9stines- Merthiolate For The Christian Soul

It was in the 1980′s that I learned to play the guitar. Little did I know that while I would never be a famous musician I would see the guitar create significant bookmarks in my life. Recent events has caused me to reflect back on the last almost 30 years I have been alive to see just ‘what happened’ and to also see what it is or was that I learned from it. I am not sure what the purpose or intent of this writing is but I felt compelled to tell the story. Perhaps it will make sense and mean something to someone somewhere. We will see. I am not sure of the exact dates. I just know the approximations. But the dates aren’t all that important to the point I think I am trying to make.

I grew up listening to a fairly wide variety of music. While my mom and dad mostly listened to country music in the car at home it was a mixture of oldies, some pop, and some other music that I can’t quite put into a category. One thing is for certain is that I did have a vast influence of music styles. I never took a real interest in music until my high school years. That seems typical for the teenage years to be the ones most influenced by music. Rock and Roll music was not even introduced to me until my freshman year. At that very time another interest was set aflame that would be with me and that was playing the guitar.

My very first guitar was an acoustic guitar that I got for Christmas when I was much younger. It was a beginners guitar I think from Sears or someplace like that. It was a orange burst color and had steel strings. As much as I tried I just could not get it. I think the biggest issue was that I could never figure out how to tune it. So, it was set aside and closeted for some time and then was eventually accidentally broken. After some time of tinkering around with a single coil pickup dime store type guitar my dad had with my best friend at that time I got my first electric guitar, a Lotus Les Paul copy. The biggest reason why is that my best friends guitar was also a Lotus Les Paul copy and I liked his so much. He had modified his with a Carvin M22 pickup. His was a beautiful tobacco burst. Mine was slightly modified in that I tore the pickup covers off of it and adjusted the action. Mine was a red sunburst color. I loved that guiatr and had it for a number of years before it was met with a serious accident that would change my feeling toward guitars forever. But, I digress…

A year or two after I got my Lotus I picked up several other guitars along the way. One was a semi hollow body that thinner than my Lotus and had a thinner neck. I for the life of me can’t remember who made it or where it went. I also had a wine colored Hondo Les Paul copy, a silver Lotus Strat copy, and for a long time I used a Lotus Acoustic that my best friend left behind when he moved to Arizona. I was a guitar nut. I loved them. I loved tearing them apart, rebuilding them, modifying them, painting them, even building them from scratch. I always dreamed of one day owning a Gibson or a Carvin but never thought it would actually happen at least not until the band I was in would actually go somewhere.

1989. I hate and love that year! That year was the most influential year of my entire life. It is this year that would impact every single aspect of my life. It was in that year I learned tons of in and outs about love and relationships, what it is like to work in corporate America, and what happens when you are injured by a friend. Also in that year I learned about profound craftsmanship and elegance in a musical instrument. We had a place where the band call our HQ. It was near the middle of town and was easy access for all of us to get to. Because we would practice nearly every evening I would leave my guitar and equipment there. There is a well known and understood rule when it came to other peoples stuff and that was don’t touch! Ever! One day I came to rehearsal and the other guys were already there. I walked in and instantly sensed something was very wrong. After a few moments it was disclosed to me that one of the members had taken my guitar out of the case and dropped it snapping the head off of the neck- cleanly. I was devastated. That guitar held such an important place in my heart that it was almost unbearable at the moment.

A trip to a music store in Indianapolis, IRC Music was in order. I needed to see if a luthier or someone else could repair the damage. I knew in my mind that the likelihood was not. I still had to try. I carried it in like a dad carrying a wounded son and pretty much responded the way losing a son would do to a man. I was in numb shock. I was told that with that time of break there would be no way to repair it. I was hurt bad. There goes my ability to play. I could not afford to buy another guitar and I began writing myself out of the band, the whole time wondering why me and why did my bandmate just not respect me and my stuff. I strolled into the back where all of the electric guitars were kept. In the corner at the top was one of the most gorgeous objects I had ever seen, a brand new Gibson Les Paul Custom that was black with gold trim. It was breathtaking! The man behind the counter, aware of what just happened to me noticed what I was looking at it. He asked me, “You wanna hold it?” and I hesitantly said yes. He gently lifted it from it’s throne that looked down upon all other guitars and handed it to me. I first noticed the weight of it. Then the smell of it. Then the contour and it’s deep black finish that actually competed with the deepness of space, I was in enchanted. I barely had it in my hands a few minutes and started to hand it back when the salesman asked if I wanted it. I chuckled and thought , yeah right. He immediately whipped out a credit app and the next day called me and told me to come pick up my guitar. And I did.

