Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vintage. Show all posts

Monday, October 31, 2022

This Title is for Sale


Your love is like  showering with your clothes on


 Well, isn't that nice. Something happened and Google ate all the content for this episode of ThermionicEmissions. I had no idea I had to save everything personally, in addition to Google auto-saving it. The ENTIRE entry. I can't even remember what's there, so I can't recreate it. POOF - it's gone. Thanks, Google.

In other fun Google news, they will be dropping Chrome support for Windows 7 and 8.1 soon. Time to get a new browser. And a new operating system. 


Today I identify as  John Wayne's rug



NASA's UFO study started the other day.

NASA is an organization responsible for tons and tons of hardware sent into space, as well as lives on the Space Station. Do you mean to tell me they have no idea what's flying around up there? Thus far, their job seems to be finding prosaic explanations for anything odd-looking in space. Now they're studying it. Congress is also studying it. We can't wait to see their conclusions.

NASA has known something since at least the Apollo Moon missions, when the astronauts told them there were 'things' down there as well as shadowing them. We're being bamboozled. Again.

Don't forget the well-known Air Force studies Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book, most of which were set up from the beginning to debunk UFOs. These studies ran from the late 1940s to 1969. The good cases were excluded from the study. So UFO studies are nothing new.

9-11 gave us Security Theater. NASA gives us UFO Theater.


President Biden just got Booster #27 and reminds everyone to get theirs. This one week after the president declared the pandemic over. 

Loath as I am to say anything bad (STOP LAUGHING), I'll point out the positive: Big Pharma made tons on it. The only issue they faced was making sure their accounting systems could handle the additional zeros. 


Speaking of guitars, I'm noticing an alarming trend in online sales: calling guitars I grew up with 'vintage.' This is incorrect and downright creepy.  Then I discovered music I grew up with on the classic rock station. There is only one possible conclusion: the world is out of sync with me. I suggest the world get its sync together to stop making me feel so....


Someone from out of state informed me that the Phillies were going to the playoffs.

"Yay," he said, dejectedly. Now the city is going to have to grease the light poles, which the fans will climb anyway. Sales of yahoo flags will go through the roof and start appearing on cars. Philly will have to import beer to avoid a catastrophic shortage. The trucks will be under armored guard. People will have a new greeting: "YEAH, FSCKING PHILS, man!" You will be expected to use it any time you talk to someone, lest you be thought of as being a fan of whatever other team is playing. If so, that's a beatin'. Parking will become quadruple, up from the normal triple-parking, especially on residential streets. 

Polio, as found in the New York city sewage system, will become a Philly issue, as fans piss all over everything between the game and subway, or homes. The homes around the stadiums will be empty for this reason, with all the owners flying to a tropical destination where it's not gloomy 6 days per week and the grass doesn't smell like urine. Whose brilliant idea was it to buy a house next to a stadium anyway? You say people used to not pee on your property? How nice for you. Since the Philly police are busy not dealing with other crimes, you're on your own. Have your ridiculously invasive Ring doorbells take video of the people peeing and put them up on YouTube. I can't decide if this would be embarrassing or encouraging for the urinators. Look - I'm YouTube famous! HEY - my dick is bigger than that!

After this is all done, the Phillies' management will take a page from the NFL and jack the prices through the roof. We already have the highest priced drinks in the NFL. Next is parking and ticket prices. The price will be determined by taking the fan's yearly salary and doubling it. You will no longer have to bring a Flying AIDS certificate to games - now it's a tax return.  Parking will be a bargain (if you live in New York City) and only require the deposit of a child or two. This will solve a fan dilemma of what to do with your child who doesn't like sports, or takes ballet lessons. It will become a very expensive babysitting service. If anybody gets caught selling unofficial merchandise, the government will have a strike force raid the place and seize all their merchandise, just like the NFL does. Baseball is long overdue for its own monopoly and the effort will start in Philly. Nah, I'm kidding - the prices of everything will rise and that's it. A badly-mixed imitation Coke will cost $15. Phillies Water, in a bottle with the Phillies logo, will be $75 ($25 for non-playoff games). World famous Philly soft pretzels will be $7.27, exact change required, mustard extra. In addition to the entrance fee, there will be an exit fee, a bathroom fee, a standing up and stretching fee, and a spilling beer on some innocent schlub fee. Philly had the first stadium with a court inside it for a reason. The court gave up prosecution for parking offenses, as the entire city is a parking offence. 

