Top 5 Saturday

There are a few things in my life that have been a constant. Skateboarding, Guitar playing, Record collecting, Flannel shirt hoarder. I stay fairly close to the simple things in life. Motorcycles and old cars are the glue that holds my entire life together. Since I was 14 all I ever wanted was a cool car and two wheels. I bought my first car when I was 14 and worked on it so when I was 16 I had some wheels to get me gone. It sounds like a lot to me but I am fairly good a juggling all my hobbies. I do have visions of myself at 70 still playing out in some dank bar and that makes me happy. Really the guitar was the way I first got a taste of freedom. One month after graduating from high school me and my friends jumped in a orange 1973 Chevy van and headed out into the muck and mire that is the world. We played bars, basements, punk rock holes in the wall and had a good time living like street rats. Granted I was 18 years old and after that month on the road I got home to all my shit packed in boxes and siting in the garage. Well that was when I moved out and never really went back.It's funny to think about now but we had no cellphones, no instant google, no interwebs and we still managed to make a go at it. I actually miss not being connected sometimes. Any way I am gonna do a Top 5 guitars I have owned and why. Remember it is never to late to learn something.

Number 1. I guess I should start with the first guitar I ever bought. I bought it in 1988 for 20 dollars and I think I did not eat a lunch for two weeks so I could buy it. It was a 1967 Kay SG copy. It was wine red and played like a 2x4 with strings on it. One of my skate friends could play a little and showed me how to tune it and how to play a power chord. Still did not have a amp but I sat in my room and got the tips of my fingers a bloody mess. I would sit and try and play along to the Ramones.

Number 2. So after many years of playing I got a hold of a real 1969 Gibson SG. It still had the Tremelo lyre tailpiece and played better then any guitar I had ever owned to date. It was expensive as fuck but I wanted it so I dropped a grand on it. All I could see in my head was Pete Townsend at Woodstock just destroying one of these Sg's. For Punk Rock this guitar was the holy grail and was loaded with P-90 soap bar pick ups. I needed money so the axe got the axe. Regrets are a mother fucker.

Number 3. 1973 Fender Telecaster Custom was a gem. I started getting into twangy stuff as well as I had started a trashy garage style band. Needed a guitar that had the right sound I wanted. These old Fenders are the business. This model had the two Fender humbuckers and was so clean even up to 11. Neck was a little fat but I liked how it sat while playing. I have owned a few of these now and I always liked Telecasters but they always feel like a one trick pony to me. They do twang and clean real well but if you try and play loud shit on them they get all plinky. 

Number 4. I only have owned one acoustic guitar ever and it is a vintage Greco Hummingbird knockoff. A real Gibson Hummingbird is like 2000 dollars mine was about 300 dollars. Plays just as well and is my main guitar for writing songs on. Unfortunately the kids do not like loud guitar playing at home so I usually walk around the house playing guitar and humming some type of lyric ideas. It is a bitchin three color sunburst and has been the only guitar in 20 years I have not sold. To the grave with this one.

Number 5. On with the swedes. My Hagstrom Viking is now my main guitar. I have owned it maybe 5 years and it has been a work horse. It does every thing I need it to do and looks good doing it. I have owned vintage Hagstroms and then I bought this new Viking and it does play quite a bit better then the old ones and the cost a lot less. Granted even since I bought mine the price has doubled. I need a guitar in one set list that can play quiet country stuff and then the next song be loud and brutal. This guitar can do it. I also have a pretty simple pedal board that I always am changing stuff on but the stables in my bag of tricks are
Ibanez -Analog Delay
Boss-63 Reverb
Ibanez -Tube Screamer
Dod -Preamp boost
Robot Factory -Uber Rat/clean boost 
Dunlop-Fuzz
My Amplifier has been a 1976 Music Man RD 50 head with matching 4x12 cab.