A Man and his Guitar!

What more can be said about Jimi Hendrix? Not a whole lot. I have nothing new to add except my first impression and thoughts about him as a pioneer rock guitarist. I first heard him on AM radio back in the late sixties. It might have been Purple Haze or Foxey Lady. Man, did he sound different. I was used to guitarists like Eric Clapton, Alvin Lee and Pete Townsend. Jimi turned the guitar sound upside down.

My first album was "Are You Experienced?" followed by "Greatest Hits then "Band of Gypsy's". I tried to imitate him the best I could considering my talent at that time. I could figure out a chord or two but, difficult? Oh Yeah!

After seeing him play on the film, Woodstock, I pretty much gave up. Now, thirty some odd years later, I still have difficulty imitating(!) him. It seemed like whatever popped in his mind came out his hands on the fretboard. I'm still simply amazed whenever I hear or see him on youtube. It's crazy what he accomplished in three short years as the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It's even more amazing the absolute plethora of Hendrix recordings released over the years. It is almost like he never left the planet. Listen to Frank Marino (of Mahogany Rush) or Robin Trower or even Dan Hartman (of Edgar Winter Group) doing a turn on the Stratocaster channeling Hendrix during the middle of "Lets get it on".

He's still amongst us. Smoking a cigarette and saying only "cowboys are in tune"...

Peace out until next time, Rob

Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad and his Messenger guitar

Here's Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad. Probably taken around 1969. He is the one who turned me on to the guitar as an instrument to play. I originally wanted to be a drummer. I would tap along on an old cigar box to Steppenwolf, Steve Miller, Ten Years After and the Rolling Stones back when I was growing up in Connecticut.

I belonged to the Capitol Record Club at that time. You would sign up for a 12 month stretch and receive a monthly catalog of records(!). You'd choose either their selection for the month or you could choose your own.

One month, Grand Funk Railroad (the Red Album) was the rock selection. Usually I would forget to send the card in with my selection and Capitol would automatically send out their choice. Well I received the GFRR album in the mail and thought "great, another crappy selection I'll play once!" Since that time, a mistakenly sent album rocked my world! I have been a Grand Funk fan since then but only recently had a chance to see Mark Farner play. It was fantastic! He played a Parker Fly guitar because of back problems.

The guitar he originally played was a Messenger Stereo made by San Francisco-based Musicraft. It was a green type of sunburst finish with two pickups, an aluminum neck (very futuristic for the time), built in fuzz unit and stereo outputs. It was also had a semi-hollow body style. (He would tape over the cats-eye f- holes to try to control feedback).

Needless to say, I had to have that guitar! I found one back in 1974. A dude was buying a Les Paul Custom and he needed the money. I got it for two hundred bucks.

It has a regular sunburst finish along with a Bigsby tremolo unit (but no built in fuzz). Everything else is the same as Mark's Messenger. It's a great guitar that stays in tune like nobody's business! Supposedly the neck is tuned to "A". The tone is great. Playing "Closer to Home" and "Aimless Lady" sounds like the man himself. The only problems (inherent on all Messengers) is the crappy single coil DeArmond pickups, sonically very weak, and the nut at the top of the neck. Somehow they filed it too low on the high-E side causing the string to slip out of the groove. Otherwise a groovy guitar that you don't see very often. I understand there are only around 300 or so that were made since Musicraft didn't last very long in the guitar production business.




Check out my website at Electric Guitars Rock!

I just added another page to my website, Electric Guitars Rock!
It concerns the ever present guitar solo. What is it that sears a particular solo in ones brain? They're just a collection of notes strung together to form a musical phrase.

But somehow they stick in my head. I can remember solos from many years ago (in my head, of course!), but trying to pick them out on a guitar is difficult without practicing them before hand.

Anyway, I gotta practice tonight for band practice tomorrow night! I have to work on Journey's Wheel in the Sky. Having a bit of trouble, but I'll figure it out!

The next guitar I wanna get!

I have always thought the SG Custom (in white) was one of the most beautiful guitars around. The first one I ever saw was on the back of Alice Cooper's Love it to Death album. The photo shot showed the group standing around a seated Neal Smith (drummer). Michael Bruce in the foreground held a Gibson SG Standard and Glen Buxton in the back holds a white SG Custom.

