What I wanted cost three or four grand. What I can afford costs three of four hundred.

Tuned to E at the moment. Some not too difficult slide stuff to do in that tuning plus some not so hard things to play stuff in the open position.

Something to take my mind off not being able to eat solid food.
Also distracting me from being irritated about the $50 GFI plug I had to replace...lol Lowes had two left in stock.

The supply of goods and services is becoming a serious issue here in Miami, especially medical supplies.

Billy

Well, technically that's a dobro, so we're good...

Not to worry Eddie, you got way cooler-looking guitars than I do anyway. It is very loud. Not really a good thing here in my house. My wife is not very amused at me learning slide guitar.

Billy

HNGD!!!

Hey Planobilly, that looks a really nice instrument. If you are anything like me you'll be spend hours playing it look at ways to set it for yourself. I bought a couple of new guitars but yours looks classier.

I recently bought a couple of guitars but being the age I am did not want to spend too much after all I still use my old Tele. The old tele and a Maton CW80 (an acoustic) I bought over 50 years ago. The Maton is getting a bit past it but the Tele is simply brilliant.

To substitute for the Maton I purchased an Ovation 1778TX-5 which has a neck that plays more like an electric guitar. It plays really easy and sounds ok as an acoustic but is brilliant plugged in or to record with.

I wanted a tremolo to play around with I did not want to spend too much but I wanted something usable. After some looking on YouTube I came across the Yamaha Pacifica 612. This guitar has fairly high end hardware. SeymourDuncan Pickups, GraphTec Nut, Grover Locking Tuners and Wilkinson Trem. With those features it seems a good buy. Spent a week or so getting it together. Last Tuesday had it how I wanted it sounds really good and was going to actually use it in a gig next week.

Then last Wednesday night came the stopper I had a heart attack so no gig this month. Just as the restrictions eased again I'm out of commission.


Tony

Jeezs Tony, sorry to hear about the heart attack. I guess there are a lot of us here who are getting older and should expect some health issues. But it always comes as a shock. Here's hoping you recover soon.

Cool looking guitars. I also did not want to spend a bunch of money on new stuff I am not sure I will continue on with. I have a fabulous electric guitar, a Tom Anderson. I got this new stuff just to pass the time while I recover.

I am sort of stuck here at home. Not much in the music world has opened up here. Then this cancer thing happened and added insult to injury...lol

Some old Indian said " we will endeavor to persevere" I guess that's just what we have to do...lol

Cheers,

Billy

Wow! Praying for your rapid recovery.

Hopefully playing with your new toy will keep you mellow!

Thanks, I'll be OK. Just need some time. To mean to die...old Texas cowpoke...lol

Still got dreams of playing on Austin City Limits. I am sure I will need to learn some new stuff...lol

Billy

I am very lucky. Where I live on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia we have truly excellent facilities and brilliant paramedics. From the time the ambulance was called to the time the blockage was removed it was all less than a few hours. I’m told I had a major issue (a STEMI) but I struggle to feel any issues now but must not overdo it for a few weeks.

My advice is “listen to the wife when she tells you “it is not just indigestion get the ambulance””

Keep well all.

Thanks Tony

Better get this back onto new guitars rather than health. It is exciting to get a new instrument. Often they can seem expensive but if one works out the hours of joy then at an hourly rate it soon works out pretty good. If you spend a $1000 on a new guitar then spend 100 hours over the next few weeks playing, adjusting and admiring your new instrument it works out cheap (only $10 per hour) in terms of entertainment.

Enjoy Billy

Just some thoughts

Tony

ONLY a musician leads with his new guitars and ends with "Oh yeah. And I had a heart attack."

Do what they say and get well soon. I have a Pacifica in blue to match my Telecaster and for the cost, as you said, the hardware is surprisingly advanced. Very good tuners, and the pickups are top notch.

Now get well!

EDIT:

My Pacifica is front left in this pic.

There are several of us having to deal with health issues as of late. Been thinking about Keith also.

Everyone should buy all the music stuff they want and can afford. Life is short.

Billy

Took a while to realise I needed to set up a SKI Account and not feel guilty about spending money I earned. (SKI = Spend the Kids Inheritance) I won’t enjoy the spending when I’m gone. Having a little extra by not spending due to restricted life lately and the realisation it is mine to spend, getting bits of gear I want makes me feel better.

