Jul 24th 09
10 Comments | Posted in Featured Articles, Gear, Gretsch, Guitar, Rickenbacker
The guitar that really pushed me to start taking lessons was my Rickenbacker 330. I’ve wanted this guitar for a while but I honestly hadn’t even thought about it in a long time and I certainly don’t have a need for a new guitar (I think one is enough for most beginners). But, I love guitars and if I could, I’d have a room full of them. Combine that with a history of impulse buying and I quickly became the owner of a new Rickenbacker 330.
I called all the local shops to see if they had one in stock.Only Haight Ashbury Music Center had one, so I headed over to check it out. It was beautiful. I knew once I saw the Fireglow 330 I would be buying it (like I said, impulse buyer). It felt great to play as well, so I bought it.
A couple months after buying it I thought about taking it in to get setup at San Francisco Guitarworks. I had been reading that typically all guitars need a good setup. My initial thought was to not take the Rickenbacker in. After all, they are hand made and inspected before they leave the factory. I would assume that means it should have a pretty good setup already. But, I decided to take it in to anyway at the same time I took in my Gretsch 5120 (which I expected would really need a good setup since it’s a less expensive guitar).
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Jul 21st 09
15 Comments | Posted in Fender, Gear, Gibson, Guitar, Rickenbacker
I dropped by Rocker’s Guitars here in San Francisco today. I’ve been wanting a solid body guitar since my guitars are hollow or semi-hollow. The two I’m thinking about are a Gibson Les Paul and Fender Telecaster. Very different guitars to say the least. I liked them both for different reasons.
The two specific models I was looking at were the Fender Custom Shop Custom Classic Telecaster and the Gibson Les Paul Standard 50’s Neck.
The Les Paul was obviously louder and had a thicker sound and was able to push the amp to the point of distortion.The Telecaster was brighter and had a cleaner less muddy sound but couldn’t get any distortion out of the amp. For the overall feel, I preferred the Fender Telecaster. The neck felt better to me, but that could be because the Les Paul has the thicker 50’s neck. As for the looks, I’ve always loved the sunburst Les Paul.
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Jul 21st 09
4 Comments | Posted in Fender, Gear, Gibson, Guitar
This weekend I’ll be checking out the 4 Amigos Guitar Show in San Rafael California. Hopefully I won’t buy another guitar (I think three for a beginner is more than enough). However, I don’t have a solid body guitar and would love to have one. I know my two weak points will be a nice Gibson Les Paul or Fender Telecaster.
For those in Santa Monica/Los Angeles, the show will be arriving near you the following weekend.
Jul 18th 09
2 Comments | Posted in Gear, Guitar
I just discovered a new guitar magazine at the book store (it’s on the premier issue), Guitar Aficionado. Guitar Aficionado isn’t a typical guitar magazine like Guitar World. This magazine is more a lifestyle magazine who’s main hook is guitars and their collectors.In additional to articles on a collectors and their guitars you’ll see articles about high end watches, fashion and automobiles. You won’t find much in the way of music theory or tabs like you’ll see in other guitar magazines, at least in the premier issue. And that is fine with me. I love guitars, so getting a look into the collections of others is welcome… although it does make me envious.
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