No. 1

My grandpa, Papa, decided in his very late 70′s that he was done playing music and within a year’s time had given me a couple of lap steels, a Harmony acoustic and my great-grandpa’s violin. He said I could do whatever I pleased with the collection; only suggesting that I keep the fiddle and his favorite lap steel, a Dickerson.

I asked him about the other lap steel, a National Princess. As he recalled, it was given to him by someone whom he did not remember, never liked it, never played it and considered it yard sale junk. In July of 2007, after sensing no real connection to it, I took the National Princess to Kalamazoo Vintage Guitars (now defunct) to see what might come my way in a trade. That’s when I saw the Fender Esquire.

Fender Esquire Custom

This model had a one piece mahogany set neck into a two piece mahogany body with carved top and a humbucking Seymour Duncan Invader – basically, it was about as far from the typical Fender protocol as it could get and I loved it. What I could not love or  comprehend was why someone thought their backyard spray paint refin’ was better than the original factory finish of silver with black racing stripes.

I played it a day and a half before giving in. I could not stand having an almost great guitar. I took it to Moreno’s Guitar Clinic the first week of August to have it refinished and anxiously picked it up three months later, one day before my birthday. The process took off the silkscreened serial number; ever the craftsman and professional, Pete [Moreno] came up with a cool and unique-to-Fender solution: stamp it on the back of the headstock, ala Gibson. While it was there, I decided the SD Invader had to go and replaced it with a Rio Grande Fat Bastard.  Between the mo’hog neck and body, the stamped serial and a P90, I essentially created my own 25.5″ Jr.

In case you were curious about Papa, I could not sit by and watch him give away all of his instruments, even if they all went to me, so I did a full setup and some deep cleaning on his go-to-guitar, the Harmony, and gave it back to him along with my Westerly, RI, Guild All American.

Papa and Bella singing a duet

Eye may duh mass

I’ve made some idiotic mistakes in my past and I’m sure I have many more ahead of me. So today, for your reading pleasure, I offer this moronic affair: I swapped an anniversary present.

I was in the market for a new acoustic and had toyed with the idea of getting my first acoustic/electric. During a trip to Guitar Center’s Memorial Day Weekend Sale in 2007, I found, and fell in love with, a beautiful blonde Epiphone Joe Pass and unlike every other one I had looked at, this one was an “Emperor” not an “Emperor II” (that really doesn’t mean squat, but it scores a few points for uniqueness). One may wonder what an electric archtop has to do with an acoustic/electric: it’s hollow – that’s about it. However, I liked it and I talked myself into the idea that an electric hollow body resonates acoustically, albeit ever so slightly, and therefore could cure my compulsion.

Epiphone Emporium: Sheraton, Joe Pass and FT-135

Unfortunately, it was a beyond my price range, but thankfully my beloved wife came to the rescue and said I could get it for an early 5th Anniversary present.

A few months later I picked up a Sheraton. Between the FT-135, Joe Pass, and the Sheraton I felt like I had an Epiphone Emporium.

Like sands through the hourglass, so are guitars of my life and each emissary of this elite Epiphone empire was eventually either traded or sold.

Sadly, like I mentioned in the Silvertone post, I do not have the means or the will to hold on to a guitar that I am not playing and I had been struggling with wanting to play the JP Emperor. Finally, I gave in into my desires and let big blonde go. To this day wife teases me about that anniversary present, but thankfully she understands my plight — my addiction.

My Nubian Queen

Alas, my first semi-hollow. Black, like Roy Orbison’s. This was an awesome guitar.

Epiphone Sheraton

Sadly, my memory gets a little fuzzy during this period. I had guitars coming and going like vagrants in a flop house. I do recall playing this as my primary preacher of pentatonics for a period. Then I put it in its case for the winter months (gotta cycle through them somehow, I use the seasons) and when I pulled it out in the spring I found that I did not miss it as much as I thought I would. So, I sold it.

As much as I like the Gibson 335 and Heritage 535, I am still fascinated by an ebony Epiphone Sheraton.

Parker Fly Mojo Single Cut (2006)

I rarely use the term instrument when referring to guitars, however this technical marvel is indeed an instrument of high caliber. Mahogany laced with carbon fiber and stainless steel.

Parker Fly Mojo Single Cut

With an even swap of my Gibson Les Parts at Marshall Music in Portage, this Parker Fly Mojo Single Cut (good grief – that’s a ridiculously long name) was mine. It turns out the salesman’s big boss was not thrilled with the trade and asked if I would bring it back. Unfortunately, the request came a little too late.

Prior to them asking for it back, two things happened: first, Gibson released the ES-339 and second, I realized the Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB combo proved a horrible marriage. Prior to reading about the 339 I had always appreciated the ES series, but never played one. Therefore, after reading the press release, I headed to the local Guitar Center. I fell in love, not with a Gibson, but an Epiphone Sheraton.

