Gibson Explorer Back from the Hot Rod Shop

Greetings!

Well, I recently got my Gibson Explorer back from my buddy the hot rod builder, where he had it to do his magic with. He always wanted to do a guitar and I gave it to him with no instructions or direction, and he used his own style to make the guitar look the way he thought it should look, and he went all out!

Pictures cannot do this guitar justice. He sprayed a flawless green and black flip-flop metallic with a scratch resistant clear coat. He had it pinstriped by the number 1 striper in the So Cal hotrod scene, and he had a sign shop custom make lettering that celebrates famous users of the Gibson Explorer. It is a smooth as silk, and this one is actually a keeper in every sense of the word.

It is pretty, but I plan to play the crap out of this guitar as it is so powerful, and it sounds amazing with proper set-up from the guys at Long Beach Guitar Repair. Of course the clear is amazing, and it is renowned for its resistance to scratching (at $400 a quart…), so I am not too worried about wearing it out. The only thing I can think of doing to it is possibly putting a different color (black or matching green) pickguard on it.

The best thing is that it was a labor of love by a good friend, and it carries a lot of good memories with it. It is not going anywhere!

Mahalo!

Yamaha BMS10A Microphone Stand Adapter Review

Aloha!

Not everything I review on Rex and the Bass is big and expensive – there are also a lot of cool gadgets that make life easier for musicians, and one of these is the Yamaha BMS510A Microphone Stand Adapter.

This is an extra-cool piece of work that allows you to attach a small mixer or powered speaker to a microphone stand. This is handy in the studio if you need more desk space, or on stage if you need to only have to run a small mixer. The BMS510A is a heavy chunk of metal that screws onto a standard 5/8-27 thread microphone stand, or with the included collar, a European 3/8-16 thread stand.

It has two 2.5mm thumb screws that thread into the bottom of quite a few Yamaha products, including:

Current Yamaha models: MG10, MG10XU, MG06, MG06X, and the STAGEPAS 400i and 600i

&

Discontinued Yamaha models: MG102C, MG82CXMG 10/2, MG8/2FX, and the STAGEPAS 300 and 500

Once mounted to the stand, the mount can be adjusted forward or backward, to give you pretty much all of the angles you need. Yamaha warns against putting anything that weighs more than 11 pounds on this adapter, which is probably sound advice.

It works exactly as advertised, and I have used these adaptors regularly on my smaller MG-series mixers with no problems. The only improvement I would suggest is adding a some sort of quick disconnect – when the mount is installed on the mixer it makes for a awkward package when putting everything away after a show, and unscrewing the mount from the mixer each time is kind of time-consuming.

The Yamaha BMS10A microphone stand adapter is also a pretty good deal. The list price for one of these is $28, but Musician’s Friend sells them for $22, and Amazon has them for around $18. If you have any of these mixers or one of the smaller Yamaha powered speakers, I recommend picking one of these up – it is a really cool piece of hardware!

Mahalo!

1986 Fender Telecaster TL72-55 Telecaster Electric Guitar Review

Hello! If you have been reading Rex and the Bass for a while, you may know that I love both Telecasters and Japanese guitars, so when those two planets align I am like a high school kid with a bottle of whiskey and the keys to dad’s Porsche. Check out today’s answer to my prayers: a Japan-built Fender TL72-55 Telecaster. This is a fairly faithful recreation of a 1972 Telecaster, and gives the performance of the American-made reissues at a fraction of the cost. I picked this non-export model on a business trip to Japan, and it will be taking the place of my all-black Tele, which is now for sale.

As this is a model TL52-55, it is one of the midrange models. The “72” in the model designation means this is a 1972 Tele style, and the “55” in the name designates 55,000 Yen, which is around 600 bucks right now. And Japanese music shops don’t bargain much from list price. The serial number on the headstock has an E Made in Japan prefix, dating this to 1984 (or so) according to Fender’s website. That makes this a very early post-JV instrument made by Fujigen, so it is pretty rare.

This one has a stunning transparent finish over the 3-piece Sen ash body. There is some amazing figuring/quilting to the body grain, which you will not find much on any of the Japanese instruments (or the American ones either, actually). It is not terrible heavy, coming in at a touch over 8 ½ pounds.

The maple neck is a peach with a period-correct water transfer label and a C-profile. The original frets are normal-size and wee probably well finished when it was new – they are still level after 30 years. The neck pocket to body fit is very precise, showing the fine craftsmanship that went into building this instrument.

The hardware is swell, with a classy three-ply black pickguard, and a traditional Tele bridge with 3 steel saddles. As I said earlier it is not terrible faithful to the original and this is because of two things: the truss rod screw is a hex type and they installed Gotoh sealed tuners at the factory. There are no problems with these things, of course as the hex is less likely to strip and Gotohs are very nice tuners that work smoothly and hold well.

