The Random Thought Thread

Thank you fellas!
[MENTION=2636]wolfson[/MENTION] bloody nice work on the trade! Great idea. That's really going to pay off in the long run. I always knew you were a wise one. I really got a kick out of your story and I'm so glad you enjoyed the video and it brightened your lovely day even further. I feel like a whole new man. It's amazing how much difference a few days makes.

@kolchak right on, now you have me intrigued! Can't wait to see your new toy. Thanks for your kind words and it warms my heart that you dug the playing. I'm so thankful I'm feeling good enough to play again with any sort of passion/soul. Yes, this Les Paul is my baby. I just realized the other day that it's been 10 years since I got my 1st LP in 2010 which was a bright spot in what was also a rough year for me with 3 surgeries. I've been able to dodge the knife since then, so here's to 10 more years of good health and happy jamming!

Jeff Strong said:

Thank you fellas!
[MENTION=2636]wolfson[/MENTION] bloody nice work on the trade! Great idea. That's really going to pay off in the long run. I always knew you were a wise one. I really got a kick out of your story and I'm so glad you enjoyed the video and it brightened your lovely day even further. I feel like a whole new man. It's amazing how much difference a few days makes.

@kolchak right on, now you have me intrigued! Can't wait to see your new toy. Thanks for your kind words and it warms my heart that you dug the playing. I'm so thankful I'm feeling good enough to play again with any sort of passion/soul. Yes, this Les Paul is my baby. I just realized the other day that it's been 10 years since I got my 1st LP in 2010 which was a bright spot in what was also a rough year for me with 3 surgeries. I've been able to dodge the knife since then, so here's to 10 more years of good health and happy jamming!

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Two guitars that I wish I had never sold both happened to be Les Pauls. My first one was a mid-70's Standard that became some emergency home repair funds back in the early 90's , and the other was a 2003 Les Paul Swamp Ash with Ebony board that I sold in a bundle of about 20 guitars that I didn't want to move from Colorado to Texas. Oh well... I mainly build my own guitars these days and still have way too many according to my better half. But when the wife complains about my guitar collection I remind her that while it is true that I can only play one guitar at a time, she can only wear one pair of shoes at a time.

Jeff, here is my main axe, an early 90s USA Soloist, with Dimarzio pickups.. i have not taken a pic of my LPCPP.

here is my newer Soloist, a USA all mahogany. stock pickups, which are Duncan JB and '59. Note TC Electronics G System. hope to replace it with an Axe Effects III someday if i get back to work in my chosen field.

edit: Kolchak, did not know you played! Cool!

That is one sweet looking guitar. Just a beauty!

I bought an acoustic back in college 30 years ago. Learned a few chords and then just forgot all about it. I don’t think I had the patience back then to take it seriously. Then last year, around my 50th birthday, I decided I want to give it another shot. So I bought a Squier Classic Vibe 50’s tele and took some beginner online lessons to get back into it. But I mostly just learn riffs or licks I like from YouTube. But I promised myself I would find time to play for at least 15 minutes every day at a minimum. I’m pretty awful, but been having a lot of fun with it. It’s a nice break from looking at a computer and doing accounting all day.

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted another guitar that sounded a little different from my Tele. So I took some of my stimulus money and ordered another guitar. My wife says I should learn to play one before I buy two. But where’s the fun in that?

ZREXMike2 said:

here is my newer Soloist, a USA all mahogany. stock pickups, which are Duncan JB and '59. Note TC Electronics G System. hope to replace it with an Axe Effects III someday if i get back to work in my chosen field.
edit: Kolchak, did not know you played! Cool!

