T1B

Cross Traffic posted this link in the Best Buy thread:

http://www.idahostatesman.com/235/story/60399.html

Down towards the bottom of the page is a little blurb about Bolin guitars. Don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention Bolin, so I went to his website and see that he’s sold like 100 guitars and basses just to ZZ Top. You ever lay your hands on one?

Nope, Goober, can't say that I have. Never heard of 'em before.

Gonna assume thought that they must be good if filthy rich players like Richards, Wood, Gibbons and Hill are buying 'em...or at least playing 'em. I can't actually picture Keith Richards or Billy Gibbons ever having to actually buy a guitar these days, especially from a small company who'd dearly ove to see their product being used on stage by the Stones and ZZ Top in front of millions of people world wide...

Pretty sure those were freebies.

:-)

http://www.bolinguitars.com/about.html

Since 1978, Bolin Guitars, LLC have built some of the most innovative guitars in rock and roll history. A list of their satisfied customers includes ZZ Top (who have purchased more than 100 Bolin guitars and basses), Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Joe Perry (Aerosmith), Steve Miller, Lou Reed, Albert King, Kathy Valentine (Go-Go’s), and Doc Watson. None of these artists plays a Bolin guitar or bass because they are paid to or because they were given a free instrument—they play them because they want the best.

Google +"John Bolin" and +guitar. Apparently he is rated one of the top 2-3 luthiers in the world.

Uh huh. Sure.

"They want the best", and they pay retail for all their guitars. Yup.

They played vintage beaters their whole careers and now that they have to get up four times a night just to take a wiz they suddenly need cutting edge gear in and amongst their 400 deep guitar collections??

You ever seen Joe Perry's house, and the guitar collection he has warehoused there?

Albert King?? Dude played a Gibby Flying V, almost exclusively.

Anyway, I have a hard time seeing Albert King and Jimmy Page juxtaposed with...Kathy Valentine from the Go-Go's! LOL!!

I'm sure they're fine guitars though; not disputing that.

I will always defer to your expertise (or anyone else’s for that matter) in the area of guitars. While I agree that well-known professionals are probably not paying retail, I’m also certain that the dude didn’t give Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill 100 guitars for free.

Lou Reed offered these comments about the Bolin NS guitar:

“It will stay in tune and deliver magnificent tone. But there are some other guitars that do that. It’s the ergonomics of the active controls and the flexibility that makes possible a guitar that can do anything. From Tele to acoustic to Gibson to heavy metal and a bunch of original stop-off points as well, this is a guitar that does it all.”

Goober McTuber wrote:I will always defer to your expertise (or anyone else’s for that matter) in the area of guitars. While I agree that well-known professionals are probably not paying retail, I’m also certain that the dude didn’t give Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill 100 guitars for free.

Lou Reed offered these comments about the Bolin NS guitar:

“It will stay in tune and deliver magnificent tone. But there are some other guitars that do that. It’s the ergonomics of the active controls and the flexibility that makes possible a guitar that can do anything. From Tele to acoustic to Gibson to heavy metal and a bunch of original stop-off points as well, this is a guitar that does it all.”

The other possible angle is that Gibbons or someone Gibbons is tight with has an ownership stake in Bolin.

Just curious as to why a stiff like Lou Reed would value such tonal versatility in a guitar? Good songwriter and all and respect is due but dude is lucky if he can simply avoid hurting himself when he plays a guitar...

Booger, "payment" from a guy like Billy Gibbons to a boutique company like Bolin can come in many forms, not all of which necessarily involve cash money...

I obviously don't know what sort of arrangement these celebs have with Bolin. I just seriously doubt Gibbons and Hill have forked over a half million in actual cash. (Figuring 100 X $5K per guitar, which might easily be a VERY low estimate if Bolin guitars are that exclusive and that well respected...For example, custom built Benedetto guitars have a three to five year waiting list and they can easily go for more than $50K apiece...)

I could be wrong though. Maybe they are forking over real cash. God knows they could certainly afford to do so if they wanted...

