A Righteous Pair Of Black Boots

Published: Tue, 05/17/22

The kid down the street from us is really into music, so when I go out on the back porch in the summer, I sometimes hear him practicing drums, or guitar, and on occasion his friends are there too, literally playing in the garage. He's really good, and a quick study, so when his birthday rolled around this year I swung by Austin Vintage Guitars ("by the giant neon Telecaster") and picked him up an OCD overdrive pedal. He was suitably pleased, and so was I, as it turned out that particular stompbox, unbeknownst to me, had been on his wish list for a while. I'd thought about getting him a wah-wah, just for maximum parental annoyance, but we love his folks, and besides, a good overdrive pedal is like a righteous pair of black boots – both make everything you already own cooler, while a wah-wah is more like a pair of bellbottoms – perfect for creating that certain vibe, but not a vibe you want to create all that often, if ever.

In the process of choosing this gift, I wound up digging through some of my own gear, and remembered I own not one but two old Tube Screamers. One of them has the big black rectangular button on top, which made it an obviously cheapo reissue of the coveted original back when I acquired it. A quick look on Reverb.com, however, reveals that this makes it worth about four times what I thought it was. And upon plugging it in – wow. It does not suck, not in the least. In fact, it sounds better the my other one I own, which is supposed to look and sound more like the original version but in fact does not sound as vibey to me, at least on a first new listen.

Really, I don't think of myself as much of a gear guy, more of a gear accumulator: the black-button tube screamer came into my possession when a friend bartered me some gear for a recording session; it was in the pouch of the gig back holding the Schecter telecaster he was handing off to me and he just included it in a fit of generosity. or possibly from a need to de-clutter. I used it for a while, then I didn't, much like the Schecter itself. And yet I take a palpable pleasure in having more instruments – and pedals – on hand than I really need. Mostly they're different tools for different jobs, rather than, say, thirteen Les Pauls or a dozen Strats, and I like to think each one does a particular thing, or is the backup for that particular thing, which as a working musician, is not that ridiculous a proposition. I do like trying new things, but generally once I've found what I like, I'm kind of done in that department, unless a new option just kind of falls in my lap or it really feels like an upgrade is in order, which does eventually happen now and then.

I did look long and hard before finding the Martin I play, and I get asked about that guitar a lot, so in today's video I explain how I found it and why I chose it, along with a few thoughts about whether gear matters and what the point of a good guitar is. You can find it here:

Ask Me If I Care What Kind Of Spruce It Is

More soon,

David
 
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