This is just Day One.

With Love - 

-the AntiSports


I knew it was going to happen, but I did it anyway.  Readers know that I have some control over the weather. So I put my office fan away. This guarantees warm weather for at least a few days. Thus far I haven't been able to do anything about the gloom and rain, but later today I'm going to try... "Gee, I sure wish it would be gray and rain for the next week." I will report back on the results.


As part of a centuries-old tradition, King Charles started his day with the sound of bagpipes at his home. Nobody really knows why. One suggestion is that it keeps kings from being in office too long. Either they go crazy from the bagpipes or their neighbors hang him.  Who says I can't do British humor?


Eric Weinberg: Scrubs producer and writer pleads not guilty to 18 counts of sexual assault

Great - another alleged asshole. Although I'd kinda like Sarah Chalke to sexually assault me. Perhaps with her mammalian protuberances.


I insist we remain neutral in Russia's aggression upon Ukraine. However, Russia sent a missile into space to destroy one of their old satellites to prove they could. It caused so much debris that the Space Shuttle has had to move around it yet again. This might be a bomb-able offense.  Nah, don't hurt any innocent citizens - surgically strike Putin. He is fond of poisoning; why not poison him? This is yet another reason why I'm not president


Are you feeling pretty ok today? Let me fix that: An Indonesian woman's body was found intact inside a python. The 16' (27 grams Canadian) snake was dispatched and the body was found. Apparently after a certain size, rats aren't worth the calories for snakes.


People like to sound intelligent by saying they think outside of the box. I frequently get told to think inside the box. The problem here is that we never got the box. It was supposed to be delivered by USPS and you know what happens when USPS is involved.... their latest cost-saving idea is to officially not deliver 33% of the packages. This will be a change in name only, giving official acknowledgement to their unofficial policy of not delivering (at least) a third of their packages.


Darrell Brooks, the Waukesha Wonder, was found guilty on all 76 counts. The jury deliberated for 2:47 hours, which is 2:46 longer than thought. Brooks was dejected. One wonders if he thought representing himself was going to bring about not guilty verdicts. The scheduling of the penalty phase is coming up. With the number of people speaking about the impact, this phase is expected to last until 2025. The parade will go on this year, but no one wants to drive. Batons will have rearview mirrors, as will tubas. The Dancing Grannies will be accompanied by the Wisconsin National Guard. Picking up the rear will be OJ Simpson, looking for the people who murdered his ex-wife and her boyfriend. In his closing, Brooks blamed God. As far as I know, He wasn't driving.

I always want to know why. Why did that kid shoot up a school? Why did this guy mow people down at a parade? We (relatively) sane people need answers because we can't imagine doing something like this. Some of us can't imagine getting caught doing something like this.



Friday is usually a slower day at work. It gives us time to catch up from the week. 

Until....

ring ring----

They towed the car

ARE YOU OK?

It wasn't an accident - it had something to do with paperwork.

Oh.

They had PLATE READERS.

Fscking Security State.

Tell me about it.

Philly has over 50% uninsured drivers, but you're the criminal.

I'll get a ride.

------------------------------

30 minutes later

%&#*%) I can't get an Uber, under, cab, or much else.

That's odd. I'll rent a car.

------------------------------

30 minutes later

I got a car, but they're not picking me up for a few hours.

Dammit. Guess I'll wait. The convenience store told me to go away or they'll call the police for loitering.

Oh, the humanity.

-------------------------------

2 hours later

I called Renterprise to ask if we were still on.

Absolutely!

Uh, ok, my only question is why weren't you here half an hour ago to pick me up?

OH, we were supposed to pick you up? I don't have that on the sheet.  (yes you do, we discussed it earlier). We'll be right there.

