A new member to the family!
The Man Himself must take credit and / or blame. For my last birthday, he subscribed me to Guitar Player and MAD. Reading MAD magazine is like laying back on a comfy couch, 'cuz that's where I read it. But I had to wonder if the Guitar Player subscription was some kind of noodge. I haven't been playing guitar for some time now. In fact, it's been around eight and a half years since I've even been on stage, and not having something to practice for has taken to gas out of motivation to practice at all. I suspected maybe the subscription was meant to be a poke to get back into the game, or at least take the ol' bucket out of the case.
The ol' bucket, by the way, is an Ovation I bought back in '88 when I was a summer camp music director (read "glorified songleader"). I call him Jake. Jake and I have been everywhere together over the decades, and I've played the shit out of him in my time. Truth to tell, even though I've tried to keep him up as much as possible, he's all but unplayable anymore. Half the frets are worn down to almost nothing, the pick-up is burned out, the neck has deep rivets along where the first and second strings lay, and it basically has enough nicks and divits to look like it's seen battle. I love that guitar, and I'll never part with it, but it's going to take several hundred dollars to get it back into playing shape. I've been thinking that for the money it would take to refurbish Jake, I'd be better off just getting a new bucket. And, with that rationalization, I've pretty much stopped playing.
Damn you, Best Buy! We just went in to see how much they were asking for season three of Mad Men. Then I said, "Hey, let's see if they have any equipment in the musical instrument section we could use for podcasting." (There's ideas in the pipeline for a Luka-Skullard podcast . . . stay tuned for more news, but keep breathing in the meantime.) So we go to browse, and I see this:
Ouch. I took it off the wall and started goofing around with it. I really had fun playing the thing, and it felt really good. Great tone, nice feel to the neck and, damn it, it fit me. At some point, after you play around with a guitar at a store, you're supposed to put it back up on the wall, but I couldn't let go of it. One of the salespeople understood my situation and arranged for me to not have to let go. I gave them some money, and they let me leave the store with it.
I keep picking it up, playing around, going back to old tunes and re-learning them, and basically playing guitar like the old days. The Man Himself planted the seeds, and Best Buy capitalized on me weakened condition. It's a conspiracy. Bless the lot of 'em.
It's a Fender Stratacoustic. It goes perfectly with my black Stratacaster and Luka's black 3/4 scale Stratacaster. We're a three Fender family now. They outnumber us, if you don't count the bunnies.
I hope Jake doesn't get jealous. Of course, now I gotta name the new one.
The ol' bucket, by the way, is an Ovation I bought back in '88 when I was a summer camp music director (read "glorified songleader"). I call him Jake. Jake and I have been everywhere together over the decades, and I've played the shit out of him in my time. Truth to tell, even though I've tried to keep him up as much as possible, he's all but unplayable anymore. Half the frets are worn down to almost nothing, the pick-up is burned out, the neck has deep rivets along where the first and second strings lay, and it basically has enough nicks and divits to look like it's seen battle. I love that guitar, and I'll never part with it, but it's going to take several hundred dollars to get it back into playing shape. I've been thinking that for the money it would take to refurbish Jake, I'd be better off just getting a new bucket. And, with that rationalization, I've pretty much stopped playing.
Damn you, Best Buy! We just went in to see how much they were asking for season three of Mad Men. Then I said, "Hey, let's see if they have any equipment in the musical instrument section we could use for podcasting." (There's ideas in the pipeline for a Luka-Skullard podcast . . . stay tuned for more news, but keep breathing in the meantime.) So we go to browse, and I see this:
Ouch. I took it off the wall and started goofing around with it. I really had fun playing the thing, and it felt really good. Great tone, nice feel to the neck and, damn it, it fit me. At some point, after you play around with a guitar at a store, you're supposed to put it back up on the wall, but I couldn't let go of it. One of the salespeople understood my situation and arranged for me to not have to let go. I gave them some money, and they let me leave the store with it.
I keep picking it up, playing around, going back to old tunes and re-learning them, and basically playing guitar like the old days. The Man Himself planted the seeds, and Best Buy capitalized on me weakened condition. It's a conspiracy. Bless the lot of 'em.
It's a Fender Stratacoustic. It goes perfectly with my black Stratacaster and Luka's black 3/4 scale Stratacaster. We're a three Fender family now. They outnumber us, if you don't count the bunnies.
I hope Jake doesn't get jealous. Of course, now I gotta name the new one.