Cork

Referring to 'cork' in the guitar community is short hand for a "cork sniffer." A poser rather than a player.
The schizophrenia is deep among musicians.
No, I am not kidding.

To a person, if asked in pulic they will eschew cork.
"What matters is your tone!"

Then why are most NGD (new guitar day) threads nothing but pictures?
"Look at the flame!" "Dude! Awesome LOOKING guitar!"
And the irony misses them...completely.

So I post a NGD thread in which I included clips but no pictures. A couple of the thoughtful community people respond. The kids are absent.
So I asked, do you wear or play your guitar? Is it jewelry to you?
And I was met with replies such as , "You can't tell me you never stood in front of the mirror and thought,'Damn that looks good!'"
And truthfully I replied, when I was 16 maybe I did, once. But my aim has always been the music.
Close your eyes and listen.

I do understand theatrics...I am a ham. But the best shows in my mind were the ones with the great music and not the lights or smoke to add to the experience.
I watched John McLaughlin's fingers, I couldn't care less what guitar he was using. I knew his sound came from within, not from the tool he used.

Telecasters, my new, current consuming guitar love are ugly guitars. There are a few specimens that are nice to look at. Fender has tried to dress them up - there is a tuxedo...a black guitar with white binding and a white pickguard. Or the one made from redwood - although Fender tried to make it more historic than visually enticing by tying it to a railway trestle that was over one hundred years old.
It's their function that drew me.
It has that singular Fender single coil sound and with a touch of OD can out creamy any humbucker.
Wait...you are saying it can sound like either?
It could be a Ford or a GM?
French or Italian?
It is God's gift...but it is wrapped in an ugly, ugly shape.
In the 1950s the routing done for the bridge pickup was a tad too large. A very slight bit of uncovered routing is referred to as 'buttcrack' and now is held as a sign of lineage.

Look at that?! There is no flattened edge radius. There is no "belly cut." No binding. Not much chrome. When they were first made, it was from pine. They are the cheapest in the Fender line.
But what a beautiful palette.
The swiss army knife of guitars. But it's cork quotient is very low.
Posing hair bands need not apply.
But if you close you eyes to enjoy you favorite music, then tele players are for you.

Everyone Has An Agenda

Yesterday, July 4th was spent playing at George Harrison's.

Roadhouse opened.
By the time they took their first break, Tony the guitarist, came up to me and asked if I'd sit in.
We started playing a tune written by the bass player. A rambling sort of thing, very reminiscent of the Allman Brothers. It was fun.
As people began to filter in the list of tunes grew. Lefty Jeff brought his new ES 335 and had a tune or two in mind..."Can't You See," being his favorite. Ric came...dance partner in tow. She doesn't know you as, "Shotgun?!" Gee whatta surprise. He wants to play Santana. Status showed up as well. He had played a four hour gig in Long Beach and was ready to go. The kid is dedicated.

 Jeff asks me to start a tune..."Something out of the ordinary..."
Do you guys want to try something new?
Not.on.your.life.
Fine...I start playing 'Voodoo Chile.'
It is neither out of the ordinary nor is it new. George tells me to "blaze, and pay no attention to the rest..."

Musicians have comfort zones, much like anyone else. However, being the fragile egos that we are, no one is vying to try new things as it may include failure. That...disappoints me.
I had been waiting to try some Colin James tunes; the opportunity was not going to present itself this night.
Failure is a huge part of musical growth. Many times it is much less painful than failure in "real life."

Most people do not hear the screw-ups we make on stage.
They DO notice when we are out of sorts, less than communicative, not here to play.

Tony, like myself exudes passion when he plays. It doesn't matter that half of what he plays doesn't fit, or is too loud, or he blows a particular passage. He closes his eyes and plays. People appreciate that.
A genuine desire to play or perform.
Tony turns to me as they are packing their gear, "Dude, I want to play with you again!"
Musicians also appreciate honest passion and desire.

I have no real agenda other than playing.
I'd like to be playing my material - it is what I am striving to do.
In the meanwhile, I can play anything the crowd wants to hear.
Requests?

A Mil Or A Mile...It Was Still A Miss

I use Super Slinkys.
One week I needed to replenish the string bag and the local shop had only Extra Slinkys - 008s instead of 009s.

What's a mil, you say?
So did I.

Holy moly, but it is more involved than trading up to 011s or 012s.
I was faced with a completely new setup.

I got it to play, but that tinny jangle would not go away. And the percussion thump the low E and A should have made was anemic, to say the least.

They lasted all of a day before I threw them out for good old Supers.
The old saw: Tone is from the fingers is 80% truth, the rest is setup!
(Ha! You thought I was going to say strings)

I Feel Like Such A Hypocrite

Welp...I bought this Baja Tele last month.