OK, so you and BSmack are just doing a whole bunch of speculating here. At this point, I believe I’ll just sit back and wait to get the real scoop from Dinsdale. Thanks anyway.

Goober McTuber wrote:At this point, I believe I’ll just sit back and wait to get the real scoop from Dinsdale.

Good call.


Take Steve Vai and the points.

I'll bet Bolin sent them a few freebies, they liked them, and after that, they bought a bunch.

I did some spec work a few months back up at Metallicas Studios in San Rafael. Had a brief chat with James Hetfield. Nice guy. They had a rack of guitars - perhaps 30 of em, plus a shelf filled with every pedal there is and an awesome drum rig. I asked the manager dude if all that stuff was free, he said "Most, except the stuff they really like and buy themselves."

So I guess it's the same thing. The millionaires can't be Bothered with money, so they just go get stuff and say "bill me", or tell the manager to get it.

During the time I was there, the manager was on the phone yelling about the $60K worth of gear Kirk had just ordered and not paid for. Seems the seller was fretting about sitting on 60K worth of gear he needed to move out and get paid for.

Must be nice to be able to do that, go out and buy whatever you want.

Goober McTuber wrote:Apparently he is rated one of the top 2-3 luthiers in the world.

And this forum has the original Luther, in the whole wide world.

Excuse me, What? Oh.

Rip City

bwahahahaaaa!!!

any scrupulous guitar player with any class pays at least a reasonable price for almost ALL of the guitars they use. at the old daydream of getting free guitars and amps.

Don't get me wrong, famous players get kicked down gear, but not any they want :lol

jesus, bwahahahaaa!

btw if you HAVE a signature model and your name is not Les Paul, you are stoopid, and whatever company is pimping you is getting most of the extra caesh they charge for your model.


gibbons and dusty have bought guitars from that guy so he can pay his bills. those small luthiers barely get by. see Dave Bunker. And the REAL sweethearts that the pros use for the heavy lifting.....ALL PAID FOR.

bwahahaa @ guitards

I was having a beer with A busy new york session player a couple weeks ago here and he DID say he got some guitars sent to him for free, sometimes the company wants em back if he doesn't pay, sometimes they don't. and he said the ones they send you free are ones they want to push or eject from inventory. He was trying to trade me one of the three lame finished McCartys PRS gave him for my Gold Top LP I've posted so many times.

All the shit he has, and he was flying around the country playing a US fat Tele

The biggest BWAHAHAHA is timmay acting like he's Alan Holdsworth.

He's given us "I get all the best gigs in town"...his town being a hodunk berg with about 2 small bars with music.

Now, he "bwahahaha" 's at freebie guitars, because he calls it a "daydream."


You're clowning yourself pretty good, timmay.

Uhm...when Steve Vai wants a new guitar, Ibanez makes one to order. And I'm pretty freaking sure they don't charge him for it.

No, really.


But go ahead and keep putting yourself up there with the Hall-of-Fame greats...always good for a laugh.

you are not reading your special dinsdale books correctly.

I never Said I got the best gigs in this or any other town. thread is in the archive. I was speakin third person. And not of my town even

as usual you are so exited to on everything, you are not using your moderate interpretive skills to their best potential. Stick to beer and dope stories dins.

Ibanez are shit guitars for wanking tards.

btw

Dinsdale wrote:Alan Holdsworth.

bwahahahahah!

timmay wrote:Stick to beer and dope stories dins.

So, in addition to pimping yourself as the most important studio guitarist of the 21st century, you've now decided to give me advice on being a messageboard funnyman?


Priceless.

From the mouth of Edward Van Halen himself.

