Minor League Rocker

My Carvin Bolt Plus is a go-to guitar. I love playing it.

I currently have four guitars. And it boggles my mind that this is honestly, genuinely not enough to meet my needs. That’s ludicrous. Here’s why they’re just not enough:

Hung Dynasty/Betamaxx - My primary band and its soon-to-be-sprung-on-the-world offshoot tunes to Eb. Playing live without a backup is the acme of foolishness, especially for a hard-hitting, Floyd Rose-using brute like me. So I’ve got my wonderful Carvin Bolt Plus and pretty solid Charvel 375 DLX (known as Liberace because … well, just look at it!) pulling duty for these projects. The Carvin is Number One - the action is beautiful, and the swamp ash body and HAS Sound bridge pickup just destroy all my other guitars from a tone perspective. It’s not even close.

Luminatus – Though our first gig only had four tunes, I expect that to expand. That means my battered Charvel Model 4 (known as Big Red), which is tuned to D, is going to need help. I’ve gotta be honest: I’m cheap, or I would simply have Carvin build me another Floyd-equipped Bolt Plus. At about $1,000, they’re a killer value for a high-quality USA-made guitar. But I’m cheap, so I’m likely to lurk for an old Charvel or Kramer. Some of the Kramers have real Floyd Rose bridges, not the

Big Red (seen here in an early Hung gig) is making a comeback in Luminatus.

knock-off “licensed” models. That makes a huge difference, and don’t let any sales drone tell you any different.  I would also commit some serious transgressions to get a hold a Michael Wilton-signature LTD, or a 90s-vintage ESP Horizon or Mirage. Yum.

General Use – A koa-topped Ovation acoustic/electric. This is handy for figuring out tunes from bands that are tuned to A440, which is pretty much most of them. It’s also very handy for just getting a different vibe from practice and songwriting. To be honest, practice on the acoustic negatively affects my electric playing: The higher string tension forces me to fret chords and notes harder – that same amount of pressure can actually make chords (especially inverted triads) sound out-of-tune on the electric. I have to be mindful to reduce my fretting pressure.

The truly funny thing? I hate buying guitars. It’s because I always have sneaking suspicion I could’ve gotten something better for less. But that’s just because I’m a jerk. Oh, well.

Liberace is likely to see far more action when Betamaxx is rolling. I'll need its trashy 80s glam flash.