I don't normally do these things...

Hmmmm... Looks like I have been tagged by Ovidiu from Guitar Flame to take part in one of these meme things that originated on TheOpenSource.com. The rules are as follows:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
  
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post - some random, some weird.
  
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.

So, semi-useless facts (whatever they are - sounds rather vague to me):

1. Despite being a guitar nut, I am a big fan of electronic music with Kraftwerk being one of my all-time favourite bands. My own demos have often featured more synth sounds than guitars, and I think that my perfect band situation would be in some kind of experimental electronic band, although I'd still like to use my guitars. Kraftwerk with guitars would be my ideal (perhaps something like Neu!).
   
   
2. My favourite band in my early teenage years was Status Quo. This was when I lived in Wales and all the kids thought the Quo were cool. Then when we moved to Greater London all the kids laughed at me when I said I liked Status Quo because these city kids were all into punk and new wave acts and whatever else was considered to be the in-thing to listen to. I must admit, I followed the herd, but I never regretted it as I discovered some great music around that time. Now that I'm 45 years old I think that I can play my Status Quo records again and it doesn't matter if people don't think its cool, as I'm allowed to be uncool at my age!
   
   
3. The last time I went to what we in the UK call a Fancy Dress Party (that is, a Costume Party in the US), I went as Marilyn Monroe. No, I don't have any photos.
   
   
4. I love the ukulele and will try to sneak it into the posts on Guitarz every now and again. Up until now I have only played the baritone ukulele (the one tuned DGBE, just like the top 4 strings of the guitar) but I've just got myself a soprano - the titchy little one - and am playing about on that. First impressions are that my hands are too big to form some of the chords on that tiny fingerboard, but I reckon I'll still be able to use it for some songs.
   
   
5. I enjoy visiting standing stones, stone circles, ancient monuments, castles, and other places of interest that have that special "vibe" to them. I have recently started another blog to document my visits: siteandstones.blogspot.com
   
   
6. I put food out in the garden for several hedgehogs that visit almost every night (when they are not hibernating, that is). I'm looking into installing infra-red cameras so that I can video the little beasties, and might even start a Hog Blog or else a YouTube channel devoted to them.
   
   
7. They say you should never meet your heroes, but over the years I've met quite a few of mine including Captain Sensible of The Damned (plus other members of that band), Wreckless Eric, Julian Cope, and even Francis Rossi of the aforementioned Status Quo. I once helped Captain Sensible write a song which eventually turned up on their current album, but time had passed and the lyrics had been changed from those I had written (so, no song-writing credit there).
   

OK, who shall I tag?

Janet from Lord Celery
Tamsin from Girl.Meets.Chile
Benjamin from Bass Guitar Blog
Anne from My Guitar Buddies
The GuitarBass Man
Steve from Guitar 24/7
Gorehound from Gorehound's Roots Guitar Tips

Hallmark Swept Wing Guitar

This Hallmark Swept Wing in orange sparkle is a recent reissue rather than an original from the 1960s but it would still appear to be a very nice guitar indeed with something of a surf vibe to it.

The design looks like some kind of inter-breeding between a Vox Phantom and Mosrite guitars. The latter influence is hardly surprising seeing as ex-Mosrite staff were employed by Hallmark back in the day.

Eureka!

Comments are back again.

Thank you for your patience.

Normal service will be resumed...

...as soon as possible.

One of the problems with this blog being The World's Longest Running Guitar Blog (oh yes!) is that its template was seriously out of date, seeing as our host, Blogger, has evolved so much since this blog was set up.

So, I'm having a bit of a a fiddle, updating the template, and re-entering titles to each post so that the blog is more RSS friendly. Titles weren't showing up in RSS readers, which is something that has been bugging me for ages. Unfortunately upgrading the template is an enormous job, because lots of the older posts aren't going to display properly until tweaked, and there are quite a few years worth of archives to work through.

Comments have been temporarily suspended. I had previously been using HaloScan comments and would dearly love to switch over to Blogger comments but fear all the old HaloScan comments will be lost. Does anyone know if there's a way of importing all the old comments into Blogger? Email me at gl.wilson@ntlworld.com

John Martyn dies, aged 60

I feel absolutely depressed as I report here on this blog that one of my all-time favourite guitarists, John Martyn, has passed away this morning. I only came to his music in recent years, which is quite late on I have to admit, but once I'd had a taste I just wanted more and more.

I always liked the way you couldn't pigeonhole him. He mixed up folk, jazz, rock, blues, reggae... everything was an influence. His guitar playing was stupendous - he pioneered the use of playing with echo effects - something that players these days can do with digital looping pedals, but back in the day Martyn had to make do with cumbersome tape-echo machines such as the EchoPlex. His voice too was as distinctive as his guitar playing. His slurred vocals had an almost baritone saxophone quality to them and in a way his voice was like another instrument in the mix.

I was lucky enough to see him perform last November in Oxford on his "Grace and Danger" tour. It was a very entertaining concert and one that I will always remember, but it seemed to us watching that he wasn't a very well man - he seemed tired and even gave up playing his guitar towards the end of the gig.

The only consolation I feel right now is that we'll always have his music.

• BBC news report
  
• Obituary
  
• www.johnmartyn.com

Tiki Strat

This is supposedly a very rare Fender Tiki Stratocaster featuring a bamboo graphic on the body and head, and with Tiki masks inlaid in the fingerboard around the 11th and 12th frets. I'm not sure who this is supposed to appeal to, but I certainly won't be bidding. (Not only does the design not appeal to my tastes but they are asking for $1,500 for it!)

Sigur Ros upholstered SG

Here's a 1991 Gibson SG formerly owned by Jón þor (jónsi) Birgisson of the Icelandic band Sigur Ros, and which rather bizarrely has been upholstered in velvet fabric.

The funny thing is that the colour looks right on this Gibson which judging from the back of the neck looks like it was originally a cherry finish.

(Thanks again to Gary for bringing this wonderfully strange guitar to my attention).

On a related note, here's another fabric-covered guitar.

Seen A Better Price?

Blimey! Look how much Andertons Music Co. are asking for this little Yamaha practice amp! It's especially curious when the description on their website states that "Yamaha's GA15 amp is a superb sounding amplifier when you consider it's frankly ridiculous price!" (sic).

Ridiculous is the word!

(Thanks to Gary).

Quick Quiz Answer: The Mystery Case

What lives in a case like this?

I think that most of you who commented were on the right lines when you answered "harp guitar", although I'm not sure if this Espana classical is technically a harp guitar as it doesn't have any extra strings.

I can only assume that the elongated body "wing" is there to give increased bass response.

However, it's not as wild as this example which we looked at on this blog last June. Can you imagine what the case would have looked like for that guitar?

In the news...

• Retired plumber devotes time to guitar creations: Michael Williams, a retired plumber, custom makes hand-carved electric guitars in the garage of his home in North Newark.
  
  
• The guitars of John Fogerty: How Creedence pioneer learned to love the Les Paul.