Ibanez Roadstar II is a very good lower priced vintage guitar
Most guitars from the 1980s suck, but this one doesn't.
Most vintage guitar buyers shy away from electric guitars made in the '80s because a lot of them were just plain crap across the board. To put this in perspective, the modern low-cost Ibanez GRX20 is made better than most of the '80s garbage.
The '80s was of course the era of glam rock, so most guitars were built for shredding. However, there were a few guitars are there that didn't fall into that trap, and that's where the Ibanez Roadstar II really shines.
Roadstar II models from the early-to-mid 1980s were made in Japan, feature a neck that's slimmer but not paper thin, and came in several pickup configurations such as SSS, H/S, HH and HSS.
The bridge, tuners and even the strap buttons are on the chunkier side which does add to their longevity, but that's not the reason they've lasted as long as they have.
The main reason near-mint examples of these guitars exist today is because so many players ignored them at the time they were new. They're not flashy nor do they have any crazy shreddy-stupid hardware. That's not what players wanted in the '80s - but it is what modern players are looking for now.
And the best part? Really nice Roadstar II axes can be picked up from $300 to $500 in very, very good shape.
Bear in mind these are mid-1980s guitars. For a 30+ year old axe with solid construction that plays great, sounds great and was barely played if at all, that's a steal.
If you were looking for something vintage where you really get a good bang for your buck, seek out a Roadstar II like the one seen above. You'll really like it. If you don't want to deal with a vintage guitar (and I wouldn't blame you,) go for a new GRX20, or for something slightly better without breaking the bank, an Ibanez GRG guitar.
The weirdness of Space Age Pop
This predates surf rock, and it's one of those in-between music genres that's tough to define.
There's this specific genre of music called Space Age Pop, which is sometimes called Bachelor Pad Music. It's difficult to pin down how long this genre lasted before fading into obscurity, but from what I can tell it was from around 1951 to 1961.
What makes Space Age Pop weird is that its sonic palate is wide while still having a very specific flavor to it. It can be anything from orchestral based like Ritual of the Savage by Les Baxter to synthesizer-based like Telstar by the Tornados.
Space Age Pop is absolutely not hard-edged like surf rock is, but at the same time just has such an oddball character to it.
One of the best examples is Skin Diver Suite by Leo Diamond.
This is not your typical pop style music. Not at all. It's not rock-and-roll, but it's definitely daring. And oddly enough it's a style you can listen to for hours. It teeters right on the edge of being annoying but stays just musical enough to be pleasing. This is the only genre of music I know of that's like this.
Skin Diver Suite in particular jumps all over the place with its pieces. It's not something you tap your feet or nod your head to. It's music that fills a lot of space very purposely. Some parts can even bring you to tears in a good way.
Is this "elevator music"? No. It has too much attitude to be that. Space Age Pop is just one of those oddball daring styles that came and went. Very experimental, very cool.
I think the best word to describe Space Age Pop is cinematic. While listening to this, I guarantee you'll hear things that sound like old Warner Brothers and Disney cartoons from the '50s and early '60s, which is of course right when this music was most popular.
I don't even know why this genre is called pop, because it follows no pop formula I've ever heard. But that's what makes it so great.
Rock's dead era of 1959-1964
This is one of rock's stranger eras, and for a time one I dove headfirst into.
If you've ever heard the song American Pie by Don McLean (which is off the album of the same name), that references to The Day The Music Died. And that specific day is February 3, 1959.
What happened on that day? A plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (J.P. Richardson).
For whatever reason, many considered that tragic crash as a sign that rock'n'roll was dead. Shortly after that, music on the airwaves changed. A lot. Things got softer, calmer, more processed, and sometimes outright campy... at least on the pop side of music. The music industry sincerely believed this whole thing called rock'n'roll was a fad, and that the plane crash was the incident saying loud and clear that the fad was over and it's time to move on.
All this led to this five-year limbo period in rock music from 1959 to 1964. In '64, The Beatles happened and that changed everything. But within the limbo period, things got weird.
Where things got weirdest was surf rock, and this is the style of rock music I got into when I bought a Jazzmaster guitar. Because rock music was so unbelievably dead as far as the music industry was concerned, this made the field wide open for others to step in. In 1961, Let's Go Trippin' by Dick Dale happened. Arguably, the main reason why the song got popular in the first place was because rock was dead.
The gentle touch of rock's dead era
Surf rock is what some believe to be the first heavy metal music because of its sound and attitude. I suppose there is some truth to that with its rebellious nature... sort of.
