Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

So, I started playing about a year and a half ago when my mom gave me her old Guild acoustic (you can just barely see the edge of it in the picture below) that she got as a wedding present from my dad 32 years ago. (They're still together, she just doesn't play anymore). For my 30th birthday (just over a year ago), my wife (who was a vocal-perfomance major in college and is a very accomplished pianist (hers in the background) and violinist) got me lessons and I've been loving it ever since. In fact, I played my first "real" show at an open-mic night last Wednesday. I played lead and sang, and my teacher/friend played some rhythm and background vocals. I'm hooked! Playing is great, but performing is the bee's knees. Anyway, here is what I have so far:

-Guild (I forget the model at the moment) acoustic (partially pictured)

-Epiphone LP Traditional Pro (just bought it last week) w/ Vox VT-40 amp:

And if all goes accordingly, I'll be grabbing this one in the next day or two (Art & Lutherie Parlor acoustic/electric):

Here's the CL ad for it: http://spokane.craigslist.org/msg/4661375551.html

I decided to get the acoustic/electric parlor for a few reasons. 1)I love camping and taking my very nice/expensive Guild into the wilderness doesn't make me comfortable, plus it's huge, so the Parlor takes up a lot less space/weight, and I won't be too put-out if it gets scratches and dents on it. 2)I learned very quickly at the open mic night that using my standard acoustic with a microphone in front of it didn't offer a very good sound quality, but my friend's guitar (plug-in acoustic) sounded great. So, with the plan to do more performances in mind, having a plug in is a plus. Combining the plug-in with the parlor is perfect. As much as I would love to buy two more guitars right now, the budget allows only one.

I'm pretty jealous of some of the collections I'm seeing in this thread. you all have some great equipment! (of course, I would expect no less from this crowd...)

So, here's a follow-up question: anyone here ever converted a standard acoustic into a plug-in acoustic? In case the Art & Lutherie one falls through?

It's not difficult but I would just get a pickup to stick in the soundhole. That way there's no guitar surgery (or accidental butchery) involved.

I use one of these pickups in my old seagull. It works pretty darn well for low key coffee shop/open mic type situations.

Cool, thanks. What about less-than-low-key, bar-type open mic situations?

It would do just fine. In my experience a soundhole pickup (that doesn't cost hundreds of $$) like that will have lower output and be a bit less clear/punchy than a good acoustic electric but I fix that by using a single channel tube preamp as a direct box. This is a great tool.

Good info. Thank you.

In reply to Tim Baxter:

That's beautiful!!!

I am strongly biased when it comes to acoustic pickups. I very much dislike the sound of an undersaddle piezo. To me they sound just awful.

I do however quite like the under bridgeplate piezos like the K&K pure and pure mini

Something about not having the element compressed under all that string tension just makes it sound a million times more natural.

petegossett wrote: In reply to Tim Baxter: That's beautiful!!!

I think so, too. From what I understand, Walt's all up and down the east coast hitting hot rod shows and such, doing pin striping. He's got a fine band too, if you're in or near Georgia: http://www.psychodevilles.com (note, music playing, so turn your sound off at work). He's a helluva talented guy.

New bass day!

I found some articles online from 2013 earlier this year that stated Warwick was going to be offering a medium-scale(32") 5-string in a lefty and immediately started searching for one. I discovered that while it was published by several sources, and even listed in the products on Warwick's site, no one had actually seen one. I contacted Warwick US, but didn't get a response. So I contacted Warwick Germany and still didn't get a response.

At that point I resigned myself to the fact these must be the musical equivalent of vaporware and forgot about them...until a couple months ago when someone posted online about picking up one of the 4-string variants at a music store in Japan and giving it a favorable review. So I reached out again, and eventually received a response from the Warwick distributor in Germany. They of course didn't have a clue what I was talking about either, so I forwarded the Warwick brochure back to them and pointed them toward page-9. I'd initially wanted the model with passive electronics, but they informed me that Warwick had never actually produced any of those and it would be a 6-month wait, so I ordered the active version instead. It took a little over 2-weeks for the order to go through and it to arrive at my door, but it showed up today!

It's not a high-end model, but I'm happy with it so far. I feel lucky to have tracked one down as it appears from the build date that these aren't exactly flying off the shelves, so I doubt these will be available for long.

And a crappy vid of a new riff I sent to the guys in the band today while trying it out.

Lefty strung like a righty?

In reply to DILYSI Dave:

Yes Dave, when I first started playing I was using a borrowed right-handed bass, so by the time I got my first bass - which was also a righty since lefties were rare and more expensive(in the mid-80's) - I didn't want to re-learn everything. You know, difficult stuff like Wipe-Out or Peter Gun them...

