That's right! GMP Guitars is back with world renowned painter (now GMP owner) Dan Lawrence! So, as a tribute to GMP guitar's today's DDA is a plethora of GMP axes over the years. Congrats and I can;t wait to see what pops up over the next few months.
I talked an associate of mine into using a commercial satellite service to broadcast a concert for his band and it ended up being a huge success for him. He brought in more for his PPV then he did at the show. When he E-Mailed me about his success I decided to look into it a little more and found a website that has online concerts so it's really starting to take off for people. I'm always saying, "I'd like to go see..." but never do. Now I can just log on and see the show if I want to! Seems pretty cool to me.
It's that time of year again! It's time for me and the Miss to go clothes shopping for the children! I hate clothes shopping for myself so going for the kids is really not a lot of fun for me. So, I compiled a list of stuff I would like to see the kids in, including the Motorhead Onesie you see above. There is a story that's pretty much legend in my family where my better half swore she was a huge Motorhead fan when we met. It turned out she said that just to get me to talk to her. She'll deny that she ever said that but I'll go to my grave knowing that I am right! Any way, we are opting for mre suitable children's clothing but we compromised and decided to do our shopping online!
Freebie! Free is always good as long as you have a spam E-mail address! Prodlix Custom Guitar works is giving a way a free pick holder with 5 free picks. Yes, that's not a whole lot but it gives them an E-Mail base and a tax write off and it's FREE! I ordered mine!
Steven Tyler is finally back out of rehab and is ready to tour the world again! A new Aerosmith tour is truly exciting news for any Aerosmith fan but I can't help but thin that the in-again, out-again lifestyle Steven Tyler has lived has done a tole on him. He looks like he's spent too much time in the sunlight or by the pyro! He's starting to get that Keith Richards look to him. Maybe he should have spent the last 40 years not using drugs and opting for airbrush tanning instead of soaking up the sun down in Mexico! Guess if he did that though, we wouldn't have all of those great classic songs!
Anyways, they still have a tone of VIP tickets for sale on their site! If you are die hard, then this is the summer for you!
Full Metal Rock is running a contest in conjunction with Coffin Case to win a Camo Coffin Case for your guitar! All you have to do is enter at the Full Metal Rock website by June 10th. I have my entry in..do you?
Today's DDA is very sentimental to me. It's a very old Fender Hawaiian Lap Steel guitar. My grandfather used to play this guitar for my mom when she was young and it's the first guitar I ever played on. I can remember plugging into the little Fender Bronco amp and jamming away on it. I had no idea what I was doing at the time but it was fun!
When I was in my teens my grandfather told me he would let me have it if I got my hair cut. So, I cut my hair (and it's been short ever since.) I promised him that I would keep this guitar forever and that's my plan. Some things in life are not for sale and this is one of those items.
This guitar was realistically made before the first solid body fretted electric guitar and it predates the first Fretted Fenders and Gibsons by several years. It has all of the original hardware and electronics and even still has the soft shell case that it came with. By looking at the case it's easy to see the age of this guitar. Do I play it? Not very often but this is one of my favorite guitars for obvious reasons.
This is a parts guitar that was completed by a customer using parts from the USA custom Guitars website. It's a great example of what someone can build with a little know how and a well put together kit. There are several sites out there that can help you put a good kit together. This guitar is a DDA because it's far better looking then most kits end up. With the wrap around bridge, the lack of control plate and pickguard and semi-hollow design make this a tele on roids!
My LTD Axxion came in last night. It's an excellent guitar for what I paid for it and will serve as an excellent back up to my ESP Cavalera. The Live Wire pickups kill and have an excellent tone in conjunction with the all mahogany body. I would have liked an ebony fretboard for a little pop in the tone but the rosewood board isn't bad and the inlays look really cool too! There are a few design flaws but in all honesty, I see those flaws in a lot of designs. I'll post a review once I get everything dialed in. I played hell with the neck last night!
It's been about 10 years since I've owned a pair of men's sunglasses but on my recent vacation to Disney I caved and got a pair. It was so sunny there I was getting a headache without them. Since getting a pair is something I do very rarely I couldn't help but walking around the Magic Kingdom with "Cheep Sunglasses" from ZZ Top stuck in my head! I even had to youtube the video when I got home! I think ZZ Top has always had one of the best sounds EVER! The tone Billy gets just sizzles! Take a moment to enjoy a classic!