Tony

Abso-frickin'-lutey bro! I have always, and will always, think that worrying about being the richest corpse in the graveyard is extremely stupid.

That being said, I get the concept of being concerned about a medical emergency that is not covered by insurance and the potential for that wiping out a bank account. However, being a disabled veteran I have the VA for my medical care. Most recent was removal of cataracts from both eyes, 4 weeks apart, which resulted in my no longer needing glasses. I also get shots in my eyeballs every 12 weeks to try and slow the diabetic retinopathy down, and those would cost $5000 per visit. If I had to pay that out of pocket, I just couldn't get them.

So my situation is not like everyone else's. Particularly those who pay 100% of their own medical insurance. I'd still be working if not for the blessing that is the VA.

As far as the kids inheritance, I figure that by the time I die my kids will be 50. If they are not established in their own life by then it is not my problem.

When my father died I was just short of 40. I went to see my mother soon after and sat her down and had a chat about this topic. I told her that this was HER time to finally do whatever she wanted without a grouchy old man making her life miserable (yeah, it runs in the Y chromosome side of the family). That the guilt trips were over, and if she felt like going to Vegas 3 times a year and Atlantic City as often as she cared that she should NOT be concerned about things like leaving the 2 of us money when she went to meet dad. And she did exactly that! She lived until she passed at 79 on HER terms, and was on about the 3rd trip through her bucket list when she passed. And THAT is why I have all these guitars I barely play and am rebuilding my studio with racks of synth modules and such. Once I am gone, I have designated specific things to go to specific people, and the rest can be sold at an estate sale and any profits are to be donated to the animal shelters that my last 4 dogs came from.

In my case my children were never a part of my life, as I divorced their mother when they were very young. Thus there is a line in my will that specifies "2 children (and their names) have been intentionally excluded from this document." SKI baby!!!

Gee, what are you leaving me Eddie?

Hi Eddie,

As far as medical insurance we here in Australia and particularly on the Gold Coast Queensland are very fortunate and have truly great Public Hospitals which are generally free particularly for pensioners.

Whilst I have Private Insurance and said to the Paramedics you can take me to a Private Hospital they made a call and said it would take too long to be admitted in Private and I’d be better off in the Gold Coast University Hospital (a Public Hospital) where there was a team of heart specialist waiting for my arrival. (It blew me away how ready and efficient they were.) The cost for the treatment was exactly $0.00 due to the healthcare (Medicare) system we are very fortunate to have in Australia.

The hospital did ask if they could get some recompense from my private insurance to which I agreed but that was not mandatory. I see some see this as Socialism in the USA but in general we see as looking after all. We are far from a socialist country but in an emergency everyone deserves to be safe IMHO. It is important that people can get the health care they truly need even if they cannot afford it.

Why have private insurance in Australia? One can avoid waiting lists for non urgent needs (say a hip replacement) and pick your own doctors etc. Also if you are over a certain salary there are tax advantages to Private Insurance.

As far as the Kids Inheritance my daughter can buy and sell me similarly my wife’s siblings. They are all well off and in really good jobs. They don’t need my money.

Tony

An Ohio State t-shirt!

My Brother-in-law is a world-famous doctor among other doctors and chose to practice in Brisbane instead of the USA. He said that he could make more money in the USA, but he could heal people better in Australia. In the US, it's more about treating them because that's more profitable.

He's lectured other doctors in the US, Canada, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and has over 100 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. He and a Russian doctor developed a way to extend the legs of birth deformed children, they decided not to patent it, and it has become the standard way of doing it all over the world.

You folks in OZ are lucky to have a better medical system than we do.

On the other hand, I spent 5 weeks in OZ in a camper van, from Brisbane to Cape Trib, over to Darwin, down the Stuart Hwy to Kangaroo Island and then eventually to Sydney. You may have better medical care, but we have a larger variety of guitars in the stores

So Eddie, you might want to leave some guitars to Tony.

Notes

Actually I’m pretty right for guitars. I have all I can fit in my unit and left a couple with my daughter. I left a Rickenbacker 12 string electric, a Fender Precision Bass and a banjo with my daughter. I have the olde Maton CW80 and Fender Telecaster that I’ve had with me for over 50 years. I recently purchased an Ovation TX-5 and a Yamaha Pacifica 612 both of which are fairly useful guitars.