Honestly, I'm glad now that I kept playing like this. It's opened up things that aren't really possible playing strung normally.

The missus and I are up in Portland and she had some work to do so I had a few hours to kill. I hit old town music to browse. This little Washburn was priced in the impulse buy range so it came home with me

I have wanted a dano forever. Not sure what for. For a hundred bucks I didn't think about it for too long.

In reply to Ditchdigger:

Wow, that's a steal! I had no idea Washburn had a Dano-esque model?

In reply to Ditchdigger:

Nice. Is that a long scale or standard?

For better or worse, I'm getting better with my "impulse buy" tendencies. I spent yesterday with my old bass player perusing a couple of guitar stores. He was looking for a couple of cases and wanted to take a second look at a used Peavey guitar amp. I was also looking for a case of two to replace ones damaged in the basement flood over a decade ago.

At a Sam Ash store, we looked at the amp - a interesting Peavey Wiggy Amp. Reading some reviews of it after the fact, either we were doing something wrong or the amp was broken in some way since nothing we did could coax a distorted tone out of the amp. The price was right - $250 for the head and cabinet - but for what he wanted the amp for; something to put in his living room for noodling around on when he had his kid and couldn't go out to his studio - it just wouldn't work. While he easily could have put a pedal or two in front of it to get some drive, he didn't want pedals on the floor to get beat up. He needs a basic, simple plug&play practice amp. So we walked away disappointed.

Looking the guitars, not much struck my fancy. They had a trio of PRS SE Custom Floyd models that were tempting - especially at the $500 price, but I stuck to my guns and said I wouldn't buy another guitar until the ESP was back together. Most tempting was a late reissue BC Rich Eagle for $325. Neck thru, 24 fret, nice wood finish as well. Played really well for a Chinese guitar. Being a fan of early Pat Benatar, I've always wanted one of these, but I managed to be good.

Fortunately, at the next store (Guitar Center) I found a used SG/Les Paul case for $50 that fit my Firebrand perfectly, so I didn't go home empty handed.

Weird! It looks almost just like a U2.

Full scale length. Apparently made for a short while in 99 before Danelectro said "Oh hell no" and told them to cease and desist.

Woke the wife up with a reverb drenched rendition of the cramps cover of "Fever"

How much I will play it remains to be seen but for now I got a new toy.

Got this Alvarez today. I've needed a proper plug-in acoustic for a looooong time and when this came up on Musician's Friend deal of the day I pulled the trigger. First guitar I've ever bought brand new.

I like it so far.

My latest purchase is a Yamaha THR10 amp. For practicing and recording, this thing is awesome. For $300 bucks (less on sale or used), it's tough to beat, I think. And it looks cool.

For 2015 at NAMM, Fender announced they were releasing the guitar model I've been waiting for: A Dave Murray Strat based on the model he currently plays (rather than the old signature model based on his original 50's Strat). I stopped by our local Sam Ash store and asked about it. Due in mid-Feb. Took my name and number down and said he'd call when he had news.

This morning it showed up on their inventory and he called me. President's Day sale... free 18 mo financing... blah, blah...

So I went to the store after work today and ordered one.

While I was there, I finally fell to temptation and bought the Adrian Smith model Jackson they've had for awhile.

My old 80's MIJ Charvel (pic posted some pages ago...) is for sale if anyone is interested.

Tim Baxter wrote: My latest purchase is a Yamaha THR10 amp. For practicing and recording, this thing is awesome. For $300 bucks (less on sale or used), it's tough to beat, I think. And it looks cool.

That is neat. Is it glowing to emulate a tube amp look or does it actually have power tubes in there?

In reply to BlueInGreen44:

It looks to be a modeling amp. It has "virtual tube illumination". For that price, whatever! Still looks cool.

Yamaha is often overlooked in the music world. I really like their stuff. I have had my Yamaha Stage Custom drum kit for 20 years this year, and it still sounds great. They make some really nice bass guitars too.

Yeah, it just glows cool. No tubes to be found. But it does do a pretty passable modeling of blackface Fender, tweed, AC30, Marshall and Mesa-ish sounds, has some usable effects built in, and works really well for practicing and recording. It's not going to replace a good tube amp, but it's way better for what it's for.

Speaking of little amps, I have one of these, too:

It's a Fender Greta--2 watt tube amp.

Well I just bought a short-scale lefty SX P-bass. For $77-shipped. Did I mention it's pink?

Hell, I had a pink car for several years(Sunrise Red technically, but yeah...), so I figure I can rock a pink bass.

Edit: Here's a pic