wickedflea | (no subject)

Guitars. I have a few. The one at bottom is the first one I bought, a Washburn A-20 lovingly dubbed the Mosh Fiddle. It's in pretty terrible shape--some dead frets, lots of dings and scratches, the binding or whatever coming apart along the edges, the jack shorting out--but it still sounds amazing. The pickups are incredible, it weighs about a ton, and it's neck-through-body, so it sustains for about a day and a half. The worst thing about it for a long time was the electronics, but I rewired it a couple of years ago, and it works a lot better now. This was the guitar that launched the legendary Dry Heave. :)

The silver one above is another guitar of the same model. When I was in grad school and had a little disposable income, I found this on eBay and snatched it up. It's pretty much the same guitar as the Mosh Fiddle, but somehow it has never had quite the same feel. It's nice to have, though, because it's in a lot better shape than my original.

The red B. C. Rich Warlock bass to the left was Wes's bass. I bought it from him ten or twelve years ago, mostly for nostalgia's sake. It's fun to fuck around with sometimes, but I'm really not that crazy about the way it plays. I'd like to have a bass that's easier to play someday.

The copper-colord sunburst guitar in the middle is another Washburn I bought soon after I moved to New Haven. It's really fucking strange. Someone sanded it down and put that sunburst finish on it, but they didn't use what I'd call guitar paint, and it tends to come off pretty easily. It's interesting because it has Gibson P-90 pickups, a Kahler tremolo, and a V-shaped neck. (Instead of being as rounded as most necks on the back, it comes to more of a point.) I need to take it to a shop and have a professional setup because the frets buzz pretty badly, and I hate fooling with setting up tremolos.

The other black guitar is another Washburn. I think this is an A-5V. Same body design as the Mosh Fiddle. This is actually a re-issue that came out sometime in the early '80s. It has a Gotoh tremolo bridge that I don't have the bar for (which is OK because I never use them). This is my favorite guitar right now because it's set up perfectly and has no problems.

Above that is a Fender Strat that my friend Tim gave me in the early '90s. It's a really strange Strat. In the early '80s, Fender made some Strats without the recessed jack in the pickguard. Instead, you plug in the cord straight in. I've no idea why they did that. It also has only two knobs instead of the usual three. Also missing is the backplate and bridge cavity. I think this originally had a hardtail bridge or whatever you call them, but someone added a Kahler tremolo, which is not as obnoxious as a Floyd Rose and is kinda nice because of the fine tuners. The guitar originally had a neck with a maple fingerboard, but Tim switched it with the rosewood one from another Strat he had. I had it set up a few years ago and put a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails pickup in the bridge position. Nice guitar, but I'm more of a Gibson-type guy. Hmmm, maybe I should get a Gibson sometime.

The blueish-looking guitar (it's actually purple, but the color didn't come through) above the Strat is another Washburn A-series I picked up sometime in the last year or two. This one, however, is from a later reissue from the '90s (I think), and the quality is nowhere near that of the others. It has really nice tuners on it; that's about all I can say for it. I had this sold on eBay a while back, but the bidder never paid. I want to relist that sometime. Or I might see if Fool needs a guitar; he seems to be doing OK these days, and I don't think he has a guitar, so maybe I'll see if he can use it. Only cost me $150 or so, so no huge loss.

Finally, at top, we have a cream-colored Washburn A-5V that's just like the black one in the middle. I got it because I liked that round of reissues so much. But the bridge is kinda fucked up and I can't get it set up exactly right.

So yes, I have something of an addiction to Washburn guitars. Buying them, that is; I still can't play worth a fuck.

I do need an acoustic. Anyone have a decent one to get rid of cheap?

And yes, I have ugly carpet.