Etienne Rambert

Aren't some of those lyrics wrong? Sun coming out in the middle of June... That correction is clear from the vocal. Less clear, but more logical is this one: Hearts full of motives painted green (Get it? Green with envy?) But I admit, the singer sounds like he says "motors". Maybe he means the engines of envy. Or maybe, as I suspect, he says "motives". I don't care about the meaning. This is one of the best and most poetic lyrics to come from the British Invasion. I consider it one of the best orchestrations (outside Petula Clark/Tony Hatch collaborations) of the British Invasion as well. This song for me, is a work of genius. I understand the singer and author had some problems later in life. He went to jail. He deserved to go to jail. But this is a magnificent piece of Pop songwriting. His work stands the test of time. I'd trade the entire 60's British Rock catalog for this one. I think in every respect, the lyrics, the vocal, the eerie string orchestration, it's a Pop masterpiece. And it was too good for the Pop audience of that day. And it's too good for the audiene of our own time. But it still sounds lovely, doesn't it? AFAIC, Dylan, Leonard Cohen or Lennon/McCartney never wrote a better set of lyrics. Cohen now & then might have had a better orchestration though. But not very often. Thanks for posting this gem Rasputin.

I don't think the Harmony double pickguard is ugly. At least, it's not nearly as ugly as this. That one reminds me of That Girl's Mother. It's not as ugly as this Yammie: The Yamaha in silhouette, reminds me of That Hot Girl. It's not as ugly IMO as the Blueridge. The Blueridge reminds me of That Girl's Toilet Seat.* (*I don't want to imply that I've ever been sniffing around That Girl's toilet seat. I don't want to imply that I wouldn't either, back in her prime. As long as it was her fragrance - and not her husband Phil Donahue's, I wouldn't have ruled it out.) The Harmony is not as ugly IMO as this Mickey Mouse Ears custom job either: In fact, it's my opinion that Harmony was not competitive in the ugly pick guard sweepstakes.

I always think "That Girl" when i see one of those guitars. I'm an old fart. I remember "That Girl". That girl had a nose job. John B: "Of which Elvis's entirely leather-clad acoustic stage guitar must have been the pinnacle of, I would assume. " We had a thread about that guitar recently. Some of us speculated it was the guitar used on "Marie's the Name of His Latest Flame". Others speculated reasonably, that it was just Black Diamond flat-wound strings that created that strum sound. I don't know. I know I can't get that tight, compressed sound out of any acoustic guitar I've ever played. It's all attack -- almost no release. NupAWDO6axE . Elvis had a leather-covered J-200 too. I never thought his leather-covered guitars were ugly. That's just my opinion. Gaudy maybe. But that's what Elvis was all about. I think it looks cool. I just think $9,000 is a bit steep. The Martin Wagonmaster for $5000 OTOH? That pick guard is 100 proof distilled ugly IMO. I watched an old Hammer film, "Scars of Dracula" on DVD last night. That pick guard reminds me of the bat in that flick.

And a late entry from Blueridge: Definitely ugly. Is it a prize-winner? Here's another color-coordinated stunner from Gibson's design team.You can buy it at MF. Gibson is a veteran in these competitions. In fact, a cottage industry has sprung up around the Gibson tradition. If you don't think your Gibson pick guard is ugly enough, you can customize one to make it even uglier. It's just my opinion, but I'd say that Team Gibson is the New York Yankees equivalent in ugly pick guards on acoustic guitar competitions. Can Blueridge compete with Gibbys or Martin's Wagonmaster? It looks like Guild simply can't compete anymore. TAH nominated this Guild's pick guard in an earlier thread. He said it's both ugly and useless. He's right. But this is a minimalist approach to ugliness. Guild is getting timid. It is definitely not competitive in this competition. Guild can't even manage to make a double pick guard ugly. Here is their lame attempt at ugliness on a double-pick guard model. But taking up Guild's slack is Yamaha. This looks like the Batmobile tribute model.

wooglins: "How about this one?" Wow! That silver pattern would look good if it were a tight dress on a shapely woman. It looks like a time-warp vortex on a natural Spruce top of a dreadnought. I almost expect a spaceman to emerge from it and say "Klaatu, Barata Nikto". Martin is coming on strong late in the game! I thought Gibson had a lock on this competition. Not anymore. I'm not giving my vote away. But that Porter Waggoner D-41 fills me with sheer horror. I thought it was Martin's Count Dracula's tribute edition. From what I've seen it comes down to Martin's Wagonmaster and this:

Gibson has always had championship-caliber ugly red pick guards. But for some owners, one ugly red pick guard is insufficient. So they buy a second after market pick guard, to ugly it up some more. After looking at these pick guards, I think the mustached bridge actually looks beautiful. Martin is a late-entrant into the competition. But I'm not counting them out. This custom pick guard on a D-28 is at least as ugly as the others - maybe more. Can that truly be a pick guard? Or do I have it wrong? It looks like a blister on the wood. --- Wow! Martin is coming on strong late in the match! Oh the horror! The Porter Waggoner Wagonmaster D-41. And that one is stock baby!

