The show that I was building this guitar came and went last Friday. I had the guitar intonated about 2 hours before the show. It was very tight but I was able to finish it and use it for the show. It was awesome. I am going to write up a review for this show as well as talk about our set a bit. First, the bands that played were The Unthinking Majority, Sleeps Six (my band), Corporate Saturday, Rockasaurus Rex, and Credible Witness. There was another band that opened up but they were not part of the battle and did I don’t think they told anyone their name.

I will begin with them then. They were cool. They weren’t an “official” band hence why they didn’t want to be judged. It consisted of a guitarist and drummer. The drummer didn’t really stand out to me. I no sense was he bad, but I’ve seen some incredible drummers around here and he’s not quite in that category. The guitarist, on the other hand, was incredibly good at guitar; very strong technically. There isn’t too much I can say about these guys because they played for about 15 minutes and it seemed like one 15 minute song.

The Unthinking Majority played first in the judged portion of the show. They were your standard alternative rock band. They did a couple Chili Peppers’ covers and they matched the rest of their set really well. Sound-wise they were very RHCP-style. The singer had a very controlled and powerful voice. One thing that caught my attention during this band and whole show was the vocals for each band; all were very strong. Like the show I went to last week where all the drummers stood out to me, it was the vocals that stood out this time. Overall, they were a tight band and although it was a bit generic for my liking, they were good at what they did and were awesome guys to talk to afterwards. 3/5

We played second and I hated our set. The sound guy kept screwing with my amp so I was either way too loud (to the point where I was annoyed) or not playing at all. It threw off a lot of timing within the whole band, especially at parts where only I played. I was also expecting to have a monitor but it just sat there for stage decoration or something because no sound was coming out of it. That made me angry. We got good feedback from the crowd afterwards despite all the technical difficulties. We had practiced a lot with the guitars and vocals because we knew each other so well so we intended to be very active on stage. We had major drummer problems over the last couple of weeks though so our last resort drummer had to learn very short notice and a lot of our last days of practice went to making sure he had it down, not our actual show. I also spent the entire show listening into my amp to see if there was any sound coming out so it didn’t go as well as I had hoped. Luckily Crystal (singer) is incredible and she could be heard well so that worked out for the best. I’ll leave us unrated.

Corporate Saturday played after us and pulled out an acoustic set. They were the battle winners and rightfully so. These guys are awesome at what they do and work so hard. The whole band is ridiculously tight and they know what it takes to put on a good show, including how to tell a good story. Said story had something to do with XXL women’s underwear, an Aero chocolate bar, and a band sleepover. I’ll let you imagine how it ended. Anyway, these guys have some of the best music in Windsor, in my opinion. I love their sound and they are all very talented at their respective instruments within the band. Rob is one of those elite drummers in the local region, Brendan can shred like no other (even on an acoustic guitar), Austen has serious vocal range, and Chris is short. Really, Chris is a great bassist with sweet backup vocal abilities. I’ve seen these guys twice since they wrote and released the new music and both times have been acoustic. I am so excited how it all unfolds when they play full band and I hope I can catch a show soon. 4.5/5 (I’ll leave that last 0.5 for when they amaze me with the full band)

Rockasaurus Rex was next up. I left. They consist of a bass player and a drummer and are really boring. They are both good musicians, but as a band they are lacking a lot of depth. There is only so much variety one can get from the rhythm section of a band and I found myself bored pretty quickly. 1.5/5

Credible Witness was the last band on the bill and once again they rocked the house. I’ve seen these guys so many times now and have been good friends with most of them for quite a few years now. Their live show never gets old though. Lead singer Walter is always a crowd pleaser and has a goofy attitude, always interacting with the crowd. Mike D (guitar) is one of the best guitarists I’ve met even though he kind of humbles himself playing in a pop/punk/rock band that isn’t very guitar-oriented. From what I’ve seen though, he has an incredible knowledge of theory and anything that has to do with anything related to guitars. Ryan (drums) has become one of the better drums I’ve seen around the local scene. He’s very controlled and knows what he’s doing; a huge step up from when we were in our little crappy pop-punk band together four years ago. These guys rocked and if it Corporate Saturday hadn’t taken the title, these guys would have won for sure. 4.49/5 (because Corporate Saturday had to win)

For a first show, it was fairly successful. One thing we told Crystal to do was make sure she talked to the crowd in between songs. She didn’t really and that’s where we lost points. I’m not too worried about it. As she gets more experienced with the band setting, it’ll come to her. We have two more shows this summer for sure (hopefully more) and so there will be a couple more reviews up as those shows come around.