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I love my Jackson guitars. My studio has 8 sitting out and ready to go at all times. My favorite for general studio work is actually an inexpensive Alder Japan Dinky (Eb) Hardtail from the mid-90's with the JB/59 pickups, and the thing with the Japan made Jacksons is that each neck was hand shaped, so you can get some interesting variations of the normal Jackson carve, this particular one is a little more flat-D than normal. My other go to Jacksons are a couple of USA custom seven strings (B & A), one with the Dimarzio PAF 7 set and the other with PAF 7 in the neck and SD Nazgul in the bridge. The other 6 strings are an old Kelly (D), an all Mahogany Dinky (Open C) and a 2018 flame maple Dinky (Open G) with flat wound 13s on it. Then there is an old toothpaste logo Charvel Rhodes V with Stealth Camo and a Tremol-no that generally just hangs on the wall since I don't play out anymore. I sold almost all my outboard gear about 10 years ago and have never looked back. Everything I do now is in the box and if I can't get the tone I need from Helix or STL within a couple clicks, well then I am wasting too much time. Speaking of time savers, for the last few years and up until very recently, I exclusively played Evertune equipped guitars which are a studio godsend, but I found myself gravitating back to a bunch of alternate and open tunings which made the Evertune cost prohibitive in the overall scheme.

bloody hell , i`m talking to musos , which is great , no musical bones in my my body , i couldn`t even play the recorder in grade 8 , that`s the nearest i got to playing any instrument hahaha !!! stupid thing is i love all music , i`ll play one of the vids i played last night , it`ll brighten your day . the people sitting around are all musos , the show is called , To Our Health , it usually goes for over 2 hours .this is for all you musos .

Those Classic Vibe Squiers are great guitars, regardless of the price. I still find the occasional unloved Squier on eBay or elsewhere and give them a complete rebuild and makeover, the last one I did this too was a hot pink sparkle job that I scalloped the neck, did a fabric skull and bones pickguard and put in the Seymour Duncan Yngwie Malmsteen YJM set in. Sounds fantastic, and in my opinion plays even better than my real '98 Yngwie signature strat.

It is never too late to learn...

Look on youtube for backing tracks in the style you want, and then just jam along with no rules until you get comfortable with knowing on your fretboard what are the good sounding notes. You should be able to figure out what patterns you like the vibe of pretty quickly and just keep repeating them until you have a set of go to licks for that particular Jam track. Rinse and repeat.

At some point you will probably want to learn the actual notes/scales/modes, etc and there are tons of resources out there, but always have fun with it. Guitar isn't a competition, though that mantra goes against everything my GIT experience taught me.

I wish I would have really learned at a younger age. Wasted so many years. My memory and my fingers aren’t nearly what they used to be.
Playing with backing tracks from YouTube is a lot of fun. Just wish my hands could keep up with the music in my head.
I have one of those little Positive Grid Spark practice amps. Makes using backing tracks a breeze. A very cool little amp.

Love seeing the guitar pics and hearing about what you all play. Would be fun to have a pinball fans jam session some day...speaking of which, I also have to mention the lovely Strat that [MENTION=1441]Timelord[/MENTION] so graciously gifted to me. Not sure if he's still around these parts, but I miss that guy and hope he's doing well. I'll never forget his generousity. I try to play it a little every day in his honor.

Cool. trash, sounds like you have an awesome guitar collection. YJM Strat is one i'd like to try, the scalloped fretboard intrigues me. he does not use a Floyd, right?

i've never played out, not that good. let's all talk more on the guitar thing. everybody take pics of yr axes when you can.

Hi Jeff -

I don't hang out here much because there isn't much activity about Pinball Arcade anymore and I have been totally absorbed in creating my own video game. Here is a link to the web site, everyone is invited to download a free Alpha copy and comment on how horrible it is, LOL www.norluxe.com

Enjoy that Strat, I still have it's "gold" cousin, a Custom Shop 1966 re-issue in Aztec Gold. Yours is a custom shop 1956 re-issue, btw. Play it in good heath, my brother. BTW Tricia says hello to your lovely wife.

well done Timelord , only one word for you , Philotimo !!!

