Diego Stocco's Bassoforte

guitarz.blogspot.com

I stole this video from the MuZicoSphere blog - sorry Sémi, it's just too good and I couldn't not show it here!

It makes me feel positive about mankind to know that this guy, Diego Stocco, can conceive, build and play this instrument, compose good music, record and shoot himself, edit and mix and offer his work on the Internet... Poor Lady Gaga who has to pretend she's a musician and release muzak for morons just to show her clothes!

bertram


: Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Breyer Hermanos 1910 11-string classical

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We've looked at many vintage guitars on this blog, but this one is positively antique. It is a 100-year old 11-string classical guitar by Breyer Hermanos, who - according to HarpGuitars.net - were a publisher of tango sheet music and also a music store in Buenos Aires. I wonder if they had their own luthier or if they simply applied their brand name to guitars from other manufacturers? I have no idea how this is tuned or how it should be played. Two of the five additional strings are over the fingerboard and so could be fretted but the other three are off the edge of the neck itself, so technically you could say that this was a harp guitar.

The additional strings seem to have been strung up to the machine heads in a rather bizarre order, as the photo below shows. Whether there is a good reason for this, I do not know. Note also that there are in fact 12 machine heads even though it is an 11-string instrument. The maker must have been striving for symmetry, despite the fact that the headstock already looks lop-sided against the neck with the three harp strings hanging off the edge.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Tenacious D "Brute Legend" guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

When you consider the facts, you might think this guitar doesn't have a lot going for it.

It's inspired not only by Jack Black's comedy metal act Tenacious D, but also by a computer game called "Brute Legend". (And let's not dwell too long on the subject of computer games. G****r H**o and the like are very much a tabboo topic on this blog).

But you know what? I quite like it. It's obviously informed by the Flying V, but I like the shape, the carving, the colour of the timber. As a design - even for comedy purposes - it is quite aesthetically pleasing.

Apparently the Brutal Legend Promo 'Love Giver' Guitar - as it is named in the eBay listing - is from a strictly limited run of guitars that were given away as prizes by EA Games. Or something. (I need a teenager to translate, I think. I know nothing about computer games and care even less). I'm not sure who actually built this guitar or how many were made. If anyone can furnish us with this information, please use the comments below.

Of course, this isn't the first computer games-inspired guitar we've looked at. There was the ridiculously named and cartoon-like Fernandes Um Jammer Lammy, not to mention a Sonic The Hedgehog guitar (did anyone seriously think that character looked even remotely like a hedgehog?).

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Acrylic body telecaster

guitarz.blogspot.com

I like series, so here comes another Telecaster, not a Fender though (what I like with the Telacaster, is that like the moka pot or the skate board, it's a constructivist mix of design and technology, so obvious now that it belongs to everybody...), but a made-in-China cheapo (this is not meant to be derogatory, you know my feeling about this...)

Can't tell about the quality of its making or its sound, but this acrylic body tele by Galveston is really good looking, that's a gift I would make to a beginner guitarist!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Interview with Barry Eisler

For those who don't know, Barry Eisler is the second hardest working man in publishing; though his latest marketing effort for Inside Out is bigger than anything I've ever done before. I get exhausted just thinking about it.

Besides doing his usual 100+ bookstore tour (he has already signed at over 200 stores this year alone), Barry put together a thirty page marketing and publicity campaign that puts all but the most competent publicists to shame.

Inside Out, which goes on sale June 29, is ripped straight from today's headlines; CIA videotapes showing enhanced interrogation techniques get misplaced. Being former CIA himself, Eisler has an unique insight, and a solid opinion, on what our government has been doing post 9/11, and this book is an eye-opener.

But laid on top of the political subtext is a kick-ass thriller, filled with exotic locations, double-crosses, intense action, and over-the-top sex.

I was lucky enough to read Inside Out before it was published, and it’s a must-buy for anyone who likes mysteries. It's easily the best thriller of the year. It's also Barry's best book, which is saying something considering his oeuvre.

I caught up with Barry in NY at BEA, and hit him with a few questions.

Joe: I’ve noticed loyalty is a continuing theme for you, especially in a “sense of duty vs. desire for self-interest” way.

But rather than ask you about that, I was hoping you could post an excerpt from the big sex scene.

Barry: As long as people understand I’m only doing this under duress:

Somehow his hand had slipped under her robe. She pressed it tightly against her breasts. Her skin was warm and smooth. He could feel her heart pounding.

“You’re upset,” he said, his voice low, his throat thick. “I don’t know if… I don’t think we should…”

He stopped, not sure what he was saying, feeling like he was babbling. His hand moved. He felt a hard nipple against his palm. He wanted her so much it made him groan.

“No,” he said, panting. “No, no, this is a bad idea. A bad idea.” Somehow he pried his hands off her and sat up. “Paula, no.”

She sat up and turned to him. The robe had opened partly, and in his peripheral vision he could see the muscles of her neck, her breasts contoured in shadow, the skin smooth and dark against the white terry cloth. He was massively hard and knew he’d never done anything as difficult as not reaching out and tearing the robe off her and throwing her back on the bed and—

“Fuck you, then,” she said.

He shook his head, not comprehending. “What?”

She slapped him. Hard. His head rocked back and he saw a white flash behind his eyes. He was so stunned by it that she managed to slap him again before he could do anything to stop her, another powerful, stinging shot from the opposite side. A red haze misted his vision and he felt his scalp tighten with anger. She drew back her arm again, her hand balled into a fist this time, and as the punch came forward, he snaked an arm inside and deflected it. He pushed her onto her back and straddled her. She twisted an arm free and punched him in the mouth. She couldn’t get any leverage behind the blow but it smashed his lips into his teeth and hurt like hell.

“Bitch,” he said, turning his head and spitting blood. She tried to hit him again and he caught her wrists and pinned them to the bed next to her head…

And if you want to hear a bit more, here’s a video Random House Audio shot of me reading the scene while we recorded the audiobook in LA.



Joe: You aren’t allowed to talk about your time with the CIA, and I respect that. But I am curious if the Agency has to vet your manuscripts, and if so, have they ever made you cut anything?

Barry: When I was with the Agency, they taught me it’s better to seek forgiveness than to ask permission. I’ve tried to honor their teachings since I left.

Joe: I’m putting you in charge of the entire publishing industry. What will you do to improve it?

Barry: Dude… how much space do you have here for my answer?

Okay, in short, they need to do two things. First, they need to become competent at traditional aspects of the business, including: selecting the right title, based on automatic and acquired resonance; writing a good author bio; choosing an effective book cover; properly packaging the book. To do all this, publishers have to stop winging it and instead learn the principles behind branding, marketing, and selling. They also need to change their business culture into one where an understanding of these principles is passed on to the next generation of employees, who themselves need to be inculcated with the values of a business culture that rewards the dissemination of institutional learning.

