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Portrait of a Gear Addict

Updated as of: 07/03/09

If you have made it to this page, you likely already realize that I am somewhat obsessed with Guitar Gear (and Mountain Biking), so ... Just in case anyone actually gives a crap, here’s a little info about myself. So...My name is Scott and I am a guitar gear addict. As you can tell, this addiction has developed a life of it's own to some extent. Please feel free to send me your life story, any triumphant band stories, any stuff you have released and general info about yourself. It seems a little less impersonal if you sort of know who you are gabbing with.

I was born in 1968 near the end of an incredible decade of music. During my formative years, I was unmercifully bombarded with disco and crummy AOR station pseudo-rock. As a defense mechanism, I discovered early recordings of the Beatles, The Kinks, The Yardbirds etc. I clung to them like a life raft in the sea of fecal matter that passed for music during the mid-70’s. Until punk rock happened, I truly believed that rock and roll music was dead and beginning to rot.

I love music of all sorts. I love Rock n' Roll (or should I say RRRAAAAWWWKKK!), Punk Rock (esp. older Hardcore), Metal (Manowar rules!!! Yeaahhhh!), Garage Rock, Blues, Country Blues, Soul (esp. Motown and old Northern Soul!!)... You name it I dig it. The only stuff i don't really dig is bad Hair-farming Cock-Rock Metal, Nouveau Country Nonsense and Classical chamber music type stuff.

Here is a nostalgic shot of my old gear room/office. Check out the goofy Orange Phone! Since moving recently, I no longer have a dedicated gear room :-(

Some of the absolute best live shows I have gone to corresponded with Weekend-long stags (lately referred to as Baby Showers) that me and my buddies have organized. We usually attend some cultured entertainment (hmmm!) on the Fri., and a concert on the Sat. Once you leave school, it is so much harder to keep in touch with all your buds. Thus, it's an excellent treat to see everyone for a full weekend. I am into my third decade on this earth so I've had ample opportunity to see a ton of great bands, here are just a few: Hamilton, Ontario’s own world infamous Forgotten Rebels (probably a dozen times), Jayne County and the Electric Chairs, Goo Goo dolls (my singer and i are the reason that they now refuse to play Hamilton!!!! Long story!!!), Mighty Mighty Bosstones, DOA (numerous times!!), Teenage Head, the Specials, English Beat, NOFX, Bad Religion, Face to face, Problem Children, Misfits, Stiff Little Fingers, Wet Spots, Chemical People, Big Drill Car, Doughboys, Descendents/All, Dayglo Abortions, The Mr. T. eXperience, MDC, Toxic Reasons, Straw Dogs, Killjoys, Mojo Nixon and the Toad Liquors, Dead Milkmen, Billy Bragg, Anthony Meynell & the Squire, Gwar!!!, Asexuals, Rancid etc.

Awhile back, I played guitar as loud (loud, indeed!) and as fast as I possibly could in a just-for-laughs-and-beer Band called Nasty Phlegm Build-up. The Idea originally was to cover only Stiff Little Fingers songs and call ourselves Rigid digits. We worked about 6 SLF tunes and started branching out. We covered the Damned (neat,neat,neat), Adverts (Gary Gilmore's Eyes), The Circle Jerks (Shit hits the fan and Coup d'etat), Misfits (Where eagles dare) and whatever else came to mind. Ridiculously loud and as fast as we possible was definitely the main idea. In fact, personally i was often left with a strange hollow feeling if the drummer did not pass out during at least one song per night. It was a great way to blow off steam and keep from going POSTAL on your co-workers and friends. Hopefully, someday soon we can re-group and tackle some new songs including selections by the Ruts, Sham 69, Peter and the Test tube babies, Black Flag and the Nils.

