GuitarWarp

I finally bought a "magical" acoustic guitar. The brand doesn't matter as every guitar is different. As WWW Guitar Advisor notes:  Every manufacturer turns out the occasional dud -- and the occasional gem. Don't be a snob and refuse to look at unknown brands. You might miss out on something special.  It just happens in my case to be a Martin Laurence Juber OMC LJ Pro (maple sides and back, etc.). But that matters not a bit.  You can play 200 of the same model Taylors, Martins, Breedloves, or whatever, and maybe one will stand out for some crazy unknown reason that even the luthier couldn't say why.  Two guitars of the same scale length and set up will sometimes play differently too. Earlier I wrote about certain almost "magical" acoustic guitars that, for whatever reason, seem to stand way out beyond their peers--regardless of brand.  In my life I've played on maybe six I would put in that category.  And I've played many hundreds in vari...

Recently the EU banned bottled water manufacturers from claiming on their bottles that water can help prevent dehydration, claiming that this was not provable.  Violations carry up to two year imprisonment. "...last February, the European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) refused to approve the statement. A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control. Now the EFSA verdict has been turned into an EU directive which was issued on Wednesday."  Just transfer this "scientific finding" to global warming or any of a dozen other liberal causes that restrict free trade and business or western lifestyle.  Junk science.

This is a harder question.  If the Blue and White G3 was my favorite (based on that feeling you get when you open the box and begin using it over the next days and months), which was my least favorite? Here is the complete catalogue of Mac's I've owned & were my primary home computer (5 stars is best, 1 star is least favorite: Original 128 K Macintosh (I later did a dyi upgrade to 512k) **** Mac Plus ****1/2 SE 30**** Mac IIcx** (noisy) PowerMac 7200 AV (with the monitor with stereo speakers)** PowerMac 7500*** Blue & White G3 tower***** G4 TiBook 550 Mhz (still have it and we use it)*** Dual 1.25 G4 Mirror Door June 2003 "wind tunnel" model * (one star) G5 dual 2.3 Ghz tower (late 2005) purchased used when mirror door died*** iMac 27" 3.4 core i7**** And the looser is:   the dual G4 1.25 Mirror Door.  It was actually a bit faster than the new single 1.8 G5, and much cheaper, but man was it loud, loud, loud!  It sat under my desk for six y...

There have been so many! I bought my first Mac, the original 128k Macintosh, in October 1984. I was in graduate school in Dallas, and had not even heard of a Macintosh.   One Saturday we walked into a Dillard's where I had tried some PC compatibles before. Yes, they sold computers back then at Dillard's in the Town East Mall.  As I made my way past the glass counter, the type that usually hold watches or cologne, there on top, by itself, sat a strange, small beige box with a mouse next to it. I noticed the Apple logo and "Macintosh" and asked the clerk what in the world it was.  He said it was a new type of computer that uses a mouse, and he reached across from behind the counter and moved it a bit. As I peered at that original Mac screen, black on white and WYSIWYG with crisp square pixels one word popped into my mind:  "Crystalline!"  Other computers were fuzzy green blocky letters on a black screen that looked nothing like what printed out. It wa...

The recent remarks of Dallas-area pastor Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Dallas, have ignited widespread criticism--primarily because they were directed towards a prominent political candidate, Mitt Romney, who is a Mormon. Jeffress labeled Mormonism a "cult," which is hardly new.  In fact, not calling Mormonism a cult is what is relatively new.  From it's inception in the 19th Century in New York State, until the 1980s, Mormons themselves were quick to point out that they are not part of Christianity and distanced themselves from the church.  Around that time, however, the Mormons began an aggressive PR campaign to try to show common ground such as "family values" and so forth.  We've all seen the slick TV ads that tell a heart warming story then ended with "brought to you by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." Quick survey of key doctrinal differences: Classic Christianity:  One God in three Persons: Fat...

If you dream about sexual intercourse with someone is that God's way to tell you you need their spiritual gift?     According to evangelical author Mark Virkler, the answer is yes. Mark Virkler has been a popular Christian seminar speaker (4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice), but few may be aware of his strange views on dreams and their interpretation. On his Web site he explains his views.  www.cwgministries.org/Principles-of-Christian-Dream-Interpretation   Virkler encourages us to try to remember our dreams upon waking and ask the Holy Spirit to help us interpret the symbolic imagery of our dreams to figure out what God is saying to us.   A few examples will suffice:   He states that if we meet someone in our dream named Sharon that could mean that we need to work on sharing more. Or again on Virkler’s Web site, “One person reported dreaming of a friend named "Anita Cook" and finding the interpretation to be ‘I need to cook.’” And, “Dreaming about ketc...

