This evening, over dinner, I told my wife "Let my boys boogie-woogie, 'cause it's in 'em and it's got to come out." She didn't so much get it, but I played some John Lee Hooker on the way home. I hope it made the boys feel good enough to play boogies with really strange measure counts.
The service order is two songs, then a break, then three songs. Except the chord sheet for one of the three wasn't a vanilla version. In fact, I'd say it was neopolitan with hot fudge, sprinkles, whipped cream, and a cherry on top. Like the guy writing it thought that, by saying chord/root, chord/root, he could teach the world to play chord melody. So, two songs, two songs. I played the white Tele first, then switched to the black Tele for later. When plugged into the Frontman 25R at home, I thought they had similar tones, but when going multieffect to D/I to in-ear monitors, man-oh-man there's a huge difference in tone. The black one is all icepick. I am surprised at the vast difference. There's also a marked weight difference, with the old Fender one being lighter.
One thing I did expect, but didn't think would bother me as much as it did, was the stickiness of the finish. I will be taking sandpaper to the neck to get some of it off soon. As well as other modifications. I know I will have a white or white pearloid pickguard on it soon. I'm going to have to think about whether the pickups are good enough to keep or if I should swap out, but, being clear, I will be rewiring it, and fairly soon. I'm considering doing a Baja thing, with a push-pull pot for tone instead of an S1 switch. New pots, Switchcraft jack, the whole nine yards. If I do decide the pickups must go, I will have to find a reverse-wound neck PU. And if I like it, I'll do the same on the black one, if only to get it so the switch points right again.
Here's the interesting thing: The other guy brought his Tele, a Raven West guitar very very close to this . He plays flipped-righty most of the time (lefty with the treble strings up) but he keeps this one strung lefty so he can learn how to play "normal". He's not as good this way, so he let me do most of the lead work this evening. There were some tough points, like the bungee worship leader, but when I wasn't concentrating on backing her, I loved her singing, and a good night was had by most of us.
Anyway, my initial thought was that the black Tele would remain the twanger and the white one would be the slider. That looks to remain the plan.
2 comments:
Re sticky neck syndrome... I had that with my Les Paul Custom, my solution was to repeatedly polish it with a recommended product (Gibson's own in my case) every single time I played it, sometimes twice as well for good measure.
It improved enormously pretty quickly and hasn't effected value like a sandpaper job will.
Try it - you can always still go the sandpaper route if needed ultimately
1) It's a $100 guitar, not a Les Paul Custom. It's here almost entirely for tinkering. The only reason I haven't taken a soldering iron to it already is the fact I don't have a soldering iron!
2) You use fine-grain sandpaper and you can get just a little, which makes a lot of difference to the feel. This is what I did to my #1, and I'm glad I did.
3) Still, you make a valid point, and I will have to try that.
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