EVH: Yeah, that'd be great. See, another thing, if you do find it, I'll give you money and you buy it. If they know they're for me, they'll jack up the price. There's a place called House of Guitars or something - this is when we were touring with Black Sabbath - and Tony Iommi goes in there. And they just racked up the price unbelievable. They figured, hey, rock star, he's got a lot of money. I was smart, and I had my roadie go in and get a price list. They didn't know that I knew the price list, so I walked in with him. I go, "How much do you want for this?" And they quoted me a price a grand above what it said on the paper. I said, "Wait a minute, man, it says right here that it's..." And they said, "Oh, oh," and tried to make excuses. I hate dealing with people like that. That's another reason why I build my own. I also did buy two old Les Pauls, just for an investment, because I don't play them.

http://www.vhlinks.com/pages/interviews ... 122979.php

Overhead at Ibanez Inc.:

~click

"FUCK"
"Oh shit...what now?"
"That was 'the ASShole'."
"OH FUCK!!! NOT VAI AGAIN?"
"Yep."
"HOW MANY NECKS THIS TIME?"
"Multiple"
"FUCK!!! PINK ZEBRASKIN?"
"Nope...he wants a Giraffe print."
"I OUGHT TO GIVE HIM A GAY-LOOKING PICKGUARD."
"yep, save him the trouble of stapling it on himself..."
"FUCK!!!!"

, btw

Dinsdale wrote:

timmay wrote:Stick to beer and dope stories dins.

So, in addition to pimping yourself as the most important studio guitarist of the 21st century, you've now decided to give me advice on being a messageboard funnyman?


Priceless.

still haven't even read my posts, eh?

I do think you are pretty funny, btw. not always when you mean to be, but thats the real lmao anyway.

(l-r: Not Gay...Honest; not pictured: Van fellating neck, Archangel's Junk quickly empurpling)

Oh, it pains us too, Stevie...

rack PSUFAN

this must be what you are remembering dins

Meinthatotherthread wrote:there's ten guys in my town who can shred like all those tards, one guy that knows WHAT to PLAY when.

guess who gets the sessions, no matter what kind of music it is?

I ever say that guy

was me?

nope

for what reason?

oh nuthin

oh dins, maybe this threw ya a lil

the first time I bwahahaa! ask for a session is the first time i stick a gun im ny mouf

I don't ask for gigs is all. still never said I was All That

Oh who the hell am I kidding

I am pretty good

PSUFAN wrote:Overhead at Ibanez Inc.:

~click

"FUCK"
"Oh shit...what now?"
"That was 'the ASShole'."
"OH FUCK!!! NOT VAI AGAIN?"
"Yep."
"HOW MANY NECKS THIS TIME?"
"Multiple"
"FUCK!!! PINK ZEBRASKIN?"
"Nope...he wants a Giraffe print."
"I OUGHT TO GIVE HIM A GAY-LOOKING PICKGUARD."
"yep, save him the trouble of stapling it on himself..."
"FUCK!!!!"

You forgot to add in the "while in CNY" to that.

I just got a mint

for 2k a month ago. Mine doesn't burst, just a honey 10-top. All I've played since I got it. does it all.

I've seen a lot of blue ones but not a honey withmaple fretboard.

sweet

Did you pud pullers pull down more poon by playing guitars ?

Rip City

Actually I did while living in SoCal.

Luther wrote:Did you pud pullers pull down more poon by playing guitars ?

Rip City

until I met my wife 90% of the poon was from guitar.

she was the first GF I had that was all so you play guitar, big deal

Where do you guys stand in the pecking order with lounge singers?

Rip City

Luther wrote:Where do you guys stand in the pecking order with lounge singers?

Rip City

Singers always get more tail than guitar players. It's the law of the jungle man.

Somewhere in the bowels of the internet...


l to r: Dinsdale gets his cram session on


Timmah, get ready for round two. This one ain't over.

PSU flat out rules!

Bwaahahaaa!!

PSU, man, on the DiMarzio website there's all sorts of pics of Vai with his new mirrored JEM doing these poses that you'd just kill to post here. I tried to C&P the URLs for 'em but no go, it wouldn't work.

Dammit.

Anyway, here's at least one more for you to mock, and it again features his new mirrored JEM, which is my latest guitar acquisition...





Also, in order to fully understand that pic you posted of Vai going Gene Simmons Tongue on his guitar, you need to watch the Vai DVD, "Live At The Astoria London"...