The pickups appear to be original to the guitar, but rest of the electronic parts are not. If you lift up the control panel, It looks like sometime over the last three decades someone decided to upgrade and rewired this Tele with USA CTL pots, a USA CRL switch and a Orange Drop capacitor. This is a worthy upgrade as the pots are often the weak link in the MIJ guitars.

This thing is not a trailer queen and its has had its share of use over the years, but it is all honest playwear and it has a nice vintage vibe to it.

There is a pretty good reason it is showing some wear, and that is because it sounds great and it is a smooth playing guitar. The tone is everything you could ever want from a Telecaster, and it will kill any Stratocaster that crosses its path. It will surely make me a happy camper if I ever take a break from writing and get some decent playtime in.

Mahalo!

Blues Blast Magazine Album Review: Global Noize – Sly Reimagined

Hello!

This CD review was originally published in the September 12, 2013 edition of Blues Blast Magazine. Be sure to check out the rest of the magazine at thebluesblast.com

Global Noize – Sly Reimagined

Zoho Music

www.zohomusic.com

10 tracks / 51:49

From 1967 to 1983, Sly and the Family Stone laid down huge hits and played a vital role in the evolution of the soul and funk music genres in the United States. This San Francisco-based group’s career started off strong, but their productivity tapered off over the years as egos and drugs distracted them, and they eventually lost focus on the music. Their songs have been covered by everybody under the sun, but nobody has gone as far as Global Noize, who has created a super-slick tribute album, Sly Reimagined.

Global Noize’s core members are DJ Logic on turntables, Falu on vocals and Jason Miles with the keyboards and programming. Miles was the producer and arranger for this album, which had to be a Herculean task with the complexity of the personnel that participated in the project. Noize is famed for seamlessly working guest artists into their live shows and recording projects; this time they outdid themselves, featuring 9 singers and 17 instrumentalists, including luminaries such as Roberta Flack and Nona Hendryx, as well as Greg Errico, the original Family Stone drummer.

Sly Reimagined includes ten tracks, but only eight songs, as there are two versions of a few of the tunes. It would be a stretch to call this a blues album, as there is a heavy funk, jazz and world music influence, but it is a really neat collection of music with a unique sound that is quite compelling.

Nona Hendryx kicks things off with “In Time,” and right away it is obvious that this is a tight album. The keyboards, horns and guitar are pure 1970s funk, but Butterscotch’s tasteful beatbox and Malika Zarra’s backing vocals give this song a modern world beat.

“It’s a Family Affair” appears twice on this album: first with Roberta Flack on lead vocals, and a second time with Falu taking the lead. Flack’s take (the Groove Version) has a multi-layered contemporary sound with an infectious percussive beat overlaid with keyboards, turntables, horns, and counter vocals by James “D Train” Williams. Falu’s Mumbai Mix of this song provides a completely different tone, with her Indian-style vocals, crazy synths, Jay Rodriguez’s righteous tenor sax work and a decidedly more Spartan beat. I cannot pick a favorite between these two versions as both are very well done.

Global Noize went in a different direction with their two versions of “The Same Thing,” as Hendryx takes the lead vocals on both. The first time up it has a fast tempo with turntable scratching and baritone sax. Then for the redux (67 Mullholland Drive Mix) they slowed things down considerably for a pure funk vibe with heavy keyboards, more of Rodriguez’s tenor sax and Amada Ruzza’s popping bass. Though the first version is very good, the second one blows this song out of the water, and I even prefer it over the Family Stone original.

Maya Azucena provided the lead vocals for three of the songs: “Fun,” “You Can Make it if You Try” and “Stand!” She has a gorgeously throaty voice, and can hold her own with any soul or blues singer I have ever come across. This young woman from Brooklyn has appeared on many albums over the past twelve years, often times helping out worthy causes along the way.

Throughout the album I was taken with how Jason Miles took the original Family Stone material and arranged it into an innovative format while still keeping the original spirit of the music alive. Even with diverse personnel contributing to each track, the album has a unified sound and theme throughout. The engineering and mixing are spot-on, and though I am very picky about production values, I found nothing to complain about here.

Sly and the Family Stone was a very important contributor to our musical culture and history, and I am grateful that Miles and his crew of regulars and guest artists put their hearts into creating this tribute. Sly Reimagined is not an album of cover tunes, but is instead a worthy tribute, and Global Noize has set the bar high. I hope you can check it out for yourself!

Mahalo!

1989 Fender PB70-70R Precision Bass Review

Aloha!

My first Fender bass was a made in Japan E-series Fender Jazz Bass Special, and ever since then I have a soft spot in my heart for Japanese Fenders. They made incredible instruments in the 1980s, and unfortunately not very many of them made their way to our shores. Well, this late 1980s F-series Precision Bass finally arrived in the US as part of my carry-on luggage, and it is not going anywhere else.

