On Practicing Guitar

After years of gear deprivation due to a constellation of complex financial and psychological factors, I’m finally making some welcome additions to my toolbox. I started out playing on a 70s hardtail Strat through a silver face, master volume twin, so you can imagine – I always figured you get the tone out of your hands. If you couple this with my upbringing – my parents were born in the Great Depression – as much as I want to have lots of cool gear, I’m pretty acquisition challenged.

But recently, I’ve begun to turn things around a little. I installed a Weber Ceramic 1225 “Greenback” in my Fender 65 Deluxe Reissue, while also replacing the power tubes with Tung Sols. The effect was immediate – warmer and with a lower breakup threshold and more attractive overall texture.

I started to get excited about the sound I’m getting out of my Les Paul Classic (top) again. With a Boss OD-3 set quite low, the aftermarket 57 Classic in the bridge of the LPC really started to sound sweet. I am working on “The Things I Used to Do,” by Guitar Slim, and all of these elements contribute to a decent approximation of that sweet 50s Les Paul sound.

In the process though, a sad fact was reconfirmed. The Deluxe Reissue just doesn’t take distortion pedals well. I finally broke down and bought an OCD, even though I have both the 69 and 70 Fulltone Fuzz pedals. I knew they didn’t work with the Deluxe, but even though the OCD sounded great in the store through a Deluxe with a Celestion in it, the dreaded fizzy-ness of the Distortion-Deluxe combo was evident when I got it home. The softness of the OD-3 is what makes it work with this amp. On the other hand, the MXR Carbon Copy that I bought sounds great, with a liquid sound on the Deluxe. No surprise there.

But the grand gesture of all this is my purchase this week of a 2014 Gibson SG Standard 61. I love SGs, but I only ever owned one – a second hand ‘61 reissue back in the ‘90s. Even though the neck went south and I had to sell it after six years, I didn’t lose any money. You would wonder why I don’t continually buy and sell gear like everybody else. This time, I was really looking for a Standard or a real 1960s SG. But I happened upon this axe at Guitar Center, a place I rarely frequent, and I got a great deal. It has two 57 Classics and is really loud and bright. I was originally put off by the color but I love it now. The guitar is beautifully resonant and balanced. It’s a joy to play.

An ongoing project that I have is a Squier 51 that I’m switching out the pickups on. I’m putting a Duncan Quarter Pounder in the neck and a Gibson 500T Humbucker (out of the Classic) in the bridge. I’m awed by all these folks who mod their guitars, and I’m hoping to join their ranks at least on some small level. Keep on pickin'…