Because I'm All About the Guitar: Photographic Friday

Couple of admin. notes ... I've gotten tired of posting all the links to prior BIAAtG posts at the bottom of each new one -- just ate up too much space. So, if you're interested in seeing a prior installment, just use the search function.

Okay, so, not a couple of admin notes, just one.

I may be all about the guitar, but my personal collection is pretty meager. While I appreciate the fine art of the guitar, I can't afford to buy those models I lust after.

Morgan Monroe Tempest: This is my "baby." It's shaped like a Paul Reed Smith Ten-top 24 but the comparison ends in body shape. The neck is shaped different, the electronics are different and it uses a (far superior IMO) tune-o-matic style bridge as opposed to a PRS's Fender style.

The MM Tempest ran me about $550, which is about half the price of your average PRS. While this is a Korean-made, CNC-routed guitar, I actually far prefer its sound and feel to that of the "custom shop" PRS. While the stock pickups are adequate, I want to upgrade them to Seymour Duncans.

The thing I love most about this guitar is its versatility. I can smash out some great metal sounds, play some soulful souding blues and strum some sweet clean tones. Sadly Morgan Monroe, a small Nashville company, only made the Tempest for a couple of years. Even more sad, they have apparently been bought out and now only make (HACK, COUGH, PUKE) banjos, mandolins, fiddles and resonators (and a bouzouki, which is cool). I can't even find this guitar on Ebay any more. If I wanted to find another one, I'm not sure I could

The cheapest guitar I could find at the time: just happened to be this Epiphone Les Paul Jr. Special. You know you're getting a cheap guitar the more adjectives they tack onto the name. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how decent a guitar this is.

I bought this guitar for a very specific purpose. I was deploying to Afghanistan and I wanted a cheap guitar to take with me. If anything happened, I wouldn't sweat it. But when it came in, I like it far more than the Ibanez I had at the time, so I took the Ibanez with me (it survived the trip fine, I wound up giving it to my brother).

If you've ever played a cheap Paul copy, you know the deal. No where near what you get out of the real deal or the mid-range Epiphone models. I was expecting crap though, and this is far from it. If you like punk, this is a great guitar. Not a hell of a lot of range, but it belts out that mid-rangey grind.

My chief complaint is that the tuners absolutely suck. It can't stay in tune longer than 30 minutes. If I decide to keep the think -- and I probably will so my daughters can use it -- I'm gonna replace the tuners and the nut.

Dean Playmate: Yeah, I play bass ... poorly. But I love it. Lots of fun. I find it very interesting to switch from playing a standard six string to playing the bass and then back. After playing a bass, the standard six string seems tiny. It's a neat feeling.

I picked this up about 2001 or so. I was asked to play bass in a friend's band. So I decided to go ahead. But I really didn't like the singer and decided to drop out. Now I use the bass for recording. Which means I don't use it at all. Right now. I'm sure I should have shopped around a bit, but I just wanted something that thumped. I got this bass and a Rogue amp (Musicians Friend's brand). Not great, but I can get the two sounds I like and that's all that matters.

Lastly, I have some remnants that I really want to actually make into a playable instrument again.

Look upon my Heavy Metal face and tremble! Tremble I say!

This guitar body is from the very first electric guitar I owned. It was a Quantum (try finding that guitar company) and I got it for my 16th birthday. The neck is from a cheap Japanese-made Jackson flying V. The funny thing is, I don't have the original neck to the Quantum nor the body to the flying V. Couldn't begin to tell you where they even are.

What I want to do is take this single pickup guitar and make something similar to the old Kramer Barrettas. I do want a Floyd Rose bridge so, my options are to fill the tremolo route with new wood and re-route, or to just buy a new guitar. I don't know what kind of pride of ownership I'd have. I'd love to have a hand in making my own guitar, but I have a feeling that my lack of creative ability would turn out a really crappy product.

To wit, see that funky white headstock with polka-dots? That's a failed project. What I wanted to do was have a white headstock and body and have my kid's finger prints on the headstock and body. Good idea, but it came out looking like that semi-hard candy that was on your aunt's table that you never touched because the one time you tried to it tasted like jellied puke. Back to the drawing board.

So, let me know about the gear you got or the gear you want.