The reason for the skunk stripe on Fender necks with rosewood boards
In a video I made about a Squier Telecaster some months back, I said that an oddity about the guitar is that even though it has a separate piece of wood for the fingerboard, there is still what's known as a "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck.
For those of you not aware of how necks are constructed for Stratocaster, Telecaster and other Fender electric guitar models, here's a quick rundown:
A single piece maple neck requires the truss rod to be installed from the back of the neck. A channel is routed out, the rod is installed, then the channel is traditionally filled with walnut. Since the walnut has a much darker look compared to the maple, this results in a very pronounced stripe on the back of the neck and is commonly nicknamed a skunk stripe.
A two-piece maple neck however is a different story. Instead of the truss rod being installed from the back, it's installed from the front. A channel is routed out, the rod is installed, then the fingerboard (made of rosewood or pau ferro or other wood) is installed on top of it. No skunk stripe should ever appear on the back of the neck since there was never a channel routed through the back for it...
...but yet this stripe still happens on some modern Fender electrics.
Example #1: Fender American Original '60s Stratocaster
Strats labeled as '60s models have two-piece necks because that is how Fender was building them then. No skunk stripe exists for this two-piece neck, which is how it's supposed to be.
Example #2: Fender Classic Player '60s Stratocaster
While being a Fender Mexico build, once again this is how the back of a two-piece Fender neck is supposed to look.
Example #3: Fender Made in Japan Traditional 60s Stratocaster Midnight
This Fender Japan build also has the correct neck construction for a two-piece build. No stripe, just like it should be.
Example #4: Fender American Professional Stratocaster (with rosewood fingerboard)
Now we see a skunk stripe on a Fender guitar neck where there should be none.
All Fender American Professional Stratocaster guitars have this stripe as do the American Performer and Mexico made Deluxe models. It doesn't matter whether the neck is one-piece or two-piece with rosewood, ebony or pau ferro. That stripe will be there.
Does the skunk stripe existing on two-piece necks cheapen the guitar?
No. Fender has been making necks on the majority of their electric guitars this way since 1972.
So if you think to yourself, "I'm not buying a Fender that had cost cutting on the neck done to it!", consider the fact Fender has been doing that for almost half a century.
However, if you're a stickler for such things and really, really want the traditional construction for the two-piece neck that doesn't have the stripe, purposely seek out a "60s" model.
Alternatively, just look for Fender guitar models that have Original, Classic or Traditional somewhere in the name, and the back of the neck should be stripe-free.
Only one type of watch is the best daily wearer
This is the latest concerning my wristwatch journey.
I have a recently acquired Casio W96H, and an Orient Tristar model FAB00009B. The Orient was a watch gifted to me that I've had for some time now. Still works great, no issues. I should note that the Tristar has a bunch of different colors available, and that includes gold models.
At one point I did briefly own a Seiko SNK803 (also available in several different colors), which is very similar both in size and price to the Orient, but returned it because the dial was just too busy for me.
Every now and then I put on the Tristar because it looks cool and I dig the fact it's 100% mechanical. Typical to traditional automatics, it loses between 15 to 30 seconds a day, so it will never be as accurate as a quartz digital. But I still dig it just the same...
...however I've never been able to use it as my daily wearer.
This doesn't mean I don't like the Tristar because I absolutely do, but every time I put on an analog timepiece, I miss the functions I get with the digital. No alarm, no stopwatch, no hourly chime, no display of the month.
The do-it-all watch that gives you analog with all the features of digital is of course the ana-digi. I own one, the Casio AW80V-5BV. But I don't wear it that often for the same reason I got rid of the Seiko SNK. The dial is too busy for my liking. Great watch, but again, busy dial.
There are mostly (no alarm) do-it-all watches that are 100% mechanical. These are automatic day date chronograph timepieces. None of them are cheap. An example of this is the Junghans Chronoscope. Quartz versions can be had for under $400, but for mechanical it shoots right up to well over $1,000. And I'm not about to spend that kind of cash when I get the same functionality plus more out of a $20 Casio.
I always go back to a Casio
The Casio quartz digital is still the best thing going; it is the best daily wearer.
I own a bunch of a watches, but no matter what I will always end back up with a Casio digital on my wrist because it does the job so damned well.
However, there are a few things I've learned concerning other timepieces.
I can't get along with ana-digi... but there is one I might like
My favorite ana-digi is the Casio G-SHOCK Gulfmaster. While I really dig the look of it, I've never owned one nor even handled one, and won't because the dial is ridiculously busy.
Busy dials are present on almost every ana-digi made. One of the very few that isn't is the Casio AQ230. On that model, the digital part is only a small horizontal bar at the bottom of the dial, and the hands on top never cross the digital area. This is, without question, the cleanest, simplest ana-digi sold right now. And I might get one at some point.
