NancyJohnson

With all the big makers, it's all so much about the RE; reinvention, reinterpretation, reissuement, rerendering, rebranding and renaming. If Fender were a car manufacturer, they'd be making eight ton vehicles based on 50s specs that returned ten miles a gallon, but they'd be called stuff like The Starliner Deluxe Tribute.

Feeling a little straighter now. I was having a very heavy work morning and stressing a bit. I was almost at the point where I was about to shut down without some kind of distraction. ☹️

My first proper/formal exposure to many bands I followed in the late 70s/80s was through live albums...All The World's A Stage, Alive & Dangerous, Strangers In The Night, Cheap Trick At Budokan, Aerosmith's Live! Bootleg, Kiss Alive!*; when you visit the studio albums the content on these are, very much as you say, like demos. I'd also counter that these live albums probably came too early in their careers, three studio albums followed by a double live album? Too early. *Not strictly live. I'm a bit fuggy at the moment...I don't seem to be writing properly, so if I meander here, apologies. There's a load of bands I follow who didn't put out live albums of any sort until some years had passed since the first album or two; I'd cite Living Colour, a band I've adored since my initial flirtation with them pre-Vivid. The albums were all pretty strong from a production perspective - and bootlegs aside - when the inevitable live album dropped, it didn't have the same impact as the back catalogue which was almost etched into my psyche, if that makes sense. It complemented the catalogue rather than it being a highpoint/epoch making). Visiting the UFO studio recordings following my exposure to Strangers... will never have the same impact. Same goes early Kiss/Rush/Aerosmith.

I'm sure there's plenty of people (like me) that adore Strangers In The Night but have little data on the source material. I dipped in UFO again a few days ago; just cherrypicking the studio versions of stuff I know from the live album. Really couldn't get past how weak/underwhelming the studio versions sounded by comparison. I'm more than content with Strangers... and the deluxe version of it. I'll stick with that.

Public Service Broadcasting. Currently on The Race For Space.

I'm currently spinning the expanded version Sound Of White Noise by Anthrax. I had the original on CD when it first came out, can't say I listened to it more than two or three times, enough to familiarise I suppose. Couldn't believe it's over 30 years old. At the time I wasn't really taken with it, way to brutal for my otherwise power-pop sensibilities, I haven't listened to it in three decades. The thing that immediately struck me listening now is how lightweight it seems and how a lot of John Bush's vocals don't seem any more aggressive than (and share similarity to) Gary Cherone of Extreme. It might be the mastering for Spotify, but it sounds a lot more polished than I remember as well.

Having a bit of an early-Queen day. I couldn't bear them after Jazz. Currently spinning the 'On Air' boxset (the early BBC sessions), which will lead into the early interviews. I've also just acquired a copy of the News Of The World 40th Anniversary set, so that'll be next.

I'm wearing it now.

I suspect that it's either the case the owner doesn't know better OR these are the original string covered in icky Sixx DNA.

It's an interesting update...often wondered where it went. Didn't actually realise it had a whammy. Great pity that he didn't really cherish his gear; I dread to think how many FBIVs he smashed up (just makes mine rarer I suppose).

I've only actively searched for Wolfgang Van Halen's section. Hot for Teacher and Panama. Just glorious. I know Wolf has said he doesn't want to play his dad's stuff, and fair play to him, but the line up of Grohl, Van Halen, Freese and Hawkins could make something very special if they decided to record. Very special.

I have some reports to do today, so I'm listening/shuffling through a huge Ol' Crooner Christmas playlist. Bing, Frank, Dino, Nat, Andy Williams, Doris, Burl Ives, Fred Waring, Vaughan Monroe. Season's greetings, you slackers.

Stone Temple Pilots. I'm listening to STP.

Elixir or Markbass coated for me. They're both fantastic string sets. Wouldn't bother with any other coated sets, simple as.

I'm off to Reading this Friday to see Dronningen. Back when I was doing a lot of gigs with the old band, I reckon I gigged with them eight or nine times across London and the home counties. I adore them immensely and they've become great friends. Theatrical Love is the last single (another one next month). If you scroll down, we collaborated with them a couple of years ago; we gave them a rough mix of something we were doing and Beatrice did the vocals and Vito added some extra guitars.

I'm always curious about stuff like this. What are you actually expecting from the swap? The only swaps I felt were absolutely necessary were where the pickup was dead, had an underlying issue or was missing completely. In a blind test would you be able to identify what pickup is in there?

If I can just throw in something else here, the washer is missing here: These are little nylon washers that effectively lubricate the rotation between the machine head peg and the tuning mechanism. Inevitably, the tightening of the tuner will just mean it'll just tighten against the mechanism cover. You do need to have something in there. By way of a temporary fix just get one of these, make a hole in it so it fixes snugly around the shaft, nip off the rest of it and reinstall the tuning key/peg.

Went to a wedding a few years back and sat next to Paul Roberts at the reception. Lovely bloke. During the dessert course, he just got up and sang a short set of big-band/rat-pack standards (to backing tracks) while walking around the guests! We had a long chat...he was always going to be on a hiding to nothing; I honestly felt sorry for him when he talked about the level of hate/indifference he got from early Stranglers fanboys who just wanted Hugh Cornwell to come back. Early in the evening, he did a short Stranglers set, again to backing tracks. It was quite surreal to see all the family elders bopping away to No More Heroes and Peaches.

Loaded question. Why?

It's a bit Jet Screemer.

When I first saw these (see my first post with the two flowery inlays), my first thought was that the fretboards may have been bought-in and perhaps CNC'd in China (or somewhere). Maybe the necks look as lumpy as the fronts.

I found two more. The maker is Hart Guitars...England. Credit to the guy for having a go, but damn.

There's hundreds of them. Noted author Mark Phillips aside, I saw these on eBay a while back and they were so awful it was worth taking screengrabs. No idea who made them. Lest we forget...

I know that the bridge pickup ruins the look.