Used or Vintage? Player's Vintage?

Gibson recently posted a piece about distinguishing the difference between vintage, player's vintage, and used guitars. This is an always ongoing battle in the buyers market so I thought others may find this interesting.

Click the link and have a read.

Gibson Tone Tips #35

Who doesn't love a pedalboard?

I spent the better part of weekend...ok an entire weekend...building a new pedalboard with my dad. It was a good time, especially since it was some quality time with my old man. The pedalboard came out awesome and I couldn't be happier with it (unless it was bigger of course).

Before we built it we looked though a huge thread from The Gear Page to get some ideas. This thread is a lot of fun to sift through because you get a lot of cool ideas, learn about a lot of cool, and start crafting big dreams in your head.

Anyway, have a look for yourself.

The Gear Page Pedalboard Thread

Gibson Custom Shop

Do I think Gibson makes the best stuff in the world nowadays? No. Do I still like Gibson in general? Yes. Are they iconic and thus always keeping us curious? Yes. Below you can find a link to the Gibson Custom Shop blog. It's pretty interesting to see what's going on at that shop regardless of your views on their current state of existence.

Gibson Custom Shop Blog

New Feature!

I've been doing a lot of searching on the web for various weird pieces of gear. Ryan and I have been discussing how fun it is to see what cool, unpopular things you can discover via ebay or message boards. We talked about starting up a game where we'd look for dirt cheap effects on Ebay and buy them in hopes of discovering a completely unknown gem at a great price, because let's face it, even legends like us need to save a few bucks.

(DISCLAIMER: Ryan and I aren't really legends...yet)

So that got me thinking...which is always dangerous as the cliche goes. As mentioned on the blog many times before, the hunt for gear is one of my favorite parts. Don't get me wrong, playing it is just as fun, if not more. I look at it as two completely separate things. If I could find things on the internet and buy them all day long to have ultra cool gear, I would but I simply can't afford it even if my every day schedule allowed for me to do this. So how can I make this love for scouring the depths of the e-world worthwhile? My guitar blog!

Most people bidding or negotiating for goods on the internet don't like their auctions "blown up" but oh well. I am going to start posting up Ebay auctions, message board posts, Craigslist listings, etc... that I just find interesting or think someone should actually go for. Basically it will be things that I would love to have but don't need, can't afford, or don't want but still think is cool and someone else may like to be exposed to it. It could also do a few sellers a favor here and there.

Keep your eyes peeled for a cool listing or two. The intent is to briefly write something up on why I posted the link, but at the least you'll receive the link and go from there.

If you are looking to sell something, get in touch with us (billsguitarblog@gmail.com) and if it meets our criteria we have at that exact moment, we'll work on posting it up on the blog. Maybe it isn't much but at least it's a free advertisement for you. Also, if you happen upon anything cool you think the music e-world might finder interesting, send it our way as well and we'll work on getting it up on the blog.

So let's start with our first "listing." My latest searches led me down the path of the Crowther Audio Hotcake. There are multiple versions of this pedal (Standard, Bluesberry, and Double) and different variations of each over the years. If you do the least bit of research, you will quickly find that it is a highly revered pedal and highly sought after. I won't go into much detail about the pedal itself because I want to give it its own write up soon but Google it and have a look. You can find a few being sold on HarmonyCentral.com or TheGearPage.net as well as Ebay. The Ebay prices are a bit high, but it's a rare pedal and moderately hard to come by. The Ebay prices reflect the ease of search. They did the work for you so you have to pay the price. Hardwork in searching outside of Ebay will result in MUCH better prices. The prices still aren't terrible on Ebay considering it's a handmade pedal made by the man who invented it back in the '70s. Paul Crowther makes them all by hand in his own kitchen...in New Zealand. Good luck finding one at your local shop, and if you do, buy it on sight.

Here are some links:
Ebay
Some other pretty cool effects mixed in here in addition to the Hotcake:
Harmony Central Classified

RIP Les Paul - Legend of All Music

Today marked the death of an icon in the passing of Les Paul. Everyone made a big deal about Michael Jackson passing away and how big his impact was on music worldwide, but how much did he really contribute compared to Les Paul? Les Paul is arguably responsible for modern music as we know it.

Up until Les Paul's irritation of the lack of volume from guitars, the world did not have the machine that is the electric guitar. After having a desire for bigger volume and projection, Les Paul went to work on trying to different methods of amplifying his guitar. His final creation resulted in guitar strings on a board which ended up being the birth of the electric guitar. I could go on for days about this story, but I just want to make sure people realize he is/was more than just a signature on a Gibson guitar.

