Thursday, May 28, 2009
12:09 PM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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In case you're wondering I thought I'd tell you about my gear.
1990 Squier Stratocaster
I bought this guitar off a friend of mine in 1999. He had a similar design in stuck on Vinyl, i just painted it on rather badly. It needs a bit of a clean up and now that I have more guitars I can afford to "decommission" them one by one and get them up to scratch. The N Series Squiers were remarkable and the neck on this guitar is pristine. It still has the original pickups and I reckon its about time for new ones. I am thinking of the Jeff Beck Noiseless pups. I love the tone and feel of this guitar and it was my first that I bought myself.
2006 Epiphone Les Paul 100
I found this guitar online for very cheap. I had a Les Paul Special before which was absolute rubbish. The differ
ence between the LP100 and other Les Pauls (excluding the studio) is that the body of this guitar is very thin and excludes binding. This makes it a lot lighter than a standard Les paul but with similar electronics and neck. One major flaw in these is that they are made very cheap. I am changing the selector switch as it doens't work 100% and the D and G strings go out of tune after a song or two of heavy bending. New Machine heads are on the cards but I am going for grover Rotamatics when I have the budget available. I love the tone but I don't give full credit to the pups on this baby. They are standard but sound very sweet. I may keep them on. I also like the finish on this as it looks great
You have seen my Ibanez.
The amplifier pictured with the Strat is a Fender Bassman 50, made sometime in the 70's. It was black I recovered it with white vinyl and it looks sweeeeeeeet!!! I recently sold it as it was too big for me to use in gigs and I have a small car and an even smaller apartment.
I currently use a Laney TF200 amp. I'll get a picture sometime soon. Its a standard 120W combo amp with two lead channels (that I dont really use) and a Spring reverb unit which is quite nice.
For effects I have the Boss GT-8 effects processor. I am still learning to use it but the more I play with it, the more I learn. It is a superb item and is definitely cheaper than buying even 10% of the effects it holds.
I am in the process of getting a Boss Micro BR recorder. I say in the process as it belongs to a friend who wants to sell it and I am playing with it at the moment. It is a fantastic item and I will write more about it soon.
Feel free to tell me about your gear, I love guitar stuff in all shapes and sizes.
1990 Squier Stratocaster
I bought this guitar off a friend of mine in 1999. He had a similar design in stuck on Vinyl, i just painted it on rather badly. It needs a bit of a clean up and now that I have more guitars I can afford to "decommission" them one by one and get them up to scratch. The N Series Squiers were remarkable and the neck on this guitar is pristine. It still has the original pickups and I reckon its about time for new ones. I am thinking of the Jeff Beck Noiseless pups. I love the tone and feel of this guitar and it was my first that I bought myself.2006 Epiphone Les Paul 100
I found this guitar online for very cheap. I had a Les Paul Special before which was absolute rubbish. The differ
ence between the LP100 and other Les Pauls (excluding the studio) is that the body of this guitar is very thin and excludes binding. This makes it a lot lighter than a standard Les paul but with similar electronics and neck. One major flaw in these is that they are made very cheap. I am changing the selector switch as it doens't work 100% and the D and G strings go out of tune after a song or two of heavy bending. New Machine heads are on the cards but I am going for grover Rotamatics when I have the budget available. I love the tone but I don't give full credit to the pups on this baby. They are standard but sound very sweet. I may keep them on. I also like the finish on this as it looks greatYou have seen my Ibanez.
The amplifier pictured with the Strat is a Fender Bassman 50, made sometime in the 70's. It was black I recovered it with white vinyl and it looks sweeeeeeeet!!! I recently sold it as it was too big for me to use in gigs and I have a small car and an even smaller apartment.
I currently use a Laney TF200 amp. I'll get a picture sometime soon. Its a standard 120W combo amp with two lead channels (that I dont really use) and a Spring reverb unit which is quite nice.
For effects I have the Boss GT-8 effects processor. I am still learning to use it but the more I play with it, the more I learn. It is a superb item and is definitely cheaper than buying even 10% of the effects it holds.
I am in the process of getting a Boss Micro BR recorder. I say in the process as it belongs to a friend who wants to sell it and I am playing with it at the moment. It is a fantastic item and I will write more about it soon.
Feel free to tell me about your gear, I love guitar stuff in all shapes and sizes.
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Wednesday, May 27, 2009
3:16 PM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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Well in the interim there are some people that impress me greatly, mostly for different reasons but I think they rock.
