Toe Jam

Incredible "Big Foot" guitar will turn heads in any setting. The perfect axe selection for playing at the next big toe jam. If you know the owner or origin of  this unique FREAK of the WEEK you can use the comment section below to share your smarty pants-ness with our readers.

прикажи детаље

First, I would like to thank you for promoting my electric guitar construction design. I will try, in short terms, to describe its function. Essentially, there are two changes that should be made to the regular guitar design:

1. Change in the guitar neck

A channel should be carved along the full length of the guitar neck as shown in the drawing. It will allow a perfect grip and ergonomics of the hand on the guitar neck, more precisely of the metacarpal bone of the index finger [metacarpus]. The metacarpal bone fits inside the channel and hence decreases the tension of the hand and allows easy guitar playing without unnecessary big effort and tiredness. It will also enable bigger mobility of the fingers.

2. Change in the guitar body

The point of the guitar body where it connects to the neck has a cuboid shape. That creates difficulties when playing high notes. My design suggests curving and rotating the cuboid with radius as in the drawing. The junction is created using 5 bolts with special cone-shaped shims.

I believe that this is a radical improvement of the electric guitar design and with proper marketing, advertising, and promotional operations the market will accept it swiftly.

I do not have the required financial and physical facilities to conduct the design changes on my own, so I am hoping for your involvement in the realization of the project. Tell me what your opinion is on this, we can discuss the details at a later stage.

Looking forward to your reply,

Best regards,

Ljuben Karalievski

Dame Gruev 82

6000 Ohrid

Republic of Macedonia

  Join me Friday night 7/20 at 8:00 pm for a FREE concert at the Spirit of the Lakes Festival at Surfside Bay Park in Mound. 

Fudge Factory

Ibanez JEM Custom. unbound neck with dot inlay, factory Floyd Rose, & cool modified paint scheme. Steve Pritchard collection, Rogers MN. If you hurry, you can see a good chunk of his collection with the short lived rock camp "Fun Factory" based here in the twin cities

What's the Story?

A cool recent submission today from TC vet performer Paul Story. He's just acquired a gorgeous 1965 Guild CE-100D. It's very similar to a Gibson ES-175, with a slightly more shallow body and brighter pick ups. In some ways it's very Gretsch-like. The Guild Bigsby is fun, and as long as it's not abused, the guitar stays in tune. It's an amazing guitar on many levels, & a joy to show off. Thanks for sharing Paul. Find out more about Paul's musical journey by visiting PaulStory.net.

Rock with me Friday July 13th at Main Street Bar in Hopkins for Raspberry Festival.
Viva la Rock It Science

Crime Doesn't Pay

No it's not a mirror image, it's Dillon Jones, front man for the up and coming young twin Cities POP rock band LOVE OUT LOUD, showing off his uber-rare lefty 2005 copper Gibson Xplorer. These are truly sweet guitars as anyone who's ever owned one knows. Dillon was lucky enough to recover this sharp axe after a recent theft followed by a lengthy recovery process. Follow the LOVE OUT LOUD tour on FACEBOOK, or listen to their tunes on YOUTUBE. Best of luck on the summer tour gentlemen, the music can't lead you astray. See you Wednesday July 11th for your main stage performance at the Sonshine Fest in Wilmar, Minnesota.

1968 GIBSON Dove - Honorary Las Vegas Submission

  Bill Binnings pictured here with his sunburst Gibson Dove. He's owned it since new (1968) & sent in the pic after visiting this site from his home out in Vegas. He does a regular gig with this fine guitar at the Sambalatte Coffee Shop in Summerlin Nevada. The playability and sound is the big deal, on this vintage acoustic. Bill gets compliments all the time from other guitarists. The tone is so full, resonant and mellow....the wood is wide-open after all these years and it is all-original with a perfect setup. 10 gauge 80/20 bronze coated D'Addario strings sing like a bird, huge tone, quick break-in, triple the life of a non-coated string (for real). Bill can't say enough about his one owner guit-fiddle. "You have to play and hear it to understand. It is a life changer"!!

  Thanks for writing, Bill.
 Rock with me Saturday night at the Wild Rice Festival in Deer River.

