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gdsmithtx

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  1. Good question. For a good set of HSS pickups, figure a minimum $75 (probably a bit more). Then maybe another $50-$75 to get them installed and the guitar set up after the installation. In perusing the differences between the two models it would definitely be worth the difference to go up to the 112V. First, you get Alnico V pickups, which are the most popular magnets for Strat-style guitars. The 112J has ceramic, which are alright for some applications (high output humbuckers, for instance), but generally don't have as much character and aren't as "sweet" sounding in a single coil pickup. Second, 112V has coil tapping on the bridge humbucker, so that it can have the fuller, more powerful sound of a humbucker, and with the pull of a knob, shut off one of the coils and have it sound more like a traditional Strat-style single coil. Both the bridge and bridge+middle positions will sound different with the coil tap than without, giving you two extra tones from your guitar. Third, the 112V's body is made of solid alder, whereas I believe that the 112J's body is plywood alder. A solid guitar will generally have more natural resonance than one assembled from of plywood, even if it's the same type of wood. Fourth, and this is just personal opinion, with the smaller pickguard showing more of the body and the metal knobs, the 112V looks a little ... classier, or more distinctive I guess. vs
  2. I'm so sorry to hear that, Woody, especially so soon after Lamb Chop left you. Mojo.
  3. at Cochella this year, they "revealed" a hologram of Tupac rapping on stage. That wasn't a "hologram"; it was a "hollagram", bro. I read an article about it interviewing the head geek of the company that produced the spurious Tupac and, while not giving any details, he said it cost between $100K and $400K to do. I'm not a fan of the artist by any stretch, but the video looked pretty cool.
  4. 8. Ry Cooder 22 Mike Bloomfield 23 Warren Haynes 28 Stephen Stills 32 John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service 36 Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MG's 47 T-Bone Walker 58 Dickey Betts 63 Danny Gatton 71 Lightnin' Hopkins 72 Joni Mitchell 73 Trey Anastasio of Phish 81 Derek Trucks People whom i've never heard of are underlined. You should really check out some of those folks you've never heard of. Some truly wonderful artists in that list.
  5. I'll just tackle the top ten... 1. Jimi Hendrix (From a creative perspective, I won't argue this. Technically though, no, not even close..) 2. Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band (Not top ten material) 3. B.B. King (King of the Blues, absolutely, but his guitar skill doesn't warrant the top ten.) 4 Eric Clapton (Similar to B.B., but with better guitar skills.. 4 is about right.) 5 Robert Johnson (Great music, but not top ten guitar skill. Creativity off the charts though, cuz before RJ, guitars just didn't do that.) 6 Chuck Berry (For his era, easily top ten. But not today.) 7 Stevie Ray Vaughan (7 is too low...) 8. Ry Cooder (about right) 9. Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin (Way too low..) 10 Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones (Probably the most over-rated player I've ever heard.) And now, a few "WTF?" moments... 14 Jeff Beck 18 John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers 39 Brian May of Queen 70 Eddie Van Halen 82 David Gilmour of Pink Floyd 85 Randy Rhoads86 Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath 96 Angus Young of AC/DC97 Robert Randolph Obviously, this RS list was compiled by retards... But then, isn't it always? I'm not defending the list -- because quite a few boneheaded decisions went into making it -- but I think you (and many others) are making the mistake of equating position on the list with sheer guitar skill and musical creativity. The list also ranks players by influence and legacy, which is why you see such things as BB King, Chuck Berry and Robert Johnson so high. Ranking Gilmour, Iommi, Van Halen and Angus so low is an absolute travesty, though. On the Duane Allman front, though ... despite his relatively brief recording career, he was one of the most talented, expressive and influential blues-rock guitarists to ever put finger to string. That's a hell of an accomplishment for someone who was mostly self-taught and didn't read a lick of music. Plus, he had beautiful tone and took to slide playing like a fish to water. The Layla sessions and the ABB's At the Fillmore East are transcendent because of him, and his lead work on Boz Scaggs' "Loan Me a Dime" is {censored}ing awesome, with very mature phrasing and sense of pacing/melody for someone only 22 years old. He was a sought-after session player (mostly because of his performances on "Loan Me a Dime" and Wilson Pickett's version of "Hey Jude"), and all the ABB albums he was involved with are touchstones for blues, Southern Rock and jam-band guitar playing. He did all this amazing stuff, and never reached his 25th birthday. Duane Allman is absolutely top 10 material. [video=youtube;oTFvAvsHC_Y]
