T. Haruo
T-150 6-string Acoustic Guitar
This guitar
has rosewood back and sides, with a 3-piece back, Abalone Shell
inlays around the sound hole, as well as on body bindings. Abalone
Shell block inlays in the fretboard, and floral inlay on rosewood-veneer
headstock, mahogany neck, spruce top, Martin-style headstock.
I understand that this guitar is a copy of the Martin model D-45,
but with a D35-style three piec back. The back & sides are
apparently Brazilian rosewood.
For more
information on this guitar, see the T Haruo Guitar Page
Takamine
EF360S 6-String Acoustic-Electric Guitar
This guitar has rosewood back
& sides, 2-piece back. Takamine pickup system with battery-powered
preamp, 3-band graphic EQ and volume, white bindings on body
and fretboard, mahogany neck, spruce top. It has the modern Takamine-style
headstock.
Cyr Guitars
Custom J Series Bass
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This bass is my current player
4-string bass.
The body is all hard maple:
The top is an absolutely gorgeous bookmatched flamey-quilty maple
one with a hint of spalting in it. The rest is made from three
pieces of hard maple. Needless to say, the thing is rather heavy,
and it has a really bright tone to it.
The neck is flamed hard maple
with an Indian Rosewood fingerboard and abalone position markers.
The 21 frets are medium jumbo. The truss rod is double action.
I made this neck to Fender Jazz Bass specs, but slightly narrower,
with a medium C profile. The fingerboard radius is about 8"
- just the way I like it. The neck is mounted to the body with
6 stainless steel screws #10 by 1-1/2" using countersunk
ferrules rather than a neck plate. This is the way I mount all
of my necks these days (but I use only 4 screws on guitars).
The pickups are Bartolinis
(Neck is an 8S, and the bridge is a 9J1L), and there's a Bartolini
NTBTG 2-band preamp/EQ installed as well.
The bridge is a Fender Elite
style, the type that was used on the Elite series in the mid-80's
with fine tuners. I bought this one on Ebay two years ago. The
tuners are also vintage Fender, the large Schallers that were
used in the late 70's with the Fender logo stamped into the plate. |
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Jazz-Bass
Copy 4-String Bass with Fender MIM Neck
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 On the right is the bass I bought in 1985.
This bass is a 70's vintage
Jazz Bass copy that's been almost completely rebuilt since I
got it in 1985. When I bought it at a pawn shop in Fullerton
CA for $89, it was an all-blonde bass with black rectangular-block
position makers and black binding around the fretboard (see the
picture on the right). The finish on the neck was in really bad
shape, and the neck was a bit of a log. fat.thick. Really cheap
tuners. The body is ash with a high-gloss polyurethane finish,
with some nasty dents in a couple places. Still looks great,
though. Here's what I've done to it:
- The bass is now on it's third
bridge. The first one was a cheaply-made copy of the standard
Fender bass bridge. I replaced that with a Schaller bass bridge
with roller saddles, which I bought at a consignment shop in
Anaheim. The latest bridge is a Fender deluxe cast-metal bridge
with fine tuners--this is the type of bridge used on the Fender
Elite models in the mi9d to late 80's. This one was installed
in late 2002.
- The bass is on its fifth neck
now. The first was the blonde icky one that was on it originally.
The second was a pretty nice flame-maple with rosewood neck I
got at TR Guitars in Tustin CA. Beautiful neck, but I didn't
like the feel. The third was a J B Player P-Bass neck I bought
at a music store in Brea CA for $75. That neck stayed on the
bass for 13 years until early 2002, when I replaced it with a
Made-In-Mexico Jazz neck I bought through EBay for $125. For
a short time in late 2002 (like a month) I had a Fender-licensed
replacement neck by WD Music on the bass, but I didn't like the
feel of it, so I put the Fender neck back on.
- I installed genuine Fender
tuners when I put neck #2 on the bass in 1987. Got 'em from a
guy who had worked at the Fender factory in Fullerton a few years
before. The tuners have the Fender logo on them, and I understand
Fender made 'em this way in the early 70's, when CBS owned Fender.
These tuners are still on the bass, having been moved from neck
to neck.
- About the same time I put
neck #2 on the bass, I also installed a set of EMG P/J active
pickups, which came with an on-board preamp, as well as a black
laminated pickguard with the cutouts for the P/J pickups.
- When I installed the Fender
MIM neck, I replaced all the small screws that hold the pickguard
with new stainless steel screws--the old ones were kinda rusty
- In early 2002 I installed
chrome Dunlop strap locks
- In late 2002 I installed a
Fender-logo neck plate
- In early 2003 I replaced the
control plate with a new one
- In May 2003 I replaced the
active EMG pickup set with Bartolini pickups: a model 8-CBP P-Bass
style pickup in the neck position, and used 9-JL in the bridge
position. I love them Bartolinis!
- Final change: I replaced the
black pickguard with a tortoise-shell pickguard made by Warmoth
(but I did the pickup cutout) in the summer of 2003.
So what's left of the original
bass I brought home in Fall of 1985? Just the body itself--everything
else has been replaced at least once!
With the Fender neck, this
bass plays and sounds better that it ever has before. I think
the satin finish on the back of the neck contributes to the fast
feel of this bass's action. The pictures below show what it looks
like now: |
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Oakhurst
5-String Bass
Film at eleven!
Bass Amplifiers
and Rigs
Behringer
BXL3000 Combo Bass Amplifier
Film at eleven!
Peavey Bass
Rig
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The bass rig consists of:
- A Peavey 1820 Bass cabinet
with an 18" Black Widow low-frequency driver and two Scorpion
10-inch midrange drivers. The speaker cabinet can be run full-range
or biamped, and is rated at 400 watts. SOLD in 2008!
- A Peavey MegaBass bass amplifier
with chorus, 9-band graphic EQ, and two 200-watt power-amplifier
channels. The amp can be run in full-range or biamped mode.
This rig has plenty of power,
and it sounds great!
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Les Paul Copy Built
Cyr Style
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This guitar has a Hamer Slammer
body, a neck from Magic Dragon (an Ebay seller of guitar and
bass parts and supplies), and a set of un-branded Gibson-style
pickups that sound really sweet. While the body is tobacco sunburst,
the neck is the burgundy color that is used with cherry sunburst
bodies normally. The red of the neck contrasts sharply with the
black around the edges and on the back of the body. I call this
my "RedNeck Guitar." All of the hardware is gold. |
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Marshall VS65R Combo
Amp
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I bought this amp on Ebay--total
cost was about $250 including shipping, and it was an excellent
investment. It sounds great, and I use it daily to test the SMCTek
guitars. This amp has a solid-state power amp that puts out 65
watts, and it has a 12AX7A tube in the preamp to give it some
of that tube-amp warmth. The amp has an excellent spring-type
reverb that has that classic reverb pop to it, and a 12-inch
Marshall speaker that sounds great. |
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Leslie Model 25 Converted
to 142 Style |
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Roland A70 MIDI Controller
Fatar Studio 610 MIDI
Controller
Native Instruments
B4 Software
Dell Studio 1535 Notebook
Computer
Roland KC-500 Keyboard
Amplifier |
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Peavey 8.5C Power
Amp
Behringer MX2004A
Mixer
Behringer MXB1002
Mixer
Behringer Virtualizer
1024 Digital Effects Processor
Technics CD Player |
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