[Frankenstrat2]

Some of us started to get to know each other on another thread. I realized that most of the other Forums I belong to have a section for introductions. Usually the moderators and senior members will chime in and say hello and welcome the Newbies.
Over here, it seems we are all newbies.
So I'll take a shot at putting up a post where the few of us who hang out here can get better acquainted.
********************
My name is Barry.
I'm a slide-aholic. I can't ever seem to get enough. I used to be happy just with regular guitars, acoustics, electrics, 12-strings. I always liked to listen to slide players, and marveled at their singing. vocal quality compared to regular fretted playing.
I'm 53 years old and have played guitar most of my life. In my teens and twenties I always played in local bands.
Growing up and living on Long Island in the shadow of New York City I have had the great advantage of being able to attend many shows and to have seen almost every guitar hero and great band live at some point in their carreers.
I quit playing music as a business in my twenties, and 'retired' for more than ten years. Later on my wife insisted that I start to play again, for fun as a hobby.
Of course hobbies become obsessions.
I always loved Ry Cooder and traditional acoustic/electric blues/rock guitar. The Allman Bros and Southern Rock always appealed to me, as did the California sound of the Eagles, and of course all of the British Invasion groups- Beatles and Stones. Each of those genres featured a fair amount of slide guitar.
Somebody remind me to go back to the 50 Greatest thread and post George Harrison and Joe Walsh.
In my rebirth as a hobbyist guitar enthusiast I began to teach myself some slide. Warren Haynes emerged as a modern slide hero and I tought myself to slide on the electric guitar in natural tuning as Warren often does. I had played a fair amount of acoustic guitar during my 'sensitive singer-songwriter days' so I was also familiar with open G and drop D tunings and the various fingering possibilities.
Over time my slide abilities progressed (slowly) and at the same time I began to network with other players such as myself with careers and families. I began to accumulate guitars and amps and a small PA- all gear I bought second-hand, over time.
At this point I have a home studio in basement. I am fortunate to have built up a rotating group of musicians who come over regularly to play music.
We have a great time, there is no pressure, no equipment to move, no cigarette smoke, no 3rd set to play, no bar owners telling us to turn down or drunks making requests.
I am always trying to improve, reading practicing and playing. I have made friends all over the world thanks to Internet Forums such as this and others.
While I am far from a virtuoso slide player, I'm proud of what I have accomplished so far. I really enjoy the music, and as you guys probably realize, we slide guitar players have our own niche, which few regular players fully understand, but is universally admired.
Oh- my screen name refers to my two main guitars- both made from parts of various vintage stratocasters, but customized for my needs as a slide guy.
Thus Frankenstrat2.
But enough about me.....
Next?

[manwithaplan]

Wow, I never knew that, I just looked at his sight and the amps look pretty nice, I just need to find out where his shop is now.

[Frankenstrat2]

LOL!
Well, I'm not sure Ken has an open shop anymore. He got sick about ten years ago and stopped taking orders. He is a pretty legendary builder. Some of the amps he made in the '80s now fetch over $20,000! We have a mutual friend, but Ken is known to be pretty reclusive.
But hey- if you can find him who knows? He knows plenty about guitars and amps, thats for sure.
You might find this interesting:
http://www.ultimateguitargear.com/ken_fischer_story.htm

And BTW, if you are the youngest member here, that makes me the oldest so far, soon to be 54.

[LightninBoy]

Hi everyone,
I'm new to this site.
I have recently had to retired from the music business, due to health reasons, and I found these guitar forums take the edge off a little.
I started playing in 1970 at the age of 8.
For over twenty years I taught Guitar/Slide Guitar in Melbourne, and on the Gold Coast; at music shops, Colleges and my own teaching studio.
I have performed in every low class filthy dirty dive you can imagine, as well as one or two nice places.
I prefer to play electric, but I also love playing acoustic.
My favourite guitar is my 25 year old Maton Messiah w/ sugar maple back and sides.
My next love is my 1931 National Duolian, all original, which Bob Brozman checked out for me recently.
I also have a 1932 Wayne Ampliphonic guitar, w/ bakelite board and brass frets. Its one strange puppy, and the spider resonator really sings.
I have a '78 Fender burst strat strung .013<.056 for slide, and a custom made strat for standard tuning.
I had a Soldano Hot Rod 50+, for grunt and a Fender Blues Deville for clean, but it became too much to lug around.
I bought a Fender Custom shop 100w Dual Professional, and sold the other 2. It has an amazing clean tone, and a heart massaging vibrato.
For grunt I use an old Chandler Tube Driver w/JJ ECC 82. (as well as a pedal board).
I love slide guitar, always have, and if you love it to, then I consider you a friend.
Looking forward to making some new friends here, as well as learning and sharing information
LB.

[allthumbs]

hi lightninboy. welcome to the forum. Your timing is great. This forum just started to pick up in the last week or two. There are all kinds of players here from casual to obsessed so you should find some kindred spirits. The moderator Kirk Lorange is from Oz too,maybe you have heard of him? I hope some of us duffers can get the bennefit of your experience to help improve our playing ability. Good to have you here.
allthumbs

[LightninBoy]

Hi allthumbs,
thanks for the welcome.
Yep, I've heard of Mr Lorange.
That guy is DANGEROUS with a slide.
Talk about weapons of mass destruction, he IS a weapon of mass destruction.
I didn't realise that this was his site until I recieved the activation code.
If we're lucky, we all might learn something from Mr Lorange.

