Classic or tacky? Squier 40th Anniversary Jazzmaster Gold Edition
Is this a classic, or is it tacky? Let's talk about that.
The Squier 40th Anniversary Jazzmaster Gold Edition is available in Lake Placid Blue and Olympic White. The one I tried out was in blue.
Before getting into the appearance, some guitar stuff first.
The weight is good and not too heavy. Pickups sound great and there are no issues there. The neck felt good, tuners were decent, the traditional Jazzmaster electronics all worked fine. Basically put, this is a proper Jazzmaster guitar.
Is the pick guard a true anodized gold type? Yes, it is. It's not a "pretending to be anodized gold" guard. You get the real deal here.
Does the vibrato system have a locking switch? Typical to Squier, it does not. If you want that vibrato lock, you will have to step up to the Fender Vintera '60s Jazzmaster or Fender American Original '60s Jazzmaster.
Now as for the appearance of the Squier...
I honestly can't decide whether this guitar looks good or not. Blue does work with gold, and that anodized pick guard does in fact help out with eliminating some of the single-coil hum. But my brain flip-flops whenever I look at this guitar. Sometimes I think it's beautiful, and other times not.
To my eye, where the tacky happens is at the vibrato plate. I have no issue with the rest of the guitar's appearance except right there. That gold is not the same color as the pick guard gold and I just can't un-see that. Also, the guard has a brushed look while the vibrato plate is polished smooth, further mismatching them.
The guitar is great, but staying within the same brand, the Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazzmaster is a much better looking guitar - which by the way is also offered in a lefty, something not offered for the 40th anniversary model.
A baritone Telecaster actually makes sense
A baritone in this flavor is "more baritone" than others and I'll tell you why.
The Squier Classic Vibe Custom Telecaster is something where at first glance you may ask, "Why?", but it does actually make sense as a baritone guitar.
When I first picked up this guitar, I did not know it was a baritone because it looks just like any other Telecaster. But then I felt the thicker strings, noticed the neck was longer, read the tag and then thought, "Oh, cool, a baritone, let's try this out."
Is it difficult to play?
Not at all. Bear in mind I normally play .008 to .038 gauge strings on my guitars, and this baritone Squier which uses .014 to .068 gauge was truly easy-to-play.
You may be thinking, "Whoa, those strings are way too thick for me!" That would be true if using standard tuning, but this is baritone tuning, which typically starts with the lowest note as B and not E, meaning two-and-a-half steps below E.
In other words, believe me, you can totally play this. Again, I normally play 8-38, this guitar is 14-68, and I wasn't straining at all.
Another thing I can say about this baritone - and believe me, it's a huge compliment when I say this - is that it feels exactly like a regular Telecaster except for thicker strings and a longer 27" scale neck. There is no learning curve whatsoever with this guitar. Plays like a Tele, feels like a Tele, and is absolutely not something where you have to relearn how to play just to get used to it. You can pick this up just like any other guitar, strum away and have a good time with a lower tuning.
The Telecaster makes sense as a baritone
Lower tuning is typically attributed to metal players that want something lower and "meaner" sounding.
That is not what this Telecaster is about, thankfully.
The best use of this guitar is for clean, spanky tone in a low tuning.
If you want that Duane Eddy Rebel Rouser sound, or maybe a B-52's Rock Lobster tone, or any sound that's low, clean and punchy, that's why you get a baritone Telecaster.
The stock set of Tele pickups this guitar comes with really lends well to a baritone configuration, and that's why a baritone Telecaster actually makes sense.
If you love that low-and-clean tone, then yes, pick up one of these.
Garmin nuvi 1100LM, a diamond in the rough
This little guy is an unexpected gem.
Garmin bounced around a lot with the UI from model to model of nuvi. All of them work, but the best models have the least annoyances in general use. The 1100LM is one that is surprisingly very good and has only two annoyances.
I'll talk about those annoyances first.
POI search has what I call a stutter. Type a letter, it pauses, then you can continue. This is due to the dynamic search not being programmed properly. Every character you enter is searched instantly rather than after you type first and then search. Every other search (Favorites, Cities, Address, etc.) is fine. It's only the POI search that has the stutter.
The screen does require firm presses to make it respond.
And that's it.
The 1100LM was Garmin's base model for 2010. No speed limit display, no Junction View, no TTS (prerecorded voice only), no advanced features whatsoever - except for traffic, which I'll talk about in a moment.
In addition, the 1100 has the second best legibility. It is only bested by the older nuvi 265T because the 265 has bigger fonts in a few areas, but the 1100 is notably faster. Also, the top left arrow during navigation on the 1100 is identical to the 265. Big and thick with black outline. It's the best there is for a 3.5" model.
A completely undocumented feature of the 1100 is that it has traffic support when connected to a GTM35 traffic/charger cord. It absolutely works, and there is the option to avoid traffic in the Avoidances settings.
Brilliance of the 1100
#1: A battery that actually holds a charge for several hours
The 1100 is rated to hold a charge for 4 hours, but it can easily go beyond that.
It used to be normal for smaller, simple 3.5" models to hold a charge for a good long while, and you get that with the 1100.
#2: What it does not do is the best part
The only warning an 1100 gives of anything is traffic, and only when the GTM35 is connected. It's a polite warning that doesn't distract you from driving.
When the traffic antenna is not connected or traffic is disabled, the 1100 has absolutely no nags whatsoever; it is a fantastic example of what Garmin can make when all the garbage is taken out of the UI.
#3: Small and legible
Only when you use something like the 1100 do you realize that bigger doesn't mean better.
