Guitars, Amps, Drums & More

adawil2002

adawil2002

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Over on the 2002FAQ is a fun thread of Guitars & Amps. Aside from our common cars some of us are also musicians.

I'll kick this off with my guitars amps & drums. I have been a drummer for 18 years. I planned to learn the guitar yet my tender fingers are basically made of cheese and hurt so bad, I went back to drums.

My wife bought me the clear red Fender Stratocaster & Fender Amp as a holiday gift years ago.

I bought the clear Fender Telecaster & Vox Mini Beetle Amp last year.

The drums are Pearl EX with a Ltd Edition DW Edge Neal Peart Signature snare. Cymbals are Zildijian ZXT & pedals are Tama Iron Cobras. Along with LP & Pearl Jam & Temple blocks, a wind chime and LP Timbales.

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adawil2002 said:
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Wow! That is certainly a kit that Neal Peart would have been comfortable behind.

Learning how to drum has been on my bucket list since I was a teenager. I started taking lessons last fall finally. My kit is just a pdp with a Tama bass pedal, Pearl high hat, low end Sabian and Zildjian cymbals...but I'm having fun! Lots of time to practice now. Today will be my first lesson with my instructor via FaceTime.

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As you can see, I'm set up in the basement to try to keep the neighbors from coming to the door with torches and pitchforks. The bass is stuffed with pillows. I do use "sound off" drum head covers at times, but it just isn't the same.
 
Dick Steinkamp said:
Wow! That is certainly a kit that Neal Peart would have been comfortable behind.

Learning how to drum has been on my bucket list since I was a teenager. I started taking lessons last fall finally. My kit is just a pdp with a Tama bass pedal, Pearl high hat, low end Sabian and Zildjian cymbals...but I'm having fun! Lots of time to practice now. Today will be my first lesson with my instructor via FaceTime.

View attachment 88333

As you can see, I'm set up in the basement to try to keep the neighbors from coming to the door with torches and pitchforks. The bass is stuffed with pillows. I do use "sound off" drum head covers at times, but it just isn't the same.
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Big fan of Rush, currently working on Xanadu from A Farewell to Kings.

Used to have mine in the basement. Hung moving blankets as a sound deadening wall.
Takes a lot of practice, used to practice 2 hours a day. When not feeling like it, I’ll play for 15 minutes which quickly turns to 45 minutes.
The more you practice the better you will get quickly which makes you want to play more.
 
adawil2002 said:
Takes a lot of practice, used to practice 2 hours a day. When not feeling like it, I’ll play for 15 minutes which quickly turns to 45 minutes.
The more you practice the better you will get quickly which makes you want to play more.
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Ain't it the truth!
 
Having grown up just outside of NYC in the 70's I frequented 48th street guitar heaven. My friends went in search of Marylin Chambers in Times Square, I went to Manny's, "We Buy Guitars" et al. It started my vintage guitar interest long before prices shot up. This was when a 50's strat was $500 and a 59 Les Paul a couple grand and old guitars would hang by the hundreds in store windows - quite a sight to behold. I had a tiger stiped 59 LP in my hands that I could have bought for $2500 but I didn't think my skill level was worthy (it wasn't) even though I brought my life savings with me. Same with an Explorer. I've had 60's LP's & Firebirds (I was a Rossington Collins fan). Had an early 60's Gretsch Chet a la George Harrison. An Ibanez double cutaway. A Tele custom with a humbucker that I took the low E string off so I could be Keef Richards. A couple Guild 12 strings to play Zeppelin with lol. Had a Fender Twin Reverb silverface but that would blow out windows it was so loud so sold it. Now I only have a 90's mexican strat that I got for $100 (now vintage I suppose!) which plays great, a 69 LP Custom which weighs about 100lbs, and my Rivera-era Fender Super Champ reverb I bought new in 84 which has quite a story and journey back to me. My prize posession is a 61 Gibson Country Western acoustic, action plays like a LP and sounds great. But I still suck after all these years and rarely play at all. I just like being surrounded by their mojo.
 