[Frankenstrat2]

Hey LB Welcome
Nice arsenal.
The Fender Custom Shop makes some very nice amps these days.
What's on your pedal board?

[LightninBoy]

Hi Frankenstrat2,
thanks for the welcome.
I think it's important to feel welcome at a new site.
Some site's can be a little cliquey.
My pedal board is simple but effective. I use to have some fancy rackmount processor's, but I didn't like the tone.

My pedal board : volume pedal/ TU12 tuner/Boss Comp CS-3/
Tube Driver/Marshall Shred Master/ Boss Super Chorus CH-1/
Boss Delay DD3//.
This was hand wired and set up by Paul Gale at Soundworks in Melbourne.

I never used a pedal board much when I had the Soldano and Blues Deville, I plugged straight in.
But I like the compromise of the Dual pro and the pedal board, it worked well in a lot of different venues.
The one thing I never got around to getting was a true bypass switch.
But, I bet no-one would notice it much anyway.

[Bluesman_s]

Hi, bluesman here
been playing guitar for a year now
been playing blues for a couple of months
been playing slide for a couple o days
theres a blues/jazz guitar teacher im gonna get lessons from in a couple o weeks
have a sx strat copy vintage model
and an epiphone sg g400 vintage in aged chery red
got a 15 watt megaamp and a boss ds1 distortion pedal
wanna get a fender stage 100watt solid state with DSP Effects: Reverb, Delay, Chorus, Flange, Tremolo, Vibratone, Phaser.
has 3 channels normal, drive, more drive.
but thats a long way away.
for now ive got my mega amp with overdrive button.

[LightninBoy]

Hi Bluesman,
good luck with your lessons.
They can be a lot of fun.
If there's anything I can help you with, just ask.
Sounds like you have all the gear you need to make some great music.

[LightninBoy]

Barry,
I'm curious about your p/up's.
I've heard EMG's in strats and they sound great.
I also had Chris Kinman wire me up a reverse polarity p/up with formvar wire. It sounds terrific in my strat. (He actually lived 30 min's away from my previous address, and he is a very nice guy).
How would you compare the EMG's to Chris's P/up's ?

[Frankenstrat2]

Originally Posted by LightninBoy

Barry,
I'm curious about your p/up's.
I've heard EMG's in strats and they sound great.
I also had Chris Kinman wire me up a reverse polarity p/up with formvar wire. It sounds terrific in my strat. (He actually lived 30 min's away from my previous address, and he is a very nice guy).
How would you compare the EMG's to Chris's P/up's ?

Hey LB
I'm going to reply, but I'm going to do it in a new thread- cause this is- you know- Introductions.
Look over here:
http://www.bottleneckguitar.com/foru....php?p=341#341
b.

[benjamino]

hey everyone, my name's ben i just joined today.
i have a job where i have nothing to do so i can spend all day on here haha. i'm 20 years old from manchester uk, been playing guitar for 8 years now. i got interested in slide a few years ago cuz i've listened to old blues tunes since i was about 9! but its took me ages to get myself in gear so i only started learnin slide a month or so ago but i'm hooked already.
unfortunately i dunno anyone else who plays, or wants to. all my mates are into metal/grind stuff. i been playing funky stuff for years now (saw james brown a few months ago, what a laugh ) so i thought i'd check this place out and you all seem cool to get on with so i joined straight away. i'm sure i'll enjoy talkin to you all and i might harass you for tips if i'm gettin stuck with anything.
at the moment i'm practicing on a stagg jazz boxish thing i got for £100 from a cheap shop near my house (it looks pretty tho, all cream with gold hardware) but as soon as i'm good enough to justify it i'm getting a resonator. cant wait
anyway, hope to speak to y'all soon.

[Frankenstrat2]

Welcome Ben
This seems to be a great place to get started on slide.
Kirks on-line slide lessons are just great. Be sure to check them out. Lots of great pointers to be mined there for sure.
Don't worry about your guitar too much. Slide is the great equalizer when it comes to guitars. Plenty of old bluesmen make great music slidiing on guitars that would be considered unplayable by almost any other type of guitarist. Its a humbling experience when someone asks to try your guitar and they can't get a decent sound out of it.
Keep at it!
See you around
Barry

[benjamino]

cheers barry, will do. i only wish i could play now but i'm stuck in work. i wonder if people would notice if i snook my guitar in here and practiced all day?? hmmmmm
yeah i'm gonna check out some of kirks stuff. i have a book at home at the moment by a guy called arlen roth, its going pretty well with that so far....anyone ever heard of him?

[Frankenstrat2]

Hi again
I do my e-mail before I go to work, which is soon, its 7am here in NYC
Arlen Roth is a great teacher and player. He owns a company that has made many great instructional videos, a few on slide, some that I have owned. Arlen coached Scott Baio (sp?) on how to look like he was really playing the guitar for the movie Crossroads. Its a cool movie. You can rent the DVD now, It has Steve Vai and the slide guitar parts are played by Ry Cooder . The movie soundtrack LP is also pretty great. I'm a long-time Ry Cooder fan The Arlen Roth slide guitar video is a very good instructional video for beginners on the basics. Its available on the Internet
http://www.hotlicks.com/slideguitar.htm
Gotta go!
later
b.