An Unexpected Gift

Those of you that have been visiting (or lurking around) this blog for at least the past year may remember this picture I posted back in February of last year showing the "altar" in my bedroom/studio:



I call it my "altar" because, in addition to a large percentage of my musical instrument collection and related maintenance gear, it houses my aromatherapy collection (incense, essential oils, and scented candles), my tarot cards, and the overwhelming majority of my literary and artistic productions. Not only that, but the corner it occupies faces east, just like a Shinto shrine. You might say a lot of my personal energy is focused here.



This is what it looks like now. Notice anything different? Well, the calendar has changed, and the items on the shelves have been moved around a little bit. The orange bag (containing saxophone reeds and guitar strings) hanging behind the flute case in the first picture is missing in the second. There is also a new, (plastic) Japanese flute in the hanging flute collection, one of my Christmas presents from my wife. I'll give you a hint: the most significant change is in the middle of the photo.

I have always referred to the black Yamaha RTX-102 guitar as my "Yamacaster" because it is (loosely) based on the Fender Telecaster design. It was the first electric guitar I bought after coming to Japan. I got it at the time mainly because I hadn't built up my bank account yet, and it was almost ridiculously cheap (clearance priced at 70% off the list price, which was already relatively low). I also liked the way it felt and played compared with other budget-priced models. For the record, I never intended to stick with it; my plan was to ditch it and buy a better guitar as soon as I was comfortable with my savings. As it turned out, I stuck with it for more than 16 years.

The fact was that the Yamacaster really grew on me. When I bought it it came equipped with 10-guage strings (most electrics use lighter 9-guage types), and the action was set a bit heavy. I actually appreciated that. It gave it a solidity that almost approached that of an acoustic guitar. I could bang on that thing hard, and it would respond sweetly without the detuning and twanging that can tend to happen. Especially considering the price, it also had surprisingly good machine heads that kept the guitar in tune even on the few occasions when I used that (better avoided) tremolo system. Of course, the heavy action and a few other issues meant that it wasn't really suitable for lead, so I soon supplemented it with a Fender Stratocaster (eventually replaced with a Fender Stratocaster HSS w/ locking tremolo and supplemented with an Epiphone SG), but it continued to be my principal rhythm workhorse clear up until the end of 2006.

Nevertheless, I was never entirely satisfied with it. Like most Yamaha guitars, it had a beautiful clean sound, especially on the neck pickup. However, it didn't really have a whole lot of oomph. If I gave it a moderate to fair amount of overdrive, perhaps with a bit of chorus thrown in for effect (hyuk!), it gave me a lively, jangly sound which I used a lot...maybe even too much. (In fact, anyone familiar with my recordings may well call that sound "too recognizable". Come to think of it, some have...) However, if I tried to use it with really hard drive and/or distortion what I got tended to be either really muddy or really thin and tinny, leading me to press one of my "lead" guitars into the "rhythm" role temporarily. I toyed with the idea of replacing one or both of the pickups, and then I began seriously considering getting a new guitar. The only problem was convincing myself to do it, especially since I don't play rock guitar as much as I used to.

I pretty much ruled out getting a new guitar, at least for the time being. However, Shimokura Music opened a branch outlet at a department store in Narita that specializes in used gear. I started browsing around there a lot. There were a lot of axes there that were very tempting, but the one that wound up catching my eye was a very new-looking Fender Telecaster whose price was about two-thirds that of a new one. I was still hard pressed to convince myself to get it, but the coming of my birthday in early January made it a lot easier. I have a habit of buying myself a present, and I figured the used "Telly" would be a lot cheaper than the car navigation system I bought last year! When my wife asked for us to go to that department store in Narita so she could complete her birthday shopping for me, I considered it a done deal. We had to split up anyway, and I figured it was as good a time as any.

Imagine my surprise when my wife came around via a different route and intercepted me at the music shop! I was even more surprised when she named a maximum price and told me to pick the guitar I wanted! I looked around a bit and did some serious drooling (especially at that 5-string bass), but I really did want that Telecaster, so I headed for its aisle to find it gone. I searched around in vain. Someone else had grabbed it first. I started to rethink my strategy, but then I noticed another Telecaster hanging behind the front counter with an even lower price on it. I asked the dealer for the story on it, and he told me that it had only just been brought in. The store people hadn't even had a chance to look at it yet.

So I looked at it for them. Whoever had it before did not take care of it. There was plenty of corrosion on the chrome parts, and it had some serious dust bunnies around the bridge and treble pickup. The bridge was also out of adjustment. However, when I plugged it into a Marshall JCM-800 and played that thing...
ME: "Can you adjust the bridge for me?"
Clerk: "You mean 'harmonic octave tuning'?"
ME: "Yeah, whatever."
CLerk: "Certainly."
ME: "Sold."

So now I have a new guitar, my surprise birthday present from my wife! (She'd once said something akin to hell freezing over before she'd get one of those for me, but anyway...) I have cleaned and polished it, fiddled a bit more with the bridge myself, and am generally enjoying it. I haven't recorded with it yet. (It just missed appearing on my just-finished latest [demo] album.) I will, though. Bet on it. I haven't gotten rid of the Yamacaster, though; I have only mothballed it. It and the Telecaster are surprisingly different animals despite their similar design. The Telecaster is definitely grittier, more bluesy and more rocking. Much more oomph. However, I may still want the Yamacaster's beautiful clean sound or that jangle (even if some people are fed up with it), so it'll stay in its case in the corner for the time being.

The only problem is that now I've lost the color coordination! All my electrics plus the bass used to be black and/or white! Now one of them has a natural wood tone! Oh, well. At least now I have a Fender-Fender-Fender/Epiphone-Epiphone full house! (Hey, patterns are important, don't you know?)
(I know, I know..."Shut up and play your guitar...")