Wycoff's Chrome Tele Hollow

Feast your eyes on this custom one off submitted by twin cities troubadour Nate Wycoff. It's a very unique project guitar with a Jap neck that Nate had purchased from Jeff Johnson at Mars Musical Adventures in Hudson WI. See & hear axe this along with his other fine Fender benders by following the link at: http://www.natermusic.com/. You might also catch Nate performing in "Just", his Radiohead tribute act.
  Rock with me & my camp this week, July 3rd at the Bayfront Party in the Park II, in Duluth MN, along with other TC greats, Boogie Wonderland, & HairBall.

Have a Ball

Ernie Ball Music Man, Circa 1982. I was honored to meet proud owner, player & regular guy David Weeks-Wynne at my place on the north side. I've see his cool band Trailer Trash a few times in the past, but had never been introduced to Dave. He's a great guy with a smooth style & cool sound, thanks to this early Bartolini powered thunder boomer. We all appreciate you sharing this picture Dave.

Bo Diddley

 

I ran into Jay Gillespie on Sunday in Saint Anthony. He had this Gretsch beauty out for sale on the Parkway, so I stopped to chat for a few minutes. It's a G5810 Bo Diddley signature model from 2005, & it's clean as you could hope for in a used axe. He's got a nice little collection consisting of electrics, acoustics, banjos, & tenors, & they're all in great shape. He was only asking $225 for this specimen. Always a treat to find cool guitars for sale just by chance.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

I met a cool cat in NE Mpls on Saturday down by the University Ave Farmer's market. He's got a couple guitars, & was kind enough to display one while I snapped this pic with my phone. Steve's got a nice PRS  too, but he's seen here posing with his 1967 Teisco Del Ray Tulip which is surprising shape considering all the decades that it has been exposed to. Good luck with the move Steve, & thanks for the amps!

Join me Saturday, June 23 at 8:00 pm for the Golden Valley Fire Relief Association Community Event. It's a FREE outdoor concert located at Chester Bird American Legion, - 200 N Lilac Dr, Golden Valley, MN.

Mini Jumbo Prairie State

Just by chance I stopped into Johann Brentrup's garage sale (N. Mpls) the week before last to learn there was a master luthier lingering on the premises. The images here are from his site at: http://brentrup.com/. This beauty is called the Mini Jumbo front with the Prairie State 18" rear, & retails around $3695.

Standard features:22.875” scale
X-bracing or Ladder-X
Red spruce top
Mahogany or white oak back and sides
Solid headstock
Grover tuners
Ebony fingerboard with dots
Pyramid bridge
CF tone tubes
Ivoroid Binding
Lacquer finish

Click HERE to see how these finely crafted instruments are constructed.
I can't wait to get my hands on one of these.  }:-D-

Optek FretLight

The 1994 Optek FretLight FG-200 Guitar. Click on the photo to enlarge. Innovative LED equipped Strat style body that hi-lites chord notes or scale notes. I'd love to get my hands on one of these. Owner Robbie Harrison of Milford Connecticut contacted me last week to purchase a guitar pictured on this blog, & was kind enough to share these pictures after I shipped him his vintage axe. He's got a great collection, & even though he's not from Minneapolis I'll post his submissions since he's now found his twin cities connection. Thanks for everything Robbie. Happy hunting.

Spruce Goose

Frosty Atkinson from East Bethel, MN; seen here holding his Takamine EF 350 MC. Frosty stopped over last week for a quick jam session, so I seized the opportunity to snap a couple photos of this high end gem. With a little help from Adobe photoshop I was able to show both the front & back of this spruce beauty. Believe me when I say it sounds as good as it looks. Full on-board electronics make this a joy to own. You can catch Frosty doing a show this Saturday June 16th at Povlitzki's in Spring lake park. He'll be happy to tell all about his cool guitars. Make sure you call him "Frostbite", he just loves hearing that.   }:-D-

Medieval Twang

Here's the latest custom medieval creation in the works from ace educator & world class performer John Schumacher of Iowa. John & I have had some great times jamming together over the years. His wife does the intricate wood burning seen here on his new tele. Nice, huh? Contact him on FaceBook for details on this new Fender Telecaster project. .

Maton Luge

The unique design found on this Australian classical performance guitar was enough to turn my head when I first found it two weeks ago. The sleek head stock on this Maton is cool, but what really sold me was the neck joint. It's extremely unusual to see a classical guitar built this way. It must be structually strong enough; after all, it's already survived 43 years & traveled half way across the globe at least once now. I really like this guitar, but for some unknown reason I sold it too soon, & too cheap. Find more pictures HERE on Ebay for the transaction details.