The Gibson Les Paul Custom- There a few guitars that come close. Don’t get me wrong though. Every Gibson Les Paul is of top notch quality from the Studio to the Standard, from the Special to the Custom, they all are awesome instruments. But the custom is set apart for its beauty and elegance. The finest materials, and craftsmanship go into the six string supermodels and I had one! The first night I had it home I had to keep peeking at it to see if it was really real and that it was not stolen. I was like a new father of a child and rightly so, I just dropped around $2300 for it! None of the cars I owned cost that much! But there it was. I have had the opportunity to play many different styles and makes of guitars over the years. I have played a number of really notable ones. The Carvin line of guitars are awesome! The Fender Stratocaster and Tele caster are great too, although I prefer the weight of the ‘Tele’ over the ‘Strat’. I had a Gretch hollowbody. I had several other guitars made by Lotus, Hondo, Peavy, but none like the Gibson Les Paul Custom. The sustain, strength and weight of the Les Paul are simply second to none.

As with many would-be famous guitar players my career went South. I traded it all for the family life and when my sweet little daughter was born I parted with all of my stuff…including the Les Paul. It was bittersweet. I made the right decision and do not regret it one bit. But the place in my heart for the dynamo of a guitar would be reserved only for it. There would never be a replacement…I would never play again. But I have. And it was the Lord’s doing.

I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1993. Our church was a more contemporary church with a touch of tradition. Some newer songs were done during the worship service but mostly older hymns. It wasn’t until our new pastor and his wife came that things really changed for the better. Eventually a full band was used for worship and the songs were much more modern. There was another guitar player who played a Les Paul copy that sounded great. He had a cleaner overdriven sound than I have never heard in a church before but it worked! I would often find myself envying him for being able to play, especially in church. Yeah, I know, envy is supposed to be wrong but I couldn’t help it. A few years later I went to a Christian retreat and there were lots of guys there playing acoustic guitars is a campfire type way. You know, singing and playing the guitar, several men at the same time. It sure lit a fire in me!

I bought my first guitar in several years called an Epiphone Alleykat. It was a semi-hollow body that featured a humbucker in the bridge position and a New York mini-humbucker in the neck position. The guitar was an absolute joy to play and to look at. I noticed right off the bat that the neck felt like my Les Paul’s neck from years before. It seems it was designed more for jazz and blues but it could really tear into any kind of music and keep up with any guitar.

A short time later I acquired a Fender Squier Affinity 20th Anniversary Edition Strat for doing some major computer work. It was brand new! Asthetically it was rather sterile. It was a beautiful cobalt blue but had a white face plate and white pickups with white accessories. Like I said, sterile! But that did not last long. This guitar has now been modified so much that you could not possibly recognize it. This guitar has been an important part of my life. It represents so much about me that I could not part with it even if I wanted to. You see, first of all it was a Strat. To me, prior to this point, playing or owning a Strat was anathama for a Les Paul dedicated player. Secondly, it was a cheaper Fender. Thirdly it came to me towards the beginning of my Christian worship career and the sound of it seemed a good fit with the other guitar player who played a Les Paul copy. Many things began happening in my life that were not so good. Some past sins began to rear their ugly heads and began to intertwine with me, basically debilitating me and making me an ineffective Christian. I was still a believer but was dealing with life issues that would nearly destroy my life.

At one point our bassist gave me a gift. He had a Fender Stratacoustic guitar that he asked me to check out and then later let me have. My goodness it was an interesting instrument. Realizing it was built for more of a bluegrass setting I often used in in hard rock songs. I would run it distorted and muddy and it would allow me an array of controlled feedback and odd sound that could not possibly be achieved by any other guitar. I loved it! I loved it for it’s character and I loved it because it was a gift from someone special. One day last Fall as I was loading up after a church service my Stratacoutsic was stolen. Ouch! That had never happened to me before. My guitar was stolen from the one place I never thought it could.

