Rick Lee...I started jamming Van Halen again.

[bigchillcar]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Take Your Whiskey Home is an amazing intro. So much feel to that one. No way to write it out correctly. You just have to have it in you.

haha! yup..

i use a flanger on 'unchained', parts..for the early stuff i'm almost always using a small amount of phase in there...1984 material i used a mono detuner..i'd heard he began using one extensively on that album. i have heard a lot of wah on later stuff that i may not have known the name of, but recognized ed. my pedal models amps and cabs, which is really cool..so many choices though. i tend to use the peavey 5150 modeled amp or the '68 plexi..plexi has a great vintage sound, but it demands way more from my fingers in terms of attack..also have a marshal, but can't recall the model offhand. i think all the youtube stuff was running the peavey sound..the latter two i've only messed with the past month or so. i'm sure it would be hella fun to sit and jam with another true ed head..have never had the opportunity..guessing you have?

[azasadny]

Ryan- Excellent playing and great videos! I play my drums every week, I'm glad you're playing again!

[Rick Lee]

The only true Ed-head I knew in high school was a guy who graduated my freshman year, so I didn't get to see him much. But he always played Eruption at the talent shows that one year and he totally crushed it, used a Kramer Pacer and a GK like mine. Another buddy one year behind him also used a Pacer and GK like mine, but he was more into Ozzy and Rush. He got me into Rush. How cool it was to see them play all of 2112 at a talent show. They also played Push Come to Shove, which I didn't appreciate much at the time, but really grew to understand how awesome one has to be to pull that off. Somewhere I have some photos of my first-ever performance at a talent show with some buddies. We played In a Simple Rhyme.

My guitar teacher in junior high was a serious Ed-head, but was also Ed's age and had been playing a lot longer. I lived in NJ then and CA seemed like a world away. But he got to go to NAMM a few times and brought back some cool photos of Ed at the Kramer booth and just got to hang out with everyone you ever heard of.

My teacher was also a lucky soul who got one of the very first Kramer Barettas, you know with the hockey stick headstock and the old Kramer script on it? Back then the execs from Kramer were literally driving around to music stores in NJ to promote their stuff. One of them came in one night after closing where my teacher was holding lessons (Dave Phillips Music and Sound in NJ). They had that Baretta, but wouldn't sell it. My teacher begged and finally got it for $500 right then and there. I have some photos of myself playing it somewhere.

Did I ever post the story about when I got to tour the Kramer factory during the 5150 tour and got a shot of one of Ed's guitars there making for him?

[bigchillcar]

rick, yeah i recall some posts of yours on topic from a coupple/few years back, before you got married. i read up last year at vintagekramer.com i think it might have been. you have pics from the kramer factory you could post?

dave and art..thanks, guys...i knew art was a drummer..i've seen pics of his setup...dave do you play, too? i was thinking that you do..

[slodave]

Was it the long hair? My first guitar was a Kramer. I have an Aria Pro II Cat Bass and a custom electric guitar - I built it. It's a bit dusty, but I did pick it up for a few minutes last night. It's time to dust it off again...

[Rick Lee]

Gotta scan my Kramer photos. Man, those were the days of true guitar heros.

[bigchillcar]

yeah, i love the kramer with hockeystick neck..frankenstein was my fave of his. although i've never played one, i'd like to try an ernie ball music man, which i think is what he played in recent years..it may not have been the ernie, but another just like it though.

you built a guitar dave? show a pic if you have one..seems like a fun project to do.

[Rick Lee]

This is my Ernie Ball.



Its neck is way smaller than the old Kramers had. I heard they used a laser to scan in the dimensions off Ed's Frankenstrat and whatever neck he had on it at the time to get an exact replica when designing the Ernie Ball guitars. I've played a lot of them and they do all feel alike. Likewise, I played a lot of Kramers and just about no two of them feel alike.