The best analogs are just the clock and only the clock
I'm currently on the hunt for a cheap, quiet analog timepiece that is clock-only that fits my wrist and has a nice look to it.
Technically, I already have it. A Timex Weekender 38mm. But it has a loud tick and I can't stand that, so I don't wear it.
I may pick up a Casio MTP-V001. This is a watch I owned before, but not in steel bracelet version.
Whatever I decide to get next, I will be picky about it because I already own too many watches as it is.
I'm glad the hobby is cheap!
10 rock songs that turn 25 years old in 2019
Time to rewind the clock back to 1994. I was in my late teens then, and these are the rock songs that were popular that year.
Every single song on this list is 25 years old in 2019. Crazy to think about, but it's true. Life was way different then. Internet was still in its baby stages (I didn't get online until 2 years later in 1996), no smartphones, no GPS.
And even if you did have internet back then, the only online streaming available was audio-only with audio quality so bad that it even made AM radio sound good.
In '94, everyone was still getting their music by either listening to it on FM radio, watching MTV music videos or hearing about new songs by word-of-mouth.
I'm not one of those people that thinks every song from the '90s was amazing. There are a few on this list that were total stinkers, and oh yes, I will give my opinions on them.
1. Stone Temple Pilots - Interstate Love Song
One of the best rock songs ever written, no question about it.
A friend of mine called me on the phone one day (back when people actually used phones to talk) and said that I had to come over to his house and listen to this new song because it sounded like Led Zeppelin. I said okay, sure, and went to his place to check it out.
And oh yeah, I liked it. Loved it, in fact. And still do.
Interstate Love Song is a perfectly crafted song beginning to end. Nothing about it is bad. All instruments are perfectly mixed. I love the fact that there is NO GUITAR SOLO in it. I also love the fact this song escapes being labeled as "grunge", because it's just that damned good.
Another thing I seriously dig is that the guitars are scaled back, the bass and drums have serious punch to them and the vocals recorded dry. It's like I said, absolutely nothing about the song is bad.
This is may very well be the best rock song the '90s ever produced.
2. Pearl Jam - Better Man
Before putting this list together, I'll be honest, I totally forgot about this song...
...because it's totally forgettable. This is not one of Pearl Jam's best. It's nowhere near as good as Alive or Even Flow.
The pacing is weird, the mix isn't the best, and overall this song just seems too happy to be a Pearl Jam song. It just doesn't work. At the tail you can even hear a mistimed drum hit. It's bad.
This was a time when the band was just slapping together songs quickly and without much thought, and it shows with Better Man.
3. Candlebox - Far Behind
I remember this song getting regular rock radio airplay, but what I remember about this song the most is the video. The lead singer is walking around a house holding this cheap-ass dinky microphone with one hand, and connected to it is a coily cord held with the other hand. The microphone goes nowhere.
Every time I saw this, I just couldn't help but think, "Why is this dude holding a cheap microphone while walking through a house?" Definitely one of the dumbest things I've ever seen in a music video.
Yeah, I know that music videos aren't required to make sense. But that microphone is just plain stupid.
Aside from that microphone crapola, I can't stand this song. It's boring, unimaginative, and the worst part is that the guitar solo has several notes that are off key. Very grating on the ears. The singer also goes off key several times - in a studio release.
This song sucks.
4. Collective Soul - Shine
I never liked this song. I don't hate it, but never liked it.
There is one thing in this song that absolutely drives me nuts. And once you hear it you cannot un-hear it.
The drums are fake.
I could tell the drums were fake from the first time I heard Shine. It's not that fake drums are bad. Lots of bands use drum machines. I use fake drums in my recordings. But in Shine, what it sounds like is that this song was a demo where the drum machine was used as a temporary filler track before a real acoustic kit could be put in later. But that never happened. Instead, what sounds like a demo was the actual studio release.
And oh, what a bad studio release it is. In addition to fake drums, everything just sounds muffled, almost like a blanket was put over the microphones when recording. And is there bass guitar there? I honestly can't tell!
There is one good thing about the song however. It's very catchy. That's why it works even though the recording is so bad.
5. All Apologies - Nirvana
This is one of the all slower songs from Nirvana, but it does have a good groove to it. And it also has one of those guitar riffs that sticks in your head for days.
Is this Nirvana's best? No. But it's not a bad song.
Nirvana had a way of songwriting that had real character to it. Whether they played slow, fast or anywhere in between, many of their songs worked well for what they were, and All Apologies is one of them.
The only bad I can say about this song is that it doesn't fit in anywhere. You can't bang your head to it, you can't dance to it, it doesn't have relatable lyrics, it's not happy nor sad. It's just... there. This is why it's not one of their best.
6. Cracker - Low
This is another one of those songs that got regular rock radio airplay. I never liked it.
