STUDENT NEWSLETTER 8 November 2008 
What a great day to be an American eh? WOW! A smart pro science prez! What a big change.
Fall fell and so are the leaves. You all know what time of year this is? It is getting to look a lot like Christmas! The best time of the year when we can all pretend our brains out! Time for us guitar players to pull the Christmas Songs out and start dusting them off as we have done for the past 400 years. Here are some of my arrangements of simple Christmas Songs.
Also the best gift in the world. The gift of music. Guitar Lessons Gift Certificates.
Note: The gift certificate does not look like the one above.
Psssst.... Want to know about a good investment?
http://www.hedgefundsreview.com/public/showPage.html?page=803989
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/invest/extra/P142831.asp
Can't play on a 401k. Can't rock on a ROTH.
Solid investment. Or hollow body investment.
Big congrats go out to Guitar/bass student Jeremy Ellis. Check out his video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yX369WjLE90&feature=email. This is what happens when smart meets hard work. Very versatile band. Jeremy also has a good future with his original material. Great vocals and personality. As evidenced by his video; this kid rocks. Rock on Jeremy!
2008 has been a big change year for me guitar wise. I have always had great amps, but I found out there was better speakers. Not just a little better. WAY WAY not even in the same ballpark better. Night and day does not even come close to describing the difference a real JBL makes in the sound quality of a tube amp compared with stock speakers.
Most of my amps now have JBL speakers. I have also procured three speaker cabinets all loaded with 15" JBLs. It is like hearing my guitars for the very first time. In researching I found that people like Jimi Hendrix and SRV would use only JBL speakers. So have many famous guitar players. I can easily see why. The sound is like going from a plastic toy violin to a Stradivarius. The character of each guitar comes out in a very strong way. All who hear agree. The reason they don't put JBL speakers in everything is the cost. The stock Fender Utah 12" speaker can be bought for $50 plus an additional $40 to get it reconed. A blown JBL 12" can cost $275 plus an additional $250 to get it reconed. That is per speaker. In my experience the price is well justified.
Just in from Arkansas. 1968 Fender Super Reverb in mint condition. This was bought new in 1968 for about $650 and got less than 10 hours use. This is 40 years old and looks like brand new. It is the transition year with the drip edge. 1967 was blackface. 1968 went to the silver face but still had the 1967 circuit. 100% hand wired tube super quality. The factory JBL speakers puts this one over the top. The amp has been in the original cover for almost 40 years. Unbelievable sound. 100% original. Even the original RCA tubes. Of course the caps are toast and will need replacing. The speakers seem fine. I took the amp out of the cabinet and took it in for repairs. It is too heavy to drag the cabinet and speakers if you don't have to. Repairs came to about $300 to replace old tubes and capacitors. Vacuum tubes can loose their vacuum after 40 years. Capacitors dry out like an old battery.
The original owner's family drove this down to me from Fort Smith Arkansas with much care and attention. This museum piece has motivated me to start a page on amps. Some are for sale. Check it out here: AMPS .
Another new page: My amps show my personal amplifiers that are not for sale. These are fine examples of what to look for when shopping for better tone. These are the best of the best to my ear.
Here on 30 October from Alaska is a cool natural relic 1988 USA Fender Vintage '57 Stratocaster in custom color Olympic white (turned yellow).
Lots of finish checking on this one. New frets and nut. Light weight.
Every bit of my new gear comes from MusiciansFriend.com or Guitar Center for the past ten years. Best prices, selection, and return policy there is. AND they bring it to your door! If you click thru to MUSICIANS FRIEND .com or Guitar Center.com from this web site to buy something, I get an advertising credit and it does not cost you a penny extra! Musicians Friend and Guitar Center is where I get all my new gear. Click on the link below to go there. If the link does not appear on your browser go here and click on the MusiciansFriend or Guitar Center link at bottom of that page.
Always Stay Tuned. A lot is going on around here!
Rock On,
Joe "TheGuitarman" Pacciano, C.G.P.
86 43