Well, here we are again 1st of the month and as usual people will be logging onto the blog to see what wonders await them. It is April 1st but I'm not going to try and pull the wool over your eyes although you could forgive yourself for thinking so last month.
HANG THE GUILTY BASTARD!
There's always a way to see if your blog is being read and that is to make an error and think you can get away with it, you soon find out from emails that you definitely can't pull the wool etc.
In the old days of membership of The Old Kit Observers club, " TOKO" an error could be punished by having an aubergine forcibly inserted in yer back passage. I am a member of TOKO and last week, to my surprise discovered that this rule hadn't been superseded.
I can tell you now that, it was painful at first, but the vegetable softened up over a week or so and life got a bit more bearable. Luckily for me the TOKO Enforcer "Eric the Inserter" turned out to be an Uncle so it was "thin end first" with a light coating of Brylcreme. He sung "Love me Tender" during the Insertion which I have to say did have a soothing effect............. I thought to myself, he would sound so much better with a Binson Echorec.
In my Italian flavoured blog, last month, I included a picture of an Echo unit saying it was a Binson but in fact it was a Klemt clone. I did know that but, as usual I was stuck for time and hoped I'd get away with it??
So to all of those who adore Binson Echorec here's a picture to warm your hearts. It is a thing of beauty that I have never owned but I did know several people of note who used them to good effect and others who used the effects to make them appear better. The superior and Italian Binson Echorec 1 and 2 are the ones to get if you can, great for small venue vocals too. It looks so groovy and as a result of it's looks and sound this machine became a well known as a style statement so it was not suprising that other look alikes would follow. The Klempt I showed was a clone Ecolette and was tape operated as opposed to a hard drive Binson.
I apologise to, nay I applaud you eagle eyed guys for pointing this out so now and in an SAS like operation in the dead of night, when even Plooki, my Japanese Loft Boy fan, will be asleep I shall do a quick replacement.
Oh yes, as a token of my gratitude you are cordially invited to a slap up aubergine meal at Brumbeat Towers.
In 1963/4 as a young sproglet and armed with my Wilson Rapier and my RSC 8 watt amp I ruled the world of The Shadows, there was not one tune I couldn't play. I had so impressed my lovely Mum that she said that I deserved a better guitar now that I was playing with a group at youth club level and albeit very amateurishly. I naturally wanted a Fender Stratocaster like Hank and started looking about for a quality item knowing that the Strat was way out of my economic zone, the natural progression from a Wilson would have been to get a Hofner V3 like my mate Oggie but I decided to take 'one step beyond' and go for something really good.
I was in Ringway Music one day, in the early days when it was small shop, and a Gibson Les Paul Junior was un-packed and hung on the wall. No tremelo, one pick-up but there was something brutally basic about it that really appealed to me, plus the fact I had seen Mick Walker of The Redcaps playing his Gibson bass and I loved the body shape and it's blood red colour. On taking it down and feeling it in my hands I knew she was the girl for me
I spoke to Pete Oliver about it and he recommended a different guitar, something that could be more of an all-rounder but I was hooked on getting this guitar and my Mum got it on the newly available Hire Purchase, the price was 48 guineas or thereabouts plus a bit more for a case. I loved that guitar and having already bought a second hand Selmer 30 watt Bluey Twin we blasted our way through You Really Got Me and all those rasping classics of the early to mid 60's.
It was a great instrument to play.
As the years progressed I purchased other Gibsons including SG Standards and finishing with a 1956 Gibson TV. I traded in my original Les Paul Junior back to Ringway Music in 1968 for an electric piano to enable a pianist who had no money to join the band I was in. I like to think he just forgot to give me the money for it but he did quite well as a result.
Anyway, in the last blog I suggested that it would be a good idea to invest in an early Italian guitar if only for the sake of style I thought that a budget of 500 pounds should get me something good, if I looked hard enough. I started looking but on the way tripped over an advert for another stripped down guitar, one volume, one tone, one pick-up selector switch and my Italian dreams bade me "Ciao" and I once more fell in love with this Gibson guitar and after doing my homework bought it straight away. Didn't even try it out at the shop so sure was I.
The Les Paul Special Double Cut 2015. This guitar was around 700 quid when released but I managed to get this one brand new for 518 pounds, including hard case and postal charges. It comes equipped with the G Force tuning system and its hot!!
GUITARISTS GUITAR?
This guitar is not without it's detractors who lament the
WIDE NECK
What some others mention though is that, this is a brilliant guitar but does take some mastering to get all the tones. I can see why some people have had a difficulty getting around this guitar. It takes a while to get accustomed to the much wider neck profile but I found after a day or two its just fine, you have to persevere to get the best results. It was stated by Gibson that it was to help with bending, personally it doesn't make any difference to me but may aid others. I like the neck though, great if you play slide too. More controversy is about:
G FORCE TUNING
I will leave those bemoaning these features sat staring at their Les Paul in its protective case thinking to themselves how lucky they are to have a Gibson with the right amount of screws on the scratchplate. I on the other hand, will be thrashing the shit out of this thing getting it to scream like its basic predecessors. In fact I would like to thank the detractors profusely for giving this guitar and its add-on's a bad name allowing me to buy a GREAT brand new guitar that I predict will become of those guitars you wished you had bought yourself.
It's no longer in production and is not available at most guitar stores.
THANKS!!
BIRMINGHAM BANDS UNITE
STEVE GIBBONS
To let you guys know that there will a concert this month at Birmingham Town Hall in support of the Justice for the 21 who sadly lost their lives in the city bombings. The gig will feature the great Steve Gibbons, Quill and Dave Morgans Morganisation along with others and should be a treat for the ears as well as supporting a worthy cause.
OK, here comes Spring so get your motors running. I'm off for some Gibson finger blistering.
Hope you get an Easter Egg.
Bob