When I realized I couldn't swap out the knobs, instead of crying all night, I decided to get some chocolate chip mint pick guard.

Dandy.
That black switch tip? Out of place, now...Hmmm.
Ordered a cream colored switched tip.
Man, that is really, er...creamy...fugly.

So what'd I do that I said I wouldn't do?
(Besides getting a Tele, smartass)

Grabbed the scotchbrite and the .000 wool and scuffed it and then jammed it into a cup filled with Earl Grey and Soy.

Ayep...I am relic'ing my first part...Gawd, I feel awful.


Relic'ing is the artificial aging of parts on the guitar to make it appear to be older than it is. I find it contrary to everything I understand.
We restore classic cars, not purposely age them.
We undergo plastic surgery not to look older, but younger.

So why is it acceptable to have a fake antique guitar? There are so many examples, when one sees an old guitar nowadays the assumptions is it is a fake, go ahead...prove otherwise.

Some do it to fool the unsuspecting and sell them a cheap guitar for a lot of cash.
Others do it to keep up with the demand...witness Fender themselves making the "Road Worn" series.
A $600 instrument that retails for $800 because they rusted the metal parts for you? And sanded off paint?
Personally I have never seen an elbow wear the paint off of a guitar.

Do horn players relic their trumpets? Gawd no, they protect them as best they can. Patina comes with age and use.

My guitars suffer the dings and bangs any well used instrument will undergo. They have their share of war wounds. If you gig, then shit will happen.
But I don't need to age my guitar to obtain mojo. That comes from my soul and my fingers.
But you see, I bought this switch tip and...

06/13/2011
Updated picture of the switch tip - no close ups or anything spectacular. Just a nice overall "look."
Whatcha think?

Accessories, Not As Much Fun, But Every Bit As Needed

My First Case For The Case

I was in Styles Music today buying some strings when I remembered I need a case for my new guitar.

A Baja Telecaster...named Yay. It's a story; think Modern Family.

Lou has gig bags...no, they won't do.
He also has the molded ABS Fender cases.
He has guitars in those cases but he'll sell one to me and order another.

"Fender® molded cases are tough and lightweight with a reinforced metal frame and hinges, black plush interior, and TSA locking latches. Great for tight storage situations. Cases are designed to fit most standard size instruments. Please see SKU description for details."

Hmmm. It's not tweed. It's black...with a black interior. My sense of style is not amused.
Lou works up a price. Close to 30% off the street price. The tweed would be almost double. I thought it over for a bit and decided to buy the ABS case.

I got home and took it from the car. It tipped nose down.Why the face? It's not balanced? Like a piece of luggage! It should be balanced...shouldn't it?
I put the guitar into the case and latched it. Hefted it. Hmmm?
Walked with it. Balanced perfectly. Strike one for modern engineering.  The case is also very thin and compact. I believe it might fit underneath airplane seating if not in the overhead bins.

The guitar by itself is close to eight pounds. The case must be another four or five. This thing is light...very light.
Traditional hardshell cases are made from laminated wood, mostly plywood and then covered in tolex or in the case of the Jag, tweed. They weigh more than the guitar. Fourteen or fifteen pounds by themselves. (More than the guitar & the plastic case combined) It was thought you needed something with some bulk to be able to absorb the abuse a road instrument gets.
They didn't have light weight polycarbonates in the 1950s and 60s. Not cheap, form fitted guitar cases, at any rate.

Function over style?
You know, as I get older yeah...it is worth more to find equipment I can easily move than it is to have equipment that is stylish.
I remember that Plush made a line of amps in the 1970s that had foam padding built into them...Tufted faux leather amps. That was the definition of style during disco's heyday.

Styles comes and go, function stays....the Tele, Karma - wow...a complete revelation. Equipment needs to be functional, my fingers will supply the style.

Live and learn?

Karma Bit Me In The Ass

In 1971 I convinced my dad to buy a real electric guitar for me. I brought home the Fender catalog from Victor's House of Music, Ridgewood N.J.
I saw Hendrix a couple of times, but Woodstock made me gas for a strat in the worst way. Dad says, "Can't you get by with this?" pointing to the tele. It would have saved him about $50. The strat was $272 with HSC.
Oh.fuck.no
Taking lessons from Al meant that I played his LP a lot. That guitar was heavy.
I also learned to dislike the strat. Once I figured out position playing, the curved fretboard screwed me up, badly.
So...I had to have a gibby. A pal offers me a 1969 345 for $200 and another $200 gets his super six reverb.
Dad?
I play gibsons for 30? years. But I relied upon Cream like, well...creaminess. All distortion and OD and a wah for articulation. This was during the height of Fusion.