This is a PB70-70R, so it is a reproduction of a 1970 Precision Bass with a rosewood fretboard, and as it was 70,000 Yen when it was new it is one of the higher-end models. It is a faithful copy with the correct logo on the headstock, and everything conspires to give it just the right look. This includes an authentic 3-tone bust finish, full-sized tuners, and a pickguard that looks just right. The cheaper models came with terrible looking smaller tuners that are out of proportional for the era.

The body is probably ash though it is kind of discern in the parts of the fade where the paint is thin enough to see through. It is sprayed with a fairly thick coat of poly, and the body has the correct contour and look. It appears to have never ben modified, and the whole thing weighs in at around 8 ¾ pounds.

Though it has been played quite a bit, the original frets are still in good shape and there is damage or unsightly wear to the maple neck or rosewood fretboard. This one has a 1 5/8-inch nut, in case you were wondering. The electronics also appear to be as they came from the factory, with just volume and tone controls.

I found this one at a Hard-off (secondhand store) in Nagoya, where there are usually a few cool instruments on the wall. It is certainly well used, and there are some pretty good chips and some finish problems, but it has an authentic vintage look, and you will never find a Japanese (let alone American) Fender Precision Bass for a better price. Also, if you really think about it, an old P Bass is really the most that any of us really need. There is almost nothing simpler than having a passive bass with a volume knob and a single tone control.

Despite the appearance issues, after a set-up with new flats it plays very well, with good frets and the classic Precision Bass sound. The late 1980s were the golden age for Japanese-built Fender instruments, and I am lucky to have picked this one up!

Mahalo!

2014 Blues Blast Music Awards Round-up

Hello!

It was hard to know what to expect when I heard that the 2014 Blues Blast Music Awards would be held in Champaign, Illinois. This is a college town that is quite a hike from downtown Chicago and it seemed like a gamble to get artists and fans to head 2 ½ hours south on a Thursday night to attend an awards show. Well, it looks like Bob Kieser had a solid vision of the event as it turned out very well in all respects!

At first glance, the Fluid Event Center seems like an odd building for a big blues show, as it is an old lumberyard barn that has been converted to a multi-use facility. It worked very well with a huge main hall that is cavernous when compared to the club that had been used in the past. The size of the room allowed two full-sized stages to be set up, so that there was little downtime for band changes, which helped keep the event on schedule. The stages were also more generously sized and positioned higher so that everybody could see better.

There were two large video screens set up so the crowd could see the details, and the stages were well-lit and the sound was very good. Kudos go out to the videographers and the light and sound technicians for delivering the goods to the audience and artists.

And there were plenty of folks that made the trip to Champaign for the 5:00 start times. There were a few dozen bands on the bill, and all of the seats would have been taken if everybody were in the hall at the same time. This did not happen often, as there was good catering and drinks that were reasonably priced. The prices were light-years away from downtown Chicago prices, with $3 domestic beers and meals that were under 10 bucks. Not to mention that parking was FREE and plentiful.

It would be hard to go wrong after a set-up like this, and when you figure in the fabulous entertainment and the opportunity to meet some of your favorite blues artists the $45 ticket cost was the bargain of the year.

It would be hard to describe all of the performances, but here are a few highlights:

For blues-rock lovers, Albert Castiglia tore the house down, and Too Slim and the Tail-Draggers brought their own brand of countrified blues with no holds barred. RB Stone was also in this category, and fortunately they stuck it out to the end of the show so their fans could have a change to hear them.

Acoustic blues was represented by the amazing Steve Dawson, as well as Bernie Pearl and special guest Barbara Morrison. Lisa Biales also came up with a lengthy set of material. Also, the soul blues performers, including the incomparable Tweed Funk, knew how to show the crowd a good time.

But for overall entertainment value, I have to give the nod to Josh Hoyer, who played with the house band as the rest of his band (the Shadowboxers) were not in attendance. His voice is huge, and he is definitely the future of the blues. The Andy T Nick Nixon band was the house band, and they did a stand-up job of supporting the artists that were not able to bring their bands with them to the show.

It was great to see Bobby Rush get his lifetime achievement award, as well as finally getting to see Trudy Lynn and Lisa Mann perform in person. And it was also fun to connect with artists whose music I had reviewed, and none of them seemed too upset with me!

All-in-all, it was a worthwhile evening and I am sure that nobody regretted making the trek to Champaign for the show. I would certainly not mind heading out there for the 2015 Blues Blast Music Awards, if that is where Bob decides to have it.

Mahalo!

Jack Bruce: May 14, 1943 to October 25, 2014

The world lost one of its most influential bassists today. Godspeed, Jack.