picker

That sounds like an amazing idea! Where did you get heavy string sets for a 12 string acoustic? I've looked all over the web, and medium(54-12) is all I could find. I guess I could buy a light or medium set, the the high E's aside, and buy two heavier for the low Bs.

Anybody know where I can get some Screaming Yellow Zonkers?

yuuuuuuuuuk.

It arrived, and it's pretty nice. There is a pretty obvious repair to a crack in the top, but it's fixed well. I've tuned it down to D, because it looks like the bridge is starting to pull the top up. It's not bad, just noticeable. I'm thinking about getting one of THESE installed. I wonder if it will fit with all those bridge pins sticking down.

THis guy? All it needs is a black pickguard and a decent trem, with locking tuners. And, possibly some decent pickups... I have seen that pink Gibson case lining, though. Unfortunate is the kindest way to put it. But "yuuuuuuk" is accurate...

I've only own one other acoustic 12 before, it was a lawsuit era Takemine, and it really wasn't bad. I think I ended up giving it to a friend who needed it for some reason. I've had several electric 12s; a Mosrite that had a whammy bar if you can believe that(it was mising the handle and the spring when I got it), 2 Yamaha Pacifica 12s that I sold when I got in bad straits, and a 12 string strat kit that I built a year or two back. I'm an old Byrds freak, plus the Beatles, and the whole folk-rock thing. Great sound.

Cool! I've had an E-Bow for more than 20 years!

I'd LOVE to find a Mellobar I could afford. But, Christie's Auction house sold one for $52,000! Finding one for less that $700 would be a miracle. But they are a cool instrument, that's for sure! What size socket do you use?

That old boy can PICK!

The big issue is getting the silly thing out in front of me far enough to pick it easily and slide the bar past my left side without slanting it too much. I've seen belly bars of varying sorts, and Megan from Larking Poe has that gadget she and a friend designed & built. I have a friend who has built a couple of lap steels and CBGs, and she said she'll build me a stand-up steel. But she has gotten too busy with other projects, and I suspect she doesn't really have sufficient time or desire to do it now. I may try to design one for myself. I don't really have any training or expertise in instrument design or building, but that never stopped me before! And really, a lap steel is just a slab of some material with a pickup, bridge, nut, and tuners bolted to it. The rest is just shaping and finish work. I'd really like one like some of the Rickenbackers I've seen, with a hollow metal body and neck. That would probably be a good way to keep the weight down, and it would look cool as heck. But metal work like that is way out of my wheelhouse, and I suspect it would be pretty costly to have it made. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

The big issue is getting the silly thing out in front of me far enough to pick it easily and slide the bar past my left side without slanting it too much. I've seen belly bars of varying sorts, and Megan from Larking Poe has that gadget she and a friend designed & built. I have a friend who has built a couple of lap steels and CBGs, and she said she'll build me a stand-up steel. But she has gotten too busy with other projects, and I suspect she doesn't really have sufficient time or desire to do it now. I may try to design one for myself. I don't really have any training or expertise in instrument design or building, but that never stopped me before! And really, a lap steel is just a slab of some material with a pickup, bridge, nut, and tuners bolted to it. The rest is just shaping and finish work. I'd really like one like some of the Rickenbackers I've seen, with a hollow metal body and neck. That would probably be a good way to keep the weight down, and it would look cool as heck. But metal work like that is way out of my wheelhouse, and I suspect it would be pretty costly to have it made. Oh well, we'll see what happens.

Thanks guys. I knew if anyone would understand, it would be you guys.

I went off the deep end tonight and bought a Guild f1225E tonight. I really shouldn't have, I don't need another guitar. But I've been wanting a 12 string acoustic for a while. I wanna see if I can do some slide on it. I got it used on Reverb for $400. Despite a certain amount of buyers remorse, I'm still excited to get it.

