Melancon Joy, Pretty Pedals, & Blasted Humility
As I hinted at in my previous post, in which I did nothing but post the first
thought into my head and every subsequent thought thereafter, I’ve been
looking into getting my priorities straight. No, no, I’m not selling my gear to
spend more time with people or something stupid like that……not those
priorities, the important priorities…..like which part of my rig is the most
integral to good tone.
(Some guy’s cool collection…..doesn’t look like too many, right? But check
this out…they’re all fuzz pedals! I should be laughing at him. But I’m envious.
Very sick.)
(Now that’s tone, right? Of course, that’s Willie Nelson’s guitar….so I’ll let
you decide whether that means tone or not.)
thought into my head and every subsequent thought thereafter, I’ve been
looking into getting my priorities straight. No, no, I’m not selling my gear to
spend more time with people or something stupid like that……not those
priorities, the important priorities…..like which part of my rig is the most
integral to good tone.
And since my last post was so incredibly like, the king of town of
boredom-ville, I’ll recap–hopefully using a little thing I like to call
coherent thought……..eh………hopefully.
boredom-ville, I’ll recap–hopefully using a little thing I like to call
coherent thought……..eh………hopefully.
See, for a long time I had more money in my pedalboard than my amps and
guitars combined. Especially in my delays…..oh, how I love delays. But here’s
the thing……..no matter how good a delay is, it is delaying the sound from your
guitar, and processing it out of your amp. So if the guitar and amp aren’t sounding
good, the delay isn’t ever going to sound better than your rig. Same with
overdrives. Pedals are enhancers…..and they can get in the way sometimes,
which is why it’s usually a good idea to have some sort of buffer, or clean
boost, or bypass loop, or effects loop (maybe), or what have you. (Sorry,
that’s a different subject.)
guitars combined. Especially in my delays…..oh, how I love delays. But here’s
the thing……..no matter how good a delay is, it is delaying the sound from your
guitar, and processing it out of your amp. So if the guitar and amp aren’t sounding
good, the delay isn’t ever going to sound better than your rig. Same with
overdrives. Pedals are enhancers…..and they can get in the way sometimes,
which is why it’s usually a good idea to have some sort of buffer, or clean
boost, or bypass loop, or effects loop (maybe), or what have you. (Sorry,
that’s a different subject.)
(Some guy’s cool collection…..doesn’t look like too many, right? But check
this out…they’re all fuzz pedals! I should be laughing at him. But I’m envious.
Very sick.)
And that makes a ton of sense to me. But! Pedals are beautiful…..and I also
suffer from always wanting to be different than the other guitarists…..and find
that magical tone from some far-off land that makes grown men cry like
schoolgirls and then everyone will ask, ‘From what realm of splendor did you
lure that toneful wonder?’ To which I always respond (in my head) with a Clark
Gable smirk, and I whip out my vintage piece-of-junk guitar that I’ve expertly
modded and the amp I’ve found behind the old guitar luthier hermit’s garbage
can, and everyone kisses each other from the sheer glory that is my brilliant
mind at having found such tone in those diamond-in-the-rough instruments
that no one will now ever be able to reproduce.
suffer from always wanting to be different than the other guitarists…..and find
that magical tone from some far-off land that makes grown men cry like
schoolgirls and then everyone will ask, ‘From what realm of splendor did you
lure that toneful wonder?’ To which I always respond (in my head) with a Clark
Gable smirk, and I whip out my vintage piece-of-junk guitar that I’ve expertly
modded and the amp I’ve found behind the old guitar luthier hermit’s garbage
can, and everyone kisses each other from the sheer glory that is my brilliant
mind at having found such tone in those diamond-in-the-rough instruments
that no one will now ever be able to reproduce.
And then of course, to preserve such tone, I have to have the best sounding
pedals to go with that awesome rig.
pedals to go with that awesome rig.
