Pearloid pick guards are dopey but cool
I think pearloid a.k.a. "mother of toilet seat" has come around to the point where it's cool again. It's still dopey due to it being an obvious fake fancy. But when I look at it now, I think yeah, not bad and I like it again. As you see on the Squier Classic Vibe '70s Stratocaster (only on the black one), it can work.
What do I mean by fake fancy? Let's talk about that.
A while ago (possibly about a year?), I bought a pair of Skechers Vigor sneakers because they offer a wide size and have a nice unassuming appearance to them.
The sneakers arrive in the mail, I put them on, and they fit but at the same time they didn't.
I figured these things are new so they have to be broken in. I tried wearing them for a few days but they still felt wrong.
I made a decision at that point.
I rarely buy Oreos or cookies in general, but when I saw the Oreo Space Dunk cookies, yeah I had to get them.
It was actually the appearance that sold me on them because it looks like an '80s arcade. You've got the packaging with the big 3-D SPACE DUNK letters on it, starry night in the background, and so on. The cookie itself has a spaceship on it. It totally works.
I went to buy some strings recently, and the Epiphone Firebird was there hanging on the wall. Yeah, I had to try it out. I have a video of me noodling around with it below.
Even though I don't like tuners on the bottom of the headstock, I actually really liked how this thing played and sounded.
For the longest time I've thought about getting an Explorer style guitar (it would be the Schecter E-1 if I went for it), but there's just more cool factor to the Firebird.
This guitar definitely looks the part. When it comes to a ES-335ish size, sound and feel, I don't think you can do much better than the Harley Benton HB-35.
Yes, this is a real-deal archtop.
Yes, the finish is actual high gloss.
Yes, it has neck-thru construction.
The F-holes are real and not fake, meaning it's an actual semi-hollow.
The price? That's the best part.
I've officially been using Linux as my daily driver for a little over 10 months. Haven't quite made it to a year yet, but that's getting closer.
The most surprising thing about using Linux daily is how quickly it became normal. I thought it was going to take a really long time to get used to it after being a Windows user for so long. Nope. In less than a month's time I wasn't even thinking about Windows anymore.
However, that doesn't mean I didn't take notes.
Comparing these two movies pokes the hornet's nest.
The Shawshank Redemption, considered to be one of the greatest movies of all time by many, was released 1994.
Escape from Alcatraz, while not nearly as well known but still darned good, was released 1979.
Like a lot of people, I saw Shawshank first and Alcatraz later. There are many who say Shawshank rips off Alcatraz big time.
Does it?
This is for player who wants "all guitar" with no fluff whatsoever.
Something you'll notice about some famous guitar players is that they purposely play instruments that are very stripped down to only the absolute minimum hardware required to get the job done. Why? Two reasons. To eliminate as much as possible that could unnecessarily break, and to avoid distraction.
This brings us to the Charvel Pro-Mod DK24 HH HT E.
Side note to Charvel before continuing: Could you please stop using guitar model names that read like a serial number? Thanks in advance.
Moving on..
Some styles of the past come back into fashion. This one didn't.
A clarification up front: I'm not talking about tribal art. When you look up tribal art, you'll see many interesting art pieces, much of which is ceremonial and/or religious...
...but that's not what a tribal graphic is.
In the mid-to-late 2000s, tattoos were the Thing of The Moment. There were even a few television shows made just about tattooing, such as Miami Ink. Every tattoo show was all sorts of terrible. Trash TV at its finest.
Tattoo culture birthed what's known as the tribal graphic. And with that I have to make another clarification...
If you gotta have that Explorer-like shape for new and cheap, this is your only option.
