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I mean if you line up a dozen Gibson L-00 guitars, some are going to be as close to perfect as you can get and some are probably going to have some problems (scratches and dings, poor fret work, imperfect setup, sloppy glue joints, etc.) that should have been caught upon final inspection before being shipped to the authorized dealer. To be fair, the things I've read about Gibson's quality control were primarily in reference to their electric guitars...specifically, Les Pauls. I don't know if the complaints apply to their acoustic guitars, but it's worth considering before spending $5k on

I don't know for sure that I've ever played that exact model, but the Gibson acoustics I've tried out in the last year or two have been the nicest guitars I've ever played. They sound like a dream. Unfortunately, I've read on guitar forums that Gibson has a reputation for inconsistent quality control. For this reason, I'd bring your brother, or someone who is an experienced guitarist, with you to check out the guitar before you spend $5,000.

There's no such thing as best when it comes to guitars, but it is an amazing instrument. If I were you, and I was going to spend thousands on a gift, I would bring your brother to a guitar shop and have him take his pick. Just because a guitar is expensive and high quiality doesn't mean it will feel right in his hands.

If my brother gave me a 1937 Gibson L-00 it'd be one of the happiest and most surprising days of my life.

I'd love to get one of those. Everyone raves about them. I've been considering trading in my Ampeg Reverberocket towards one. I like the Ampeg, but 50 tube watts is more than I'll ever need. Unfortunately, I'd probaly only get $200 or $300 in trade towards the Deluxe Reverb. Even a $400 or $500 trade-in wouldn't put me in a position to buy at this time.

Mali seems overrepresented on that list. I just ordered the Roots of Chicha cd.

That SRV guitar has a beautiful finish. If Fender offered that finish (some sort of medium brown stain) on their regular guitars it would be my first choice. EDIT: here's a link: http://www.fender.com/lenny/

When I first saw the Jeff Beck part I thought he was playing with the School of Rock kids . Their performance was wild. At times it was like they were playing a totally new style of music.

PBS in Atlanta aired this last night (w/ numerous pledge drive interruptions). Winwood joined Clapton's band and played a couple of Blind Faith tunes (Presence of the Lord, Had to Cry Today) and a Traffic tune (Mr. Fantasy). They might have done more than those. I didn't catch the whole thing. I am a part-time Clapton basher, but I was knocked out by his playing on the Blind Faith dvd. I was doubly impressed because one of my main complaints is that he started going down the tubes when he quit playing Gibson guitars, yet he played a Telecaster at the Blind Faith concert and sounded fanta

Light of Doom

The Electric Mayhem

Nels is going to record an album with Mike Watt (and probably work on some other recording projects) sometime very soon.

I flipped through that Jeff Beck book a few times at Borders. It looked good, but I never bought it. It seems to be getting harder to find, unfortunately. Thanks for the tip on the Mac book. I'll keep an eye out for that one.

I just got done reading "Ronnie". It was enjoyable, but I was somewhat disappointed. I was hoping for more Faces and Jeff Beck Group content, but he didn't write much on those subjects. Nikki Sixx's new book looks interesting.

Looks really goofy. Hopefully they managed to get an authentic sound out of it.

Tele trios, off the top of my head: The Police Minutemen Firehose Mike Watt (when Tom Watson is the guitarist) PJ Harvey Rush (only on certain songs on recent tours) Any number of trios Bill Frisell plays with Teles can work quite well in a trio. A humbucker equipped guitar will probably be easier to work with, but I wouldn't discount the Tele without first trying it out.

Thanks. Sounds like a good lineup.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but is this a Crazy Horse tour? If not, who is in his live band currently?

Doesn't Ron Wood play one of those?

A lot of the best music ever has been played on guitars that are nowhere near as good as that one.

Best wishes, Lou.

Do you mean the last tour for Nels, or the last tour for his black Jazzmaster? I doubt either is the case. It seems like his Jazzmaster takes more abuse in other bands he's is and has been in, and he was far less financially able to keep it in working order than he is now. If anything, he'll probably use it less now that he finally found some other Jazzmasters that he's really happy with (I'm basing that on the Watt From Pedro Show interview). I doubt he'd leave it behind, though.

Thanks for the heads up. I love reading Nels interviews, and look forward to this one.

I think the Shins first two records are really good. Wincing is a bunch of clever production ideas, but the material stinks.

I love when people do things like that. My wife and I still get a huge laugh at the memory of the guy who stormed out of a greek restaurant flying the bird the whole way from the back of the restauirant to the front door because all the booths were taken and he was offered a table with chairs instead. Back to topic... I saw Mr. Big's guitarist get his hair caught in his guitar pick equipped power drill and have to leave the stage so his roadie could cut his hair to free him.