New to the board, but not new to the love of sexy offsets

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rivir
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New to the board, but not new to the love of sexy offsets

Post by rivir » Tue May 31, 2022 6:58 pm

Hi! I don't usually do these intro posts, because I'm boring AF but hey, why not? I get rambly, so I'll change the font colour on the more rambly bits so you can skip over those sections if you don't want the gory details.

I'm from Ontario, Canada, and I've always been attracted to music from as young as I could remember, especially drums. I would watch Much Music to get a glimpse of every drum clip I could (for decent music, at least). That's how I learned, just by watching these tiny snips from music videos (many are VERY incorrect compared to what's being played on the track, I quickly learned, a fact that bothers me every time I see it to this day). I used to make my own drums out of coffee cans and large margarine buckets, can lids for cymbals and hi-hats, plastic weather sealing for drum skins, made a kick pedal out of Construx. I would use chopsticks as drumsticks, and I'd play along to AC/DC records (the only records I myself owned at a young age). Finally, in grade 7, I convinced my mother to give me my life savings ($200CAD - we were a poor family) so I could buy a used CB 400 drum kit with Sabian B8 hats and a small, heavy Zilco crash. That began a journey of being in bands, jamming, and solo play/writing/recording that continues to today.

I got into Nirvana when Weird Al put out his parody of them, and it was life-changing. From there, I expanded to Soundgarden, Metallica, Megadeth, and Iron Maiden.


Anyhow, I started playing guitar when I was 14, back in the 90's. My uncle would lend me his guitars and amps. One was a no-name Les Paul clone, semi hollow I think, didn't even have a brand on it from what I recall. The burst was cheesy-looking, but it was a guitar to learn on. The other was an '85 or '86 MIJ Squier Strat with no pickguard, VERY sleek curves, HH config, black body, black headstock face. I loved it. I passed up the chance to buy it from him a few years back due to finances at the time. He recently passed away, wish I could track it down and buy it back into the family as an heirloom... Anyhow. The first guitar I bought was a Sears brand, Nova or something like that, second-hand from a friend for $50 or so. It sucked - still sucks. I sold it to a friend who can't even play a power chord to this day, about 25 years later, and he still has the thing (with pennies welded onto the tuning pegs, as the plastic bits fell off literally decades ago).

When I was 15 or 16, my father bought me a second-hand Charvel ('87 Model 4, I believe - it's not 100% clear from what I could find online), which I still have (intend to sell some day, don't play it). At the time, it was good, my favourite band was Metallica (but that didn't last - Load came out shortly after).

I met a girl in high school who wore Nirvana shirts, and started dating her after being friends for quite some time, getting her to hang out with me by trying to teach her guitar (she didn't end up learning, can't do the coordination thing). She had a Yamaha F-310 and early on while dating we went to Toronto with her dad and he bought her a guitar that I helped her pick out: a Jackson Performer PS-1. We married, still together 20 years later, still have the Jackson guitar, though it is neglected with a Roland GK-2A pickup stuck to it...
It was on this trip to Toronto that I got to play a Fender Jagstang, and I hated it. I wanted to love it, because Kurt Cobain, but no. The neck was way too narrow at the nut and I hated the body shape. (I'd still take it over a Tele!)

Anyhow, things stayed this way until early 2010, when I finally ordered my first offset - the sunburst Squier Jagmaster II. It's a 2009, and it's been my main guitar ever since. I really like it. I wouldn't say I love it; it's pretty barebones. It does the job I need it to do, and it looks decent. I don't like that I can see the different blocks of wood they stuck together, as the transitions are very abrupt and very apparent. But hey, it generally looked nice, sounded good, and played fairly well. Certainly nicer than any other Squier I've yet played (save for that MIJ Strat my uncle owned).

I won't detail my entire guitar or amp history, because the others are very unremarkable and I've written way more already than anyone here is going to read, I'm sure, but I will say that my main amp is a Fender Mustang V v2 head with a Behringer Bugera 412 cab. I also was gifted a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass (Special? not sure), and play it with the Fender Bronco 40 bass amp, which doesn't really go loud enough to jam with, but it does what I wanted it for (recording).

Musically, I've not been in any serious bands really since high school. I jammed some, played a show on an island in the middle of a big lake once, but otherwise, I just play by myself. I write and record crappy grunge/metal type stuff. I'm not that good a player. I think my playing (and drumming) got limited because I primarily tried to play Nirvana songs over the years.
I still, to this day, hold Nirvana as my favourite band, but my tastes have been expanding a lot. I love a lot of sludge and even some black metal, especially gazy/atmospheric stuff.

Back in March, I was hospitalized on my 12th day of battling COVID. It was rough (two immunosuppressant drugs ensured I wouldn't win that battle on my own, unfortunately). In the hospital room, it was so loud, from air exchangers or whatever, that most of my music would just sound like noise on my underpowered laptop speakers. The only music that seemed to work well was Alcest, and so for the full, lonely week I was in there, I survived by looping their Spiritual Instinct album over and over again. I'd watch some videos of theirs, too, and loved to see the Jazzmaster. I decided that I'd save up and get a Fender when - if - I made it home.

And, for anyone who's seen my first thread on this forum, you already know that I ended up deciding against getting a Fender (for now), in favour of several Squier offsets. Why buy only one offset guitar when you could have three for the same price? So today I ordered the Classic Vibe Jaguar and Jazzmaster, and when I have enough money for it, I'll probably get the Squier Bass VI as well (if it's still around by then).

I also bought my 9yo boy a Squier FSR Mini Jazzmaster about a month ago. I've played it some, cleaned up the frets and such a bit, and played it some more. I also got him a Mustang I v2 second-hand. He won't get them until near the end of the year as his birthday gifts, but man, it's hard to wait that long! I hope he likes them and takes an interest in it (he's been trying to play a little keyboard lately, and he was showing interest in guitar teaching videos just before I bought this for him, so those are good signs).

Well, you made it to the end. I hope my highlighting the boring bits was helpful to someone, at least! (Now you know why I rarely do these intro posts!)

Here's my offset lineup (plus my intent for the Bass VI, later on). I'll add a real photo somewhere later on, after the two imminent arrivals get here.

Image
(You could say I have a type.)
Last edited by rivir on Wed Jun 01, 2022 5:16 am, edited 1 time in total.

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JSett
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Re: New to the board, but not new to the love of sexy offsets

Post by JSett » Tue May 31, 2022 8:50 pm

Hey! Welcome to the forum, and nice collection.

That blue text is almost unreadable though so I only read 50% of your post
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

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Telliot
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Re: New to the board, but not new to the love of sexy offsets

Post by Telliot » Tue May 31, 2022 9:24 pm

Same. And same!
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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rivir
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Re: New to the board, but not new to the love of sexy offsets

Post by rivir » Wed Jun 01, 2022 5:17 am

Thanks! I changed it to a darker green, but it's okay, you just missed the rambly bits.

By the way, I forgot to include my full address, social insurance, mother's maiden name, and my credit card number. I'll add them later.

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T70
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Re: New to the board, but not new to the love of sexy offsets

Post by T70 » Fri Jun 10, 2022 6:18 pm

Nice collection! Nothing wrong with Squiers, I have a 2010 Duo Sonic myself. Thing must weight 5lb, lol.

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