A positive spin on a crappy situation

I've been making a pretty big deal of my shitar situation lately. Out of this mess, though, has come a very positive result - I'm now ready to customize my Strat.

What this situation has done is remove the sanctity of the Strat. When I get a new guitar, it takes on an air of wholeness. It's a pristine example of factory goodness, a sealed unit, a black box. In other words, I don't want to screw with it. It's probably a reflection of my personality as well. When it comes to anything - cars, computers, cell phones, even houses - I don't like to mess with them because I don't want to mess them up. I think it's my fear that once it's messed up I won't be able to put it back the way it was. I'm the same way with computer code, too - if it works I don't want to alter it too much in case it stops working and I can't fix it. It usually takes some kind of outside force to change it in some way as to remove that "black box" quality and make it OK for me to get my hands dirty and make some serious changes.

For guitars, it usually takes the first ding, dent or scratch to remove the factory glow and make it mine. In this case, it was the first serious dirtying. It's no longer a perfect specimen - it's just a guitar, my guitar, and there's more I want to do to it to really make it mine. In the case of my Strat, I want to rewire it so I can have a tone control on the bridge pickup. I also want to get a black pickguard to make it look more Gilmour-esque. I may try to set up the tremolo again, but since I'm really enjoying it as a hardtail, I'll probably wait a while on that. Heck, I may just buy a replacement tremolo from GuitarFetish.com and see if it works any better.

The nice thing about these mods is that none of them are expensive. The rewiring is basically free, except I have to get a soldering iron, but still they aren't a lot of money. A new pickguard is less than 20 bucks, shipping included. Even the tremolo won't cost more than $40. In other words, they're all economical ways to make my Strat more than just a typical Mexican Standard Stratocaster.

I can't wait to get started!

Shitar update

If anyone remembers and/or read this post they know that my beloved Stratocaster was tainted by the poop of one little Westie. At the end of that post, I wondered if I'd ever feel the same about it, or if I'd always wonder if I was playing on a pile of crap, thus pushing me to play one of my other guitars and relegating the Strat to closet duty.

I'm happy to say that, for the most part, the shitar stigma has gone away and the Strat (I really have to come up with a name for it) has once again taken its place at the top of my little guitar heap. The other day, I had to put all of my guitars away as part of a remodeling project (I didn't want to get tan paint on my Fenders) and when it came time to put everything back and bring out a guitar to play, I reached for...Blackie? No, that's Clapton's Strat. I'll think of something to call it. Anyway, I brought out my Strat. It now holds its place alone on the dual guitar stand as my go-to guitar. I love all my guits, but he's my #1. He? Is it male or female? Hmm...

I'll come up with something. I think.

Prog backlash?

Before I discovered the 90s neo-prog movement, I discovered another band that are legendary in their Canadian homeland but only have a small cult following in the states - The Tragically Hip.

In my opinion, the Hip really didn't hit their stride until their third album, Fully Completely. In fact, it's so good that it makes a strong case for the title of Best Album You've Never Heard Of. Before that, they were a twangy, roadhouse-style bar band, and although they had some good songs on their first two albums, they don't compare to Fully Completely, or to what they put out afterward.

I only bring this up because lately I've had a peculiar urge to listen to their second album, Road Apples. It's strange because not only is it not my favorite Hip album, it's not even in the top 5. It's not that it's a bad album per se, but it's still from their twang era, even though the writing is much stronger than their first album, Up To Here. Being an analytical guy, I'm intrigued by this puzzle and want to figure out why this sudden urge appeared. The only thing I can think of it that it's some kind of backlash from all the prog I've been listening to lately.

I love progressive rock. It's complex music featuring long-form suites, heady lyrics and dazzling instrumental performances. It's also a lot to take in. Sure there are some shorter, simpler songs - "June" from Spock's Beard comes to mind - but for the most part, listening to prog is as much a mental exercise as it is an enjoyable experience. It's this complexity, though, that I think lead to this sudden urge for cleaner, simpler music.

Not that the Hip are simple. They're definitely a more traditional rock band, but they're also known for singer Gord Downie's rather cryptic lyrics, one reason why I really like them. They also continually evolve their sound with each album, experimenting with new sonic palettes in the context of traditional rock, another reason why I like them. Perhaps that's why I'm drawn to Road Apples now - it represents their early sound, before it evolved past country-tinged, smoky-bar rock. I think my brain is, in its own way, asking for a break from all the complex prog so it can just relax and enjoy the music.

Time to fire up Media Player and cue up Road Apples. Who am I to ignore a request from my brain?