I think the only reason anyone liked this song is because of the lyric "Hey, hey, hey, like being stoned". So of course, all the stoner potheads flocked to this song.
However, what happened because of that lyric is nothing short of hilarious.
David Lowery (lead singer) was pretty much ordered by Cracker's label to write a letter to hand out to radio stations that specifically said the lyric "being stoned" was actually "being stone", even though it was obviously stoned. And the only reason that ever happened is because if any overly sensitive listeners called a station and complained about the mention of stoned in the song, the station could just say they had a written letter from the band that said nope, you heard wrong even though you were right.
Yes, this means Lowery was told to write the letter as a cover-your-ass maneuver. Bands had to do that back in the day if there was anything lyrical that had the potential to ruffle the feathers of soccer moms.
7. Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun
Soundgarden was labeled as grunge. They weren't. These guys were too good to be grunge, and Black Hole Sun is an example of why that is.
I always considered Soundgarden to be a very innovative rock band. These guys did things musically that absolutely nobody else was doing before or since. Sometimes metal, sometimes hard rock, sometimes experimental, even sometimes prog. Soundgarden was light years ahead of everyone else. The only reason the grunge label was slapped on them is so more records could be sold.
This is one of those songs where both the song and the video are masterpieces.
Sonically, Soundgarden pretty much never sounds bad. The audio mix is as good as it gets.
Lyrically, the song is dark. My take on it is that it's supposed to convey a sense of depression and insanity, but Cornell himself said the song didn't have any real idea to it. Words for the sake of words, more or less. But those words resonated with a lot of people.
Visually, the video tried to interpret the song as the all the fake plastic junk of the world being washed away by a dark mass in the sky, i.e. the black hole sun.
It's all very cool and done right.
8. Alice in Chains - No Excuses
This is without question my favorite Alice in Chains song.
Out of all the popular AIC songs, this is probably the one that's the least rock 'n' roll of the catalog. It's still a rock song but has soft edges to it.
No Excuses is the first AIC song to hit #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks. The song did well both with critics and fans. Nobody really had a bad thing to say about it, and neither do I.
Lyrically, the song is about friendship. The ups, downs and everything in between. This is a song a ton of people can relate to. If you've ever cared about a friend deeply, you will know what this song is talking about.
Sonically, No Excuses is really heavy on vocal harmonies. Almost too much. Almost. But it holds it together and works great for what it is.
9. Green Day - Basket Case
And this one is without question my favorite Green Day song.
This tune was obviously built as a pop song from the ground up, but even so it really works. It's almost exactly 3 minutes long, very catchy, very happy sound to it, very cool.
Sonically, this song was masterfully mixed. Everything is heard clear as a bell and nothing is too loud or too soft. Vox, drums, guitar, bass, all of it. The EQ is absolutely perfect. Even the stereo separation of the drum toms is perfect.
It's a damned shame more songs aren't mixed this way.
10. Meat Puppets - Backwater
I remember hearing this one a lot on WAAF 107.3 FM Boston back when I lived in New England. It got fairly heavy rotation there, and deservedly so because the song is just plain cool.
I'll admit the mix of this song isn't the best (the vocals are slightly too loud and bass too quiet), but it has a very cool groove to it.
Something unique to this song is that the vocals are smooth sounding. There isn't screaming or "belting" anywhere that just adds to the overall cool vibe of it.
The guitar tone totally uses the tried and true amp-to-mic technique. I can tell just from the sound that everything was recorded the old school way. No direct-to-mixer stuff here.
Great song overall.
Have these songs aged well?
As with all popular music, some stuff ages well while others are permanent fixtures of the time they were recorded in.
Almost everything that Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains did transcends the '90s, no question. You take just about any song any of those bands, release it today, and it would sound fresh. Their '94 releases have aged very well.
Everything that Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Green Day did back in the '90s stays there. That's classic rock now and not fresh. Whether they've aged well is debatable.
For the others (Candlebox, Collective Soul, Cracker, Meat Puppets), their '94 songs are also fixtures of the year they were released and have not aged well. Still groovy to some, but mostly just to people who grew up in the '90s.
Getting Fender twang from humbuckers using guitar modeling tricks
Knowing a few things about modern guitar modeling can help you get a Fender-like twang from an electric guitar - even if it has humbuckers in it.
Before I get into this, we need to rewind the clock back to 1972 to first see how guitars with humbuckers used to get Fender single-coil like tone.
One of the more famous Telecasters known to have very bright single-coil like tone is the '72 Fender Telecaster Thinline. That particular guitar was loaded with two Fender Wide Range Humbucker pickups, commonly abbreviated as WRHB pickups. What made the pickups special was that they had CuNiFe (copper, nickel, iron) instead of AlNiCo (aluminum, nickel, cobalt) magnets. You can't buy these pickups new anymore, and the one company in the world that was making them stopped doing so because it was getting really tough to source the needed materials to put them together. The modern version of the WRHB by Fender doesn't use CuNiFe magnets.
