Kit RisksBy Pappy I love kits. I love Legos, I love guitars and everything associated with them and it just stands to reason that I love assembling, Lego-style, things that I will play and use to play guitar. But talking with CEO of God Box, Carl, I discovered a snag in the idea of boutique companies offering kits. Well, I should say there are MANY risks associated with anyone offering kits. First and foremost you have health risks associated with…
PRS And Their GutsBy Pappy I love PRS as a company. I admire the fact that they rose at a pretty quick pace to match or surpass the respect given to companies that have been around for far longer and have much more heritage to call on in their models. PRS just came on and stuck to their guns, doing what they wanted to do and they succeeded. It’s the American dream. That takes guts. What also takes guts is…
The Guitar Magazine DatabaseBy PTNerds love lists. Put a random set of objects in front of a true-blue nerd, give him (or her) five minutes, and the nerd will have the objects categorized, prioritized, and itemized. They will also have created a top five list of their favorite objects, complete with detailed, passionate arguments backing each item. In this way, I am about as nerdy as they come. In high school not only did I have my entire comic book…
Goading By Pappy When I was growing up my brother and I would always get into fights and we would always be separated, and then the person who started the fight, threw the first punch or whatever, would be punished. So the trick (obviously) is to get the other to throw the first punch – to INSPIRE them – and you do this by goading them into it. You insult them, mock them, take what they hold dear…
Chicken Picks Review By Pappy I love boutique picks. See, boutique picks usually originate from one player being unsatisfied with the offerings given by bigger producers so they go out, make their own and then possibly offer this pick that was made specifically for this one player, to the public for consumption. Because of this, the picks are special because they aren’t made for everyone or the broadest base possible, not unless the producer decides he wants to start offering…
The Contagion FactorBy PT Since Pappy wrote about a Tesla-inspired pedal on Monday and a Mad Scientist-inspired stage show on Wednesday, I think it is safe to unofficially declare this Science Week here on the Fret. I thought this would be a good time to delve into a scientific problem that has been bugging me for a while now. How much of the gear I love and long to aquire is simply a result of the Contagion Factor? This idea…
The Mad Scientist By Pappy You know what’s awesome about the guitar? It’s art no matter how you look at it. It feels like art, it sounds like art, it looks like art, it is, unarguably, undeniably, art. You even perform art with it when you play. So I think it’s only natural to look at playing guitar on stage as performance art. I know… some performance artists are just plain weird. There was one girl, for instance, that would…
The Mad Scientist By Pappy You know what’s awesome about the guitar? It’s art no matter how you look at it. It feels like art, it sounds like art, it looks like art, it is, unarguably, undeniably, art. You even perform art with it when you play. So I think it’s only natural to look at playing guitar on stage as performance art. I know… some performance artists are just plain weird. There was one girl, for instance, that would…
God Box FX Tesla Review by Pappy God Box Effects is a unique company. Carl Updegraff is the leader of God Box and his goal is to offer the best pedals possible (a familiar statement) but isn’t really wanting to be the company that sells you a pedal and wishes you well as you go on your merry way. They want to be involved in your tone and help out. They want to get feedback from you, answer any questions,…
Is There Such A Thing As Terrible Tone?By PT Last week I came before you with an admittedly odd proposal: What if we, just for a moment, stopped trying to achieve great tone and put our efforts into concocting some hideous sounds. Seven soul-searching days later, I have emerged from the depths of my laboratory with a truly terrible tone. It is so awful, so gut-wrenchingly harsh and unpleasant, that I hesitate to share it. Against my better judgment, here…
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