Goodbye is always so hard to say…I had to sell my little Ricky to help pay for some of my newer acquisitions.  Goodbye little Rickenbacker.  I will miss you.  :(

Here is a sad song - “Juliet” by Royal Wood - the wistful sadness that comes through in this song expresses my feelings better than me typing words on this keyboard can…

It’s sunny today in Toronto.  Around 20° (Celsius of course…around 68° F.), i.e. a nice spring day.  

And yet I am melancholy.  I sold a baby today…my little Ricky 325V59.  I hadn’t even played it in over a year and yet it’s still hard to say goodbye.  I HATE selling my babies!  My babies are like…I don’t know…like my CHILDREN!

But…April 30 was the deadline for income tax filing in Canada, and I owed a few thousand to “the man”.  I have also indiscriminately bought a couple of guitars in the last couple of months that I really didn’t need and couldn’t actually afford!  :(

Oh well…those are the pitfalls of being a collector.  You buy, you sell.  You buy, you sell.

F*ck this…I have to go out an buy somethin now!  Here are some shots of my ES-335 VOS until I get back with something new later today!!! :D

People say I have a nice rack.  I suppose it’s true, but I hate being objectified like that!  :D

Here’s a “rack” shot from a few days ago…

If you don’t mind, I want to take a minute to talk about my tuner!

It’s a Peterson StroboFlip*, and it is by far the best tuner I have ever owned.  I don’t have perfect pitch, but when a guitar is even slightly out of tune…even by a tiny amount…it drives me crazy.  I spent years tuning my guitars on cheap tuners and the were OK, but never perfect.  

The Peterson can be set for different tempered tunings…which I don’t actually use, or even really understand!  But I have set it to what they call “sweetened” guitar tuning, which means that the pitches are tempered or adjusted slightly to make the tuning sound better than if you tuned it to equal temperament.

Don’t ask me for the scientific explanation of what this means or how it works…my very basic understanding is that the guitar can never be tuned to sound perfect in all keys, because its fret board is essentially a compromise that allows it to sound “OK” in all keys and therefore not need to be re-tuned every time you play in a different key.  I think they call that “equal” temperament or something to that effect.  But “equal” temperament drives my ear crazy!   Not on every chord…but often enough that I wanted to do something about it!

And the Peterson StroboFlip fixed this for me.  That’s all I know!  ;)

PS: As my long-time Tumblr friends know, I am neither affiliated with, nor receive any compensation from any company whose products I talk about here.  I have paid for all my gear with cash out of my own pocket (well with a credit card from my own pocket anyway…sometimes it’s even my OWN credit card!).  So, if I talk about something here it’s because I REALLY like it!  Or I really hate it.  Either way.  HOWEVER, if any company WANTS to pay me to talk about their products, I am totally OK with that too!  :D

*FYI, according to the Peterson website, the StroboFlip has been discontinued and replaced with the “StoboPlus HD”

Rickenbacker 325V59, Mapleglo.  So small.  So much fun.

1990 Rickenbacker 325V59.  Currently for sale (I have yet to pay for my last few guitar acquisitions, so I need to generate some cash!)

If you live within a couple of hours drive from the Toronto area, make me an offer.  Special discount for Tumblr friends!  ;)

1990 Rickenbacker 325V59…currently for sale!  I love this little guy, but the fact is I just don’t play it enough to justify keeping it…especially when there are other guitars that I DO play…but haven’t finished paying for yet!  :D

1990 Rickenbacker 325V59.  Such a quirky little guitar!  And I do mean “little”.  It is tiny.  Really.

If you ever looked at a photo from the earlier days of the Beatles and wondered JUST HOW SMALL John Lennon’s Rickenbacker 325 was, photo number 3 here shows my own 325 hanging on the wall next to some “normal” sized guitars!

Man…that is one SMALL guitar!  :D

There isn’t an actual guitar in these shots, but I think that the case for my Ric 325V59 is so cool-looking, it deserves a post of its own!  :D

Ah yes, it’s that time of year again…when I get visitors for Xmas, and so I have to clean up all of the darn guitars lying all over this place, hindering or preventing my guests from moving freely about my home…sitting down, eating, going up and down stairs, and going to the bathroom!  :D

So, I usually dig out some cases from “Case Mountain” (downstairs where guests are forbidden to journey…lest an accidental “case-slide” leave them injured, paralyzed ..or worse!), and I pack a way 5 or 10 of the guitars I will be LEAST likely to “need” over the next week or so, and put them away for a while.  Here is was went downstairs this year:

1. 2007 Custom Shop Limited Ed. ‘62 Heavy Relic Stratocaster, 3TSB
2. 2011 PRS Starla, charcoal
3. 1990 Rickenbacker 325V59, Mapleglo
4. 2010 PRS Starla, frost blue metallic
5. 2008 American Std. Strat (lefty converted to right-hand), blizzard pearl
6. 2010 Les Paul Traditional gold top
7. 2000-and-something AVRI P-Bass, 3TSB

The last three shots show pat of “Case Mountain”…  :D

BFTP #24:  1990 Rickenbacker 325V59, Mapleglo. Shot taken in my family room in front of my green wall, November 30, 2011.  :D

A few more shots of my 1990 ric 325V59 in Mapleglo.  One of the oddest instruments I have ever player…it is SO SMALL!  I don’t have big hands, but I swear even my fingers get all jammed together trying to play this thing!  BUT, if you want to play early Beatles…this is guitar has the perfect sound for it!

Toronto, Canada, Sep 2, 2012. 

And on the 8th day, God created the 1990 Rickenbacker 325V59!  :D

My guitar rack this morning…it’s calling to me. “Play me…” it says, “play me…”  :D

Left to right:

• 2011 Gibson Nighthawk Studio
• 2005(?) Fender Custom Shop ‘66 Stratocaster Closet Classic
• 1966 Fender Jaguar
• 1990 Rickenbacker 325v59
• 2010 Epiphone 50th Anniversary ‘61 Casino Reissue
• 2007 Fender Custom Shop Ltd. Ed. ‘62 Stratocaster Relic
• 2010 Gibson Custom Les Paul Special Double Cut
• 2006 Fender Custom Shop ‘60 Stratocaster Relic.

Toronto, Canada, June 9, 2012.