To be fair, they got me in and out in short order. So short I almost missed the financial bit: they take the entire fee out of my account, plus an amount not to exceed, but be double the fee amount, for a security deposit. It is supposed to be refunded. I'm sure it will (after much bitching and candle-lighting and dead chickens).

Renterprise feels like a huge used car lot, with only 2 cars for rent (or sale). You feel like you have to take a shower after you talk to them. 


I'm zooming down the highway, full of adrenaline, to rescue my bride. Her ass has been on cold concrete for 4 hours. She can barely move. At least she got food from the convenience store before they told her to GTFO.

-------------------------------

30 minutes later

Ok, I'm Down South. Do I get off the same exit as we use for Cindy's apartment?

Apartment or house?

Apartment. The one we always use.

You will see a Springfield exit. Go to the next Springfield exit.

Of course there are 2 Springfield exits. The road planning committee ate the brown acid.

Get off the 2nd Springfield exit and make a left.

You mean like we always do?

Yes. 

Like I said in the first place?

Huh?

Who's on First?

Huh?

And where do I find you?

There's a convenience store across from a gas station.

So the convenience store will be on my right?

No, it will be on your left.

Then the gas station will be on my right?

Yes. No.

Take your time - the questions get harder.

---------------------------------

30 minutes later  (when rescuing a spouse, time moves in 30 minute increments)

ring ring... I am at Cindy's road and haven't seen a convenience store or gas station yet.

You went too far.

How could I go too far if I haven't seen the store yet?

Did I say you have to go left? I meant right.

Oh. Left, right, no matter. They're only directions.

Make the right and I'm a few blocks up.

I can do that.


ring ring I'm at a convenience store but you aren't.

Is there a gas station across the street?

No.

Then I'm not there. Keep going.

ring ring I'm at another convenience store and I've gone more than a few blocks.

You've gone TOO FAR.

You've had me on both sides of the highway and I can't find you.

Wait... the map says you're 1.5 miles away. Or 12 miles.  

Is it having trouble making up its mind?

OH. I'm not where I thought I am. 

Will I have to drive up and down a different street for a few miles?

OK, you just need to turn on Main Street and I'll be there. 

Where is Main Street?

I AM GOING TO KILL THIS PHONE. YOU FIND IT. The battery is going into the red. BYE.


Oh.

I find myself in a McDonald's parking lot. This hasn't happened to me in 20 years (McDonald's, not a parking lot). 

The first thing I notice is while talking to her, my phone told me I can't access data while I'm on the phone. Gee, I could access it 3 weeks ago. Now is not the time to call Purrrizon and share my most intimate feelings with them about this.

The second thing is a creeping terror at being asked to locate something. I have a wife for locating things. One with a non locked down phone. My phone is locked down tighter than the nuke codes. It's locked down so tight, it can't even tell where it is, no less Google. Google can't tell it's a phone. The location is turned off and welded in place. Plus I can't find my way... out of a parking lot.

So I'm sitting in the rental, screaming, cursing, launching the phone, screaming because I can't find the inside lights, trying to remember the name of that divorce lawyer, and screaming. The people outside the car gave me a 9.7 overall and a 5 for style. I thought the 5 was unfair - I never got that high before. I have no style. Or life.

30 minutes later

I found it! The directions are pretty simple. I just take the 3rd Springfield exit.

Them was some happy, cold, sore-assed folks that got into the car.

So all I need to do is pay the Police fine, Police Pizza Fund fine, Plate Reader Purchase fine, County Accent Correction fine, and the Give Us Money fine and we'll be... fine. The stack of tickets is higher than the car (ours or the rental) and the total fine makes the mortgage company jealous. 


UPDATE 

A local tag place straightened out every facet of our paperwork issues, reasonably and immediately.

As a libertarian, I don't want to live in a world where the state can TAKE your car. I hope I'm smart enough not to argue this point with them.






Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Tech 21 - Guitar Content Only

GUITAR STUFF - read at your own peril


Tech21 is the manufacturer of the famous SansAmp no-amp rigs that plug right into an amp or console. The current series is the Fly Rig, available in basic or different artist flavors. Without even touching the tones, the concept is tremendous. An amplifier/effects rig in a small (12" ?) pedal. A lot of my fellow guitar players keep one of these in their bag in case their amp lets out the Magic Smoke and stops working [Magic Smoke makes all electronics run. If you let the Magic Smoke out, the device won't run anymore]. Some people use these as fly rigs (stop it), where they go to small or hastily put together shows without their amp - they just fly out with one of these boxes. Amp moving costs a lot of money too, especially overseas.

Richie Kotzen has a signature model, which he uses in his everyday rig, into an onstage clean amp. You can't get more authentic than that. He spent a lot of time developing it with Tech21, to their credit.

Tech21 has a page of videos on YouTube, as is mandatory these days. It's great because anyone can hear what they sound like before auditioning one for themselves or ordering one. They're reasonably priced too. And here is where I have a few issues (other issues, thank you). I want to reiterate that these are great pedals and incredibly useful. You're getting my opinion only here.

In the Pete Thorn video, he does a good job demoing the pedal. I'm with him right up until he starts saying it's a great sounding pedal. Pete is a phenomenal guitar player, with a ton of unbelievably good sounding vintage and custom amps. I don't see this kind of comparison as valid. It's not that I don't think the pedal sounds good or works well in a track... it's just the comparison.

In some of the videos, additional pedals are used. I didn't watch the videos to hear how the device sounds with other pedals; I want to hear it by itself. Show me what it can do. Putting a DS-1 in line to sound like Joe Satriani is like putting a Fuzz Face in line to sound like Jimi. Want to impress potential customers? Create the sound with the Fly Rig itself. No, you won't nail Van Halen's Unchained without the external flanger, but that's completely forgivable.

Now that I've given my personal opinion, let me give my personal opinion (on the viability of a Fly Rig in my rig) (sorry). I'm not what you'd call a working musician, as most musicians aren't. However I'm a pretty well-equipped non-working musician. Instead of buying Nice Stuff all my life, everything went into gear. My amps run from a real tweed Champ to a 74 Marshall half stack. I have some concept of tone, and it tends to line up nicely with general consensus.

Quite frankly, the boxes don't sound like or as good as amps. Nothing's wrong here, as one cannot reasonably expect a pedal to sound like a Fender tweed Deluxe or tan Bassman. I'm not all that crazy about the sound. However, I agree with many who carry it in their spares case. I also think it's very valuable for recording, in that the tones will sit nicely in the track, as well as not needing to crank up the Plexi at 2am. Further, I would rather hear the amp behind me, blowing sound at me onstage, not through monitors.

Suggestion: you did a great job on packaging the pedals. They're ideal because they're very small, and that's my issue.. I was not born with balance, grace, or the ability to see well on a dark stage. I'd make the pedal wider, so Stage Ballet isn't necessary. As for width, 12" isn't enough (STOP IT!). I'd give it another 6" or so, to comfortably get my huge, flat feet to hit the correct switch. My feet are so flat (HOW FLAT ARE THEY?) they're so flat that NIST uses them as a standard.


***********************************


The Character Series pedals are designed to sound like a specific amp, available in Blonde (60s Fender blonde amps), British (Marshall), and Liverpool (Vox AC30/15), among others. I'll save us a lot of extra reading and say my opinion of these is the same as the Fly Rig: they don't really sound like their name, but they get you in the ballpark and are great as a utility, spare, or recording pedal.


**********************************


The future will bring us pedals that sound really close to the original tone. This is happening in software these days, at least in terms of improvements. Software is somewhat (incredibly) difficult to use in a live setting, so it lives in the studio for now. Well.... not entirely... these Tech 21 products are analog (discrete parts, like they used from the first ever pedal). Digital pedals use software to manipulate the bits and bobs to achieve the desired effect (sorry again).

A big problem in any emulator is emulating vacuum tubes (valves in the UK). It's not easy, but if ads are any indication, tubes are important, Most emulators, pedals, and amps use the phrase "Sounds just like tubes". Another bump is emulating 'sag', which is the positive effect of tubes squashing their power supply. One of the best tones ever comes from tubes operating close to their maximum specs.  So TURN IT UP! has a sound basis in electronics, as well as tone.