Second, they need to understand the way digital is changing the business they’re in. Understanding piracy is not necessarily a zero-sum game, for example, as you’ve written about many times before. And understanding, again as you’ve repeatedly pointed out and demonstrated with actual data, that the way you fight piracy is through cost and convenience, not with lawsuits and DRM.

Joe: You earned a black belt in judo at the Kodokan in Japan. Do you still practice?

Barry: Sadly, no. I got pretty into Brazilian Jiu-jitsu for a while, but after two knee surgeries, I decided someone was trying to tell me something. These days I practice this and that mostly on my own, and when I can, train with some amazing people: Massad Ayoob, Tony Blauer, Wim Demeere, Marc MacYoung, Peyton Quinn, to name a few.

(Joe's side note: I've visited Barry's house, and he has converted his garage into a dojo. After a few belts of scotch, he insisted on showing me how it was possible to knock someone out in five seconds. And true to his word, he can do it. I'm never drinking with Barry again.)

Joe: I’ve seen you do lectures on personal security. Give me five of your best self-defense tips.

Barry: 1. Think like the opposition—if you were trying to do whatever it is that concerns you (kidnapping, mugging, ATM robbery), how would you do it? Where? When? What kind of victim would you be looking for? Thinking like the opposition will help you spot problems before it’s too late.

2. Use good situational awareness. When you’re home and the doors are locked, you can afford not to pay attention. When you’re in a zone you’ve identified as dangerous because you’re thinking like the opposition, you need to be more alert.

3. Spend some time at No Nonsense Self Defense. Bring a cup of coffee—you’ll be there a while.

4. Boxers shadow box. Think about why, and start practicing mental shadow boxing, what cops call when/then scenarios. “When this happens, I’ll do this.” Make this kind of mental training part of your physical training. The closer your physical training is to the real event, the better you’ll perform when it counts. If your physical training doesn’t include adrenal stress scenarios, your skills are apt to be unavailable when you need them most.

5. Read Personal Safety Tips from Assassin John Rain, Practical Martial Arts Tips from Assassin John Rain, and Surveillance/Countersurveillance.

Joe: Unlike a lot of authors who blog about writing and publishing, The Heart of the Matter is about politics and language, two of your passions. Is America changing? For the better, or for the worse?

Barry: I think the country is changing for the worse, though I comfort myself in the knowledge that every generation, and indeed the founders themselves, have come to a similar conclusion. Still, the Obama administration has now embraced and thereby rendered bipartisan policies that were rightly recognized as lawless and radical when Bush was doing them: torture including human experimentation; warrantless surveillance; imprisonment forever without charge, trial, or conviction. Indeed, now that Obama has claimed the right to order American citizens killed extra-judicially, he’s even gone beyond Bush, as he has in a number of other areas.

I think traditional civic notions about what democracy means and requires in America have finally been ground down by the permanent state of emergency Garry Wills describes in his excellent book, Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State—what journalist Mark Danner calls the State of Exception. The Cheneys have been effective (and the Democrats typically feckless in response) in persuading a significant part of the country that Torture Has Kept Us Safe (the opposite is true) so when the next attack comes (and it will come, because our current policies create more terrorists than they eliminate), the political foundation for a tighter embrace of torture, war, and other lawlessness will already be in place.

Which is of course what Inside Out is all about—plus the sex, of course.

Joe: Thanks, Barry.

Barry will be stopping by this blog over the next few days, checking the comments and answering questions (though he's on a whirlwind tour right now so it might take him a bit of time to respond.)

I'll also be chatting with Barry about some of these topics, live, and everyone is welcome to join in. Once we pin down a date and time, I'll post it.

90 Minutes Belew Freezing

I received a very kind and generous offer to see Adrian Belew last week at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan. It was an opportunity to meet someone I had been doing business with via phone & email for over a year so I was looking forward to the evening on two levels.

I arrived a bit early and would-up baby-sitting the reserved table for about 30 minutes. This gave me a chance to do my usual survey of the surroundings. Joe’s pub is a really nice place to see live music; intimate, but not tiny and very hip atmosphere. I did notice that about every seven minutes, the 4/5/6 subway runs right below the venue and not only can you feel it, but little waves formulate in your drink. I couldn’t quite figure out if the sound of the subway was an “A” or “G”… but I think it was around there. (Yes, I actually try to figure out what notes things are… it’s a personality quirk. I’m not particularly good at it, but I struggle to not do it most of the time.)

It was about now that I really noticed how cold it was in the venue. As it was incredibly hot out all day, this was welcome and refreshing.

My friend showed up with his wife and we had a chance to meet in person and talk a bit before the show started. It went great and it was a real pleasure to finally put the face to the name. He and his wife are big fans of all things guitar, so the conversation took off like a Saturn V rocket.

Out of the blue, there was a surreal loop of music that seemed to come from everywhere. The refreshing cold was starting to feel less refreshing and I found myself counting my goose-bumps, but it was kind of an interesting background to the loop...kind of like visiting Santa's Shop at the North Pole, while peaking on acid. Finally, Adrian Belew walked out to a warm and generous applause. He immediately kicked into a riff and within seconds had sampled it, looped it, built some more complimentary riffs on top if it, and then was singing the melody.

At first I thought to myself: “Well, this is pretty much what I expected: loops, layers of loops, and then melodies on tops of the loops… I mean what else can one guitarist do for two hours….?” But as he moved into the second and third songs, Adrian wove a tapestry of rhythms and sounds that was quite interesting. After about five or six songs, he had a Q&A session. It was pretty cool to see die-hard fans so excited as they were able to ask him about things they were interested in. There were questions about his audition with Zappa’s band (his answer included a great story about a five year old Dweezil giving him the finger as he rode around on his tricycle), King Crimson, Bowie, Fripp… all good stuff and he was very gracious about answering a few zany questions.

The waitress asked me if I wanted another Coke. I said “Sure, but no ice this time please…. man is it cold in here…” She brought me my Coke, but could offer no remedy for the cold.

Back to the music, and there was plenty of it. He was using the Adrian Belew Signature Fly and it was impressive. At one point there seemed to be two tunings in use at the same time. I’m usually pretty good at deciphering this kinda stuff, but I must admit, I couldn’t quite figure out how he did it. My only guess is that he was able to route the output of each string individually and use pitch shifting to create a custom tuning scheme, while blending in standard tuning.

Now I am starting to shiver: “… man, it’s friggin’ cold in here!”

One of the last songs was a piece that was building very nicely; he had created some layered loops and was doing this east-Indian-flavored solo that was just awesome. Right at the climax point of his solo, there was a series of sub-sonic tones that was so low; it felt like it was coming from under the building. I It was as if three accompanists had hit their low “B” strings on their five-string-basses at the same time… I could not figure out how he could make a sound that low.

“..holy Crap!” I thought to myself “….that’s the subway!..”

It was such perfect timing…. a random accompaniment from a NYC subway train that was totally a part of the music (I still can’t figure out if it was a fourth or a fifth below what he was doing, but it was in tune with the song). It was the first time in the whole night that I completely forgot that I was freezing cold…. While being totally random, it was one of those moments when you really get what an artist is shooting for. I was smelling the spores, drinking the cool-aid and a renewed fan for sure.

