Ramblings of a Guitar Idiot

Believe it or not (and much to my surprise), I get emails asking me what kind of guitar stuff I am playing- where I got it, what I did to it and so on. Not tons, but enough that I get tired of typing it. I'm pretty sure most of the interest comes from a cable access show we did a long time ago that somehow is still run.
So here it is for anyone who wants to know. If you are not a guitar geek, please just skip all this now.

Guitars-

I play strats almost all the time- none of them are Fender- they are all parts guitars. I used to buy actual Fender guitars then tear them apart to make them "better". My girlfriend (now my wife) would look at me and ask why I felt the need to make a brand new, perfectly good instrument better. I didn't really have an answer, I just felt compelled to solder and break things.
I realized that I needed to put together my own strats, but this was pre-internet. Once I got online in the late 90's, I saw a load of options available to the hobbyist/home-destroyer of guitars. Yes, I've broken, mangled and destroyed a lot of things. But each thing I broke taught me not to make that mistake again- I would then make a completely new mistake.

I am very hard on guitars. I currently play in a trio- for some reason I play way harder than any normal person should in a 3 piece band. So as a consequence, things wear and break sooner than they should.
I've used various sources for parts for my exploits, which I'll do my best to link to below.

I mostly use Warmoth necks but I have used a few Allparts as well. I've grown to favor big frets because they last longer- I can kill a set of small frets in under a year if I play the same guitar all the time- this is not fun (meaning $$$). So 6150 or 6100 lasts longer for me.

The bodies are chambered and have a F hole- they also come from Warmoth. They are very light in weight. Being chambered also changed the tone a little bit, attenuating the highs and adding a little bottom. Mine are made out of alder, but they will make you one in whatever wood combo you like. Want an endangered species of wood harvested by child soldiers? No problem- call Warmoth.

Pickups are Antiquities by Duncan. The middle is rwrp and the bridge pickup is not hotter than the others. I also use a switch from Deaf Eddie that allows you to get a couple of pickup combinations that you can't get standard (he even saw fit to put a quote from me on his page). There is a Fralin Bass Plate on the bridge pickup to get a little closer to a telecaster vibe. Pots are 250k ohms.
The bridge and saddles are stock Fender- the saddles wear out frequently. The inertia block is from Callaham guitars. It actually does make a difference.
Tuners are staggered Gotohs. I don't like locking tuners because I literally pull the string out of the tuner which causes me tuning issues.
I'll use whatever for nut material as long as it's hard- I prefer corian or something harder than bone because I destroy it pretty quick (are we sensing a theme here, yet?).

Strings are .011's- they last one gig before they are done (they get lumps in them where the frets are). .011's are also the key (for me) to keeping a strat tremolo in tune. I can go pretty wacky on the bar and it stays in tune amazingly well. The downside is I am slowly destroying my hands doing things like pedal steel tricks with heavier strings. I buy strings in bulk.

Also, lube everything that moves with this. Otherwise nothing works the way it should.

AMPS-

My amp is a Fender Vibroverb. I actually have 2 of them. They are the hand done model they made for a few years in the early 2000's. I wanted a Super Reverb that was made the old, tag board way, but with a new warrantee. I've had my share of issues using 40 year old amps (um, they break. In my experience, alot). So, enter the 1x15 Vibroverb. Except, I don't like 15's, so I put the chassis in a Super Reverb 4x10 cabinet. And all was well, for awhile.
I have had the awesome experience of a bar manager looking at a 4x10 amp and proclaiming that it "looked too loud". Mind you, the amp was not even plugged in at the time. So after a while, I put one of my Vibroverb chassis’s in a head box. I usually use this with a 2x10 cabinet with Eminence ceramic 10's. Most importantly, the sight of my equipment doesn't offend bar managers anymore.
I also like alnico 10's as well, but they tend to get farty at times and blow once in a while (especially when you run 40w of amp into 30w of speaker).

As far as tubes, I like old stuff, but it is becoming crazy expensive. I have a stash of some things that I had the good foresight to put away (if I was only this good with money). I really like 7581's instead of 6L6's, but it seems that I will have to sell a kidney to get anymore (like $300+ a pair!). I also like RCA and JAN/Philips 12AX7's- these too are getting more scarce. So I use EH and Sovtech stuff like everyone else. The Winged C stuff is not bad either. Go here for all your tube needs- this place actually tests the tubes they sell and Mike K is a good guy that will take care of you.