-- Mike

I attended a pretty awesome show last night. One of my top three bands, MEANS, came to Windsor and when I first heard about the show I was excited out of my mind. A month later – after signing with Underground Operations – they held a contest where a person from each city that is on their tour gets to have a pizza party with the band and all this free merchandise. I won for Windsor so this show was going to mean a lot and now I was going for free. Unbelievable! So come show day, my brother and I headed downtown to the venue. I was definitely ready for pizza. We were walking towards the bar when I noticed the entire band walking towards us (away from the venue). So I was thinking weird, where they going? I stopped and said hi, introduced myself and told them about the pizza deal. Apparently, Underground Operations didn’t do a very good job of organizing the pizza parties and that I was one of few winners who actually showed up throughout the entire tour. This lack of organization and communication left the band without funds for a pizza party. However, they were all for just hanging out and grabbing a $2.75 burger at The Beach. At dinner, we got to chill with some of the bands on the tour: Oceans, Farewell to Freeway, and MEANS. It was great and meeting the guys (and girl) was an awesome experience. My brother and I were pretty interested in their stuff (you know, living the musician life) and they were pretty interested in our stuff (school). We also talked a lot of hockey. It was cool. After dinner, we took a couple of the guys out to a local coffee shop called Mila’s Gelato (or something to that extent). If you’re in downtown Windsor, look it up. We got to know Matt (guitarist, MEANS) fairly well at this point because there were just a few of us out for coffee. Steve (guitarist, Oceans) and Kyle (drummer, Oceans) were also there with us. They were really cool guys and were around my age. It’s so awesome how an engineer like myself can only dream of being a full-time musician and how full-time musicians are in awe of what engineers can do. It was really cool to see. This was probably the first time I could just sit down with big, signed bands and chill. It was great.

 

So we walked back to the venue for the beginning of the show. Local band I Am the Vine was opening. We caught the last two songs of their set. They were pretty cool. However from what I heard it was typical drop-D power chorded hardcore music and it wasn’t really my thing.

Next was Oceans and I was excited to see these guys mainly because I got to hang out with some of the guys. They didn’t strike me as the most amazing band or anything, but they were enjoyable. I think it was the vocals that brought it down a bit. I’m picky for extremely strong vocals (which is ironic because I’m not a very good singer) and this just wasn’t my style. I commend them for their awesome work though; and touring with my favourite band is a plus!

Farewell to Freeway was next up and they were pretty good. A great mix of vocals and they were really strong vocals as well. Drummers who can sing well and play amazing always inspire me and this guy was on the ball last night. They had sweet stage presence and an awesome sound (and a really attractive keyboardist as well). They were a bit more melodic than the previous two bands because they had so many singers available to them and I really enjoyed that. We purchased their CD and I am quite pleased with how it sounds.

Kathleen Turner Drive played after FTF. They were alright; nothing special. I made a joke to my brother saying the singer looked like an ugly version of Rody Walker (Protest the Hero) and had a very similar resemblance about him. I’m not sure why so many artists have taken on the douche bag front man approach like Rody Walker has, but it’s really getting old. They were strange. Enough said.

Ligeia played next. I’m still not sure how to pronounce that. They were pretty cool; nothing overly advanced or technical, but I found myself head banging along with their tunes. Unlike most bands, they had only one guitarist. Sometimes I find that this hinders musical creativity (one guitarist can only play so much) but some bands can make it work and these guys did just that.

Finally MEANS hit the stage (I was arrived for dinner at 5:30 and they started their set between 10:30 and 11:00. It was long night). They, once again, blew me away. Matt has such powerful vocals as well as insane guitar-playing abilities. Dylan can scream and jump like very few I have ever seen before. They played a mix of old songs and new songs and I was very happy with their song choices.

 

One thing I noticed that I enjoyed about each band was that they all had really good drummers. I’m pretty sure that all six drummers left good impressions in my opinion. Drumming is essential, especially in this genre of music, but everyone was rocking last night.