Summary: I first saw Adrian Belew in college in 1983 in a park filled with about college 3,000 students. It was very (very) hot out that day. I remember well because he spent a lot of time tuning between songs and commented on it often, saying that the heat was a “bit of a problem”. It’s funny how 27 years later, in a freezing cold room, the temperature was no problem. Of course, a big reason for that is the very well made guitar that he was using this evening vs. the guitar he used back then. I don’t remember too much else about that first Adrian Belew show as I was, uh… well, in a very “Celebratory” state that day. It was a much different experience last week at Joe’s pub. I was more tuned in to every subtlety of what he was doing. What made it so much fun is that at times, I could not keep up; both rhythmically and harmonically, he was wondering into some pretty odd parts of town that in moments, were over my head, even when I quietly tried to tap the quarter note on my leg… a few times, I lost the beat.

A nice icing on the cake was that my friend and his wife knew Adrian quite well. I went back stage with them as they wanted to say hello. It was great to see what an incredibly nice, humble and down-to-earth guy he was. They made plans to meet up later and off we went to have some drinks. It had been a long day for me and had to get some sleep, so I was not able to join my friends as they meet up with Adrian. It would have been interesting to meet him personally and have the chance to talk shop. But as they headed off to join him, I had to say goodbye, and wandered out into the night, going over in my mind, the many moments in the show that I had really enjoyed.

Ironically, as I walked along 8^th street towards Broadway and then 6th avenue, I had to laugh out loud: I was so happy to be back in the sweltering New York City heat!

Have a great week,

Kevin

Fender Telecoustic Paisley

guitarz.blogspot.com

2 Fender guitars in less than one week?! Things are not what they used to be...

Actually this Fender Telecoustic Paisley is there only on its aesthetics, the Telecoustic models - an electro-acoustic version of the Telecaster - have quite a bad reputation when it comes to sound and music ; but the paisley finish is superb, I my opinion better than the solid body version.

To be honest it would be perfect on a shirt - I've been looking for a paisley shirt for months now, Pink Floyd 1967 style, and you can't find this anymore in continental Europe - do you still have this in the UK?

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

What's with the weird frets?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This lute-like round-backed instrument is an interesting one (the seller suggests it may be called a "prim").

Obviously it has a few parts missing such as the bridge and tailpiece, and it isn't strung up, but it appears it would be a 4-string instrument.

What is rather intriguing is the bizarre arrangement of the frets. Does anyone out there know how this would be tuned and/or played?

Thanks to David Brown for bringing this instrument to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

1964 Res-O-Glas Supro Airline

guitarz.blogspot.com

After showing the Eastwood wooden reissue and the Res-O-Glas kits, I couldn't not show the original model - a 1964 Supro Airline. The logo on the headstock is not genuine though everything else is - someone strangely wanted to emphasize the authenticity of the guitar by modifying it! The pickups are not humbuckers but large singlecoils and of course, the body is made of glass-fiber.

If you think of it, having only the volume knob under the strings makes sense, that's the only one you want to reach quickly while playing, without risking to mistake it with the other ones, that require more careful use...

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Fender John 5 Telecaster Deluxe HHH

guitarz.blogspot.com

GLW said so a few days ago and I confirm it, it's bizarre but there are less special guitars this last weeks to be found on the Internet, maybe we exhausted the kind of instruments we like to present here, but since I'm sure it's just provisory, let's say it's summer break!

Then we have room for less special but still special guitars, like the Fender John 5 Telecaster Deluxe - it's been released long enough not to give me the bad feeling to advertise for a hype model! Strangely I little by little get to appreciate Telecasters, and without falling into a cult fantasizing that the first solid body guitar by Leo Fender was definitely perfect, I like its simplicity and iconic status, a good starting point to be playful - as much in music making as in guitar building. I actually prefer the Deluxe model, not for its humbucker sound - a sound is a sound -, but for the strat headstock that is much better than the tele one.

And here come the J5 model, with its big chrome Deluxe pickguard and 3 humbuckers, a vintage strat trem, and minimal controls with just 2 knobs and one switch. I'm sure that this guitar can do much more that what it's been conceived for - not a fan of solo John 5, but liked his work in Marylin Manson in its glam - and most creative - phase. I'd be curious to see a J5 in 10 years, after being played intensively by so neo-grunge kid!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Res-O-Glas Guitar Kits

guitarz.blogspot.com

A few days ago I posted about Eastwood's famous reissue of VALCO's Airline - an undeniable upgrade with its chambered mahogany body -, and in the comments we debated about the good and bad of the original Res-O-Glas body - cheap and acoustically disputable, but absolutely avant-garde when it was first released in the 60s.

Surfing on the new focus on the Airline line brought by the White Stripes and Eastwood, a company now reissues Res-O-Glas Airline bodies for guitar kits. I like their policy, since they deliberately promote Frankenstein guitars assembled around their bodies with bits of vintage and new gear (some people even get Eastwoods for the neck and gears and just change the body!), sometimes in the original spirit, often in completely bizarre configuration like one I saw with a Flying V neck that actually fits quite well!

They just start to release different models so you don't have to keep to the most famous one to built your guitar, and they also provide a few elements of gears, the most interesting being an art-deco stoptail that will be probably on my next project!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Greg Lake's Zemaitis doubleneck

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Greg Lake used to feel a bit shortchanged next to his colleagues in Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Carl Palmer had a huge battery of drums and Keith Emerson was surrounded on all sides by keyboards. Meanwhile Greg Lake is standing there with just a guitar. Not only did he try to re-dress the balance of things by marking his territory on stage with a large antique Persian rug, but he also got himself this simply enormous doublenecked guitar/bass.

Apparently it was one of only two doublenecks built by the now legendary Tony Zemaitis. Unfortuantely it was also extremely heavy, and so Lake was unable to play it onstage for more than a couple of songs. Deciding it was too impractical, he eventually gave it away. Considering the value of original Zemaitis guitars (as opposed to the recent Japanese tributes - and they are costly enough!), he must be kicking himself now.

I wonder where it is now?

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Konrath Kindle Stats

My horror ebook Endurance, written under my pen name Jack Kilborn, launched on Kindle on June 19th.

Amazon is working the bugs out of their new software, so my sales numbers for the 19th aren't currently showing up. I only have sales numbers for the last 60 hours.

So how have these last 60 hours been?

In the last 60 hours, at the new 70% royalty rate, Endurance has earned $1346 on Kindle.

Trapped, another Kilborn novel, went live today, joining the 15 other self-published ebooks I have currently available on Amazon.

In less than three days, I've earned over $2300. This is net, not gross. Money in my pocket.

I certainly don't expect these numbers to stay this strong. Eventually the sales of my two new books will slow down.

