"It is what it is"

I have had a hard time buying G strings lately.

NO, I have not been lurking at Thong stores. I use a 17 gauage G string on my main Fender electric guitar. I bought it new in 1988 but I have not named it yet. BB King calls his guitar "Lucille" & Stevie Ray called his "Number One", At least that is what his guitar tech called it in the articles I read in the guitar magazines. Billy Gibbons calls his 1959 Gibson Les Paul "Pearly Gates" & usually just refers to it as "Pearly". He has used that guitar on probably every album they have ever done. He uses other ones also but that one is his main axe.


I had been trying to swing by a Guitar Center on the way to a gig (to save gas) since November 1st when I was on my way out to the Balinese Room to play the opening day of the Biker Rally at the Seawall Bar. I had never been to the Gulf Freeway location so I looked it up on the Yahoo Maps and was sure I could find it with no problem. It turned out to be on the East Side of the Freeway & after about 15 minutes of driving around on the west side, I just gave up and went on out to Galveston.

Then on November 4th on the way out to Pinehurst to play the First Annual Fin, Fur, & Feather Festival, I stopped at the Guitar Center on the North side at 45 & 1960. I went in and there was a kid there with a nut in his ear, like one that goes on a bolt. When I walked up to the counter, I asked him if he had any 17 Gauge strings & he didn't say a word but he did pick up the phone & dialed over to another dude who was working at the entrance and say in a growly type voice "Whatsuuup?" He then looked through the string box with the individuals and told me "No, No 17s". He did find one 18 so I said OK on that and asked for a set of GHS Boomers since I didn't want to be that thin on strings & he looked at the other dude & who reached up and got the strings. I then asked him if they had any EL84 Groove Tubes since I needed a matched duet. He checked the computer and said they were out. I then asked if they had any 12AX7s which are some Pre-Amp Tubes that I have been needing & he found them on the computer and said they they did have some in stock. I asked him how much he was going to sell them to me for & he said that they wer $15.99 each. I told him that I knew the list price but I was asking what kind of price he would give me. He then said that the manufactuer would not allow discounts on that item which is a standard line that they have started using but is only true in some cases and not on the Groove Tubes. I know that since I always get a discount when I buy them. I told him that & He said "It is what it is man" So I told him to forget it and started walking off. I got about halfway to the door and then turned around and went back and told him that I had worked in retail sales for some time now & I know about everything being "All hip and cool" but at the same time I felt like he was rude to me. I let him know that there is nothing Uncool about saying hello to a customer. He just looked at me and then I left.

Then last Thursday I stopped by the Westhiemer location on my way to the Gig at Sweet Mesquite and Paul helped me was very cool. Sold me the 12ax7s for $12 & strings for 75 cents each. They were also out of the EL84s but he said I wanted he would call me when they came in. I had been helped by Paul last time I went to the Guitar Center on Westheimer & I purposely went to him this time. Thanks Paul.

I had just put some new EL84s in my Fender Blues Junior. They are the power tubes and the Blues Junior burns them pretty hot so they wear out a little faster than other tubes in other amps. I keep a back up set & those are the ones I just installed. I am now using the ones I took out as a back up set so that is why I am looking for new ones. The ones I put in are rated at "5" but I really prefer to have "4s". It is a rating system that Groove Tube uses & will tell you how easy the tubes will break up or distort. I don't use any effects or pedals so I like to have some tubes that will give a little bit of distortion. I am now wanting to try some 3s but I will probably end up with 4s which work just fine & are easier to find.

Last night I put the 3 12AX7s in the blues Junior so it now has all new tubes and it does sound better. I had been noticing that it was starting to sound harsh and the tone was harder to find. I kept making adjustments during my sets & still not finding the tone. It was particularly noticable when I plugged my acoustic guitar in. There is no substitute for tone & these tubes really do make a difference so I am happy about that. It already sounded better last night but it usually takes a few hours of playing time for them to "burn in". Normally I would just leave the amp on for a couple of hours but it was late last night & I will use that as an excuse to practice a little bit of straight up guitar this week since I need to get back to working on scales and riffs & stuff like that.


Thats all for now.

Remember that we are all going to die at some point so go ahead and enjoy your life. Do whatever it is that you want to do.


Later.