I hear Colin James and decided to try a tele. I fell flat on my face. Not only did a tele have the most beautiful neck known to man, it had something none of my other guitars had. It's own voice.
I can still get all the creamy sustain I want...if I want.
However, more often than not I find myself playing with nothing? Or just OD for some punch - and the ice9 doesn't color it, just boosts it tremendously.
With distortion and OD, if I roll the volume back it sounds as if I turned the effects off.
But it has such a range. That fender timbre - bell tone, some nasty bridge twang, and then the combo of the pickups - which sounds like the blender pot on a strat...real brassy quack without too much treble.

And this is a Squier?
Fine...what will a "real" fender do for me? And by real, I mean MIM.

I found a baja tele for $500.(The finagling this took to pull off was something to behold)

The bonehead that owned it had never changed the original strings. But he had managed to ding the frets where it must have fallen face down against a table or chair.

And the fit and finish is mixed bag.
The pickguard is cut so it pulls against the neck pickup a tiny bit, snug. And then the screws went in at a few nice angles, the guard itself is cracked by the screw on the upper bout And on one by the switch. The control plate is overlapped by the pickguard a couple of mils.

On the plus side, the wiring and electronics are 100% "nicer." Less cheap stuff, although they both use the same esthetically unpleasant but efficient plastic coated wiring..
The frets on the Squier come all the way to the edge, the bit that should be buried is visible. The poly over it makes it smooth to the touch but it does catch your eye. Well, the neck on the baja is perfect, with the exception of the dings mr. bonehead made. I used some .000 wool and smoothed the two frets easily.
The Squier neck is also much thinner - closer to an LP. This thing is chunky, like a bat.

The pickups on the Squier are tonerider alnico IIIs. The ones on the baja are a twisted tele in the neck and a broadcaster in the bridge. Helluva a lot more umph than the toneriders. But you can still hear that bell.
And unlike a strat, the fretboard is flat to the feel.
Four position switch (standard positions with a series setting) with a S1 in the volume - controls phase.
Now the palette is huge.

Karma - I mighta been Bruce Springsteen had I got that tele in 1972.
Right?

Luca Sleeps Alone

Luca Sleeps Alone

I am experimenting with minimalism. Or trying to...
There are a select few how can impress by their choice of notes (the intervals) and the expression used on those notes and not by the sheer number or speed of the notes played.

George Harrison is my favorite among this school.
'Cry Baby', towards the ends has a five note sparkle that can chill, lift all the hairs on my neck, et cetera.
How hard did he work to achieve this? I suspect much was an outward expression of his religious studies.
The number of notes George played seemed to go down the older he got and yet the ability to convey a feeling never diminished. In fact, it seemed to be becoming stronger as time went on.

I heard a Dead riff in my head and found a suitable outlet. In what way could I tie it to the Dead/Phish without being blatant?
Did it work? Only you can say.

I am looking to expand my palette though the study of another minimalistic school. Colin James - a Canadian of some repute. His mastery of the guitar is also a minimalists approach. However he is playing as accompaniment of the vocals. Not as a "solo." His instrumental periods are very short and sweet...very much to the point.
I tend to riif too much. Using riffs means you are not thinking but pulling standard lines from your repertoire.
They may in fact, be original. Audiences will see them as fresh even though you will not.
A hard line to walk.

So I am trying to paint with fewer notes. To control the urge to just spew forth. I grew up wanting to play the saxophone and my guitar playing acutely reflects this.How many other schools have I neglected?
I consider this all worthwhile growth. It is not painful...boring, repetitious (building muscle memory is key to play an instrument) and very much worth the investment and mental gymnastics.

I stopped by my favorites music store, Styles, Pomona and played with a Baja Tele. It was a used one; the owner was asking $550, I'm betting it'll go for $475 ish.
I liked it very much, but I could not justify the maneuvering that would have been necessary to pull it off.
There just was not enough of a step up from the Squier I have at the moment for the debt.
To top it off, I think the Squier has nicer pickups?

To assuage that gnawing feeling I bought some boutique picks.

V-Picks - Anywhere for $4 to $20 a pop. Not an inexpensive pick to say the least. Strange shape that takes getting used to.
I used to use Dunlop Stubbies - and was spending $10 a month on picks. When I realized that I decided to look at the V-Picks again.

At $10 each, that is nothing to sneeze at. I won't be tossing these into the crowd. They are 4.10 mm thick...i.e. massive for a pick. But after months of play, there is no wear to speak of.

I tend to like thinner picks, so at 2.75 mm, these are perfection.
Called the Ruby Red Medium Rounded...these are my main picks at the moment. The Ruby going for $4.99

And they come in other flavors that no little boy can resist...

Such as - The Glow In the Dark variety...$4.99

Or the aptly named and somewhat silly Pearly Gates... yes, I had to buy one at $3.99
The last three are the same pick in different colors.
I wonder if Vinnie would make one in purple for me?