Last week, I mentioned that I was working on a very special feature for the blog. Well, it's not quite ready yet. In addition, this past week was so a crazy, that I had to shift gears and go in a different direction. I thought it might be interesting to share, so hear goes it!
As I mentioned before, back when we played the Across the Street Bar on March 2nd, we had a lot of issues. One of the issues was, that my guitar amp was acting up. It was cutting in and out, and having all sorts of problems.
The next day, I was determined to get to the bottom of the issue. I hooked up the amp, and my pedalboard, to see if I could find the problem. A pedalboard, is just what it states. Most guitarists use effects pedals, to some degree. Some, more then others. A pedalboard allows you to connect all the effects to one another, and leave them that way. It has a 9 volt adapter, that plugs into any power source. This alleviates the need to have a 9 volt adapter for each pedal, or worse, having to use a 9 volt battery in each one. That can become very costly, as these things eat batteries for breakfast. Anyway, I checked all the cables and one of them was loose. I plugged it in, good, and voila! Problem solved, or so I thought. I played the amp for awhile longer, and had no more issues.
Fast forward to Thursday, March 7th. We had a couple of new songs, that we were looking to add to our set. I went in to practice. All things seemed well, until the last part of practice, as the amp started cutting in and out again. I did not have the pedalboard hooked up, so now I knew their was an issue with the amp. It was Thursday night. Their was nothing I could do at this point, except pray for the best. We had a show on on Saturday, and I had to work all day Friday. Their was no way an amp tech could look at, in time.
Luckily, I had another amp around the house. It's actually my son's. He took up the guitar, for a little while, so I had bought him this practice amp, one year for Christmas. He is grown, and sort of on his own now. He no longer lives with us. I've noticed that it seems to be a trend, that when kids leave the nest, they seem to leave a lot of their crap behind. I know this happened with me, as years later, my mom gave me all of my baseball and football trophies, that I had left behind. I think she probably gave me some other stuff too, but I can't remember it all, off-hand.
Ok, back on track. This amp is a little 15 watt, solid state practice amp. It was never designed, to play a gig with. I normally gig with a 50 watt tube amp. Big difference! I decided that the best course of action, was to bring both amps to the gig. I was really worried about my main amp. I cranked it up again on Saturday afternoon. It worked fine, but I still did not trust it. I figured that if it went out, or was giving me problems, I could use the little practice amp, to get me through. Hey, that's better then no amp at all, and having to cancel the gig, right?
I arrived at Lynn's Saloon, with both amps, and set up my main amp, as I always do. I warned Roy, that the amp was acting up, and that I might have to use the backup. He said, "No problem, we'll do what we have to do." Roy is always so cool, under pressure. He never seems to let anything rattle him. Or, if he does, he never shows it. I wish I could be more like that. I'm pretty high strung, as many of you, who know me personally, can attest to.
Everything went as normal, and the amp seemed to be working fine. I tuned the guitars, balanced levels, and we were pretty much ready to go. During this time, Cisco had misplaced his diamond wedding ring. We all helped him look for it, but were unable to locate it. Regardless, it was time for us to go on. We told Cisco we would continue to keep an eye out for the ring, and would help him look for it again, during the break. I would like to give kudos to Cisco. I know he was really upset about this, but he gutted it up and played like the pro, that he is.
I went up on stage, to make a final check of things. I was strumming the guitar, and that's when it died! I'm talking completely dead! No sound, no hiss, no nothing! What was weird though, is that all of the power lights were still on, their was just no sound. Roy said, "Well, I guess you better get the backup, hooked up." I was trying desperatly and hopelessly , to get it to work, but it wasn't happening. I ran over to the manager of the bar, to let her know about the issue, and that their would be a delay in our start. She was really nice about it, and said, "No problem." Cisco and Roy took this opportunity, to search some more for his wedding ring. Unfortunately, they were unable to locate it.
I got the other amp set up, told the guys I was ready, and we began. The little amp did alright, although I would not want to use it on a regular basis. I had to turn it all the way up, to get it to keep up with everything. It had a hard time. But again, it was never made to be used like that. Prolonged use like this will ruin it. Other then that, the gig went really well. I thought we sounded surprisingly good. The crowd seemed to really enjoy it, as well. So that's always a good thing, right?