EFFECTS-

This is an ever changing hot mess. I'll swap some things out, only to swap them back and drive everyone crazy (myself included) in the process. Here is the general recipe:
Dunlop wah
Ibanez TS808/9- modded by Keeley
Boss compressor and EQ
Fuzz of some sort (Rx Experience or Fulltone something or other)
Voodoo Labs ANALog Chorus
Fulltone Fatboost
Delay pedal of some kind

I am also a lover of flashing lights and buttons. So if a pedal has more than one button and a light that flashes in tempo with something, I will probably buy it, use it for awhile, then proclaim it a POS and sell it on a bulletin board for less than I bought it for. Or I will attempt to trade it for another pedal with more buttons, brighter flashing lights, etc.
In all seriousness, I don't try that much stuff anymore. I am pretty well set and don't swap stuff nearly as much as I used to. As always, I wind up doing less with more.

There are a couple of things I've learned along the way that don't immediately become apparent to most people, unless you spend 12,000 hours messing with this stuff. So my loss (of time) is your gain:

* Dunlop switchless wahwahs sound like garbage, but it is so cool to have a wah with no switch. So, run them at 4v and put them behind a boss compressor set like a limiter.

* Voodoo Lab ANALog Chorus is the world's worst chorus, bar none, ever. BUT it does a fake Leslie sound very well. HOWEVER, it has a horrible volume boost so run it behind your boss compressor set like a limiter as well. Also, put both knobs on maximum.

*Fulltone's Fatboost- I run it like a compressor. But you have to find the "lawsuit" circuit first version that was only made on Tuesday's during lent in 1999. Serious- the other versions aren't the same. But don't tell Mike Fuller I said this or "No more pedals- come back one year!" for me. Volume at 12, tone at 9, little gain knob at 11.

*Robert Keeley's Tubescreamer mod is great. It makes a new TS808 so much better. I sold my 1979 808 once I got a Keeley.

*I have had a load of delay pedals. I like the T-rex the best. I don't even remember what it's called. It's a nifty shade of brown.

*Don't waste time with any other power supply than Voodoo Labs Pedal Power.

*NYC Pedal Boards take a beating well. Mine is still going after 10 years and who knows how many gigs.

I certainly don't think I have "the best" anything or even anything that is worth copying (most of the time I don't even think what I sound like is anywhere near good) but I have spent a lot of time messing with this stuff, learned a few things and had a pretty good time doing it. I also have some stuff that is unique to me- you can’t buy it. So I offer this for anyone who is interested and questions what it is I have or how I got it. I never really enjoyed the "guitar secret" guys that wouldn't share info when I was a kid. This stuff ain't rocket science or a matter of national security.

I have to thank Lou Fanticone at Piero's Music. I've been annoying him since I'm a little kid. Rob Distefano at FretTech is another gentleman who has endured questions and my OCD-like pickiness with things.

In the end, it really doesn't matter what you have to play. The important things is just to play what you have. You can make music with anything. The longer I play, the less "stuff" matters. Spend time practicing music, not practicing making sounds.

Still have a question? Email away.

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Update (Oct 2011)

I put this page up a year ago after a long debate with myself (who wants to be that pretentious d-bag who says “Look what I did”?) It did what it was supposed to though, because I have not gotten one email since asking what that weird guitar I am playing is or how come I have a Vibroverb head and where can they get one.
Of course I’ve changed some stuff over the last year. So here’s the lowdown:

I swapped one of my Vibroverb heads for a Ceriatone “D-style” amp and 2x12 cab. Specifically a 100w Bluesmaster HRM model. Of course I am using it wrong- I treat it like a giant Fender amp with a dirty volume boost. The clean is great and the dirty channel works out well as a “hairy clean” channel for me. Don’t get me wrong- I like the D**ble tone as much as the next guy, but getting 'that sound' is not the end goal for me. I always did want one of these though and I use it regularly. Besides, I need to have some pedals to play with and cause me headaches. I also have to run a rack with it for delay, reverb and (of course) the Dumbleator.

I also discovered the Suhr BPSSC. It basically is a dummy coil that removes about 90% of the 60hz problem with strats with almost none of the tonal problems of a dummy coil. Of course since it is a product that actually works, you can’t get it anymore. Here’s the inventor (Ilitch Electronics) where you can get it direct.

I swapped out the neck pickups in my strats. I went from a regular old Antiquity to an Antiquity II. There's a little more high end and clarity with these.

That’s about it as far as changes go- I’m thinking about adding a Carl Martin switching system for effects, but we’ll see if that happens or not. I’m still debating whether it will cause more problems than fix.