Slant Eyed Fish Head has a unique background.
They own their own private recording facility with custom designed and built soundproofing and electrical needs.
They are currently recording an all original 8 song demo with a working title of "9 ball."
The Akai DPS24 with full PC capacity works in unison with a full digital 16 channel mixer.
You really cannot see, but to the right is the full rack with lots of stupid stuff from tube pre-amps to eq's, etc.
On the other side of the custom Sheffield polycarbonate windows, The 28'x15' room gets fairly full from time to time.
Drums
John just made a new purchase;
He figured with the sound improvement of the band and some of our new originals really taking shape,
It was time to really shape the drum sounds. He had been buying new cymbals for a while, then pulled the trigger.
A new made to order ProM 7 piece drum set from Mapex equipped with Evans heads and Zildjian K series cymbals.
Actually, I think it is a 6 piece with an extra included 13" Black Panther snare making it an even 7.
The pictures tell the tale. The thing is every bit a piece of furniture as it is a drum set.
Here is a new picture with it half set up in the studio.
---Guitar sneak peek---
Just finished this guitar recently. An Ash body cut out to RG specs with a monkey grip and other gem flairs.
An Ibanez RG neck finished with new stainless frets on the rosewood board and some unique tricks to really play great.
Wired with two independent volume knobs with coil tapping for the Dimarzio D-Sonic pickups.
X-otic Chrome finish with candy red and metalflake over the top looks good with the gold Ibanez Pro-Edge tremelo.
This is the first guitar I wired after coating every chamber with the Dimarzio copper shielding tape.
I will not do another without this, and some of the better guitars hanging around will be done this fall.
The next of the new line of guitars is "Humpty".
This maple neck and ebony fretboard is fitted with 25 stainless frets and reverse Ibanez style headstock.
The Poplar body with carbon fiber re-enforcements hold Dimarzio Evolution pickups with full coil splitting capabilities.
The pickups are once again direct mounted to the body with foam rubber between the two.
Ibanez lo pro edge full floating tremelo keeps everything in tune with SEFH signature series Sfarzo strings.
The paint is a flame candy gold to candy orange over X-otic crystals over a pearl orange with black base.
This guitar is a dream to look at, to play and to listen to. Just amazing!
And then there was "Mel."
Mel is an effort to take the best of every Ibanez guitar and wrap it into one final package.
The custom AANJ neck is a maple neck with ebony fretboard and 25 stainless super jumbo frets. (Yes, 25! It has to be one louder, right?)
The bright neck from an ebony board and stainless frets was evened out with some beefy lows from a mahogany body.
Reverse headstock from the Paul Gilbert line (And such non Ibanez guitar heroes as Nuno, Lynch, and many others.)
Monkey grip, scalloped final five frets and Lion's claw grooved tremolo clearancing from the Steve Vai axes.
The voyager cutout, the pickups mouted directly to the body (and stainless frets) from the Reb Beach stuff.
Pickup selection and a slightly wider fingerboard from the John Petrucci series.
The Dimarzio Steve Special and the Air Norton have individual volume controls that both split coils independently.
The new Edge Pro tremolo system from the likes of Steve Vai and Satriani hold the Sfarzo SEFH signature series strings in tune.
Pickup mounting hardware even though the pickups are mounted to the body for the super clean finished Paul Gilbert look.
No tone knob like Petrucci pondered and Gilbert actually did.
Volume knobs and pickup switching out of the way for no accidental contact.
Chrome paint from the Satriani series stuff, but then candy blue and airbrush over the chrome. 82 total coats of paint!!
If you get a chance to see Mel in person, you will see it is an Ibanez style home run!
Here is an off the shelf Ibanez iceman. This was purchased because it had a reverse headstock and a neck through body.
Also something for Joe to play that can be dropped tuning without adjusting full floating tremelo systems.
"Flying perfection" started out as a simple guitar from a company in Las Vegas, but needed some flair.
I pulled out the never played frets and put in super jumbo stainless frets in the rosewood board.
The hockey stick headstock was a Buzzz Miller addition, as was the X-otic candy paint.
Dimarzio Super Distortion sits in the bridge position with a Dimarzio Eric Johnson EJ custom neck pickup.