But my prediction from several months ago seems to be coming true. If I can sell 5000 ebooks a month (which I've already been doing without Trapped and Endurance) I'll make over $120,000 per year.

Now that I've learned that readers are interested in my new titles, I can continue to write ebooks for Kindle (and other ebook readers) as a full time job. But unlike the traditional print industry, which only wanted a book a year from me and then took 18 months to publish that book, I can now release several titles per year, as soon as they're ready to go.

Can every writer do the same thing I'm doing?

The Internet doesn't seem to think so. Everywhere I see people talking about this, they say I'm an exception, and no one else will have this same success.

As my friend Barry Eisler says, "The first-mover is, by definition, an exception." And there is a compelling school of thought about first-mover advantage.

But I'm not a company, and I'm not competing for dollars. I'm not cornering the Kindle market, or preventing others from succeeding. I'm not doing this in a supply-and-demand, limited resource business model.

In fact, I'm not the only self-pubbed writer in the Kindle Top 100. Others are doing the same things I am, and in some cases, doing better.

People believe I'm an exception because they don't know (or don't want to hear) about others doing the same thing. I'm the only one they've heard about, so I'm a fluke. I must be. I have to be. Otherwise, it doesn't fit their preconceptions.

Here's what I think is going to happen:

Those with closed minds are going to keep calling me an exception, because that will make them feel better.

Those with lofty dreams will try to do the same thing I'm doing, and the majority won't do nearly as well. Some may fail miserably.

But some won't fail. Some will follow my example, and do even better than I'm doing.

In the meantime, NY Publishing will continue to alienate both authors and customers with low royalties and high ebook prices and their dedication to print.

By the end of this year, we'll see $99 ereading devices. This technology is going to take over, just like mp3 players replaced the traditional stereo.

Some writers will understand this, take a shot, and make some money.

Some will wait around and see what happens.

Now, I certainly don't want to be responsible for a bunch of crummy writers flooding the Kindle market with crap. And I certainly don't want to take the blame if a writer voids his print contract in order to self-publish, and then sells poorly.

In fact, I don't want to tell any writer what they should or shouldn't do.

You need to set your own goals, learn as much as you can, and weigh the pros and cons. Don't blindly follow me, or blindly follow anyone. Don't think you can do as well as me, or as well as anyone else. You should never compare yourself to other writers.

There are no easy paths to success. It's always about hard work and getting lucky.

That said, I just rechecked my numbers. In the forty minutes it has taken me to write this blog post, I made $43 on Kindle.

It would take a great deal of money before I ever signed a print deal again. And that liberation is easily the most wonderful feeling I've ever had in my career.

Your mileage may vary.

Gibson Nighthawk in black

guitarz.blogspot.com

I already posted about the Gibson Nighthawk last year but I just found this model in black finish - I always need to see a guitar in black to really appreciate its line and there again it's perfect - and I couldn't not show it.

This is probably my favorite Gibson solid body (after the Flying V), and maybe their last valid creation... I love the very different pickups - this makes sense, why should the sound be homogeneous if your seek versatility?

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Ibanez Iceman ICB08 Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:

This Ibanez Iceman ICB08 Bass is a particularly eyecatching example of a now legendary Japanese design.

Wouldn't it be fun if the control knobs were shaped like chess pieces? No, I shouldn't say that, someone will go and do it.

One thing that this blog has been doing for a while now is looking at the weird, the wonderful and the just plain outrageous guitars and basses listed on eBay.

Recently, however, I've been finding very little to get excited over. I don't know if this is just a temporary blip or if indeed I am getting jaded after years of doing this. As ever, if you see any interesting guitars on eBay or elsewhere (if it's a Strat, Tele or Les Paul, it'll need to be pretty special!) please let us know. Bear in mind that we may have featured them before (use the keywords at the bottom of the page to search what we have already featured). Please note also I'm not too keen on taking photos from guitar forums or personal websites. eBay is, I feel, a different matter as it's in the public domain and we are helping to promote the auctions.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

JA Konrath Releases Two Original Kindle Thrillers

Time to put my money where my mouth is.

For twelve years I struggled to break into print, writing nine unsold novels, garnering over 500 rejections. When I finally landed a three book deal in 2002, it was enough money for me to write full time.

Since then, I've had six more publishing contracts. I'm incredibly fortunate, and the traditional publishing world has been good to me.

Then this Kindle thing came along. At the request of readers, I put some of my early, unpublished books on Amazon, as well as some of my previously published short stories.

And I began to make money. A decent amount of money.

Last month (May 2010) I made over $4800 on Kindle. If I sell the same amount of ebooks (6800) in July, when the Kindle royalty rate goes to 70%, I'll earn $13,872. In a single month.

That averages to over $160,000 a year, just on Kindle, just on my self-pubbed ebooks. It doesn't include the ebooks I've put on iTunes, or on Smashwords.com, which uploads them to Sony, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and iPad.

And this number is based on ebooks being less than 8% of the entire book market. What will happen when ebooks become 10%? 20%? 50%?

Traditional publishing has been wonderful to me. I've worked with some terrific people, done a lot of interesting things, and sold a lot of books.

But the times are a'changin'. And my goal has always been to make a living as a writer. That means going where the money is.

So now, my alter ego Jack Kilborn is going to take the plunge into this brave new world.

Of the many ebooks I've self-published, only a few have been original content specifically created for the market. My early novels (The List, Origin, Disturb, Shot of Tequila) were written prior to me landing my first book deal, and I was never able to sell them. My collaborations and short story collections (Suckers, Planter's Punch, Floaters, Jack Daniels Stories, Horror Stories, Crime Stories) were all previously published in various limited editions, magazines, and anthologies.

The two things I've specifically written for Kindle: Truck Stop and SERIAL UNCUT have been performing pretty well. Better, in fact, than all of my collections and some of my novels.

So I've been wondering what would happen if I self-published an original Kindle novel.

Now I'm taking the plunge. In fact, I'm double-dipping. As far as I know, I'll be the first mid-list writer to self-publish ebooks on Kindle that I could otherwise sell to Big NY Publishing. Both of these novels had offered contracts by major publishers, which I passed on.

But first, some background.

In 2007, I wrote a horror novel called AFRAID under the name Jack Kilborn. I signed a two book deal with a major publisher.

The second book in that deal, TRAPPED, was excerpted in the back of paperback editions of AFRAID. But after reading the final manuscript, my publisher passed on TRAPPED. Even though I wrote two different versions to try to please them.

Setting both versions of TRAPPED aside, I wrote another Kilborn novel to fulfill the contract. This one was called ENDURANCE. My publisher liked it but wanted me to make some changes.

Having been down that road before, I refused.

A year ago, this would have devastated me. But now, I'm thrilled.

We parted amicably. I'm grateful for the opportunities they gave me, and hope they continue to earn a lot of money on AFRAID.

This leaves me with two complete, brand new horror novels, ready to be read by the fans who have been emailing me nonstop for over a year.

