My Guitars

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Sometimes I go a little bit crazy.  Sometimes I go a little bit nuts.  Sounds like the lyrics to a song.  For some reason I think it might be.  Or maybe it’s one I wrote years ago and never did anything with.  I can say I do get into things hard even when I no nothing about it.  Just look at my list of cars 😳  Or the fact I own every house in Elder Scrolls Online 😲

When it comes to guitars, I got a little crazy there too.  See, my mom always wanted me to play guitar.  I refused.  I decided I want to play the drums.  Drums are my passion, but not my profession.

2018

But one day in 2018 as I was building myself up from a bad past, I decided that once I had a good drum kit I was going to learn to play guitar.  Fair enough right?  So I bought my first guitar.  I figured since I like Steve Clark and I think Les Paul style guitars are cool.  That’s what I would start with.  I couldn’t afford the real deal from Gibson.  So I got the Epiphone version.

I truly understood why the first Les Paul was called the Log.  This thing was heavy as hell.  But I took lessons at the local music store and learned a whole 9 chords before I set off to find a YouTube education.

2019

I couldn’t take the weight of Les Paul around my neck anymore.  So I sold it and bought 2 mid range guitars.  I mean every guitar player should have an acoustic right?

A PRS Standard 24 and an Orangewood Morgan Mahogany Live.  The Orangewood was surprisingly good sounding.  The PRS sounded good, but something about it felt off.  I didn’t like playing it.

As for the Orangewood.  I hated the sharp feel of an acoustic under my arm.  But this was before I lost all that weight.  Still not a fan of the boxy feel.  But you can’t deny the wonderful sound an acoustic makes.

Still I sold the PRS and gave the Orangewood as a gift to a girl in 2021.

2020 – 2021

The white phase…

I got obsessed with white with black accents.  So my new guitars would have to fit that ascetic.  My drum kit is still white with black and my decor is that, but the guitar thing looked cool, although it’s  hard to find good ones in white.

The ESP was my favorite for a long time.  The Omen was sweet too.  But these were low to mid tier guitars.  Bad fret work, especially on the Jackson kept me from picking them up to play for too long.  The guitars sounded amazing, but just hurt to hold for too long.  I also picked up a bass guitar.  Which I hated so much, I gave to a co-worker to destroy at a private gun range.  The Mitchel however was just pure garbage.  Gave that one away quickly.  Sold the others to my boss.

2022

This was the year I decided to try different brands.  Fender was always a good name right?  Plus they had this acoustic guitar that was the same size as an electric guitar!  I was down to try it out.  Also, I was going to go for better quality too.  Heard good things about Yamaha.  So I got the Fender Acoustasonic and a top end Yamaha guitar.  Along with a Yamaha bass.

This is where I learned a famous name isn’t everything.  In fact, I’ll likely never buy another Fender guitar.  This thing is not only crap sounding, but the fret work is just horrid.  You’ll bleed unless you get the frets smoothed out.

On the other hand, the Yamaha Pacifica has been nothing short of amazing and I love it!  Even the budget bass they sell is really really good!  I’m keeping both of them.  The Fender I’m going to sell or give away.

2023

Good guitars are the thing now.  I can’t afford $5000 guitars.  Well… actually I can.  But here’s the thing.  I still only know the 9 chords from 2018.  I really do want to spend time learning.  I just need time off to do it.  That however is another story.  But I can certainly afford mid tier guitars that are made by a legendary underdog company.   Paul Reed Smith.  I didn’t like the Standard 24 from 2019.  But they revamped the SE lineup and I got my two absolute favorite guitars in my collection!

With my Marshal half-stack, these guitars make me sound really damn good!  Even if I only know 2 songs 😂  I simply love these!

2024

Now to conquer my acoustic problem.  Yamaha has a thinner body but a good sounding acoustic guitar.  I got the lower end one, but in my experience; Yamaha makes good stuff at every price.  So I’m trying out this APX 600.  It sounds and feels good so far, but I’ve only had it a week.

Time will tell.  But I now have 5 guitars and still don’t really know how to play yet.  Yeah, I get a little crazy sometimes.

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Who Decides for Everyone Else?

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Who Decides?I’m sorry I haven’t written in a month.  Working 60 plus hours and having my free time taken away from me by relatives and contractors is taxing.  I hope to do more regular content soon.

However, I want to know.  Who makes all the decisions in this world?  Why can’t we decide for ourselves?  There are things we don’t get much choice in or if there is a choice, sometimes it’s nearly impossible to find the alternative to what is offered.  I’ll give you some examples.

I used to be able to buy shoes with arch support for a decent price.  One day that all just went away.  Several months later, you can buy shoes with arch support, but for a premium price.  Now if I want affordable arch support, I have to buy the insoles separately to put in an affordable pair of shoes.

