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Paul Wesley

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Everything posted by Paul Wesley

  1. I hope that's true, but you could make a pretty strong case that in the past 10 years, the modern liberal world (India, Israel, Turkey, America, the UK) is turning away from the modern liberal world.
  2. https://www.soundopinions.org/show/917 Second half of this - "Why do adults stop seeking out new music" is interesting. https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/listening-2-daft-punk-homework They did a whole series on Daft Punk that is pretty good. https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/return-of-the-funk-guitar-cory-wong-breaks-down-dua-lipa-jessie-ware-and-nile-rodgers Breaking down funk guitar. https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/dua-lipas-disco-fever More analysis of old funk showing up in modern tracks. https://www.texasmonthly.com/podcasts/series/one-by-willie/ Very good Texas Monthly podcast where musicians and celebrities each talk about their favorite Willie Nelson track. https://www.ajournalofmusicalthings.com/ongoing-history-daily-yet-another-version-of-the-hips-fully-completely/ Alan Cross visits fellow Canadians' Tragically Hip's classic album (haven't listened to this yet but I'm about to)
  3. For a long time, I've thought that the first 5 years or so of the Fender Custom Shop (late 80's to mid 90's) were the sweet spot of workmanship/dollar. It seems like the care and attention that those guitars got is a lot more like the 5K+ "Masterbuilt" series guitars of today. And until recently, those early-run Custom Shop guitars didn't have the perception of being "vintage," so you could get them for a fair price. Maybe you still can(?). Chad said he'd "never need another acoustic," and that's how I feel about my late-80's Custom Shop Tele (bought it used and it got relic'ed the old fashioned way) and my early-90's Custom Shop Strat (that I bought new). I have the Goredho approach to buying/selling guitars just to try out. I've owned several Gibson SG and several Gretsch hollow-bodies. Bought them all used and sold them for about what I paid. Just never bonded to them because they didn't feel like "me." But I'll never buy another Tele or Strat... no reason to. For whatever reason, I don't kick the tires on acoustics in the same way. I think that Martin J-40 is the only acoustic I've bought in the last 10 or 15 years.
  4. My first 6-string was a Yairi, and I still have it. I was probably 13 or 14 and it was lawn-mowing money. My mother (very gifted pianist and the mainstay of the church's musicians for all my life) asked the youth pastor at our church (whose day job was in a music store) for guitar-buying advice. He knew of a guy who was selling the Yairi, and he brought it to our house one evening. He was very proud of it and told her, "This is a steal." I paid $250. I think it's a DY-52, which has same dimensions as a Martin D28. Anyway - the point of this story - as the decades went by, I "upgraded" to a Taylor 714 and a couple boutique-ish guitars (Larrivee, Bourgeois), and the Yairi was relegated to the closet for a long, long time. One day I decided to restring it, and I got to shoot it out against these (also freshly restrung) instruments that cost 10X as much. And I'll be damned if the Yairi didn't 100% hold its own sonically. It might have been the best-sounding of the herd. My assumption that it was a lower-tiered instrument couldn't have been more wrong.
  5. I share this philosophy 100%.
  6. Ha ha. The sides of the guitar are just for showing off. The top is where the soul-stirring sound is created (that's spruce, right?). Edit: ... and you've posted clips of that guitar, and I agree that it sounds glorious.
  7. 2K will get you a great guitar.... something that excites you. So don't "settle." My .02- Yes: Iconic brands, iconic models, traditional woods (cedar, spruce, rosewood). I'm also pro-used instruments (polarizing topic) because I think buying used brings another layer of quality within budget - a 3K instrument that's like-new and you can get for 2K. No: I'm kind of anti-exotic woods. In general, I don't think there's a huge sonic payoff. Yes, they're more unique, but they don't have the same economy of scale in production and in my experience you're paying significantly more money for something that doesn't sound any better than the sitka spruce that we've been making guitar tops and piano sound boards out of for centuries. In general, I like big Gibsons and small Martins, but that's an over-simplification. My main acoustic is a Martin J-40 (fairly big-body), and I bought it used - I think for exactly 2K, which was a very good price. There are a few 000-28 that I've played that I like better.
  8. I don't think it would be confiscated unless you were bringing in 50 of them (i.e. intent to distribute). People bring back fake handbags and fake Rolexes on every flight, right? That said, I'm totally unqualified to even speculate. Maybe one of you secret lawyers can make a sock and answer without revealing yourself.
