so i'm sitting in my graduate teaching assistant office trying to make some headway on my thesis research, and what's distracting me? guitar and gear tour videos! i'm a full-time student with a guitar obsession. i've been playing for about 7 or 8 years now starting in the middle of high school and continuing throughout my college years (which our finally dwindling - i think..). needless to say its been a tricky balance trying to improve my playing and keep my grades up. i've been in 3 bands (currently in 2) during my time here in blacksburg, and they've all been or continue to be the most fun i've ever had. i think i share a sentiment with many musicians at heart in that if given the opportunity i would pack my bags and hit the road to play music forever. that opportunity hasn't come yet so i might as well try to have some semblance of progress in my life. i don't plan ahead much so who knows what will happen after i get my masters.
perhaps the biggest challenge in my musical endeavors however, has been acquiring decent gear! i have no money, or very little at a time which i don't often get to spend on goodies. every guitarist knows that it is not a cheap hobby. this is the purpose of me starting a blog. basically i feel like i've been or been becoming a gear geek (i can be a little OCD with my hobbies), but my knowledge is fairly limited due to my time and money constraints. i realize most preferences when it comes to gear and the quest for the perfect tone are very subjective. the passion that many musicians have for their equipment and the history behind it is what motivates me to explore. this blog will be my little space to pick apart guitar gear. i have no clue how it will work or if anyone will care, but here goes.
i figure a good start will be to run through the gear i have used in the past and use today!
i'll start with guitars (where else could you start?):
archer ss10 electric guitar (black):
-basswood body
-bolt-on maple neck
-maple fretboard
-string-thru body
-sealed tuners
-3 single-coil pickups
-22 frets
-1 master, 2 tone controls
-5-way pickup switch
my first guitar. got it for christmas my junior year of high school (2004 i think, may have been sophomore year). cheap, but you have to start somewhere. this guitar gets credit for breaking in my fingers and getting me through my first chords. it came with me to college my first year and i actually wrote and recorded a few crappy demos on it in my buddy's dorm room (i think he saved a bunch of those recordings, but i've long since lost them). lots of memories...really fell in love with drop d tuning thanks to the bands tool, porcupine tree, melvins, and others. i still have it at home, but it hasn't been touched for years now. its got a few good dings on it from traveling in a gig bag its whole life. i'm actually not positive it's an ss10, there aren't any markings other than archer that i recall. it has a tremolo and a dark stain fretboard which may be rosewood.
ibanez rg2ex2 (white) "nyssa"
-bound basswood body
-3-piece wizard ii maple neck
-rosewood fretboard
-dbe-h1 (designed by emg h1) pickups (neck and bridge)
-fixed bridge
-24 jumbo frets
-1 master, 1 tone control
-3-way pickup switch
-made in Indonesia
the first guitar i purchased myself. bought it new at a guitar center in virginia beach in 2006, the summer after my freshman year at virginia tech. beautiful guitar. still a lower-end beginner guitar. the sound from the "emg designed" pickups was pretty thin and cold. tuners went loose from time to time and had a bit of jiggle in the tone and volume knobs. the input jack went out on me a couple of times as well. still a well-loved guitar. i played it in my first band, down aero, and wrote most of my original songs on it, and really developed my playing style on it. i sold it to my friend and former drummer from down aero who still has it for guitar experimentation.
esp ltd. h-207 (thru-black) "iyanna"
-maple neck
-rosewood fretboard
-neck pickup: dimarzio air norton 7/bridge pickup: dimarzio blaze 7
-fixed bridge
-24 frets
-1 master, 1 tone control
my first and only seven string guitar. bought it on ebay in 2007, my sophomore year of college. apparently it belonged to a guitarist from a band called mirror black. he switched out the pickups. i bought it sort of on a whim since i wanted to play deftones songs. i was never really able to get used to it, and the sound from the dimarzios was a little to fat and sloppy for my tastes (pretty much 180 of the ibanez). still fun to experiment with. i sold it after about a year or so.
i'm going to have to cut this post short (but it's pretty long anyways). i'll get back to it soon!
rock on,
z
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