Greetings... Long time Guitarist, First time G101....

[Baimun]

I found my way over here from some links left over at www.guitaristworks.com where I mod one of the forums and do the Guitar of the Month feature.

It didn't take much looking around to feel right at home here... I started out singing and playing guitar in 80's rock bands in highschool and college, along with building guitars from spare parts and doing repairs.

Nowdays I'm in my late 30's, married with kids.... but now it's easier to get the gear that always seemed so out of reach then.



My #1 is a Koa Charvel SanDimas II that I rescued from pawnshop condition, totally refinished and restored... and an ever changing array of similar guitars.

I'm currently building two different Axis-style guitars including this semi-hollow one with a spalted maple top.



I've done away with my preamps, modellers, and rack effects... and currently play through a simple rig as follows:

Morley Wah --> MXR Phase 90 --> Mesa Rect-o-Verb --> ADA Delay.

I just picked up some Marshall studio mics and will be hooking them up to my Mackie Mixer and doing some short clips. Nice to be here.

[wahwah]

Welcome to the site...that Axis looks insanely good! . You'd be best to put this into the 'Introduce Yourself' Forum...you'll get more replies!

[Baimun]

D'oh!!!... that would be too simple for me to actually read all the forum names and follow directions.

sorry.

I did forget to mention that I don't use standard tuning on any of my instruments. I tune everything to 5ths like a violin or cello.



When I play... it doesn't sound THAT much different from a normally tuned guitar...

The high "E" is normal... each lower string tunes from the 7th fret to the adjacent open instead of 5th. This is consistant all the way across the neck, so it gives me a 5 octave range of notes and tones available. Ironically enough, my third string "D" is the exact pitch and gauge of most players FOURTH string "D"... so those two opens should give you a decent reference of where I play.

The last string is purely used for bass lines, but the added beef of notes on the "C" string can add a lower octave 5th that really beefs up my chords like I'm using an octaver or have a bass player doubling me.

[bluesplayer]

Now this i gotta hear !

[jethro]

welcome aboard! I have to agree with you on this but I have no kids.Nowdays I'm in my late 30's, married with kids.... but now it's easier to get the gear that always seemed so out of reach then. It amazes me how much gear I've gotten over 25 years.where are you from? why do you tune your guitar this way? just curious,jethro p.s you have some beautiful guitars! I'm a mesa boogie nut to.

[Baimun]

I live right on the Indiana/Michigan border... right by Notre Dame.

When composing, I wanted to have a piano-like range of notes available to work with, but I don't know how to play the keys. Besides that, I like the subtle, tactile things that you can get by bending, sliding, muting, and pinching the strings that you can't get with a piano.

[VHF]

Welcome to the site Bai.

I can relate.....I used to play in a couple small time cover bands back in the late 80's where we could barely scrape enough gear together to even put on a show. Now I'm in my early 40's and can pretty much get whatever I need.....much of it thanks to E-bay. However due to wife, kids, jobs, etc I have no time for bands, bars or practice. But I got a lot of cool gear! LOL

I am also restoring, refretting, and painting a few guitars for the first time. It's fun, but it sure is a lot of work!

[pranav]

love that axis.intersting tuning will try my n1 in that tuning.welcome dude

[Baimun]

It's somewhat expensive to purchase bass and guitar strings.... I found a few places like Curt Mangan that will sell individual strings all the way up to 100's, but I still like D'Addario's the best, so I usually buy a 3 pack of middle strings (use 3 out of the 6) a 5 pack of 9's (for the highest strings) and then a set of bass strings.

I change the lowest two strings about every other time I change the higher strings.