I packed up and headed home. My thoughts immediately shifted to dealing with the amp issue. As I do after every gig, I prayed for safe travel, for all of us. I also prayed about the amp issue. Yes, I am a Christian, and yes, I play in a band that writes music about beer drinking and having a good time. I'm not going to get on a soapbox about religion or faith, here, but in my eyes they are two very different things. Religion is man made, in my opinion. I think their are a lot of issues with today's churches. A lot of judgement being passed, and I don't like that. I'm not saying that all churches are that way either, but I've seem plenty of it. Ok, enough of that. If you ever want to talk to me about my faith, my views on it, or want to know more, feel free to contact me. Man! I feel like I'm veering all over the road today. Ha ha!
As I was saying, I was already in deep thought, trying to figure out what to do about the amp situation, when I received a text. I didn't dare look at the phone. It was late at night and raining. I needed to concentrate on my driving, and the amp situation. Although, I was dying to find out what it was about.
I pulled into the driveway, killed the car, and checked my phone. The message was from Cisco! He had found his missing ring! I was ectatic! This made my night. I was so happy for him.
I proceeded to unload the car, and put the gear up. I then hit the shower. This is a post show ritual for me. Especially, if it's a smoky room, as Lynn's was. After my shower, I sat down with the computer, and started looking for an amp.on Craigslist! I love Craigslist! I dedicated a previous blog post to it. You can find it in the blog archive, if you care to read it. I stayed up for quite awhile, researching and comparing amps, within my budget. Keep in mind, this was an unexpected expense. You may be thinking, "Why not repair the amp, you already have?" Here is why. Most amp techs are like TV repairmen.They are usually individuals, that work out of their homes, or they may have a small shop somewhere. It's usually first come, first serve, so if their are five people ahead of you, your going to have to wait. We had shows scheduled for this weekend, and I knew that their was no way they could guarantee me, that my amp would be repaired by the 15th. Plus, I had no idea if it would even be worth repairing. If the repair cost was going to be more then the cost of the amp, then there would be no sense in repairing it. I did a little more research, and headed to bed.
I woke up the next morning, and discussed the issue with my wife. She agreed with me, and said I needed to locate an amp. She also suggested that I go ahead and contact the repairman, just to see what he would say. I left a message for him, ate breakfast, and then started my amp quest. I actually found one, that I thought would meet my needs, fairly quickly. It was a little more, then I was looking to spend, but the guy had it priced about $25 cheaper, then what the going used rate was. It was a good deal. I listened to a lot of sound clips of it on YouTube, decided it was worth checking out, and called the guy. I had to leave a message. He returned my call about 30 minutes later, and we discussed it. As I said, he had a very fair price on it, but I thought I would see if he had any wiggle room. He said he was firm on the price. I said, "Ok, let me check with the wife, and see what she says." Note, this was a negotiating tactic. Sometimes, if you tell them that, they will offer a price break right there. If not, sometimes they will offer you one, when you call back. I actually did discuss it with her, since it was a little more then I had planned to spend. She gave me her blessing, and I called the guy back. He wasn't offering to take anything off, so I told him that I wanted to come look at it. He was close to me, so I agreed to meet him, over at his house.
On the way over there, my phone rang. It was the amp repairman. He pretty much told me, what I already knew. He couldn't quote me a price or a time frame, until I took it to him, and he had a chance to go through it. I told him my situation, that I had his card, and would call him back when I was ready to bring it in.
I arrived at the guy's house, and he had the amp sitting in his living room. It was quite a bit smaller then my other amp, but still packed a powerful punch. The amp is a Traynor Custom Valve 40. It is a 40 watt, all tube, amp. My two guitars at the time, were a Fender American Standard Stratocaster, and a Gibson Les Paul Classic. The strat sounded incredible through the amp. The Les Paul, not so much. The guy, even remarked about how much better the Strat sounded, vs the Les Paul.
I bought the Strat last summer, when I was still working with the Talking Heads band. I was giving some guitar lessons, at the time, and used my earnings from that, and some overtime from my regular job, to purchase the guitar. My girls also put money towards it, for my Father's Day gift. Very good choice, by the way! As I said, the reason I picked it up, was #1, to gig, you really need to carry two guitars. That way, if you break a string, or something else happens to the guitar, you have another one ready to go, and you don't have to stop your show. #2, the Talking Heads, used Strats. Their is a huge tonal difference between a Les Paul and a Strat. To get that sound, I really needed a Strat. And #3, when I picked up that guitar, it was the best sounding, and easiest playing guitar, that I had ever played. Why the heck, didn't I pick one of these up 20 years ago?
