• From: Green Bay, WI
  • Registered: 2010-03-29
  • Posts: 49

Topic: New Guitar! + KotB

I'm from Wisconsin (yes Joe, you've got some fans up here you can play for! i forgive you for not having a tour date here... wink ) so I went to Green Bay with a buddy of mine the other day to stop at a guitar shop.  I was planning on saving up all my dough for a the Epi JB Sig (still am), but I got a bit distracted.  Forgive me, but I've been a Fender man for all my years of playing, but I've never played a G&L before.  Sure, I've seen them and read about them, but no shop around here seemed to ever have 'em.  This shop had a G&L Tribute Commanche and being intrigued, I sat down and played it with no intentions of a purchase.  Boy did it rock!  Seriously, I can honestly say that it blows any Fender strat I've ever played (including Americans) out of the water.  I had to go back the next day and buy it.  It has American-made electronics and custom Z-coil pups, and because the rest is made in Indonesia, the price is quite cheap! Usually street price for these is around 700-800, but G&L is discontinuing this model, so I got it for 559!  I thought it was a steal for how beautiful this guitar is.  Used it for Guitar Center's King of the Blues last night, so as soon as the video finishes uploading, I'll post a link.

  • Registered: 2008-10-02
  • Posts: 373

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

G&L's are amazing guitars I came very close to buying one but ended up saving money for a Les Paul, still plan on getting one some day. The American made G&L's blow away fender custom shops easy and the Tributes are really nice, if I can find one I like I will pick one up.

  • From: Green Bay, WI
  • Registered: 2010-03-29
  • Posts: 49

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

Alright, the video is finally up now.  Not the most amazing quality, but not bad.  Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHDtpz2iSm4

  • From: Green Bay, WI
  • Registered: 2010-03-29
  • Posts: 49

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

Big E wrote:

G&L's are amazing guitars I came very close to buying one but ended up saving money for a Les Paul, still plan on getting one some day. The American made G&L's blow away fender custom shops easy and the Tributes are really nice, if I can find one I like I will pick one up.

It really is amazing!  I can't stress enough how good this guitar is.  None of the strats I own have a lacquered neck like the G&L.  It's so smooth and comfortable.  And the action on mine is set perfect to my liking--a little high for nice, aggressive bends, but low enough for the fast, comfortable playing.  It makes the guitar such an ease to play, like I don't have to fight the strings, and it's still fitted with 11's.  And every pup setting is usable, including the bridge pup (often way to 'ice-pick' sounding on Fenders, I've found).  The neck pup is nice and punchy, too.  Like I said, they're sometimes tough to find, and now they're being discontinued (just the Tribute model, not the American) so if you find one you like it's definitely worth it!

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

Another Appletonian!

I was born and raised in Appleton! I remember before there was even a Guitar Center in Appleton. Henri's music was the place to go for good Gibsons. Now I heard they went out of business. There was a place in Kaukauna called Electric City Music that dealt Tom Anderson, PRS, and G&L. That's where I got my '72 LP Custom. Some dummy traded it in for a PRS back in '94. His loss = my gain. Electric City also dealt Kendrick, Soldano, Rivera, etc. It seemed like the boutique store for sure.

Long story short, G&L guitars are awesome. Don't confuse that with a Fender. I think that G&L is to Fender what Heritage is to Gibson.

Do you play in a band around Appleton? I'd like to hear you play or even jam with you next time I'm in town!

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool
  • From: Florida, USA
  • Registered: 2008-06-04
  • Posts: 1,420

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

Looks like you guys both won because those early PRS guitars (pre factory) are worth a lot of money.  You obviously love your LP Custom too!  Something about those black LP Customs just scream TONE.

'67 and '74 Fender Twin Reverbs, '74 Marshall 1987 lead mkII, Metro Superlead 100. Pedals from TC Electronic, Ibanez, Dunlop, BK Butler, Electro-Harmonix, Fulltone, Maestro/Gibson, Loopmaster switching, VoodooLab, Boss. Gibson and Fender guitars, Dimarzio pickups.
  • From: Green Bay, WI
  • Registered: 2010-03-29
  • Posts: 49

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

NPB_EST.1979 wrote:

Another Appletonian!

I was born and raised in Appleton! I remember before there was even a Guitar Center in Appleton. Henri's music was the place to go for good Gibsons. Now I heard they went out of business. There was a place in Kaukauna called Electric City Music that dealt Tom Anderson, PRS, and G&L. That's where I got my '72 LP Custom. Some dummy traded it in for a PRS back in '94. His loss = my gain. Electric City also dealt Kendrick, Soldano, Rivera, etc. It seemed like the boutique store for sure.

