If my Schecter was a Stratocaster, it would be this
This actually doesn't look half bad.
For context, this is my Schecter that I own. So of course, when I saw the Fender Player Stratocaster HSS Plus Top in Blue Burst, yeah I had to read up on this guitar to see what I was all about.
At the time I write this, the Strat is on sale and priced lower than the regular Player HSS model, which is good. This means you not only get a discount off a special edition but also save over the standard model as well.
The finish is a flame top (the Schecter is a quilt) with a a very pronounced center line where the two pieces of the body meet. You can see this behind the bridge. That's normal.
Neck is satin finished on the back, which is always better than gloss.
Pickups in the HSS is an interesting selection but it actually does make sense. The humbucker is an alnico II while single-coil pickups are alnico V. This was smart because it means the humbucker has lower magnetic pull, which should result in it not overpowering the single-coils.
No split coil on this one, which I 100% agree with. I owned a Fender Strat HSS in the past that had the split humbucker feature. It didn't sound that good. It's better just to have a humbucker with a lower powered magnet that has decreased output and increased treble to match better to the single-coil pickups, which is exactly what Fender did here. Good call.
Worth the price tag?
At the sale price it currently has at the time I write this in June 2019, yes.
At full price, well... you'd feel the sting of that. Or at least I would.
In 2018, Fender tried a blue Strat and it was fugly. They tried a color called Sapphire Blue Transparent with no burst and no flame, and it just didn't work.
This Strat HSS however with its flame top and black pick guard treatment does work. And does it look upscale? Yes.
Is it the best looking HSS with flame top? To me it would be a tough call between this one and the Aged Cherry Burst with pau ferro fingerboard. But given the blue one is 90 bucks less, yeah I'd take the blue.
The only Gibson guitar strap worth owning
You've seen Fender guitar straps, but Gibson takes it up a notch with theirs.
Above is the Gibson Austin Premium Comfort guitar strap. It's expensive, but this one actually lives up to its "premium comfort" claim.
The strap is, of course, made from premium leather. But you've seen leather straps before. It also has premium stitching. But you've seen that before too.
What you haven't seen, aside from the Gibson logo on it, is half-inch thick memory foam padding in combination with classic Western styling.
Basically, what Gibson did here is take some nice styling, added in old school quality leather, then added in new school memory foam. This is actually a really good combination.
With most other higher end straps you either get the leather or get the foam. With this Gibson strap, you do get both.
Is this the most expensive guitar strap? Hardly. The Jodi Head Western Snakeskin Concho strap costs more (which I have to admit looks really cool). And there are straps out there that run even higher than that.
I'm honestly not a fan of leather guitar straps unless the strap has actual legitimate practical purpose. Even though the Austin isn't a bargain by any means, it is one of the darned few that actually delivers both for appearance and comfort. You get the leather and the memory foam all in one. And the look works with any Gibson guitar, electric or acoustic.
It doesn't get much better than that. For Gibson guitar owners, that is.
The EVH Shark Guitar actually doesn't sound that bad
Enough time has passed where the hype is over and I can now talk about this.
Let's get one thing out of the way right up front about the EVH Striped Series Shark. It's ugly. Really, really ugly. Most guitar players wouldn't be caught dead with this thing (maybe that's why it's easy to find open-box examples of the guitar?) The only people who actually like this guitar are guitarists who love Van Halen. Aside from them and only them, all anyone sees with this is a really fugly guitar.
It was highly speculated that this guitar would sound like total crap based on what Eddie Van Halen himself said about the original build. Specifically, he said the turnbuckles (those suspended metal things at the rear) absolutely ruined the sound of the guitar, yet we see them in full glory anyway on the Shark.
This guitar in all honesty actually doesn't sound that bad. Many thought it would sound tinny and overly jangly. It doesn't. The worst complaint you could give the guitar tone-wise is that it actually sounds "dark" - but I think it was voiced that way very much on purpose.
According to the EVH Gear web site, the pickups are "EVH Wolfgang w/metal braid wire" for their respective positions, both with pickup rings instead of direct-mount seen on other EVH Striped models like the 5150. It's usually true that anyone who owns a Shark also owns a 5150, and from what I can tell, how the pickup is mounted really doesn't affect the tone of the guitar at all.
The truth of this guitar's tone is...
...modern guitar effects can make any electric guitar sound like a million bucks.
Back in the day, Eddie didn't have guitar modeling technology. He also didn't have access to what we have today, that being hundreds of options for hand wired, hand crafted boutique guitar effect pedals and amplifiers.
Even if the Shark did sound like absolute garbage (which it doesn't), all it would take to make it sound right is modeling and/or boutique effects and/or boutique amps to make it sound perfect.
The last reason you buy a Shark is for tone, as the guitar is all about appearance first and foremost. Achieving that supposed Van Halen "brown sound" isn't nearly as impossible as it used to be.
Getting the brown sound with yesteryear tech was very difficult and I don't deny that. But we have the modeling and boutique gear today to get the brown sound fairly easily these days.
I'm 100% convinced it's modern tone shaping gear that can make a Shark sound good today. That and a good ability to do finger tapping since that's a Van Halen thing.
The best car GPS Garmin ever made
There is one and only one GPS for cars that Garmin made which is absolutely the best thing they ever released, the Garmin nuvi 50LM. You can find these easily on eBay. You might want to grab one after I explain why this particular model is so good.
Now to note, this GPS is not nag-free like the nuvi 2xx series is. There are two nanny nags in the 50. First is Junction View. This nag can be defeated by deleting the Junction View file. The second is the speed indicator. Every time you go even as little is 1 mile per hour over the limit, the speed number turns red. Not too bothersome during day driving, but absolutely infuriating during night driving because the red against the dark theme is just awful. This nag cannot be defeated. The best you can do is just dim the display.
The nuvi 50 - not to be confused with the Drive 50 - is a very basic GPS. It has next to nothing for features. But it does have one thing...
...that glorious screen.
A 50 in good condition has the absolute best screen Garmin ever made. For day driving in particular, it is a godsend. Even on the brightest sunny days, the screen can be read. And it's polarized sunglasses friendly too.
That screen is what makes you fall in love with the 50. It blows away any other GPS screen, and also blows away any smartphone too because it does not glare thanks to the matte display.
A second thing that makes the 50's screen glorious is that Garmin used big, readable fonts. You can read the top green bar and top left green info very easily. The colors chosen for the main map display are also bright, colorful and very easy to read.
The 50 is the absolute best execution of a 5" display. Where readability is concerned during driving, it doesn't get any better.
All the features in the world mean absolutely nothing if you can't read the screen while driving
As said above, the 50 is really basic. It was originally released in 2012 as part of the "Essentials" nuvi line, which means entry level with no frills. The 50 was physically the biggest offered of this line with its 5" screen. It has no smartphone connectivity. No Bluetooth. No Wi-Fi. No traffic reporting. No weather reporting. All map updates have to be performed wired using a USB cable.
Even as ultra-basic as the 50 is, the reason to use it is that screen. It's a GPS with a display as readable as any analog gauge on your car (if not more so) and gets the job done.
Annoying things about the 50
Aside from the two nanny nags mentioned, these are the annoyances of the 50:
Mediocre touchscreen response
The display is the most legible out of any GPS ever made, but at a cost. And that cost is touch response. Not that good. Firm, slower presses are required to make the screen respond.
Screen does not display what street you're on
This was a very longstanding complaint by Garmin GPS users that was eventually addressed with later models. The 50 was made before that time however. When not navigating, the top green bar will display the next street ahead and not the street you're on. When navigating, the top green bar displays the name of the street you will next turn on to.
The only way to display what street you're on is to touch the vehicle icon that will display "nearest address".
No way to mass delete favorites
This was a huge complaint of the nuvi 30/40/50 Essential line. Garmin stripped down the interface so much that they outright removed the ability to select multiple favorites to delete. This means removing them has to be done one at a time. This can get very tedious if you have a ton of favorites saved.
Still worth getting?
If you value a screen that can be read during bright sunlight day driving (and who wouldn't?), yes.
I like the 50LM so much that I own two. Just remember that it needs a 32GB microSD memory card to store the latest map data.
This is the coolest Jackson King V there is
This guitar has some crazy good looks to it - and it's a Jackson.
To be honest, I've never liked the King V from Jackson. I always liked the Rhoads V with the shorter bottom fin (which can be had for a very nice price), but never the King - until now.
Take the X Series Signature Scott Ian King V by Jackson. This King V is the first that actually has a great look to it. It's a combination of vintage Flying V and modern Jackson goodness that works oh-so nicely.
24.75" scale? Yes. 12"-to-16" compound radius? Yes. Set neck construction? Yes. Neck and headstock binding? Yes. Awesome pearloid block inlays? Yes. Dopey vibrato system? No, thank God. It's a good ol' hardtail top-loader V, the way it was meant to be.
Although this is called a King V, I call it a Super Flying V. It's got the right hardware, to be sure, but the styling touches are amazing.
When I call this the coolest King V there is, I'm not joking. I'd be proud to play this one on stage. Killer guitar.