For years I've used both Canon and Nikon digital cameras.  Often we've shot photos of the same event and at times I've really admired the slightly warmer, richer color of the Canon shots, especially for skin tones.    The Nikon seems more accurate.  But who said that totally accurate was always the most pleasing?  Sometimes.  But not always. But what makes the difference?  What gives Canon that certain warmth vs. Nikon? It's not color temperature.  You can slide the color temp in Camera Raw or Lightroom left and right all you want and you'll never get a Nikon digital SLR to mimic the Canon. It's not saturation either.  You can increase saturation or vibrance in Lightroom but it will only occasionally look a little more Canon like.  Not it. Nor is it overall Color Balance. It turn out though, by using Photoshop's Selective Color correction layer you can mimic a Canon digital SLR very closely. Choose Selective Color in the corre...

Dave Ramsey posted this on his daveramsey.com Web site: What would happen if John Q. Public and his wife called my show with these kinds of numbers? Here’s how their financial situation would stack up: If their household income was $55,000 per year, they’d actually be spending $96,500 —$41,500 more than they made! That means they’re spending 175% of their annual income! So, in 2011 they’d add $41,500 of debt to their current credit card debt of $366,000!  I can see the call now, "Dave, we make $55k a year, spend $96k a year, and have a credit card balance of $366k.  What do we do?"

When you Google anything about America's religious or Christian heritage one thing is obvious:  the bloggers on the left are careful to omit leading American historians who have dealt with the history of religion in America as a specialty. No quotes from the Library of Congress and their Web exhibit on Religion and the Founding of the United States--which reads like a David Barton book. No quotes from Sydney E Ahlstrom, David D. Hall .  No quotes from Martin Marty (prof. emeritus at University of Chicago and expert in the field of religion in America).   No citations from the brilliant work of David Ross Williams or classics like Moses Coit Tyler , All of these eminent American historians underscore just how much religion and especially Christianity permeated the colonies and the young nation as it fought for Independence, as it formed its Constitution, and traversed it's first century as the United States. Especially targeted on the left's fantastic tirades ...

A Religious History of the American People , Sydney E Ahlstrom, David D. Hall, Yale University Press, 1992. Ahlstrom explains that Christianity and religion factored heavily the development of both Tory and Patriot sentiment, but increasingly aligned with the Patriots and "powerfully" engendered that sentiment: "The years of mounting crisis found the churches implicated on both sides of every issue under debate, but in general they became increasingly identified with the Patriot tide of opinion and contributed powerfully to its rise ." (p. 361). "In the South, however, the Anglican laity joined the Patriot cause and furnished much of its leadership.  All in all, the Protestant disposition of the American people, regardless of how secularized their Puritanism had become, involved their viewing the king and English rule with suspicion."  (ibid.) "Enlightenment motifs continued to prevail [after the military phase of the Revolution] but more tha...

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel04.html From the Library of Congress web page: "The Continental-Confederation Congress, a legislative body that governed the United States from 1774 to 1789, contained an extraordinary number of deeply religious men. The amount of energy that Congress invested in encouraging the practice of religion in the new nation exceeded that expended by any subsequent American national government. Although the Articles of Confederation did not officially authorize Congress to concern itself with religion, the citizenry did not object to such activities. This lack of objection suggests that both the legislators and the public considered it appropriate for the national government to promote a nondenominational, nonpolemical Christianity." Also from the LOC Web page: "On July 4, 1776, Congress appointed Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams "to bring in a device for a seal for the United States of America." Frankli...

Thomas Jefferson on the dangers of big, federal government: "I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: that “all powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.”…To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition."* Jefferson said there was a reason we have States and not just administrative districts... "Our country is too large to have all its affairs directed by a single [federal] government. Public servants at such a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and overlook all the details necessary for the good government of the citizens and...will invite the public agents to corruption, plunder, and waste."** Obama Care is a majo...

