shredmeister

I have some experience with Jacksons. Last one is a Custom Shop Reverse Body Style Demon - absolutely one of the most killer guitars I have ever seen.

Hmmmmmm.....be interesting to see how this conversation would take shape over on the Les Paul forum.

Can't comment on the Snake Oils cause I have never used 'em. However, I have tried lots of other brands and the best I have found are D'Aquistos.

Never used Snake Oil strings. I have been using D'Addarios for years. Mostly their pure nickel. I once purchased 6 sets of strings - Fender, Ernie Ball, GLS, Santana Signature (those were not bad) etc... and put them all on the same guitar in one day and played them all. D'Addario pure nickel felt the best to me. Also recently tried SIT which feel similar to D'Addario. However, recently I got a guitar from Rico Jr that had the best feeling strings on it that I had ever played. I called him to ask him what they were and he told me D'Aquisto. So I ordered 10 sets of them recently.

Johnny B Goode - man I have always wanted to play that one. Anyone up for more of a Frank Marino version? Hey Joe if you wanna do Jail Break I will learn that one. Somebody needs a wah wah pedal though for that solo break.

So far we are working on Little Wing (Derek & Dominos version) , Too Hot Too Handle, Living After Midnight and Standing on the Outside (Dokken). What are some others you guys are doing?

I can make at least one of these nights maybe both.

Hey Z: I have Impellitteri's greatest hits - called Best of Impellitteri. 2 CD set. Cost me about $20 to get cause it was only available from Japan where he lives. I just checked ebay and they had it on there for over $40! A couple of really kick ass songs on there though. You know I still have his instruction VHS. It was the first VHS I had devoted to speed technique. I just about fell of my chair the first time I saw it. If you can get the song Warrior - that is my fav by him. The other one is Hungry Days. Both good songs.

First it was the dude from Chicago. Then Gary Rickrath or however you spell his name from REO Speedwagon. Then Frank Marino. After that a whole slew of players from Schenker to Chris Impellitterri. Also major influences were guys I jammed with over the years who showed me stuff.

I have seen a couple of the G3 tours and they always have good songs to jam to. One of them is Little Wing - I use to know it but forgot how to play the intro. But if anybody wants to do that one it is a quick learn and a great jam.

Stranglehold - did that one with Elduave last year. That's always a fun tune as long as it does not get played too many times in one night. I think it was done 2 other times that night. Me bring big Evil Amp this year. hehe

Hey Ray how many tracks on your recorder - I have the Akai DSP16 with 8 simultaneous inputs and 16 tracks if you need it. I have a song we did last year (but I finally learned it correclty hehe) TOO HOT TO HANDLE Also I think I am going to learn MOTHER by Danzig - I know Eric knows that one. And dudes I would be very careful about putting political topics on this board or anything that has the potential for conflict - there are plenty of other forums for that. You could wind up with good people not liking one another.

Vandenberg is a great guitar for some. 1-5/8" nut though - too skinny for me. Has large frets not jumbo. Nice Trem - Kahler Spyder - one of the best ever made. Only 250K pots though. Single coil in neck pup - OK but I always liked a full hum there on a 24 fretter. They are a neck thru like a Soloist. They had a short scale length - 24/3/4" and a 15" radius fingerboard. Very thin necks. Rumer has it you have to be careful with the neck pocket. Some of the wood was not dried long enough so the bodies would shrink a bit.

Dan that really sucks that you can't make it - you are always such a GAS! BRUCE - are we going to have a practice jam like we did last time?

I have WB's in 3 guitars now. I have never heard a better pick up and they split so well you don't loose any volume. Just incredible.

100% Agree. There are some OK Ibanez's but I don't like any of their Superstrats (except for the looks of them which I really like). I had a Blue Floral JEM - felt like a toy. I found the Wizard necks too thin. Trem felt very cheap. Tone was absolutely terrible - I mean terrible. The only way it sounded good was when it was heavily processed. And I changed the pups to Evolutions. Ibanez has been criticized for using sub standard woods on some of their models. I listen to some of the bands who use their superstrats and they always sound thin to me. I don't usually like to post bad opinions on equipment - I usually keep my opinion to myself if it is not positive. But this has been my experience with Ibanez shredders. I A/B'd it with several Jacksons and they just killed the JEM in tone as well as quality as do the Hamers.