  9. I’m completely serious when I say this… I honestly would have guessed that these guys would be able to offer up MUCH more reasoned and persuasive public arguments for themselves. In other words: Samuel Alito is terrible at this job.
  10. Very cool, Goredho. Fralin just makes the best-sounding stuff, right?
  11. Interesting guitar, and I was surprised they're only $450. You'll be able to get a used one in a year for even cheaper. Could be a fun little low-budget sidepiece sort of like a fun little low-budget sidepiece.
  12. Too late to edit this sentence... but y'all know what I meant.
  13. Also, I think Texas will be fine. The overall level of competition will step up, but so will the overall talent level at Texas. I mean, barring a decimating run of injuries or portal departures, the Texas OL of 2024 will likely be one of the two- or three-best offensive lines in college football.... just loaded with 5-star athletic freaks. Compare that offensive line to the patchwork bunch of below-average JAGs on our 5-7 team that got embarrassed by Arkansas... Those guys probably weren't in the top-60 offensive lines in CFB. After a more than a decade of trying to sell recruits on Strong/Herman and a second-tier league, Texas now has a chance to get back to the days of monster recruiting classes like the ones from 2000-2005 who were fixtures in the top-5.
  14. I don't know what Saban interview that was, but just before Bama started their decade+ of dominance, we saw Alabama's big run-stuffing safeties get spread out and beaten by Utah's little slot receivers. A year or two later, Texas got them in a championship with similar offensive personnel and the guy who - at the time - was one of the most accurate QB in CFB history. I think Texas wins that matchup more often than not, but Bama knocked him out of the game and won it. Credit to them. But - to the point - those Bama teams of the late 2000's were built to beat LSU 6-3. It's pretty obvious that Alabama is a completely different team on both sides of the ball now. I mean, there's no argument that the top teams in the SEC have had more NFL-caliber talent for a long time compared to those in the Big 12. But it's also hard to argue that in 2023, the SEC schematically looks a LOT more like the Big 12 of 2008, and not the other way around.
  15. There is nothing centrist about letting the guy who relentlessly undermines democracy and tried to overthrow an American election sit up there in front of cheering fans and repeat the exact lies he used to fuel an attempted coup. No network needs to be shooting for the "middle" when it comes to the continuum of reality vs bullshit.
  16. The yearly guitar show photos are like the swimsuit issue for this thread.
  17. A reminder: In 2001, Seton had UTMB run a completely separate hospital within *their* hospital (Brackenridge), and then - at tremendous cost - the city built a separate elevator entrance so that those (female) patients being cared for at UTMB wouldn't even walk through Seton's hospital on their way to getting medical care. And they did this just so that women who wanted a tubal ligation at the time of their delivery could get (GASP!) a tubal ligation. The humanity! So **that** is the monstrous, liberal, left-wing organization who is being accused of sponsoring teams of doctors who whimsically mutilate children's bodies? Am I understanding the allegation here? The state that I love just keeps re-electing this culture-war lunatic with numerous felony indictments, and this is what we are going to keep getting (in lieu of competent law enforcement).
  18. So I needed a couple things - a 3-pack of phosphor bronze acoustic strings and some compressed felt picks for bass (<--- if you are a guitar player trying to occasionally fake your way through playing bass, you should try these). Sweetwater: $47 delivered next week. Identical items on Amazon: $35 delivered tomorrow. I gotta say, it's a much bigger difference than I would have guessed. I bought it from Amazon.
  19. I’m strongly leaning toward “Fire them all so we’re sure we got all the guilty ones.”
  20. I gotta tell you: When I saw this, I thought “14B3” was a joke - like someone doing a parody of how Bryson relentlessly adds “SST” or “pro” or cubed, or whatever, and just keeps marching onward with the model numbers. Turns out it’s a real thing.
  21. White guy stages of middle age: 1. "Honey, this World War Two documentary is really interesting!" 2. "I should get a tube power amp and some vintage floor speakers, and hook up that old turntable that belonged to my father." <--- I am here 3. "Get off my lawn!"
  22. Thanks, guys. I think I bought a Bryston for the studio on audiogon a decade ago. But I don't really dabble in the home theater world.
  23. Is there a dominant website for home audio gear… like what Reverb has become for musical instruments? Or do y’all think Facebook marketplace or craigslist are better for hidden audio gems?
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