The ENWorld Electric Bard Gear (Etc) Thread

[Dannyalcatraz]

Funny but true: for all the guitars I have NONE were made by one of the bigger guitar companies or their subsidiaries. My 2 Deans*, the Washburn bass, a Yamaha classical and my Ovation Elite are the biggest company names among my instruments.

Instead, besides the aforementioned, I have Reverends, Fret-Kings, Jon Kammerers, Rock Beaches, Godins/Richmonds, Fernandeses, a Malden, and an Electra.

I didn’t intend for that odd distribution. But when I started playing, I found Fenders didn’t feel right to me, and Gibson’s QC was too poor for me to spend the kind of money they were asking for.

FWIW, Here’s my Dean Time Capsule Cadillac:







* Tangent: Dean is currently in serious trouble right now. They lost an IP infringement lawsuit to Gibson (last year ?) that’s currently on appeal, they’ve lost several major artist endorsement deals, they’re being sued by Dimensg Darryl’s estate, and the mother and son who own Dean (and a few other companies as well) are suing each other. If Dean actually goes under, I hope Dean Zelinsky (the founder) regains ownership of his old designs, like the Cadillac.

 

[R_J_K75]

I’d imagine it was Keith Richards.

You may be correct but rumor has it that its Jimmy Page, it has his sound and feel but thats not true from what I read after researching more. There are many theories as to who it was but no will deny nor confirm. I did some surfing online and I found someone wno adamantly professed it was the guitarist for Vanilla Fudge. One of the great conspiracy theories yet to be solved.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You may be correct but rumor has it that its Jimmy Page, it has his sound and feel but thats not true from what I read after researching more. There are many theories as to who it was but no will deny nor confirm. I did some surfing online and I found someone wno adamantly professed it was the guitarist for Vanilla Fudge. One of the great conspiracy theories yet to be solved.

Never heard either rumor.

One thing I’ve noticed about theories in the music biz: for any given event, a lot of stories are conflicting- sometimes even those by the same person. It’s almost as if people were having memory issues for some reason…

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My Electra Omega Prime:

Electra was a Japanese builder that (briefly) rivaled Gibson in terms of desirability. Peter Frampton had one, and was even in their print ads. But they folded after Gibson won their lawsuit against other Japanese companies- I don’t think they were actually sued.

But decades later, a couple of industry vets bought Electra’s IP and resurrected the brand. They were headquartered in FL, and the guitars were made in Korea. My Omega dates from that second era.

Sadly, it doesn’t look like they did all that well. I love my Omega Prime, and would gladly buy another, but I haven’t seen any lately, new or used.

EDIT: forgot to mention that my Electra and the aforementioned Dean Cadillac are two of the guitars I have tuned to Robert Fripp’s New Standard Tuning: CGDAEG.

 

[R_J_K75]

One thing I’ve noticed about theories in the music biz: for any given event, a lot of stories are conflicting- sometimes even those by the same person. It’s almost as if people were having memory issues for some reason…

I read an article Guitar World or one of the other guitar magazines around in the mid-90s when Soundgarden had recently put out Superunknown. Now its quite possible that Kim Thyail was messing with the interviewer, but they quoted him as saying they don't use alternate tunings. I couldnt stop laughing as just about every song off that record and Badmotorfinger is in an alternate tuning even if its just dropped a half step or or the low E is dropped to D. But there are some weird tunings on both those records.

I found Fenders didn’t feel right to me, and Gibson’s QC was too poor for me to spend the kind of money they were asking for.

Im not a huge fan of Fender Strats, I prefer Telecasters. I've owned 2 Fender acoustics and both of the necks warped. The one I left in an alternate tuning for a few days in the middle of August when it was about 90 degrees and it casued the neck to bow around the 12th fret. That cost about $150 to have fixed. The other one has a bow in the neck on the high E at the 7-9 fret, its the same note. I had my friend tweak it and it was fine but I took it out of my guitar room that I keep climate controlled and was playing it on my couch and within 15 minutes the same thing happened to it again. Bottom line is I wont buy another Fender acoustic. I owned a Gibson Les Paul Tribute and I wasnt impressed with it and sold it. Their QC had a very bad representation for a long time.

My Electra Omega Prime:

Looks like a nice guitar. I prefer maple necks as opposed to ebony or whatever substitute they use in its place. I always wondered why Gibson never made anything with a maple fret board, I've never seen any if they did. But of course, if your Jack White you can anything made, he commissioned Gibson to make him 3 guitars called the Fort Knox series.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thayil was DEFINITELY pulling the interviewer’s leg when he said that.

Disappointed to hear that about the Frnder acoustics. They bought out one of my favorite acoustic brands YEARS ago (Tacoma), and I hoped they would incorporate the product line into their own, and maybe hire their builders & designers. Instead, they completely killed the company. Apparently, all they wanted was the forest that Tacoma owned to use for raw materials.

Gibson’s QC has been so random I won’t consider buying one except in person. My FLMS had a trio of flawless SGs in metal flake finishes of emerald, ruby, and sapphire. I had the money for one, but I wanted to give WHICH ONE some serious thought. When I went back 4 days later, someone had beaten me to the store by a few hours and bought all three.

In all the years since then, I have never found another SG that looked like them. I suspect they were prototypes, promotional guitars or possibly customs that went on layaway that never got completed.

I’d heard of the Fort Knox series, but never seen any of them. Gotta say I like what I see…but I’d probably do what Scott Holiday (Rival Sons) did instead. Namely, he buys custom Gibson clones from a company called Kauer. Scott’s copies usually have unusual features- like the trems on White’s Fort Knox guitars- but also different pickups. He has a taste for TV Jones pickups, mostly Filtertrons like you’d find in a Gretsch.

