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.
Some Gibson Custom guitars are better than others
If you're going to spend big money on a Gibson Custom guitar, some have certain things about them that are better than other models.
At the guitar festival I attended earlier this year, I did see some high-end Gibson Custom builds. All of them were nice, obviously.
However, were I to spend the big cash on something, such as a Gibson Custom 1957 Les Paul Standard Natural Back VOS in Antique Metallic Teal, it's good to know what you're getting into when buying one of these things.
The big deal with the Gibson I just mentioned is that it's a True Historic model. This takes a little explanation to describe what that exactly is.
Generally speaking, you have three types of yesteryear new builds. Reissue build, spec build and historic correct build. Guitar companies use various names to describe each, but they all fall into one of those three categories.
A reissue is a model of guitar that looks like the model it's made to emulate, but doesn't exactly follow how it was made originally. Things will be different, such as finishing, woods used, electronics used, and so on.
A spec build is a reissue that follows all the same dimensions as the original, but again does not necessarily use all the same materials or electronics the original did.
A historic correct build is when every single last little thing on the guitar is built exactly like it was originally in the past. Same measurements and dimensions, same finishing, same woods, same electronics, same wiring, and oftentimes the same tooling. The only things not correct will be due to lack of availability. An example of this is when a guitar company uses synthetic ivory (called ivoroid) instead of real ivory. No guitar company will go club a seal or shoot down an elephant to get real ivory for a guitar build regardless of how much money is offered, so synthetic will be used instead.
The Gibson seen above is an example of a historic correct build, and that's a reason for the high price tag. It's not just another reissue or spec build. This is meant to be a guitar that would be exactly (as much as possible) the same thing you would have bought in '57.
The Big Question: Does this build style make it a better playing instrument?
No. It will have the same quirks the original '57 did, which is in fact what buyers of this guitar want.
The reason you buy one of these is because it's a far smarter choice than buying the actual genuine article.
If you bought an actual '57 Les Paul, that's a 62-year-old instrument and absolutely unplayable due to age. You can look at it, admire the instrument and such, but you can't play it. Even the lightest play on that guitar can result in breaking something which instantly devalues it by thousands of dollars.
I can assure you that you don't want a valuable vintage guitar where bakelite plastic was used for pick guards or tuner buttons, or used thin little screws to hold things in either. That plastic and metal after 62 years is so brittle that even the slightest pressure will cause it to crack, or in worst case disintegrate. Yes, disintegrate. As in turn to dust to where it can never be repaired.
A guitar is a machine. It's not like a 1940s era Philco radio that just sits on a table and doesn't move. Guitars are moved every time they get played, and again, when I say a 62-year-old electric guitar is unplayable, I'm not kidding. You can't play it. Well, not unless you destroy the value of it by replacing all the brittle parts with new...
...which is why you buy the new historic correct build. That's absolutely playable. It has everything the original had, and you can pick it up any time you want, strum away happily and not worry about it.
Yeah, it's expensive. But if you want that "real '57", the smarter money is spent on the new build. It's everything the original '57 was, with one big difference. You can admire and play this one whenever you want.
The Second Big Question: Have the imports caught up?
Oh, yes. Just take a look at the Epiphone Les Paul 59. Guitars like that really bring into question whether the super-high-end stuff is even worth it, because with that Epi, you're getting something very, very nice.
Probably the last time you will ever see this Fender Strat for this little
I apologize in advance if you're too late to grab this one, but maybe you won't be if you get to it fast enough.
I was scanning around and found this black Stratocaster. It's a Mexico build, and the selling point of it is really simple to understand. It's an open-box special that's selling for...
...under $500. Well under $500, actually. What's wrong with it? It's a "blemish" open-box, but there's nothing wrong with it otherwise.
The cool part is that you still get the warranty. That's the single biggest advantage of buying blem/open-box over used (which usually has no warranty at all).
I seriously dig this Strat. It's the last outgoing Mexico Standard with those oh-so sweet ceramic magnet pickups that aren't used anymore. This is not the new Player model but the older (and arguably better) Standard.
For many, myself included, this is a near-perfect Strat. Truss rod adjustment at the headstock, ceramic magnet pickups, full size body, "spaghetti" Fender logo instead of "transition", 6-screw bridge, standard neck connection (meaning no micro-tilt which never really worked right anyway), standard proper 21-fret neck with normal size frets, standard proper electronics, single string tree, black-on-black with parchment color plastics and single piece maple neck.
Is this a special edition Standard? Yes, it is. All that means is a Mexico Standard with an American Standard appearance, which is the best of both worlds.
If you have the cash, grab this one.. if it's still available by the time you read this.
If you did miss out on the open-box, it's still available as brand new for a little over $500 at the time I write this in June 2019. Still a great deal for what it is. If you wanted The Last Great Fender Standard Strat, well, this is it. And the price is right.