As time went on, I found myself reaching for the Strat, more and more. When I joined up with Roy, and we started working together, I played every song, but two, on the Strat. I would try the Les Paul on stuff, but almost everything sounded better on the Strat. The Les Paul is great for hard driving rock, but not much else, in my hands. Plus, the Strat was more comfortable for me to play, and I think I sound much better on it. The only drawback on the Strat is, that your not going to get those crunchy, crunchy tones out of it, because of the pickup configuation. The other thing was, that when I switched guitars, I usually had to adjust the volume of my amp, because the Les Paul was so much louder. It really became a pain. When I would practice at home, for our shows, I would alway just grab the Strat, and practice all my parts on it. What I discovered, was that I could actually play the Les Paul parts better on the Strat. The problem though, was that they didn't really sound all that great on the Strat. The Les Paul is equipped with humbucker pickups and the Strat is equipped with single coil pickups, so again, totally different sound.
I started thinking about replacing the Les Paul, with another Strat, but with one change. Fender also makes a Strat, with a brige humbucker in it. These are commonly called, Fat Strats. Fender came out with a new model, last year, called the Fender Select. It's basically a blinged out Fender Fat Strat. My local music store had one in stock, so I decided to go and test it out. I was hoping to maybe work out a trade on the Les Paul. Well, I went and played it, and of course, I fell in love with it. The only problem was, that I was going to have to come up with $600, out of pocket, to make the deal work. It was a fair deal, I just didn't have that kind of money laying around.
I then decided to list the guitar on Craigslist. I was very specific, in what I wanted on a trade. Apparently, people do not read, because I received offers on just about everything out there, with the exception of what I was asking for. I had no offers, to buy the guitar outright. I took it off Craigslist, as SDR, was getting pretty busy with gigs, as well as recording.
Over the last couple of weeks, I started looking at guitars again. I came across a guitar that piqued my interest. The guitar was a G&L Bluesboy. G&L is a company that Leo Fender founded, along with George Fullerton, after he sold Fender. The Bluesboy is basically a hot-rodded version of a Fender Telecaster. They are very similar in looks and appearance. The ad said that the guy was looking to trade it, for another guitar. He went on to say, that he was not sure what he wanted, but to try him. I did some research on the Bluesboy. For starters, it was a little more expensive guitar, then mine was. The guitar had a humbucker pickup in the neck and a single coil in the bridge. I thought that this might serve my needs perfectly. I hit up YouTube, to listen to some soundclips, and thought it sounded nice.
When I was toying with the idea of getting another Strat, Roy suggested, "Why don't you try and find something a little different, for some variety?" I knew I wanted another Fender "style" guitar, if not another Fender, itself. Roy made a lot of sense, on this one, though.
I decided to contact the guy, on Friday, March 8th. I doubted he would be interested, for some reason. He emailed back, the next morning though, said he was interested, and wanted to know if we could meet over in Grapevine, later that day. Their was no way, I could do this. #1, we had a gig that night, and their was no way I was going to go play a gig, with a guitar that I was not familar with, and #2, my wife had some honey do's, for me to perform. I emailed him back, and told him that I could meet him on Sunday. Keep in mind, this was before the amp went out on Saturday night.
I never did hear back from him on Sunday, which was ok, as I was dealing with the amp issue. I did end up getting the amp. It had a really nice tone with the Strat, and I feel that it may actually serve our needs better, then the old amp did.
The guy emailed me back, this past Monday, March 11th. He suggested we meet on Tuesday, in Fort Worth, around lunchtime. He had a meeting, and was going to be in the area. This was not going to work for me, as I work about 30 minutes, west of Fort Worth, and only have a 30 minute lunch break. I emailed him back, explained the situation, and advised that I could meet him on Monday or Tuesday night. I went on to explain, that this upcoming weekend would not work for me. We had gigs on Friday and Saturday night, and I would need time, to get familar with the guitar. I waited on his response.
