Also, at the beginning of the year I spent some time in the studio recording for Brant Greishaber’s prog-fusion-classical-jazz explosion: The Ra Quintet.  I am featured on 6 tracks (using the Godin & Klein).  It is truly an incredible album and is now available on CDBaby.  Check it out.

The kind people of Unclutterer.com are showcasing my home studio as their Workplace of Week this week.  Check out their site for all of you Uncluttering needs.

Digital Voice Recorder: I use the SONY IC Recoder (ICD-SX46) ($150) for recording quick ideas, practice & composing. It’s a great tool for any musician.

DocZac Handmaster Plus Exerciser ($10)

Designed for anyone who wants to maintain or build hand strength, the Handmaster Plus strengthens both the front (flexors) when squeezing the ball and the back (extensors) when opening the hand. It conditions and rehabilitates the hand and forearm through its complete, natural range of motion.

JP Tools Deluxe JP Guitar Tool ($25)

This is the precision-crafted tool for guitar set-up junkies and adjust-a-maniacs. Slip the Deluxe JP Guitar Tool out of its rugged nylon webbing sheath and you can instantly feel and see the quality. It starts at the tip with the patented carbide steel cutting blade-the strongest blade made-capable of industrial-level work.
The hardened steel tool body is rough-and-ready, but has nicely rounded edges for a soft, easy grip. And you’ll get your best set-ups ever with the professional-quality black anodized steel Allen wrenches (.050mm, 1.5mm, 2.5mm, 3mm), Phillips head screwdriver, flat head screwdriver, and bridge pin puller that tuck inconspicuously into the handles.

C Tech Pocket Rock-It S1 Standard Guitar Headphone Amp ($36)

The battery-powered Pocket Rock-It S1 Headphone Amp allows you to practice silently in any location, and to have great tones at your disposal. The rotating input plug has 90 degrees of motion, so the S1 headphone amp can plug into any guitar jack-no cable needed!

The Pocket Rock-It headphone amp gives you 1 clean and 2 dirty settings for lots of tonal versatility. The Filter control is a continuously variable EQ that adjusts high and mid-range frequencies of the amp emulation model selected.

If you do decide to let the rest of the world in on your Pocket Rock-it S1 sessions, use the line out for recording or preamp applications. Jam with your CDs or MP3s with the headphone amp’s line in.

Hal Leonard The Beatles Complete Scores Book ($60)

Every song written and/or recorded by The Beatles (including covers), transcribed exactly as played by the Fab Four. Scores include all parts (even drums!), guitar, and bass in both notation and tab, plus chords and complete lyrics. 212 songs. 1,136 pages, hardcover in deluxe slip case.

Musicnotes Gift Cards and Packs
Customize a Gift Card with a variety of design styles. Select any dollar amount from $1 to $500 – even include customized “To” and “From” information.

Boss RC-2 Loop Station Effect Pedal ($180)

The Boss RC-2 Loop Station not only records, layers, and loops, it also provides a wealth of other handy and powerful features in a pedalboard-friendly stomp box. You get rich looping features like jam-along Rhythm Guide, Auto Start, Tap Tempo, Loop Quantize, and Undo/Redo functions.

In traditional Boss fashion, the RC-2 benefits from a clean and friendly user interface. As powerful as this little Loop Station is, it’s a dream to operate. The clearly labeled buttons and knobs put everything directly under your fingertips with no hidden menus or commands to impede the creative process.

Due to its standard compact-pedal shape and size, the RC-2 fits perfectly alongside other Boss pedals. Great for fast setup and convenient transportation.

The RC-2 stomp box can record and store up to 16 mono minutes of audio, either from your own instrument or other external input devices, such as MP3 players/recorders. Each of your layered loop creations can be stored to one of 11 internal patch preset locations.

Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer Effects Pedal ($100)

The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer is a reissue that’s just like the original in so many ways. Same factory, same components, same housing, same famous seasick-green paint, and the same crankin’ overdrive that made the original one of the all-time classic pedals. Guitar Player called it the best. Plug it in. Crank it up. You’ll hear what all the fuss is about. Tone, drive, and level controls.

Line 6 GuitarPortXT ($100)
Just connect the shiny red Line 6 GuitarPortXT hardware to your Windows PC or Mac with the included USB cable and connect GuitarPort’s stereo output to multimedia speakers, headphones, or your stereo. Then fire up the GuitarPort GearBox software, plug in your guitar and you’re ready to jam!

GuitarPort Effects GuitarPort features classic stompbox effects like delay, chorus, tremolo, flanger, reverb and more. Tweak to your heart’s content, save as many variations as you want, or choose from Line 6′s extensive library of ready to rock tones. From models based on classic stompboxes like the Fuzz Face, Tube Screamer, Phase 90, and Uni-Vibe,* GuitarPort is like having a whole rack system and custom pedal board living inside your computer.

GuitarPort also offers the ability to change the signal path of the effects for every tone. The reverbs, modulation effects, and delays can be routed either in front of the amp (pre) or after (post), so that chorus can be either a stompbox or a rack unit, depending on what you need.

GuitarPort Amps & Cabs Line 6 invented digital modeling guitar amps and is the magic behind the guitar tones used on countless platinum albums.

