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If you are into 70's and 80's rock guitarists, this site RAWKS

LINKY

Make sure ya go into the bio's section and check out the very detailed and insightful overview they do on each guitar player. I'm pretty anal about the details of all my guitar hero's from style to tone, to equipment to strengths and weaknesses both in playing and career-wise..and this site does a helluva good job with it.Found some cool tab stuff too

Jeff, you gotta read the Dave Meniketti interview (from 2002). Scroll down to where he's got a Les Paul in his hands. Read the paragraph above it and then keep going. Wow. I don't know why, but I didn't expect him to say what he did about Gibson.

Doesn't surpise me especially about 1980s gibsons (at the time of his endorsement). He's right. Not just about Gibson (talking quality of sound/build here) but everyone.

IME with guitars as well as another quot;handcraftedquot; item made of wood in my other hobby (archery), When you combine wood, and human hands, the results will never be great all the time. Many bows I've owned have been real pretty and total dogs to shoot.

I've had crappy sounding strats, jacksons, ibanez' , gibsons, you name it. Go into a store and pick up 10 guitars of identical make and manufacturer. None of them will sound the same. I went through almost a half dozen McCarty's when I got mine. 3 of them were just quot;mehquot; for sound (they were all gorgeous and played well though) I ended up buying the one I wanted the least (aesthetically), but it was the tone monster. Even the sales guys said the same thing.

As for the endorsement stuff..heh...as much as I LOVE Dave...and his playing, he was NOT a guitar hero (to the masses, nor was he with a very famous band who really had any commercial success. I would say he was lucky to have an endorsement at all. It's not like he was playing with Ozzy or something. They were a quot;cultquot; band with a big following in Califiornia. I mean that's harsh to say, but it's the truth.

People love to bash any quot;big-dawgquot; in any industry. I take most of it with a grain of salt having been with a quot;big dawgquot; in the Archery Industry for a time, and seeing how things really are...ESPECIALLY with quot;endorseesquot;...Nuge being a huge jackass for that kind of stuff (i.e quot;won't give me an endorsement? OK...well lemmee trash talk ya thenquot;)...

but that's neither here nor there...that website rocks...read up on all the guys in my SIG!

I like the site. It's nice to read some stuff about those guys even though they're not in the mainstream anymore or not as much.

I agree that Yamp;T didn't have the success that many others did in the 80's but they were popular enough to reach the East Coast and have videos on MTV. I remember several growing up and have a couple cassettes in my collection. That's just my opinion anyway. I see them with a cult following now though, definitely.

I loved that interview with luthier James Byrd. Especially the part about bolt-on necks versus other types. The whole interview is a great read. I'd be curious to hear others opinions of his views.

Artie

I'm going to have to disagree with the Brad Whitford story.

I remember in an Aerosmith DVD, them talking about on Aerosmith's first album, they had to use a chord chart to show Brad how to play their own songs in the studio. I don't know how he could have better chops and musical training, but not know his chrods.

good lookin' out jeffb great site .

Cool site. I checked it out for quite awhile.

That is a GREAT site. I stumbled across it a while ago while trawling for info on Robbo.

The guitarist profiles are really detailed and well written. I'm not totally convinced by the assertion that Scott Gorham quot;didn't use any kind of overdrive or distortion pedalsquot; though. In the Lamp;D video you see him stepping on something before/after he solos, and it ain't the phaser. Could be an A/B box to switch amps, but at that time I believe he was using the Marshall 2x12 JMP MV combos. I used to have one of those combos and a Les Paul Deluxe and I couldn't get the amount of solo gain he has there without using an OD pedal. But it's not in my nature to be pedantic - it IS a great site. And now I know that those things I play incessantly are called layovers.

Cool site, lots to learn from it.


Originally Posted by ArtieTooI loved that interview with luthier James Byrd. Especially the part about bolt-on necks versus other types. The whole interview is a great read. I'd be curious to hear others opinions of his views.

ArtieI don't know who he is, but alot of what he says makes sense for sure. Though of course alot of it is just opinion..everyone has different ideas in what constitutes good tone. Otherwise we'd have little to talk about here, no?

In theory I think he's right for the most part about the bolt on neck stuff *IF* we are talking about a very high quality instrument. I remember playing some of the old American Schecter bolt on strats in the early/mid 90s (they were quite expensive), and man did they sustain. I've played a couple of Reed bolt ons that had great sustain too.

In practice though, I rarely find a good bolt on neck guitar that compares to a good set/neck thru.

I don't necc agree with the less mass at the neck joint makes for better bottom end..of course it depends on what his definition of better is i.e. MORE bottom end ? CLEARER bottom end? A certain tone that he prefers?

