Well, the Dead's best and worst periods could be a thread, a forum, an encyclopedia! And I guess it already has been and is all of those things. So I won't go too far into it here except to note that I think a big part of why I liked the early 70s so much was because they were down a drummer. As much as I love Mickey, they were a totally different band without him, and I thought a more lithe, swinging, turn on a dime improvisational combo like a great jazz quintet. With him, they're like an ocean liner - they could get up a hell of a head of steam, but good luck missing the iceberg! With just Bill on traps, they were like a speedboat that could change pace and dance around in the waves and turn on a dime. And this isn't a matter of what I was there for. I first saw them toward the end of '77, which to some was their peak year, and I was there from then through the end, with a lull in 88-92 when our kids were babies. And I liked '77-78, '81-83, and '87-88. But when I go to put on some Dead, it's almost always early '70s unless it's the anniversary of one of the more epic shows I saw.
One of my favorite time capsules from the late '80s. Enjoy.
I guess I probably did START playing a strat because so many of my favorites played them. I don't really remember - I just always kind of wanted one and I gotta figure that's a big part of why. But then I played one forever and I guess that sound and feel just got in my blood. I don't play it because of that now in any direct way. But I probably still love them so much now because I've been playing them for so long and if that was the initial spark, I guess it's still kind of a cause.
Whatever, i just love 'em. I should probably sell my 594 and get a Silver Sky because I'm evidently more of a single coil and P90 guy than a humbucker guy, (which I had started to think differently about for several months and led to me having a 594). But I just don't feel the need or desire to in any way change my current Cray hardtail strat, which is my favorite one after 40 years of 'em. And I seem to be madly in love with P90s and probably shouldn't just have a $350 P90 equipped telecaster, but I love THAT cheap beast too and don't feel any desire to upgrade it (maybe put a RWRP pickup in the neck, but other than that). So even if humbuckers are only my third favorite pickup these days, I'm lucky enough to have as good a humbucker guitar as there is and I freakin' love it too. So what if the expenditures are out of whack - I have three guitars I completely love and I'm sitting good and tight with what I've got...
-Ray