Jen and I checked out comet NEOWISE from our front yard this evening. Tried to get a few pics with my phone. These were the best of the bunch.

thanks Kolchak , something to give us a nice lift

Jeff , your learning to use the word bloody , i`m very impressed this is for Timelord

this is why i`m not going to go to see the kids at Tweed Heads , my Nikki told me her 15 minute drive to work over the border took 1 hour and that was at 7-00 am , after that time 2-3 hours wait . her friend at 8-00 pm took 2 hours . so i`m going to wait a bit longer .

ZREXMike2 said:

Cool. trash, sounds like you have an awesome guitar collection. YJM Strat is one i'd like to try, the scalloped fretboard intrigues me. he does not use a Floyd, right?

i've never played out, not that good. let's all talk more on the guitar thing. everybody take pics of yr axes when you can.

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The YJM is a standard strat (no floyd) and Yngwie himself sets up the trem to be floating with about 1 step sharp travel which I don't like. However, I do love the Yngwie branded bullet strings and his custom gauges .008 .011 .014 .022 .032 .046 which is great for the 25.5 scale length in Eb tuning. Good tension on the low strings while you have lots of slinkiness with the upper register. The scalloped board is a love/hate thing, for me it offers an additional sense of freedom and playability, but then it also drastically alters the way you deal with vibrato on a guitar without the scallops. I've built a couple strat-style guitars with just a partial scallop (12/14 to 22/24) and while I really like the functionality, I hate the aesthetic.

My guitar collection constantly changes and have bought and sold in the few hundreds. For me they are simply tools to get a job done, and while I have had my favorites over the years, I'm pretty fickle and force myself not to get too attached to any one baby. Plus, it doesn't matter if I am playing a beat up 60's Airline or a brand new Aristides, oddly enough, I still sound exactly like me.

Here is what I prefer.
25" scale length (like on most PRS)
Compound fingerboard radius of 12"-16" (most Jacksons)
Ebony Fingerboard with No Inlay markers (luminescent side dots)
Dunlop 6100 fret wire
Slab bodies made of Alder or Ash (think mid 70s Telecasters)
Floyd Rose bridges that are blocked off (I love the fine tuners)
Original spec P-90 pickups (what you find in the early Gibson Juniors)
No Volume or Tone controls, just wired straight from pickup to jack

But when I put a guitar together with all these specs, I hated it, so I guess I'll never find my "perfect" axe.

[MENTION=1441]Timelord[/MENTION] it's so good to hear from you, my friend. Best wishes to you and your lovely wife as well. Hope you both are safe and sound. The game looks incredible by the way! I see you've been very hard at work. Please keep us updated on the progress. Someday when the world decides to mellow out, I'd love to sit in Chicago and play and chat with you again, soaking in your stories and vibe. I still cherish the short time I was able to spend with you and think of you and Tricia's warm and friendly spirit often. You are one in a million, my friend.

[MENTION=2636]wolfson[/MENTION] you're bloody well right!

[MENTION=568]Kolchak357[/MENTION] amazing shots. Did you get your new baby yet btw?

[MENTION=7578]trash80[/MENTION] it's very cool to hear from a professional such as yourself. You and Timelord could probably talk for days about the tech stuff. I mostly play just to put a smile on my face and enjoy the freedom of bring able to play what I'm in the mood for, but getting paid to play certainly sounds appealing. I get restless with a band structure, playing the same songs and genre over and over, but session work sounds like the way to go. Being able to make a living off improv and playing all sorts of styles sounds like a great way to make a living without things becoming too mundane...I lack the discipline and chops required, but it sounds like you're living the player's dream with your line of work.

[MENTION=1441]Timelord[/MENTION] - would love to see a pic of that ‘66 reissue. Aztec gold sounds pretty sexy.
[MENTION=3]Jeff Strong[/MENTION] - no guitar yet. Talked to the guy from Sweetwater the other day, he said it might even be September.
Did just put some locking tuners on my Tele though. Now I see why everyone loves locking tuners. Keeps strings in tune nicely, but the big plus is that string changes are so crazy fast! Maybe I will actually change strings before they get super nasty from now on.