The 1100 has a bright matte screen, but also has a map with bright colors and proper contrast, and also fonts with proper contrast; it is more readable and legible that any smartphone nav app with a 6" screen and I am not kidding.
Because the 1100 has a compact size (3.7" width x 2.9" height x 0.6" deep), you can mount it almost anywhere.
It's even possible to use the 1100 with no mount whatsoever. Just take a piece of anti slip pad, put it on the dashboard under the lower left corner of the windshield, put the 1100 on the pad and lean against the windshield. Done. And you don't need to worry about the power cable since you can run the thing for 4 hours before it needs a charge.
The 1100 serves as a shining example of back when Garmin really knew how to build a great simple small car navigator.
Possibly the best Epiphone SG ever
I've had an SG on my radar for a while now, and this one, the 1961 Epiphone Les Paul SG Standard, is actually amazing.
But wow, Epiphone has a fairly big ask concerning the price. It's not cheap for an Epiphone. Not expensive either, but still, a big ask.
You do get one seriously good SG with this Epiphone...
...but for just a few hundred more you could get a new Gibson SG Standard.
Honestly, it's a really tough call whether to go Epiphone or Gibson here, due to the fact the Epiphone is such a nice offering.
Not an SG?
This guitar is an SG yet it isn't because it's a special model.
Technically, this guitar is a "Les Paul SG", as there is a "Les Paul" embossed on the truss rod cover. So if you want to get really nitpicky, you can use Epiphone's naming convention in that this is a "Les Paul SG Standard" and not just "SG Standard".
My opinion: It's an SG. Looks like one, feels like one, plays like one.
What makes this Epiphone so great?
Incredible build quality and seriously good parts.
If you happen to try one of these out, you'll be amazed at how good the tuners are, which is usually something not that great on an SG. They are buttery smooth and feel very solid.
The pickups are voiced exactly correct.
It is "aged" but not distressed, thankfully. This basically means it's not shiny-shiny as a new SG typically looks, but rather slightly dulled (in a good way) throughout. I qualify it as looking "new vintage". Very tastefully done.
I'll put it another way. A new shiny SG tends to look slightly toy-like, but this Epiphone escapes that. And it's not just because of the body finish. The plastics have an aged look, and the fingerboard inlays are purposely not super-shiny either. You'll see these aged touches throughout the guitar.
I do like seeing the "pineapple" on the headstock, which is a very SG thing. My preference is actually the "split diamond" headstock treatment on the SG Custom, but this is a Standard so it just gets the pineapple - and I'm totally okay with that.
Even though one of my favorite Epiphone SG's is the G-400 Les Paul SG Custom with the triple pickups, the split diamond on the headstock and all that good stuff, I like the '61 Les Paul SG Standard better.
Why do I like it better? To me, it's a better player's guitar...
...and that is its best selling point.
Great gigging guitar? Yes.
Great for the guy who owns a nice Gibson Les Paul and wants a really nice SG without committing to another Gibson? Yes.
Great for a first guitar? No. Too expensive for that. Epiphone makes the regular SG Standard to fill that duty at a much nicer price.
Great for the guy who has never owned an SG before and wants the best there is for the lowest price? Yes. And yeah, that's true even though the '61 Epi SG has a big-for-Epiphone asking price.
I did seriously like Epi's '61 SG. Very solid build, sounds great. The only true competition it has is the Gibson SG Standard.
That Pontiac in The French Connection
I finally got around to watching The French Connection; this is my take on it.
First I'll say this is not a car guy's movie, even though I watched it mainly to see the car chase. This flick is a thriller cop drama. But before getting into that, let's talk about that Pontiac.
In the movie is a 1971 Pontiac LeMans sedan of the four-door and rather pedestrian variety. The chase with this car appears about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and yes it's true that city permits were not acquired to film it. They were able to get away with this because actual cops served as advisors for the film, and, well, they knew how to get around those pesky permits. It's also supposedly true that in certain parts of the chase (particularly the end of it), the bystanders you see aren't extras but regular New Yorkers just wondering what the hell was going on.
I'm going to go against the grain here. The chase scene isn't as good as others say it is. Yes, it is cool to see that Pontiac being thrashed around in New York. It's also cool to see all the other large coupes and sedans in the movie, because after all, it's 1971, two years before the oil crisis of '73. You see a lot of giant barge cars of the era smogging it up all over the place.
What I liked about the movie more than anything else was seeing 1971 New York. There's a lot of city shown, both walking and driving. You see everything all as it was back then. While true this was before the financial crisis of '75 and before the July 13 1977 blackout that made New York go dark for 25 hours straight, you can see the grit and grime that made NY an awful place to be back then. Whoever said "things were better the way they used to be" definitely wasn't talking about New York in the '70s.
Even though this film won a bunch of awards - including Best Picture - it's a slow burn and there's a noticeable amount of filler just to pad out the length of 104 minutes. Is the story any good? I rate it as so-so. You've got hardheaded obstinate NY cops that really want to make a big bust, who then argue with the commander to go for that bust when he wants to shut the case down. The commander capitulates, and the rest of the story is the cops going after the bad guys. It's no story you haven't seen before - except for the ending. I like the ending of this movie because that's where things get different and it ends totally different than I thought it would.
So-so story, good ending, but what makes the movie work is 1971 New York itself. Lots of good eye candy, at least for me.
And one final note about the cars. It is funny in an interesting way to see people totally used to driving barge-sized cars since that's what was normal at the time, riding on bias-ply tires. Radial tires weren't completely standardized until 1976. In the movie you can hear tire screeching even with moderate turns around corners at lower speeds. That's not an add-in sound by the sound editor. Bias-ply just does that because they are so inferior compared to radials.