Viva la Huntsville
We just had to get out of Decatur for a bit today. I originally wanted to head to Nashville, but not finding anyone to go with us, we decided to just say more local and headed to Huntsville.
Did some guitar 'window shopping' today. Though T. Shepard's Guitars has been highly praised by my friends, their selection of instruments was not very good at all. But hey...at least I know where they're located now. Decided to truck on down to AB Stephens, since they're an authorized Gibson dealer (and I don't think anyone else really is). Spent quite a bit of time there playing a couple of nice Gibsons.
First, I played a Gibson Les Paul Smartwood. I almost bought one of these back in 2000 (when I bought my Epiphone Les Paul instead). At the time, I felt more like buying the cheaper guitar PLUS a Boss mult-effects pedal than I felt like spending more $$ on the genuine Gibson Les Paul. In hindsight, that was foolish. The Epiphone's done me justice over the years, but is truly sub-par compared to the Gibsons in everything from tone to playability. Anyway, the Smartwood was nice, but someone had obviously refinished it and the neck actually felt 'sticky' - as in too much varnish or something (nothing gross, just not up to factory quality). Oh, well... It was still a pretty guitar.
I moved on to playing a Gibson SG standard in heritage cherry finish. Now THAT was a nice guitar. Neck was a bit wider than my Fender, but easy to play on. Great tone, too... Downside is it costs a pretty penny. So who knows... I wish I'd had a chance to play some ESP Ltd's that I've also been looking at, but T. Shepard's only carried a couple of 'cheapie' models that did seem pretty cheap.
After all the guitar browsing, we headed to Macaroni Grill. Hooked up with some Lobster Macaroni. Excellent meal. Stacey got the "Mama's Trio" (heh)...chicken canneloni, chicken parmesan, and lasagna.
...
Read this morning that there's now a Guitar Center down in Hoover (Birmingham). Sweet. I don't think I'd mind a trip to B'ham sometimes as much as one to Nashville...probably because I truly know my way around B'ham and can think of a lot of places to go there that I used to frequent. Ahh ...Jim N Nick's BBQ. Sol Azteca. Broadway BBQ. The Purple Onion.
Seems so long ago that I lived there...
...
Off to Jack S.'s in a about 5 minutes for some grillin' and hangin' out. That's always a good time.
Did some guitar 'window shopping' today. Though T. Shepard's Guitars has been highly praised by my friends, their selection of instruments was not very good at all. But hey...at least I know where they're located now. Decided to truck on down to AB Stephens, since they're an authorized Gibson dealer (and I don't think anyone else really is). Spent quite a bit of time there playing a couple of nice Gibsons.
First, I played a Gibson Les Paul Smartwood. I almost bought one of these back in 2000 (when I bought my Epiphone Les Paul instead). At the time, I felt more like buying the cheaper guitar PLUS a Boss mult-effects pedal than I felt like spending more $$ on the genuine Gibson Les Paul. In hindsight, that was foolish. The Epiphone's done me justice over the years, but is truly sub-par compared to the Gibsons in everything from tone to playability. Anyway, the Smartwood was nice, but someone had obviously refinished it and the neck actually felt 'sticky' - as in too much varnish or something (nothing gross, just not up to factory quality). Oh, well... It was still a pretty guitar.
I moved on to playing a Gibson SG standard in heritage cherry finish. Now THAT was a nice guitar. Neck was a bit wider than my Fender, but easy to play on. Great tone, too... Downside is it costs a pretty penny. So who knows... I wish I'd had a chance to play some ESP Ltd's that I've also been looking at, but T. Shepard's only carried a couple of 'cheapie' models that did seem pretty cheap.
After all the guitar browsing, we headed to Macaroni Grill. Hooked up with some Lobster Macaroni. Excellent meal. Stacey got the "Mama's Trio" (heh)...chicken canneloni, chicken parmesan, and lasagna.
...
Read this morning that there's now a Guitar Center down in Hoover (Birmingham). Sweet. I don't think I'd mind a trip to B'ham sometimes as much as one to Nashville...probably because I truly know my way around B'ham and can think of a lot of places to go there that I used to frequent. Ahh ...Jim N Nick's BBQ. Sol Azteca. Broadway BBQ. The Purple Onion.
Seems so long ago that I lived there...
...
Off to Jack S.'s in a about 5 minutes for some grillin' and hangin' out. That's always a good time.
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