borntoplayastrat
Born To Play A Strat
One of the best things I did for myself was resuming playing guitar in a real, active coverband while in my early 50s. I also decided it was the moment to make a youth dream come true: I bought myself a Fender Stratocaster!
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Dance far from here.
New track recorded with The Grand Experiment!
This is unbelievable! Thank you guys!
“New Single....
This song is about the possibility of humanity moving on, maybe to new lands. A song of new beginnings...... A time to celebrate, a time to dance.
We were glad to have our good friend Pasquale Robustini back to lay down some great guitar on this track.” Dave Lutchner, The Grand Experiment
Cover photo: Roberta Baroncini-Lutchner
https://spotify.link/fyEvlzYokDb
https://youtu.be/NJEmv7hyR-s?feature=shared
Share :) The Grand Experiment - Fabrizio Barelli / Dave Lutchner
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Back to a larger pedalboard.
Carrying the weight forced me to reduce my pedalboard to a minimum size. Only to realize it was not that lighter after all…
So, what is the point if you have to use fewer effects and limit your sound? In my case I also had to use cheaper cables because they were the ones I could afford with flat heads in order to save space.
I learned Harley Benton makes very light and inexpensive pedalboards so I bought the 40 cm wide model of their Spaceship series, just 1.26 kg.
The signal from my Strat is now:
Wah > Masotti White Box > TS808 > OCD > Masotti OD Box > MXR/CAE Mc402 > Zoom Multistomp.
The idea behind this setup is:
I was missing a good buffer so I reintroduced the Made in Italy White Box, which is also a very good booster, to be used as a clean gain boost before the overdrives.
It can boost the following Ibanez TS808 Mini which I will keep probably at almost zero gain. This setting can replicate some John Mayer Trio sounds when I need them: he used a Keeley Katana clean booster into a TS808.
The Fulltone OCD is the transparent overdrive here, my all time favorite. OCD boosted by a Tubescreamer is a renown great sound! I can still boost it with the White Box if needed…
The other Masotti here is the exceptional and versatile OD Box. One of its setting is also TS-like so I can use it at lighter gain and occasionally boost it with the OCD or any of the pedals preceding it. Here also this is similar to the Trio setting: a Boss Blues Driver (the transparent overdrive) boosted a Tubescreamer or was boosted by a clean booster.
The MC402 here is the underrated one here. The boost section is very famous, the MXR Line Booster know for its clarity and its ability to add consistency to your sound. The overdrive section is actually a replica of the Freddie Fuzz (aka Black Cat Fuzz). The boost in that position is just a clean volume boost and the fuzz comes handy every now and then (again Trio’s Hendrix interpretations, Gilmour’s use of the Big Muff, etc)
The Zoom Multistomp will handle all other possible effects, even amp simulation if needed. All modulation can be carried out from there, also equalization, compression, the works!
So I should be set when I’m playing either JM3 or generic blues-rock covers!
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True love never ends…
Or is it a compulsive obsession?
When I resumed playing guitar seriously in 2016 I didn’t know much about pedal effects. There were two guys living nearby playing bass and guitar in a band. When I moved there with my wife and kids and I first visited their place I saw guitars and basses all around and I was a bit envious: it was an idea I had abandoned time before.
But in a matter of a few months I had joined a band myself and my passion for playing guitar suddenly was revived in full glory! Having no effects at all, the guitar player showed me his pedalboard and it was the first time I saw and heard a Fulltone OCD.
It was love at first sight!
One night I surfed the bay for one and secretly clicked on Buy Now thinking “what the hell, you only live once!”
It became the basis, the backbone of my sound. I learned later it was a v 1.7. One of the most common and loved. The first versions, 1.0 to 1.3 were already much expensive. Mine was the latest model at the time.
Much later Fulltone introduced version 2.0 with some improvement but fans were bonded to the old series more.