Speaking of shoes…  Who decided that we all want memory foam insoles?  I hate memory foam.  If it wasn’t for my custom insoles with arch support, I’d have little to no choice.  Plus, they super glued the memory foam in!  Sometimes I end up ripping more than I want off or having to cut off bits that wouldn’t peel off 😑

Who decided that men suddenly want stretch pants?  I love good old fashioned denim.  Almost all the jeans on the rack are a jean/stretch material.  I hate the feel of stretch denim.

Who decided that we all MUST USE AI?  I open my Amazon app, there’s an AI bot to chat with.  My phone suddenly gets an update and now my phone is AI powered.  I don’t want AI.  Why can’t I have the option to turn it off.  Every browser now has AI in it.  Every search engine has AI in it.  I’m sorry, I have an education and it’s done me well without some program doing the thinking for me.  They tell me it’ll make life easier.  I was perfectly happy without AI.  Even my Linux is starting to get AI.  I enjoy programming and making pictures.  I don’t want AI doing it for me.  Yet my image editor is getting AI.

These are just a couple of examples.  I know there are thousands more out there.  I’ve grown sick of suddenly finding out that my preferred lifestyle is forced into change when I was perfectly happy before.  I don’t care if the hot new thing is in.  Not everyone is onboard with changes that profoundly affect their lives.  It’s understandable if a product isn’t selling well and is no longer available.  But to make the new changes the only choice is nuts.  You want diversity in this world, then stop trying to make us all the same with our lives.  Diversity isn’t just about personality and looks.  It’s about preferences too.  I have my life just the way I like it.  Stop forcing me to accept things I never asked for.  I don’t force you to eat bugs or dance only in the dark.  Don’t force me to stop thinking for myself or my shopping choices so difficult.

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My Drums Past and Present

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I always wanted to be a drummer.  I learned while I was in Junior High School on detention while waiting for my stepdad to pick me up.  The music room was impressively sound proof, and yet always left unlocked.  I only picked up the basics on my own back then.  It wasn’t until High School that my friends and I did the whole, let’s make a band even though none of us had much talent at all; thing.  Why do kids do this?  No talent, just a flyby desire to be a rock-star 😅

But we managed to get the opportunity to go into the local music store (Musik Haus) when it was on main street.  The one guy who could play guitar somewhat was amazed that I sat down and put out a beat without ever having heard me play the drums before.  After practicing for a couple of months, I finally got the nerve to start bugging my mom for a drum kit.  I had to take her to practice to show her I could actually play the drums.  Until then, I never told her I could.  Her and my stepdad had split, so she was the single mom barely making it.  But she had a friend who was generous enough to pick me up a used drum kit from the thrift store near him in Detroit.  He brought it up to our house and surprised me with it.

Used Slingerland Drums from Thrift ShopUsed Slingerland Drum Kit (Metallic Blue)

1986 – 1991
Sadly I don’t have a photo or a manufacturer image like I do for my other kits.  So this silhouette will have to do.  I rocked this thing pretty hard.  It had Remo heads and some off brand cymbals I can’t even recall what they were.  They didn’t sound half bad though and I was shocked at how good looking this used kit was.  It was almost pristine.

I unfortunately was married shortly after high school and as a young couple starting out.  We had little money.  Our car needed repairs and I sold the drums for a mere $40 to help pay the car bill.  I had no idea what a drum kit was worth back then and there wasn’t an internet to speak of.

Between 1991 and 2014 I was only able to play drums on occasion at music stores or using kits owned by other people every few years.  But my love of drums didn’t fade, I just kept making bad choices that kept me from buying another kit.

Roland TD-11K-S V-Compact SeriesRoland TD-11K-S V-Compact Series

2014 – 2020
Having returned to Michigan from Virginia after my surviving my triple heart attacks in 2012.  I got this ordered as a bundle kit from Kraft Music.  It came with a Gibraltar double kit pedal and a set of headphones.  Living in an upstairs apartment at the time, I had to find out when the neighbors would be at work or when it was OK for me to practice.  Even though I used headphones to practice.  They can still here the thumping of the kick pedal and batting of the drum sticks to the rubber trigger pads.  I really liked rocking on this and made a few drum cover videos.

Tama Imperialstar 6-piece Complete Drum SetTama Imperialstar 6-piece Complete Drum Set

2020-2023
It was time to get serious and upgrade my drumming to a real drum kit.  This was early 2020 and I didn’t make the good money yet.  So I got what I thought would be a good kit.  Tama being a worldwide leader in drums.  Unfortunately, you get what you pay for.  It was a fun kit, but it had serious tuning stability issues.  The snare and toms would loosen after just a few hours of play.  It was frustrating.  But I did get my Zildjian Custom A set of cymbals that I still use today.  Though I’m considering a Mienl set.  Just need to do some research.  Yes, that was the kick drum art I had put on it.

