First Blog
I figured I'd give you some background to start. Some of this is on
Jemsite
, but I thought I'd put it here too.
I started getting the bug to refinish guitars sometime in 2004. Originally I went to the local store to buy a beat up used guitar.
Bad move! I ended up buying a
50th anniversary Strat.
I do love that one. Not exactly a shredder, but pretty cool. I read how SRV
used super heavy strings. I set that one up with 11s. It is tough on the fingers, but it really has a great sound. There is one position
on the
S-1 Switch
(one from the top, with the button pushed) that really sounds like Stevie. I really miss him. I saw him live at least 5 times.
One time was at
Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor.
My daughter goes to Michigan now. Wow, time flies!
I bought a few test guitars on eBay to try, Sometime after that I started talking to an old friend from school. He was buying used guitars
on eBay too. He told me about the Ibanez RGs. I bought a used one that ended up getting refinished into a LNG. I really got excited about
the locking trem. It was always a hassle to go to a music store looking for a
Floyd Rose Guitar
and hearing how they don't really have any, and
how nobody really uses them, and how they are so much work, and blah, blah, blah ... I think I have 90 percent of my guitars with either an Edge
or a Floyd. A double locking system is the hot rod of guitars. At some point later on I traded emails with Floyd Rose himself! Wow!
Then I moved on to the siwrls. I put in a bid on an original
JEM77 Green Multi Color (GMC)
for $1175. At the time that would have been as much as the Strat, which was my
most expensive guitar. I was outbid by a hair, so I missed it. Gosh, those are worth a LOT now. But that got me interested in the swirl paint.
I started buying bodies from
Pearle.
I think I bought 15 or so total from him. I finished some to sell. Then I kept some that I still have today.
I get a lot of cool emails too. Someone sent me a good overall discussion of guitars. Check out
this link.
There is a good discussion of wood types.
I'll tell you how I got into dipping guitars next time ... stay tuned ...
- Chris Mai
- Revised - May 2017