Long story short, G&L guitars are awesome. Don't confuse that with a Fender. I think that G&L is to Fender what Heritage is to Gibson.

Do you play in a band around Appleton? I'd like to hear you play or even jam with you next time I'm in town!


Yet another reminder how small the world is! I'm not actually from Appleton, but I just played at that guitar center for the competition, as it's the closet one to me.  I actually live in Gillett, a small town (like 1000 people) roughly 40 min northeast of Appleton.  So I'm not that far from there.  As far as the band situation goes, I'm always looking for people to jam with.  I'd like to get out and gig again to make some money...  I'm still a part of a southern rock/blues/country band from Gillett,  but it's really hard to get together.  We used to be bigger, but now we're down to just 3 main members including myself. One of the guys is in San Diego and has a year left serving in the Navy.  The other guy is currently finishing school at Purdue.  So, being in separate parts of the country, we can only get together once or twice a year--hopefully that'll change in about a year though.  We've got a myspace page with a few of our demos on it, so if anyone's interested, feel free:     http://www.myspace.com/countylinedetour      (Disclaimer:  This was recorded in a trailer with cheap equipment, so it's definitely got a rough, raw sound to it.  No where near perfect! But it wasn't bad--we only did it in one day. Oh, and don't mind the singing either, we're currently trying to find a lead singer.)

Sorry for putting my life story...I feel like I just wrote a novel!

  • Devan
  • Devan
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  • From: Darwin, Australia
  • Registered: 2010-04-13
  • Posts: 1,304

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

Nice playing TBD!  I like your style and you had really good tone too.  Especially loved the way you left plenty of nice 'empty spaces' in your licks.

Another hybrid pick + fingerpicker too!  Well done!  big_smile

JBLP Gold Top #129 - redubbed "#1 in Oz"

9 Reply by NPB_EST.1979 (edited by NPB_EST.1979 2010-05-25 02:22:14)

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

Yup I know all about Gillette (pronounced "Jill-it"). Dang, it is a small world.

Is that you singing on the tracks? or just guitar....

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool
  • From: Orlando, FL
  • Registered: 2010-04-15
  • Posts: 1,373

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

<-- Born and raised on Fond du Lac.  I have an aunt and uncle in Green Bay, and I used to make near weekly trips to Appleton to hit up their music stores (and one vintage video game dealer) in the summer.

G&Ls are great guitars.  A friend of mine got a Comanche about 10 years ago and it was just a fantastic guitar.  Congrats!

My music & music blog: https://vincedickinson.home.blog/
New prog/rock album "Atlantis" available everywhere, including:
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ZeyerGTR's Website

  • From: Green Bay, WI
  • Registered: 2010-03-29
  • Posts: 49

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

You really must know about it because you can pronounce it correctly! 95% of people say it like Gillette, the men's grooming products, but you've got it right.  And no, that's not me singing, I'm just guitar.  You can definitely tell the difference in my playing from Justin's.  My tone is a little heavier, less twang, and more mids-focused.  I play most of the solos in "Get Off My Back" (my favorite track  smile ) except for the last solo.  My voice, while not terrible, doesn't suit that music well, it's more pop sounding.  That's why we have Justin do the singing, which he doesn't necessarily like to always do, but his voice suits the songs better.  Some people like it, some people don't--it's sorta like Geddy Lee of Rush, lol.


Fond du Lac, huh?  Right on.  When I here that name I think of a time my buddy accidentally took the wrong highway driving from Madison to Stevens Point.  So, instead of taking a straight 2 hour-ish trip, we ended up in Fond du Lac.  It took us like 6 hours to finally get back over to Point....long trip, but it kinda hilarious.

  • From: Detroit
  • Registered: 2006-06-02
  • Posts: 5,807

Re: New Guitar! + KotB

GPS... It will set you "free"  lol
I haven't gotten lost in 4 years now.
But it's not that hard... hwy 10 west to Stevens point is way different than 41 south to Fondy or even 45, lol. Wisconsin isn't that hard to navigate. Although after living in Michigan for a couple years, I've really gotten used to the 70mph speed limit on the interstate. You can literally go 82mph here and go right by cops... they don't even twitch. I don't understand it! In WI, if you go 72-75mph on the highway, you're pulled over.

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool