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JeffB

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  2. JeffB
    One guitar that has been a sticking point for me ever since I started this thing has been a 93 US Am Std strat.
    I got it on Jan 18 1994. Birthday present. It has been the heaviest gigged out of all of my guitars and is on its third? (I think) re fret.
    Its put in a lot of miles all over our big state.
    It was stolen and recovered and also lost at an airport and recovered 3months later. I call it a boomerang. It comes back.
    After it was stolen a friend and well respected luthier here took it, re fretted and refinished the neck to a lovely and natural vintage amber. When he presented it to me I was over the moon. It looked as sensational as a midnight wine/burgundy and maple strat was ever going to look. (Im not a fan of the midnight wine colour).
    Unfortunately, it played and felt like crap and I hated it. I actually resented it but couldnt sell it because of emotional attachment.
    Its been on the block to sell as well as two other guitars that have emotional content attached to them.
    Before it was taken away to be refinished the neck on this strat was gray. I had peeled the finish off after a tour we did one summer up the top and through the middle of our state. Our state is a desert. Its hot. Paint peels.
    The neck felt great unfinished and I played it unfinished for over a decade. It was not pretty. It was a dirty grey mess from just behind the nut up to the 22nd fret. But it was the guitar I could not put down. I would go looking for another strat to buy but always walked away thinking mine was better or more suited to my less refined playing style.
    The refinish killed the guitar for me. The guitar didnt feel right and I couldnt play it the same way. So after a while I didnt play it at all. In fact it has sat unstrung and with out even a pickguard and wiring in it for about two years
    Last night I fixed it. It had to be done to give that guitar a chance at staying with me.
    It was a quandary for me to work through. To give it a chance to stay I had to make it less attractive to potential buyers should it fail at the chance it was given.
    I removed the nitro finish on the fretboard and on the back of the neck. I could tell early on during the process that in terms of playability it was going to be beneficial. By the time I had removed all the finish I needed to but not yet put the strings on I knew that I had uncovered something very cool.
    After a restring and a few hours of playing the guitar is unquestionably staying. Everything I remember loving about this guitar is back. Its alive. It vibrates and resonates strongly when technique isnt hindered. Its a very direct strat, it makes you play in a physical way and I love that quality.
    What this means is that I now have four strats that I want to keep. It also means that my H150 is coming up for review in much the same way this strat did but more quickly than I had anticipated.
    Out of the remaining guitars I have the H150 was gigged the least(with the exception of a recent purchase). It has not pulled its weight(considerable) and put food on the table or fuel in the car. It is the most attractive however and has wonderful classic LP tones and I do enjoy playing it. I have pride in ownership of it.
    It has a few weeks, or months, to impress me and show me it isnt a redundant fixture in my guitar rack. I am going to have to harden my resolve with this H150. Its cool and I really like it, but I feel the same way about everything its going up against.
     
    Onwards.
     
     
  3. JeffB
    There are several pointy bits. The starting bit, the couple of bits before the middle bit and several bits toward the end bit.
    I havnt made it to the end bit yet.
    I still have 9 gizmos with strings on them not including the mandolin or ukes.
    It doesnt matter how I stack them all they collectively take up about 1.135sqm or 12.21sqf with amps and cab included when all clumped together. I have this clump of stuff stacked in a corner. Its quite a dull lump, just a corner of boring looking stuff. Mainly black cases and black rectangles.
    I still have some electrified stringed gizmos I want to sell but I dont know which ones to make gone. The strats do my head in the most. Always thought they would be the easiest. Good strats are so cheap and easy to get it almost seems weird to have an attachment to them.
    The next stage of this thing, once Im safely set up in my new place to be is to take note of what I use out of the remaining electric stringed objects over the next 6months to a year and then cull the items that get the least use. I have a fair idea of what items they may be but I want to give them a fighting chance. They were once much loved and much played dooverlackies.
    Two of the nine whatchamacallits are acoustically inclined and one of the nine doohickeys plays low noted and none of those three are on the endangered list.
     
    I sort of covered it all in a reply to another blog but, Im roomless. I cant get out of this room until the carpet and curtains are done.
    I feel quite discombobulated and out of sorts. Ive had the same some where to be for the last 20yrs. Its all different now. Nothing is where it normally is. I havnt even got my desk.
    The room I have retreated to for the last 20yrs, or hid in, planned world dominance in, broadcasted from, conducted and cataloged sonic experiments in, deconstructed and reconstructed things in, took things apart and then thrown them out because I broke them in, sat and did nothing in, sat and looked like I was doing nothing in, the room where manic energy was spent in, the room I would fall asleep at my desk with a guitar on my lap in, the room where I blissed out on repeated riffs and momentary flashes of unusually and uncharacteristically cool shit is now just a space. Stripped back like this, its just another room where as before it felt like a destination.
    I feel kind of sad to be giving it up and happy to be free of it at the same time. More excited to be moving on than sad. There were times I was my own warden and the self imposed isolation was a killer.
     
    displaced slacker and his clump of stuff.

  4. JeffB

    Down sizing.

    By JeffB,

    Ive recently sold a lot of gear including PA's, guitars, amps and cabs, pedals, recording gear, pick ups and anything that resembled an unused or unnecessary piece of gear.
    Its been a rewarding experience. I havnt finished the purge and still have stuff to get rid of. It will happen.
    There have been a few things that happened that I didnt really think about when I first started selling my gear.
    One of those things is space. Room to move. No clutter.
    Another is time. I dont have projects lying around to finish. Other people have them now. Theres no spare pick ups or wiring harness's to try in another guitar. No (insert guitar guy name here) pedal board to put together. No speakers to swap out and try and no box's of tubes to sample and obsess over.
    I seem to have spare time and a very strong feeling of spare time. There are no projects occupying my vision or my mind
    Space and time plus extra cash is a combination worth having over bits and bobs it turns out. It gives you options and time to think about the options.
    My space is two rooms 8mtrs by 5mtrs each. Its not a little space. It takes a bit of effort to fill it up and reduce it to a small amount of space. It takes some effort to empty it also. But I did it.
    This space I have is now too much space. I sit at my desk with a 5 space guitar rack next to it running along one wall and two amps running at 90degrees to it along another wall at the end and realise I take up less than 9sqm's of the 40sqm's in this room.
    Its not cosy. It has been sound proofed so there is no outside noises, its very quiet and to be honest, it seems quite lonely and cold.
    With all the gear gone this space seems to have less purpose. I think its more that it no longer serves my purpose.
    31sqm's of redundancy and I want out of it.
    Ive negotiated a deal with my 18yr old daughter. I have her sunny 10sqm room and we clean, paint, re carpet and make more cheerful this room I have inhabited for 20yrs. Probably have to burn incense or go through some kind of purifying ritual as well.
    Hopefully she will get a few years use out of it before she moves out.
    She didnt say no. She has already picked carpet, curtains and colour scheme.
    Ive done like wise for my new little room.
    I wouldnt have guessed a few years ago that I would be this excited and happy to have less gear and less space. I also would never have guessed that there could be so much spare time in one day.
    Even though guitar takes up all my work day and most of my down time I feel less defined by it. Its a great feeling.
     
    Have a sensational day.
     
     
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