I'm no luthier by any means...I only know from experience with my ears.

And I'm not sure I'd trust a guy who butchered up a perfectly good Flying V and strat into that thing he makes


Originally Posted by ErikHI agree that Yamp;T didn't have the success that many others did in the 80's but they were popular enough to reach the East Coast and have videos on MTV. I remember several growing up and have a couple cassettes in my collection. That's just my opinion anyway. I see them with a cult following now though, definitely.

Yeah..I'm not sure I phrased that well enough. They *did* have some commercial success. Though I'm not sure getting played once a week on Headbangers Ball is benchmark for success (at the time anyway) ....they played alot of videos from bands that were not very successful at all.

TNT is a band that always comes to mind....great band...Ronnie Le Tikro (sp?) was a HELL OF A GUITAR PLAYER. I remember them playing John Norum stuff too...Hell of a player, but what kind of success did he have here? He's one of my faves ever...(read his BIO there), but would he have even showed up on Headbangers Ball if he hadn't played on Europe's Final Countdown? Same with Blue Murder. Saw them played a few times..Badlands too...luckily Norum, Sykes and Jake had alot of success with their previous bands and that got 'em *a little* exposure here in the states. Europe amp; Japan is a different story. Your avg. american teenager has about as much taste in musicianship as a pile of dog poop, and face it, if it doesn't fit the quot;#1 hit songquot; formula....for the most part you'll never have much/if any success here. I mean c'mon... guys like Schenker, Sykes,Norum, Lee, etc were overshadowed by guys like Mars, Tracii Gunns, and those Nelson kids...cos they looked quot;coolerquot;, and wrote for the masses of avg. american teens.

:end rant:


Originally Posted by Simon_FThat is a GREAT site. I stumbled across it a while ago while trawling for info on Robbo.

The guitarist profiles are really detailed and well written. I'm not totally convinced by the assertion that Scott Gorham quot;didn't use any kind of overdrive or distortion pedalsquot; though. In the Lamp;D video you see him stepping on something before/after he solos, and it ain't the phaser. Could be an A/B box to switch amps, but at that time I believe he was using the Marshall 2x12 JMP MV combos. I used to have one of those combos and a Les Paul Deluxe and I couldn't get the amount of solo gain he has there without using an OD pedal. But it's not in my nature to be pedantic - it IS a great site. And now I know that those things I play incessantly are called layovers.

Crap Simon...I didn't know you were a big Lizzy Fan! YAY! Now I have someone to talk about them with

I'd agree with you too. Live and Dangerous is a tough call...kinda sounds like he's using a stomper at times don't it? But it sounds more like a DOD 250 or something..a pre-amp. Maybe even a volume pedal? He DEFINITELY used stompers later. But also don't forget, he'd use a wah on occasion. Not often, but once in awhile.

Personally I thought his tone got worse and worse after Black Rose...it just went downhill (and his playing too..if ya ask me...tried too hard to keep up with the joneses).
I saw that quot;layoverquot; thing, LOL....I've always called those quot;sequencesquot;?

jesus christ that guitar is ugly as sin .. and he dreamed it ... in the 90's

IMO, he had one of those quot;man i wish i was on spinal tapquot; dreams and tuffnel hit him upside the head with his rhoads

he does adress some building issues though.. not a bad interview as a whole.. but that guitar ... YUCK

heh..I was going through some of the player bios and came across this great friggin quote about what Billy Gibbons is quot;infamousquot; for...

Infamous For: Recording Eliminator again, in 1986, and calling it Afterburner. And recording it again and calling it the aptly named Recycler.

LMAO...****** I love Billy as much as anyone, but that is just sooooooo true.


Originally Posted by JeffBBut also don't forget, he'd use a wah on occasion. Not often, but once in awhile.

It's funny, when you think Lizzy and wah you always think Robbo. Well, I did anyway. Then one day I was listening to the Lamp;D album and I noticed there was a wah on Scott's side of the mix (in quot;Suicidequot; I think). At first I thought they'd screwed up with the studio overdubs! Recently I picked up a DVD of the 1975 Dublin Stadium gig and Scott uses a wah on several tunes. Originally Posted by JeffBPersonally I thought his tone got worse and worse after Black Rose...it just went downhill (and his playing too..if ya ask me...tried too hard to keep up with the joneses).

It was around the time of Black Rose that Scott and Phil hit the heavy drugs and I think that had a lot to do with it. I much prefer his earlier laid back melodic bluesy style.


Originally Posted by JeffBAnd I'm not sure I'd trust a guy who butchered up a perfectly good Flying V and strat into that thing he makes

I agree . . . that is one butt-ugly guitar.