I didn't pick up guitar until my 2nd year of university at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario (1988, if memory serves...). It was an ideal way to procrastinate and did not cut into my important drinking schedule. It was probably sort of a miracle that i got my degree (Bachelor of Electrical Engineering & Management '92). Like a lot of people i seemed to hang around with in school, i was much too quick to toss school out the window in favour of any sort of stupidity (Basketball, partying etc.). Now i have a pretty decent life. Nice house, beautiful wife, great kids, I am my own boss etc. I have to admit though every time i see a great band, I feel like tossing my job to form the ultimate ultra-volume punk rock massacre.

Oh well, I'm sure we would just get pawned off as poseurs since punk rock has somehow become popular.

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I had the opportunity a few years ago to meet and hang out in the studio with Rock and Roll Legend, Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls the last time he was in Hamilton. Heck, I even sold him a TV yellow Tokai Les Paul Jr. which he ended up using on the session and the rest of his tour. He was the coolest, most down to earth guy and it was an extraordinary pleasure to meet him. definitely, try to catch him on tour. Without the Dolls, there really would never have been Punk rock. As far as I am concerned, Syl and the Dolls should be inducted into the rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Me (many lbs. ago on the left) and Sylvain Sylvain in Hamilton, 2003

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Speaking of rock and roll Legends, I also had the pleasure of catching Jayne County & the Electric Chairs recently in Hamilton. Original guitarist, Eliot Michaels was playing at these one-off type gigs and he was fantastic. Eliot brought along his '59 Les Paul custom and an old Marshall half stack and the sound was truly excellent. It was a really great evening of Punk rock. Eliot is great player but also a super nice guy! He also owns Rumble Seat Music and is, in my opinion, one of the best Vintage Dealers in the world.

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A real highlight for me was getting to meet Buzzcocks at their last Toronto show. We had backstage access courtesy of Mike Robinson from Myrareguitars.com. Mike has been supplying the guys with some Eastwood guitars recently. Pete has been using the Ultra GP and Steve uses a P90 special.

The show was simply amazing. Great mix of old and new songs. Very intense and the crowd went wild. I shot many pictures of the show. Despite my sucking at photography, many of the shots were really good. You can peruse all of them here.

I got a chance to talk at length with the entire band about guitar gear and al manner of things. They were really cool. Very genuine and fun. 30 years on and they are still absolutely kicking ass. The new tunes are every bit as vital as the classic stuff IMHO.

Me and Steve Diggle in Toronto, 2006

Me and Pete Shelley in Toronto, 2006

Me and Robin, Max, Malka and Colin from Githead in Brampton, 2009

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My NFS Favourite Things

Here are a few of my favourite things. Things I will probably never part with...unless of course, you tempt me with trade fodder that i cannot possibly resist :-)

Although, I have been selling off a great deal of my gear recently, I still have tons of old pedals, guitars and amps.

I traded my way into most of my stuff or i could never have afforded it. In the band, I mostly used a fairly beat '65 SG Jr. with an old gibson humbucker routed into the front and the original P90 in the back which now belongs to Ron Posner (X-Con Ron) from legendary Hardcore band, MDC. I also have a Yamaha SBG3000 (black w/gold metalflake) similar to Jake Burns from Stiff Little Fingers!!!, an Ibanez AS-200, a Tokai Tele, and a Custom-Made Hammertone (by the Guitar Clinic) Tele. Last but not least, I have a great Washburn ES-335 copy which was my first guitar. These particular guitars, prior to the headstock shape being changed were really good guitars.

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I have a bunch of great custom-made instruments made by Todd Hawes. He does lots of custom finish work and i try to buy everything of his that comes up for sale. He makes killer stuff. He redid an old yamaha semi-hollow that was trashed. It turned out amazing. Todd makes guitars from scratch, but often takes bit and pieces of oldies and reconstructs them into really hip creations.

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I thought it was pretty cool of Z.Vex to offer these limited edition fuzz factory pedals in a auction with the proceeds benefiting families who lost loved ones in the Sept. 11 tragedy. So, I bid as high as I could and crossed my fingers. I was pretty glad to have won as it was a good way to contribute and I got a neat new toy as well.

Check out this killer rehousing of a MXR Sustainer pedal (Courtesy of DeLorean from the HCFX Forum). Spinal Tap Rulez!!!

