Went down a rabbit hole and found this. I knew Conan played, but...WOW!
Skip to 1:15 if you want to skip the pre-game chatter and find out who rocks harder.
I was on Reddit the other day, browsing the Los Angeles subreddit and the top in-line ad was something like "If you're sexually active, you should get tested for STD's, and here's how to do that easily!" Then I went to the Rocksmith subreddit, where all us old people who never learned to play before middle age, and the ad changed to "Losing your hair? Try this!"
WTF.
Haven't noticed the hair loss ads, but I keep seeing that ad with the two girls.
I suppose classical, jazz, and folk/country guitar are here to stay, but I think rock guitar has become an old folks' hobby, just as clarinets went out of style as lead instruments in bands once rock and roll became popular. My son has been taking drum lessons at a guitar store and I've noticed all the guys checking out guitars on Saturdays are the same guys I've always seen in guitar stores, but the average age seems twenty years older than it was twenty years ago. It's old guys and their children now, with few customers in their twenties and thirties, at least based on my casual observations in my area. It's probably different in LA, Nashville, NYC, etc.
Fun factoid: both Pete Townshend and Eddie Van Halen had fathers who were professional clarinetists. There are probably many more examples but those are two I know of. My wife's father - at least a half a generation older than Baby Boomers - played clarinet as well, and now our daughter does too. Maybe she'll ride the wave of popularity when they become the hot new thing again in 2035.
Here's a cool cover tune from one of my all-time favorite albums. The clarinetist is Alex and Eddie's father Jan Van Halen.
Edited to add: there are some funny quotes allegedly from Dave and Eddie about the recording of this song at the Wikipedia page for the Diver Down album here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diver_Down
Last edited by George; April 12th, 2020 at 09:47 AM.
I remember reading a couple of years ago that music shops are in trouble because kids just aren't buying guitars anymore. A lot of popular music is basically electronic, and there just aren't that many guitar gods outside of the metal scene, which was always a niche genre anyway.
Email from Sweetwater telling me that the PRS I've always wanted is now more affordable! Turns out it's because they'll happily let you pay for it over 48 months, it's still like $4k for the one I liked.
Which one do you like? I was just checking them out and saw the 0% interest offer.
I have "The PRS Guitar Book" from probably 20 years ago that my wife's aunt gave me for Christmas one year. I don't think I've ever touched a PRS guitar but they sure look nice.
Speaking of Sweetwater, with local guitar stores closed, I just ordered this from them: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...o-tuner-2-pack. They're here and they look cool but I haven't tried them yet. I wanted everyone in the family to have his or her own tuner. These look like evolutions from the Snark design. We have two Snarks but they eat batteries like crazy if you don't remove the batteries in between uses and the rubber feet that grip the headstock sometimes fall off.
When the package arrived, it contained a catalog and a little bag of candy! My daughter came through the room as I was opening the box, grabbed the catalog and the Atomic FireBalls and disappeared before I knew what was happening. Dang. I can't remember the last time I had an Atomic FireBall.
I was rather partial to this one
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...tern-thin-neck
I think I've had much better luck with the Snark than you have. I don't think I've ever replaced the battery and it hangs on tenaciously to my guitar. I forgot they send candy, I like that touch but could do without the cold calls to my phone.
Love the color, and not just saying that to be polite. There aren't enough green guitars.
Hopefully my $20 purchase won't get me on the High Rollers calling list. Buy that PRS and you'll probably be promoted to the Dentist List.
I got my Snark when I was playing guitar in a neighborhood Dad Band for a few months about seven or eight years ago, now that I think about how long ago that was. It went through a couple batteries so quickly that I bought a little tupperware-style box to store it and a few new batteries, still in their packaging, all together. When I was done playing, I'd pull the old battery and drop it in the little box with everything else. It seemed to me the battery was "on" all the time if inserted in the tuner, even if the tuner appeared to be off. Keeping the battery out when not in use solved the problem.
Other than battery consumption, the Snark is fantastic. A bunch of acoustic players can sit in the same room and tune up at the same time without worrying about everyone else's noise. No more "Gimme an A!" cries from across the room, as long as everyone is similarly equipped.
Before the Snark, I used one of these since around 1990 when I bought my first "real" guitar. It has a mic for home/acoustic use and 1/4" mono input and output jacks on the sides. I would set it on top of my bass amp when playing with bands - it worked great and everyone had one back then, it seemed.
I bet I haven't used the Sabine once since I got a Snark.
I've had a hard time staying interested in guitars in recent years but I still get the itch now and then. Anyone else still pickin' and grinnin'?
My latest project crawls slowly onward.
Eight years later, I installed that extra-heavy brass block and other parts I've had for years into yet another "Cheapo-caster" that I stumbled into.Originally Posted by George way back in 2014
I also have one of these on the shelf ready to drop in:
http://www.guitarfetish.com/105mm-Ch...CK_p_1158.html
Here I'm lining up the neck before drilling mounting holes.
No, I don't have a drill press but I do have some experience with this and plenty of glue and toothpicks. I hope the real woodworkers around here don't hurt themselves from laughing too hard at this.
The darker neck is one I showed you guys years ago in this very thread. It's currently sitting in a box of stuff to donate to the thrift shop but it's been there before and has never quite gone away.
Here it is this morning - I'm re-doing one hole but that should do the trick. This is a neck from a decent (not the cheapest) Squier Stratocaster that a friend gave me years ago. I've given away two crappy non-Fender, non-Squier Strat bodies because the holes in those bodies didn't line up with this Squier neck, but then they didn't line up with this body from a Squier Classic Vibe '60s Strat either, so I got to drillin'.
Maybe it'll be finished in a few more years.
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