saved

The Guitars.
These guitars are played by Jim, Wanda
or Mark at one time or another. If the
band has a gig where they need to waste
some time, they will not hesitate to bring
100 items to pack, set up, play, repack
and bring back to the practice space.
Now, where do we start...

This rare beast is an Ovation
Breadwinner. It is early (a 1971 or so)
because it has the cord jack on the side
and not on the pick guard, where they
tend to crack the guard. This guitar plays
beautifully and has active electronics that
can make the sound killer bright. I have
not yet found the perfect song for this in
the set, so it's appearance is a seldom
thing.
Made by Kaman Music in New Hartford,
CT. Now sadly, owned by Fender.
She sits in a reproduction 60's flower
chair and repro lamp, but is surrounded by
vintage electronics, toys and a Gladiator
(trademark) helmet from that movie with
Russell Crowe.
Yes that is a 60's SSP (Super Sonic
Power) car on the desk next to the Space
1999 Eagle Transporter. You would pull
that "T" handle rip cord to spin the rubber
and metal wheel so you could either put it
on the ground to race away for 15 feet or
onto your sisters head where it would
need to cut out of her hair by your Mom
after your beating. With a 38 year vantage
point, I still remember it being well worth it.

Homestar Runner is playing a 1982
Ovation Magnum II bass. This big and
heavy instrument is more bass that I
am bass player. It has a great quirky
personality with tons of tone and
versatility that needs to be mastered
before it can be taken advantage of.
Here I am trying to figure out why the
E booms while the A is mostly silent. I
have also come down from the 12th
fret where the bass sounded more
like a taser (a weapon good for
touching bad guys with) than what I
assumed it was going to sound like,
which was a bass played on the 12th
fret.
I learned to play bass on a Fender
Jazz bass and was scared into
wishing I was playing one here for a
second... But only a second. Made by
that Connecticut company that makes
those lyrachord snow shoes.
These cool Ovation solid bodies
never really caught on and that is a
real shame.
Hiding on the tri-stand are a Mosrite
and a Rickenbacher 12. More on the
others soon.

Ok, not a bad shot
of the "Mosrite of
California" that I
believe was made
in Japan. This "The
Ventures II" is one
of 30 that are
signed by Johnny
Ramone and set up
with the electronics
he favored in the
Ramone years. This
holds tune well,
has easy action and
a thin neck ...unlike
me who can't hold a
tune, never gets
any action and is
getting pretty thick
in the neck. Christ,
I could be one of
the Moody Blues. I
guess I am now like
one of the vintage
cars that look great
from 25 feet.
[Please note
Markraphone head
in the background.
At least I was not
hiding behind a 2"
wind screen.]

Here Mark will dazzle us with the poop
on what ever it is that he be playing in
this pic:

Stay tuned

Here is a fairly excellent pic of
Wanda's Gibson SG Bass. Chosen
out of 100's of basses for not only
it's light weight, but for the ability
of Gibson basses to actually
bounce when dropped. Dishes and
Christmas ornaments would last
longer with less damage if they
were also engineered to bounce.
Webster's Itinerant Dictionary
has this to say about bouncing:
Bouncing: To bounce; [Common] a
reflexive transference of energy
as in "Did you see that jogger
bounce?" and; [less common] ie
the things Tiggers do best. or
[uncommon] to speed forward in
time.
The huge sneeze that Jim is about
to unleash is not only extremely
distracting, but turns 2 pages in
Wanda's music book. This causes
her to begin to play "Also Sprach
Zarathrustra" instead of "Puff the
Magic Dragon" that we are actually
in the process of playing.

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