Ya. And that really goes on in my mind. I’m serious…..I just closed my eyes
for a second and imagined my sweetest dream, and then typed…..and that’s,
then, my sweetest dream. Now, somewhere along the road a few years back,
reality made a small break-in……and I sold some pedals and bought a really
good amp. But, I was still reticent on buying a decent guitar (and ‘reticent’ does
not fit in that context as far as the dictionary goes, but it does sound really
good there). And it wasn’t that I didn’t think the guitar was the most important
part…..it was just that I convinced myself that I could buy some one-off
guitars or vintage guitars and mod them into sounding just as good as a
handmade guitar or something.
for a second and imagined my sweetest dream, and then typed…..and that’s,
then, my sweetest dream. Now, somewhere along the road a few years back,
reality made a small break-in……and I sold some pedals and bought a really
good amp. But, I was still reticent on buying a decent guitar (and ‘reticent’ does
not fit in that context as far as the dictionary goes, but it does sound really
good there). And it wasn’t that I didn’t think the guitar was the most important
part…..it was just that I convinced myself that I could buy some one-off
guitars or vintage guitars and mod them into sounding just as good as a
handmade guitar or something.
(Now that’s tone, right? Of course, that’s Willie Nelson’s guitar….so I’ll let
you decide whether that means tone or not.)
And that may be absolutely true. My point is not that we should all go out and
spend thousands of dollars on a guitar. My point is that I (just a thought) might
want to sell two or three delay pedals and buy a decent guitar instead of
looking specifically for the half-broken, knockoff guitar that has the cult
following. If you like those kinds of guitars, then awesome. But if you’re
like me, and like them so that you can bask in the genius of the fact that
you are so much better than everyone else because you found the guitar
that sounds better than the culturally accepted ones and all for only $50, you
just might want to give it some second thoughts. Just in case.
spend thousands of dollars on a guitar. My point is that I (just a thought) might
want to sell two or three delay pedals and buy a decent guitar instead of
looking specifically for the half-broken, knockoff guitar that has the cult
following. If you like those kinds of guitars, then awesome. But if you’re
like me, and like them so that you can bask in the genius of the fact that
you are so much better than everyone else because you found the guitar
that sounds better than the culturally accepted ones and all for only $50, you
just might want to give it some second thoughts. Just in case.
And I can almost hear Mike Huffman applauding right now. (He’s a friend who
has been after me for years to get what he calls a ‘real’ guitar and get rid of
my (he gently calls them) junk guitars.
has been after me for years to get what he calls a ‘real’ guitar and get rid of
my (he gently calls them) junk guitars.
So, for me, this is not a ‘tone revelation’ or getting more snobby and only
buying high-end everything. This is for me, finally getting humble and
admitting that I am not the prodigy musician who can listen to six Squire
guitars at Guitar Center and pick out the one that was accidentally
crafted from better wood than the American-made Fenders. (I know you
think I’m kidding…..I will let you think that, because I would hate to have
to actually admit to many of the things I have pontificated on over the
years. hehe) I know it’s a good thing to want to be original……but I also
think that as musicians in general (especially worship musicians), we
need to be humble enough to not think we have it all figured out. That
sounds really basic, but it’s something I struggle with.
buying high-end everything. This is for me, finally getting humble and
admitting that I am not the prodigy musician who can listen to six Squire
guitars at Guitar Center and pick out the one that was accidentally
crafted from better wood than the American-made Fenders. (I know you
think I’m kidding…..I will let you think that, because I would hate to have
to actually admit to many of the things I have pontificated on over the
years. hehe) I know it’s a good thing to want to be original……but I also
think that as musicians in general (especially worship musicians), we
need to be humble enough to not think we have it all figured out. That
sounds really basic, but it’s something I struggle with.
So!!! Sadly, some dear children must go in order to pay for a new guitar.
Goodbye vintage Fostex reverb unit that never really makes a difference
but makes me feel better running my digital keyboard through a ‘true
spring reverb’. Goodbye Moog phaser that I turn on once every two months
but is the most beautiful looking and sounding phaser I have ever seen.
Goodbye HBE Dos Mos that I bought to fix my tone instead of looking
for the much more important new guitar. Goodbye 1982 Ibanez Strat
that I modded. (Actually, that guitar gave my new one a run for its
money…..I was pleased that my pride hadn’t hurt me too badly. Kinda.
But I would still recommend that guitar to people.)
Goodbye vintage Fostex reverb unit that never really makes a difference
but makes me feel better running my digital keyboard through a ‘true
spring reverb’. Goodbye Moog phaser that I turn on once every two months
but is the most beautiful looking and sounding phaser I have ever seen.
