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Instruments
Here are a few photos of my music gear and home studio. |
Fender Lite Ash Stratocaster Limited Edition
My newest addition. I looked long and hard for one of these as they are simply amazing. Every write up I've read simply rings with praise. According to many this is the best Stratocaster ever made, even though it's a Korean made model. Seymour Duncan single coil pickups and a lovely lightweight body with an incredibly smooth neck makes for such a great playing experience. Hopefully this will end my search for the perfect guitar, it really is truly superb. Pictured with it is a small Fender Frontman 15w practice amp. You can ignore that until I get some better photos.
1981 Gibson "The Paul" Deluxe Firebrand
OK, this might a be a bit dodgy in terms of copyright, so I have to state that all rights to this photo are reserved by Gibson Guitar Company, and if they want me to take it down then I will do, but here's the original Gibson promo advertisement... mine's the one on the left.
And now some of my model...
Ibanez EW50 Electric/Acoustic Guitar
This is a copyright free photo of the Ibanez EW50, in Cocobolo the same as mine. I love it as a live guitar though I had a bit of a problem with it at first as it had a high action and needed very heavy strings. I've got it played in now and I'm really starting to like it. With an XLR output and on board tuner it's really good for just plugging straight into the studio inputs and getting ideas down:
Casio CDP100 Digital Piano
As a good (and cheap) alternative to something like a Yamaha or Roland I found one of these Casio CDP100 88 key electric pianos for less than £300 in a big store in Germany. The key weighting is really outstanding for the price, and as I use midi instruments for pianos and key tones I don't really use the onboard sounds. They're OK, but not great:
Korg N364 Workstation
This next one is an example of how my old Korg N364 would look if it was new. Unfortunately it's previous owner dropped a couple of hot coals of a dubious substance on the keys. Obviously he got carried away with the thousand plus synth sounds and drum kits. It's particularly useful if you like 'old school' sounds but can't quite see the point of parting with top dollars for a old moog or some state of the art new machine to emulate them.
Nashville Acoustic
I can't find anything about these guitars anywhere. I bought this from a shop in Belgium, it's called a Nashville, it's got a cowboy hat on the headstock and the same on a sticker inside, if anyone knows anything about them then please let me know. When I bought it it wasn't up to much, it buzzed and rattled a lot, and it had a small mark on the body, but not that you can really notice. It was €120 and it was money well spent as it's been my living room guitar for about 3 years and I've got all the nasty noises worked out of it now. I managed to get the action down to that of a decent electric guitar and it plays like a dream. It came to DeStudio in Asse with Pump El Moose where I humbly offered it up to a microphone, and it just sounded amazing. Here are a few pics:
Fender Squier 5 String Bass
Another complete mystery this one. I bought this for €250 from a reputable shop who couldn't give me any other details other than it's a maple neck, rosewood fretboard and either an Agathis or alder body, but without stripping it it's hard to tell. The neck says it's Korean made (yes, I know... another Korean heap, but wait... read on) and the closest I can find is the MB-5 model, but it has a different pickup rig. It's pretty heavy, and it looks awful to be honest, but once it's plugged in to a decent amp or desk it sounds like something worth twice the price, very rich but mellow top end and tight low tones. I tune it with a high B as I like to use the top string for fills and pulls. Again if anyone knows anything about these basses then please let me know:
Fester's Cellar
For some strange reason people used to call me Uncle Fester, and up until a few months ago reality imitated art in that I often spent my evenings down in my dusty old cellar where I gradually put together a small recording studio. Admittedly it's not exactly Abbey Road, but it serves its purpose:
This was how it looked at first...
And this is a crappy mobile photo of the big red chair with shiny new PC behind it...
The current setup
For a variety of reasons the gear has now migrated upstairs into the living room, and is now just waiting to be boxed up before moving to the new big apartment, where the whole rig will be esconsed in it's own room. More (and better) pictures will follow once the move is complete, but here are a few crappy ones of everything together.
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