However, it wasn't just those pickups that made the '72 as spanky as it was. The volume pot also had a 1meg (1000K) resistance, similar to what a Fender Jaguar or a Jazzmaster would use. Normal volume pot resistance used for a Strat or Tele single-coil pickup is 250K, and for a humbucker a 500K is usually used. The 1meg pot really brightened up things.
That was then. If you wanted serious bright spank out of humbuckers, you needed the right magnets and a volume pot that punched up the treble.
With modern guitar modeling, most of the time you don't even need to modify any hardware at all. When you know the right settings to use, you can get some very bright Fender-like sounds even from cheap humbuckers these days.
My experimentation
I've had my Line 6 Spider V 60 for a little while now, and with the help of Line 6's free Spider V Remote software, I've been able to get my Ibanez guitars to produce a rather convincing single-coil tone - even though both Ibanezes I have are HH guitars.
I'm planning on having a sound demo of this later, but for now, this is what I've found that works:
Simulated Fender amp and cabinet
It's usually true in most guitar modeling software that the emulated Fender amps are the brightest of the bunch, and the Line 6 is no different.
On the Spider V 60, the one I've found works very well is the "1964 Blackface 'Lux" preset with accompanying "1x12 Blackface" emulated cabinet.
Simulated MXR Dyna Comp compressor
I've been using simulated Dyna Comps ever since my DigiTech GSP 1101 days. Whether by DigiTech or Line 6, this specific emulated compressor is the kind that puts a little "dirt" in the tone, whereas the emulated BOSS CS-3 is much more clean.
Compressor with a little dirt in it is important to use because it adds in another layer of emulation, which is "juiced tubes".
Most tube-type amp players agree that the amp sounds its best when the volume is up and the tubes are hot. And I don't mean a little warm. I mean hot. When the tubes are hot, a natural organic compression occurs in the guitar tone, which is how you can get that "sustain for days" thing.
A bright emulated Fender amp and cab in combination with a Dyna Comp emulator gets pretty darned close to not only getting a Fender-like single-coil sound out of a guitar with humbuckers, but also has the added bonus of having that juiced tube-type tone as well.
Obviously, you're never going to get a perfect replication of a loud tube-type amp moving real air. However, for recording purposes, the emulated way is more than good enough for classic rock and surf rock tones.
I'm going to try and get out a demo of what this sounds like, but while I'm getting that together, if you use amp modeling, try an emulated Fender type amp and cab with Dyna Comp style compression. The end result is pretty darned good. It makes humbuckers twang and brings on monster sustain. Works well.
Ibanez makes an HSH guitar for under $200
Ibanez yet again puts together a low-priced guitar that features something that used to be a premium-only option: HSH pickup configuration. And it's good.
Times are changing where guitars are concerned. Take the Ibanez GRX70QA model. And at the time I write this, it's under $200 new.
HSH, which means humbucker-single-humbucker, used to be something you would only find on high-end soloist guitars. But now you can have it for just under 200 bucks new.
What makes HSH special?
HSH is special - or at least was - for the reason that it is a nonstandard build.
The vast majority of electric guitars that use a Strat-like double cutaway shape by default will either be SSS, HSS or HH. You simply do not see HSH that often.
Squier did in fact make an HSH Stratocaster guitar, but it's no longer in production. However, even if it were still made, it was a Deluxe model and was always priced significantly higher than $200.
The Fender Player Stratocaster HSH does exist, but that obviously costs far more than $200 to get one of those.
Charvel offers an HSH as well, but that costs even more than the Fender does.
And, of course, Ibanez themselves offers the JEM as well as several other models featuring HSH. But where the best value is concerned, nothing beats the GRX70QA seen above.
Is HSH actually useful?
It is for those that want that middle single-coil pickup.
Imagine a guitar in HH configuration. Now imagine a middle pickup giving you "quack" positions like a Strat, plus another middle pickup position with a nice midrange tone to it. That's the HSH. You go from a 3-position guitar to 5-position, and yes you gain tone functionality that's actually useful...
...BUT WAIT, this Ibanez has a trick up its sleeve that makes it even more useful.
The 2 and 4 "quack" positions I just mentioned? It's not H+S for the 2 position and S+H for the 4 position.
When in the 2 position, the rear humbucker is split to single-coil, and when in the 4 position the front humbucker is split to single-coil.
This means you truly do get Strat-like "quack" sounds from the 2 and 4 positions and not a humbucker overpowering the middle single-coil pickup.
Very, very cool.
And to get it in a $200 guitar is even better.
It's safe to say that the GRX70QA is without question the best value HSH guitar that exists right now. It's definitely an HSH guitar done right.