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First thoughts and impressions on my TSR GT #018 ( Update with advice and a Strat + 1st audio file )
DSC02582 Hello fellow SD members ! I am the lucky first who got to play his unit on this day, 10th of January 2014. I didn't sleep much to be honest... Excitement all over my body; woke up at 7:30 ready to receive it :lol: . It arrived precisely at 10:39 am ( I've never opened a front door so quickly ), but I couldn't play it until 11:45 ( had to help a friend of mine with university stuff, if you wonder,a girl... yeah girls right ? :lol: ) Franz kindly asked me if I was willing to make a review of my TSR, and the least I could say was " Yes, of course ". After all Franz has done for us lately regarding the TSR project I had to say yes, and it's an honor for me to do this :) !
10 January, 2014 / 350 Comments
AC/DC’s “For Those About To Rock (Album Compilation of Covers)”, The Schaffer Replica™ Series (SoloDallas covers)
I am going to try and compile here - this time - the covers that refer to For Those About To Rock. Just for ease of access really, and to try and keep what I write in a sole place so that you don't have to go picking up stuff around in bits and pieces. NOT that I think what I have to say is SO important after all. So the big chunk I am going to say it right after the first three covers. Enjoy.
05 January, 2014 / 17 Comments
One Schaffer Replica™ & Eight Les Pauls
I.e., "testing the TSR™ on Les Pauls as well", basically. Because - yes - it's not that the SVDS was only used with Gibson SG Standards, naturally. It was used much with Les Pauls as well. An example of it - where I even clearly recognise the SVDS sound - is in this Kiss' live video:
18 November, 2013 / 5 Comments
A 1959 Gibson Les Paul Conversion & a David Allen P51
Another long time project that I have was to "fix" an old original, 1952 style Gibson Les Paul - originally started as a Gold Top in the early 1950s - that I had bought in Florida probably 20 years ago. It was my first 1950s Les Paul conversion, and the conversion itself had been done horribly. Never the less, I played the guitar for years live and at home. It was my main Les Paul for a long time, until the Lentz conversion came about years later.  I don't have a picture of what the guitar looked like when I first got it. The guitar was refinished a number of times, eventually staying in gold with P90s (replicas) as its last condition before I decided to have it properly converted in 1959 style again - but this time, done as it should have been. [caption id="attachment_9826" align="alignleft" width="300"]G93R1899 Finally Converted Properly.[/caption]   It took almost two years to friend Luca of Cloe Guitars, but the guitar is now successfully converted. Luca did a number of incredible things to it. The first one - wasn't easy for me - was to replace the neck. The neck was probably not its original one from the start - it had been reset for sure, but it had a very strange shape, definitely too thin, probably a 1970s neck anyways. Not only it didn't have the proper angle in the 1950s Les Paul body, but it was shaped too strange for the guitar to get its full range of sound. So Luca swapped it with one that was carefully modelled after other conversions of mine.
14 November, 2013 / 12 Comments
David Allen Pickups Developing A New Pickup In Collaboration With SoloDallas (Updated With Allen’s Prototype I, Metro JTM50)
[caption id="attachment_9623" align="alignright" width="200"]Recording The Rock N Roll Relics "Angus Model" With A David Allen P51 on a number of amplifiers Recording The Rock N Roll Relics "Angus Model" With A David Allen P51 on a number of amplifiers[/caption]  Please note: for the latest updates, please scroll down to the bottom.   Well, I'm happy to be able to officially announce that Mr. David Allen, me & myself (Solo & Dallas) are working actively together to bring you a new pickup to sound... as it should. [caption id="attachment_9635" align="alignleft" width="300"]G93R1208 Microphone Types & Placement: Left, Shure SM57; Right, original 1960s Sennheiser MD421. These microphones are a "classic couple" for Rock & Classic Rock. This is the combination used to record - for example - Highway To Hell.[/caption] For what? Well, typically - knowing me - for Rock 'n' Roll. And moreso, it's supposed to be one of those you can stick or shove into an SG of any kind and make her sound... good. Good reminiscent of what you know. Idea came months ago to friend Billy Rowe of Rock N Roll Relics, that put David Allen and myself in touch to work on this. At the time, the main objective was to choose two pickups for the Angus Model (Rock N Roll Relics "Angus Model"). Billy had chosen one from David Allen's great line of pickups called the P51, which replicates a 1959 Gibson (the Gibson of those times) PAF. [caption id="attachment_9695" align="alignright" width="211"]One of our Plexi prototypes - companding 100%, Boost circa 60& One of our Plexi prototypes - companding 100%, Boost circa 60&[/caption]
13 November, 2013 / 61 Comments
Test Driving A Schaffer Replica® Pedal & A Rock N Roll Relics Angus Model: AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”
Here to you, the second part (out of... X) of our "Studio Day" in Los Angeles, CA last August, following up on our first Test Driving A Schaffer Replica™ Pedal & A Rock N Roll Relics Angus Model: AC/DC’s “Sin City” where Billy Rowe of RockNrollRelics.net and myself "test drove" our respective pieces of equipment (his "Angus" model SG Standard modeled after a late '60s Gibson SG Standard with some specific requirements by me, first and foremost being, my requirement for playability and ease of set up whereas often vintage Gibson SGs really demand a lot of work for a number of reasons). The Studio was Gilby Clarke's own home studio (beautiful!) in Los Angeles. I can not quite describe the feeling of being there while looking at some gold albums affixed on the walls... felt pretty weird. Gilby was terrific with us. Completely down to earth, colloquial (i.e., liked to speak to us), just a common "rock n roll guy" like us. Since he's been friends with Billy for a long time (probably since the teenager years) this surely helped.
04 October, 2013 / 12 Comments
T-Top Replicas – A successful tone report!
I guess most "gearheads" and "tonefreaks" are already very used to boutique pickups. It seems that most variations and options offered out there are reproductions of the sought after "Patent Applied For" pickups (PAFs), which are very special in their own right, but also very elusive. The inconsistent character of that era makes reproducing them very hard, as there's hardly any set "standard" for the true PAF tone. The quantity of people who offer high quality replicas of said pickups is overwhelming. From $75 to even $200 or even more for a single pickup, there are many to choose from, be it from big names such as Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan, as well as other small winders. Truth is, all of them sound great in their own way, what you get, though, are different tastes. But I'm not here to talk about boutique pickups in general. Thing is, I have something that might interest you.
02 December, 2012 / 111 Comments
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