And he’s appeared in several Rival Sons videos playing Kauer Banshees in particular- their version of the Firebird. The sounds he gets out of his Banshee- as well as his swagger- inspires terrible G.A.S.

 

[R_J_K75]

Thayil was DEFINITELY pulling the interviewer’s leg when he said that.

It's been so long since I read the article and I'd be hard pressed to find it, I'd have to go through my stack of guitar magazines but probably won't. I do recall something seeming odd as if the writer of the article deliberately misquoted Thyail. I stopped reading articles in guitar magazines after that one.

Gibson’s QC has been so random I won’t consider buying one except in person. My FLMS had a trio of flawless SGs in metal flake finishes of emerald, ruby, and sapphire. I had the money for one, but I wanted to give WHICH ONE some serious thought. When I went back 4 days later, someone had beaten me to the store by a few hours and bought all three.

In all the years since then, I have never found another SG that looked like them. I suspect they were prototypes, promotional guitars or possibly customs that went on layaway that never got completed.

Whoever bought all three mustve had quite a bit of cash. There is always the story of the one that got away. About 2004 there was a Gibson Les Paul I was considering buying from Guitar Center, it was Midnight Blue. It was a really nice looking guitar priced at about 2K. When I went back it was gone. Might have been a GC exclusive because I've never seen one since.

Gibson is way overpriced IMO. I know Gibson was pretty notorious for who they allowed to sell their guitars at least in the 90s. I became friends with a guy who opened up a music store in my neighborhood. The shop was small when he first opened but he contacted Gibson to see if he could carry their products. They wanted an obscene down payment, and they required him to move a ridiculous amount of inventory a month. Ultimately they decided that he was too small and just told him no. Fast forward six months to a year, he had a great inventory, expanded into the adjacent building and put a stage to jam and a recording booth in. One afternoon him and I are sitting around and the phone rings, he picks it up and the 10 second conversation went like this, "Hello?...F**K OFF!" and he hung up. I asked him what that was all about? It was Gibson trying to get him to sell their products. There used to be alot of smaller music stores in Buffalo but Guitar Center put them all out of business except for one. Back then and even now the only place you can find Gibson is in Guitar Center unless you find something used.

I’d heard of the Fort Knox series, but never seen any of them. Gotta say I like what I see…

I never seen one either and I bet theyre very expensive if you happen across one. It looks like they were a very limited run

Jack Whites Fort Knox

I have a Gretsch G5222 Electromatic Double Jet. Out of all the guitars I own theres 3 or 4 I play more than the others. The Gretsch being one that I play every so often but when I do I always wonder why I dont play it more as its a great guitar, feels and sounds very unique. Im not too familiar with the Rival Sons, sure Ive probably heard a song or two on the radio but couldnt pick them out if I heard them. I've been told by a few friends that they are good. I'll have to check them out.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’ve heard similar stories about Gibson’s strong arm tactics. And I once sampled a significant number of their products- including in “The Gibson Room” at a small music store that also stocked Fender, G&L and Reverend- and every last one had flaws that shouldn’t have been present in $2500+ guitars. My experience with them in that store led me DIRECTLY to buying my first Reverend guitar, a Reverend Flatroc 15th Anniversary edition, #5 of 12. It was less than half the price of a Gibby.



Selected Rival Sons Videos:



RIVAL SONS - Belle Starr (Live)

Rival Sons: Back In The Woods (Official Audio)

Rival Sons - Where I've Been (Official Audio)

 

[R_J_K75]

I’ve heard similar stories about Gibson’s strong arm tactics. And I once sampled a significant number of their products- including in “The Gibson Room” at a small music store that also stocked Fender, G&L and Reverend- and every last one had flaws that shouldn’t have been present in $2500+ guitars. My experience with them in that store led me DIRECTLY to buying my first Reverend guitar, a Reverend Flatroc 15th Anniversary edition, #5 of 12. It was less than half the price of a Gibby

My friend has quite a few Gibsons, LP, SG, Explorer and V's and after playing them I didn't think they were anything too special. He actually bought one from one of the online dealers and when it arrived the headstock was broken. They're Definitely not worth the 2-3K each. I think Epiphone is comparable if not superior. The only complaint I have with them is that ones with the push-pull pots the tone and volume knobs have a tendency to come off. Problem with that is that some are coarse knurled and some are fine knurled and to make things worse some are measured in inches while others are in metric. So, it's difficult to figure out which replacement you need. And even if you do what's to stop it from happening again. I'm sure there's some fix I can find online or in a book. A few tweaks is usually all thats needed if any.

I was looking at a few Reverends and a few other boutique brands online last year. As a matter of fact, I think you may recommended them to me awhile back. As I said music stores are few and far between around here nowadays so its pretty hard to find out lesser-known brands to try out before buying them, but I've had good luck with Sweetwater and find their guitars are pretty well set up and inspected out of the box.

Selected Rival Sons Videos:

I'll check them out tomorrow when I'm busy doing something else. I like to put new stuff on in the background. This way if something catches my ear I know it's worth a few more listens.

My story about my Fender acoustics made me remember something. I read somewhere that newer guitars, both electric and acoustic, are more susceptible to changes in temperature, humidity and altitude and after 4 or 5 years they stabilize and are less prone to climate changes. Obviously, they're always going to need to be adjusted periodically. Have you ever heard of this?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’ve heard that bit of lore about stabilization over time, but never from a source I’d consider reliable. Because I’ve never had a problem with that, I’ve never even thought to ask anyone.