I am jonesin' for guitars again. It's kind of like a golf bag... you shouldn't drive with a putter, and you shouldn't hammer power chords on a dobro. If you don't know what a dobro is, read on.
The wish list that I posted here still stands, but the Les Paul on that page is a bit pricey. I've found an alternative...
Epiphone Les Paul Goth Studio
The folks at Epiphone come through again with a Gibson Les Paul clone for less than half the price of the original. No frills, just a simple LP in satin black. The reviews say that with a little tweaking it sounds pretty much like the Gibson. 
It's also available in a Floyd Rose Tremelo model.
I really like the lack of inlay dots on the fretboard - it would look very nice next to my dotless Dot Studio, and it would fill the "solid body" niche. At $299 (a little more for the tremelo version) it's regarded as a very good value.
In a completely different category, we have...
The Babicz Spider
Yes, it's black, but that is not the reason I am interested in it (well, not the only reason). The fan arrangement of the string pins creates what the designer calls a "lateral compression soundboard." String tension is dispersed throughout the whole top rather than concentrated just below the sound hole. This allows the top to built much more lightly, which results in greater resonance and bass response. It also gives the strings a lighter feel to the player.
On the back you'll notice that there is an allen wrench stored up between the tuners. By using it to turn the fitting at the base of the neck you can adjust the height of the action on the fly with no detuning. The review in Guitar World says that you can move from a high setting for slide right down to an ultra-low "electric" feel in a few seconds.
All of this neato-ness does not come cheap. The Spider as shown above is $956. It would fit the "electric accoustic" slot in my bag, but not right away...
I promised you a dobro.
The Regal CRD-05
The term "dobro" is actually a trade name, but it has come to mean any resonator guitar. It is basically a guitar with a mechanical (as opposed to electric) amplifier in the center of the body. The metal resonator gives the dobro a very twangy sound that is distinctly, um, metallic. This one is a custom bass model, but I used this montage because most of the other pics of it don't do it justice. The Regal 6-string is about $400. This would fill the, um.. "dobro" niche in my bag. It is also, quite coincidentally, shiny and black.
More Wishing
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6 comments:
Tag! You've been memed.
You know, Wal-Mart sells guitars for $40! :)
Brendon. Guitars made over in China by children and with substandard materials can barely be called guitars. Shame on you.
On another note. mmmmmmmm..... spidery goodness, me likey!
Brendon - I've said it before and I'll say it again;
You sad, sad little man...
As for the Spider, that is the cheapest family in the Babicz line. The Octane (their semi-hollowbody with two humbuckers) in flame maple is $2600 and his hand made signature series customs start at $7000 or $9500 for the Brazilian Rosewod version...
Feel free to continue drooling here.
How the F#%K can a guy get some goram sarcasm to come across in his posting?!?
That reminds me - I will do my post on additional punctuation tomorrow. I have some very interesting theories on other forms of punctuation that would make written communication much clearer.
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