Jim Elston
New Member
A very warm 'hello' to everyone here. My name is Jim, aged 63 and I live on the Isle of Wight, a small Island off of the south coast of England, with my wife and soul mate Ruby. I have been playing guitar for more years than I care to remember, getting on for 50 years now. I have played in bands for most of that time, mainly covers on the pub and club circuit, classic 70's and rock are what I play out, but I love playing blues and play a lot of acoustic, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Lindisfarne type of stuff. My favourite bands are T. Rex, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, ZZ Top...all the usual subjects. In 2018 following ill health I had a couple of massive heart attacks and needed open heart surgery, during my recovery I took up photography and earlier this year gained a First Class Honours degree from Solent University in Southampton. I have an option to research for a PhD. I got very depressed at points, and not being able to work led to financial pressures so I sold most of my gear, just keeping an Ibanez AS 93 and a small Marshall 50 watt MG amp, because I could play backing tracks through it and listen through headphones. Spend a bit of time with them and they are much better amps than generally thought which makes them a bit of a bargain on the used market. However, I wasn't finished playing so wanted to put another band together. together. My guitar history is long, with a few highlights. I used to flit between guitars, my first electric was an Eros Les Paul Custom copy with bolt neck, I had things like an Aria RSX 70, a K (Kay?) neck through flying V, My absolute favourite and one I always regretted selling, was an Arbiter Les Paul Junior double cut in TV yellow which came with a genuine Gibson P90, I should never have gotten rid of it, but I was seduced by the chase for a 'Name' Guitar. I had a strat which I absolutely hated and ended up with a Gibson Custom Art and Historic '68 Les Paul Custom. My dream guitar. Only it wasn't. Mine had been aged lightly by Tom Murphy, the finish was not that good considering it's price tag and I played some of my others, Epiphone dot and Epiphone Flying V, more often. That guitar just did not have a 'soul' It never did give me the feeling that I was looking for. I sold it and the buyer moved it on very quickly, he too just could not bond with it. I got a Custom Shop Flying V Custom finished in Jeff Becks Oxblood colour, it lasted longer than the Les Paul, but I never regretted selling it, I don't miss it. Post surgery and getting ever more eager to start playing out again I needed some new gear. In a local guitar shop I found a no name single cut, mahogany body, mahogany neck, ebony fretboard, but the top was inlaid to match a Zematis engravings. I changed everything on the 'Pearly Queen' as she has become known, pick ups, hardware, nut, electronics, bridge and tailpiece, I had the frets reshaped...you name it, it was done. The work was done by a friend who has a guitar shop on the mainland, we were chatting away and I mentioned that I hated strats and he told me to try one he had just got in, a Squier 60th anniversary in gold. My goodness that guitar sounds more 'stratty' than most, unplugged it was one of the most resonant guitars I have ever picked up and I loved the modern C neck profile. I fitted a 10 was switch which allows me to put combinations of pick-ups into series or Parallel, creating hum cancelling in the process, then a little later I was passing the local shop and they had a spalted maple Santana SE, 2012 vintage. I picked it up and it fitted my hand, I bought it there and then. I had just graduated so my wife christened the guitar 'Mrs. Robinson'. I love that guitar, I bonded with it instantly and use that and the Squier when playing out. The pick ups of some of the SE's come in for some criticism, but these are absolutely spot on, the deceptively clean sounds of AC/DC are there, it has a clarity which lets me cut right through the mix, it responds to pedals beautifully and it cleans incredibly on the volume pot. Playing in the middle position with both pick ups, it is really into 335 territory and use a cocked wah in the middle position and it is close enough to a Tele to fool an audience in a pub. I can only wonder what a core model feels like. I am not a Santana fan per se, and do not try to emulate his sound, but this guitar took me back to my double cut junior, the wide fat neck sits just right, and I pick it up more than any other, in fact it tends to live at my studio, so if I am fed up editing pictures, I can just reach out for it. The quality is incredible, all I have done is to put some locking tuners on, and that is how it is staying. I can only imagine what a core version plays like...One day I will find out. After selling my JVM 410H and cab, it was over the top for pubs and way to heavy to lug about post surgery, I bought a Boss Katana 100 212 MkII combo, it's all the amp I will ever need, I sometimes use the little MG50 as a cross stage monitor in the bigger venues, but I do still get nice things said about my guitar sound and at least I can carry this one and put it in the boot of a car! It may not suit a 'purist' but no-one has walked out of a gig because I wasn't playing a Marshall any more. Anyway, that's a bit about me, thanks if you have read this far and I will post pics when I am able to, I think it is three posts first! I look forward to chatting with you.
