Ok, this thread has been going on for 12 years so in usual fashion I invited myself to the party. I figure it's time to put up or shut up.
I have been playing since I was about twelve yesterdays old, got serious at 15 (to impress a girl) quit here and there, now have osteoarthritis and sustained a couple serious (surgery required) injuries to my left hand and wrist. I am 62 this summer and I don't play like I used to, but at least my ear is getting better. Handy since I cannot read a note of music.
The photo below is my first Warlock Platinum, the best playing guitar I ever owned. Stolen from a locked vehicle on the way to practice with my band at the time, Poseur (pronounced Poser).
I was at an Autozone picking up some parts for a car I was working on later that night at my shop. I loved that guitar, and it fit in perfectly with my musical choice, 1970s-80s rock. From AC/DC, Foreigner, Eagles, April Wine, Rainbow and STARZ to Poison, Tesla, Queensryche, and Dio. I loved it all and slaughtered most of it.
The guy holding it is my body double, alter ego or Doppelganger (your choice).
The bike was my first serious mountain bike build. I bought it part by part at my neighborhood bike shop, Wilson's. It was a Parkpre alloy frame, Girvin Vector fork, Spin Wheels, Magura hydraulic calipers, and Shimano Deore components with Grip Shift Zero shift mechanisms and of course Bart Simpson leading the way from the front of the fork.
This bike was built with 32 speeds, 8 sprockets in the rear and 4 sprockets in front. Not odd by today's standards, but this bike was built in 1995. It took a lot of tweaking, but it worked great in the end. I only did it because a bike rep at Wilson's one day said I couldn't.
Later I bought a GT RTS-1 from a friend and transferred all the components to it and built the Parkpre as a backup. It weighed in at about 20 lbs with the Team RTS alloy swingarm. GT Ultralite seat, Kevlar bead tires and bubble gum colored inner tubes.
Also built because a rep said I couldn't build a full suspension mountain bike that weighed 20 lbs. This bike had a suspension seatpost and suspension neck making it a double full suspension bike
Plans to race were dashed when too much hard riding reminded me I had broken my neck and shoulder in a motorcycle accident and a martial arts stunt gone pear shaped.
Missing in action also is my black Hamer Scarab 5 string bass. It came up MIA when my son moved from Stanford years ago. It was the only bass I ever played and I miss it.
The second photo is of a couple of my current axes, my Crate GFX75 Amp and the boom with my Audio Technica mike I use while playing.
The orange guitar is a Galveston 7 string. Galveston is considered to be a terrible guitar with the exception of their acrylic versions, but this is the second best playing guitar I have owned. Lightweight, thinner neck, loose action and well balanced.
The other guitar is a Samick built Silvertone 6 string. I found this guitar in a trash can one day while I was picking up scrap metal and miscellaneous trinkets to decorate my humble abode.
Samick also built the import Fender guitars at the time and this one is Fender quality. It has 3 way switched Humbuckers, single/double and split phase coil wiring. I bought the pickguard loaded from eBay for about $50 shipped from China and it is worth every penny and more (which it probably is now).
Also in the fleet is an INDY 22 fret Strat copy in sunburst for some 1960s flavor, a 1960s Tiesco single pickup (also found in a trash can) and a Gibson EDS 1275 copy I bought as is, built by a guy in Arizona. When I got it the guitar played and sounded OK but the paint work was horrible.
I was going to strip it and do it in Black but I decided to buy one from overseas finished to my specs at a custom builder in good ol China.
If that works out well I am going to buy a BC Rich Twin Bich 6/12 like Lita Ford played in the "Close my Eyes Forever" video.
I am also building an orange Les Paul Custom copy with Luminous orange paint sprayed over the base coat, and a 3rd pickup for my KISS tunes. You guessed it, also found on a trash can, missing some parts.. A little unorthodox but I think Ace will forgive me.
There are several Warlocks in various stages of builds, including a hot pink NJ (Not New Jersey like everyone thinks but Nagoya Japan) I am building it with switched single/dual coil/phased pickups and custom Prismatic BC Rich head decal.
I also have a BC Rich Slayer Flying V in the works. It is a black/tribal scheme with a widow neck now but I am using a reverse headstock neck and stripping off the tribal work. The widow neck will be going on my hot pink NJ.
Anything not photographed I will link to this post when I get them out or finished whichever suits the guitar in question.
I also have a 16 channel board, miscellaneous pedals, including a Digitech Whammy Wah I plan to mod for all four synth pedals if I live long enough and a Boss 4 channel recorder I have not mastered yet.
Hope this was entertaining and didn't cause anyone to fall asleep at the wheel while texting and driving.
Rob