Andy Mckee
I found this video on Youtube and was amazed. He totally defies traditional guitar playing. There are videos where he plays normally but the creativity here is amazing.
Tony Melendez
For a guy with no arms he plays with Spirit. He has a beautiful voice too.
Orianthi
Man this girl can play! There aren't many spirited musicians around like this these days.
Tal Wilkenfeld
Anyone who gets to play with Jeff Beck must be good, but I reckon Jeff Beck is more stoked to be playing on stage with her than the other way around.
Then there's this....
I love it.
Andy Mckee
I found this video on Youtube and was amazed. He totally defies traditional guitar playing. There are videos where he plays normally but the creativity here is amazing.
Tony Melendez
For a guy with no arms he plays with Spirit. He has a beautiful voice too.
Orianthi
Man this girl can play! There aren't many spirited musicians around like this these days.
Tal Wilkenfeld
Anyone who gets to play with Jeff Beck must be good, but I reckon Jeff Beck is more stoked to be playing on stage with her than the other way around.
Then there's this....
I love it.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
12:22 PM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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I bought an Ibanez (I don't care how you pronounce it, I say `eye`bun`ez and people correct me saying `e`bunez. It wasn't made by apple or the Zulu's) RG470 made in the mid 90's.
When I saw it there was one of the three locking nuts and the tremolo arm missing. The pickups had fallen in through the mountings and when I tested it the switch didn't work so well. Yet I took it anyway. I was feeling generous as it was a student selling it and money tends to burn a hole in my pocket.
I also love the colour blue although I might just end up getting it resprayed a more metallic colour... yum!
When I started pricing parts, the guys at Glenwood village music have been helpful, particularly Grant Lazenby who they say is their expert at Floyd Rose Trem guitars. He gave me some good tips and I found I don't need the genuine Ibanez part that the Mighty Mite ones could fit and are way cheaper. So far I have a new set of locking nuts and the pickup mountings. I am still looking for the appropriate Trem arm.
I put new strings on as well. I used 10-46's as it was set up for them anyway but I see now 9-42's would be much better. I like the light touch that would accompany this neck. This guitar has the Wizard II neck which is a 3piece maple construction and a rosewood fretboard. I favour rosewood as I find it softer on the fingers and the eyes. The neck is out a bit so I am going to need to adjust the Truss rod.
There is one piece of hardware that I do not like touching, and that is the truss rod. We are generally hard on things like nuts and bolts and do our best to make them as tight is possible. with the truss rod it is best to be very gentle and very patient. Going in quarter turns is best and remember loosening allows the neck to move upward from the string tension and tightening pulls it back.
It was fairly abused so I took it for under R2000. If I consider that Glenwood Village music were willing to give me the new RG, not sure which one i assume it was the bottom range for R2500 i think mine wasn't at a bad price with a hard case.
When I saw it there was one of the three locking nuts and the tremolo arm missing. The pickups had fallen in through the mountings and when I tested it the switch didn't work so well. Yet I took it anyway. I was feeling generous as it was a student selling it and money tends to burn a hole in my pocket.I also love the colour blue although I might just end up getting it resprayed a more metallic colour... yum!
I'm not sure how many people do this, but I always have big regrets after buying anything, especially if I can't start the repair process immediately.
On further examination I found the pickup mountings were wrong, taken from a Les Paul and the pups were screwed into the body with big self tapping screws. I took those off and discovered the two humbuckers are DiMarzio's. Not sure which ones but that's a definite upgrade from the Ibanez pups. If I can get this guitar playing and sounding even close to the Ibanez Steve Vai signature series, the JEM's I will be stoked. The neck is similar so I'm nearly there...
When I started pricing parts, the guys at Glenwood village music have been helpful, particularly Grant Lazenby who they say is their expert at Floyd Rose Trem guitars. He gave me some good tips and I found I don't need the genuine Ibanez part that the Mighty Mite ones could fit and are way cheaper. So far I have a new set of locking nuts and the pickup mountings. I am still looking for the appropriate Trem arm.Mounting the pups proved to be a bigger mission that I thought it would. The holes in the bracket were damaged so I had to fill them in and re-tap it so I could adjust the height. So far so good.
I put new strings on as well. I used 10-46's as it was set up for them anyway but I see now 9-42's would be much better. I like the light touch that would accompany this neck. This guitar has the Wizard II neck which is a 3piece maple construction and a rosewood fretboard. I favour rosewood as I find it softer on the fingers and the eyes. The neck is out a bit so I am going to need to adjust the Truss rod.