I heard Ed got dropped by Ernie Ball because he was nailing Mrs. Sterling Ball. So they just kept making the same guitars with without his name on the headstock, relocated the toggle switch and now call it the Axis. Since Ed was already with Peavey for his amps, he had them build his next guitar. In fact, I saw him playing the prototypes of the Peavey Wolfgang when I was in the front row for a show on the Balance tour. At that time, there were no announcements or ads for the Wolfgang. Had I not been so close up, I'd have not noticed it was a Peavey.

Now he's parted ways with Peavey and is with Fender for his new line of amps and guitars, which look pretty much like the Peaveys, but cost more. I have no interest in any of that. To me the Ernie Ball guitar is the best one I've ever played and it's one of my most prized toys.

When I bought my first Hot Rod DeVille, I brought my Ernie Ball to the Guitar Center to try out the amp. By then the Axis had been out for a while and the EVH models were skyrocketing and hard to find. You should have seen all the people gawking at the guitar. A few of the employees asked if they could try it out, which I kind of wanted, so I could crank the amp up and walk around the store to see how it sounded from a distance. Anyway, it's a real gem and I don't like to even take it out of the house anymore.

[bigchillcar]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

This is my Ernie Ball.



Its neck is way smaller than the old Kramers had. I heard they used a laser to scan in the dimensions off Ed's Frankenstrat and whatever neck he had on it at the time to get an exact replica when designing the Ernie Ball guitars. I've played a lot of them and they do all feel alike. Likewise, I played a lot of Kramers and just about no two of them feel alike.

I heard Ed got dropped by Ernie Ball because he was nailing Mrs. Sterling Ball. So they just kept making the same guitars with without his name on the headstock, relocated the toggle switch and now call it the Axis. Since Ed was already with Peavey for his amps, he had them build his next guitar. In fact, I saw him playing the prototypes of the Peavey Wolfgang when I was in the front row for a show on the Balance tour. At that time, there were no announcements or ads for the Wolfgang. Had I not been so close up, I'd have not noticed it was a Peavey.

Now he's parted ways with Peavey and is with Fender for his new line of amps and guitars, which look pretty much like the Peaveys, but cost more. I have no interest in any of that. To me the Ernie Ball guitar is the best one I've ever played and it's one of my most prized toys.

ohhh..sweet axe..and a quilt top..i really like that. yep, that's the one i'd like to try some day. how would you compare it's feel and sound to a strat-style rig like a baretta or my charvel model 1? assume it's a compound radius neck as well. is there anything or sound in particular that you think it does superior to one of those guitars? what is it about the guitar that makes it special?

[Rick Lee]

Well, I don't really believe the guitar makes too much of the sound, but rather one's fingers, the amp and effects. Plug any of my axes into my pedalboard with the same settings on it and the amp and you'd be hard pressed to hear much difference between them all. I mean, look at what a beater the original Frankenstrat is and how awesome Ed made it sound with such low tech on those first few albums. I read somewhere that Ed wanted Kramer to make an exact replica of that guitar for the kids. But Kramer couldn't stand the thought of putting their name on and charging so much for such a beater.

Obviously, the Ernie Ball's DiMarzio pickups are a little hotter than what came in the Kramers back in the day. I mean, did anyone actually keep their stock pickups in a Kramer? NO! I went through EMG's, a SD-59 and Gibson PAF in several of my Kramers. I guess the difference in sound is made by how much better you play because the neck is more comfortable on some guitars than on others. If you have some Hondo POS guitar and a real Les Paul Custom, which are you gonna play more enthusiastically and want to practice more with?

Anyway, you look like a giant in those videos, so maybe the Ernie Ball is gonna feel too small for your mitts. You might be better off with the old, wideneck Kramer stuff. Lots of awesome hockey stick maple necks on eBay.

[bigchillcar]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Well, I don't really believe the guitar makes too much of the sound, but rather one's fingers, the amp and effects. Plug any of my axes into my pedalboard with the same settings on it and the amp and you'd be hard pressed to hear much difference between them all.