As a result of this another good friend of mine gave me his acoustic guitar. He had a well broke in Seagull S-6 acoustic. For a swap of some PC service it was mine. I had never heard of Seagull before. But, I can tell you if I ever buy another acoustic guitar it will be a Seagull! What a beautiful sound! It has become a guitar that I can play when I am feeling down or in a dark place and it ministers to me. I have even put a heavier gauge electric set of strings that gives it a special twang. Most of my peers don’t like it when I do that. They can’t figure out why I put electric guitar strings on an acoustic guitar. I just like it that way!

For several years these trials wove in and out of my life. The trials wrecked havoc with my marriage. I had drinking issues, purity issues, financial issues- it was bad. It would continue to worsen with light little reprieves here and there until somewhere around late July of 2009 when I decided I was done running from God and causing so much pain in the lives of those around me. I completely surrendered- totally surrender and God began a new work. At one point in time I made a radical decision concerning that guitar. Right out of the blue I just stopped what I was working on, got the Strat, took it all apart, took the body down into a room I was building, loaded my drill with a stripper and took every bit of paint off of it! I even did the head stock. I eventually gave the body to the drummer of the praise team who is a very good wood worker and he completed a fine sanding on it. That is how it is to this day and that is how I think it will stay. It has become a symbol of my life- stripped new and clean. It has two humbuckers now and is a massively jamming machine!

The Strat was my number one guitar until I acquired an Aria Pro II CS-350 Cardinal which featured coil taps and phase switches which made it the perfect guitar for the music I played. I got this guitar through our acoustic player in the band. He asked me if I was interested and remembering my opinion of Aria guitars in the past I decided to check it out. I was very impressed and quickly acclimated it into our scene. With the coil taps and phase switches I could literally get any sound I wanted out of it- well almost any sound. None the less it became my number one guitar until I hit a financial crunch and had to let it go.

Also, during this time period the word got out that I would do computer work for barters and trades. Another situation resulted in getting a black Fullerton Strat and a Hondo II Strat. The Hondo was in such bad shape that I thought that after playing it I would need a Tetnus shot! The strings were so rusted! I ended up reselling the Fullerton but kept the Hondo. That Hondo has a most amazing sound and you almost can’t knock it out of tune. I can take it out of the gig bag and the darn thing will be ready to go! I have no other guitar that can do that.

On my birthday I came across a great guitar too. It was a birthday present and it was a B.C. Rick Bronze Series Warlock. I never in my life ever dreamed I would ever play a B.C. Rich guitar let alone own one! But, the guy that had it said it needed new pickups and I became the new owner. It plays like a dream! A full 24 fret access- high speed neck and it is surprisingly comfortable. I am about to load it with Gibson pickups either from a Les Paul Signature or using some Gibson 490 pickups from a Gibson/Epiphone SG. That will be one unique and loud guitar when I am done with it!

Now I have an Epiphone Les Paul Studio and I absolutely love it! I bought the Epiphone Les Paul for these reasons; I loved my Alleykat and since Epiphone is directly tied to Gibson I decide what the heck- get and Epiphone Les Paul! What’s more, I decided to not get a custom but get the guitar that has a perfect balance of everything- the Les Paul Studio. I am so happy I did. Believe it or not it actually plays better than what my old custom did. Yeah, I know that is hard to believe but it’s true. And what is also interesting is that the very same day I got my Les Paul Studio another guy wanted another guitar I have but wanted the electronics taken out of his Signature Les Paul. I told him that $50 and the empty Signature would get him my B.C. Rich Warlock guitar. This is all still in the works but it is irony just the same.

I started out dreaming of stardom in one day being a famous guitarist. Life, well my destiny had other plans. God, by His grace and mercy, has been steady and patiently guiding me one step at a time toward something even greater than stardom on earth. I will ultimately achieve a stardom of sorts when I get to be with Him. Until then He is giving me plenty of time for practicing for what I think will be the ultimate job and that is being a musician in Heaven where I will help sing His praises forever and ever. Maybe even then there will be a perfected form of a Les Paul style guitar! Who knows?