There is one piece of hardware that I do not like touching, and that is the truss rod. We are generally hard on things like nuts and bolts and do our best to make them as tight is possible. with the truss rod it is best to be very gentle and very patient. Going in quarter turns is best and remember loosening allows the neck to move upward from the string tension and tightening pulls it back.
So after I replace the selector switch, volume pot, and after the neck adjustment, Pickup mountings, lock nuts and trem bar replacement I'll have a near new guitar and I will definitely have a special attachment to it.
Remember that whatever maintenance you do on a guitar, find a manual and follow the specifications given. Unless you are a luthier you will need some sort of guidelines. Trying to wing it is not a good idea and can be expensive if you botch it up.
Monday, May 25, 2009
8:29 AM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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Hey,
I play in a cover band called Swell. In fact its more of a corporate band as we are not specific to any genre. I will get into the band more as this blog develops but for now you only need to know that we are developing as a band and we regard ourselves as professionals and hold our trade in high esteem.
We played at HighField House in Hillary, Durban on Friday night (22 May 2009) it was a quiet evening and we were ready to do our usual 3 sets. Bearing in mind this isn't exactly a music venue we had to improvise on our placement (read squeeze into a corner) but our sound was once again very good thanks to Niel Snyman.
Highfield house is a small conference/wedding centre with a lovely garden and a great atmosphere. They set up braais for everyone to cook on and it felt like a family gathering. There were children and dogs running around, it just felt like home. ( I also had what I rate as the BEST roasted potatoes ever!)
I had a few problems at this gig I want to mention so others can learn from it;
Steve Fataar was there. He's a very nice guy but as far as my playing goes I've always felt like a hack. In other words I can cut it when there are no muso's around but as soon as someone I consider to be a real guitarist is around I get more nervous and worry that I will be uncovered and pointed out as a novice. I'm not sure why this worries me, I think it is my lack of formal training but I must learn to get over it. He was very nice though and he gave me a piece of advice which I think is very valuable to any and every guitarist.
A sound engineer will mix your levels to how HE sees fit. So if you are playing with your guitar (especially an acoustic guitar) at max volume on your preamp that is as loud as it will go. So do a sound check with your volume slightly lower, that way when you play and you need to break into a solo, you can crank it up slightly so you can be heard.
Not all sound engineers will mix the same as well, if your engineer is a drummer for example, he will favour the drums in the mix, as a pianist will favour piano, a singer vocals and a guitarist the guitars. You need to know who you are working with. Thankfully Niel is very good and his mix comes out beautifully, but he isn't at the desk to turn me up when I need to solo so I need to make provisions for that in the future.
I had a technical problem which you also need to be aware of. I was playing a nylon string semi acoustic guitar. The pre-amp runs on a battery like most of these instruments. I did two things wrong here, I bought a cheap battery and never carried a spare. what happened was that the battery died mid song. The result was that I started out hearing myself clearly then halfway through the song I couldn't hear myself at all. Batteries are funny objects, when a battery is running low, the chemicals inside are still reacting and once it has generated enough voltage again it send out the current, once again draining all energy from it. This resulted in me having surges of volume in the song. The guitar would be soft one second and loud the next. It's not an easy thing to control.
The last issue I had is a bit of a gripe... I have a pick holder that is on the mic stand and I have a few picks stuck in there in case I drop one. During one of our breaks someone pinched 2 of my picks. Now I'm not sure what to think, did someone think I was that good and wanted a memento? Or is someone that cheap that they have to steal a pick from a mic stand when nobody is looking. I'll take the first option though, so thanks to whoever took them, I feel like a rock star...
Until next time, rock on and if you're in the Durban area pull in to Highfield House for next time we play.
I play in a cover band called Swell. In fact its more of a corporate band as we are not specific to any genre. I will get into the band more as this blog develops but for now you only need to know that we are developing as a band and we regard ourselves as professionals and hold our trade in high esteem.
We played at HighField House in Hillary, Durban on Friday night (22 May 2009) it was a quiet evening and we were ready to do our usual 3 sets. Bearing in mind this isn't exactly a music venue we had to improvise on our placement (read squeeze into a corner) but our sound was once again very good thanks to Niel Snyman.
