I'm a big fan of Charles Shaar Murray's 'Guitar Geek' column in 'Guitarist' magazine; it's a witty and irreverent take on all things axe-related as well as being a suitably intense look at the trials and tribulations of what's often referred to as 'Gear Acquisition Syndrome', or GAS for short. Recently he's marvelled at the film of David Gilmour's recent performance in Gdansk, and concluded that this means he needs to buy himself a Gretsch; a couple of months back he was wondering why he doesn't own a Les Paul, even 'though he doesn't actually like them as an instrument. All good stuff and as I'm starting to realise, worryingly close to home...
Myself and the long-suffering Shirley have just returned from a rehearsal room on the outskirts of Wolverhampton (that's why I call her 'long-suffering'!) where I met up with my new friend Stuart. He's in a band called Science vs. Romance (Good name! They describe themselves as 'a music box trapped in the eye of a storm'; check out http://www.myspace.com/sciencevsromancemusic to see if you agree...) and I've been in touch with him for the last few days thanks to the wonder of eBay; I thought I'd have a quick look on there to see if there were any interesting-looking Fender Stratocasters around- I loved playing my old one at the recent South Bank gig with Ali McKenzie and thought I'd see what was about with a view to getting one that I could use on gigs without worrying about damaging what to me is an irreplaceable instrument. I didn't expect to find anything- but there it was, a relic Strat (see the 'Reps, relics and rehearsals' posting from earlier this month for an explanation of the term 'relic') in Dakota Red with a rosewood neck; in the associated blurb the seller expressed interest in swapping it for 'an EL84 voiced amplifier' (that's a type of valve often used in guitar amplifiers; as so often happens in these hallowed pages it's Wikipedia to the rescue on this one- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EL84 tells us more than the you's-and-me's of this world will ever need to know!) Hmm... I think that's what's in the Marshall combo under the stairs that I hardly ever use... I wonder if a deal could be done?
A deal has been done! I've got the Strat! It's fantastic! But I fear I've also got GAS, and it's got to stop- I'm running out of money, and we're running out of room! Well either that or I've got to start writing about it in, oh I don't know, a blog, or a magazine column, or something like it...
Now there's a thought...
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