The sexy curves of the body, three humbucker pick ups, gold hardware everywhere and mother of pearl inlays on the neck and head stock. It has to be lighter than the Les Paul Custom I have. The LP weighs 11.1 pounds!

The SG was introduced in 1961 mainly to satisfy guitarists craving for a new sound and also to compete with the Fender Stratocaster which was becoming popular. Les Paul wanted nothing to do with the new model so Gibson brainstormed and called the guitar "SG" or solid guitar. Here's a good ezine article on the history of the SG.

Prices on vintage SG Customs are out of sight. Probably 10 grand or so. Check out eBay for pricing if your going to buy one. This gives you an idea of what used Customs go for. Hopefully in the near future I'll be lucky enough to get one. Have to save up a few bucks though!

Check out my electric guitar site!

The first guitar I ever owned was the Gibson SG Special. I first saw this guitar in Pete Townsend's hands in a Scholastic magazine in high school. Remember, back in the late 60's early 70's, there was no internet and very rarely could you find a picture of a guitar (back then I thought a Les Paul was a French named guitar!).

I knew I had to have this guitar! When I decided to take lessons, I asked the music store if they could find one. I didn't want a cheap acoustic to learn on, I wanted a Gibson. Low and behold they found one on consignment for me to check out. When I opened the case, I saw it was refinished from cherry to a type of mahogany stain. I also noticed three holes below the bridge where the original tremolo unit was attached. Like most SG's of the period, the trem unit was removed and a bar tail piece added. My dad ponied up the 200 bucks and said it was my graduation present.

It was weird going to guitar lessons with an electric guitar. The teacher played an acoustic. He would teach me songs by James Taylor, Jim Croce, America and Jose Feliciano. Strange playing acoustic songs on the electric. Anyway after a year and a half of lessons, I struck out on my own to learn rock guitar. I would hole myself up in my bedroom and learn songs off of a three speed record player and I played the SG through an old PA tube amp my dad had lying around. I can still feel the shocks it would give me every once in a while.

I wasn't even sure what year the guitar was made in. I wrote Gibson a letter after I bought the guitar and received an answer that it was manufactured in 1962. Later on in an internet search, I found it was really a 1968 model based on the size of the pick guard. Who knows.

I still have that SG Special. Over the years I refinished it a number of times. Now it's Camaro Blue (I had one back in the 80's and had some leftover paint). I also cut the pick guard to accommodate two humbucker pickups and tried a refret on the neck. Some day when I get a little extra cash, I will have a luthier refinish the guitar to the original condition (Luckily I saved the original P-90 soapbar pickups).

Until next time, visit my website at Electric Guitars Rock!

Some of our instruments.

My babies!
I'm currently in a band. We got together about 4 or 5 months ago. No name yet. We practice at Scott's house. He's the drummer who recently bought a beautiful Gretch set. Our bass player is Rick who wields a Fender P-Bass through a small but loud bass amp.

We are currently looking for a singer and maybe a keyboard/vocalist. Our set list is around 40 or so songs long. Everything from Boston, Badfinger, Green Day to Mountain, Grand Funk and Alice Cooper. We gather once a week, down a few brews and just generally raise hell.

Come visit my website Electric Guitars Rock!

This will be the first of many posts on everything Electric Guitars! I hope you enjoy my passion for guitars as much as I do. Right now I have five guitars in all:

• 1982 Gibson Les Paul Custom (Oxblood finish with Tim Shaw pick ups.)

• 1975 Fender Stratocaster (modified to look like Hendrix's Strat when he played the Newport Jazz festival in 1969. It also has a Floyd Rose tremolo and a Tele neck).

• 1968 Gibson SG Special (with soap bar pick ups).

• 1967 Messenger Stereo (like the one Mark Farner used in Grand Funk Railroad).

• Mid-90's Alvarez acoustic.

I play through a 1983 50-watt Marshall head driving a Traynor 4x10 cabinet. I also use a Tom Scholz Power Soak for volume control. Pedals consist of a Vox wah and a DOD stereo chorus. I also have a Rockman X-100 made by Tom Scholz also which sounds amazing through headphones. That fantastic Boston sound!

Visit my website at Electric Guitars Rock.com