We just returned from a week there. Was a great time as we convinced our adult (24 and 27) kids to tag along. Not too tough to convince as we paid for it all, but nonetheless at that age they are busy and time off work is a premium to be savored. I'm not your travel dude but here are some Maui comments:
Mama's Fish House - perhaps the best restaurant on Maui. You will pay for it.
Roy's - Not as expensive as Mama's but also very nice. Not quite the ambiance or service.
Hyatt Regency Hotel Pool - Still the best pool on Maui.
Hyatt Regency Hotel Restaurants - too expensive - didn't try them - the breakfast buffet was included in our package and excellent - but not worth the $27 bucks it would have cost. I can't eat that much in the morning to make it worthwhile.
Fish in the Ocean While Snorkeling - Not as many as there were 10 years ago, but still beautiful. Kapalua Bay is the place to go to see fish easily.
Maui Ocean Center Aquarium - Beautiful exhibits and not to be missed.
Maui County Fair - If you are lucky enough to be there during the 3 days its on, the food was dirt cheap and great, and there was some good entertainment. (I don't know about you, but after spending $575 for a party of 6 at Mama's fish house it was refreshing to feed everyone for pocket change.)
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Onyx Forge Custom Jag S
A new guitar in the collection has arrived. You can read the details here C25 Onyx
And you can hear it in this video:
This is currently my favorite guitar. I put 11s on it which is more beefy than the usual 10s. I think its the ideal "Nashville" and "SRV" axe.
And you can hear it in this video:
This is currently my favorite guitar. I put 11s on it which is more beefy than the usual 10s. I think its the ideal "Nashville" and "SRV" axe.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
New Old Guitars
I assume you are familiar with the Fender Custom Shop "Relic" guitars? Maybe not. Well they build a new guitar using an old design and materials, then grunge it up by wearing off the paint, scratching it, sandblasting the metal parts, rusting it, and other things. Now it looks old and beat up. That is supposed to be cool. Like if you inherited your pop's old guitar. Or you played it everyday for 10 years in grungy bars. As if you were SRV or Billy Gibbons or Willy Wonka or something.
How ridiculous is that. If you can play, nobody gives a rats ass if your guitar is old or new. I suppose some morons think people would see their guitar and think wow he's been playing forever, he must be good. Or wow that's a vintage Fender, how cool. It sounds so great. What a bunch of crap. And they charge a ridiculous premium for these things.
So if you see some guy playing a beater guitar don't pay any attention. If he sounds good, that's just wonderful, but its not because of his beater guitar, that he possibly paid triple for and bought last week.
How ridiculous is that. If you can play, nobody gives a rats ass if your guitar is old or new. I suppose some morons think people would see their guitar and think wow he's been playing forever, he must be good. Or wow that's a vintage Fender, how cool. It sounds so great. What a bunch of crap. And they charge a ridiculous premium for these things.
So if you see some guy playing a beater guitar don't pay any attention. If he sounds good, that's just wonderful, but its not because of his beater guitar, that he possibly paid triple for and bought last week.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Plastic Coated Guitars
Why do guitar makers use a poly finish?
It lasts longer. It wears better. It doesn't crack. It doesn't annoy the AQMD or the feds because of VOC emissions. Its cheaper to manufacture. It doesn't affect the tone at all. It looks better.
Do you know which ones of the above are true?
Well some of this is obviously true. As far as what is not obvious, or clearly a matter of opinion, I beg you to figure it out for yourself.
In my opinion, a nitrocellulose lacquer finish can look and sound better than poly. A near natural or light oil finish might be the best of all for tone. Actually no finish at all might be the best for tone. Of course the tone is really subtle, but from my experience a heavy finish kind of kills the wood resonance. Nitro has a chance to be lighter. It seems more organic (actually its like liquid wood). Of course the guitars I have experienced the nitro finish on are either recent customs, vintage guitars, or vintage re-issues, so a lot of what I am hearing could be in other things in the guitar. I also have one poly guitar that sounds pretty darn good, but I am guessing it would sound even better with a nitro finish.
Of two tele's I have, the nitro one sounds better, of course it has a lot of mechanical differences as well, so its hard to nail down.
I think a good nitro finish looks better. Its not as clear, it yellows with age, it looks "vintage". Of course a cracked faded or yellowed finish can look sucky too. So can a nitro finish on a guitar that cracks up because you opened the case it the winter after having it the back of your car. Oops.
So just remember when somebody says there are no real tone differences between nitro and poly, I think they are completely wrong. But it takes more than nitro to make a guitar sound good.
It lasts longer. It wears better. It doesn't crack. It doesn't annoy the AQMD or the feds because of VOC emissions. Its cheaper to manufacture. It doesn't affect the tone at all. It looks better.
Do you know which ones of the above are true?
Well some of this is obviously true. As far as what is not obvious, or clearly a matter of opinion, I beg you to figure it out for yourself.
In my opinion, a nitrocellulose lacquer finish can look and sound better than poly. A near natural or light oil finish might be the best of all for tone. Actually no finish at all might be the best for tone. Of course the tone is really subtle, but from my experience a heavy finish kind of kills the wood resonance. Nitro has a chance to be lighter. It seems more organic (actually its like liquid wood). Of course the guitars I have experienced the nitro finish on are either recent customs, vintage guitars, or vintage re-issues, so a lot of what I am hearing could be in other things in the guitar. I also have one poly guitar that sounds pretty darn good, but I am guessing it would sound even better with a nitro finish.
Of two tele's I have, the nitro one sounds better, of course it has a lot of mechanical differences as well, so its hard to nail down.
I think a good nitro finish looks better. Its not as clear, it yellows with age, it looks "vintage". Of course a cracked faded or yellowed finish can look sucky too. So can a nitro finish on a guitar that cracks up because you opened the case it the winter after having it the back of your car. Oops.
So just remember when somebody says there are no real tone differences between nitro and poly, I think they are completely wrong. But it takes more than nitro to make a guitar sound good.
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