TRAPPED is the most intense thing I've ever written. ENDURANCE is the most frightening thing I've ever written. These books are going to scare the hell out of people, and I know I could find a good print home for them.

But that would be pretty hypocritical of me, wouldn't it? For the past year, I've been posting my Kindle numbers, stating how I can earn more money on my own than I could with a publisher.

So that's what I'm going to do.

TRAPPED and ENDURANCE are now available on Amazon.com. Soon they'll be available on other ereaders, and this summer they'll also be available in print through Amazon's CreateSpace program.

After years of pleading with authors not to self-publish and use Print on Demand, I'm going to self-publish and use Print on Demand.

The publishing climate is vastly different than it was even a year ago. I believe the overwhelming majority of my sales will be ebooks, and I'm making print versions available for those still committed to dead trees. Once upon a time, the only way to make money as an author was if your books were on bookstore shelves. Now, print is the subsidiary right. Print is extra money, not the main money.

Naturally, I'll also be releasing my other ebooks as POD versions. There is simply no reason not to.

So here are the covers, links, and descriptions to my two new novels. If you liked AFRAID, or my Jack Daniels books, you'll enjoy these. My peers have read them, and think they're among my best books. And they're only $2.99 each.

TERRIFIED...

It was supposed to be a harmless camping trip. Six wayward teenagers who'd run into trouble with the law, and their court-appointed guardians, Sara and Martin Randhurst. Three nights on a small deserted island off of Michigan's upper peninsula. A time to bond, to learn, to heal.

Then Martin told a campfire story about the island's history. Of the old civil war prison that was supposed to be there, and the starving confederate soldiers who resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Everyone thought it was silly. They even laughed when Martin pretended to be dragged off into the woods.

But Martin didn't come back. And neither did Sara when she went in search of him.

Then the laughter stopped.

The group quickly began to realize that this deserted island wasn't so deserted after all.

And perhaps Martin's silly story had more truth to it than anyone thought.

What's the most horrifying thing you can imagine?

This is a hundred times worse...

TRAPPED by Jack Kilborn
It starts where other horror ends

WELCOME TO THE RUSHMORE INN

The bed and breakfast was hidden in the hills of West Virginia. Wary guests wondered how it could stay in business at such a creepy, remote location. Especially with its bizarre, presidential decor and eccentric proprietor.

When the event hotel for the national Iron Woman triathlon accidentally overbooked, competitor Maria was forced to stay at the Rushmore. But after checking into her room, Maria soon suspected she might not be alone. First her suitcase wasn't where she put it. Then her phone was moved. Then she heard an odd creaking under the bed. Confusion quickly turned to fear, and fear to hysteria when she discovered the front door was barred and the windows were bricked over. There was no way out.

One year later, four more female athletes have become guests of the Inn. Will they escape the horrors within its walls? Or will they join the many others who have died there, in ways too terrible to imagine?

ENDURANCE by Jack Kilborn
Are you brave enough to finish?

----------------

So there you have it. Mid-list author who gained notoriety through self-publishing completely forsakes traditional print.

Except, I haven't actually forsaken print.

I've recently signed two deals.

One is with a major publisher for a major amount of money. Details soon.

The other is with AmazonEncore, who is publishing my new Jack Daniels novel, SHAKEN.

It's going to be one heck of a year...

Now I'll take some questions.

Q: Which version of TRAPPED is on Kindle? The uncut first draft, or the different rewrite?

A: Both of them. Though I prefer the rewrite, the original had many things I liked but was forced to cut. So, taking advantage of ebook technology, I released a "Special Edition" and include both versions for the same $2.99. That way, people can decide for themselves which one they prefer.

So there are several different characters, different scenes, and different endings. If you've ever wanted to see an author's first draft, here's your chance.

Q: So you're saying you chose to make these ebooks? It sounds like your publisher rejected them both.

A: I had offers for both of these books. I passed. I’m self-pubbing because I’ll make more money without a publisher, not because I couldn't get a publisher.

AFRAID sold 50,000 copies, and has earned around $30k. I can make that selling 15,000 copies of a Kindle title I uploaded myself.

Currently, I have two self pubbed novels, The List and Origin, that have averaged 17k sold in a little over a year.

TRAPPED, which is coming out this week, had a print offer from another major publisher after the first one rejected it. I turned it down.

ENDURANCE was under contract. I could have made some editorial changes and had it traditionally published. I’ve made editorial changes on ALL of my traditionally published books. That’s how the biz works. The editor asks for changes. The writer makes them. That's why there are two versions of TRAPPED.

But this time, the writer said “no”. And after I pulled it, I didn’t have my agent shop it around. I went straight to Kindle.

That’s two bona fide print deals, me saying “no” to both.

Q: ENDURANCE is currently the #44 bestseller on Kindle. Why did you release TRAPPED a few days later?

A: I tried to release them both at once, but TRAPPED (ironically) got trapped in Amazon DTP, and took several extra days to publish. It will be interesting to see how TRAPPED does, because it doesn't have any of the hoopla that ENDURANCE has gotten.

Q: Why are you still taking print deals if you believe ebooks are the future?

A: I'd be a fool not to take the AmazonEncore deal. They're giving me a bigger promotional push than I'd ever gotten for a novel before. Plus, it will be nice to see another Jack Daniels novel in print, so fans can get a dead tree version if they prefer.

As for the other, secret deal, you'll understand when I release the details. Again, I would have been foolish to turn it down.

That said, I'm currently working on a new novel exclusively for Kindle, and also have several other Kindle projects in the works.

Q: A lot of people are talking about you and everything you're doing with ebooks. How does that make you feel?

A: It's better to be talked about than not talked about, but for me, it's always been about the writing. Ebooks are a wonderful opportunity for writers to reach readers, and I think it's cool that writers are figuring out there are alternatives to NY Publishing, which is flawed and not the easiest industry to break into.

I never wanted to be the poster boy for ebooks. I'm just trying to make a living. And if other people follow my example and make a few bucks, I'm happy for them.

Kindle Nation Daily: J.A. Konrath, King of the Kindlesphere, Gives Big Publishers a Rejection Slip with "Endurance" and "Trapped"

Kindle Nation Daily: J.A. Konrath, King of the Kindlesphere, Gives Big Publishers a Rejection Slip with "Endurance" and "Trapped"

Airline 3P DLX by Eastwood

guitarz.blogspot.com

OK, it's easy and most of our readers already know Eastwood's reissue of this Airline rejuvenated by Jack White (before he became an idol and switched to custom Gretschs), but I like this guitar a lot.

It's somehow the perfect anti-Fender/Gibson guitar, and Eastwood's replacement of the original Airline 'res-O-glas' body by a chambered mahogany one upgrades the cool but cheap vintage guitar to a modern quality one. And it still has the many Italian style knobs and switches above the strings we enjoy so much, plus the very special shape (who would dare to design this nowadays?), the german carve, and the strong presence of 3 pickups in line with a Bigsby trem.

