GregP

Almost any of the things you were asking for are substantially cheaper than your KK set, unless you're talking higher-end tools. Where did you find a pre-fretted fretboard-only? Usually they don't sell fretted fretboards for a variety of reasons not the least of which being the almost inevitable backbow at trying to accomplish such a thing. Greg

"stacked push-pull tone/vol" isn't really a viable option. If you use a stacked cocentric vol/tone, you can use any existing 2HB+vol/tone+3-way diagram. The stacked pots act exactly the same as 2 separate pots.

what the heck is an X, and then if X means single-coil, what's the S?

Single-coils always have substantially higher potential for noise. In an ideal recording environment with a well-shielded guitar, this can be significantly reduced. But the potential will always be there. I can't use single-coils in my apartment, for example, because it's a rat's nest of EMI and RFI. Greg

Gonna be sweet! I have a big red Swede bass that I should refurbish sometime. Greg

I don't know from drop-tops, so I'm not sure what the typical scenario is-- but did you need to "pre-bend" the top before gluing? Ie. bend it in place, then apply... ? water? steam? Something to do much of the work? Or is it held in bent shape just by virtue of being a thin enough top coupled with a good glue job? Greg

It's not that it doesn't feel good-- though, I prefer teles over strats. But a strat still has a less than ergonomic neck angle when played in a seated position. You can mock the Breadwinner (and we all do, and it somewhat deserves it!) but that gets back to the point that... well, it's just a downright goofy guitar. You can feel cool playing a strat... pretty hard to do with a Breadwinner I would think. But that doesn't mean a strat is actually more ergonomic. 'Sides, I hate how "slidey" a strat feels. All slippery-like and it doesn't want to stay put on my lap. Maybe I'm just holding it wrong, but a tele stays put a lot better. One thing's for sure and isn't likely to change any time soon... electric guitarists as a whole are a conservative lot, even the ones that love rock'n'roll and tearin' er... stuff... up!

Oh well. *bump* I enjoyed your songs, though I admit I didn't listen to the whole shebang. Had a bit of a vibe to it that I couldn't quite put my finger on. "Supergroup" classic rock or something (eg. Journey, Night Ranger, Foreigner).

Playing while standing is a whole other thing, Wes. Then it boils down almost ENTIRELY to the weight distribution on one pivot point, combined with overall length!! However, the V does have a pretty cool way of wedging between your legs while sitting which gives neck position an ergonomic benefit over some other guitars. Vs aren't actually the least ergonomic guitars I can think of. But saying, "A V actually has some pretty good ergonomic benefits, especially my particular one that is perfectly balanced" is one thing I agree with. But come on. Quit playing devil's advocate and admit that typical guitar shapes such as a tele, strat, or yes a V, are not particularly good examples of actual ergonomics in practice. Don't you think that pointing out the ergonomic benefits of a V was REALLY all that was required, instead of the more personal comments (red herrings and straw men, btw) that you threw my way? Moving on-- if the question is, "what is the MOST ergonomic guitar," *I* certainly don't have an answer, and small details WILL be different from person to person. Arm and finger length might determine an ergonomically correct angle in fanned frets, as well as which fret should be the perpendicular one, for example. But it CAN be stated strictly objectively based on general body geometry that a Klein is MORE ergonomic than a tele... no matter HOW you slice it. And I love teles and the way they feel, in case you missed that point the first time around. There's such thing as objective observation without getting so dang "touchy feely" (to use your term) about your own personal biases. Greg

The point is that there are some very DEFINITE and scientifically-backed claims that can go into what's classed as "ergonomic". A strat, tele, V, etc. just ain't it. Guitar neck position, angled upward (which is what the Klein body does) puts your wrist (ANY human wrist) in a more optimized position for your joints and muscles to work in harmony on a guitar fretboard. That's just one example. None of the typical guitars are actually very ergonomic. I love the way a tele feels, too. It feels "right" to me, compared to a lot of other guitars. But I'm also able to objectively evaluate that the feeling of "yup this guitar is the one for me" does NOT equal actual ergonomics. Think of all the people who feel weird alien goofiness when using an "ergonomic" keyboard... that's why the rectangular standard keyboard still proliferates. But it's obvious and proven that the keys on "ergonomic" keyboards ARE in better position, reduce RSI, etc. etc. Just because they feel goofy at first doesn't make them less ergonomic, and just because a standard keyboard continues to "feel right" for most people doesn't mean that they're getting ergonomic benefits. That's why I said I felt like I was in the twilight zone... apparently there's a big misunderstanding about the science of ergonomics here... Greg