Also, do some research and you will find that Les Paul was a major player in the creation of multi-track recording and tape echo. I read the article of his passing today and they explained his method to accomplish multi-track recording and it was really quite amazing for that time. As I read, the story goes that this "invention" was born out of a tape recorder he received as a gift from Bing Crosby. There's a story for you. This man was clearly a genius, enough said.

Les Paul's legacy will obviously carry on for quite some time. He is as important to all the music that we love as the Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion...ok maybe not Celine Dion (I'm only kidding). Gibson made him the signature Les Paul in the 1950's and so many of us are still playing them to this day as a major staple in all of music. Every genre with performed music will see the Les Paul in its presence and will continue to for years to come.

Rest in peace Les Paul, we will all remember, appreciate, and honor you for years to come. If you have one, make sure to play your Les Paul tonight in his honor.

New Hit Counter

I suspect something went a little funny with my original hit counter. At the moment, I don't have huge amounts of traffic hitting the page but one day my counter jumped by the hundreds. I have been unable to troubleshoot the issue so far so I added a second counter.

Until I can find more detail as to what happened, I am going to leave both hit counters up. I don't either are EXACT right now, but the lower number is probably more accurate. How did I come up with the starting number for the new hit counter? I had an idea of what my hits were before I set up a statistical analysis page for the blog so I used that number in addition to the number of visitors according to my analytics page. It's not exact but extremely close. Close enough to get the point.

Thanks for reading. Keep stopping by and passing the blog to any of your friends, peers, family, etc... that may find it interesting.

-Bill

Line 6 DL4 Delay Modeler

I have had the Line DL4 Delay Modeler in my rig for around 6 months now. As far as effects and versatility are concerned, it's an absolutely stunning machine. Durability isn't necessarily so great on it. Anyway, I'll write more on it some other time. For now, he's a really cool demo of it. I would love to be able to use it to the potential this guy is using it at. My delay usage isn't as "prevalent" at the moment, but who knows what the future holds?

BrightER Future?

Last weekend was a pretty big one for me. May 22nd was my fiancee Sarah's birthday and my band had a headlining show at the Elbo Room in Chicago. It was a very exciting and eventful day and I couldn't be happier with how things were going. I brought out my two most faithful guitars, the "Big Red" Gibson ES-355 ('97 Historic series with Bigsby) and my '96 Honeyburst Les Paul Standard. The 355 sees the bulk of the playing time as my number one so it's always important that it is well maintained. As I was playing a lead on one of our songs, the high E string popped out of the saddle so I basically was down to five strings for the rest of the song. No big deal, popped it back after the song and re-tuned. Then it happened again in the next song. Fast forward a week, mix in the day job duties and that brings us to Friday night (May 29th).

Tonight, Friday, May 29th is the night before my band's gig at the House of Blues in Chicago (shameless plug/brag) and I haven't been able to tend to fixing up the saddle on "Big Red." I called my good friend, Eric, during the day and asked if I could come over to his house (he lives across the street, longtime family friend, full blown wood shop in his basement, fellow guitar enthusiast/blog reader,recreational guitar luthier, etc...) and use his tool/workshop to work on this saddle. In all my tool glory, I don't have any files small enough for the job. We looked the guitar over, assessed that there was an awkward double notch in the saddle, headed down to the shop, five minutes later it was fixed and good as new. But I ended up spending around two hours at Eric's house (sorry Tina and newborn Owen).


(Big Red right after I received it.)

If I'm outright honest, Eric and I are two dorks, nerds, whatever you want to call it. We both have a lot of goofy hobbies, some relating skills, and not enough free time. Although we share this similarity, we are both at very different stages in our lives. Eric is well established in his career and married with a wife and two kids, although, he's still pretty young relatively speaking so don't get the idea that he's old and slowing down by any means. I'm a just out of college, getting married in September and looking to get my first place with my fiancee as well as just getting established in my "day job" career. Believe it or not, Bill's Guitar Blog and the band don't pay the bills yet! Regardless of these "differences," Eric and I both share a HUGE passion for guitars and a lot of similar views.

Eric and I are currently in the process of building replica Gibson Non-Reverse Firebirds in the workshop and we were reflecting on our progress in the project. First, let me tell you that these guitars are coming out REALLY nicely and we're both really excited about them. Once we reach a good write up point, you'll have one. Now during our reflecting period, we were remembering what the guitar industry used to be like in terms of brands, stores, quality, culture, etc... Even considering prior to the hard economic times, the guitar world was diminishing and it was a shame then just as it is now. As I said in a previous entry, the internet is drastically altering the guitar world. There are a lot of great parts to the culture that have died or are in the process of dying and we both miss that. We were thinking about how much we love anything and everything involving guitars and how we wish there was so much more for us to do with it on a daily basis. Ultimately, we both have dreams and hope to some day be able to realize some of them. Who knows if we will, but it's fun to dream.