In the meantime, I continued researching this guitar. I started comparing it with an actual Fender Telecaster. The responses that I read, said that it was actually a little hotter then a Fender Telecaster, due to the pickups. They also advised that the neck was a little chunkier. I began to think, that maybe this was not the guitar, for me. My primary reasons for wanting a different guitar, was the neck profile, and something that didn't sound as "hot", as a Les Paul. This guitar was starting to seem more like a Les Paul clone, on a Telecaster body.
I started, really researching the Telecaster. I found out that it's pretty common for them to have a humbucker in the neck, and a single coil in the bridge. I began listening to sound clips, and was really impressed. The neck comes in the same standard size, as the one on my Fender Strat. A lot of people like to mod Fenders. The necks are bolt ons, which means you can switch them out. A Les Paul is a set neck guitar, which means the guitar is all one piece. If the guitar takes a fall, and the neck snaps, your guitar is pretty much ruined. This was another reason, for wanting to make a switch. With all the gigs that we are playing, this could actually happen. With a Fender, if the neck snaps, you can just find another one, bolt it on, and you are good to go! You can order them, directly from Fender.
I still had not heard back from the guy, about the Bluesboy. It was Monday night, and I thought I would check Craigslist. I logged on to the musical instruments section, and couldn't believe my eyes! Right there at the top, was a Fender Telecaster listed. The guy was wanting to trade it for a Les Paul! It was perfect! It had a maple neck, which I've really grown fond of. My Strat has one, and I love the way it feels. It also had a neck humbucker. It was a 2004 model. My Les Paul was a 2005. I started doing research, on this model Tele. It was very comparable in price, to my Les Paul. I checked some guitar forums, and everyone that owned one of these guitarrs, loved them. I read a post, where one guy sold his, and regretted it.
Still, I thought the best course of action was to sleep and pray on it, so I did. The next day during my lunchbreak, I looked at the guitar again. I really felt, that this guitar was the one, and was meant to be. I contacted the guy, through Craigslist, and received a very fast response. We exchanged several responses during my lunchbreak. He was interested in looking at my guitar. We exchanged numbers and planned to meet that evening, after work.
He called me on my way home. He lived in Dallas, and suggested that we meet over at his band's rehearsal space, in Arlington. This worked for me, as it was about halfway, for both of us. I went on home, had dinner, grabbed my amp and the Les Paul and headed to Arlington. He was a really nice and laid back guy. Of course, anytime I go on a Craigslist hunt, I am required by law (aka my wife) to text her when I get there, and text or call when I leave. I'm also required to leave her the address and phone number, of the person I am going to meet. I know I kind of joke about my wife's policy, but it is actually very smart, and I would suggest that anyone doing a Craigslist deal, do something similar to this, or travel with a buddy.
So, we went into the jam room. I set up my new amp, and he brought out the Tele. I brought out my Les Paul and gave it to him. I hooked up the Tele and knew immediately that I wanted it. It was exactly what I was looking for. It had that great Fender neck, and had a a great growl to it. Heavier then the Strat, but not over the top, like the Les Paul. He played my Les Paul for awhile. I couldn't really tell whether he liked it or not. After awhile though, he said, "I'll do the deal if you want to." I said, "Sure." After the business was done, we visited for a few minutes. He told me about his band, and I told him about Sand Dollar Rodeo. He said he would like to come out to one of our shows sometime, and said he would check out our website for dates.
From there, I went ahead and packed up my amp and headed home. I was so happy about this, and couldn't wait for Friday night! Later on, that evening, I received a text from the guy. It stated "U still happy with trade?" I went ahead and texted him back and said, "Yeah, I love it, You?" He responded within the next minute, as follows, "Yeah, just got home and stretched strings out and cranked it up and it is bad ass!" I thought this was a very nice gesture, on his part.
I've had the guitar for almost a week now, and couldn't be happier. I'm firmly convinced that I made the right decision. I used the guitar for the first time, live, this past Friday at Tammy's Hideaway, and again on Saturday at Diamond D's. It sounded fantastic. Both Roy, and Cisco, commented on how nice it sounded. Roy said it had a much warmer tone, then the Les Paul. I believe that is a perfect comparision.
You can see the new guitar and amp, this Saturday, as we will be making a return trip to Hollywood & Vine, down in Glen Rose. Hopefully the weather will be nice, and we will be outside on the big stage. If not, then we will be inside. Hope to see ya down there. Until next time, take it easy!
