Friday: Took my oldest son to Boise for his junior blackbelt test on Saturday morning. Got there with time to go to a book store as he wanted, and had planned to head over to GC so he could try some guitars to see what he likes. He is playing a borrowed Ibanez ARC300 now, and has a cheap "Fullerton" strat copy, but will need to upgrade to that Ibby or something else.
GC is having an excellent October sale, and is really blowing some stuff out. We are not buying just now, but some good deals are out there. I selected some guitars I thought he might like and the guy set us up with cables and etc. I picked a Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar, an Epiphone "Traditional Pro" LP model with two coil taps, Fender Blacktop series both Tele and Jaguar. ( missed finding a jazzmaster), and for grins, a Fender '72 thinline HH tele. I also threw the blacktop strat at him later too.
Bottom line, he wants an offset shape, with tappable buckers, and a tremelo bridge. The Squire VM came close, but we would need to mod the pickups to tap them. Plus it is a squire. He liked the Blacktop Jag, but wanted the tremelo, so maybe the jazzmaster would be a good bet, and then we could tap the bridge if he wanted. I think the combo of bridge bucker and p90 in the neck could be really cool for what he wants. May require another trip. A build up from scratch would be cool, but I think we gain a lot of ground starting from one of these existing guitars.
He was not that impressed with the Epiphone. He liked the tappable buckers, and control layout, but just didn't bond with the guitar. Between the teles, he liked the thinline since it was semihollow. I was surprised he didn't like the blacktop more than he did but there you have it. The Ibby remains what he is playing for now, so we shall see. He has to keep playing if we are going to invest anyway.
On Saturday, though very nervous, he worked into the test, responded and self corrected to the examiner's demands, and passed very well!! I am very proud of him. He is a quiet, shy kid at this point, and the examiner wanted big "YES SIR" type responses and loud yells with each punch and kick. He is not wired that way, but he went ahead and gave the guy what he needed after a couple reminders. He sparred well with an advanced adult black belt, and then a kid who outweighed him by 20 or 30 pounds and is a shover. In a tournament earlier this summer, the kid kept shoving my son back and my son did not know how to react. This time, he moved well, made space with his kicks, and outscored the guy hugely. No contest. It was testing and not a tournament anyway, but good to see. His forms were really good too, particularly his upper body. Like I said, very proud of him.
Then on our way out of town, I stopped at a homebrew shop, and got supplies to add to some that I have to make a black "double" or higher alcohol, IPA. I have not brewed in a long time, and am excited to do a batch again! I posted in the homebrew thread about that. I got an early evening MTB ride in to close out the day. Had kids over last night for a cookout and marshmallow gun war, concluded with a viewing of MP and the Holy Grail.
Sunday, Need to help with the Scouts color guard for a sheep festival parade today in Ketchum, then hope to get a MTB bike ride in. How 'bout you guys?
Steve Thompson
Sun Valley, Idaho
Guitars: Fender 60th Anniversary Std. Strat, Squier CVC Tele Hagstrom Viking Semi-hollow, Joshua beach guitar, Martin SPD-16TR Dreadnought
Amphs: Peavey Classic 30, '61 Fender Concert
Effects and such: Boss: DS-1, CE-5, NS-2 and RC20XL looper, Digitech Bad Monkey, Korg AX1G Multi-effects, Berhinger: TU100 tuner, PB100 Clean Boost, Line 6 Toneport UX2, Electro Harmonix Little Big Muff Pi, DuhVoodooMan's Rabid Rodent Rat Clone, Zonkin Yellow Screamer Mk. II, MXR Carbon Copy Delay
love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart. . .
- j. johnson