Just the Eric Johnson has coil tapping features, but both have independent volume through a 3-way.
I was not sure if these pickups would work together at all. I was SHOCKED!
Both pickups have been solid mounted to the body with foam rubber packed between the mounts
The body has been weighted with stainless steel rods that run with the grain of the wood.
Flat black was painted and smoothed out, then painted with X-otic silver flakes.
Then six coats of a custom X-otic purple candy and 10 coats of clear.
This thing looks almost black until it hits lights. Then BOOM!
This Ibanez prestige has been hacked, filed, sanded, painted, re-wired and all around abused.
Dimarzio Steve Special and Air Norton pickups have been custom wired for full coil tapping on individual push/pull volume pods. For sound and playing performance, I will put this guitar up against any guitar I have ever owned, or ever played. "This thing is like Budduh'"
The wood grain was maintained with the color change powder over the top and generous amounts of clear.
The ESP twin brothers of different mothers began life as simple ESP guitars.
The "Less Paul" is outfitted with EMG 81 bridge and an 85 in the neck.
Paul's reverse headstock strat style runs coil tapping Dimarzio Tone Zone and Air Norton. And both throw a little custom paint. This may be the most versatile guitar for recording that we have.
The N series guitars from Washburn have been hacked, whacked and duplicated.
The newest is a carbon fiber body, with a monkey grip, and Dimarzio Evolution pickups with custom wiring.
The guitar was looking a little too perfect with the extra thick ebony fret board, custom headstock, and some fancy high dollar floyd rose style tremelo. So a finger painted Aborigine war paint flame job covered in pink candy with natural carbon showing through finished it all off.
This is just at my office to practice when stuff gets slow.
It is a really cool guitar for not a bad price. The Stevens extended cutaway design is really cool and allows for lots of thumb room up high. Rather than use the pad and the four standard bolts, five bolts radiused around the area for the thumb attach the body to the neck. For those who are unfamiliar with the Stevens, there is an up close picture.
The neck is really straight, and required nothing more than truss rods to get it close to perfection. This baby still has the factory pickups and wiring, but the nut was dropped, brought the proper distance from the first fret, (it was off from the factory about .021") and nut height set at my standard .013" and .009" E to E. I must say, I have two N4's and the one carbon N777, and this plays almost as good for 1/4 the money. It really needs the reverse headstock though. To really make it perfect, it could use a pick-up set.
Here are a few from ten years back.
Washburn N4 that was originally the sea-foam teal color, so that was adjusted, and an Ibanez all customed up bass.
"And then there was ELLE"
An ESP body with a charvelle neck. A rare factory white Kahler tremelo and a Seymour Duncan SH-4.
It is painted in code 12 white with platinum pearls, and a nice pink Hawaiian flower. (go figure)
Even though the guitar looks flowery, it rocks pretty hard.
In fact, we use this guitar for 'drop D' stuff because of the thick and solid, yet tight sound.
I think the guitar was originally built by the guitar player for the 80's band Icon.
Joe also has a Jackson Flying V. It has been completely stripped and just begun it's transformation to playing like it should. The pick-ups are not quite right, and the wiring is not stellar. Because of the body weight and shape, we are not sure what pickups will work, but we are going to be trying a few. The cosmetics of the guitar are not going to change, but the playing and sound sure will.
 |
 |
Here are the twin RG series Ibanez guitars. (I think they are 550s or 560s.) These babies are about as nice a guitar you can find out of the box, and not break the bank. You can pick them up for about $600 new and gently used for about $300. These have been adjusted, but are still awaiting pickups. The V7 and V8 are really quite nice for a standard pickup, but a good set of Dimarzio pickups really shapes the sound and adds depth galore. The only problem with these guitars is the volume knob is too close to where I rest my pinkie sometimes. So the volume knob will be moved about an inch and a half in the direction of the other knob when the pickups are installed and the guitars are painted. (When Ibanez does a Slant Eyed Fish Head signature model, it will be this exact with the volume knob moved for the low budget version, and this with a Steve Special in the bridge and an Air Norton or a PAF Pro in the neck. . . .and of course, a reverse headstock.)