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hell of a kit Andrew ... nice guitars too. have you tried going to extra light strings? they are much easier on the fingers. its been a long time since i have played (decades). i sold my guitars to buy a car and never went back. not sure i could even still play. that was when a new LP was 400 bucks and a strat was 300. those are still my favorites, but i always liked the gibson firebird with its reverse cuts
 
most new guitars need their neck adjusted, action lowered, and intonation set by someone knowledgable - makes a huge difference.
 
Nice that you brought this over from FAQ, Andrew! That thread has lost traction...as has the whole Off-Topic section of FAQ.

I'll play...

Bought my first Fender Strat from Ray Hennig's Heart of Texas Music in late '84...? Right after Stevie Ray made the big time. Austin was flush with amazing musicians and lots of guitar heroes. I still play that same Fender, and it has been massaged by some good luthiers here in town. I picked up a very pretty hollow body Ibanez several years ago. It never sounded very good but I just dropped some money to have it completely set up with a bone nut that was cut with the Plek machine (essentially a CNC for guitars). Now that guitar plays way above it's weight class.

I'd played through my brother's Fender Princeton Reverb initially, but he took it back long ago. I replaced it with a tweed Peavey Custom 30. It is good, but didn't have the reverb of an old Fender. I finally treated myself to a vintage,1965 blackface Fender Pro Reverb a couple months ago... I am so freaking happy with it. It's essentially a Twin with half the power at 40 watts. Bought a new Vertex Steel String pedal which closely mimics a Dumble Steel Stringer amp tone... it's a clean overdrive that works soooo nicely with the Pro Reverb and Strat tones.. I am finally happy with my tone and very much enjoy playing throughout the evenings.; it's good therapy.

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I've been working out a few of my old favorites such as Lenny and Tin Pan Alley, but remembered this Dire Straits tune last night and played to it for at least an hour... (Paul Franklin's pedal steel solo is so choice)


Ed Z
 
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I believe that our e9s and the Fender Stratocaster have a lot in common. Both are iconic designs in the world of cars and guitars respectively.
I’m a novice but I’ll have time to practice real soon.

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I’m also a big Mark Knopfler fan.

 
adawil2002 said:
Over on the 2002FAQ is a fun thread of Guitars & Amps. Aside from our common cars some of us are also musicians.

I'll kick this off with my guitars amps & drums. I have been a drummer for 18 years. I planned to learn the guitar yet my tender fingers are basically made of cheese and hurt so bad, I went back to drums.

My wife bought me the clear red Fender Stratocaster & Fender Amp as a holiday gift years ago.

I bought the clear Fender Telecaster & Vox Mini Beetle Amp last year.

The drums are Pearl EX with a Ltd Edition DW Edge Neal Peart Signature snare. Cymbals are Zildijian ZXT & pedals are Tama Iron Cobras. Along with LP & Pearl Jam & Temple blocks, a wind chime and LP Timbales.

View attachment 88320View attachment 88321View attachment 88322
Click to expand...
golly did you miss any drum or cowbell possible? Keith Moon would have gone crazy!
 
I tried my hand at drumming back in the 16th century, but have not stuck with it. But I appreciate a good drum cover, and because this is a car forum, I recommend the following:


If this strikes a chord with folks here, check out her other stuff. This chick is really talented.
 
I repaired my Crown DC-300 amplifier again last year. It was originally used by a local band for vocals. They dropped it and it stopped working. A repair shop said that it was not worth fixing, so I got it for nearly nothing. All it took was a fuse and a gain pot to get it working for another 45 years. This time both channels worked OK, but one heat sink was too hot to touch. I used a 'scope to compare the behavior of the two channels and found a 1 MHz oscillation in the bad channel. Most of the electrolytic caps for the amplifier circuitry had dried out, so I replaced all the electrolytics except for the giant ones for the power supply. It should be good for another 45 years now.
 
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