The 4 reasons why New Balance 608 is the best sneaker ever made
There are 4 reasons for this.
When it comes to buying sneakers these days, there are very few choices which suits every man of any age. The New Balance 608, which is what I wear personally, is one of the only that truly any man can wear.
These are the 4 reasons why the 608 is so great:
1. It comes in all white.
It is exceedingly difficult to find an all-white sneaker where literally every part of the shoe is white. Some guys like this. Goes great with jeans and offers a nice clean look. Yes, the 608 has an all-white version.
2. It comes in all black.
Exactly the same as the all-white except in all-black. Yes, the 608 is offered this way also.
Who wears an all-black sneaker? Guys who want sneakers that look like traditional shoes or boots. From a distance, you can't even tell it's a sneaker, especially if you tuck in the laces so the bow doesn't show and wear black socks.
3. It comes in brown.
If you thought all-white or all-black was difficult to find in a sneaker, brown is the most difficult color to get. The 608 has not one but two browns. A lighter stone color, and a darker chocolate brown. The "N" logo sticks out more on these, but that's forgivable.
Who wears these? Guys who don't want all-white or all-black and prefer something in the middle with a muted tone to it, or guys who prefer earth tone colors. Some dudes prefer not to wear anything "loud" in appearance, and a brown sneaker fits the bill quite nicely in that respect.
4. It comes in WIDE sizes
This right here is the biggest reason why the 608 is so great.
Go to any shoe store. Doesn't matter which one. Go look at the sneakers, and prepare for disappointment if you have wide feet (which I do). The choices will be few, and what choices you do have will look totally stupid and probably not fit your feet correctly.
The 608 not only comes in wide but EXTRA wide. My feet take a wide (as in 2E) size, but you can get the 608 in double wide (a.k.a. X-Wide or 4E) size. Oh, yes.
I don't have unbelievably huge feet, but some men do. The 608 goes all the way up to giant clodhopper 18 X-Wide sizes with all-white, all-black, brown and a few other colors offered.
Which do I wear personally?
I go with the tried-and-true color, white/navy. It's a white sneaker with a small, subtle amount of navy blue striping...
...although I will at some point probably get a pair of 608's in all-black and another in stone. They look good, wear well, and most importantly FIT MY FEET.
Shoe shopping for me, as well as many other men, is an annoyance because the days of going in a shoe store and finding a nice selection of simple styles in WIDE sizes are long gone. I have to order my 608's online just like most men do.
If you've noticed a lot of guys wearing sandals or Crocs, now you know why. It's because they tried the shoe store (probably several of them), tried to find a sneaker that worked, none of them did, so they said screw it and did the fisherman's sandal or Croc thing.
Not-Exactly Reverse Firebird: Epiphone Slasher
It's not exactly an Explorer either.
We go back to the early 2000s for this one.
Firstly, there were two versions of this guitar. The "normal" Epiphone Slasher and the more rare Epiphone Slasher FX that had on-board (as in built-in) distortion and chorus effects.
Is the Slasher a Firebird shape? No. Is it an Explorer shape? Also a no. The Slasher is its own unique shape as far as I know.
The uniqueness doesn't stop there. The word "Epiphone" appears nowhere on the front of this guitar. All you get on the front is a stylized red Epiphone "E" on the headstock with wings on the side that almost looks like something that should be on a car.
From what I've been able to gather on this guitar, the pickups are really hot, the neck is maple and bolt-on, and yes this guitar was part of something Epiphone called the E-Series, hence the "E" on the headstock.
That same "E" is also directly engraved into the pickup covers. Nice touch.
On the rear of the guitar are 6 "E" logos and 7 "EPIPHONE" logos. There's an "E" and curved "EPIPHONE" on the back of each tuner, and "EPIPHONE" on the neck bolt plate.
The fingerboard is real Indian rosewood, and the back of the neck was finished with a "Super Slide" satin finish.
Was this guitar a special edition? Yes, it was.
There were 800 Slasher edition guitars made, and only 200 Slasher FX guitars made. All of them were made in Korea as far as I know. Only three colors for this guitar. Black, blue and red. The blue is the most common.
Weird: First Act Volkswagen Guitar
Your next car might be a Volkswagen if you get this guitar, and not for the reason you think.
Volkswagen is no stranger to tying in guitar brands to their cars. In fact, VW has a "Fender Premium Audio System" (yes, that Fender) option available on the Atlas, Atlas Cross Sport, Tiguan and Passat models.
