Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Busier 'n A One-Legged Man In An Ass Kicking Contest
Yeah, yeah, I know. I've slacked off on the blogging. I haven't grown bored with blogging, I just have been spending my time in other ways, like working on my guitar. My playing is still awful, but I've managed to improve from "agonizing blue whale suckfest" to "sucks bad." That may not sound like much, but there's a lot of ground covered in those ratings, my friends. Be nice, and maybe I'll demonstrate my lack of skill at Parrot Grande next month. Be mean, and I absolutely will demonstrate my lack of talent at Parrot Grande next month.
I bought myself an early birthday present: A Zager ZAD-50CE acoustic-electric. Never heard of 'em? Yeah, me neither. Sure, I know Martin, Gibson, Fender, all those guys. But Zager? Hey......wait.....wasn't he that In The Year 2525 guy from about a thousand years ago?
Yep, that's him: The Denny Zager of "one-hit-wonder" Zager and Evans fame. Turns out Denny is a luthier now. No, dumbass, not a Lutheran. OK, well, he might be one of those too, for all I know. But a luthier is a cat who builds and repairs stringed instruments. Denny takes lovely Martin guitars and modifies them to make them easier to play with lower string heights and wider spacing, but that's not all he does. He builds his own guitars as well. I read some reviews, liked what I saw, and after months of wishing, finally plopped down the cash and ordered one of his Zagers.
I ripped open the box before the UPS guy was even back to his truck.
Oh. My. God.
This thing is amazing. I could not believe how great it sounded, or how easy it was to hit chords that were so difficult with my old guitar. I hauled it to Steve-O's for a 4th of July shindig. Several guys there were guitarists at one level or another, and they were universal in their praise for this guitar. Steve-O told me he now suffers from "Zager Envy."
I've been playing it every available minute, hence the rating increase to "sucks bad." I'm working hard to reach "sucks" by my birthday. That's the highest level of really, really bad guitar playing - a sort of "first loser" status.
And, what do you know? That's just in time for Parrot Grande. My gain is your loss.
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I bought myself an early birthday present: A Zager ZAD-50CE acoustic-electric. Never heard of 'em? Yeah, me neither. Sure, I know Martin, Gibson, Fender, all those guys. But Zager? Hey......wait.....wasn't he that In The Year 2525 guy from about a thousand years ago?
Yep, that's him: The Denny Zager of "one-hit-wonder" Zager and Evans fame. Turns out Denny is a luthier now. No, dumbass, not a Lutheran. OK, well, he might be one of those too, for all I know. But a luthier is a cat who builds and repairs stringed instruments. Denny takes lovely Martin guitars and modifies them to make them easier to play with lower string heights and wider spacing, but that's not all he does. He builds his own guitars as well. I read some reviews, liked what I saw, and after months of wishing, finally plopped down the cash and ordered one of his Zagers.
I ripped open the box before the UPS guy was even back to his truck.
Oh. My. God.
This thing is amazing. I could not believe how great it sounded, or how easy it was to hit chords that were so difficult with my old guitar. I hauled it to Steve-O's for a 4th of July shindig. Several guys there were guitarists at one level or another, and they were universal in their praise for this guitar. Steve-O told me he now suffers from "Zager Envy."
I've been playing it every available minute, hence the rating increase to "sucks bad." I'm working hard to reach "sucks" by my birthday. That's the highest level of really, really bad guitar playing - a sort of "first loser" status.
And, what do you know? That's just in time for Parrot Grande. My gain is your loss.
