MY
MAIN GUITAR
Six years ago I got word that my guitar, “Bell”, a 1975
Guild D25M which I have had since I was 19, had its final truss rod adjustment.
The tech informed me that if he turned it any more, the neck would snap. The
only way to repair it would be for the neck to be taken apart, which would cost
hundreds of dollars. A new guitar was in order.
I went to the Guitar Center in Kendall/Miami to check out
what they had. At that time I lived nearby in Cutler Bay. Guitar Center had an
acoustic guitar room that had two sections. The far section was the high end
guitars. I went in there first. I played Martins, Gibsons, and Taylors, but the
problem was, at that time I couldn’t afford any of them. So I went into the
other room and played the less expensive guitars.
The issue with these guitars was that they all sounded like
they were made of cardboard. They weren’t even close to being in the same
league as my Guild. I guess I played about five and then decided that I’d try
it another day. My Guild was still a great guitar and at the moment, still
played great.
As I was about to leave the room, my eye caught a stunning, blonde
guitar. Surely this guitar was in the wrong room. I went over and picked it up.
I played three notes and two chords and said “Holy smokes!” It sounded rich and
full, just a great tone. I stopped and looked at the price tag. Three hundred
and eighty nine dollars. I couldn’t believe it was so inexpensive! Needless to
say, I bought it right there and then.
The guitar was an Ibanez Special Woods series. This model
was made out of ash. Now ash is a wood that they make guitars out of, however
not acoustic guitars. About half of the electric Fender Stratocasters are made
of ash. The Louisville slugger baseball bats are as well.
The guitar sounded incredible when it was plugged in. The
top end was clear and quite strong for an acoustic guitar. The bottom end was
brassy and very ballsy. Actually, that’s quite a lame description of it. The
bottom end sounds like a 155MM Howitzer. No joke. It’ll kick your ass into next
week. When I cut my album, producer Dan Simpson was doing a sound check in the
studio. After plugging in mics and getting the readings, suddenly he came
rushing around the corner asking “What the hell do you have there anyway?”
looking at the guitar in amazement. At that point in time he proclaimed it “The
best steel string acoustic guitar for recording in Key West”. Dan has been recording and producing in Key West for thirty seven years.
The specific model is a an Ibanez EW20ASENT11202
Serial Number is SQ 07111410
It was two months after I bought the guitar that I moved to
Key West. I name all of my guitars, however this guitar had been around for six
months and still didn’t have a name. I had been going to an open mic at Harpoon
Harry’s diner regularly and there was one night that I just wasn’t in the mood
for playing, however I did want to support the event, so I went without my
guitar.
When the organizer of the show saw that I didn’t have my
guitar with me, he pleaded with me to play and use his Yamaha. I finally agreed
and went up to play.
A girl out in the crowd hollered “Where’s your beautiful
guitar?”
Without any hesitation I replied “I left The Blonde Bombshell
home tonight”
Suddenly, it was christened with a name!
However, it wasn’t done yet. Remember it is made out of ash?
The full name of the guitar is: “The Blonde Bombshell With
The Great Ash”
Photo by Ralph DePalma, Key West
MOTM Schedule for the Shanty Hounds
No comments:
Post a Comment