I’ll cite my posts in this long-standing GOGT thread, and the countless other guitar geek threads. I hope that if you’ve read at least this thread, you might see that I know a bit 
I’ll see what I can find out.
Thought of one: Collings SoCo Deluxe -
Not a super-round Venetian, but not pointy. And it’s a freakin’ Collings, one of the best small-batch makers around.
ETA: hey, how did that double-post get there? I’m on a train, and had trouble loading pages…must’ve gotten jiggled a bit I’ll ask a mod to delete one…
Here is a model called, irony of ironies, the Les Paul Florentine. Les Paul shape, so a rounded-ish cutaway with f-holes:
http://www.themusiczoo.com/images/10-01-13/18133_Les_Paul_Florentine_Figured_HB_CS301802_1.jpg
Epiphone Wildkat: Epiphone | Archtop
That photo is with a Bigsby; but that can be taken off.
It also has dog-ear P-90’s, but they make versions with 'buckers (and cool flame paint job! ;)): http://www.guitar-museum.com/uploads/guitar/161/150312865633-1.jpg
Wildkat’s are a few hundred bucks - get one and mod it however you want…
Okay, that Wildkat has potential. IMHO, a rounded point on a florentine is just a florentine with a soft point.
Jeff - a simple thank you would suffice.
Here’s a few more:
- the Epi that you want is an AlleyKat - stop tailpiece + 'buckers
- Sadowsky makes a semi-hollow that meets your needs: http://www.sadowsky.com/archtops/media/SH_980x450.jpg
- Heritage - the company that formed in the Kalamazoo factory that Gibson left when it moved to Nashville - makes a few models, including the Roy Clark model and a few others - I will let you look them up.
Not to interrupt the Great Cutaway SymposiumTM, but…
…anyone have any shows coming up?
For me, playing at stage volume, with other musicians, in front of an audience, is the payoff of all of this. It’s what makes all the practice (i.e. what I do at home most evenings) and all the rehearsal (i.e. what we do on Sunday afternoons at my drummer’s house) worthwhile.
We guitarists have a unique hobby/obsession in that regard. There are a few guitarists who are solo performers, mostly in the genres of classical, jazz, or homeless, but for me the attraction has always been the push-and-pull interplay with a drummer, bass player…and sometimes a keyboardist, horn section, or another guitar player. (My wife, who is a knitter and therefore by definition a solo artist, took a while to wrap her head around this idea.)
That may be because almost as soon as I picked up the guitar (25+ years ago and counting, geez) as a wretchedly untalented 14 year old, I started a wretched band with some other equally wretched 14 year olds, and I’ve been in bands almost continuously since. I never had a woodshed/basement phase; playing in a band was part of my evolution. The downside of that is that I’m not a terribly dexterous player; I can rip out a decent solo when called upon, but I’ll never be a shredder. The upside is that I feel as though I’m a good band member - I have an ingrained feel for timing, dynamics, and getting the kind of guitar tone that sits well in a band mix.
But that’s a long story for a short question: anyone got any gigs coming up?
I’m playing this Friday at a new (to us) venue. (We try to play out about once a month or so - any more would burn out our tiny fan base, mostly comprised of spouses, friends, and other local musicians, and any less would make us not much of a band.) This new venue is a good one with great sound, a big room, and a good bar. It would be nice to make a good impression on them. They offered us a headlining weekend slot right off the bat, which would be a step up from playing dives on the weekends and good places on Wednesdays.
Wish us luck!
Hey - good luck with the new venue OneCentStamp!
Yes, I love the communication aspects of playing music - with my bandmates, with the crowd (well, the folks in the audience - sometimes it is a crowd!).
Two observations -
-
Mistakes make for great communication - when someone in a band of mine goes off the rails, how we get back on can be fun. Someone missed the outro for the song, or picks up singing the chorus after a solo instead of the verse - that type of stuff. Everyone else in the band starts looking around and we figure out how to make it work. Keeps things fresh
-
Drummers make the difference - a basic drummer slogs through the beat. A great drummer has a strong groove that drives a song. An essential drummer “sells the changes” - so as we move from verse, to pre-chorus, to chorus, they go quiet and then build up, up, UP and GO BIG, exploding into the chorus. The clearest form of communication within the band and with the audience…
Yep, the drummer is the rock band’s conductor. Really good ones can cue you that a change is about to happen with an unobtrusive accent or fill. There’s just no substitute for playing with a really good drummer. They make the whole band better in ways that most other instruments just don’t seem to be able to do.
Which is probably a lot of the reason why I’ll put up with a lot of demands out of a great drummer that I wouldn’t put up with when I’m dealing with a guitarist.
To my sadness and great regret, OneCentStamp, I don’t have any shows lined up right now. We were going to line one up at a local 100+ year old venue that I’ve never played at and had always wanted to play, but none of the bands we were likely to bill with could do the show. We do have a record that’s pretty much ready to go, we just need to get the album art, send the masters to the pressing plant, and pay them. Then we get to line up 2 record release shows.
However, in May my guitarist moves back to California. If we don’t get the record before he moves, he’ll fly back for the record release parties, but then he’s gone. <sigh>
He’s the best guitarist I’ve ever played with. He plays parts that I am categorically unable to play – while holding a conversation with me! If that wasn’t enough, he’s got such a great personality that even the most dismal practices are fun. His only fault, and his greatest strength as a front man, was that every song was “for the ladies”. I’m going to miss him, but DFW just doesn’t have what a California boy needs.
So, after we release our record, we get to look for a replacement for that.