A couple things I didn’t like were the stupid scene/hardcore kids and skinny jean shorts. First of all, the little “hardcore” kids who think they’re gangster and tough need to realize there’s more to life than hardcore dancing. They also look like retarded chickens as they “dance”. Walking back and forth across the floor does not make you tough; ever. Seriously, whatever happened to straight up mosh pits? Secondly, skinny jeans have slowly become accepted by me. However, cutting them into shorts is perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever heard of or seen. They’re stupid and make me angry.

Lastly, the one thing I was kind of disappointed about (and I say this at almost all big shows I attend) was that I didn’t really know any of the bands before the show started except for MEANS. It’s really hard to get into bands when you have no idea what they’re about or what they’re going to play for you. Next time I’ll know. That is why I always make it a habit to see my favourite bands more than once. I have seen Protest the Hero four or five times, The Human Abstract twice and now MEANS twice.

 

Overall it was a good show. I got a sweet new t-shirt (for free) as well as CD (for free) and I got my fix of metal for the month. We went around saying our goodbyes to the band members we really had the chance of meeting and then we took off. It was a great night. My ears are still ringing and I can say that anyone who stopped by A&W today was most likely fed up with my inability to hear their orders.

 

In guitar news, I am so close to being finished. I am having my pickups installed tonight/tomorrow and then it will be finished. I will have the next part of the paint job blog and a new pickup blog ready to go within the week. Stay tuned!

 

-- Mike

I have decided on a pickup set. I am going with the KH-20 pro series pickup combination that features an EMG 81/S/S configuration (Check the specs). I am very excited to get this. I just need a job to be lined up before I go ahead with the purchase. I also need the guitar body to be painted and passed on back to me. I am very excited about this as well.

There has been a lot of excitement around here lately. The show set up for mid-July has been a very large factor in that excitement. Getting back into the band swing of things has really got my blood rushing. I’ve been learning covers, attempting to write some originals, and preparing myself for the upcoming weeks of practicing.

Being in a band again has brought about a few things that are new for me this time around. None have taken very long to get used to and all have proven to be rather interesting.

1)      I am no longer a frontman. Most of my previous band experience has had me doing a lot of leading vocally. I wasn’t always lead singer, but I took on a prominent role in the vocal portion of the band. This time around, I am just the guitarist. I may throw in a few backing vocals here and there, but for the most part, I am the guitarist. This hasn’t had too big of an impact on my though this time because it’s given me a chance to work on my stage presence and my recent outburst of love for guitar has not hindered me at all. Being out of the band scene for a while, the thought of going back on stage has my mind dancing already and when it comes time to perform, I won’t be stuck at the mic and will be able to “rock out hardcore”.

2)      The lead singer is phenomenal. My past bands have always had mediocre singers, myself especially. Playing alongside an exceptional singer allows me to be extremely confident in the music we plan on playing.

3)      I have been looking at music theory quite a bit lately. My friend Jesse has a guitar lessons blog on which he has posted multiple articles about theory (Check it out here). As I attempt to write down chord progressions, lead parts, and harmonies, I have found myself constantly referring to the notes he has posted. And it has helped greatly. I am confident in the fact that this is some of the best music I have ever written solely because I understand what I’m writing. It also has sparked more interest in learning more theory and digging deeper into the art of guitar playing.

4)      I am challenging myself much more. Normally I practice and play music within my limits. If I get to a lead part that I believe I will never master, I play the rhythm section. I have found myself reaching out much more this summer. Sitting down and taking the time to slow down those hard riffs and learn them to perfection. I have found my guitar playing abilities have multiplied by countless amounts because of this.

Though this post has nothing really to do with my new guitar, I am not too worried. I was thinking about what would happen when I finished the guitar. What would become of this website? I will likely continue to use it as my general guitar blog. This is certainly not the last project I will undertake and so this site will continue running as long as I do.