I found a magical guitar! I was in Thoroughbred Music when it was on Hillsborough in Tampa. This was an awesome store, especially before they opened the one in Dunedin at the historic Kapok Tree location. I had an afternoon while visiting the Bay area to play pretty much every electric guitar they had, new and used. I knew I wanted a more Strat like guitar. I had been auditioning a number of guitars for months and had been impressed by the PRS EG-1 in a Ft. Myers shop. PRS only made them 18 months...their American strat copy (neck and pick up config) but with DUAL coil tap to give full humbucking sound when desired, for a Santana like tone). And here was a hand made electric (early 90's, before PRS started making low end lines) for just $800 with the solid color paint job. I had envied a Strat with the five way switch and the EG-1 was Paul Reed Smith's implementation of it, only with low buzz in single coil mode and much, much better mechanics and intonation up the fret b...

Read the post below for the context... I missed out on that rare "magical" guitar. Things just weren't aligned financially. But I had gone from being unaware to suddenly keenly aware that a few individual guitars (whether electric, acoustic, or classic) were simply "magic," and that even the luthier who made them could not recreate that magic on cue. Not to say the probabilities are not higher with a great guitar maker. And they generally turn out very good guitars. But none turn out "magical" ones consistently any more than A-Rod can always hit a home run at will. I know. Magic can run in reverse too on guitars. The first Olson I played on was selling on consignment in a high end shop in Orlando back in the early 80's. I knew nothing of Olson except that my guitar teacher in college said they were great and I ought to go look. I traveled across the state and played it and frankly, was unimpressed with this particular one. It was a...

Why are a very few guitars you play almost "magical" in tone and playability--even if they are the same model as others you've played? It's not the price, the make, or the model. Certain individual acoustic and even solid body electric guitars just "have it" while others don't. And I'm not talking about mere "stand out" guitars. Maybe one in ten of a certain model might "stand out" as significantly better than the others for some undocumented reason. I've seen this with Taylors and Breedloves. In a large guitar shop you can always find a few "stand out" guitars. But "magical" is something you only come across very occasionally. I'm talking about an individual guitar that for some undocumented reason has almost "magical" tone, playability, resonance, and just transports you the instant you start playing it. It has little or even nothing to do with: 1. Price 2. Who made it 3. The model...

Each week I get to listen to some excellent guitar work mic'd into a sound system that is probably the best on the entire Gulf Coast of Florida. The guitar player recently acquired a VOC AC 50 to play through with a Tele. Mic'd with a Sure SM57 it sounded quite good. This was the set up for a few weeks before going "direct" out of the back of the VOX using it's built in modeling. Very nice! Yes, I said it. It sounded considerably better than putting the mic in front of it. More punch, and more of what sounded like a "genuine" Vox jangle and grit. I didn't even know the switch had been made until I complimented the player and dialing in the sound. Then about a month later, WOW! His rig sounded incredible. The best guitar tone that room had seen. The change? You guessed it. He had switched to a Pod x3 Live and downloaded patches from Lincoln Brewster. He had the Vox still sitting on stage so I thought he was still using it. I won't say...

The GNX3000 may be out of production, but it still holds it's own, and may even still surpass Digitech's latest offerings. The 3000 introduced "component modeling" where each electronic and mechanical component of an amp or cabinet was individually "modeled" to create the overall tone close to the orginal (when mic'd that is). No one would ever confuse any modeler for the real thing just plugged into a studio monitor. But mic it into a PA or in a recording and it's very close. Close enough that you would probably chalk up differences to technique or recording set up. I say it may surpass Digitech's latest, but it's hard to say because, frankly, the demo's on their site for the new gear are so lame. They need to borrow a page from Line 6 and hire some great guitarists for demos.

I was trying to play a Brian May lead the other day but even though the notes and the amp tones were pretty close it just didn't have the same "ring." A little digging on line and I found out he often used a coin (British coin...of some sort) instead of a pick. I tried it with a quarter that was lying on the desk. At first it felt really awkward...like trying to play with gloves on or something. But after a few minutes it was amazing how it dialed in some more of his tones and subtle ways of doing things. Still nowhere close to his mastery, but a step closer. Try it.

This was always one of my favorites to listen to and try to play. I think the best version was his 1977 live recording on How the West Was One. It had all the melodic elements, whereas this later version is just jamming and the solo bears little resemblance apart from the key.

Various amps plus a live performance on a real Fender from 1981 at the end for comparison (Keaggy fans scoll to end). Check it out on YouTube by clicking the title of this post above.