For years I was all OCD. But recently I had developed an admiration for Italian companies producing effects at a really high level of quality. Think of the Cornerstone Gladio. A sort of jewel pedal. I discovered their first overdrive was the Sparkle Drive. It was similar to the OCD with more versatility due to both bass and treble controls. Like the OCD it was extremely dynamic and touch sensitive, maybe even more.
Being forced to limit expenses on futile stuff like guitar pedals, my only chance was selling the OCD if I wanted an Italian-made Cornerstone. The expensive Gladio was out of reach, but a Sparkle was feasible. I went for it. I bought one used but had to sell the OCD.
End of a great love? After a few days I learned Fulltone was closing. Production was halted. Their used effects would soon raise their prices. What have I done!?
I was really, really satisfied and impressed by the Cornerstone Sparkle. I went along for months and months not even thinking about the OCD and the price race that brought earlier models up to 400 dollars! But lately I had the chance to play on stage with the same friend who introduced me to the OCD and I saw his still there in his pedalboard.
It brought back memories of my first time with pedal effects, when we lived nearby and I learned a lot from the guy’s experience. The bass player had joined our band years before, the guitar guy moved in with his woman and he is a father, too. They are both great guys and great players and the guitarist’s advices always helped me. I wanted an OCD again…
The mere sight reminds me of the fever of being back in a band, of studying songs to cover, of trying to replicate the sounds of your heroes, of the night I secretly clicked on that button and waited for the OCD to travel across the Atlantic…
How could I have parted from it? The Sparkle may even be better, it is Italian like me and I’m proud of it. But at a certain age you care more for memories than technical aspects. For me the OCD means my rebirth as a guitar player. It means something more than performances. It means fond memories.
So I started looking and found a v1.7 being sold at a bit more than what I had sold mine for. But the seller was not responsive and I was really scared prices would have grown soon out of reach. I though about shelling even more for one v1.4. Only v2.0s were available at lower prices. So I bought one at the same price of the v1.7 whose seller was not showing up.
The 2.0 has a 1000k input impedance that is better than the old 330k. Enhanced buffered bypass is also available along with true bypass. Some say the new version is worse than the old one. Actually it is an improved version that can sound the same as the old by tweaking the tone pot.
But here it becomes crazy, at least for me. Eventually the seller of the 1.7 replied. I lost sleep thinking about buying even that one. I did like it more. So I decided, Wtf.
I compared the two in my pedalboard and I decided I was much more comfortable with the old version. It took some time to resell the v2 and I lost some money in the exchange. But it was worth the effort in order to come back to my old first love…
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John Mayer Crossroads Guitar Festival | April 12, 2013
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Just me, a lot of time ago…
Guitar was a 70s Stratocaster replica, heavy ash body and DiMarzio Superdistortion pickups.
I don’t know how she ended up…
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Upgrades to my Fender Stratocaster Classic 50s
Callahan tremolo screws
Pure Vintage bridge saddles
Gotoh output jack plate
Switchcraft output jack
Kluson Deluxe single inline tuners
Gotoh tremolo springs
Steel tremolo block
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Jimi Hendrix and Mitch Mitchell.
Rainbow Bridge,30 July 1970.
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The last photo of Jimi Hendrix taken the day before he passed away. #1970s
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Vintage 1964…
….guitar owner. 😛🎸
2006 Fender Stratocaster Classic Series 50s - 60th anniversary model 1956
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https://youtu.be/gpdXu-Vi41Q
That’s me on my Strat… 😉🎸💪
youtube
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https://open.spotify.com/track/0laCX6aQPukY4KdvEkyZnv?si=Xkt-GcETTp66fyZYhX3vaQ
It is amazing what just happens to me - I have been asked to play guitar in a song. What’s the fuss? Well I am no professional musician at all, I just play in coverbands, something I resumed a few years ago.
At my age I thought this would have stayed a dream of my youth. But the song, Cooling, by The Grand Experiment (thank you guys!) is out, available on all streaming platforms!
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