Some say that Eastwood pickups are not the greatest (the demos I heard convinced me though) but there are many replacement pickups out there - and it would make sense that one wants to personalize this kind of guitar since it's not mainly noticeable for the specificity of its sound!

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

The Dirt, the Muck, the Filth

Several years ago, I was doing a short residency in Las Vegas. I learned very quickly that if you don’t gamble, there aint’ much to do in that city. So, I spent a lot of time clicking around the dial in my hotel room. Boring.

One night after the show, the lead vocalist persuaded me to go out and see a band that he had met earlier that day on the strip. Off we went. I can’t remember which casino it was; they are all so unique and exploding with character. At some point we entered a lounge where five or six guys and two girls were up on stage ripping through a medley of pop funk hits for some dancing gamblers. So I ordered a drink, grabbed a bowl full of pretzels (or peanuts) and proceeded to settle in for the remainder of their set.

The guy I was with was super charismatic, so within minutes he was dancing with most of the good looking women in the room. I of course was busy analyzing the sound system, what kind of pedal board the guitarist was using (Roland GT5), the vibe between the band members (bassist and backup singer were definitely sleeping together and mad at each other), guessing the chords / key signatures of each song, and so forth. This is my sad idea of fun.

As I was dissecting the environment, I was starting to get this really weird taste in my mouth; kind of like when you chew aspirin. I knew I was not going to get sick, but something was not right. I began fiddling with my drink more and more, subconsciously squirming in my seat. This continued for some time and I finally realized that it was actually the sound that was throwing me off. Everything looked ok, but something just felt out of place.

And then it hit me. These guys were going 100% direct.

Ugghhhh… I did a quick re-review and realized that my initial analysis was very sloppy. No amps, and the drummer was using an electronic kit. The more I listened, the more everything I saw made perfect sense. I felt like I was in a space station. The volume was so perfectly perfect…. It was neither loud nor soft, it was just kind of “there,” not really emanating form any one spot.

During the break, I chatted up the guitarist and found out that when they arrived in town, they had to sign a contract stating that if they deviated from a specific decibel level in the slightest, they’d be fired and forfeit their pay. He was bummed about it, but their residency was for three months, so they were thrilled to have the work.

Fast forward about three years and I find myself on stage in a tiny little club in central Europe. I was doing a three month residency, 5 sets of Funk / Rock Blues each night, 6 nights a week. What a haul. But most nights, the place was packed; everyone dancing their brains out, the air was smoky as hell, and the walls just dripping in sweat. I wound up playing there a bunch of times, usually doing a one-month stay and it was always a lot of fun. The nightly cleaning crew always ignored the stage, so at the end of each one-month run, we’d spend a portion of our last night drunkenly clearing our gear out for the next band that was due to arrive in the morning.

It was always funny to see the crap that had built up over the last 28 nights; broken glass, lost passports, false teeth, hypodermic needles, all kinds of wonderful stuff. For me, that pile of crap that we swept into a bucket at 5AM was always an indication of how the residency had gone; the more weird crap we found, the better the gig usually had been. Each time I experienced this ritual, I always came to the same conclusion:

“The dirt, the muck, the filth… I love it”

This does not have so much to do with the actual dirt that had accumulated over the weeks, but the stuff that goes along with a live gig. Even when I have played some pretty nice places, there is always some conceptual sweating and philosophical smoke. The combustion in the sound, the drinks that fall over, etc… but most importantly, there is the sound of guitars (or keyboards) through an amplifier and drums. Anything less and… and I start to get that “chewing aspirin” taste in my mouth again.

Summary: I can’t fault those guys for taking that gig in the antiseptic Vegas lounge; everyone needs work, especially musicians. And in fairness, the gig I was doing that week was nothing too amazing at all, so I never meant to judge them... Not every gig is gonna be so great, sometimes you just gotta pay the bills. But I’m kinda glad that there are not too many places like Las Vegas. I think live music should not be hermetically sealed; there has to be some rough edges. I do understand that in certain situations, the manager of a club / lounge has to do whatever they need to do in order to keep the customers spending money.

I’ve had some pretty weird gigs in my life, but in most cases, there are at least a few sonic imperfections, which I think is just part of the formula. It’s the human element. I think this is why a faded pair of jeans that you have owned for 5 years cannot be replicated by “The GAP”, and why “Reliced” guitars are, well… uh, let’s just say they are not my cup of tea. Bumps and scratches are part of life, even in the sound we send out from the stage. Those frayed edges give the moments of brilliance / success / harmony relevance. Of course we all strive and hope for as much good stuff as possible in our performance, but as we aim for 100%, we know that if we hit 80%, we’ve probably had a pretty good night. The other 20% of the sound / performance / solo / stage banter, etc… that sometimes falls flat, falls on the floor, or gets peanut butter stuck in it, well… that’s just part of the deal.

I never really thought about all this even once, until that one time in the Vegas lounge when it was not there. Then I missed it, really bad.

Have a great week,

Kevin

A Brave New World

For all of my adult life, I wanted to be a writer. That meant finding a publisher.

So I wrote ten novels--over a million words--and those novels garnered more than 500 rejections from top editors in NY. Eventually, after twelve years of struggle, I landed my first publishing contract.

Since that point, I've been determined to succeed, and have worked pretty hard to sell my books.

Then, last year, some fans asked me to put my early, rejected books on Kindle so they could read them on their cool new device. I figured it couldn't hurt to try.

Fourteen months later, I've sold over 52,000 ebooks, and will earn over $100,000 this year on Kindle sales alone. On books that NY Publishing rejected.

So now I've taken the next, logical step. ENDURANCE (now available on Kindle for $2.99) is being released exclusively as a self-published ebook.

I've gone from desperately wanting to be accepted by NY Publishing, to completely ignoring NY Publishing.

In 2007 I wrote a horror novel called AFRAID under the pen name Jack Kilborn, and that landed me a two-book deal. My publishers wanted a book similar in tone to AFRAID, so I pitched them the idea for a book called TRAPPED and wrote the first few thousand words. They placed an excerpt for TRAPPED in the back of copies of AFRAID, hoping to release the book in the winter of 2009.

Unfortunately (for me), my editors hated TRAPPED when they read the whole thing.

Personally, I liked it. The novel was more intense than AFRAID, and probably a little meaner and gorier (maybe more than just a little), but I believed it kept to the same theme and tone of the first Kilborn book. Namely, regular people in a dark, confined setting, confronted with an overpowering, horrible threat.

Since I wanted to get paid, I rewrote TRAPPED according to the editorial notes I’d been given. I don’t believe it made the book better, but it did make it different. I toned down a bit of violence and sex, added a bit more violence in other areas, changed a few characters, cut a sub plot, and wrote a new ending.

My editors hated the new version as well. So I put TRAPPED away, figuring it would sell eventually, and instead wrote ENDURANCE, the third Jack Kilborn book in my two-book contract.

My editors liked ENDURANCE, but wanted me to make some significant cuts. Having been down that road before, I told them no, and I pulled ENDURANCE from publication.