The Dunlop Straplok System ($15) is designed with the artist in mind. 360° groove-and-ball design allows the unit to rotate without catching. The strap retainers are easy to install and operate. The case-hardened steel skin guarantees long life. The same strap can be used with several guitars as the strap button is interchangeable. Release-tested up to 800 lbs. of pull; it won’t come loose. Complete set (2 units for instrument and strap) adapts to instrument by replacing existing strap pins and screws with special Straplok System brand buttons and screws. 2 strap attachments are included.

The Blues Bottle slide ($10) will take you back to pre-depression Mississippi, where blues masters used medicine bottle slides to form the roots of modern day blues. Blues Bottle slides are individually hand-blown of durable, seamless Pyrex glass. The weighted, closed ends provide optimum balance.

Dr. Beats!! The premier in metronomic awesomness. ($40, $160, $70)

The Boss TU-12 ($70) Tuner is designed for precision tuning. This Boss tuner has high-visibility sharp/flat LED indicators, tuning meter, and adjustable pitch. Switchable between guitar/bass and autochromatic tuning. A built-in condenser mic on the Boss TU-12 makes acoustic instrument tuning easy.

Musician’s Friend Tubular Guitar Stand($10): Made to exacting specs with soft black neoprene rubber tubing to protect your guitar. Folds up for easy transport. Not for nitrocellulose-finish guitars.

Gator gig bags ($20-$80) are known for keeping guitars and basses safe. This killer bag is no exception. It’s good to go with a tough nylon exterior, reinforced nylon carrying handles, a huge zippered storage area in front, and a unique shoulder/waist carrying system. The shoulder and waist straps even have zippered storage areas, so there’s no excuse for forgetting your picks, tuner, or extra strings. Oh yeah, did we mention the camo?

My guitar purse is an extension of the pocket on the outside of my gig bag. This is where I store my purse, back-up cable & emergency strings.

The purse holds picks, allen wrenches, audio & string converters, nail files, nail clippers, a tuner, tremlo bar, & writing utensils.

Such preparation comes from getting tired of writing out lists of everything that I’ll need for a gig. Now, all I have to do is grab my gig bag, and I know that everything I could possibly need will be in there.

I keep a guitar purse in each of my two main giging guitars. There are a couple differences between them, but they both use identical tuners and nail files.

Guitar Purse, Yeah!

Musician’s Friend was very accomadating for the whole experience. Then sent me an RA# and form to cut out and tape to the outside of the box. All I had to do was drop it off at FedEx and they took care of the rest. Less than a week later I got my replacement. That’s pretty good in my book.

On a side note, I think I’m having a minor, but irritating, allergic reaction to the new guitar’s neck varnish. My fingers are kind of breaking out and my skin looks like I spilled acid on it. If I don’t lube up with some A&D ointment, they get quite irritated. I remember having a similar reaction when I got my Klein. It took over month before it calmed down. I put in a request to Godin.com to see what sort of solvent I can use to clean it.

Note (4.2.07): It turns out, I may just be allergic celery or some other food that’s recently been added to my diet.  My guitar has been in it’s case for week, but my fingers are breaking out again.  I’m going to put on my investigative hat and find out what’s happening.

Godin was kind enough to get back to me with a quick reply.  They said that the guitar’s neck has a nitrocellulose based lacquer (most guitars have polyeurethane lacquer) and suggested a mild sanding and refinishing.  Let’s hope I don’t have to go down that route.

The Godin is going to be my number-one gig guitar for my summer wedding gigs. It’s a good solid versatile guitar. It can work for classical & jazz.

One of my favorite things about the Godin is the phase button that knocks out any feedback from the the awesome built-in I-Beam transducer. It also has an XLR-out jack for either blending with 1/4 inch jack, or using it standalone.

I did a recording test tonight for the “Sketches” category to try out how the XLR & 1/4 inch outs hold up. In the recording there are two guitar tracks. The first one is directly from the 1/4 inch cable and holds down the vamp through the loopstation. The second track is directly from the XLR out, and souped up with a bit of reverb & eq in editing. For a quick test, I’m pretty happy.

My three main pedals are the Loopstation, Digital Delay & Tuner. They are all made by Boss. I also have a distortion and octave pedal (by Boss), but they only occasionally make it into the bag.

The Loopstation is my main pedal, hands down. It’s great for practicing, composing & giging. It’s the best thing ever. The Digital Delay is my 2nd in command. It provides a click track when I need it. It has a great “reverse” function and whole wide range of reverb & delay features. I mostly use it for it’s click track function.

My bag also includes an extension cord, a backup power cable and backup instruments cables. It also holds an emergency 9volt, a small clock, a set of strings for my acoustic & electric, a small packet of “wet ones,” and a few band-aids (just in case).

My guitar is an ergonomic instrument designed by the luthier Steve Klien (click on one of the links below if you want to learn more about the Klein story). Klein guitars are built with no truss rod. It’s neck is one solid piece of rosewood. The body is swamp ash.

My instrument was built by German Lorenzo and was finished in April of 2005.

For those that need a little background on the Klein Electric Guitar, try these links:

• http://www.steinbergerworld.com/kleindev.htm
• http://www.steinbergerworld.com/K-series.htm
• http://www.kleinguitars.com/KleinGuitarLinks/profile.htm
• http://www.kleinelectricguitars.com/

Some other players that are known to play Klein Guitars:

• Tim Miller
• Mick Goodrick
• Bill Frisell
• Lou Reed
• Allan Holdsworth
• David Torn
• Jody Fisher