If you can't get, can't afford, can't tell the difference, or don't want to schlep large, heavy tube amps, buy pedals. This is probably one of the weirdest non-reviews Tech 21 has ever come across.



As one would expect, cheaper clones, made (way) offshore, are available in many flavors, and have their own YouTube videos.





** go ahead - accuse me of being a dinosaur. If using close to the original amplifiers the pedals attempt to emulate is being a dinosaur... if being very picky about tone is being a dinosaur... if Jeff Beck, Jimi Page, and Frank Zappa are still using/used the originals.... I'm a dinosaur. When El Becko and Page hit the stage without their Marshall tube backline and sound seriously good, it will be time for me to give a serious listen to what they're using. When Frank Zappa hits the stage without his impossibly complex tube rig, I will seriously start to question reality. After the show, of course.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

2018 Fall Philly Guitar Show

As decreed by our forefathers: Page, Hendrix, Beck, and Zappa, we must find any excuse to attend any event of any type, featuring guitars, or at least pictures of guitars. Women are really good too - at the shows and in general.

As we remember, it is fall, but the Philly Guitar Show is not held in Philly. It's in Oaks, just past King of Prussia. For some reason, King of Prussia is absolutely hilarious to anyone not from the area. Taking that into consideration, I shall not mention the Philly lane called Street Road.

As happens more often than not, it wasn't exactly a great event for lefties. However, there was still a lot to see to keep things interesting: tons of pedals, vintage and some new amps, and the perennial Greyhound rescue group. The dogs are pretty chilled out and sweet. Drop a few bucks in their jar and help the no longer needed racing dogs.

There were some exceedingly vintage guitars to be seen: some clearly for sale, some without any tags. I felt like a real idiot, taking pictures of them, not that this stopped me. I do this all for you. Do I sound sufficiently genuine?

First thing I almost bought was a leather handle to replace the one that failed catastrophically on a tweed amp. Something about a $50 leather handle forced me to leave it there.


The Taylor booth is always a lot of fun, even for lefties. Martin brought a cutaway lefty too - there is no upcharge for lefties.

new Taylor T5 and acoustic

Next is a real gem: an actual lefty Jimi Hendrix Monterey Strat. The originals were lefty, but the cheaper production models were backwards.

lefty Jimi Hendrix Monterey Strat


lefty 1965 Strat. Only $6995. A bargain at half the price!

lefty 1965 Strat




lefty Ric bass - think McCartney post Beatles

lefty Ric bass



lefty German Hofner bass - think McCartney Beatles


lefty Hofner German bass




a 2004 lefty Gretsch - check out the flame

lefty 2004 Gretsch




Here's a normal recent lefty Gibson SG

lefty recent Gibson SG



This is a one-off lefty PRS conversion, done by Paul Reed Smith himself and documented by a letter from Paul. This was before PRS did lefty guitars.

lefty PRS conversion

PRS just put out a lefty SE series guitar (made offshore, very reasonably priced). Here are two very expensive PRSes, American made, in less than attractive finishes.

expensive lefty PRS 1

expensive lefty PRS 2



That does it for the properly-oriented guitars. Next up, the backwards righty guitars.




This is a 1958 Stratocaster in really great shape. It's around the period I really like. I played one and it was pure magic.

1958 Strat



Here's what's described as a 1958-61 Strat. Perhaps it has multiple personalities. Perhaps some days it identifies as a banjo.

1958-61 Strat


This is a 1968 Telecaster. It's a rare 2 tone sunburst.

1968 Tele



vintage Gibson Firebird. No identification.

vintage Firebird


Gibson Les Paul TV Special. It was referred to as TV because it was always played in front of the TV. I make it up as I go along.

Les Paul TV Special



Gibson Les Paul SG -  this is a very old, special guitar, with the SG body shape before it morphed to the Les Paul shape we know and love. Referred to as Les Paul because Les Paul, a famous guitar player, got an endorsement. Les was the father of the electric guitar, an inventor and recording genius.

Les Paul SG




Gibson ES-345 (I think). The Custom Made plate was standard. It's in really good shape.