I guess the difference in sound is made by how much better you play because the neck is more comfortable on some guitars than on others. If you have some Hondo POS guitar and a real Les Paul Custom, which are you gonna play more enthusiastically and want to practice more with?

Anyway, you look like a giant in those videos, so maybe the Ernie Ball is gonna feel too small for your mitts. You might be better off with the old, wideneck Kramer stuff.

excellent point..it is largely a matter of comfort between guitars..most 'sounding' the same, all things being equal thru amps, effects..unless there's a dramatic difference in pickups and how they're seated in relation to the strings. lol..not a giant..6'2" and 230 most days..but you're right about the wide necks often feeling more comfortable for my longer fingers. i do notice that it's harder for me to play legato quickly than it was when i was younger and slimmer, even though fingers are much stronger today. it's easily noticeable to me since i quit for 18 years..differences seem more obvious than had i never stopped and observed the changes associated with aging. how old are you now..and have you noticed any changes in your basic fingering abilities from the 80's, too?

[Rick Lee]

The only difference I've noticed in my fingering ability is that I have to put my wedding band on my right hand when I play, or else I bang up the neck with it. I haven't been married that long, so it's still an adjustment.

Also, the Internet has severely degraded my ability to learn by ear. In the old days it was press play, pause, rewind, play, pause and that was the only way to learn except for when the song you wanted was featured in TAB in one of the guitar mags. Nowadays I don't even bother sitting down to learn by ear. I just look it up on Youtube or Google the TAB for it. Although I do think I can pick stuff up faster with less effort now. But man, back in the day my ears were trained.

BTW, Ed used the shark guitar on the cover of Women and Children First for recording most of the first couple albums. Everyone thinks it was the Frankenstrat, but he only used that for stuff he needed a whammy bar for. There are some real cool fan replicas on the Internet.

[bigchillcar]

sounds like we've both done tons of ed homework over the years..knew about the guitar..also used an ibanez destroyer. anyway, same here..can learn songs much faster than back int he day..i think it's a good trade-off for any finger-speed losses..i'm not interested in shredding anyway. trying to incorporate ed licks into whatever unique voice of my own and approach to play and soloing that i'm currently doing. i've begun slacking off practice past couple months..i try to run thru panama, i'm the one, eruption, u really got me, full bug at least every other day..not working on anything new at the moment. i was goofing around with the song 5150 a couple months back, but faking the rhythm part down at the nut rather than neck, also a little of black and blue. no doubt we'd have a blast jamming were we in the same town, rick.

[Rick Lee]

Yeah, you gotta come to Phoenix. Though I don't have anyone here to jam with. I started looking on Craigslist a while back and so many of the ads said "no combo amps." WTF? Do I really need a full stack to jam with a band or prove I'm any good? I unloaded my big gear when I stopped gigging and before I moved to AZ. My combo will shake the fillings out of anyone's teeth. It's plenty loud. Alas, I'm a home player for now. I have the D-Tuna on my Ernie Ball, which I use for 5150. Love that song. I read an interview with Ed around the VHIII tour where he said he had to go back and relearn I'm the One for the tour and really struggled with that fast first lick. He said there were probably kids out there who could still play it better than he could. Ha ha.

[bigchillcar]

no combo amps? that's pretty funny..guess those guys only gig in places where there's no p.a. gear? with one of those you don't need that much amp anyway. i wouldn't wanna have to drag stacks around either..if i absolutely have to be playing thru those today, i better be touring, selling records and have an army of groupies, coast to coast..

don't have a d-tuna, but would get one..unchained is in d-tuning, but i just fake it. yeah, i'm the one is the coolest..it's soo hard to get it to swing just right, tje main rhythmic phrase..all the staccatos are on upstrokes..it's so badass..and the first fast lick..i'm stillll trying to get it down correctly..i seem to fake it differently every time! i'd ;ove to read the article you're talking about..lol. there are indeed some damn kids out there who can pulverize it! not atomic...just punks!