But this, the First Act Garage Master Limited Edition Volkswagen Electric Guitar, isn't the guitar brand put into the car, but rather the car brand put into the guitar itself, and that's where the weirdness begins.
This guitar, if you want one, is dirt cheap.
How did you get one of these back in the day?
This is where the weirdness continues. You got the guitar at the Volkswagen car dealership. For certain models of VW cars, when you bought the car, the guitar came with it. Obviously, most VW owners decided not to keep the guitar and sold it, hence why there are used listings for these now.
And now we come to the the weirdest part about the guitar that has nothing to do with the instrument but rather the information on it. On the back of the headstock of every single one of these, the Volkswagen VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) of the exact car the guitar belonged to can be seen.
What this literally means is each guitar was specific to the car it came with. It also means that yes, it is possible to look up the VIN online and see where that car that is right now. And if you actually find the car and it's for sale, you could buy that now-used VW and "reunite" the original car with the guitar.
No, you will not get the exact address of where the car is nor the owner's name from a VIN lookup, but, you will at least find the US state of where the car is located. From the VIN above, I know that guitar originally came with a 2007 Volkswagen Touareg. If I wanted to know more, there are several paid VIN lookups online that would show me service history detail reports. From those reports, I could take an educated guess which US state the car is in now, search the used car listings for that particular make/model/year of VW in that state, hope I get lucky and find the car.
It is CRAZY that you could actually do that with this particular instrument.
If you decide to get one of these guitars, I strongly recommend to only buy one that has the VIN plate still screwed in to the back of the headstock just so you can try to match up the guitar with the car. That honestly would be a fun adventure.
How many VW logos are on the guitar?
The knobs have the VW logo, a 12th fret inlay has the logo, the neck bolt plate has a logo, and that's it. VW branding was kept to a minimum, obviously to save cost.
People have done crazier things...
To buy a cheap guitar with car company branding just to get the VIN, then seek out that old car, then buy that car afterward just to "have the set" is crazy, putting it mildly.
Then again, there are guys out there who will spend crazy money for a vintage Fender just for the guitar, so... getting the First Act Garage Master with VIN and then getting the matching car afterward, yeah, still crazy - but cheaper than getting the Fender and you get a very cool story to tell afterward.
If you have zero interest in this guitar (most people don't other than it just being a weird anomaly) but just want something decent and cheap, see Grote.
Japan HSS Strat goodness for cheap - Charvel CX290
Early '90s HSS Strat style goodness for cheap, and it was made in Japan.
The Charvel CX290 is a guitar that existed from 1992 to 1995. The body is basswood, and yes the pickups in most of them are Jackson branded, so if you see a Jackson logo on the pickup covers, that does not mean the pickups were swapped out. The exact pickups used in most were the Jackson J-55 humbucker and two Jackson J-110 single-coils.
CX290 is a fast player with a super-flat 15-inch radius fingerboard, and being this is an early '90s guitar, the fingerboard material is real rosewood.
The electronics are simple. 5-way selector with no push/pull anything, with output jack on the side.
For some, this is a fantastic "mild Super Strat". You've got the 25.5" scale length with a bolt-on neck with flat fingerboard, and very easy traditional style bridge/tremolo system. Also note that you only get 2 knobs for volume and tone. The volume knob has been thoughtfully placed, as it is lower and away from the bridge side pickup compared to a Fender or Squier Strat.
Some CX290 guitars can be found with "no-holes" pickup covers, which just look cool. But the ones with the exposed poles also look great, especially now with the aged plastics that have darkened over time to a nice darker cream color.
How's the tone? Think of it as Strat-like with some boost from the humbucker. On the single-coil-only positions, yes the Strat "quack" is there. On the humbucker, it rocks out like it's supposed to. No surprises here.
Does the volume do the drop-off-a-cliff thing when switching from humbucker to single-coil? Unknown, but it's safe to assume that's a yes, as this is well before the days of balanced volume outputs on guitars with HSS electronics.
The CX290 is a great buy for cheap money.
If you don't feel like dealing with an old guitar (and I wouldn't blame you), the modern equivalent of this is the Yamaha Pacifica.
Middle age man things (hand pain update)
2022 has be interesting where my hands are concerned.
Given I'm firmly in middle age territory now, I pay close attention whenever a new pain happens. For any new pains that come, I do my best to figure out what the cause is so I can either mitigate or get rid of it.
