Brian let me first welcome you to the forum. I read your first post and had to bite my lip as you came off like a troll and I am glad I did and you are not.lol

Let me just say that is some beautiful gear and I can see you have a thing for rosewood necks as I do. I also love the jukebox as it does not get cooler than that, as Elvis had one to.lol

So if you dont mind are you in the middle east on buisness or have you moved there. I really cant see rock or the blues going over big there or am I wrong. Are you gigging out over there and how is it.

Hi Ceri,
Not telling you where I live lol That photo was shot at Canford School, UK (it's got a massive theatre), we were supporting Geno Washington. That band were a covers band mainly, but the interesting story is Tony the lead singer. He's an old crooner but by heck he can sing! In his early days Rod Stewart supported him at the BIC Bournemouth! The drummer does a lot of studio work now and the keyboard player runs a cinematography and animation centre at a university.

Thanks for holding your breath. I was very tired when I wrote that intro, and on reading it back I would never have pushed that enter button. Why is it that at my age we turn into grumpy old men especially when we are tired - it's so true! You wait till you get past 40......

Anyway I'm really glad you like the gear, I hope I can add some real useful advice to the forum - having a serious dose of GAS means you get to know what's good or not and have loads of experience in packing/shipping/pifalls/duff purchases etc. I even joined ebay in in 1998!

And hopefully I'll get to know you all better over time too. This seems a very welcoming and warm place to be!

I have moved to middle east permanently (ish) on a 3 year contract. I have just started a band over here but all my "nice" gear is back at home. You can get Fender gear here but it is SO expensive. Instead I found a shop that has just started selling Kustom amps and I bought myself a Kustom Defender. It's surprisingly good. In fact I'd go so far as to say you won't fiund a better tube amp for that money! Check them out seriously good stuff. Fendery tones too. I brought my $@! strat with me and a couple of pedals but that's it.

You are right blues isn't the thing over here. They are really into Metal and shredding etc. The expat community all prefer the standard covers from the 70/80/90's so not much scope for a blues band. The band are playing their first gig next Friday though which is cool! Still time to squeeze in a couple of practices - which we do need as quite frankly, it sounds crap at the moment. But we are getting there! We are called The Desert Dogs!

Meant to say - YES I love Rosewood necks! I'm getting a custom one made up for me right now from USA Custom Guitars Can't wait to get hold of that one!

hi there brian , some nice gear you have there mate and i hope the gig goes well for you

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Excellent, thank you!

Now, next question. Can you list all the singles on your Rock-Ola, please? I always think you can tell a lot about a man from the contents of his juke box...

- C

PS Seriously for a second, I wonder which Middle Eastern country you are in? There used to be a Syrian luthier who posted here who had now moved to Dubai. He said stuff was actually cheaper there because of the "free port" status. I guess that's not where you are...?

Ha ha. It has 60 records in it but my collection runs in to thousands. At the moment it doesn't have any in as its in storage but the last records were a mix of 20 singles from the 50's - everything from Rosemary Clooney (mum of George), Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Elvis (lots of those), Chuck Berry, Eddie & the Hotrods, Buddy Holly etc. The others were from the 60's - 90's.



Yeah, I'm not far from Dubai, opposite Iran actually <gulp> I'll give you 2 guesses!

I wish there was a luthier here - you should see the hassle I'm going to just to get the new neck finished properly. I'm afraid it's everyman for himself in this country - I think the general saying goes something like "fleece unto others as you would be fleeced unto yourself" - i think that's right. Yeah, that's it. Basically it's a closed shop and run by people who couldn't give a toss if you buy it or not.