  6. Thanks for the input. After screwing around with the amp half the night trying to satisfy my curiosity, I guess I have to conclude that the speaker has just finally broken in all the way. In addition to my living room MiM Strat, I tried two other guitars in the same setup (CV 60s Strat and Ibanez SZ520) and all three just sound better on a variety of Mustang I presets, both with and without the Bad Monkey, and through my Rocktron Utopia G300 floor unit. I've discovered that at higher volumes, it doesn't sound as 'farty' as it did before either. I've never seen a speaker take this long to loosen up; I have at least 80 hours of play time on it (though mostly at living room volumes while watching TV, so that may have delayed the break in). What I usually do to break a speaker in is record a few minutes of guitar loop (usually a little 12-bar rhythm and lead) on my Jam Man, then plug it into the amp in an upstairs closet and let it play the loop overnight for several nights. I had purchased the Mustang to take with me on vacation last summer and didn't get a chance to do this to it. I was already pretty damned happy with the Mustang as a versatile little noodling-around-in-the-living-room-while-watching-TV amp, but now I'm even more impressed with it. I had been considering trying to shoe horn a spare Ragin' Cajun 10" into the Mustang, but considering how much better it suddenly sounds, I'm in no hurry. For a $99 amp, this thing sounds stellar.
  7. You're still stoned. And your point is ... ? Seriously, though, I only got stoned hours after the new sound had manifested ... and in fact, the new sound was so nice that I played for 1.25 - 1.5 hrs straight before realizing that it sounded so damned good that I had to stop and investigate why. I have an Ibanez SZ520 (Dimarzio Air Zone/Dimarzio Bluesbucker) that I expect such tones out of, but this is a Strat that sounded nowhere near this phat last night at identical volume levels. WTF?
  8. So I dropped my 9 y/o son off at his friend's house for a birthday party sleepover at 1pm today, and came home and sat down to play: a little Trower ("I Cant Wait Much Longer"], " ], and "I Just Wanna Make Love to You" [in tribute to the immortal Etta James, who died yesterday]). As soon as I struck the first chord, I noticed that it suddenly sounded much better than it had last night ... like 33% better. And I've made no changes whatsoever since I played exactly the same equipment last night. WTF? It sounds so good that I've played for about 5 hours straight. The guitar/amp combo is as follows: G: Red MiM Strat with Toneriders City Limits pups and the Deaf Eddie Fat-o-Caster wiring mod, mostly on Neck, Middle and Neck+Middle settings. The best sound is on the neck pup, with the tone at approx 75-80%. A: Fender Mustang 1 with a little editing of the Mustang presets via Fender Fuse, but I am certain that not one setting has changed since mid-December. I have only a Digitech Bad Monkey between the guitar and amp, but the Monkey's settings (a perfect -- level 92%, gain 8%, bass 38%, high 40%) haven't changed in months. Now I will admit that I got stoned this afternoon, but only after couple of hours of screwing around with this wonderful 'new' sound and experimenting with settings and levels to see of it would suddenly disappear. It didn't. It sounded so good that I've been playing almost continuously for at least the past five hours. The MiM strat was my #1 for a long time, but I recently bought a new 60s CV Strat which is connected to my SCXD in my office. The MiM strat was demoted to the living room, but has still been played pretty much every day through the Mustang 1 since. The notes seem to be louder and have more gain, more 'bloom', and more clarity and presence, but not enough to drive the speakers into early breakup. I've had the amp since last August, and it's been played at least every other day since then, so I'm pretty sure it's not the speaker 'breaking in'. Absolutely nothing that I know of has changed that could alter the guitar sound for the better, let alone to this extent .... yet here it is. What the hell happened?
  9. Ick. It looks like a deformed bird in profile.
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