Highfield house is a small conference/wedding centre with a lovely garden and a great atmosphere. They set up braais for everyone to cook on and it felt like a family gathering. There were children and dogs running around, it just felt like home. ( I also had what I rate as the BEST roasted potatoes ever!)
I had a few problems at this gig I want to mention so others can learn from it;
Steve Fataar was there. He's a very nice guy but as far as my playing goes I've always felt like a hack. In other words I can cut it when there are no muso's around but as soon as someone I consider to be a real guitarist is around I get more nervous and worry that I will be uncovered and pointed out as a novice. I'm not sure why this worries me, I think it is my lack of formal training but I must learn to get over it. He was very nice though and he gave me a piece of advice which I think is very valuable to any and every guitarist.
A sound engineer will mix your levels to how HE sees fit. So if you are playing with your guitar (especially an acoustic guitar) at max volume on your preamp that is as loud as it will go. So do a sound check with your volume slightly lower, that way when you play and you need to break into a solo, you can crank it up slightly so you can be heard.
Not all sound engineers will mix the same as well, if your engineer is a drummer for example, he will favour the drums in the mix, as a pianist will favour piano, a singer vocals and a guitarist the guitars. You need to know who you are working with. Thankfully Niel is very good and his mix comes out beautifully, but he isn't at the desk to turn me up when I need to solo so I need to make provisions for that in the future.
I had a technical problem which you also need to be aware of. I was playing a nylon string semi acoustic guitar. The pre-amp runs on a battery like most of these instruments. I did two things wrong here, I bought a cheap battery and never carried a spare. what happened was that the battery died mid song. The result was that I started out hearing myself clearly then halfway through the song I couldn't hear myself at all. Batteries are funny objects, when a battery is running low, the chemicals inside are still reacting and once it has generated enough voltage again it send out the current, once again draining all energy from it. This resulted in me having surges of volume in the song. The guitar would be soft one second and loud the next. It's not an easy thing to control.
The last issue I had is a bit of a gripe... I have a pick holder that is on the mic stand and I have a few picks stuck in there in case I drop one. During one of our breaks someone pinched 2 of my picks. Now I'm not sure what to think, did someone think I was that good and wanted a memento? Or is someone that cheap that they have to steal a pick from a mic stand when nobody is looking. I'll take the first option though, so thanks to whoever took them, I feel like a rock star...
Until next time, rock on and if you're in the Durban area pull in to Highfield House for next time we play.
8:18 AM | Posted by
Donovan Banks |
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Welcome to my ramblings and scribblings. If you are interested in music, guitar, recording and performing live then I hope to make this interesting for you.
I am an average guy living an average life but with above average ambitions. I started playing guitar when I was about 12 but never went for any lessons. I do regret that decision but as a youngster you sometimes don't know your real ambition until much later. I played at church since then in a small folk group which isn't very challenging as a guitarist, but certainly tough on your patience and discipline. It is hard to play C-Am-F -G over and over again...
You will get to read about some of the bands I have played in and what I have learnt from them. I have always learnt something and I encourage everyone to do the same. Always try and learn something from everyone.
I live in Durban, South Africa and most of my blog will be in and around here, if we do meet then be prepared to read your name here, and never feel bad, if I mention your name in this blog you must have done something right, be it a moment of musical genius or just teaching me one thing you will probably get a mention here.
Feel free to subscribe, read more, contact me or comment. I'd much rather feel like there is some conversing through this medium as opposed to my writings disappearing into the abyss...
rock on!!
I am an average guy living an average life but with above average ambitions. I started playing guitar when I was about 12 but never went for any lessons. I do regret that decision but as a youngster you sometimes don't know your real ambition until much later. I played at church since then in a small folk group which isn't very challenging as a guitarist, but certainly tough on your patience and discipline. It is hard to play C-Am-F -G over and over again...
You will get to read about some of the bands I have played in and what I have learnt from them. I have always learnt something and I encourage everyone to do the same. Always try and learn something from everyone.
I live in Durban, South Africa and most of my blog will be in and around here, if we do meet then be prepared to read your name here, and never feel bad, if I mention your name in this blog you must have done something right, be it a moment of musical genius or just teaching me one thing you will probably get a mention here.
Feel free to subscribe, read more, contact me or comment. I'd much rather feel like there is some conversing through this medium as opposed to my writings disappearing into the abyss...
rock on!!
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About Me
- Donovan Banks
- Durban, KZN, South Africa
- I am a musician who does anything and everything else. I write about what I do and how I do it. Enjoy and feel free to comment.
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