Parker Case

Within a couple of weeks, the Parker was sold and with the proceeds I bought an ebony Sheraton, a windshield for my motorcycle and banked the rest. And this my friends… is when I stopped back into Marshall Music and they asked for their Parker back.

Months later, I ran into the original salesman that did the initial trade. He told me how the Goldtop was sitting in the back of their Lansing store collecting dust because they did not want to sell an amalgamated apparatus. I felt bad, not for the salesman or the store, no, I felt bad for the guitar — “Nobody puts Baby in a corner.” So when I had a few bucks put aside, I called the manager and offered to buy her back when I heard the wonderful words, “it just sold.”

Bastardized Beauty

It was time. I finally developed enough will and want to get an icon. I walked into Flipside Guitars and found this bastardized beauty: a 1969 Gibson Les Paul Custom body mated with a Tokai neck, electrified with a set of DiMarzio pups and wrapped up with a Bigsby B5.

1969 Les Parts Custom

I put up my factory 2nd Gibson EB-3 as a straight trade offer and a deal was made. Something that originally cost me $300 just netted me a 1969 Gibson Les Paul Custom!

I quickly learned that the Bigsby nor any tremolo/vibrato was going to be in my bag of tricks. So I removed it and restored it back to its former glory with a stop bar tailpiece and covered the Bigsby holes with an original Gibson “Custom Made” placard.

Gibson "Custom Made" Placard

As much as I loved my Goldtop, I let’er go in another straight trade — this time for a Parker Fly Mojo Single Cut that, at the time, retailed for $2100; my initial $300 investment had increased sevenfold.

Photograph of Gibson placard, courtesy of…

Solid Bodies and Tonal Tubes

Epiphone SG Special

My first real foray into the world of electric guitars, after 20 years of playing bass:

I swapped my Dean Performer CE acoustic bass for an equally valuable (wink, wink) Epiphone SG Special in late Spring of 2006. Soon enough a calling from within screamed “TUBE AMP!”  So, I set off in search of one. My requirements included that it be inexpensive and Made in the USA. I walked into Guitar Center and found a used Crate Vintage Club 50 – 310 waiting for me.

I quickly understood how awesome electric guitar was. The power chords that I had been banging on my Epiphone acoustic came alive with ease – I was hooked (still am). Eventually the SG was sold after picking up a bastardized vintage solid body and the amp was traded back to the same store from whence it came for a another MIA tube amp. However, like the Silvertone that gave me a taste for electrics and tubes, the SG and Club 50 gave me a new lifestyle.

Crate Vintage Club 50 - 310

Crate Vintage Club 50 - 310

Photographs of the Crate Vintage Club 50 – 310, courtesy of UltimateGuitar.com

Acoustic Bombers

The infamous Dean Performer CE.  These were one of the first price point acoustic basses and Dean has sold thousands of them.

When I got mine, I had not played a live gig in a couple of years and liked the idea of a low maintenance bass: no cables, no amp; I could take it from the campfire to Clearwater  — basically anywhere my acoustic 6-string had ventured.  I was hoping for a similar feel as my FT-135: lively, loud and lovely.  Sadly, I realized that I was ignorant in my expectations, it was tone dead. I used it for a few jam and recording sessions and then it sat for the rest of its life until I swapped it for an Epiphone SG Special.

Dean Performer CE

Just a couple months ago I decided it was time to get another acoustic bass and picked up an Ibanez AEB5E. I am writing about it now instead of dedicating it its own post, because I only had it for a day. It was fun and much more tonal than the Dean, but I took it back and applied the balance towards an Eastman T184MX.

For anyone interested in an inexpensive acoustic bass – I highly recommend an AEB5E.

Photograph courtesy of  TheStringShoppe.com

1960′s Silvertone Amp-in-Case

Silvertone Amp-in-Case

I had one of these bad-asses for a very short period of time.  I picked it up at Dillon’s Music World of Kalamazoo around 1993 (yes, I know I am out of sequence) for a couple hundred bucks. The novelty of it was the selling point: real lipstick pickups and a tube amp right in the freakin’ case! Sadly, like now, I was not made of money and could not afford an instrument that I liked, but would not use. Why not use it? The scale length killed the deal; going between 30 – 34″ bass scales was doable, but transitioning to a 20 – 22″ student scale did not work for me, so I returned it. However, it gave me a taste for electrics and tubes.

Photograph courtesy of SoundMetak.

Mudd River Sessions

Fall of ’95

1995 brought about the demise of great acts like The Beat Farmers and Dire Straits as well as the last studio album from the Ramones, Adios Amigos! On the flip side, it was not a total loss, the year cultivated fresh new talent like the incredible Foo Fighters, jazz infused Black Eyed Peas and the manic magic of Mudd River.

While working at a local video store, Greg Graziolli and myself would sit around talking about music, guitars and girls instead of putting out the stacks of returned movies, dusting shelves and being kind to rewind the VHS tapes that our customers neglected. A year later Greg, Dave Loiselle and Paul Maas were putting a band together. Still in need of a bass player, Greg asked if I would join and that fall we formed Mudd River.