[Jim Yahr]

I’ll add in, don’t overlook Alvarez guitars – the Artist and Masterworks series guitars are a fabulous deal for the money.  I have several friends the prefer my ($300 when I bought it) AD-60 model over their Martin D-28’s. If you need artist names – Bob Weir (Grateful Dead), Ani DeFranco, David Crosby, Graham Nash and Carlos Santana all use Alvarez acoustics.  Paul McCartney has used them in the past, although I haven’t seen him use one on stage in a few years.

But, as everyone has said, get out and play them (including different individuals of the same model), one guitar will speak to you and that’s the one you want to take home regardless of whether it’s at the high or low end of your budget.

[Jim Yahr]

I’m of the opinion that if you’re looking for a guitar, go out and interview as many as you can.  One of them will speak to you and that’s the one to to start with (there’s a lot of truth to the “Baby Mine” video).  Example – I have 2 Casinos.  One is a 2004 Korean made “standard” model (modified with a Bigsby vibrato).  The other is a 2010 Elite.  I hardly ever play the Elite.  It sounds better according to most people, plays smoother, but it just doesn’t feel “right”.  The Standard does and I make better music with it – by that metric it’s a “better” guitar.

[Jim Yahr]

I assumed the cover songs include only things they’ve already covered.

Instrument would be guitar (rhythm), preferably my 12-string Strat. For acoustic tunes the Guild.

Vocals would be whatever they would want. But, I’d need some time for prep, I had open heart surgery 3 months ago so it might take a few more months of work to get my voice back completely. After that, I can sing the base line in do-wop or high end like Art Garfunkle or Brian Wilson or anything in between (and all of it in tune.)

Songs (In no particular order):

1) This Boy

2) I Wanna Kiss You

3) You’re Gonna Lose That Girl

4) Sweet Lorraine

5) I Will

6) Wake Up Little Susie

7) Imagine

8) Time of the Season

9) Still a Friend of Mine

10)If I Fell

[Jim Yahr]

Howard – it’s a Gretsch.  Cochran had it modified with a P-90  dogear pickup.  Gretsch is still making an Eddie Cochran Signature model in the same configuration.

 

[Jim Yahr]

I’m going to say

1) Twist and Shout – by anybody who plays it.  Great beat, easy to dance to, and just fun no matter how it’s done.  The essence of Rock and Roll.

2) Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix

3) Stairway to Heaven – Led Zepplin – yeah, I know it’s overplayed, and we’re all tired of it, but that shouldn’t keep it off the list.

4) A Day in the Life – Beatles I have trouble calling this one “rock” but will use it here anyhow.

5) My Generation – The Who

 

But if want Greatest Rock performance – then it has to be Hendrix – Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock.  Nothing else even comes close.

[Jim Yahr]

Jung – that kind of breaks it up to Mona doing John and Ringo’s leads and Lisa doing Paul’s leads.  George’s stuff would kind of be a toss-up depending on the song.

 

[Jim Yahr]

It’s a little late for this year, but maybe next year they could cover Greg Lake’s “I Believe in Father Christmas” for the Advent Calendar?

[Jim Yahr]

My wife lived in Zurich for 16 years and started doing it there.  So we still have candles on the tree every year.   You just need a fresh tree and a little care when you put them on.  The minute the tree gets the least bit dry, forget it and stick with lights.  This is from last year’s tree:

 

[Jim Yahr]

As always, it’s a very nice cover.  And really clever releasing it during the peak of the Perseids meteor shower!

 

[Jim Yahr]

Here’s an iconic one.  It isn’t mine – it belongs to Yoko Ono and is part of the “Play It Loud” exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC.  This is John’s custom, one-off  Ric 325/12.  It was used during the 1964 North American Tour,  and on the “Beatles for Sale”, and “A Hard Day’s Night” LPs.  You can hear it on the intro to “Ticket to Ride”.

[Jim Yahr]

Tomas – you’re right, it’s a 330 – it has dots on the fret board, I missed that.  The 330 is a slightly different shape, a little more angular and there’s no binding.  They sound pretty much the same. I have a 1990 360/12, I’ve played a 330 and it’s not quite as comfortable as a 360 (at least for me).

[Jim Yahr]

Nice list, but it left off Mona’s Ric 355 and I thought I saw a Ric 360-12 on “If I Needed Someone”?

[Jim Yahr]

My wife’s name is Lorraine so I instantly latched on to this song.  My favorite from Orange.

[Jim Yahr]

Hi Jung,

The 325 is a 3/4 size guitar while the 350 is “full size” short scale.   The 325 scale length is only 52.7 cm, the 350 is 62.9 cm.  The body dimensions are roughly the same, although the 325 is about 12 mm thicker.  The 325 is ash (or alder), the 350 is mahogany.   (I looked these up on the RIC website). In practice that means that the 325 will have less string tension so slightly less volume and articulation. This can be compensated for by heavier strings, at the expense of some ability to “bend” the strings (not critical since John used his 325 for mostly rhythm parts). Ash tends to be a little bit brighter in tone than mahogany, but that would be compensated by the shorter scale.    BTW, the picture I posted is John’s 12 string, that matched his 6 string 1964  325 (played in Miami and on the second Ed Sullivan),  not his original 1958 325 (played on the first Ed Sullivan).   The 325/12 is on loan to the Metropolitan Museum in New York right now and is owned by Yoko Ono, the original 325 is owned by Sean Lennon, and the 2nd 325 is reported to be at the Lennon Museum in Japan in unplayable condition (John dropped it in late 1964 and cracked the headstock, although he kept it around as a backup).

[Jim Yahr]

Tim –

I have a digital copy of Wings Across America (along with a vinyl original).  The PDF copy of the original cover reads: “…. 7, 8, 13, 14 and 15 written and composed by Paul McCartney and John Lennon and published by Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)….”

So the order was reversed at least in the liner notes.