There's a lot more to that story, but that's not the interesting part I took from the whole visit. As I said, Eric and I are different but really, we aren't worlds apart. More or less, just different stages of life. But the guitar world is full of all walks of life. Whether or not everyone agrees on everything is a different issue, but they all can cross paths. A big focus on our conversation was the audience that all the guitar forums reach and one has to think that these audiences cover every demographic imaginable. Guitars are really a universal obsession and it's a beautiful thing. In "the old days," there were more reasons for all of these people to cross paths harmoniously, but that has disappeared over the recent past. See my post about the Chicago Guitar Show. These shows used attract every demographic but are now flooded with about one type of person. There are exceptions to every rule mind you, but I will let you decide what you think the general audience of these shows might be. You don't see 17 year old death metal players crossing paths with 70 year old players like you used to. I'm not saying those interactions were always pleasant, but they were possible.

I worked at a small guitar shop in high school and the most fun part was the different people you would come across. True, there were quite a few negative interactions, but there were a lot of amazing ones and I met a lot of amazing players and people. One memory that I still vividly recollect was when this jazz player from the city came in with his goofy custom jazz guitar one Saturday. He was in his mid to late 60's, African-American, weathered, and amazing. This guy had been playing the clubs downtown Chicago since his 20's and had stories for days. It was amazing to just sit and listen to his tales. He also taught me lot of concepts and techniques I had never seen before and was very inspiring. Anyway, then he plugged into a Vox AC-15, totally nonchalantly, and just started jamming. There was just something in the way he played every note and how they all came through the amplifier that told all his stories just as well. You could just tell that this guy lived life and every experience he ever had somehow came out in his playing. It was amazing! My boss took out his 1942 Gibson acoustic and started playing along with him. It was, and still is, the best piece of playing I have ever witnessed in my life. I never saw or heard from that guy again but the lessons he taught me that day and the experience he gave me will always be with me.

This guy was so nice to me and so interesting. Since that encounter, I can't remember a single time I have come across anyone like that. The face-to-face culture isn't as intimate and friendly as it used to be and it's becoming more and more difficult to immerse yourself in the guitar and music culture. I will say that it's absolutely brilliant having anything you need to find at your fingertips vi the web, but it will never be the same. There just isn't the same sense of romance. I understand that this blog can be considered exactly what I'm talking about, however, I consider this blog a mere reflection of my thoughts or my personal day-to-day experiences. I want it to motivate people to immerse or re-immerse themselves into the guitar culture.

Ultimately, Eric and I decided that we are making an effort to revive the old days of a fun, well-rounded guitar culture. Maybe it will just be a small circle of us, but it will be better than nothing. Hopefully you readers will come along for the ride, or at least enjoy following it.

Now, I'm going to go play "Big Red" for a little bit and then head to bed. Big day tomorrow! I get to play at the WORLD FAMOUS House of Blues!

Thanks for reading!

Chicago Guitar Show

Imagine, if you will, a place where guitar players, collectors, buyers, sellers, and dreamers can all come together and feel like they are in a place that only their imagination would be able to create. This is a place I was supposed to be entering this past Saturday as I attended the Chicago Guitar Show with my good friend, Eric. It was a mere $15 just to enter the venue so chances are that this event means business and is no small order for a guitar enthusiast.

Upon entering the show from its single point of entry, I was immediately face to face with the famed guitar dealer, Chicago Music Exchange (CME). Do your research on these guys and you will see that they are highly coveted all over as one of the top vintage guitar dealers (you will find a special shout out to them as well in the liner notes of the most recent U2 album). Though I feel I understand the purpose, I was actually very disappointed with CME’s representation at the show. I’m sure the company would prefer to keep their hottest items in their store on a nice Saturday afternoon in Chicago rather than a showroom in the far western suburbs, but I think they could have brought out much better guitars for the consumer than they did. I would be surprised if they had more than a dozen guitars on their two card tables they had set up. Frankly, this was a good representation of what I would see at this show as the afternoon went on.

In the good old days of the guitar world, the shows were where the enthusiasts would come to find parts they needed, high quality vintage guitars, rare equipment, etc… Though a lot of this was to be found at the show, the prices were unrealistic and it appeared to be more of a museum than a place for someone looking to buy. There were a few booths of small luthiers making nice instruments but the rest was overpriced show pieces that seemed to be more of an attempt to show off collections than anything else.

