For the guitar gear junkies among us

[Jackal]

Lars, I sold it in the late 90s, but it was great to play. Very fast neck. A bit wider and flatter than a regular strat. I didn't like the pickups that much. They were actually stacked humbuckers, so very quiet. If I had had more money back then, I would have swapped for a set of nice Seymour Duncans. I didn't get much money for it when I sold it, because it wasn't the "right company". But the quality was amazing.

[holaknopfler]

Seymour Duncan is always nice. Love them! I've had them in my Fender, will post a picture tonight. Brilliant things. For the bridge, I'd go to my local guitar shop and ask look what they say. If you have a quality bridge it's a very nice upgrade!

[Jackal]

Yeah, I have a mixed SD set in my strat; a Lil 59 humbucker in neck (can be split with a switch), an APS-2 Alnico 2 single coil in middle and a hot SSL-6 in the bridge. Makes for a very versatile guitar. I can also get the neck and bridge combination by using a switch.

[Fletch]

Jackal, the tele is hand made by our local luthier Craig Upfold, who is unfortunately dying of cancer. It's a nice guitar.

[Jackal]

Anyway, how about giving us some kind of link to actually listen to your guitar cry or sing? Always fond of listening to music from fans. .

Sorry, if you've seen this before VGONIS, but here's some stuff I've done http://www.amarkintime.org/forum/index.php/topic,1827.msg33003.html#msg33003 .

[vgonis]

No Jackal, I have missed that thread. Thanks for letting me know. Just heard "Birds of passage", very nice, has similar Peter Green feel from his "In the skies" days (maybe the background music led me to this conclusion) . Couldn't help but notice the Ansel Adams poster on the wall. Are you a photographer, or just admire Adams?
Gonna listen to your other videos as well!

[Jackal]

Black&white photography was a hobby of mine a long time ago. Now I just like photography as art. My favorite is still Henri Cartier Bresson. The Ansel Adams poster I bought at an Ansel Adams gallery in California. The quality of his photos are just amazing. Can't believe he pulled those large-format cameras up in the mountains and stuff ...

[vgonis]

Heard the "a perfect day" instrumental. Impressed! Tuning similar to Nick Drake's? Nice, moody! Thank you! Out of topic, but your song reminded me, Bert Jansch. Left this world a couple of weeks ago.
Bresson was blessed. Such a big body of work. Adams is THE American photographer. Equally for his fine printing and the nature. I kind of prefer Robert Frank. After all he is the one with the most rock credentials (photos and movies with the famous Beatniks, the Rolling Stones, Tom Waits etc.)

[Jackal]

Thanks, VGONIS, for your kind words. The tuning in the video is open C, i.e. CGCEGC, but I usually play it in open D. I'm quite happy with it. Played it at my brother's wedding, and it worked very well as a "mood piece", judging by people's reaction. Bert Jansch is a new name for me. Just checked him out on YouTube. Really great fingerpicker! Man, there are so many hidden treasures around.

Speaking of Adams, I visited a gallery (http://www.westongallery.com/) in Carmel, California, and they sold originals by Adams. One that I saw went for 150,000 dollars! Lovely stuff. Looked at some of Robert Franks stuff now. Wonderful stuff! There's nothing quite like top-notch street photography in B&W.

[vgonis]

Funny you haven't heard of Bert Jansch. No, he has never been that famous, but extremely influential.  Jimmy Page owes much to him, at least his acoustic guitar playing.
Anyway, I thought that among the MK circle he is a bit more known, since MK thought highly of him even from his journalistic days, when he even wrote an article for Jansch's then group - Pentacle. His last albums were packed with collaborations from artists that wanted to play with him, like Johnny Marr (the Smiths-the well known) and Hope Sandoval (from  Mazzy Star-if you don't know them , give them a try they had 3 albums out and they were great!).

Adams was the greatest B&W technician, his gray scale and three books The Camera, The Negative & The Print, are the bible for every photographer, at least for the pre-digital times. And the artistic value of his photos are great. But I don't get the prices they ask for anybody's photos. Maybe just for the fetish of the thing, a print made by Adams himself, would worth a bit more just for the history, but 150.000$ for a photo, that by nature is a reproductive art?     

[holaknopfler]

As promised to Jackal I'd thought it would be nice to show my guitars.

From left to right: Fender Stratocaster 50's reissue. I replaced the pickup covers with black ( they were white) and the volume and tone knobs also. The guitar of my dreams, it plays and sounds so nice. Stagg western guitar, my first guitar, it's very cheap but it sounds good enough to practice on. Aria dobro/resonator. It was very expensive, but it is really worth the money. Again a fantastisc soundig guitar. The little guitar is my travel guitar, a Washburn Rover. If you want a small guitar that sounds like a real acoustic guitar: Get this one.

[Jackal]

Nice collection, Lars. One thing is for sure that a guitar does not have to cost 2000 euro to sound nice. They make so many good inexpensive both electric and acoustic guitars these days. If you for instance get an inexpensive electric which plays well and sounds good acoustically, then you can upgrade the electronics over time and then you have a killer guitar.

I have an early Highway 1 strat with all the electronics upgraded. When I'm done, only the neck, body and tuners will be original 

[vgonis]

Very nice collection Lars! I am  a bit jealous. Have you recorded anything to listen to? Would be glad to hear music from people that admire the same guitar hero, MK.

[holaknopfler]

Jackal, must be a very nice guitar a highway 1. Can you post a picture of that guitar? VGONIS2002, I have some music that I recorded, have to search on my other HD but I'll upload something tonight!

Lars

[Jackal]

It used to be like this:




Now it's like this:




A close-up: