MCChris

Different dynamic with selling stock versus selling product. In this case, "benefitting as many as interested" with a run of guitars that's presumably priced close to the bone won't benefit Mike very much.

Nothing creates a buzz quite like Unobtanium. Mike should take it to the next level and get all Howard Dumble/Soup Nazi with it: Contact him for any reason before the guitar is completed, you lose your deposit and you're off the list forever. He'll be a millionaire cult figure in short order.

For a brief moment I was astonished that this even had to be verbalized. Then I remembered: this is the HFC, home of the guys who could complicate a no-strings-attached quickie from Kate Upton. Commence the "from across a smoky bar it looks like a Hamer" lawsuits.

A bug I'm noticing in Safari: the heading of each subsection on the Custom Order Estimate page overlaps with the top pulldown, rendering it inoperable. All of the pulldowns in each subsection work as they should.

Not surprised they went so quick at that price. Excellent!

Moral of this thread: wives should shut their YAPPERS!

Who exactly is she talking about?

Dude, what's your trip?

I think this is mainly a semantic argument at this point. To say Ozzy was a great singer and Ray Gillen was not seems backward to me.

Not sure I've ever heard Lou Gramm and Ray Gillen described as generic.

I agree that upper-mid crunch is missing from modern high gain tones, but those Engls do sound sweet. Full and robust; not sure I hear cold, definitely don't hear shrill. I think since Soldanos came out the shift has gone to lower mids. I was right in front of a row of Engls a couple weeks ago at the Black Star Riders show (with a couple Wizards added in) and it sounded great. An evolution in what builders and players are going for in a hard rock guitar sound, I guess.

http://youtu.be/vXXnuVw-OgM I love this guy. I recent years I found out that an ex-gf of mine used to bang him, and I became jealous of her. Great player, and the fact that he dialed back his face-melting style to blend in with Def Leppard is IMO a testament to his excellence.

Critics that don't share your tastes can be equally valuable. If they hate something, chances are you'll like it. In college I was a music critic for the campus newspaper and also for the Milwaukee Journal for my summer internship. While I tried to be as objective as possible, my own sanctimonious sensibilities and preferences inevitably seeped into my work. I don't think that's something that can be avoided. I also think music critics are like sports writers, in that there are few if any who never wanted to be musicians and athletes themselves. The failure to become those things instills a bitterness that can be palpable in what they write about. We also see it on guitar forums where people lash out at established, successful artists. It's human nature. After I returned from my internship to complete my final two semesters at college, I formed my first serious band, and never went back to music criticism. I found it much more satisfying to create rather than criticize, and I don't think the line between musician and critic should ever be blurred or straddled.

Pinching is something that should be done to a loaf. Just like sweeping and raking are things that should be done to a garage and a yard.

I will send half a $20 now, and the other half when the guitar arrives.

Depends on how much effort and resources they want to devote to swatting a fly. But yes, if the lawyer gets greedy, he's toast.

Finally got around to listening to this to see what the hubbub is about. A total reach IMO. Most likely outcome will be Zep settling out of court and cutting a check to the RC estate to make this go away, possibly adding a songwriting credit with a miniscule royalty going forward if their lawyer decides to dig in his heels and pad his billable hours. The heirs have to get their coin where they can. It's not like people are clamoring for Randy California camp shirts and iced tea drinks. He ain't Jimi Hendrix or Bob Marley.

My takeaway is: thank God for Buzz Feiten tuning systems and effects loops. Until those things came along, electric guitar music sounded like pure crap and wasn't influential in the slightest.

Beauty!

Perfection, and a wonderful way to go out. DIBS!

Why exactly was that the case, in your opinion?

Like we supported Hamer by buying used and complaining about their new model prices? Yet the market pays those prices for PRS and Gibsons all day, everyday. Indeed. With a few exceptions, our expenditures on the brand do not match our enthusiasm for the brand. I include myself in that category.

Did a salesman assist you in that decision or did you pull the Taylor off the wall on your own and decide you liked it better? I ask because if it was the former, that's another aspect of retail marketing. Sales reps educating sales forces and offering incentives to push the product.

And both of the "our artists pay for their guitars" variety, I believe (Hamer certainly was; someone correct me if I'm wrong). An admirable approach from a credibility standpoint, I guess, but not a recipe for sustainability in a highly competitive market. When I worked at GC in the early '90s, Guilds were second only to Martin on the list of desirable acoustics (remember the big ol' 12-string Stevie Ray played on Unplugged?). Sold a lot of 'em. Then, toward the end of my tenure there, we started getting instruments from an upstart brand called Taylor. We all know how that turned out.

Brand recognition. Casual music fans who might be inspired to buy an acoustic after seeing their favorite artist play one on CMT are aware of Fender, whereas they're not as aware of Guild and Hamer. That's the result of 60+ years of Fender guitars being in the hands of big stars. But any brand can get to a similar level of recognition if it's in people's faces enough. PRS and Taylor got there. Guild and Hamer did not.