But then there's the soft stuff like El Paso by Marty Robbins.
Country, Western and Tex-Mex always had a place on the charts in rock's early days. But after February 3, 1959 you saw a lot more of it. El Paso was released October 1959, and it's probably true that had the plane crash not happened, this song would have never gone to the top on the Billboard 100. Yes, this actually was a #1 hit song.
It's songs like this and others similar to it that were soft around the edges dominating the charts from the '59 to '64 dead era.
Yes, there was surf rock and other rock songs that snuck into the charts periodically. But for the most part, the lion's share of music chart space was occupied by soft, "safe" songs.
Truth be told, I do like some of that soft stuff. Surf, not to be confused with beach music, was hard-edged while the Westerns and ballads were on the calm side. And sometimes it's nice to put on a song to relax to.
The middle ground music of rock's dead era is stuff I'm not into at all. Swing dance songs with loud saxophones were somewhat popular. An example of that is Running Bear by Johnny Preston. Can't stand songs like that.
Did rock truly die from '59 to '64?
The best answer to this is yes and no.
As far as the music industry was concerned, yes it was dead. Totally, absolutely, without-a-doubt dead.
As far as music listeners were concerned, no it wasn't, and not by a long shot. Rock was exciting, "dangerous" and fun.
And where musicians were concerned, of course there was this thing called the electric guitar that had become popular just a few years ago. They seemed to be selling very well... and maybe it would stick around for a while?
Oh yes, it would.
Digital modeling vintage '60s Clapton guitar tone
This was an attempt at getting that 1968 Eric Clapton sound which he calls Woman Tone...
...and I got it somewhat. It probably would have been better to try this with my Thinline Tele since it has a pair of humbuckers in it. But I felt like playing my Bullet Tele at the time, so that's what I used.
The sound I was specifically going after is the one Eric Clapton spoke about in a 1968 interview.
The "trick," if you will, to getting the sound aside from technique is also including the stage reverb.
I'll admit I went a little overboard with the reverb I used, but I think it works... sort of.
I'm not trying to be Eric Clapton. I just really dig the sound. Sounds great to my ear.
How to get this sound
This is the effects chain order. It's very simple.
Compressor > Amp Sim > Reverb
The specifics on the Line 6 Spider V 60 amp I use:
- Red Comp (meaning MXR Dyna Comp)
- Brit J-2000 #2 (I don't know what amp this is supposed to emulate)
- Chamber reverb with 48% decay, 69% mix
The other part to getting Woman Tone is purposely turning down the tone control on the guitar as Eric shows in the '68 interview.
This is incidentally why most guitarists can't get Woman Tone out of a Strat, because in a standard wiring setup there is no tone control wired to the bridge-only pickup selection. It's easy enough to wire that in, but without it, no Woman Tone.
Embracing the electric eye
After driving around with a dashcam for a few days, yeah I'm totally hooked on it.
As mentioned recently, I acquired a Garmin DriveAssist 50LMT refurb, which has a built-in dashcam.
To those want the know the main differences between the DriveAssist 50LMT and the DriveAssist 51 LMT-S, there are two. First, the 51 can be updated completely on its own wirelessly whereas the 50 requires a USB connection for updates. Second, the 51 records audio with its dashcam video whereas the 50 is just video only with no audio. I may go ahead and get a 51 model in the future to get that audio feature.
There have already been two instances while driving where I almost got into a bad situation. And the reason I didn't is because I'm an alert driver. But had something bad happened, the dashcam footage would have been invaluable. Even though I've not had this tech for a week, I already consider dashcam something I won't drive without.
Will a front-facing camera be a standard feature in every car at some point?
Maybe, but they probably won't record accidents.
As of May 2018, it's law in America that every new car under 10,000 pounds must have a rearview backup camera. But it's not required by carmakers to have a front-facing camera, such as having one installed in front of the rearview mirror.
Part of what my DriveAssist 50LMT does is driver alerts. If you stray outside your lane, traffic in front of you starts to move from a stop and you don't, you follow too close and so on, you get on-screen and audible alerts for that. And those are legitimate safety features a front-facing camera can provide.
If the NHTSA does say at some point that all cars also must have front-facing cameras, it will only be for safety features. Whether that camera will actually record accidents or not will be totally up to the carmakers themselves.
This pretty much means if you want the best benefit of a dashcam, it will still be required to actually buy one for years to come. It's a good thing they're cheap.
I personally really like the GPS + dashcam combo the Garmin provides. But for those on a budget, there are dashcams for under 25 bucks now. It's totally worth having.