Jul 27th 09
8 Comments | Posted in Featured Articles, Fender, Gear, Gibson, Guitar, Reviews, Vox
When I was looking for an amplifier I knew my price range topped out at $600 and I knew I wanted a tube amp. After looking around a bit I narrowed my choice down to the Vox AC15CC and the Fender Blues Junior amps.
I needed to hear the amps, so I headed to a local Guitar Center to give them a listen.Since I’m a beginner I didn’t feel like I could really get a good idea of what the amps could do since I have a limited range of things I can play (that and I’d be too embarrassed to crank up the volume to get a good listen). So I asked one of the employees to play on the amps (and believe me, this guy could play. I had him playing Blues, Rockabilly and Jazz). As he played we tried out the spectrum of settings on each of the amps. I had him play a Strat and a Les Paul to get different sounding guitars in the mix as well.
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Jul 26th 09
20 Comments | Posted in Featured Articles, Gear, Gibson, Guitar, Lessons
Well, I wasn’t really expecting to add a new guitar to my collection today. I posted the other day I was looking at Les Pauls and Telecasters but I didn’t really plan on getting a new guitar any time soon. But, today was the Four Amigos Guitar Show in San Rafael and I found a guitar and deal I just couldn’t pass up.
I guess it was love at first sight when I saw the 2009 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul 1957 R7 Korina Goldtop Reissue. This is a limited edition run that is made from Korina wood rather than the normal mahogany. I honestly always expected to buy a sunburst Les Paul if I was ever going to get one.
And they had plenty of nice examples at the guitar show. But, when I saw the Goldtop it was all over.
Gibson ’57 Les Paul Korina Goldtop Reissue Electric Guitar Features:
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Jul 24th 09
3 Comments | Posted in Fender, Gear, Guitar, Rittenhouse Guitars
I found out about the Rittenhouse Guitar contest a little too late. I actually found out about the contest the day after it ended. Oh well, I still wanted to post about Rittenhouse Guitars because I really like their looks.
I guess the big thing now days is relic guitars. I thought they looked pretty cool for the most part but figured I’d never actually buy one.
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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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