedly one of only 100 that were made for Gretsch’s 100th anniversary and I was told that very few made it to the general public as most went to artists and other VIP. Don’t know if you ever heard of Zone Music in Cotati, but that is where I found her and I plan on keeping her for the rest of my days (of course when I bought it, I didn’t know anything about that)

Here is a link to the posts about the Gretsch get-to-gether -> http://gretschpages.com/forum/meet-greet/2009-gretsch-northern-california-northern-nevada-r/22078/page1/

link to another 7594b -> http://www.gbase.com/gear/gretsch-black-falcon-7594b-1990 (I believe this one is #15 and he has the date wrong, they were made in ‘92)

Your site is great! I came across it from a link on the Guitar Column blog.

Keep on practicin!

That’s quite the collection you have there.

I tried flatwounds on my Gibson ES-175SP and I didn’t really like the feel. They sounded good though. Looks like I’ve got a lot more strings to try out.

Thanks for the comment!

I have a Jay Turser JT-140 White Colonel that I keep Dean Markley Blue Steel 12s on. My ‘92 Gretsch 7594B Black Falcon wears Thomastik Infeld George Benson pure nickel flatwounds (wanting to try Pyramid Gold Flatwounds next). My Guild GAD-50 sounds beautiful with Red Brand Copper 12s (tried at least 6 different brand/types before settling on these) and my newest b-day present, a Gretsch G5135 Corvette has GHS Eric Johnson medium (11s) pure nickel roller wounds. I’m tempted to try flat wounds on this one, but I really like the sound of these strings on her.

For this comparison, I agree, the Rotosounds are the winner.

Thanks for the comment.

Glad you like the new look of the site.

Thanks!

I am pretty wedded to Ernie Balls, myself. I’ve been through a number of different brands of string, but the EB just work for me: they sound great, they feel great, and they last really well. For me, D’Addario, and GHS (Boomers) in particular are the total opposite.

(beautiful graphic makeover, btw)
alittleguitar´s last blog ..The Real Guitar Hero