THe Subdecay pedal sounds like it'll make the soound I want. But, so does THIS, and maybe too. THIS ONE is four knob, which makes it more likely to be similar to the Boss BF-3. What do you guys think of them? I think the momentary feature you mentioned in the BF-3, Winston, might be what Prince was using. He only kicked the sound in for a short accent, and it went right back off after a few seconds. I like the idea of not having to kick it twice. Being a clumsy old fart, I have to be careful not to trip over my own feet. So, that might be the deciding factor... EDIT: Did a bit of research on Prince's signal chain, and I think the BF-3 version hadn't been invented yet at the time that video was made. So, it looks like the I'll have to tap dance to get that effect.

Thanks for your input, Winston, I appreciate it. I don't currently have a flanger pedal, but I'm I think I'm gonna get one after being reminded of that sound on Prince's rig. I may get the Boss pedal, or one similar if I can figure out which ones are. I did see your apology, bruh, and I thank you for it. We all have our bad memories, and it's no fun being reminded of them. I'm sorry I brought some of yours up for you. Here's hoping we both can make better memories. Be blessed!

You can hear effect kick in over the long sustained note between around 25 & 30 seconds, and a few other places during the song. You can't see the pedals, but I recall he was using that plastic Boss pedalboard with all the pedals back in that time frame. You can see him kick at them during one of the songs in the Purple Rain movie. There's a live video opf him doing that song live, and he takes a long solo break at the beginning, and I'd love to find it. Prince was a one heckuva player.

No worries, Winston. Rock on, bruh!

A friend of mine owns a replica of a Martin D-28 he bought back in the late 70's. I don't know if it's Brazillian rosewood or not, but the top is Sitka spruce. He had it made for him by a guy in Ursa, Illinois named Don Rust. It's a beauty, and sounds incredible. It's made as well or better than a real Martin. I don't recall what he paid for it, but it was bit less than a Martin D-28. He knew then and has ben reminded since that just as he didn't pay the same price as a Martin, he'd never get much more out of it than he paid for it, and probably less. It doesn't appreciate in value the way a Martin would. Even though it's as good or better than one, it's just isn't the same because it doesn't have that name on the headstock. Boutique instruments are a crap shoot when it comes to making money on them. If you can get what you paid for it back out of it, you'll be doing well.

I was digging into some old Prince videos tonight, and during the intro to Sign O The Times, he did something I had heard from him before. He had a number of Boss pedals in front of him, including that old purple flanger, and he hit it for just a moment of two, and it was like the guitar went into orbit! Very cool moment, I thought. Like I said, I had heard him do that before, but tonight, I wondered how he had the knobs set on that thing to get that wild sound. Anybody know?

Back in the 60's, I read an article about Zal Yanovsky, the lead guitarist for the Loving Spoonful. He said he had a Guild acoustic 6, and a Guild acoustic 12, as well as Guild electric 6s and 12s. My brain went "POP!" and I knew that I wanted to have one of each too, acoustic & electric 6 & 12 strings, so I'd be able to get all the sounds. Later on I found out it was a lot more complicated than that, because different electrics sounded different; Les Paul vs Strat vs Tele vs jazz box, baritone, 3/4 size, etc etc. And there are the different acoustics; dreadnought, OM size, single O, double O, triple O, resonator, 12 vs 14 frets clear of the body, 6 string banjo, etc etc. And then there's bass guitars; 4 string, 5 string, 6 string, Jazz Bass Verses P Bass vs Music Man Stingray, maybe even Gibson basses, fretless, active or passive electronics, etc etc. And I ain't EVEN gonna get into amps. There is not now nor will there ever be enough. Never

Oh, it's not anything award winning, just a folk rockish pop tune with a nice hook, and a great intro. The subject matter was a bit 5 years ago when it came out. But, I'm sure it made some record company suits a lot of money at the expense of the band.

I was just watching a live version of 21st Century Schizoid Man, and I remembered listening to the studio version. The vocal was distorted, and I recall thinking they must have put like a fuzz box on it or something. But, I suppose they could have just overdriven the mic preamp, but somehow, the kind of fuzz they got on the recording sounds a bit more uniform. I would think that when Lake's voice reduced in volume, the distortion would have gotten less. Does anybody know how they got that distorted tone?

Of courtse you'll need to cover this one...

R.I.P.

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