This one has to do with hand pain. My left hand, specifically. It took me years to figure this stuff out, but I finally did.
My left hand started complaining a while back. It was directly under the left hand index finger, on the top pad of the palm. Just there.
You're probably thinking, "YOU HAVE TRIGGER FINGER!" Nope. My index finger has full range of motion and does not have any "locking" in a flexed position whatsoever.
Was there increased pain when I pressed the pad? Nope. Just a dulling pain, as in a soreness. I could still do everything I normally do, just with an annoying and concerning dulling pain in the pad under the left index finger that cropped up every now and again.
What I thought, incorrectly, is that playing a thin-neck guitar was the cause of the pain. I switched guitars and began using a thicker neck. This worked somewhat, but the pain still came back every so often, so I hadn't found the root cause just yet.
What I also thought, somewhat correctly, is that it was the watch I was wearing, which I do wear on the left wrist. What I would wear normally wear is a resin band Casio watch. I stopped that and switched to steel. That did help a little. Then I started wearing the bracelet more loosely, and that helped a little more...
...but the pain still kept coming back periodically. This was getting frustrating, because I knew I was close to finding the source of my hand pain but didn't know where to look next.
Then one day I finally had a thought. Is it my computer keyboard? After all, I do type a lot as I write many things.
Before answering that, bear in mind that at the time I was using a mechanical keyboard, as in the "clicky" kind normally labeled as gaming keyboards. It was loud but I liked the action of it.
Then I finally found some new information that led me to find the source of my hand pain problem.
What was happening is that from the use of a mechanical keyboard, I was doing something called bottoming out the keys. I read about this in a mechanical keyboard forum where somebody basically said, "Yeah, you never want to bottom out the keys while typing because that can cause hand problems later."
That was the eureka moment for me.
With the click-clack of each key press, I would "thud" the key down with each keystroke, putting totally unnecessary stress and pressure on my hands. After typing this way for a long time, my hands started complaining.
Yes, I said hands, plural. The left under-index-finger pad would complain the most, but sometimes it also happened on the right hand too, but not nearly as frequently. Still, it happened.
I said okay, time to get a "plain" keyboard, but one that isn't total crap, is wired (I can't stand wireless keyboards), has a light typing feel to it but not too light, is backlit, has a standard PC keyboard layout and isn't ridiculously expensive.
I found one. Perixx Periboard-329.
After receiving it in the mail, I knew after typing on it for just 10 minutes that I had to have another as a backup because it was that good. When the second one arrived in the mail, I tested it, it worked just as good as the first, so I boxed it back up to keep for a backup, then threw out my mechanical keyboards.
What's the Periboard-329 like? It's like a Dell PC keyboard with better feel, better key travel, increased letter sizing (but not goofy-big) and is backlit. The key layout, THANKFULLY, is 100% standard with no weird key placements. Everything is there, the full number pad is there (which I do use), the styling is NORMAL which I very much appreciate, and it's all good.
Did my hand pain go away immediately? No. It took a few weeks, because my hands needed to heal. I had been thudding away, literally, on a mechanical keyboard for a long while, and it took time for the soreness to go away.
Has the pain gone away completely? Mostly. I'd say it's about 95% gone now. Progress is being made.
What do I wear for a watch now?
The Casio B650WD. I've had this in my collection for years, but as it turns out it has the legibility, right weight, and a wider metal bracelet compared to other low-cost Casio models. I do wear it loose to where when it's flat on the wrist, I can fit my pinky finger under the bracelet on the underside of the wrist easily. I do this so there is absolutely no pressure on any veins just to be on the safe side.
The B650WD is larger and thicker than an A158, so most of the time it does stay put even when worn loose. Works for me.
Am I ready to try thinner-necked guitars again?
Maybe.
Although I'm happy with my Affinity Strat, I'd like to get another 2-pickup guitar again...
...and I might go dual-humbucker this time. Maybe.
Does that mean another Les Paul? Possibly. But to date, a guitar I've never owned is an SG. And it's not like getting an Epiphone SG is expensive. The SG Special VE for example is dirt cheap. However, I also like the SG Prophecy. That is a very modernist SG, and a lot more expensive than the VE.
I'm also not opposed to getting something a little controversial, the Jackson JS22 Monarkh SC. It's cheap, I did try one before and in all honesty the neck felt real nice on it.
Or I may try my hand at parting together a guitar since I specifically prefer lower output bright-sounding humbuckers.
For whatever guitar I get next, oh yes, I'll talk about it.