I'm never going to get this done unless I do it a little at a time, so I'll put up a weapon or two every week.... let's see what I can get done in the first day, though. The plan is to show the weapons available in our armory, and tell a little of the story behind each of them.

And before you think, damn, he's a rich bastard, most of these items I managed to get at swap meets, in trade, used, whatever; and generally for $100 or less. For the first ten years of my career, also, I had but one item of destruction.

You accumulate them as you go - each guitar is different (like women) and each one has it's own song within.

This is old number one, the master bass. This bass has been with me since 1970, longer than any girlfriend, car, friends or relatives (at least in time spent together). It's a 1962 Precision, that my Father helped me buy ($75). It's the bass that has been on every one of our recordings, except for one track on the new album (Cry of the Banshee; I used an old BC Rich because it had a great neck for doing the hammering pieces.) Even though I’ve removed the original finish, and stained it cherry red (long long ago), it’s still worth quite a bit today…. That doesn’t matter to me, though, because I’ll never sell it. It has depressions in the wood, and part of the neck is worn away from the places my fingers rest on it.
By the way, it is protected with a curse, like all of my favorites, in case someone should run off with it. Heh heh. Saddest day of their lives.

This particular photo is from when we laid the rhythm tracks for part of the new album, Defender of the Crown. We're in the studio; the metal box next to it holds my books, cords, picks, chocolate, and dried fruits that keep me alive during the long boring hours.

Ok, we call this one the space bass. It was the backup and specialty unit I carried, at the time I only had Old Number One and this unit. When I picked it up at the store, it was lime green – a great color for cars and motorcycles, but it kind of sucked on the bass. I took it home, took it to practice (pre-BH), and told Bob I was going to paint it. “Yeah, right”

So a few days later it was black. Next the guts came out (originally it had one pickup, one volume, one tone control.) I threw in a 2nd pickup, built a preamp, active tone controls, a ring modulator, and put that nice circle of led’s in, that’s a led vu meter that shows the output. The switches turn various things on and off, and change the phasing and coil options of the pickups.

On the back, that’s some mirror cloth I picked up at a carnival; it flew off a ride and landed in my vicinity – took that for a sign, and glued it to the back so I could bounce lights around.

As you can see, it’s a little beat up at the moment – had some rough days onstage. The vu leds are currently out, I had an electrical mishap and have to replace some of the circuitry. There’s chunks from cymbals on them, and a few other knocks in the wood. One of the tuning keys is a little crooked : the story:

One night, we were playing in Monterey, Ca. Lizzy Borden was supposed to play with us, but the sound system didn’t show up. By the way, they were too good to talk to us… So we set up the amps and put on an instrumental show. At one point, I was facing the rear of the stage, swung around, and cracked some guy’s head open – he was up on the stage, and I didn’t know it. (Met him later, he had a great time.)

After the show, we went down to the beach and partied with the local metal crowd, and everybody had a good time. (Except LB; they went home a few minutes after they found out no PA.)

This bass weighs a ton – even before the mirrors on the back. The pickguard I made from a Paiste cymbal, and the finger rest and do-dads are copper and brass. The badass bridge is sunken into the body, and even heavier than it looks. And don’t forget the aluminum neck.

This was a one-song bass – it would kill you to play it all night. It was also the first bass I spun onstage. (Yep, spins in a circle. Before ZZTop did it, dammit.)


My first Ibanez X-series bass - I recommend these to anyone who needs a bass; you can usually find them at a good price, and they play and sound well. I've never played one I didn't like yet - the necks are similar to my old precision. The bodies have radical shapes and are light. This one was sold to me by a guy who came to our shows .... he had his eye set on a more expensive bass, and he sold this one to me dirt cheap - 100 with case. It did backup duty for many years at our shows.

And now, something from the exotic side of things - The Commodium. Made by my Father, out of the obvious, and also helicopter parts, shell casings, pieces from a Lincoln Continental - and it even plays. Not the last item you'll see from my Father, who is a well known guitarist in his field (Western. Not that new country crap, to quote him.) Wherever we'd travel, we'd pull into a town, and people would know him, and ask if he brought a guitar, fiddle, or banjo. He'd often tell people (still does) that he can play anything with strings, except a piano.

And the best mechanic I've ever know. Obviously, he can build anything out of anything.

This is one of the few basses I've bought new, and had to pay some real cash for - around 600, with case. Although you can find a lot of the BC Rich acryllic guitars, the basses were virtually impossible to find - I only found 3 available, and this is the only one I've ever seen in person. I had to order it from another state and have it shipped to me. No one really knows, but one person said maybe there were 35 of them made; another guy told me 60. Either way, damn rare, damn heavy, and the neck is just a little bit of a let down. Not quite as good as it should be. Playable, but I have cheaper BC Rich's with better necks.

But it sure looks good when Bob and I both play them - usually we bring them out when we cover The Emerald.


Next level of the Armory