GuitArcher

If you've decided to list a guitar ( which isn't the same as selling one, mind... ), keeping in mind the importance of a good description and great pictures, you're bound to get a bunch of offers. Some good, some bad, some cathartic... Amongst the guitars I was offered in a trade for the Janguar were an Ibanez AF7D, a Danelectro Danoblaster in blue sparkle, an Epiphone Explorer, and a Fender Lead. Pictured: All the things I didn't want. Ibanez AFD7 - Considered it for a minute, but received sage advice from a trusted source: " I was gonna buy one of these a few years ago was ready to go but then I played it and walked away. " Danelectro Danoblaster - I might have considered as DC59, but this was never going to cut it. It's a Strat deep down, and not a particularly good one. Currently listed at $600, which I think is bananas. Epiphone Explorer - I might have done this,  but after the offer came through, there was radio silence. I'm glad actually, becaus...

I bought my Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar on a weekend while visiting my parents. I had decided that I needed to get out of the house for a little while. Aside from going to the mall, there's not much more to do than visit the music store, which is all the excuse I need to wander around Long and McQuade for an hour.  This was back in the day when I still knew most of the people who worked there, including the owner. Well, I say the owner; he wasn't the owner anymore, but he WAS the owner, and then the manager prior to his retirement retirement. At any rate, I went there with my wife and poked around. I saw these Jaguars and Jazzmasters that I had recently watched reviews for on YouTube. Lee Anderton and Rob Chapman had raved about them, except for the bridge, which was the same as the original design and didn't lend itself to bending. But they had a solution: if you ordered a Musicmaster bridge (I'm not sure if that's the model from Allparts anymore), it would fit ...

Years back, Boss did a run of pedals in partnership with Fender.  Two of them were "amp-in-a-box" versions of a '65 Deluxe Reverb and a '59 Bassman, but the third was a recreation of Fender's classic Spring Reverb unit, in the almost-as-classic Boss pedal format. The amp-in-a-box pedals aren't exactly coverted at the moment, and with the kind of modelling available these days, I doubt they ever will be, but hey, I've been surprised before... An aside... I really don't understand how we can go from used Digitech "Bad Monkey" overdrives going for $40 to seeing them command $200 nowadays. Josh Scott set this one off with his YouTube video on the subject.  I remember the first reviews of this pedal, and remembrer it doing well, but this was during a time where the TS9 was a pretty popular pedal on a bit of a resurgence (late 90's?) thanks to grunge leading to a wider aray of "guitar-music". Suddenly, Josh Scott says it's good an...

I've been eyeing semi-hollow or hollow electric guitars for years now. I initially had my heart set on a Gretsch Electromatic in that awesome Fairlane Blue...  ... but my brother has great taste, and beat me to it. I tried other Gretschs, Epiphone, Godin, and Gibson hollow and semi hollow guitars, but none felt right. Specifically, I've tested a bunch of ES-335s over the last 10 years, both Epiphone and Gibson, and each time, I  was left unimpressed. The quality control seemed was never where I thought it needed to be, and I began questioning if this kind of thing was my jam. Something was missing, you know? Didn't feel right. But then, a glimmer of hope at Long and McQuade in Guelph. I stumbled upon a Satin-finished ES-335, gave it a whirl, and surprise, surprise— it didn't feel wrong . The two volume and tone controls were doing something cool, and while it didn't quite feel right, it was much better than others I had tried.. Eager to explore more, I went back to ...

Despite the fact that apparently I can't be bothered to write anything here, I haven't let the GLOBAL PANDEMIC OF DOOM AND ENDTIMES  put a damper on my desire to own as much gear as I possibly can. In fact, 2020 may represent the most significant run of gear acquisition, at least in terms of transactions. Here's a brief rundown of the gear I've acquired in 2020 so far, with my quick take on why I bought it and what I think of it. American Professional Jazzmaster - $1,200 Everyone has a price. Everyone. For anything. Really. Apparently mine is $1,200 and a few (too many?) drinks on a Friday night. For a Jazzmaster anyway. Truth be told, I'd been thinking about a Jazzmaster for awhile - it's the hole in my modest Fender collection, though I suppose a Squier Jaguar doesn't really count (or does it?).  I was browsing Kijiji on a Friday night while visiting with friends. I'm either a terrible guest or there was a lull in the preceedings. We both know it wa...

In what is starting to feeling like a run of exceptionally good luck, I've managed to sell another guitar for more than I acquired it for, and like the Epihpone Les Paul, it only took 48 hours to get it to move for my asking price. This time, it was the 1988-89 Squier Stratocaster, which sold for $250. I've been keen on turning gear into cash after playing the Paisley and Blue flower Jazzmasters currently available at most Long and McQuade's across Ontario, but have been given pause after discovering a Made In Japan "Hybrid Series" 50s Stratocaster. Long story short, it was an amazing player.  Not being keen on dropping over a grand on a sunburst Strat that wont get any love, I'm trying to be patient and wait for the right thing to come along. So, what's it going to be... or not be? Epiphone Casino  (Sea Foam Green) - $650 with case A couple of weekends ago, I was at a shop that had a wide assorment of Epiphone hollow and semi-hollow guitars,...

