Guitars | weatherfish

Oscar Schmidt OU5

Wed, 07 Jun 2006 12:46:45 -0700

As of this writing, this is my most recently aquired guitar, and is made from lovely Koa wood. This Hawaiian wood is typically found on uke's costing $500-2000 (or more) and I just worshiped them from afar.

Epiphone G400 Custom

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:39:37 -0700

One of the most common problems I run into is that when I finally decide to get an instrument, it gets discontinued. This has happened with the Epiphone Zephyr and the G400 Custom. Every music shop I tried in 2001 was out of them, and I can only assume I was not alone, as Epiphone brought the model back a couple of years later. I got this one used on E-Bay in 2002 and save some minor scratches, it was in good condition.

This is the Epiphone redux of the triple-pickup Les Paul Custom (SG) from the early 60s. What drew me to this thing was when I found out you could blend each of the three pickups independently, which allows for a wide range of sounds. This means you can have more strat-style out-of-phase sounds you normally can't get on Les Paul/SG guitars. I also like the action on this thing, it's very fast neck and has a nice reach to the higher frets. It's hard not to noodle to excess on this model, as the speed of the neck seems to encourage it. Nice colour, gold hardware, fret markers and I especially like the 'split-diamond' headstock inlay.

Unique Feature(s): 3 blendable pickups

Epiphone G1275

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:39:00 -0700

Sometimes it's hard not to feel a bit of a jackass with this behemouth, filled with dellusions of Jimmy-Page-grandeur, daring to pretend you'll reach the heights of Howe or even McLaughlin or perhaps even (joke) ELVIS! The double-neck has always been synonymous with the ego-soaked execeses of the 1970s. So, I'm guilty, I grew up in that vile decade, and stood agog at Meister Page during Led Zeppelin's 1977 Seattle gig, longing that I would one day play such a mythical instrument.

Knowing there were so-many like-minded dupes, Epiphone created two doubleneck models in the 90s, one patterned after the original Gibson EDS-1275, and another patterened after Jimmy Page's customized doubleneck. As I said in my intro, I had no electric guitar in the late 90s, and wanted to just get one, ultimate guitar, and this was it. But the doubleneck is more than just two necks on the same body. What makes the doubleneck hella-kewl is that the necks can 'interact', and you can create sympathetic vibrations, which can make sounds no single-neck guitar can do (without effects, anyway). I got the Alpine White finish instead of Cherry, as I liked it better and thought it might make people think less of Jimmy Page when they saw it. Now it's much harder to find than the Cberry models as white was discontinued.

This is a cumbersome beast, but perfect for a studio-bound dood like me. It's setup like Page's EDS-1275, with open coils on the 6-string neck and covered ones on the 12 neck and the extra string length past the bridge (which supposedly make it easier to bend strings). The pickups are quite loud, especially the open-coil ones on the 6-string neck, and it sustains pretty good with all that wood in the body. It's not great for soloing, as the necks are set deep in the body. Like I did on my G400 Custom, I put Fender knobs on the pots and changed the black switch covers with white.

Unique Feature(s): Two interacting necks

Carvin TL60

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:38:29 -0700

When Gibson had issued a Jimmy Page Les Paul signature model a fews years ago, I wished that something was available that had similar features (coil-taps, phase control, series/parallel wiring), but not the astronomical cost. I had considered getting a low-end Epiphone Les Paul and wiring it the same way, but didn’t think I had the skills or patience. Then I realized the answer had been in front of me for a long time, in the form of the Carvin catalog. They had electronics options for their guitars that were pretty similar to the Jimmy Page model; humbuckers with coil-splitting and phase-switching. It makes up for the lack of series/parallel wiring by having a Fishmanl piezo pickup, which has a more acoustic guitar sound, and is blendable with the magnetic pickups.

It's a swamp-ash body, with a blueburst finish on its Telecaster shape. Between the splittable pickups and the phase-angle switch there are 12 different sounds, and double that when you blend in the Fishman. The guitar plays very well, and is easily the most versatile axe I have.

Unique Feature(s) - Piezo pickup, coil-splitters, phase switch, 24 frets.

Fender Nashville Tele

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:37:58 -0700

After owning my Epiphone doubleneck for a year, I lied to myself that the only other guitar I would need would be a Fender. Though the G1275 was loud and dense, I missed the dry, single-coil sound of a Fender. I was rather taken with Fender’s 50s retro Strat line, but when Fender released the Nashville Tele, I was swayed. The hybrid nature of this axe appealed to me, combining Telecaster pickups with an over-wired Stratocaster pickup in the middle position. The guitar is made in Mexico, and the pickups are the ‘Tex-Mex’ type, and provides both Tele sounds combined with the 5-way switching of the Strat. Thanks to the heavy slab of wood it has more sustain than a standard Strat.

Unique Feature(s): 3 different pickup types

Yamaha RBX6JM

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:35:50 -0700

In 1999 I wanted to get a fretted bass to replace my wounded Squire Precision, and liked the curious design of Yamaha’s electric basses. So I purchased a green Yamaha RBX765A 5-string bass. Soon after that Yamaha introduced the RBX6JM John Myung model, which had six strings and beautiful turquoise finish. I returned the RBX5 (I only owned it for a few weeks) and upgraded to the Myung bass. I liked the idea of a six-string but since my fingers are small, I didn’t think I could play a typical 6-string, but the RBX6JM has a narrower neck, so it works well for me. The most versatile feature is the 3-band EQ, which has a nice range of sounds. The sound of the bass is full and punchy and is the bass I use most.

And no, I don't play any Dream Theater on it, I don't even listen to any of their stuff.

Unique Feature(s): 3-band EQ

Squier II Precision

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:35:34 -0700

This is the second oldest guitar I own. I purchased this in a small music shop in Ellensburg Washington back in 1989. It cost $200 back in 1988, which was all I could afford as a college-student. A single split-pickup and volume and tone knob. The only problem was I had ruined the original neck by removing the frets. So i purchased a new neck from Warmoth, which is a mongrel design, a Jazz-Bass neck taper, with Telecaster bass headstock. This was partially because it reminded me of Tele bass model John Paul Jones played in the early 70s. It sounds rattier than it did before, but I’ve come to like the quality and use it when I need a more thinner, more Rickenbacker like sound.

Unique Feature(s): Split pickup

Chapman Stick Bass

Wed, 10 May 2006 10:35:12 -0700

I had ordered my StickBass in the late 90s, when I was in the last flush of my obsession with King Crimson, polyrhythms and atonalism. And within a year or so I had flip-flopped and got rid of much of that Crimso stuff. So by the time I got this StickBass, I wondered if I would find much use for it. I had spent more money on this instrument than I have before or since. It’s the most unique stringed instrument I own, and have done some composition with it, but just have not been willing to put in the time and work to play it like I can play guitar and bass.

Unique Feature(s): 8-strings.