Even in an area with 4 million people, finding the “right” surf-punk guitarist, or at least one that can fill his shoes in some mutated form of the old band, is going to be a chore. If anyone’s got a friend in DFW that might fit the bill, PM me.
I missed the edit window, but just to make sure that no one feels too sorry for me:
I’m still playing with the best drummer I’ve ever been in the same room as. I’m serious, I have no right to be his bass player.
ETA: Seriously, he’s such a good drummer, that his mistakes save themselves. If he’s going to change to a part too early, he’s already sent a cue that he’s going to change too early. My only dilemma is to decide whether the rest of the band heard the cue or not, and who to go with if they didn’t.
I have a gig coming up next Friday, The Vantines are opening for a N.O. Funkband and yes I am playing(Bass) and not mixing for once. This will be our third. We also added a vocalist and I am stoked but he will be integrated slowly.
Time to go gear geek
I bought a Keeley 4 knob compressor, used it at practice last night and freaking love it. This will be an always on thing for me. I also bought a cheap “clean boost” which I will use as a grit adder and tone changer instead of a boost. I wanna overdrive but it would be a bit much for the band I play with.
gear geek off
Cheers
Hey Wordman :waves:
Capt
Those things are totally dope for bass guitar. An “always on” pedal for sure.
Hey Capt!
That sounds very cool - I have heard nothing but good things about Keeley compressors. I have used compression in the past, and like what it does to my tone, but really miss the ability to make the dynamics go small and big based on how hard I am spankin’ the strings
Best of luck with your gig!
My gig news is not mine - my kids are playing a talent show in a couple of weeks. My son has written a couple of songs - they are actually really good! - and my daughter has a great voice, so they will be performing. He asked if he could use my 1946 Gibson acoustic at the gig - fortunately, as I was gearing up to say Yes, the guy organizing the event suggested that they set up a “gig acoustic” all wired up and ready to go that each act would use. That sounds better to me!
Well, hell, looks like the Creamsicle did its job getting him into playing, then.
I call that money well spent.
Oh yeah - it is out in his room 24/7, leaning against his stuffed chair. He picks it up all the time. Really kick-started his playing.
By the way, the NY Times Sunday Magazine has a fascinating article in it. John Jeremiah Sullivan - a favorite writer/essayist of mine - contributes an article on the search for two lost blues women, the role of some key blues geek historians in managing information release about them and other blues legends like Robert Johnson, and the role of these women in the blues.
Really great - highly recommended.
I’m going to preemptively apologize if this has already been asked somewhere but I can find similar threads and bits but nothing quite what I want. I’ve recently picked back up the guitar and been using Rocksmith. I’m getting a bit rocksmith’d out and want to move back to the mountain of tab I bought and accumulated over 10+ years. However, I want to move into the modern age and use my computer to help with it. What I have for gear is a Hondo Flying V, which I actually like a lot (solid build, like the neck and stays in tune forever) and a Fender Super Twin. That Fender is what I don’t like. Bought when I was 18 (over 25 years ago), 180 watts seemed like the best thing around but now…not so much. I can seriously wake my entire town with this thing.
With that said: What I want to do is something like Rocksmith but slightly different. I want software that will allow me to play along with an mp3, and be able to pick different amps and pedals/effects. It seems like software like Amplitude might work (found in another thread) but it’s $200 which is about as much as a cool Yamaha amp I read above that I think might be a good alternative. And will the Rocksmith cable I have work or do I need some sort of midi interface? I don’t want to sink a lot into this so simple is good. I guess if the amount of money I need to do this with software/computer will buy me a modeling amp that has inputs for mp3…which is the better route to go?
At $100, I really like Scuffham S-Gear. I haven’t used Amplitube, so I can’t compare. It has 5 fundamental amp models, a convolver for speaker models and reverbs, and a delay-based effect with all the usual controls. It doesn’t have imitations of popular stompboxes like a Tube Screamer, but well, I have a Tube Screamer so I use that.
The amp models aren’t what I’d call imitations of classic amps, but rather, 5 very differently set up amps where each has a pretty wide tone range within that type of amp (e.g., Class AB vs. rectifier, etc.) I’m not an amp innards geek, I just use the one I like. (I have an older version with only 3 amp models, and pretty much only use the boutique bluesy one.)
It’s a plugin (might come with a standalone, don’t remember but probably) so you can use it in any VST host, which would also provide the ability to play along with other media. Host software is another can of worms, including everything from standalone hosts (that just run the one plugin) to “live rack” software like Cantabile and Forte, to full-featured digital audio workstations that allow you to do sophisticated recording/mixing/mastering projects.
There’s a wide price range. I don’t remember what I paid for Cantabile, but suspect it was about US$100. I use Reaper as a DAW, and it’s also about US$100. Funny how that works. As it turns out, $100 is the “petty cash” limit in my home, where I don’t have to go through the Purchasing department, as long as I don’t do it to often. 
Most software is supported on both Win and Mac, but not all, so let folks know what you’re running.
Just a quick reply since I need to read a few more times to process and look things up, but running Windows. And yes, I understand the “Purchasing dept” limits which I have as well
But, thanks for the info so far…lots more research required.
OK, reading more and seeing if I understand: Scuffham S-gear is a plug-in that is guitar amp modeling software. It requires a host software like Reaper (several others available). And then you need some sort of audio hardware interface (I can’t just use that Rocksmith cable, right?). Does that sound right? I looked through the Scuffham forum a bit to try and figure things out.
I can do almost what I want with Rocksmith - It’s got good enough amp and effects modeling that I can use. It’s just the ease of playing an mp3 along with it that I don’t think I can do (or haven’t figured out).
More research…