Tony

You have a Rickenbacker 360?? And a Telecaster you have had for 50 years?? Wow!

Tools of trade were tax deductible. Owning top equipment effectively reduced the tax liability at the time. Over a number of years the value of the said items was written down to zilch. So I guess they are worth nothing now. I have not really played “professionally” for quite some years now. I’ve been retired for 8 years so have no taxable income as such. I’ll probably die still owing this stuff that has been a major part of my life. The guitars will eventually be passed on and become someone else’s issue to sort.

The olde Tele and Maton CW80 photos of the Precision and Rickenbacker will be on and old external drive. I don't have the guitars with me at the moment.

I am going to be like my grandmother. When we told her she could not take her stuff with her when she died she said OK...I am just not going to die! She lived to be 104.

So I got 30 more years to think about it I guess...lol

Tony, those are some really cool guitars you got. At least some of them are worth quite a bit of money nowadays.

In conversations with Trevor and drummer buddy from Brisbane plus several other friends living in Australia, I think I would really like it there. Not too keen on meeting up with one of those brown snakes that I hear live in your neck of the woods...lol

Enjoy life as long as you can!

Billy

After 5 weeks in Australia and knowing my brother-in-law for 40 years, I'd really love to live in Australia. The problem with that idea is, I'm either too old or not wealthy enough for them to let me in

But my house is paid off, I live near the east coast of the mainland of Florida, my duo has an excellent reputation, we have a lot of repeat business, and I like it here.

Life is the best way to pass the time of day

I have a minimal amount of musical instruments, I'm a player, not a collector (there is nothing wrong with being a collector). I have a stage instrument and a spare of each of the instruments I play.

I always figured another instrument that I'm not going to gig with or isn't a back-up axe is a cut in pay. If I don't play it, I usually give it away to some student.

If I die first, Mrs. Notes can do whatever she wants with them. I won't need them anymore.

Notes ♫

And with the age gap between you, statistics say that will likely happen.

The last bullet I dodged, er, girlfriend that I had, was 17 years younger than me and that weighed heavy on my mind as I dumped her. That age gap was JUST enough to put her into a generation with a different mindset on life and it didn't go well with mine.

Focus here has shifted from amassing guitars to rebuilding the studio. Once I get it painted and put it back together, and again I say "And this time I will run the wiring neatly", I should now have a good handle on sounds. Here's the rack I have spent the last month or so assembling.



Kurzweil 1000 PX
Korg M3R, which is an M1 in rack form
Alesis 12 channel mixer
Yamaha TX81z
EMU Proteus
MX-8 midi routing box
Furman power conditioner

And the companion rack.



Behringer stereo compressor
Digitech vocalist
Korg Volca drum machine and a Zoom drum machine
Roland JU-06a module that is roughly based on the Juno 60 and 106.

A lot of Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Reverb shopping here.

But man, Tony has a 50+ year old Telecaster...

NICE! What brand? The picture cuts off just at the top of the headstock.


It's everywhere and for everything. There have been some foods I haven't been able to buy here in a year and a half, guitar store walls are looking a bit empty constantly, and I had to special order a motherboard and CPU for my new computer because nothing is available - video cards especially are in short supply.



Hope you're doing alright now Tony!



That is exactly what I used to tell customers when I worked at the guitar shop! It's also what I say to justify the amount of time I spend in a video game - if I spend 80 bucks on a game but spend 200 hours playing it then it only cost 40 cents an hour. Guitars and video games end up being less costly than going to a movie by far!

The same can be said for Band-in-a-Box of course. 129 bucks for the Pro version is a downright bargain when you can spend hundreds of hours making wonderful music with it, or even simply exploring the sounds.



Word. Music stuff is an investment in yourself - as long as you're not going hungry for gear, it's always worth it.




Always loved that TX81Z, but dang it I love that Telecaster more...

---------------------------------------


Back on topic, I've got a "new" guitar as of last weekend. Just a cheapie with a playable neck (for now) that I intend to re-fret to get some microtonal notes in there. See attachment for the "before" pic...