Gibson ES-345



If you're set on cousins, you can buy this 1961 dot ES-335. Dot denotes the fretboard markers. I believe this is a very desirable year.






The apple of my eye - a 1979 antigua Strat, the mirror image of my #1 guitar. I call it pukeburst. The best of avocado green and harvest gold.

1979 antigua Strat - pukeburst



You can never get enough pukeburst, so here's a matching acoustic. As you can see, there was a lot of variation in pukeburst. There are actually reissues, but they look even worse, if you can imagine that.

acoustic pukeburst


If the above two are pukeburst, the Japanese produced this shitburst. This is the kind of education one cannot get in school. Even private school.

Japanese shitburst


The expensive stuff starts here. These are two old Les Pauls and an SG

Les Pauls and an SG



You don't see a lot of 1969 Les Pauls

1969 Les Paul



This guitar is very special: a 1958 sunburst Les Paul so special, it has a name. Charlie. There's a great story behind this but I don't know it. There were about 3 lefties made during this period. I played one and it was decent. A fellow named McCartney has one. The other is in the US. Guitar Loons keep track of this kind of thing, even assigning names to them. These guitars are the Holy Grail: Jimmy Page has a few, Joe Walsh, and anybody who is anybody. One of the most famous Les Pauls of all time was Peter Green's (Fleetwood Mac, when they were a blues band), which he gave to Gary Moore. Gary's estate? (RIP) sold it to Kirk Hammett for about $2 mil.

1958 burst Les Paul - Charlie




It's a Les Paul. It's old. I can't see the writing on the tag and none of us can afford it. Note the single coil pickups. 

old Les Paul with single coil pickups



a 1952 Les Paul. This is a very old guitar. At only $10k, you can afford to buy a few. Why is it only $10k? How should I know.

1952 Les Paul





a 1960 Les Paul Special, refinished from sunburst. This lowers the value.

1960 Les Paul Special refin



1959 Les Paul Special - to go with your 1960 Les Paul Special above. Your wife's shoes match - why shouldn't your guitars? Notice the grain.

1959 Les Paul Special



There's a lot to be said about new Gibsons too, mainly that this rack contains many pointy ones. Flying V, Moderne, and Explorer are some names Gibson used. Notice the split headstock on the first guitar. This came about due to Barry Gibson using the scroll saw while drunk.  The founder, Orville Gibson, was a lefty, which explains why they're so hard to find.

a rack of pointy new Gibsons


enough Gibsons - let's see more Fenders



1955 Strats aren't too common. It's one of the first years for them. However, something about this one isn't sitting right - the finish, for one. The bakelite plastic parts tend to disintegrate over time. The pickguard is suspiciously new looking.

1955 Strat



How about a 1963 Strat. 1963 was a great year. How do I know? I don't. You can tell from the sticky this one has MOJO. Judging by the price ($16k), they charged extra for it. It really does speak to some of us.

1963 Strat with MOJO



1956 Esquire. Esquires became Telecasters after whoever owned the Esquire name sued Fender. Note that the Esquire only has one pickup, in the rear. Teles have one in the front too. Jeff Beck was a famous Esquire player. Jeff Beck could make a trashcan sound good.

1956 Fender Esquire



Another Holy Grail: a 1952 Telecaster. At only $55k, it's a steal. It's also a block of 1952 houses. This is so early in production, it still has diapers. Some of the guitars were labeled early or late in the year. Because everybody knows that in 1953, Jose Rosenstein started falling over from the paint fumes, so you want an early 1952 Fender.

1952 Tele




Danny Gatton (RIP) was the best unsung guitar hero in the world. The man was a master of many genres and entertained people all over the world. He worked with Fender on a Danny Gatton Telecaster and here is his #1. At $50k it's true history. The production guitars had 2 pickups instead of 3, but they were still Joe Barden pickups. These sounded authentic but were no-hum pickups. Next to this was a very early prototype. You'll have to take my word for it because, for some reason, I didn't take a picture. It might've been the guy who kept getting in front of me. If you read anything about anybody getting seriously injured at the show, I had nothing to do with it.

