After a horrid stint with the accordian that lasted for the
better part of a year, I finally persuaded my parents to get me a
guitar. That was in 1965, and I've been playing guitar ever
since. By the late 1960s, I was
playing in local bands at some fairly big venues. By the early
1970s, I was already getting burnt out on the rock music scene and
discovered classical guitar. I've been hooked on classical ever
since, although I still play my electrics on a regular basis. I
played classical in restaurants, for weddings, and private parties, and
electric in casual bands when I was in college and for several years
afterward.
It's been a long time since I played in a band. Last
one was a jazz quartet I put together back in 1999. Sax, guitar,
bass, drums. We had a good sound, played all the old standards,
and were doing alright until the bass player blew town one night, and
moved to Mississippi. Tried to get things going again, but we
just slowly drifted apart.
Here's a partial list of some guitars I've known and owned
(shown more or less in chronological order of ownership):
Electrics:
Harmony solid body electric -- single pickup,
circa 1965. My first "real" guitar
Fender Stratocaster, 1963, sunburst. I don't even want to think
about what that guitar is worth now.
Gibson SG Special. Twin P90 soapbar pickups. Circa 1963. A
very sweet sounding axe.
Gibson Les Paul Custon. 1968, first year of the reissue. I had a
real love-hate relationship with that guitar: loved the sound, hated
the way it played.
Gibson SG Standard, circa 1968. A decent guitar, got the job done.
Osborne solid body prototype, 1977, s/n 00006. Very rare, very
obscure.
Sounds and plays like a LP, but lighter and not worth nearly as much.
Boogiebodies Strat copy, circa
1982. Seymour Duncan HotStax
pickups.
Killer looks and even better sound.
Fender American Standard Stratocaster, 50th Year Anniv. 1996. A
great sounding and playing instrument.
Kramer Focus 1000, circa 1980. A Van Halen special (single pup
with a whang bar) that I heavily customized. Sounds great, plays
great.
Fender Squire Venus, circa 1997. Courtney Love model. Rare,
sounds and plays just okay.
Ibanez 2455NT, 1977. Big, fat, blonde jazz guitar.
Incredible.
Gibson Showcase Edition SG. 1984. One of 400 made. Rare,
sounds good, plays great.
Gibson Les Paul Special TV model. Double cutaway, twin
P90s. Great little guitar.
Acoustics:
Goya dreadnaught-sized steel string, circa 1971. My
first good quality
acoustic guitar.
Aria nylon string, circa 1969. Basic cheapo beginner model
classical
Jose Ramirez 1a 10-string, 1973. Made in Madrid. A true,
concert-class instrument
Takamine 12-string "lawsuit model". Not a bad guitar . . . not a
particularly good one, either.
Aria Maestro MH-100, circa 1983. Aria's top-of-the-line handbuilt
classical
Condal, 1968. Made in Madrid. Beautiful little classical
Francisco Navarro, 2002. Very nice classical made by Mexico's top
luthier.
McBroom guitars 1 through 6, 8. All classicals, except for number
4 (a steel string), all 6-string except for 8, which is a 10-string.
Digital Audio Workstation:
It's been a while since I upgraded my DA workstation.
It's still capable, though -- gets the job done. I'm running a PC
with 768MB RAM and 50 gigs of drive space (told you it was old).
It has three, count 'em, three sound cards: an M-Audio Delta 66,
Creative SB somethingoranother, and a Yamaha XG card with an
interesting set of instruments.
The system is hooked up to a Mackie 12-channel mixer, component stereo
with
reference speakers, a Yamaha synth keyboard, a Beringer compressor and
multi-effects unit, and a Roland JV-1010 synth unit. Also hooked
into it is a Roland GR-33 guitar synthesizer and a couple of Marshall
amps via their line-outs. I also have a couple of Shure condenser
mics to handle the acoustic chores. Like I say, it gets the job
done.
Software is Cakewalk Sonar and a bunch of other stuff.
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