Rock with me & Rock it Science this Saturday 6/2 at Benton Station in Sauk Rapids.  }:-D-

Plecostomus

The latest release from rogue builder Doomadelic Guitars in Coon Rapids. A lot of notoriety has come his way for his tasteful one-offs. Get the details on this unique hot rod from designer Steve Janke at: TheMapHead@Hotmail.com

Enger & Frank

This FRANKENSTEIN bass is a custom built beauty conceived, calculated and crafted by Derek Enger of Elk River. It began as a "no name" Fender that was purchased from Mainstreet Music in Elk River. It came with a twisted neck, low grade tarnished brass & chrome hardware, & natural grain finish. Purchased mainly for the body & EMG pick-ups. It had a good clear defined tone for recording, but definitely needed updating for optimum playability. Neck was replaced with a Mighty Mite, tuners updated to gold Schaller, & bridge swapped for a gold hipshot. This bass’s balls dropped, but not completely satisfied with the look, finish was coated in black with tortoise pickgaurd. The action is set high, for a beefy edge good for all slap, fingering & pick techniques. As a final piece to this bass, Derek would like to add a hipshot drop D tuner on the E string. Hmmm; I think I've got one laying around here somewhere... This is now a serious bass to be reckoned with. You can ask Derek all about this & his other axes this Saturday June 2nd at Benton Station, 303 North Benton Drive in Sauk Rapids He'll hanging out with the rest of the band.

FREAK of the WEEK !
Gary Kramer Kramertorium. Here's a hi-performance version of the classic V design with a JETSON'S twist. More info here: http://www.garykramerguitar.com/Kramertorium.html

Rock with me & the RISROX crew Saturday night at Main Street bar in Hopkins.

To Suhr, with Love.

You know there's a good party going on when T.C. veteran entertainers Jonah & the Whales hit the stage at a local suburban pub here in town. Last Friday was no exception when lead player Scot Prudhomme layed down the solos at Robbinsdale's newly remodeled night club: "The Lodge". Scot says "the guitar does all the work", though I'm not convinced that's the whole story. He was playing a Suhr Pro Series S6 that plays like a dream and has the second best feeling neck he's ever played (next to his ’89 Strat). Most Suhrs have to be custom ordered but he found his config at a dealer in Florida and bought it sight unseen based on the reviews. He needed something with a Floyd Rose to cover the Whales gig, and wasn’t finding anything that tripped his trigger from Jackson, Ibanez or Ernie Ball. It is the only guitar he's purchased without playing it first, & it's been one of his best gear purchases.

Suhr is a high end custom builder doing mostly unique orders. They cut their own bodies, necks, pickguards and wind their own pickups. Unlike the Suhr Custom series, The Pro series has a set config which allows them to keep the price lower by producing in quantities but uses all of the same parts that the Custom line offers. This one is a Suhr Pro Series S6 in Honey Burst- Basswood body with 5A grade Flame Maple top. The pickups are the hot and juicy but clear SSH+ in the bridge and the classic and sweet sounding SSV in the neck with a Gotoh locking Tremolo. The neck is a very friendly even taper slim C shape. The thickness runs .800" at the first fret to .880" at the 13th fret. It is their most popular shape and John Suhr's personal favorite.

You should get out to a Whales gig & have Scot show you this impressive rock grinder.

Join me & the whole Rock it Science gang at the Basement in Prior Lake this Friday 5/11/2012 - That is if they get their liquor license reinstated by tomorrow...

The Versatile Librada CUSTOM

The Librada is a exquisitely beautiful acoustic/electric model that is meticulously designed & built for the gigging musician who wants one guitar that will give great acoustic guitar sounds, as well as great electric guitar sounds.
Very special thanks to Tim Reede of Tim Reede's Custom Guitars for this week's submission. The acoustic guitar circuit is completely separate from the electric guitar circuit, & there are two separate output jacks. The acoustic sound can be sent to an acoustic guitar amp or into a direct box to a PA system. The electromagnet pickup can be run to an electric guitar amp. You may use one or the other or both at the same time for a stereo effect. This is a great guitar to use with sampling pedals. You can sample an acoustic rhythm and play an electric lead over it. How cool is that?
Contact Tim for a consultation to find out just how he can help you.