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November 2011 Letters

Reader feedback from our October 2011 issue.

Bring the Noise!
Thanks for the article on prepared guitar in your recent issue [“Avant Guitar 101: Alternate Attacks” October 2011]. Noise is the reason I started playing with a guitar several years ago, and it is exciting to see you covering nontraditional ground when it comes to guitar use. Though I have morphed into a more traditional player, I still get antsy every once in a while and play with sound while my 2 1/2-year-old dials in my pedals.
—Shannon Sopha
via Facebook


You’re welcome, Shannon! So glad to hear you’re still indulging your primal side and bringing your toddler up right. Best of luck to you!


Productivity-Torpedoing Technology
Well, nothing is getting done today since I downloaded your iPad app. Thanks a lot.
—Chas Burks
via Facebook


Er … you’re welcome? Ha! But seriously, keep your eyes out for some upcoming reviews on cool new iPad and iPhone recording/rehearsing interfaces, Chas. In the meantime, enjoy!

Kick-Ass “Cake”
I just got your August issue free at the Southeastern Guitar and Amp Show. Totally kick-ass mag! The icing on the cake was lessons from Paul Gilbert and Pat Martino.
\m/\m/
—Chuck Sicola
via Facebook


Thanks, Chuck! Yet another cool amp show, huh? Hmmm … we’ll have to check into that. As for Paul and Pat, we couldn’t agree more!

Let the Good Times Roll
I’m a French fan of your magazine, and as soon as a new issue is available for download you can bet I will have read the entire thing three days later. Yesterday started off pretty bad: My job was bringing me down (I’m a chief editor for an acoustic guitar magazine, so you know what it’s like), it had been three weeks since I caught a bad cold, my band didn’t make it on a proper label yet, and when I came home I was beyond exhaustion. I had an argument with my girlfriend, and I ended up reading PG alone in our bedroom. Since I had just started [the issue], I read your column on having fun in life [“Having Fun Yet? (Seriously—Are you?),” Tuning Up October 2011], and that really struck a chord. That gave me the warning I needed and, therefore, I got up feeling much better, went to my girlfriend, and we had a fantastic evening playing guitar together. Thanks for that, and keep up the good work!
—Julien Bitoun
via email


I just read your piece “Having Fun Yet? (Seriously—Are you?)” and I just had to drop you a line to tell you how great I thought it was. I could tell how much you felt what you wrote and I really dug your point of view. You rock!
—Sasha A. Kostadinov
via email


What a great article. My drummer and I have done this [thrown in silly riffs] for over 30 years. He takes things too seriously to the point he›s not having fun. Thanks again.
—Bill Ducas
Fresno, California


Hallo Shawn.
My name is Stefano Benedetti. I am from Italy, and I am a subscriber to Premier Guitar’s free digital edition. I want to tell you that you made my day. I think that your editorial on having fun is the best and most useful article I’ve read in years, and not only in music magazines. You must be a very good human being (or at least one who›s trying to be). Keep up the very good work, and greetings from pizzaland.
—Stefano Benedetti
via email


@premierguitar Shawn Hammond’s [Tuning Up] in the October issue came at the perfect time. Driving 6 hrs to a big gig. I resolve to have fun!
—@BeachBand
via Twitter


Well written and timely. I needed that. Everyone should be required to read it— although I would not have expected to find it in PG. I might add, it›s also Biblical. But then, I really would like to have a Taylor T5 12-string in walnut. Thanks for the article. PG is simply the best guitar magazine out there.
—Dave Cooley
via email

Editor in Chief Shawn Hammond replies: “Wow. We got a lot of responses to my half-baked musings in the ‘Having Fun Yet?’ piece. It’s really neat to hear how this resonated with you guys. Thank you so much for your kind words!”

Corrections
In our October 2011 feature on B.C. Rich, we mistakenly said that sound engineer Bob “Nite Bob” Czaykowski purchased a koa-bodied Mockingbird for Aerosmith’s Joe Perry in 1976. According to Czaykowski, Perry’s first B.C. Rich actually had a maple body (the receipt for the guitar, as well as a flight case, appears above). The koa Mockingbird came a few months later, when Perry requested one with a Bigsby vibrato.

In that same issue, we botched the final figure in Dirk Wacker’s Mod Garage column [“Exploring Fender’s 5-Way Super Switch,” October 2011]. To see the figures as they should be, view the updated version of the article on premierguitar.com.

Keep those comments coming!
Please send your suggestions, gripes, comments, and good words directly to info@premierguitar.com.