Guitar of the week #88 - ESP LTD EC-1000QM and EC-1000QMFR Eclipse Deluxe

This one is a feast for the eyes, and fortunately is not just a pretty face.

I can remember a time when LTD was a crap guitar. Well, those days are long over when you see guitars like this. Two, actually. The EC-1000QM and the EC-1000QMFR. The difference between the two is one is a hardtail and the other has a Floyd-Rose tremolo system. And yes, the FR model does cost more.

This particular LTD has a Gibson scale 24.75" neck with thin U shape, extra jumbo fret wire and 350mm (about 13.78") super flat fingerboard radius. Pickups are EMG 60 in the bridge and EMG 81 in the neck, and yes that means active electronics.

What we have here is a Les Paul that guitar soloists wish Gibson would actually build but won't and never will. The closest competitor to the LTD is the Epiphone Prophecy EX that has almost an identical pickup configuration and almost the same fingerboard radius at 14". But it does not offer a model with FR while the LTD does.

Which is the better guitar? For the soloist, the LTD is the better choice because ultimately it's all about the neck. The LTD has that thin U shape that allows for lightning fast runs up and down the fingerboard, and the extra jumbo frets make fretting and bending notes almost effortless.

Arguably, the LTD also looks better than the Epiphone. The Deluxe model with that quilt is a real eyecatcher. And for a real look-at-me finish, see the EC-1000QM in transparent black cherry. Not only is the finish to die for but there's abalone everywhere. Check it out to see what I mean.

For players seeking out a Les Paul that delivers the things soloists look for that's a true "needs nothing" guitar, your choices are the Epiphone or the LTD. I personally think the LTD is the better choice.

Jazzmaster and Jaguar easy fix for loose saddle screws

This is an easy fix for a common (and annoying) Jazzmaster/Jaguar bridge issue.

It is typical that Jazzmaster and Jaguar bridges will have their saddle screws wriggle themselves loose over time from string vibration.

A fix for this that not only keeps the screws in place but also significantly decreases bridge buzz (which is actually saddle buzz) is the use of Teflon tape.

This type of tape is typically called "shower tape" because its most common use is to seal the threads on the end of a shower pipe when installing a new shower head. (If you don't use teflon tape when installing a shower head, water will either drip or spray out of the shower head connector and all over the back wall.)

Teflon tape is thin, stretchy, and just happens to be the perfect material for keeping Jazzmaster/Jaguar saddle screws in place. All you have to do is cut off a piece with scissors, put that piece on the screw, reinstall the screw and that's all there is to it.

To note, this will work on any screw on a guitar that installs into a metal hole. If all you need is just a little extra thickness so the screw stays put, teflon tape is all you need. It works beautifully.

diet update december 2016

2016 will soon be coming to a close, and this is how things are going where my diet and overall health is concerned.

Chicken

Living off a whole food plant based diet will make you drop pounds and there's no arguing that. But I decided to put some meat back into my diet and went with chicken.

Why chicken and not red meat? I honestly really don't have a taste for red meat these days. It's not that I won't eat it, but it really doesn't go with anything I cook.

For example, chicken stir-fry is good. You put together pieces of chicken, bell pepper, carrot, green beans, onion and rice, and that's a good meal. Try the same with red meat and it's a disaster that just doesn't work.

The chicken I buy is boneless/skinless breast. Easy to prepare and the price is fairly low.

Sardines

I tried sardines for the first time in my life recently. Why? Because I wanted to know whether sardines are as gross as people think they are.

Answer: They're not gross at all. Sardines are actually quite good.

What do sardines taste like? Pretty much like tuna with a slightly different texture.

After I found out that sardines aren't bad at all, this made me wonder why I ever thought they were gross in the first place. It's probably just from the appearance of them, because I admit they don't look appetizing. But they taste just fine.

Frying stuff

I've began to fry more stuff just to put more variety in my diet.

I mentioned chicken stir-fry above. I also make vegetable stir-fry from time to time as well. This involves using oil and soy sauce.

Frying food is not a bad thing as long as you're not drowning the food in oil. I've tried both canola and olive oil, and canola seems to work better for cooking consistency. That, and the calorie count between the two is basically identical.

No bread

For a few months I put bread back in my diet. Then I cut bread out because it was causing weight gain.

At some point I'm going to have to learn how to make my own bread. It's actually really easy considering all you need is a breadmaker (which takes a ton of hassle out of trying to bake it the old-style way).

There are basically only two ways to get good, quality bread. Pick up a loaf from a bakery that makes fresh bread every morning, or make it yourself. I haven't any local bakeries near me, so at some point I'll need to buy the breadmaker.

Bread itself is not bad. But the processed crap in the grocery store that's full of preservatives is.

Water

I am drinking a lot of bottled water these days. In fact, I drink so much water that I can now detect minor taste differences between water brands.

My body responds well when I drink a proper amount of water. Proper is 2 to 3 liters a day. I usually get in 2.

For the longest time I was not a water drinker. The taste of straight water was something that didn't agree with me, but it does now.

I can honestly say there's no way I could ever go back to soda. If I did, it would literally make me sick to do so because my tolerance for carbonated acidic drinks is pretty much gone.

On the pH scale, 1 is completely acidic, 7 is neutral and 14 is alkaline.

Water has a neutral pH of 7. Battery acid has a pH of 1.

Most colas have a pH of about 2.5, and yeah that means soda is pretty much the most acidic thing you can drink. Not even beer is that acidic as it usually has a pH of 4.