Cheers,

-- Mike

So I decided that since this is going to be my first project guitar, then I'm going to make my own pickups and we'll see how it all goes from there. I have a collection of resources online to help me with the process and I'm currently setting up an expense sheet to see how much it's all going to cost. That will be posted once it has been started with the essentials. It looks as if I'm going to need:

    -   42 gauge copper wire (and lots of it)
    -   Alnico #5 magnet
    -   Some plastic, probably from a CD case
    -   Screws and/or short metal rods
    -   Lots and lots and lots of time

I have a jar of money started as my summer guitar fund. I'm looking to add to that jar, so if you know of any jobs, need a tutor, or have any old junk that you don't mind donating to me, let me know! If you have any thing that might be usable for the building of this guitar, that would also be very handy and greatly appreciated.

Ha; alright so after that shameless plug, I sat down the other day to try and learn how to do a little guitar sweeping, using Bloodmeat by Protest the Hero as my training song and I can proudly say, I have accomplished my goal! There is a new link at the top, "Video" and if you follow that link, you can view the video of that song.

So check it out and let me know.

-- Mike

So I haven’t done much in ways of recreating this guitar yet. I’m mostly waiting for school to finish and for me to go home where working on it will be much easier. And I’m still trying to understand this circuit set up, which is proving to be fairly complex.

I have, however, found myself playing my non-destroyed guitar a lot more as of late. I play an LTD EX-400BD, which I love but am also looking at replacing. The EMGs give a great sound and the neck is incredibly fast, however the explorer shape is just not what I’m looking for at the moment. The Strat style guitar is also not what I’m looking for; however as a first guitar project, I had no intentions of taking apart a guitar of real value.

And though not entirely surprised by this outcome, I have noticed an extreme difference in how well each guitar plays. Of course, the craftsmanship of the LTD is expected to be greater than the JT, but the playing ability of the LTD stands out far more than the JT; and they’re hardly comparable. Along with its superior craftsmanship, the LTD also seems to give me a confidence that isn’t felt when playing the JT. Just the known difference in value is enough to cause great discrepancy in playing ability. It is often said that “it’s not the guitar, but the guitarist”, however this guitar proves that there is an extent to which this phrase is not entirely true. Alas, I practice daily with my lovely LTD.

Currently, I am trying to learn a collection of songs by Protest the Hero, a five-person group of drunkards that will melt your face off with insane guitar licks, bass riffs, drum beats, and vocal mastery. Their latest album, Fortress, has been a guideline for what I am attempting to learn. I have so far worked my way through Bloodmeat and The Dissentience (the first two tracks), neither of which I can perfectly master yet. But I continue to practice daily, hoping that one day, I will get better.

-- Mike

So I have just begun on my new adventure of learning the wonders of a guitar. I have been playing guitar for about 4 years now and have finally begun exploring the inside of what has been my passion over those years. I just began a Bachelor of Engineering degree at Dalhousie University with an electrical engineering discipline. The study of circuits, electricity, and magnetism has greatly influenced this new, sudden adventure I find myself on right now.

My goals for this project:
-          Study and understand the circuits involved in the pickups, control knobs, and switches
-          Modify the electronics in order to maximize the potential of the guitar
-          Break down and reassemble the guitar in order to build myself a custom guitar

After being unsatisfied in my search for a new guitar, I decided it would be awesome to build my own guitar. This way, I would have to be satisfied with whatever I could create. However, in order to do that, I needed to know what it takes to build a guitar. So here I am, practicing on two Strat copies of little value and thus begins my adventure. I just purchased a cheap Jay Turser Strat which I plan on taking apart soon.
Some facts on the guitar:
-   fairly solid for a no-namer guitar, but definitely not something you’d want as a main guitar
-   single coil neck, single coil mid, and humbucker bridge pickups; they look fairly cheap and they sound even worse
-   5-way switch
-   very heavy; shockingly comparable to my big LTD EX400
-   again, decent neck for being basically nothing
-   strings came with guitar are brutal, specifically the high E string, which has seemingly deteriorated at the 5th fret.

I plugged it in for the first time today and it went a little better than expected. Mind you, a Strat is very different from my Explorer-shaped LTD and compared to the EMGs in that guitar, the pickups on the Turser are brutal. I tried all five combinations of pickup usage:

-          Bridge humbuckers were decent, however there was a lot of feedback and way too much background buzz
-          The middle pickup is very quiet. Little background noise, but that’s probably because there is little noise in general.
-          The neck pickups are just bad. Lots of buzz and little tone. They need work.

So that’s it for now; tear down day is approaching and I am getting more and more excited. Keep posted!

-- Mike