Having owned both they are completely different animals. Yes Jackson Soloists are the guitars all other SuperStrats are judged by - the Soloist is the Standard. But there are Good and Bad soloists. And the ones from the San Dimas era are special - they don't have a recessed Floyd - so the neck is angled back towards your body more. This makes them very comfy to play. Having said that personally I prefer bolt on guitars. They are snappier and seem to be a bit more articulate. Neck thrus in general can be a bit darker by comparison. I played a spanking brand new expensive Snake Skin Soloist the other day and I thought it sucked. Tone was for shit and it had Duncans in it. Calis have better upper fret access if you use those upper frets obviously because they are a 27 fret guitar. Quality is also top notch as is the Jackson. Personally I prefer a Cali simply because it is a bolt on. The Cali has some things you may or may not like also. Jackson necks are usually wider - 1'11/16" nuts. Calis are usually 1-5/8". I like wider. The trem systems can be different also. A USA Jackson as a real Floyd. I had a Cali that had a licensed trem that was not as good as the Floyd but close. Today - right now - personally between the 2 I would go with the Cali. Now if you were talking a PC1 it would be a different story.

I posted re: Methias Jabbs over at the Jackson forum months ago. Not much of a response - those guys are use to rockers and shredders over there . The consensus was lots of guys play the riffs he used - nothing really unique. Personally I have always loved his tone and the way he plays. You can hear the attitude in his playing. And he was articulate. When I think of all the guitarists whose tone I just loved Jabbs is one of them. Killer overtones and harmonics - even live. And to think he used mostly a Gibson Explorer and Fender Strat. I have a really crappy live recorded video of the Scorps right after he joined the band. Looks terrible but sounds great - kinda like that album cover.

Oh yeah! Can't wait! That was soooooooooo much fun last time. Might have to bring an amp head this time.

Oh so you worked there too then? I had one and did not like it at all. There was nothing special about the one I had. I like Hamers much better. In fact here is the exact thread........ "As a previous PRS employee, I can tell you first-hand that the "Private Stock" guitars are what the "old skool, every day" PRS guitars USED to be. Now, they're totally hit-and-miss, and when a few good ones come out of the batch of gunk, they're immediately pegged as "Private Stock" and marked up accordingly. That said, if you get a good PRS, be it an old nice one, or a "Private Stock", you'll love it forever."

You are best finding a PRS that is one of the older original ones. One of the guys at the Jackson forum worked for PRS. He said the Private Stock models they have are the good ones - and they are really expensive. He said the rest of the stuff has been downgraded - nice looking generic guitars with no mojo. He recommended instead of spending $9K on a Private Stock model look for a very early model. All the early models are what the Private Stock models are today. Personally I don't go by brand name when I buy a guitar. I try to find smaller builders and get customs made to my specs - which sometimes is also an expensive way to go. But at least I get what feels most comfortable to play.

I have been using D-Addarios. Use to use Super Slinkys and Boomers. Recently - and I have always wanted to do this - I bought some Fender Bullet ends pure nickel, some of the new Carlos Santana 9.5 thick core nickel strings, some more Boomers, my regular D'Addarios and some Pure Nickel D'Addarios. I sat there and just changed strings 3 or 4 times one one guitar. One right after the other. So I waisted a few dollars but I learned that I like the D'Addarios the best hands down out of the lot. None of the others had as good of sound or feel. I typically change strings once a month after playing about 2 hours a day 6 days a week. And I beat the hell out of my strings - way more than I would say 99% of most people. I probably pick as many notes in a month as most guys do in an entire year plus I use the whammy. By the way I usually wash my hands before I play since I mostly have maple fingerboards and I wipe my strings down after playing.

God I can't believe no one has mentioned Michael Schenker! Ever hear the tune Save Yourself ???????

There is no one single best guitarist but Schenker is definitely one of the best. Has just about the most expressive vocabulary of vibratos I have heard and his melodic sense is better than just about any player out there. Very interesting article on him at www.dinosaurrockguitar.com

Thats easy. Billy Sheehan hands down.