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I know this thread has been around for a bit, but I just became aware of one Dennis Chambers. Here's a clip from him appearing on David Letterman a while back:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px1C7h8Z_3c

My, oh my, oh my, oh my, oh my, etc.

A very decent little amp ... thanks for posting.

Good stuff, FireArt ...

Elixir 80/20's are also my string of choice for my acoustic. Every so often, I'll get adventurous and try something else. But I've never found anything that has the bright ring & sustain of these strings, and as well as the fact that they give at least double the life of an non-coated string.

Russell, we're seeing the exact same pressures on "Made in Canada" ... the whole thing is consumer driven. A free market economy is the purest form of democracy there is. On a moment by moment basis, we consumers vote on our supplier of choice with our $$$. If we tell the market place that lower prices (regardless of country of origin) are more important than domestic production values, then they get the votes i.e., money.

Savvy consumers will go to the next level, to make sure the quality + price = best value. Or they may be motivated by more wholistic factors, like buying local, ethical sourcing, sustainable production practices, etc. Unfortunately, a great many consumers only look at the price tag, and don't bother to educate themselves about the quality issues. For most people today - dealing with limited disposable income - hard choices often have to be made, involving a compromise of some sort. Those consumers will almost always opt for a lower price at the expense of quality, because they cannot afford the better one.

So that's my "macro economic" rant. In short, each of us as consumers is responsible for the dwindling domestic manufacturing sector. However, we pretty much had limited options ... it's that simple.

I agree with y'all about the great quality of many Chinese-made guitars. Since most of the "innards" of domestic-made electrics are coming out of the Orient anyway, and many of the woods used are either Asian or African, there's no reason they can't build to our specs and produce fine instruments. A lot of great companies are building their guitars in China, South Korea, and other countries thereabouts. It's a shame for our domestic manufacturers, but reality is that every consumer is looking for the most bang for their buck ... economic times have dictated that. The phrase "disposable income" is no longer a part of the modern vernacular.

When I bought my Epiphone Les Paul Custom a couple of years ago, I was initially shooting for a Gibson Studio so it would be somewhat affordable. When I plugged in the Epi and played it alongside it's Gibson counterpart, my ears could hear virtually no difference. The Epiphone ProBucker pickups are wired using the same components as the Gibson BurstBuckers (both coil-tapping) and sound almost identical to me. There are a few cosmetic differences, but they are inconsequential to the playability of the guitar. So with a price difference of well over $2,000 ... it was a no brainer.

JJJ, that's a cool thing you did to the ol' beast. Some of those early-era budget-priced pickups were pretty sad, eh?

I added a Stetsbar Pro II tremolo to my Les Paul last Fall ... love it.

When I was in my early20's, I had a 1971 Ibanez Telecaster copy with a couple of single-coil pickups in it. They were fairly low output, so i took the caps off, peeled out the old wire, and re-wound them with a much thinner wire, just as full as I could get them. It helped make them a bit hotter, but certainly wasn't the Brian May sound I was hoping for.

My favorite "hot rod" was something I did in High School wood shop. I took a cheap electric bass and a cheap electric guitar (a Squier 6-string and a Tempo bass) sawed a flat side on each of them, and then glued / doweled them together to make a double-necked rig. I'll bet that monstrosity weighed 75 lbs, but at the time I thought it was very cool, and so did my goofy friends.

Good thread topic, JJJ !

Sorry to expose old wounds with this post, guys! I didn't envision a topic about over-blown guitar hype as a segway to relationship troubles (LOL).

All's well ... I hope!

The Bronco's D covered my Patriots like a wet blanket ... well played! And the Seahawks D forced the 49ers some costly turnovers. Should be a great SuperBowl, with two strong defensive teams ... the makings of a real battle.

Good point about copyrights laws, Dirty Ed.

With all of the digital piracy that goes on, it's an age where artists are less and less being compensated for what they do. I heard a discussion on the radio a while back about this. At one time, a musician would go on a concert tour to promote a new album, and barely break even on the tour in the hopes of generating album sales. Now it's just the reverse. New music is public overnight, so the musicians must now try to make $$$ with concert ticket sales.

I'm obviously not in the music business, and this could be an over-simplification. The point is: if we want quality art in any genre, we shouldn't be expecting the creators to work for free. They have to eat, too.

We switched over our entire home to flourescents several years ago, and the change did take some getting used to. The lighting spectrum is different than incandescents, but we did see a drop in our power bill, plus we don't replace bulbs nearly as often. Neither incandescents nor flourescents give a true light spectrum, and I believe halogens are really closer than anything else. LED technology will likely be the wave of the future, but they sure haven't got the color spectrum even close to natural light, and they're still very expensive. Our town is replacing the street lights with LEDs, and they have a cold, almost spooky look to them.

The upcoming AFC match between the Pats & Broncos has the potential to be a dandy. Both quarterbacks have the ability to make heroic clutch plays, and each team is using different weapons than what they've been known for, making them unpredictable. I'm a Patriots fan, but don't think I'd venture to call this one ... should be a beauty.