I have no guitar Idols and never did. But the ones that are making the big money now first did just that to get to where they are now and used their stardom to live out the dream and sooner not later the ones of today fade in the sunset never to be heard of again because of believing their own promo and lose the heart of what they did in the first place to get there. It’s not the guitar or anything else, it’s what you do with it!

Indeed. And when you've graduated from playing sock hops at Ruskin Hts HS to making some real money down in Branson or at the casinos in the Ozarks you'll be wanting (and deserving) a better instrument than some POS you picked up at Best Buy. If you're a tinkerer by nature you may even build it yourself. Which is why many of us enjoy modding and hot-rodding our guitars and amps.

Best of luck.

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Actually, your way is the way I've always done it (unless at a rehearsal or gig, of course). When I first starting playing, I was told by a highly respected guitar player in my neighborhood that the mark of a good player was someone who can turn his guitar and amp up to '10' and sound like a million bucks and then shut them both off and sound equally as good because one can't mask any deficiencies acoustically, especially with a solid body. I never forgot that and to this day, I firmly believe it as much as the day he said it. YMMV.

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You dig?

You need to check out my past before you unload like that Retroverbial.
I think I smell bacon!
Here let me help you http://www.myspace.com/stevenewilcox
and by the way I went to school in Independence Missouri if your going to google me.

A rust-picker......how could I have missed it (slaps forehead with palm of hand)!

What are you doing with that Datsun roadster......body-off resto or ???

I love those old drop-tops!

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

A rust-picker......???
The roadster is a 1969 1600 and my everyday car,I blew the head and had it under repair in that photo.It is now back on the road with a 40 thousandths over bore and Racing pistons.It has less than 41,000 miles on it and runs like a Sewing machine.
Thanks for asking

Hey kc, Ill give you a heads up the next time I hit K.C. Ill buy the first round

Bill

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

bill948
where are you from?

That '64 LeMans looked pretty tasty as well.

Those were the days, eh?

I remember buying gas in Grandview for 15¢ a gallon......19¢ for high-test.

Hey, is Quigley's still there on Troost?

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

I'll try and use this analogy when explaining this: I like to think of each note as a color and the tone qualities or timbre of that note to be a texture. Whenever someone mentions they're trying to find "their" sound, it's like an artist trying to find the perfect brush mixed with the perfect color to create the image they have in their mind. There is no problem with that, except after the artist finds it then he or she realizes the painting needs another color. Next thing you know, the house has $10k worth of art equipment >_> As guitarists, I feel as a whole we waste too much time fiddling with equipment trying to find "the" sound. Messing around with hot-rodding and modding reminds me of myself in art class trying to find the coolest most bada$$ color of paint rather than painting, so by the time I found a color suitable I realized I never practiced painting much ^^

I will say there's nothing wrong with mods or equipment, I've spent more on guitars than my car <_<. What's wrong is when people begin to think of the guitar as the source of the sound rather than the person playing it. I'll end my rant with this: My dad asked why I dropped $2k on a Jackson RR1, I told him "A mechanic's only as good as his tools." My dad, being a mechanic, quickly replied "A mechanic who says that lacks imagination and creativity." ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

Quigley's went belly up because of M.F. and so did a lot of other mom and pops.Big Dudes is still there if you want to call it that.They shut down the show room at M.F. and moved it to hywy 210 from front street.

Currently living in the Ozarks... Mountain Home
Lived in KC for many years... Missin Kellys etc

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

Bill
I have some friends down you way.In Springfield and a town called Marshfield.They do gigs all around down there,did some myself but gave up the 500 mile round trip.

Yep, know them both well, Springfield is the "Big Town" we go to for civilization.

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

so are you giging?