Danny Gatton's #1 Tele




1966 Telecaster is another fairly rare guitar, especially when it could be a 1967 too. The 1966 Tele came directly after the 1965 Telecaster, and was going for $6600. I like the color and condition. It remains backwards on purpose.

1966-67 Tele



a 1954 Stratocaster is pure unobtainium. Even I am ok with holding off til 1958. This will set you back $32k. Notice the front pickup cover disintegrating. Leo Fender obviously didn't do any age testing on his plastic. Leo was quite a frugal guy and wanted to produce a good product at a reasonable price. Leo also couldn't play an instrument, much like Cobain. This may be the first year for Strats.

1954 Strat



here's a 1961 Esquire to go with the 1956 Esquire a few guitars up. The finish has more character, which is a polite way of saying it's f-ing trashed. This is not a bad thing with guitars, although the nicer examples will be more expensive. This example is $11k. For your amusement is the 1968 neck for $1850. By way of comparison, you can get licensed Fender necks starting at under $200 (obviously they're NOT THE SAME).

1961 Esquire




One of the early effects boxes for guitar was the Electro Harmonix Big Muff (and Little Muff - submit tasteless comments to the comments section). This box made your guitar sound like it was roaring out of a cranked Marshall amp. It was incredibly popular. It is said that Jimi used one, which is no doubt due to some kind of time warp: Jimi died in 1970, before the Muff came out. 

For some reason, Big Muffs were also made in Russia. What no one will tell you is that this is the beginning of the Russian meddling in elections plan. They started with guitar effects. It turned out to be a piss poor plan because guitar players are frequently stupid and can't always find their way to the polling place. Or even remember what day of the week it is.

Notice the lovely and consistent Russian design ethic. The exquisitely round black knobs. The bigass footswitch. They also run on batteries that you can't even get in Russia anymore (I made that up).

Russian Big Muffs



On the way out of the show, something caught my eye. It was my finger and it hurt like hell.
Also on the way out, I saw this interesting booth. They were displaying some products from 360 Systems, an early synthesizer company. The piece of equipment that blew me away was Frank Zappa's prototype guitar synthesizer. I was in the presence of greatness! The gents at the booth didn't have exact specs or functions but noted that there were definitely 360 Systems products involved inside. It was obviously never completed. They have much more Zappa equipment. I hope we'll all get a chance to see it and hear about it. It has a lot of labeled functions and a keypad whose function no one can guess. Had it gone to completion, it would be called something like the Oral Cement Grungalizer.


Frank Zappa prototype guitar synth



Not to be outdone, this is Steve Howe's (Yes) prototype guitar synthesizer. All of them were described as tracking really poorly, due to the method of conversion.

Steve Howe prototype guitar synth



There were 300 ARP Avatars made. They were specifically for guitar. The giveaways are the lack of keyboard and the guitar input.

ARP Avatar guitar synth



Last but not least is the 360 Systems Guitar Synthesizer, built from lessons learned through the Zappa and Howe experiments.

360 Systems Guitar Synth



The gents at the booth also mentioned having a bit of Keith Emerson's rig. 
More as I find it.


There was every kind of effects box you'd ever want. There were wood guitar shape pick holders, unfinished bodies, ridiculously cheap guitars, effects from one transistor to $450 current technology, parts, a Bludotone head (Carlos Santana uses one now), designed as a copy of the rare and horribly expensive Dumble amp, which can be had on the used market now and then for five figures. The price goes up every time Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, or Stevie Ray Vaughan sneezes. There was the famous SRV Leslie, plus a few smaller varieties.  Strings and colored strings could be had, as well as great t-shirts and replacement windows. I suspect someone thought this would be a good idea, and it would be if the gathering included anything but guitar players. It expanded a bit since the last few times and it was a blast.

In the same bleak industrial park-like place were a few food joints. We discovered Cheeseburger Cheeseburger. The burgers were quite good, and we had some real knockout shakes (mine was brownie batter). No Coke - Pepsi. Recommended.



And that ends the Guitar Jones for 2018. The next Philly show is June or July, so if I remember to take pictures and can drag myself to putting them in a page, you'll all see them.




when I hit the spell checker button, it will promptly cough and die