Just in time for Guild to enter another guitar into the competition. Thus far, it looks like it's down to either Gibson or Guild. Can Gibson top that? I think Gibson is dominating in the ugliest white pick guard category.

millenium 03 - I really like the finish on that front guitar. -- Here are 2 new additions: Guild F-65 1999 Westerly, Rhode Island Guild 1976 D-40 also made in Westerly, Rhode Island If Biz keeps up like it is - one of these days -- I'll get a D-55.

Fred Fartboski: "Nice! Was that one made by one of your local luthiers?" Yeah. Same guy I usually buy from. Or at least the same shop. With the Kent Armstrong floating p'up, the archtop really kicks *ss. W/the Schallers, it stays in tune extremely well. I'm getting an Ebony wood tailpiece for it pretty soon. BUT..I am not happy about one thing. For some stupid reason, somebody put 2 fret dot markers on the 9th fret! They should go on the 12th fret. It's a real pain too because the fret marker dots aren't just painted on. They're lightly pressed into the bone binding. So you can't just erase one dot and paint one elsewhere. So I had him put 3 dots on the 12th fret. But it's still not right. I'm thinking of having the neck binding pulled and replaced just for these stupid fret marker dots. That's Vietnam for you. They do amazing work with their hands and make stupid mistakes with their heads. Notwithstanding any of that, this is a $1200 guitar easy! I paid $390 including Kent Duncan and Schallers. An Aussie importer ordered 5 just like mine. He is selling them straight from the shop w/o p'ups, w/o pickguards, w/ Korean tuners for $800 USD. He paid $200 each for them. (I paid $250 for mine before the p'up & tuners). He told me they're all sold too. It's the best guitar I've ever bought over here. Action is smooth as silk. It's an awesome archtop.

Those are two fabulous-looking Taylors. I'm sure they play as sweet as they look. My latest addition: (Solid Mahogany-Ebony fretboard & bridge. Brass tailpiece. I'm replacing the tailpiece with an Ebony wood model. People fall in love with this guitar. The results are in. Bargirls love it better than my other two guitars. And it looks so sweet in their laps when they're trying to play it. I'm happy to give lessons too, more or less free of charge.)

What I left back home in Louisiana:

Current setup in Saigon: Solid Mahogany Archtop (Kent Duncan p'up & Schaller tuners) IR/Cedar Jumbo (Fishman/Grover Sta-Tite tuners) Maple/Spruce Dread (Fishman/Planet Wave tuners) Roland RS-50 synth Yamaha MU-100 synth module Yamaha MU-90 synth module JoeMeek VC-3 compressor/pre-amp RODE NT-1 recording mic. Dell Inspiron 610 notebook computer Compaq Presario MUS-2010 notebook computer. Voyetra Record Producer SoundForge 8.0 Wavelab 5.0

Suzy Wong is All Right

P.O.K.: "it sounds to me like you might want to pull down the lead instrument part - IMO, it's really too loud. It's overpowering everything else IMO. " ---- Thanks. I cannot figure out these new monitors. Alesis M-1s.

I'll try this once more. Brand new - last week. Latin lounge. A Woman from Cuba Would be grateful for some tips on mixing.

I just finished this yesterday. I am mixing with a new pair of monitors and don't quite know how the mix sounds on other people's sets. A friend of mine says he can only hear strings on one side. But I hear them on both sides. A Woman from Cuba Would be grateful if anyone has the time to listen to the mix.

Beautiful 12 string Thomas. I've never seen one like it.

The only irreplaceable instrument in my studio. Guitars & synths come and go. But there is only 1 Kawai K-1 String Pad. Patch S-1-A.

The lodestone of my inspiration for twenty years, "The Castle of the Pyrenees" by Rene' Magritte. I even wrote a song for this painting. A pretty big production number too.

Mixer

Guitar #2

Guitar #1 She stays in tune seemingly forever.

My rack.

My muse who hovers above my rack. Every night she patiently waits for me to finish composing. Then we retire together.

Current Setup: Guitars 1&2 w/synths 1,2,3 (Not shown, old Guild D-25. My son is borrowing it. My backup Kawai K-1, 1 Mosrite Bass Guitar in its case).