Sonor AQ1 Stage WhiteSonor AQ1 Stage Drums

2023 – Current
Finally got the best set I’ve had so far.  I hope when I have my music studio finished to be able to do drum covers and more to add to my collection.

I will always be a drummer.  Though I hope to learn other instruments to do even more.

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Dear Guitar Center Saginaw Michigan

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I don’t normally like to blast anyone publicly.  But this experience has left me very bitter and I will not be giving Guitar Center my business again.  Just because I’m inexperienced at guitars, does not make me stupid.  I certainly don’t appreciate being treated as such when my suggestion not only gets ignored, but had they tried it, it would have worked as you’ll see in the video below.

On July 22, 2024, I just finished up my yearly cardiology appointment.  I had brought my Fender Acoustasonic Player Telecaster with me.  I live 3 hours away from Saginaw, which has the closest Guitar Center to me.  I was interested in using their Trade-In Program as I’ve just never been very happy with my guitar.

The frets are horrible and will hurt your fingers even after I had them filed down some (at a more local guitar tech).  While it was in the shop, I had the strings changed and had the tech check the intonation.  If there was a problem then, he never mentioned it.  Still with the fixes, I never really liked the sound of this guitar.  So I decided I wanted to try and trade it in for an actual acoustic guitar.

Anyway, I went in the Saginaw Guitar Center and asked if the program was still available.  They said yes, but because of the whole CrowdStrike issue, they were unable to do it that day.  But could offer me an estimate of what my guitar would be worth.  So I went and got the guitar out of the car.

They took the guitar to the tech bench and I could see the tech trying to use a tool in the truss rod access hole.  He kept moving the tool rapidly from side to side.  This confused me and I walked over and asked what was wrong.  He told me that he couldn’t find the truss rod.  I found that to be odd.  So as a tech savvy person in my other fields in my life, I immediately thought I have everything that came with my guitar in the case the guitar came in.  So I grabbed the truss rod tool (which is an appropriately sized Allen (hex) Key).  I offered it to the tech.  He refused and said the tool he was using is the same size.  Then he tilted the guitar up.  Using a flashlight and a set of magnifying glasses said he didn’t see anything but threads in the opening.  Then handed the guitar back and said my truss rod was incomplete and he could no longer help me.

I’ve never had good service at this Guitar Center to begin with.  This of course, makes me even more angry.  I was shunned at my suggestion and treated like an idiot.  I really don’t like being treated this way.  So I made this video after I had calmed down enough to do so.  Just to prove that I’m not an idiot and that I don’t like being lied to.

So Guitar Center.  Specifically the one in Saginaw Michigan.  I will no longer support your company in any way.  Nor will I suggest you with people seeking new gear, repairs or anything related to your company.

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One Year Weight Goal

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One Year Weight GoalIt’s been one year since I stood on my scale and had finally reached my ultimate weight loss goal of 175 pounds!  Life has been very good since I lost 185 pounds.  For the last year, I’ve been able to keep my weight between 175 and 180 consistently.  People said I wouldn’t be able to loose the weight.  People said once I lost the weight, I’d simply gain it back.  People telling me I can’t do something is my greatest motivator.  Just like when I was told I would never make it in the military in 1994.  Not only did I make it, I left with honors and awards 😀

While my heart problems haven’t gotten any better.  Thanks to the weight loss they haven’t gotten any worse and I still function very well at work and at home.

My knee problems have lessened as I no longer have to carry the extra weight around.  Though at some point I will need to get my knee replaced.  I just can’t afford a 6-8 week recovery time.  I can still perform my work duties just fine.

My osteoarthritis isn’t as bad as it was when I was heavier.  I get injections quarterly in my knee and my wrists only bother me in humid or very cold weather.  I have a prescription ointment that I use for that, but it’s not often at all.

The best part is I don’t feel old most days.  I have way more energy than I’ve had in decades.  Life is pretty awesome for having been through so many things in the past.

I also see things differently now that I don’t eat junk food regularly.  I’ve found much healthier alternative ways to eat my every day foods I’ve always enjoyed.  Without losing any of the enjoyment!  Learning to be a good cook and healthy baker has been fun!

To those who don’t think Keto is a healthy way to live, I completely understand.  This is why I was never fully Keto.  I’m Cyclical Keto.  I still eat everything I love and enjoy.  I just re-arranged when I eat them.  Add in daily fasting of 12 hours from 10pm to noon.  I find I don’t lack any nutrients and there’s always vitamin supplements if you think you’re missing something important in your daily intake.  I’m living proof that what I do works and all my doctors praise my efforts.  Yes, willpower is very much key to succeeding.

The only side effect I don’t understand is why I’m more popular now.  I’m still me.  Does physical looks really matter so much?

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