First let’s address the topic of the people working the booths at this event. I was fairly disappointed in the friendliness of the vendors. They all looked bored and like they didn’t want people to look at their gear they had on display. It should be noted here that there are exceptions to every rule, but there seemed to be two types of people. The first was the vendor who didn’t say a word to you or make eye contact unless you engaged them first. At this point, they would be perfectly friendly and semi-helpful. The other type of person found in the vendors was someone that wanted nothing to do with anyone and was merely waiting to pack up and go home. The whole point of this event is to have your product seen and make money so I found the lack of salesmanship surprising and disappointing.

The exception? There was a HUGE booth set up toward the West side of the building and they had a lot of really nice guitars and basses. Also, they were very friendly as you entered and exited their area. The most impressive part was the cause they were representing. The vendor was handing out fliers (I lost mine) for a program to help war veterans get into music. All donations go to providing free instruments and lessons to veterans of the American military. The vendor was more concerned about pushing this cause than they were about selling their instruments which I found extremely admirable.

As far as the products, so many of the instruments and prices were really an insult to the audience and a true shame to see. Two guitars specifically jumped out at me and they were both 1973 Les Paul Customs (black). The prices were about $1200 and $1700 if memory serves. Upon spotting these two guitars, I was ready to whip out the checkbook and buy both on the spot. However, I have learned that if it’s too good to be true then it most likely is. Sure enough, the $1200 guitar was pretty beat up and Eric and I found a pretty serious repair at the neck joint. Based on the extent of the repair, the guitar had to have had a refinish. Also, the guitar looked terrible once you got up close and it all came together. On top of the $1200 for the guitar, you would have had to probably put in at least $2000 of professional work to make it respectable again. The $1700 guitar was even worse. It had MASSIVE cracks in three places through the body as well as the worst refinish job anyone has probably ever tried to spin off as a acceptable. The entire guitar had an extremely gritty feel to it in the paint and the genius who painted it didn’t understand how to use painter’s tape apparently. The control covers one the back were painted over and there were paint runs all down the body in addition to the white binding on the guitar. Again, the buyer would be looking at $2000+ to make this guitar moderately worth their while. The sad thing in both of these guitars is that the quality wasn’t even close to the “adjusted” prices that were set for their imperfections. I would have to believe that these were an investment gone wrong and the seller was just trying to stay out of the red on them.

Not all was bad at this show. I did see quite a few nice guitars and a few good deals. There was a lot of stuff I liked and was very impressed with but I just wasn’t in the market for. A vendor had a very impressive G&L lineup for good prices so that was nice to see. I also saw a rare light burst 1966 (I believe, don’t quote me on the year) Gibson non-reverse Firebird for around $4500. I haven’t seen too many of those and the price was fair. Wouldn’t mind adding that one to my collection.

What about effects, parts, and amps? There were parts here and there but I would say there two parts booths that stole the show. In retrospect, I wish I grabbed their cards. One booth had all sorts of replacement parts for all generations of gear and a little bit of vintage parts scattered in. Another booth just had loads and loads of vintage parts. Prices were decent. The vintage parts market is pretty difficult to really put prices on. Basically, it comes down to the buyer paying whatever they feel necessary to finish off that ongoing project or really make that vintage guitar scream. There were a few amps and cabs, but really not too much to choose from. It truly was a GUITAR show. Fair enough.

All in all, I wasn’t all that impressed. Yes, there was a lot of impressive stuff to be seen, but at the end of the day there were a lot of outrageous prices and just more and more of the same selection. I was talking about it with my dad over dinner and we discussed how much the internet has changed the guitar market. In today’s world, we can just jump on the internet and find better quality for lower prices. In the old days, these guitar shows were the only access that buyers had to the vintage market outside of the local stores but that has changed. It’s a double edged sword really. As consumers, we have such an advantage in getting truly great instruments at great prices but the good old days of the hunt, meeting new people, and handling the guitar before purchasing seem to be dying out. I do my best to keep it alive within myself, but I feel this World Wide Web thing completely grabbing hold of me. Try and do what you can to support a local “Mom and Pop” guitar store now and again and go back to the roots. It most likely won’t replace the internet for you but it can help keep the spirit alive. Who knows how much longer the “Mom and Pop” world will survive.

Interesting Gibson Youtube Video

Last night I went and saw the band formerly known as the Grateful Dead, The Dead, with my dad and I was fortunate to see Warren Haynes playing guitar and singing with the band. Needless to say, I was blown away. I have been looking around Youtube watching some videos of him tonight and came across this one. It talks about his signature Les Paul and what went into the building of it and why he chose what he did. It's a good video for us guitar geeks who like to break down all the components of the instrument.

Anyway, I really found it interesting so I thought the rest of you may as well. I wish I had one of these!