So now I had two intense horror novels, ready to publish. All I had to figure out is what to do with them.

During the 18 months I’d been working on TRAPPED and ENDURANCE, I’d turned some of my older books (written under my real name, J.A. Konrath) into ebooks. To my surprise, they sold like crazy. Rather than pursue traditional print publication, I decided to do it alone and release TRAPPED and ENDURANCE myself. (TRAPPED actually did have an offer from a major publisher, which I turned down. It will be available on Kindle this week.)

I like ENDURANCE. So much, that I didn’t want to see it diminished by what I felt were unnecessary edits. Though it isn’t as horrific as TRAPPED (I don’t know if I’ll ever write anything as horrific as TRAPPED ever again) there were certain creepy elements to this book that weirded me out. In fact, the whole reason I wrote this book was because of an idea I had while on vacation.

We were renting a cabin in the woods in northern Wisconsin, and I was sitting on the bed when a disturbing thought hit me. What if the cabin’s owners were watching us, right now?

In fact, if you were a psychotic voyeur, it would be pretty easy to rig your house with hidden passages and peep holes, and then rent it out to unsuspecting guests.

I immediately became paranoid, and looked at the closet, the bathroom, the stairs, wondering if I was being spied on.

Then I heard something creak under the bed.

Could someone actually be under there?

No one actually was. But I kept thinking about awful it would be to stay in someone else’s house and suddenly realize someone was under your bed.

Of course, what could be even worse than that?

Someone under your bed, and you don’t have legs so you can’t run away...

I have a feeling NY Publishing will be watching this to see how the ebook does. While huge sales would be nice, I'm not really concerned. I sold over 50,000 copies of AFRAID, and earned around $30,000. I can earn the same amount on ENDURANCE selling only 15,000 copies. It may take a year or two, but I'm pretty sure I'll hit that goal. In fact, over the course of a decade, I'm pretty sure I'll sell a lot more than that.

And the coolest part it, I've done it on my own.

I've spent eight years working with publishers to make my books profitable. I've signed at over 1200 bookstores. I've sent out over 100,000 newsletters. I've mailed 7000 letters to libraries. I've toured 39 states. I've been to over a hundred conferences, conventions, and book fairs. I've blogged and MySpaced and Twittered and Facebooked before anyone in NY Publishing even knew what those things were.

As a result, I've sold a fair amount of books, made a fair amount of money, but never got that big push that would have helped me reach a wider audience. Without coop placement, and discounting, and wide distribution, my books have sold as well as they could have.

But the paradigm is changing. Now writers don't need coop and discounting and distribution. Now I don't need to tour for 68 days straight, or spend all of my free time friending people on social networks. Now I don't have to worry about what the sales reps or big box buyers think. Or advertising, or returns, or bi-annual royalties.

I can reach readers directly. No more gatekeepers. No more middlemen. No more decision by committee. No more people telling me what I can and can't do. No more boundaries. No more restrictions.

For writers, this is liberation. We can make more money selling far fewer books. And we don't have anyone holding us back.

This is good, and I'm going to be interested in seeing how many other authors do the same thing I'm doing.

My guess? Within the next few years: almost all of them.

Fender Redondo vintage acoustic from 1966

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Over the past 20 odd years various guitar manufacturers have come up with the idea of an acoustic with a slimmer electric style neck so as to appeal to the electric player. This idea, although presented as an amazing breakthrough each time it is brought up, is nothing new as this Fender Redondo acoustic from 1966 illustrates quite nicely. In true Fender-fashion, it even has a bolt-on neck. (The first bolt-on neck acoustic that I personally was aware of was the Eko Ranger). The 6-tuners-in-a-line headstock, although looking quite conspicuous on an acoustic, is more gently rounded than the more usual Strat style and is quite a pleasing shape.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

The Time Is Now

I'm releasing two original novels on Kindle next week.

I was thinking about the perfect time to release these novels. After all, print novels have release dates. Shouldn't ebooks?

During my reverie, I realized something pretty important: The term "release date" is now archaic and no longer applies.

Print books traditionally have a coop period--which is a length of time the publisher pays the bookstores to keep them on the shelves. Then, once the period ends, most or all of the unsold books get returned.

If you're lucky and have sold enough copies, or your publisher made a deal with the bookstore, a few books will stay on the shelf for a while. But most of the time, they won't.

This meant release dates were important. Both competition, and timing, played a role in when a book came out. So did pre-publication buzz. Galley copies needed to be sent to blurbers and reviewers. There needed to be a press release, and perhaps a laydown date for the book launch.

But with ebooks, none of this matters.

As I mentioned, I'm releasing two original novels on Kindle next week. They're Jack Kilborn horror books, called TRAPPED and ENDURANCE.

This is a big deal for me, because both of these books had traditional print offers. The big boys in NY offered me $$$ to publish these. But I turned them down, and I believe I'm the very first author to do that and self-publish as ebooks instead.

I was considering waiting until the 70% royalty rate comes into play before releasing these books. Amazon is switching from 35% to 70% on July 1. On the surface it makes sense: wait until I can get more money per copy.

But beneath the surface, it makes no sense at all to wait.

I've really struggled with wrapping my head around this concept, so let me try to explain.

My ebooks have been steadily selling more copies each month, since April 2009. This is not how it works in print publishing. In print, you sell a lot the first two months, then sales drop off. In a print model, it would make sense to wait, because I'd make more money if I waited until the royalty rate got better in July.

But in the case of ebooks, if I can count on each month outperforming the previous month, then the longer I wait, the more money I lose.

This is no longer a case of only X number of books being sold. Ebooks don't go out of print. They can technically keep selling forever.

The sooner "forever" begins, the more money the author can earn.

Get it?

If I wait until next month to publish these, I'll miss two full weeks of sales. Money that could be in my pocket.

Why would I defer that until later?

Yeah, I'm still struggling with the logic here myself. My head is so stuck in the old ways, that these new ways still don't make much sense.

Except that they do make sense.

Here's an analogy, to help better explain it.

Let's say you want to get some free electricity, so you build a windmill. Next month is when the high wind season begins, and once that happens, you'll be getting twice as much electricity as you would if you built it now.

Does that mean you should wait a month to build the windmill? No, because you're missing out on all the wind--and electricity--that you could be getting right away.

In this scenario, strange as it seems, waiting is a loss.

So when should you list your book?

A soon as it's perfect and ready. Waiting for a future date means losing sales.

As the walrus said, the time has come. Each day you wait, is a day you could have made some money.

So what exactly are you waiting for?

Soviet-era Armenian electric mandolin

guitarz.blogspot.com:
The almost circular body give this electric mandolin the resemblance of a table tennis bat. Its pickups are a dead giveaway, and betray it as being a product of the former Soviet Union. From the location of the controls you might think it was a left-handed instrument, but it is strung right-handed and other examples I have seen have the same layout. Indeed, the output jack is on the right-hand side in keeping with a right-handed instrument.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

G L Stiles collection

guitarz.blogspot.com:
We looked at a rare G L Stiles guitar back in March - but look - here's a whole bunch of them! Guitarz reader Adam Tober sent me this photo of his collection of G L Stiles guitars as recently featured at Deke Dickerson's Guitar Geek Festival 2010 (see also here).