The guilt is overwhelming... I've never really bonded with this, or any, Les Paul.  I want to love them, but they're just not my bag.  Back when I picked this one up for a steal though, my daughter named  it. It's like animals - don't let the kids give them a name unless you're going to keep them. And for a long time I stuck to this premise, until I came across a Paisley Jazzmaster that gave me the fizzy feeling James May so often invokes. I needed to get rid of some guitars, and this one was near top of the list. Sorry Lassie, it's time to go out behind the shed and turn you into glue. I may have just confused 3 different animals and movies... At any rate, I posted locally and within two days I received a number of inquiries, the most promising of which was a gentleman from north of me who was willing to drive down (about an hour) to check it out "as soon as possible", but was also very clear on his desire to "do this at your ( my ) co...

After a recent visit to a nearby Long and McQuade, I've come away convinced that I desperately need the MIJ Traditional Series Paisley Jazzmaster. The problem is I've decided that I have too many guitars, so something(s) gotta go first.

Take it from someone who has lived through this not once, but twice: No matter how much you try and tell yourself that your Les Paul Studio is every bit as much a Les Paul as a Classic or Standard, deep down you know you're lying to yourself. I'm not saying that Studio's can't sound great - they absolutely can.   When you want a Les Paul though, you want a something-burst, binding on the neck and top, full-fat Les Paul.  You want Jimmy Page, not Jimmy Eat World*. *This is pretty unfair to Jimmy Eat World, as a quick Google search yields pictures of them playing Les Paul Standards in various bursts. Are you a Dentist? At some point in the future, Gibson is going to abandon it's policy of only making guitar with "Gibson" on the headstock in the USA, move some production to Korea, and start offering Les Pauls with binding, bursts, and the big "G" on the headstock for under two grand.  Write it down.  It'll happen. Quality...

I haven't been able to obsess over guitars, amps, and pedals for the better part of the year so far, mostly on account of needing to obsess over fixing my car, which went from a minor annoyance to a full dose of OCD research, money, trial, money, error, money, time, money... You get the idea. Thankfully, and in no small part due to my father's willingness to trouble shoot problems over multiple weeks, I'm officially past these issues, and for the first time in a long time I've been finding myself coming back to Kijiji rather than researching some obscure automotive part or service procedure. I can't say there is a theme to all of these, but the Telecaster count is pretty high, and 4 Stratocasters and only  single Telecaster in one's collection seems woefully imbalanced. Also, and in case there was any confusion over this, I am unreservedly uncool, despite what might have been suggested. LTD EC-1000 Deluxe - $750 I don't really get on with L...

I wish I had something clever to say, but I don't.

I had the pleasure of playing at a friend's wedding in October. His uncle, having passed away this year and no children of his own, left him a prized 1960 Gibson J45.  It was in rough shape pretty rough shape, and needed new frets and some structural work, but a visit to the 12th Fret in Toronto saw it go from an amazing piece filled with sentimental (and tangible) value to a guitar that played like a dream, sounded amazing, and retained all the personal value attached to a guitar passed from one generation to another. It sounded great that day, and I only made a bazillion mistakes, one of which my wife noticed. Oh well. If you've never experienced it, go find a good old acoustic and give it strum.  The difference is night and day compared to new guitars. Compared to the Yamaha acoustic I have, which sits ignored in the corner, it's chalk and day. Christmas Shopping I was out over the weekend Christmas shopping, which meant spending more time in malls and toy st...

Fender recently announced the American Performer Series , a replacement for the American Special Series, and it may just be the most desirable series Fender has had in a long while.  Whether it's the excellent range of colors being made available, the subtle tweaks from their predecessor models, or the price point these will occupy, I'm convinced more than ever that the American Professional Series is going to get squeezed out in sales volume. Killer Colors OK, first things first: The colors are outstanding, and I have a feeling that the folks at Fender are just as engaged with guitar content on Youtube as the rest of us are. Lake Placid Blue with a red tortoise pickguard? The folks at Fender watch Andertons just like the rest of us do. Surf Green on the Telecaster? Weren't the Guitar Nerds just going on about how great the Squier Affinity Telecaster looked in Surf Green? The new finish is the most eye catching one though.  Dubbed "Penny", in some l...

Lots of folks are worried that buying something on the used market means risking that you're getting a less than perfectly functioning pedal.  It's happened to me a few times over more than a decade, but not nearly as often as the nay-sayers would have you believe.   So of course, when I go ahead and order the JHS Lucky Cat from Cosmo Music here in Ontario, I end up with a pedal that is DOA ( dead on arrival) .

The most powerful kind of advertising is most definitely the kind that doesn't seem like advertising... Case in point: That Pedal Show. I'm a huge fan of Dan and Mick, and I have a hard time not watching their videos as soon as they are posted. They manage to walk that fine line of being laid back and affable while being structured and informative in their presentation. What I didn't realize was how much impact they were having on my GAS ( gear acquisition syndrome).  I mostly thought it was limited to focusing more on pedals generally, but my recent acquisition and love of the Blues Driver had me thinking about how my drive section was basically Dan's choice in the $300 pedal board challenge. It doesn't stop there though. I bought an Ibanez JEM Jr. awhile ago, having decided that I wanted to have a guitar that was a little more 80s, with a locking tremolo and a crazy color.  I was looking at Jacksons and Charvels initially, but when the Yellow Jem Jr. p...