Even In His Youth.... He Wanted To Plug In

Back when I was twelve I started playing cello.  It kind of surprised me how I really got into it, and started being really good at playing.  Anyway, here's a picture of my cello.  Yes, I still have it after all these years.

Anyway, there was one thing a bunch of twelve year olds with instruments liked to do, and that was rock out with their instruments.  I mean, I dreamed of playing, George Throughgood's "Bad to the Bone" on my cello.  (Sidenote: In all fairness, I was twelve.)

It got me to thinking, couldn't I have an electric cello?  Well part of me answered that question later when I actually built an electric cello.  True story.  Here's the pics.

As awesome as that electric cello is, (and it is by the way,) it's not the kind you rock out with.  When I was thinking about it in high school, I noticed the bass guitar had four strings, and played the lower notes like a cello did.  However, the strings are actually backwards on a bass from a cello.  Or, that's what I thought.  I didn't realize that a bass is in 5ths, and a cello is in 7ths.  It's just a matter of changing the size of the strings, and tuning to a cello's tuning A-D-G-C.

When I was researching this I was originally going to use a baritone guitar, so I would have a few extra strings.  However, there are very few on the market that I like.  It was then that I searched Musician's Friend for a "Short Scale" Bass.

I'm not very high on the cheaper basses, but I have to say one thing about the Fender Squier Short Scale Jaguar Bass.  It has everything I want.  It's short scale, it's in my price range, and it's also in a PJ configuration. 

It seems the fates intervened and I found one locally on Craigslist from a guy not far from me.  I think he had only played it twice or something.  Here's a picture of it.

So here's what I have to do to make it perfect.

1.  Fret dress.  I gave it a rough set-up, but I can't get the action perfect until I put on the correct strings.  I have found a few spots that need touched up on the high G string.

2.  I already have a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder bridge J-bass pickup.  So that baby is going in it.

3.  I found a deal on a matching S.D.Q.P. P-Bass pickup.  It's on it's way to the house, and should be here in a few days.

4.  To make it all happen I really need the strings.  Since the cello tuning is in 7ths, the string sizes are really far apart.  They are .035, .055, .080, .125.  So I am going to go to the music shop, and buy the individual strings since I can't buy them as a set.

5.  I was given a strap with this bass, but I think I am going to grab another some time down the road.

But after that I think I will be set, and it will be time to practice.  Of course I will want a bass amp, but that's down the road.  I have my Sunn Alpha 2-12R for the time being. 

So after all this time, I will finally have a cello that I will be able to rock out with.  My inner twelve year old would be so proud. 

Craigslist: Strange Tradings

The guitar market is like any other market.  When it's a "Buyer's Market" there are tons of great guitars for great prices.  However, no one actually has any money to buy them.  When it's a "Seller's Market," everyone is doing okay financially, but everything is overpriced.  Then you have what we have now.  It's a "Buyer's Market," that has gone stale.  In other words, every one has something they want to sell, but no one is buying it, and it has been for sale for months with no takers.

I recently put four guitars up for sale on Craigslist.  I haven't really had any bites on them for people wanting to buy them, but I have had quite a number of offers for trades.  In fact, just last month I wrote a blog called "Awesome Guitar Weekend."  It's about how I bought a guitar for less than 40% of what it costs new.  I also traded a guitar I had for another guitar.  Here it is:
http://angjellockheart.blogspot.com/2014/02/awesome-guitar-weekend.html

What was weird is that, in the deal I traded a $400 guitar (new cost) for a $500 guitar (new cost) plus a hardshell case ($100 new.)  Take note of this weird fact.  The guy didn't even plug it in.  I must look trustworthy or something?

So I have four guitars up, and I get a trade offer up for one of them.  He wants to trade me a Jackson guitar for it.  I am in the middle of writing an e-mail to him saying, "no thanks," when I look at his e-mail a bit closer.  He says this is a "Made in Japan" Jackson Dinky DK2M.  I had to think that all the Jacksons I ever played were Korean or Chinese made and not really great guitars.  In all my years, I had never played a real Japanese Jackson.  I looked the price up on Musician's Friend, and was surprised to see that the new ones where going for around $800, give or take, depending upon the options.  So I called him up and decided to take a chance on it.

Here's what I traded him:  A 2008 MIM Fender Standard Stratocaster.

They run $500 new, $280 - $300 on the used market.  I was selling her completely stock.

So this is the guitar he traded me:  A 1997 (I think that's the correct year) Jackson Dinky DK2M.  It's a very metal guitar in that, it's all black, has a Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB set, and a Floyd Rose Tremolo on it.

I am a member of the Dean Guitars forum, and will ask the forum members there about this guitar.  Since a lot of them are metalheads, they know a great deal about metal guitars like this one.  The new models run $850 new, but I wonder what this one, being older, runs used.  The guy was honest, and said that he figured I could get at least $350 used for it. 

He was running into the same problem I was.  It was tough for him to sell.  And since he was in Spring Hill no one would come to look at it.  So he wanted a Stratocaster, and it was easier for him to trade, maybe lose a few bucks, than to actually complete a sale, then try to find a Strat he liked on Craigslist. 

And remember, what I said about the one guy not even plugging in the guitar.  Well, this guy completely trusted me too.  He wouldn't have plugged it in, if I hadn't of already fired up the amp, and started playing the Strat.  He was more than fine with it.  I guess I just look trustworthy.

So I got around to playing the Jackson, and it was perfect.  I couldn't do anything to it.  The action was perfect.  The intonation was perfect.  I thought about changing the strings, but they still have some life left in them.  The only thing I did was lower the bridge pickup because it was hitting the strings when I pulled back on the whammy bar.  After lowering it just the height of the side of a nickel, the whammy bar worked fine without any problems.

Now comes the question, what am I going to do with it?  I mean, it's not my style.  I've never owned a Jackson before.  I might try to trade it on the Dean Forum.  It's kind of funny, but I am trying to get some money, and the market is just not swinging that way.  Once I get some feedback from the Forum I'll decide what to do.