The red guitar is the one that started it all. An Ibanez Roadstar II series that has been re-wired more times than I can count. Originally purchased in 1987 from Milano Music off of 19th Avenue, this baby stands the test of time again and again. The early edition EMG 81 absolutely screams. I can't find another 81 that will match this one. (Don't ask me why.) It could use a good fret job, but is still a standard around this shop. (O.K. so last weekend, it was re-fretted. This thing is rock solid. The most consistent guitar I have ever seen.)
This just in- one of the two RG's was finished this weekend. It may be outfitted with Mountain Dew decals before it is done. The cool candy green looks like a MtDew can in artificial light.
Oh yeah, like I stated, a Tone Zone and an Air Norton found their way into the new Dew axe.
Now, allow me to introduce you to a new guitar company.
If you are looking for an astounding guitar for around $200, good luck beating this deal. The company is called Flying Guitars out of Vegas. The neck is very similar to the Wizard line of necks of the new Ibanez stuff. They have cool stuff. Lots of different body styles, headstocks, and hardware differences. Flying Guitar on the web. You can buy them one at a time, and they also sell on eBay. Who knows, your local music store may begin to sell them. They come out of the box playing really well. A little fine tuning and these babies will play with about any $500-$800 guitar out there. The hardware is really quite nice, but pickups are weak. If you are like me and will do the pickups anyway, this is a great option. I purchased my first one off of eBay just for the parts. It was used and terribly mis-adjusted. After working it, I liked it so much I bought another one and outfitted it as well.
The one on the left is the newer of the two. (And just last weekend, was re-fretted with Stainless steel jumbo frets.) I put in the Seymour Duncan SH-2 and SH-4 series in this guitar. They are a great baseline system. The SH-4 is a very forgiving pickup for the bridge. Great for rock and roll and great for performing live. Make small mistakes and never hear them. Like I said, great for performing live. For recording, and practicing, I like being able to hear every single motion, sound, and character. And that is where the Dimarzio pickups come into play. Even in high distortion areas, the individual notes still ring true. Also the coil splitting option is nice for that single coil sound. There is a reason the shredders choose this pickup. Every member of G3 this year plays them. Not to mention the likes of Vai. Shape, feel, emotion and character.
The guitar on the right has Tone Zone in the rear and PAF Pro in the neck.
So, let me give you my piece of advice for today.
If you plan on playing any instrument for a long time, buy a nice piece that will last the test of time.
None of these WalMart guitars. Go to your local music store and find what will last.
A quick peek to a picture taken in my old basement studio a decade ago,
shows the guitars that rocked hard then are still rocking today.
Quality costs a few dollars more, but saves you in the long run.
Some of these guitars have been around for three decades!
Some of bruce's guitars have been around for fourty years!!
But it right the first time, and you will not have to buy it again and again.
Good woods, good pickups, good names and good quality and something you will not outgrow.
Bass Guitars
 |
 |
|---|
This bass is something else. Purchased off of eBay for $50. The body was broken in half, and the electronics were destroyed. (Well, O.K. not exactly in half. It was actually in three pieces. So more like 40%, 45% and 15%.) One of the people that sold it to me say they think the bass was run over by a truck, and I would believe that. I took the luthite body and sanded it way back down and started to bind it back together. Then over the top of that I put two layers of carbon fiber in the front and three layers in the back. Then some structure through the body at the neck joint. Chucked some paint on the beast with shattered ideals to represent the breaks in the original state. Then some work trying to find stuff to retrofit the electronics and pre-amps back together. This thing sounds like no other bass I have ever heard. The sound man has to have a complete other pre-set sound when this bass is picked up. It dwarfs every other bass we have. And we have a 4 string identical twin. Same model, same pickups, same electronics. Same exact stuff and they sound NOTHING alike. This dude is a bad MamboJambo!
If you are looking for the smoothest and most consistant guitar strings on the planet,
Look into the Sfarzo String line!
Check them out at Sfarzo.us
Try the Signature series string for ultra consistency and great feel.
Or try the SuperScreamers for great feel and animal bite.
They are about $4 a set. Try them. You may really be surprised. I know Slant Eyed Fish Head is.