Losing my tolerance for junk

I think the only true major change that's happened is that I almost never have "cheat" days now. Once a week I used to get pizza or Chinese food. That once-a-week thing turned into once every 2 weeks. Then once every 6 weeks. And now it's to the point of once every few months.

As noted above, I don't have a taste for red meat these days. I'm also losing the taste for Chinese food and pizza.

The reason? It has a lot to do with that I'm cooking more at home. For example, the local Chinese place even on its best day cannot make a stir-fry better than I can do it, and I know exactly why. I use fresh produce and the Chinese place does not. Big difference.

As for pizza, there was a time when I genuinely loved it, but now I don't. This isn't to say I don't like it, because I do. But I'm not in love with that food anymore because I know how heavy it feels in the gut afterward. When I think about pizza now, the first thing that comes to mind is, "What is this going to feel like later?" The answer is "not good".

Putting it as politely as I can, food I eat that I cooked myself using fresh ingredients goes in well and comes out well. Pizza, Chinese takeout and pretty much any other junk food does not.

The more fresh stuff I eat, the less tolerance I have for junk.

Knowing the difference between stuffed and full

I remember when I considered feeling stuffed as good, but now I know better. Feeling stuffed does not mean full. Rather, it means that I overate.

There are times when I feel a craving for something where I have to ask myself, "Am I hungry?" For the majority of the time, the answer is no, I'm not.

Ever since I was little, I always thought stuffed meant full and did not know what actual hunger truly felt like. Yeah, I know that totally sounds like a "first world problem", and I suppose it is.

I know now what hunger actually feels like, and yes it does help keep my weight in check.

No, I do not starve myself. But I do know the difference between actual hunger and a craving. Eating when you're hungry is okay. Giving in to cravings and stuffing your face is not okay, because that's what makes you fat in the first place.

Overall health

There have been diet adjustments here and there, but I've not fallen off the wagon. I still feel good, exercise regularly and am staying the course.

The only thing that sucks? Trying to eat healthily when out and about. All that's readily available are bananas, unsalted peanuts, water and that's it.

I suppose I should look on the bright side. At least there's something. There was a time not-so long ago when convenience stores didn't carry any of those things.

Guitar of the week #87 - Ibanez RG450MB

Not my kind of guitar, but it has a few things other guitar players would really like.

The first thing to know about the Ibanez RG Series RG450MB in yellow is that a guitar like this back in the '80s would have easily sold for more than double its current listed price. That alone makes this guitar such a steal because you are absolutely getting more than your money's worth.

I remember seeing guitars like this in the '80s and early '90s made by Ibanez that sold for high dollars, with a few even edging into 4-figure territory.

This RG on the other hand has every feature those old guitars did for less than half the cost and you still get all the goodies. You get the mahogany body. You get the Wizard III 24-fret neck. You get the HSH pickup configuration. You get the 15.75" fingerboard radius on a maple fingerboard. You get the double-locking tremolo system.

If there was any guitar that easily holds the title of "precision metal machine", this RG is it. I don't play metal these days, but I do recognize there are plenty of metal guitar players out there. If that's you and you want what is arguably the best bang for the buck price where a metal guitar is concerned, you want this Ibanez. I've never seen it selling for a better price.

What is a true military style watch?

There was something I should have talked about more in my last article about what makes for a true military style pilot watch...

...and that's a thing called a sterile dial.

You will notice that when shopping for Laco "Type B" watches that one in particular is way more expensive than the others. There are a few reasons for this. The upper-tier model has blue-outline hands (as in the kind forged to be blue and not painted), a Swiss movement and something else. Absolutely no company logo on the dial at all.

A true military spec watch has absolutely no logos on it because the timepiece is built for purpose and not to advertise the company who made it. As such, the dial will not only have no logo but also no other text either. Not even a "made in [country of origin]" will be there. All you get are indices and nothing else.

The funny thing about sterile dials is that there are basically only two types. Really cheap and really expensive.

If you want a really cheap watch that has a sterile dial, just go to Walmart and look at the analog watches on the bargain rack that sell for under $15. Very easy to find.

If you want something better, see Parnis, Bliger and Sea-Gull.

When you want top drawer stuff, Laco is basically the highest possible tier for a military spec sterile dial timepiece.

Why bother with a sterile dial?

There are some who are very anti-logo where watches are concerned and have no interest in seeing a brand when checking the time.

Personally, I don't mind brand logos on watches as long as said logo is subtle and not an in-your-face thing.

An example of a logo I hate is the Invicta brand. And I mean any Invicta watch. It just looks stupid.

Another logo I hate is the old Armitron logo because it looks like bad 1970s kitsch. The new Armitron logo however looks much better. When browsing Armitron watches, the old logo starts with a capital A and then small letters after that, all overly rounded and stupid looking. The new logo is all capital letters, all same height and looks a million times better. It really does.

Something that Casio does that really annoys me is not the Casio logo itself but all the garbage text all over so many of their timepieces, such as "5 ALARMS", "ILLUMINATOR", "10 YEAR BATTERY", "WORLD TIME", "ALARM", "CHRONO" and so on. I'm not talking about the text next to the pushers but rather just all this extraneous crapola all over both the dial and the case.

What companies do brand logos totally right? Omega, Orient, Seiko, Skagen and Timex (but only for analog non-Expedition models).

And of those 5, which are the top 3? In no particular order: Omega, Seiko, Orient. Each of those 3 have several models that really show what a proper logo should look like, both in appearance and size.

In the end, I don't mind watch logos. But it has to be the right design and right size for the dial.