pudge's Journal: Colbert and the December 1sts

Stephen Colbert had his guitar-solo challenge with the guitarist from the December 1sts tonight. He played a Rick Nielsen five-necked guitar.

But this was not the five-necked guitar I am familiar with. The one I knew of was a Hamer, with a 12-string on top, two normal fixed-bridge necks with dual humbuckers in second and fourth, one with a tremolo in the middle, and a fretless on the bottom.

This one also had a 12-string on top, and a normal neck with humbucker second, and one with a tremolo third (but the tremolo on the other guitar was a Fender-style, and this one looked like a Bigsby-style). Instead of fretless on the bottom, it was a normal fretted neck with what appeared to be a different pickup configuration.

Most intriguing, however, was that the fourth neck appeared to be an 8-string bass. Seriously. The neck was longer than the others and it appeared to have eight tuners.

The headstocks looked Hamer-like, but it didn't appear to be the large "HAMER" mark I am used to seeing.

Update My former guitarist and Hamer buff (he has owned a few himself, I think he has two now) sends me this and this. The first link is a picture of a second version of the original, made more than 10 years after the original.

But the second link is the guitar I saw last night. I got many of the details right (including smaller typeface on headstock), though I forgot to mention the f-hole, and I wasn't sure if it was merely decorative (it wasn't!). And the 8-string neck is not a bass, it's a "mandocello." Neat!

Colbert, The Decemberists, FBI, ACLU and Lennon

[indierockcafe.com]

Last night on The Colbert Report a non-stop parade of VIPs - a creaky, even freaky gala of old rock stars like Peter Frampton, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (why, Stephen, why?), a new rock star (Chris Funk) and not to be forgotten, of course, the energetic, ever ego-tripping, tongue-in-cheek, flag-waving prankster Stephen Colbert.

Wednesday's The Colbert Report was completely dedicated to the now famous (or is it infamous?) green-screen challenge that http://indierockcafe.com/ [indierockcafe.com] was FIRST to bl

When I was a kid

[GMontag]

When I was a kid I wanted a good guitar with four strings in the middle and one on each side, but all I got was one with three on top and three on the bottom.

Not saying it was the gear, but my lack of talent was a serious factor prevbenting my rise in the entertainment industry.