Billy/eddie/all
ok ye geetar gods n geeks...got any opinions on the following geetar brands ?
good or not ? my wife likes the colours..lol

https://www.guitarfetish.com/Xaviere-Electric-Guitars_c_116.html
https://www.guitarfetish.com/Slick-Guitars_c_496.html
plus they sell lots of gtr parts etc etc.

best
om

Savannah, more made-in-China stuff. $350. It sounds pretty harsh but OK and works for learning slide guitar.

I have a lot on my plate at the moment and I am not sure what the future will bring. I am not totally sure what country I will be living in. The pandemic has totally put a monkey wrench in how I planned to spend the rest of my life. Cancer has been another curveball but if it does not come back that will have been just a bump in the road.

National Reso-Phonic NRP Steel Tricone 2021 is a new one I would like but don't think it is a good idea for me to spend $4000 dollars.



What I really would like to have is a NATIONAL DUOLIAN RESONATOR STEEL BODY GUITAR 1930's. Marty, the music store owner in Miami Beach had one that I have played but at the time I did not want to own one. He sold it a few weeks back for a pretty large amount of money. If I was twenty years younger I would consider buying it for an investment.

Due to this large cut on my neck, I can only stand to play guitar for a few minutes at a time. It is getting better day by day but I am far from normal.
I am sort of expecting it will be the first of next year before I am more or less back to normal.

Billy

It seems there are many really good low priced options. As I said about the Yamaha Pacifica 612 I bought a couple of weeks ago I’m blown away by the playability and the tones.

The hardware on this guitar puts it up there with guitars easily twice the price. SeymourDuncan HSS pickup layout with the humbucker being split coil (it can be used as a single coil or humbucker), Grover Locking Tuners, Wilkinson VS50 trem bridge, Tusq Nut and trees. Then the guitar and finish of the guitar itself. The Yamaha Pacifica range has been around for many years.

If I sound like I’m selling this thing well I’m letting all and sundry know that a really good guitar does not have to cost an arm and a leg.

My opinions Tony

Price or brand name is certainly not a guarantee of a good instrument. I have had at least 500 Fender Stratocasters in my hand over the years and only a few played really well.

I bought an acoustic guitar in a pawnshop for $35 dollars that played and sounded better than any high-dollar acoustic I have played. I gave the guitar to a well-known singer-songwriter friend of mine.

Large improvements in guitar making have been a function of high-quality computer numeric control machines being used in their manufacture. That is the reason cheap guitars play well nowadays. The main issue is if the wood stays put.

The only way I know to get a guitar that you will really like is to go play them until you find something that fits your hand. Then hope the wood does not move around more than can be easily adjusted.

It is common for people to go buy the make of guitar their guitar heroes play. I guess they hope that will be the key to their playing well...good luck with that.

The guitar manufacturers have to compete with one another so Yahama will always try to make the best they can within the budget.

I have had the good luck to be lifelong friends of the owner of one of the biggest vintage guitar shops in the country. That let me play hundreds of guitars both inexpensive and guitars that cost over $200,000 dollars.

At the end of the day, it is more about the player than the guitar, to begin with. We all spend way too much time talking about guitars than playing them...lol

Billy

Ok if we are showing recent guitar purchases, I’m falling in love with my first guitar with a Bigsby. Bought used. The Bigsby suits me so much better than a strat type trem.
Gretsch Electromatic 5410t “Rat Rod”

That is a really cool-looking guitar. I think I would like the Bigsby.

The first choice for me has been Kahler tremolo and second Floyd Rose.

I am not sure what you call that white stuff out the window but I am pretty sure I don't want any...lol

Cheers,

Billy

No panic. You won't get any where you are Billy, that's for sure!

A couple of months ago I purchased a Xaviere P90 guitar. It can perfectly set up and sounds great. The neck fit my old arthritic hands perfectly. The frets were polished perfectly. It is the best $329 USD guitar that I have ever purchased; even better then the Harley Benton, YMMV. I am so happy with this guitar that I saved up and just purchased the coil splitting humbucker model. As soon as that comes in I will let you know about it.

It’s a completely different feel and allows for nuance that I’ve not been able to master with terms that move the bridge. I’m really digging it and wish I had tried one decades ago.

My strat sits in its case. It’s a Peavey strat copy that I modded with the grease bucket mod and added a toggle for the bridge pup on/off.