Using a Fernandez Sustainer in "Flo" (that particular JEM), he uses his tongue there to make some pretty deece tones. My wife was flat out ready to jump on stage and fuck his face off when she saw him pull that act during our G3 show.

timmay, where to start, where to start...

Any artist who has a Signature Guitar is an idiot, just because the guitar companies are getting the lion's share of the royalties? Well, how much of a cut would the artist get if he wasn't playing a sig guitar?? At least they're getting something and you can be damn sure Vai, Satch and EVH (among many others) are doing quite nicely with the royalties they're getting off of sales of their sig guitars.

Also, just about any guitarist you care to name has his own sig guitar...

-EVH
-Vai
-Satch
-Paul Gilbert
-John Scofield
-Andy Timmons
-George Benson
-Pat Metheny
-Munky
-Carlos Santana
-Mark Tremonti
-Johnny Hiland
-Dave Navarro
-Steve Morse
-John Petrucci
-Alvin Lee
-Steve Lukather
-Al DiMeola
-Eric Clapton
-Jeff Beck
-Eric Johnson
-Robin Trower
-Ritchie Blackmore
-Robert Cray
-Yngwie Malmsteen
-Buddy Guy
-SRV
-Jimmy Vaughan
-Mark Knopfler
-James Burton
-Merle Haggard
-Roy Clark
-Monte Montgomery
-Allan Holdsworth
-Tony MacAlpine
-Craig Chaquico
-Jimmy Page
-B.B. King
-Johnny A
-Neal Schon
-Larry Carlton
-Slash
-Joe Perry
-Zakk Wylde
-Dimebag
-Joe Pass
-Kirk Hammett

So, all these guys are idiots and they're don't play good guitars and they don't get their guitars for free, eh?

Now, granted, a lot of these guys aren't playing off the rack versions of their sig guitars but you can be pretty damn certain that any one of these guys gets custom shop/hand built versions of their sig guitars, as many as they want, however they want 'em set up, for free.

Also, I'm pretty sure George Benson, John Scofield and Pat Metheny might all take great exception to this...

timmay wrote:Ibanez are shit guitars for wanking tards.

...as would Vai, Satch, Timmons and the thousands of other absolutely phenomenal players out there who make their livings playing very good Ibanez guitars.

dude I would totaly be stoked to have a signature guitar

I was hatin, Van. I was more going for "Captain U&L" reaction. sorry about the overspray.

I should have said "People who buy signature guitars are retards and ghey"*

much much better


*Les Pauls excluded

Ibanez is still sux

I like sco. you KNOW he really probably maybe sorta kinda does his tracking with a real 335 though. c'mon

I like these guitar threads

why cant we argue about amps some time? , btw

Amp debates?

In!

Anyway, nah, Scofield's only used Ibanez guitars for decades now. His main guitar remains his old Ibanez AS200.

His new sig guitar, the JSM100VT, it came out in 2001, but he still uses his AS200 most of the time. The only changes he specified for the new JSM100VT:

-Multi radius fretboard/neck profile

-Move the input jack to the side of the body where it belongs, rather on top where it's a pain in the ass

-"Super 58" p/ups

-Ditch the coil splitters (That change sucks!)

-Scofield animated beetle logo engraved on the truss rod cover

-Hand finished Prestige neck, Ibanez's first on a jazz guitar

Other than that it's Sco's old AS200. Same half bone/half brass nut, gold hardware, same crazy pimp finish with the massive flame maple figuring on both the front and back, same split level M.O.P./Abalone fretboard inlays, same highly gaudy headstock that even Prince would envy...



Sweet guitar.

I keep dancing around getting one. I always mean to get one and it's always at the top of my list but whenever it came time to pull the trigger I always managed to get something similar, but still not the Scofield. Instead, I've gotten a couple of custom built Holdsworths...





...a Yamaha SA2200...



...and two Gibson ES335s, a Vintage Burst and a Heritage Cherry. I no longer have pictures of either one.

I will almost certainly grab a JSM100VT at some point though in the near future. Say what you will about buying sig guitars but man, the build quality on some of them is very damn good, particularly the high end Ibanez/Hoshino sig models.