Wow, every once in a while something very unique and innovative comes around and you just have to tip your hat to it! This is one of those cases. Acrylic (or lexan) guitars are nothing new but this is honestly the first jazz box or acoustic I've ever seen like this. With a wooden core this guitar is sure to retain the acoustic properties that makes a jazz box...well, a jazz box. This is seriously a cool guitar! Hitone has really hit the nail on the head with inovation and deserves to be part of the Daily Deadly Axe. Job well done Hitone! To see more check out the Hitone blog for build pictures and detailed specs.
I'm a huge Rammstein fan and with news that they are back in the studio (with three songs completed) it's time to list the Richard Z signature guitar as a DDA. I'm also a fan of the old Univox Flyer guitars/basses and this is a serious throwback to those guitars. I was not a fan of the chrome on gray finish of the older models so the nwer black models are really sizzling for me!
Unfortunately the Richard Z model is not being released by ESP USA and is not avalible without importing it so expect to pay a high price for this axe if you want one.
I've had my eye on an ESP Dave Mustaine Axxion guitar for a long time. Only problem is, they have been discontinued for a long time. When I saw an LTD model pop up on EBay the other day I got excited because they don't show up often. I thought I'd watch it and see what was going on with it. The price was a bit high so I was just going to sit on it!
Then I got an E-Mail from my better half with a link to maternity clothing that made me think I'd better jump on it before we go into save mode! We already have three other ankle biters running around and who knows when the next one will show up! We just got back from VACATION so who knows! She's been on me for a 4th for a while so it could be her way of pushing the envelope or a warning to buy now or for ever hold my peace.
So, I offered a lowball price to the seller and they accepted! So, when it shows up I'll post some pictures! All of the info I've found on the LTD's have indicated that they are loaded with Seymour Duncans but this one seems to be loaded with Dave's signature SD's. I'll have to do some more research on them to figure it all out.
Edit: Just looked up the 2006 catalog and the LTD Axxion Comes with Seymour Duncan Live Wire Active pickups and not passive SD's. I've used them before and they are very powerful pickups! Should be fun to mess around with. Also, an interesting note, the only difference between the ESP model and the LTD model is the LTD has a rosewood fretboard and the ESP has ab ebony board.
Well stocked guitar parts websites are few and far! When you come across one with reasonable prices you'll end up spending hours browsing the website. While I was looking for parts for Yamaha Rhinos I just happened across guitarpartsonline and their line of dragonfire parts and spent quite a long time browsing it for all kinds of odd things. It's cool when you have happy accidents while browsing!
Here is one for the WTF category. These guys posted on a forum I go to about their newly mixed song that they posted on thier MySpace page. I like grindcore/metalcore style music so I thought I would give it a shot. It seems it's a professionally recorded and mastered track. So, I check out some of the videos that they have listed. The one I've posted seems about as professional as any other video I see these days until...until I saw the drummer at the 25 second mark wearing a white polo shirt! Seriously? Anyone heard of "image?"
I've seen band members have gimmicks before but seriously! WTF!
Okay, here is a DDA secrete...I love seafoam green and this custom shop from Legra has it! In conjunction with that white pickguard and those black pickups this guitar really has a vintage vibe to it. Is this guitar going to fit on stage with the black metal crowd? no, but hey, we all have a closet fetish don't we? I also like the fact that it's not just another strat copy although it does look a bit Yamaha to me but the standard shape thing is played out and coming across anything completely new is hard to do. All in all, the color makes this one bad ass DDA!
Since I just got the LTD M-200FM I thought I would offer up a review on it. I’ve had a few weeks to play it (and I’ve played it a lot) so here goes.
Eye candy:
The fit and finish of this guitar is excellent. I could find no finish flaws under in-door light and under sunlight. The flamed maple top is not an AAAA top but I’d say it’s an easy AA or even AAA top. It’s certainly not a private stock top but it adds nicely to the overall quality of the guitar. The cherry finish is consistent with no clear spots and the hard coat has not flaws that I can see. There is no visible creep where the wings meet the neck through blank and no finish sinking at the joints. These are areas where $500-$1000 guitars tend to suffer in the quality department.