Here's one I did with my dad... I remember it being a one-night job, but we might've had a couple passes at it... can't recall anymore! It needed to be "tightened up" at some point in time, but we never got around to it. http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=551 And here's a demo I did for the Line6 TonePort... it's just a 12-bar blues repeated 3 times, but each "section" features a different "vibe": http://www.wusik.com/song.php?id=1137 There's other stuff floating around, but very little of it of any interest to people here. A lot of joke raps and stuff... though there was an 80's "hair rock" song that was not bad... except that it has foul language and the lyrics are entirely based on inside-jokes about a friend of ours for whom we recorded the song as a bachelor's party gift. Greg

+1. JamStix is a pretty cool tool, too. Greg

Nah, it's telling me to "download the latest Flash plugin" which I already have. Its Flash content is old, and is consequently checking versioning against Macromedia, instead of against Flash's new owner (namely, Adobe). Don't wanna downgrade just to see a site. Greg

Ergo's site is broken. I know I have the latest Flash, but no loadie. Any pics?

With Tracktion, there's no computer science needed. I've also used Tascam 4-tracks, and it's much more immediate and easy to get ideas down on a computer than on a 4-track. I have a cable that's ready to go... I literally plug in and press record, with all the same benefits of the 4-track, plus the benefits of digital and none of the drawbacks of the 4-track. Greg

Is this the twilight zone? Strats and superstrats being called "the most ergonomic guitar"? Not sure what "the" ergonomic guitar is since there are several, but the Klein and even the Ovation Breadwinner spring to mind. There are plenty more ergonomic than a strat, too! Only vaguely related plug for Robert Irazarry's (a member of PG) blog. If you're talking ergonomics in guitars, BTEG has fast become an important dot on the internet map! http://buildingtheergonomicguitar.com/

Vamp2 is more realistic than POD2.0, but PODxt is generally considered to sound better than Vamp2. Of course, tone is entirely subjective.

The fills are very good, AND almost all of their CDs come with multi-layerable single-hits.

+1. Beta Monkey's stuff sounds very good, and the way they're organized (well, dunno about the earliest of his sets, but starting with Drum Werks IV at least) makes it easy to create organic parts. Greg

Whoah, I didn't know Doyle Bramhall II was touring with EC. Cool. He's a heckuva guitarist and a passable vocalist, too. I had a friend that played right-strung guitars left-handed. Some of the voicings were different, and the strum patterns as well. It gave his playing a unique sound. He emulated "righty" rhythm-- stroking up on the 1 and down on the 2, but it still made for a different sound. Greg

Yeah, that's the EB/MusicMan Albert Lee body style-- modded up in style! <laff> I think 6 single-coils will look hella ugly, but what the heck... it's all in the name of trying new things and having some fun. There's another Ernie Ball with a lot of pickups-- the Steve Morse model: http://www.ernieball.com/mmonline/specs/in...stevemorse.html Since Lace pickups are generally without polepieces, it might end up looking "clean" enough.

So you're going to have 6 single-coils on your guitar in total? Is there space? They won't jam together side-by side as nicely as the individual coils of a humbucker, I don't think.

It still doesn't load with Opera. I just use IE when looking at your site, but it would be handy to be able to do it from Opera.

Here's my modest and EMI/RFI-littered corner of the world:

The core of my setup: - Mackie Onyx Satellite - Line 6 TonePort UX2 (seems redundant, but when using Line6 tones, still useful!) - Edirol PCR-M50 MIDI keyboard/controller - KRK Rockit5 nearfield monitors - Mackie Tracktion 3 Ultimate (including the superb DrumCore) and a few extras: - various inexpensive plugins including most of Elevayta's plugins, plus WusikStation 2, and the amazing Revalver MkII for guitar amp sim - Behringer GDI21 - ART TubeMP StereoV3 (retired by the Onyx which has much better pres) - Ibanez compressor/sustainer pedal - Boss flanger - Boss phaser (1/2 rackmount) ...all that cool (well, for hobbyist-level) gear and I hardly ever record complete songs. I spend a lot of time just mucking around. I guess I have to accept that as part of my personality-- hardly ever get anything done with guitar projects, either. Also available if needed, but on loan to my dad so that he can have a recording setup, too: - M-Audio Audiophile 2496 - Behringer UB802 mixer Greg