GuitArcher

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...

Just a quick update: Having the Z has made me want to dust of my pedal board and get back into that end of things.  Last night I took some time to clean off the board a reassemble it with the pedals that have largely sat in my cabinet, unloved and unused. First off, I recognize the power bar and the Danelectro 9V adaptor are hardly the "pro-choice" setup, and yes - I'll eventually get around to buying a power supply from Amazon.  Understand that when I put together this board 10+ years ago, cheap power supplies were NOT a thing, so I feel like I should be getting credit for creativity. Secondly, I don't have enough small patch cables to hook everything up.  Amazon can solve this problem too. The board itself may eventually have to go.  No slats means there's only so much I can do to clean up the mess of cables, and while it's functional, seeing all sorts of super clean pedal boards has me envious.  With the right wiring I could easily double the current ...

I've wanted a "bigger" amp for awhile now, though I can't say that it was for any particular reason beyond a severe case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome).  Don't get me wrong, I still really dig that little Marshall,  but I've been in the mood for something different, especially since picking up that JHS Angry Charlie a few weeks ago. Most of my playing lately has been up in the family room with the kids, the youngest of which dances around occasionally, providing the necessary justification for the presence of an amp in the living room. The "living room" amp has not been the Marshall though. It doesn't do clean, doesn't have reverb, yada-yada...  No, the living room amp is a mighty little "Red Stripe" Peavey Envoy 110.  It also belongs to my brother, though I think it's been living with me for at least 3 years now. Peavey gets a bad rap, but I think it is almost wholly undeserved.  Still, it says something that d...

Having moved into a new house that is fully detached, with a (mostly) unused and unfinished basement, I've found myself wanting to return to the land of bigger amps.  I have no desire to sell the wee Marshall, but I have wanted something a bit different that would lead me back down the road of pedals. So does a current piece get moved to fund this little adventure?  Maybe. The most likely candidate to go?  The Les Paul Studio.  I can hear my brother roll his eyes now.  In a case of "they know you better than you know yourself", he's always been skeptical of my relationship with any Gibson. In fact, when I mentioned to him that I was probably  going to keep this one, he responded: " For now anyway." So for the past week or so, I've been scouring Kijiji for amps that might fit the bill.  Some would all but require I sell the Les Paul to fund, others perhaps not so much.  Funny thing about almost all of them is that I've owned each in one v...

I've been thinking a lot about a major shake up to my collection, and this time it isn't about guitars... it's about amps.  My recent obsession with That Pedal Show, along with the appearance of more than a few PRRI 68 reissues online have got me thinking about having that clean platform to play with. Besides, pedals ARE cheaper than guitars. For the majority of my guitar playing life, I've been a pretty pedal heavy player, relying on all the usual suspects from Boss and Fulltone to create sounds through some type of clean amp (Blues Junior, DRRI, Pro Junior, Supersonic, Ampeg Jet II, Dr. Z Maz 38). Then I acquired my wee Marshall DSL-1C, and the pedals went away.  Most were sold, and the ones that weren't went into storage.  Guitar - Cable - Amp... that was putting a smile on my face.  I recently pulled out my trusty Fulldrive 2 (the 10th Anniversary Edition) and started to play around with it a bit.  Didn't love it with the Marshall at any setting, but t...

The last time the Trade Train rolled into the station, we unloaded a Dr. Z Maz 38 head and a Leyland Sound 2x12 cabinet in exchange for a Gibson Les Paul DC Faded, a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue, and $300. The train had left the station, and this passenger was pretty happy. Train is rollin'. Tickets! Happy for awhile of course.  The Gibson DC wasn't doing it for me - a cool guitar, but I felt no connection to it, and to be honest I don't love P90 pickups. Time for a new ad!  Remember the rules: Take nice pictures - more people will click your ad and read about your super awesome guitar Post as a trade - Unless you are hard up for cash, always post as a trade first.  You can always mention in the description that you'll consider a cash offer.   Don't oversell!  Provide a description, but be factual.  The pictures do the talking. Time went by and the typical offers popped up.  Some of my favorites included: An Epiphone LP 100 and $5...

There's no such thing as the perfect amp - it's all relative.  As circumstances change, your definition of perfect changes as well, and that dream rig of stereo 100 watt Marshall stacks becomes slightly impractical if you find yourself playing local watering holes. My Maz 38 fell into that category.  Despite it being the best amp I've ever owned, once the band stopped getting together, all that power was just silly.  Combined with a tight cash situation, it was time to post it up on Kijiji and see what I could find. I listed the head and the cab (a Leyland Sound 2x12 with Eminence Swamp Thangs) for $1800 - exactly what I had paid for it 12 months prior.  Since the amp was in the same condition as when I bought it, it seemed fair. After a few days, and a few offers, a problem clearly presented itself - The head would be easy to sell, the cabinet not so much.  Despite the fact that it was a supremely well made cabinet (seriously - if you know wher...

I sold that Les Paul Studio for the princely sum of $900, which is a bit higher than they were going for at the time. Never underestimate the value of using entirely unnecessary adjectives when writing Kijiji posts - words like "vibe" and "mojo" come to mind.  Aspiring rock stars, and especially aspiring "local Stevies", eat that language up.  The whole Crossroads mythos is the stupidest thing to even happen to the guitar if you ask me***. ***Sorry.  Second Stupidest. There was a purpose to selling the Les Paul though.  There is always a purpose, and it is almost always the same - something else on the horizon, destined to make all of your tone dreams come true. And when it isn't that, it's because you're broke.  Thankfully, selling the Les Paul was about the first thing. There is always a porpoise. The object of my affection? A Dr. Z Maz 38 Senior with a custom Leyland Sound 2x12 cab.  I had read about Dr. Z for a lo...