The neck:
The rosewood fret board is very nice (and rosewood is not my first wood of choice) and the inlays are precise with very little filler. ESP (LTD) has got the inlay thing down to a science it seems. I’ve yet to see a poor inlay job! I like the mother of pearl inlays over the abalone inlays. I’d prefer no inlays but no luck here! The fret work was nice but not as nice as my ESP models. The ends are filed nicely but there is some chatter. If you wanted to you could take some 200 grit paper and steel wool and clean it up a bit but I’m cool with the way they came. Again, this is a cost cutting area. My only esthetic concern was the binding. The part of the binding that is exposed (fret board top side) has a bit of chatter that a higher end guitar wouldn’t have. This can be corrected but it really isn’t that bad. The neck needed to be adjusted a few times before I got it to where I wanted. No fret work needed to be done to get a nice low action. I often adjust a neck several times each year just to keep it in top playing condition so this wasn’t strange to me. I play in D with EB regular slinky strings so most of my guitars need to be adjusted out of the box. So far, it’s been going strong with no fretting out. The ESP tuners are nice but with the locking nut they don’t have to be super high end tuners to get the job done. I was able to get everything in tune with the tuners and the 18:1 ratio tuners.
The hardware:
The Floyd Rose special is one of the most shocking things about this guitar! Shocking in a good way! I expected a sub par bridge but actually this guitar can dive bomb with the best of them and come back to tune quickly. As with any Floyd Rose, it can be a pain to set up but once I got it dialed in I found that it stayed in tune nicely. I have three springs set up that are spread out on the block and grouped in the center on the claw. The bridge is slightly (and I mean slightly) rear high which I find helps to eliminate flutter and is the recommended set up from Ibanez. I know, this is an LTD but it’s a set up that seems to work nicely. The locking nut works nicely and gets the job done. Like I said, you can dive bomb all day and it comes back to tune. If it doesn’t, the fine tuners work nicely to correct anything on the fly.
The electronics:
This is the biggest area of improvement for this guitar. ESP needs to work on reducing the noise of their humbuckers. They use liquid paint for shielding their guitars which works very nice and is common these days. They used higher end Alpha 500K pots and the jack was of good quality as well so it just came down to noisy poorly shielded pickups. When the noise gate would kick off you could hear a single coil style buzz that was undeniable. So, what could I do? I ripped out the bridge pickup and replaced it with a Seymour Duncan Dimebucker! Instantly no more noise and now it has dragon breath for tone! LTD could market those guitars with SD’s and jack the price up a few hundred! I actually left the neck pickup in place because I never use a neck pickup. I might throw in a JB just for looks but I’m not 100% sold on the idea yet. If I ever got another LTD I’d build in the cost of replacing the pickups as this is the only majorly noticeable place where ESP cut costs.
Tone and playability:
This guitar is a player and stays in tune! The U neck is nice and fits in my hand nicely without any cramping. Since I put in the SK Dimebucker the tone has come to life and really crunches with my Bogner amp. I’ve actually been playing this guitar more than my ESP AX Signature guitar which says a lot since I generally don’t play standard shape guitars all that much. I’d suggest that anyone looking for a solid axe to look into the LTD M-200 series. With a pickup swap you won’t be dissatisfied with the quality level!
I'm always one for a new V shape but some work and some don't. This symmetrical Jay Turser Warlord qualifies for a Fugly guitar. Keep in mind that I'm a pointy advocate but with that headstock, this axe gives pointy guitars a bad name!
Sorry for the lack of posting over the last few days. I was on a much needed vacation with the family. I'm taking the next day or so to recover! Why does it seem like we need a vacation after vacation?
I love eye sores and this Bernie Rico Jr. Helloween is truly an eye sore. I happen to love those bright orange pickups! Quite interesting. I'd love to see a Dukes of Hazard build with those pups in there. I wasn't sure if I should include this in the Fugly Axe section or the DDA section so I included it in both. After all, a deadly axe can be a fugly axe too! It's all in the eye of the beholder! I'd buy it just for the freak show value!
On a side note: shouldn't Helloween be pissed that Rico Jr. ripped off thier name?