Goodbye HBE Dos Mos that I bought to fix my tone instead of looking
for the much more important new guitar. Goodbye 1982 Ibanez Strat
that I modded. (Actually, that guitar gave my new one a run for its
money…..I was pleased that my pride hadn’t hurt me too badly. Kinda.
But I would still recommend that guitar to people.)
And the new edition is this Gerard Melancon Strat with Jason Lollar
pickups. Picked it up for an incredible deal, considering that Gerard
handmakes these one at a time. (And I’ve been told that it’s pronounced
Mel AHN sawn . Important…..nothing worse than trying to impress
your tone friends with your new guitar and calling the builder by his
first name like you know him (hehe……I never do that), and then
mis-pronouncing his last name. Yep. Definitely did that for the first week.)
pickups. Picked it up for an incredible deal, considering that Gerard
handmakes these one at a time. (And I’ve been told that it’s pronounced
Mel AHN sawn . Important…..nothing worse than trying to impress
your tone friends with your new guitar and calling the builder by his
first name like you know him (hehe……I never do that), and then
mis-pronouncing his last name. Yep. Definitely did that for the first week.)
But it had everything I was looking for.
–One piece of wood body.
–One piece of wood neck and headstock.
–Body is Louisiana swamp ash. And Gerard lives in Louisiana, and has
his logger harvest the wood from the ash trees’ bottoms right near
the roots where the wood is close to 200 years old. So, it definitely has
the aged wood thing going on. (Well, someone told me that some of the
wood at the base of those trees is 200 years old…..it sounds kinda fishy
to me, but I guess it might be true. But he does say on his website that
they only use the lower parts of the ash trees right above the waterline
because the wood is the oldest and the best. 200 years? Not quite sure yet.)
his logger harvest the wood from the ash trees’ bottoms right near
the roots where the wood is close to 200 years old. So, it definitely has
the aged wood thing going on. (Well, someone told me that some of the
wood at the base of those trees is 200 years old…..it sounds kinda fishy
to me, but I guess it might be true. But he does say on his website that
they only use the lower parts of the ash trees right above the waterline
because the wood is the oldest and the best. 200 years? Not quite sure yet.)
–Maple neck.
–Wood finish, so I can be sure it’s one piece of wood.
–Lollar blonde pickups.
And I really can’t say enough good things about this guitar……and nothing
I say will make much difference without hearing it. It sounds incredibly
sweet and beautiful. And it plays extremely nicely, I almost never have to
tune. But I’ll suffice with this story………
I say will make much difference without hearing it. It sounds incredibly
sweet and beautiful. And it plays extremely nicely, I almost never have to
tune. But I’ll suffice with this story………
The day I got it, I’m playing it in my wife’s and my office. And my
wonderful wife, who when I ask her each week if she noticed how my
new pedal reacted with the new amp or guitar or whatever, always smiles
and says, ‘Oh, I can’t tell the difference. Your tone always sounds good,
Sweetheart’, hears me playing this guitar, looks at me in her most serious
don’t-cross-me face, and says, ‘Babe. Never sell that guitar.’
wonderful wife, who when I ask her each week if she noticed how my
new pedal reacted with the new amp or guitar or whatever, always smiles
and says, ‘Oh, I can’t tell the difference. Your tone always sounds good,
Sweetheart’, hears me playing this guitar, looks at me in her most serious
don’t-cross-me face, and says, ‘Babe. Never sell that guitar.’
It takes me a lot longer than most people to get it knocked through my
head that my pride is influencing my ears.
head that my pride is influencing my ears.
But right now, I am happy.
For the moment.
Splendid.
Karl.
Posted by in 20:32:46
Sweet Axe! I just put a Lollar in the bridge of my MIJ Tele… WOW! I don’t think it gets any better as far as pickups go.
Thanks, Travis! Nice…it’s good to hear that you’re liking Lollar’s, too. Gives me confirmation that I’m not just suffering from the ‘it-sounds-the-best-because-I-own-it’ syndrome. hehe
she’s a beaut clark!
very nice, congrats on the new addition.
Alex–lol
Jason–thanks. Hopefully all the subtractions to pay for this addition will end up being worth it! hehe
your blog is very nice !
I am quite taken up with your style.