Two of the scroll-bodied guitars and a similar bass are currently being offered for sale as a single lot on eBay right now. Way to get yourself an instant collection!

For those of you who are not aware of the G L Stiles brand, I shall shamelessly quote from the eBay listing: "West Virginia native Gilbert Lee Stiles began building guitars in 1961, and his small Hialeah, Florida music store quickly became the center of the budding South Florida teenage garage rock and surf scene. Eventually Stiles guitars could be seen on stage with the likes of Ernest Tubb, Brenda Lee and the Casuals, NRBQ's Steve Ferguson, and Conway Twitty."

Thanks to Adam for sharing with us!

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Ibanez DT-250 X Series from 1984

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Now this Ibanez DT-250 X Series guitar is, to me, very interesting. It's not the Explorer-derived design that interests me, rather it is the finish that is very similar to my own DiMarzio "cellophane Strat". You can see that despite its vivid colour, the finish is still translucent - witness the fretboard's dot markers and the skunk stripe on the back of the neck - these are beneath the finish.

I'm wondering if this guitar could be another Harayama-built guitar? It's made in Japan and is from 1984, so the time and place both fit.

Harayama supplied bodies and necks to DiMarzio for their parts catalogue. It's perfectly feasible that they built guitars for other brands too. Also, DiMarzio offered a very similar body design in their catalogue at around this same time.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Ovation Typhoon III fretless bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Ovation of New Hartford, Connecticut, are known - of course - for their acoustic guitars with roundbacks made from synthetic materials. To a lesser extent they are also known for their high quality solidbody electric guitars during the 1970s with models such as the Deacon, Breadwinner, Preacher, Viper, and Magnum Bass. What they are less known for is their semi-hollowbodies such as this Typhoon III bass from 1971. This particular example is fretless, albeit with a lined fingerboard. The seller doesn't mention if this is an original feature or if it was converted. Nevertheless, a shortscale bass would seem a strange choice of instrument for the fretless treatment, but it's not without precedent.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

In praise of the Gods

Many guitarists grow up with posters on their wall. These posters at some point represent mythical figures that are worshiped and praised. Why do we honor these gods so, and does this behaviour play any useful role in our growth process?

My Short answer is: "Because we don't know any better", and "Yes"

While there may be exceptions to this, many of us at one point in our early years became pretty fascinated with a guitarist. It starts with a friend "hipping" you to the record, you then borrowing the record for longer than you promised, you eventually having to buy (or steal) a copy for yourself, you wearing out the record (or tape, or CD, etc...), you obsessively dissecting their playing on the record... and then there is “the second album” and then the "Live in Japan" album, and the "Studio Out Takes Import", etc...

Stop: Some may say that they never did this. They picked up the guitar, took lessons, learned, and never once along the way, ever put another guitarist above themselves on the value scale. Some people are either lying to themselves or are in-fact truly unique and very talented. Both are completely possible. Now, let's forget about this 1/2 of the 1% of the population and get back to the rest of us.

When you are 12, or 16, it is likely that this guitar god is more experienced than you are. But I think a big reason why we are in such awe of these people is very simple:

You have to get up every morning, go to school, do things you hate, and listen to your parents. These folks in the posters do not.

So, really what is happening is that in tandem with the fact that they have been bending the cat-gut for a while and are capable of some wicked rockin’ they are also living a life you dream of. So you worship the package, the image, the concept. But that is ok because hopefully, you are worshiping someone who really makes great music, or at least motivates you to practice diligently. But what happens when you actually start to develop some real skills? Does the worship end? No, it morphs.

As I got to a point where I no longer had to get up, go to school or listen to my parents, I started to apply some scrutiny to my blind faith. I went through phases where I decided: “…Oh, Jimmy Rocker was never really that great… I mean, I know all his licks now, and what has he done lately…?” or “…man, when I was 16, their first album was the BOMB!.... but when I look back, they all sound wasted, and the songs are kinda hokey….. I guess I’m as good as Jimmy Rocker now….”

And then I would find an interesting article about Mr. Rocker and realized that unbeknownst to me, he did every solo on the first album in one take, or he played bass on the last four cuts because Gerry McSnide was in rehab that week and the label was pressuring them to master before the holidays, etc…..

So then I’m thinkin’ “…wow, Jimmie was one deep dude, I guess I never realized that there was more goin’ on in that band then just Marshall Stacks, $100 bills and mirrors….”

But then I find out 5 years later that they re-dubbed some of the solos on the “Live in Japan” album. I’m heartbroken. But then one day I actually meet Mr. Rocker on the corner of 8^th Ave. and 50^th Street in Manhattan, totally stumble through some speech about how I learned to play guitar because of him and he is insanely cool, friendly and easygoing. Now I go back and listen to “Live in Japan” again, and realize: It rocks. So what if a few of the solos were over-dubbed. Jimmy was super nice that day I met him, and I always liked their tunes anyhow.

Summary – This was all a bit tongue-in-cheek. Your “Jimmie Rocker” could have been Pat Metheny, Johnny Marr, Earl Klugh or some other legitimate axe-slinger. Point here is that I have found myself re-examining my idols as I’ve gotten older. Some I let go of many moons ago. Some I feel like I’ve grown up with and they have been kind of like the big brother who does not know me or give a crap about me. That’s ok. If I was Pete Townshend, I wouldn’t give a crap about Kevin Chisholm either.

But as I’ve grown as a person and (hopefully) a guitarist, I’ve come to understand my fascination with certain musicians, most of whom are a generation ahead of me. The ones who I still admire, I see with much more depth; they no longer exist on a piece of poster-grade paper on my wall, held in place with push-pins. They are people. They do stupid things, make great albums, marry super-models who take all of their money, inspire many young musicians, license their name out to crappy products, make incredible music that I really connect with, license their name out to pretty good products, and so on. I don’t really know how my journey through the world of guitar would have been without my heroes. They inspired and motivated me. Even though I realized as an adult that they are less than perfect, it is that complex imperfection that makes them even more inspiring. I now know how much patience and effort it takes to ride in a van for 12 hours to get to a gig or how important it is to hear a band mate out when they have an idea, even if you think their idea is retarded. I never knew or thought about this kinda stuff when I was 14. I just thought my idols walked around in their stage clothes all day and were best friends. Even though my personal experience involved a lot of self-discipline as well as trial-and-error, growing old with my guitar gods has also been an interesting experience that has provided me some useful perspective on the music business, and in a funny way, some of life’s ironies.

If everyone was a big rock star, then being a big rock star would not be such a special thing.

If everyone was a really cool person and just loved to play guitar as much as they could, I think that would work out pretty well.

Have a great week,

Kevin