...and another from the same culprit. This time the MXR PreAmp pedal.

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Ones that Got Away!!!

Here are a few of my favourite things that i parted with. In other words, here is the regrets section :-)

I sold my Custom-made Templeton Texas Twister Combo Amp (John names them instead of serial #'ing them, cool eh!!!) to one of my favourite customers recently. At least I know he went to a good home.

Earl was a killer amp with a single 15" and sweet reverb and tremolo. At low and medium volumes, it was very fender-y. At high volumes thru' any 8 ohm 2x12" cab, it was a marshall killer. The fellow who built Earl is a fantastic Tube Amp tech and all-around nice guy. If you ever need anything restored, re-tweeded or re-tolexed, John is the man. If you wish to contact him, please email me and i will pass along your email to him.

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My Mainstay rig for years was a MESA Triaxis Preamp/MESA 2:90 Power Amp thru' an older HIWATT Cab loaded with 150w Celestion Sidewinders. This thing had an endless array of easy to dial in sounds and was somewhat LOUDER than HELL. At least I still have the Hiwatt Cab :-)

One of my absolute favourite guitars was a fantastic '58 Les Paul Standard Flame-top Replica made by a group of fantastic luthiers that must remain unknown due to Gibson's incredible legal power. It was amazing, probably one of the finest instruments i have played. It has a moderately flamed maple top with a Korina (instead of Mahogany) Body, Braz. Rosewood fingerboard etc. It was fantastic and only weighs about 7 or 8 pounds. I originally traded my wife's 1979 Volvo Sedan for it.

How kool is this! A matching Hammertone Mandoguitar that looks surprisingly like my Les Paul. It is now with the Band, Snack!

This See-thru' Green Hammertone strat/tele hybrid is an entirely hand-made custom guitar that I was lucky enough to own for awhile. My buddies at the Guitar Clinic built it. It has a Brazillian Rosewood fingerboard and a highly figured ash body. The Tele-style neck is real nice birdeye maple. Sperzel locking tuners, Fender repro pickups and gold hardware. It now resides with the fellow from the popular band, Big Wreck:

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Here is the above guitar's mate in telecaster form (also long gone).

This unreal replica of a NOS 1960 Strat was also among my Favourites. The Guitar Clinic also played a large part in it's creation.

I also traded away these really kool contraptions that Todd Hawes put together. All three were really killer axes. ARRRGGGHH!!:

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Here are some of the more wacky things i have owned. Believe it or not, these were remarkably toneful and playable guitars:

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I used to own an insane number of amazing Ibanez guitars including a real nice vintage Ibanez Rocket Roll Flying V replica and a whole stable of Ibanez Artists, but sold a bunch of them around the arrival of my beautiful baby boys.

Here is a picture showing a couple of them amongst the clutter:

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Around the same time, i cut loose one of my many Tokai Strats. This one was one of the finest strats i have ever played. It now resides with a relatively unknown-to-the-public (unless like me, you were a fan of NY/HC bands, Agnostic Front and MadBall) session player named Matte Henderson. Matte is an amazing player, who is very highly regarded by those in the know. If you listen to music, you have heard Matte somewhere on Radio or TV. He is one of the celeb programmers for the Eventide line of Effects units and has deals with Baker Guitars and Stevens Guitars!!! Oh yeah...did i mention that he is a all-around great guy. Also pictured is a '66 Tele w/ B-bender etc. that i guess just didn't fit my "fast!!!loud!!!rules!!!" persona (in other words, i have a hard enough time playing without a bunch of levers to monkey with!!!). It was none-the-less an incredible guitar with an aged shoreline gold refin courtesy of Mike Spicer of the Guitar Clinic:

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Fender Deluxe (1961):

I recently divested myself of my stable of older Brown Fender Amps. I just was not using them enough to justify their presence in my gear dungeon. Here are some shots of my incredibly mint 1961 Princeton and 1961 Deluxe (complete with original Victoria Luggage company cover!!!).

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