 Evelyn
Gibson Les Paul Standard 2003
Desert Burst finish, AA flame top, no pick-guard
(acquired
August 2003)
In the beginning of my guitar playing career, I was a Fender person; as
if there were a rivalry between Fender and Gibson. There may or may
not have been, but I always thought Gibsons were dumb, and the Les Paul
dumber. I have matured and fully come to appreciate a fine
guitar. I love this guitar, so much so that I may be a Gibson person
after all.
The balance is quite different than any other electric, since I have to
play it on the other leg to even out its weight. It plays smoothly and sounds awesome! The finish and wood
grain are amazing, the trim is beautiful, the “desert burst” is
tastefully eye-catching. Ooh, I think I just had a moment. If
you have the means, I highly suggest picking one up: it’s so choice!
RECORDING CREDITS: The electric
guitar parts in Moved On, Parenthetical Aside, Pedestal, the clean, flanger part
in Brilliance Recedes, and the beautiful solo in Dearest Yvette. All
the clean and distorted parts in Distraction and Wooden Duck!
 Alysson
Takamine EG-334SC 6-string
acoustic/electric
(acquired March 2003)
I’m somewhat surprised at how long I went
without a fine quality 6-string acoustic/ electric. Perhaps I fell too
far in love with the 12-string sound several years earlier, that I plain
forgot. Or maybe it was the lack of a guitar-purchasing income.
This guitar is very pretty, as it has trim
around the body and soundhole, and a nice gloss finish and wood
pattern. It plays wonderfully, has a good, full sound, and the
intonation is quite good up the neck (which was one of the finer, final
selling points for me). Finally I can play Guster songs in tune, and
with sufficient energy, hereto impossible on my 12-string.
RECORDING CREDITS: Heavily featured in the
songs
Moved On, Faith-Based Fail-Safe, Parenthetical Aside, Sommer Nights, Running
On The Fumes, Pride, and Pedestal, in which she plays all the acoustic
guitar parts (except for one Katherynne part in Sommer Nights). All
acoustic parts in What The Hell
 Gwendolynne
Parker P-38 “Woodie” electric
Transparent Red finish, white pearloid pick-guard
(acquired June 2001)
It’s not quite a Parker Fly, but it was
based on it in several respects. It includes on-board pre-amp, mixer,
stereo out, and a Fishman piezo bridge pick-up system. A humbucker at
the bridge, and two single-coils. This is a light guitar, very
resonant, sounds good and strong when distorted, and is a damn fine addition
to my collection. It’s pretty, unique, versatile, and was given to
me as a gift.
This guitar has a great “growl” to it
that has a certain texture that I haven’t achieved with the Les Paul, and
definitely not with the Jag-Stang. It has a somewhat Fender feel, but
it has a much wider neck than any Strat, which makes acoustic techniques
more adaptable to this instrument.
RECORDING CREDITS: All electric guitar parts
in the song Mind, including the intro. Featured heavily thoughout the
entire PWC album. The growling distorted guitar in the songs
Cerebration, Had, Namesake Composition, Faith-Based Fail-Safe. The solos in the songs
Fallacy, The Requisite vi-IV-I-V Song, and Indulge In Kind.
 Katherynne
Ovation Balladeer 12-string
acoustic/electric
(acquired June 1999)Once upon a time,
I saw a guitar in a Guitar Center catalog, and there was absolutely no
stopping me. This was the
guitar I named. This was the guitar I loved. This was the guitar
I recorded everything with.
All my early recordings are heavily
influenced by the shimmer and glisten that this 12-string can produce.
I have performed gigs with this guitar and I can say it’s easy to impress
people with just simple arpeggios on this thing. It can fill the
room. And when strummed, Katherynne is nice and full, and needs no
second or third guitars to flesh out the arrangement; if you play her well
enough, that is.
RECORDING CREDITS: Virtually every acoustic
guitar part on SHW, TOCC, and PWC. Included in most of the tracks on
LHP, too. If it’s a shimmering arpeggio, it’s Katie! Brief
appearance in Filler Track (the “shimmering arpeggios” part, of course!)
Made a great comeback with her prominence in Women’s Inhumanity to Man.
 The Unnamed Jag
Fender Jag-Stang, original issue 1996
electric
Fiesta Red finish, white pearloid
pick-guard, chrome hardware
(acquired 1997)For
those completely unaware, this guitar was designed by Kurt Cobain (of
Nirvana) as a hybrid between the Fender Mustang and Jaguar models.
Since I was a huge fan, I thought it was absolutely necessary that I got
this guitar as my first “expensive” guitar (which meant: my first
“real” guitar, one that is not entry level or in any way a
“training” guitar). I liked the humbucker, the skinny neck, the
bridge, the look, the head-stock.
This is a fine guitar and I still use it to record because it has a
distinctive Fender single-coil sound in the neck pick-up position, and I
like having many tones available to me. I still think this is a cool,
cool-looking guitar. It has great balance and is nice and weighty
where it needs to be.
And that is a Barenaked Ladies sticker, plastered right on the butt of
the body. I think it looks fine, so just pipe down, those of you who
do not.
RECORDING CREDITS: Every electric
guitar part on SHW and TOCC. The solos on the songs Bad High School
Poetry and Soliloquy, the clean electric parts in the songs Had, Solipsistic
Universe, and Fallacy, among others, and the main riff parts in Unactualized
Possible and Filler Track. All clean and distorted parts in
Split!
The Unnamed Acoustic
Franciscan 6-string acoustic
(acquired 1997)
This was my first acoustic guitar, which I
bought off my friend Rich, for $80. And it wasn’t necessarily worth
it, but he needed the money. No, I’m just kidding. It’s not
that bad a guitar. In fact, I’ve recorded a couple layers with it on
a track here or there. It doesn’t have a proper bridge, and the
intonation is poor up the neck. It is hard to play, the action is
clumsy, one of the cross bars on the inside has come undone and has been
re-glued a number of times. But all in all, it’s a guitar.
RECORDING CREDITS: I believe it had a part to
play in the songs The Visitors, That One Song, Cheryl (the SHW version), and
Yes, Officer, That’s My Girlfriend. She made her solo recording
debut on the song Serenade (I Am Not A Psycho!).
The Unnamed Squier
Fender Squier Stratocaster electric
Dark Red finish, white pick-guard
(acquired June 1993)
This was my first guitar. There isn’t
much I wish to say about it at this time, however.
RECORDING CREDITS: Ha ha hahaha ha haha haha!
I guess I still have some old low quality, straight-to-tape-recorder
“demo” songs on cassette somewhere, but these will not see the light of
day. Not until I’m big and famous and eBay will help get me a heap
for copies of them. Okay, you asked for it, here is a clip
of me playing it, circa 1994!
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©2003 Brian Michael
Weidemann