BoomMF

Continuing my mission to play everything ever, according to my wife... And I've come to enjoy blinging out the games damn near as much as playing them. Anachrony is an amazing game. I ended up buying it twice to get an Infinity Box. It's that good. Hauled it to the in-laws', too. Which lead me to getting Trickerion: CE. Mindclash produce some impressive experiences. Late pledged Perseverance to avoid any future snafus. Lesson learned. Dwellings of Eldervale Legendary Edition is another over-the-top production, which is just where I want my games in relation to the top. Dune: Imperium is on the other end of the spectrum production wise, but the gameplay is stellar, especially if you are familiar with the source material. And the game it gets compared to most, its cohort The Lost Ruins of Arnak. Both are worker-placement deck builders with entertaining themes. I can't decide between the two, my mind says Dune but my heart says Arnak. I picked up Zombicide: Night of the Living Dead because Brian said, and I'm paraphrasing, "Zombicide games are the best games." It plays like an alternate Cthulhu: Death May Die, which is perfect. I bloodied the dice because of course. Honey Buzz Deluxe is more excellent family fun. Family Game of the Year level stuff here. And played Cleopatra: Society of Architects. Lavish production that outshines the gameplay. They "streamlined" the game for this edition, which I guess means taking away some of the compelling decisions you have to make. But what's left is still enjoyable and accessible, even if it looks like a big Playmobil set on the table when you're done constructing thicc-ass Cleopatra's palace. And Trekking the World. The family really liked Trekking the National Parks, and this is more of the same with just minor gameplay tweaks. We make everyone read about the location when they claim it. Learned a fair bit about places I've never even heard of before. Humans are pretty neat. I've played so much Mystic Vale on PC and Android that when I played it physically I longed to have all the calculations done for me because I'm lazy. Western Legends is a fantastic sandbox game with a theme that hasn't been done elsewhere as effectively. Don't bring that Great Western Trail nonsense in here. This one, you actually feel the theme and it has purpose. Rococo Deluxe is why Eagle Gryphon is one of my favorite game producers. I mean, look at it! Solo-only game Under Falling Skies is Space Invaders in a box, in case you felt you ever needed Space Invaders in a box. Except now you have interesting decisions to make. And I've started printing my own inserts. Here's the insert for Viscounts of the West Kingdom designed by Shem Phillips, designer of the game, himself, though he didn't leave much space for sleeved cards - fixed that with a dremel. I used a resin printer, Anycubic Mono X, for the fertility idol from Indiana Jones. It's going on the table when we play Lost Ruins of Arnak. Since I'm never done upgrading Scythe, here's the factory for the middle of the map, printed and painted. It has a little flickering LED tea light in the middle to simulate activity going on inside. 🤣 Anyone here playing something I need to check out? And, possibly, go overboard upgrading?

Even your cables exude class.

I would stare at the lack of seam all day.

Paid my respects to one of the OGs today.

So I did the unthinkable and sold the honey burst I was slobbering over just a few short posts ago. But, I picked up the most dangerous, most extra, most everything heritage cherry burst to replace it. Yes, it looks so pretty as to have an antisceptic PRS vibe, but fuck it I say, it's about time I have a guitar as pretty as I am. This thing's flames have flames. Pictures don't do this nonsense justice. Here's a shot of all my girls, and in reference to the boomer vs. millennial belly cut talk that rang in 2021 the right way, the only guitars in the pic that DON'T have that increasingly more and more important cutaway are the Gibsons. It's really the only thing keeping these Lester HP's from being one-ring-to-rule-them-all kinda guitars, imo, but apparently even that was a bridge too far for the wizards in Nashville when they were looking for all the ways they could piss off purists. Ironically, that ESP Eclipse, metal's favorite Les Paul and one of Japan's greatest contributions to music, has the most aggressive belly cut of them all. Now I start in earnest the search for the perfect heirloom LP. My problem so far has been too many fit that category. And if you need more evidence that I'm probably too far gone to be of any use, this came in the mail yesterday. There are worse ways to spend growing hemorrhoids on the toilet, let me tell you. The book is OOP, but if you get the chance to check it out, it's awesome.

First step, ask her out and treat her like a lady...

I'm sorry for whatever catastrophe must have surely befallen the previous owner that necessitated the sale of that guitar.

This has been a question that has kept me up at night. I'd like to get a cherry burst heirloom Les Paul and have been looking for quite a while for one to jump out (kind of a lie because a shit ton have jumped out), but I'm torn. On the one hand, I want it to look classic which probably means it needs one of those shitty 50's tops. But then, I see one of the newer hyper flamed LP's and think this is what God intended all along. Like, if Jesus said he wanted a guitar for his birthday I feel like during Christmas mass the Pope would present the above guitar, and He would see that it is good. I mean, come on, that thing looks like it was grown in a lab by combining Bodacious' semen and maple. But that doesn't completely scratch the insistent heirloom itch. It doesn't even try, really. So that would mean TWO cherry bursts (!) in the collection and I have my limits as to how many fuck you guitars I have hanging on the wall. (I don't think the soul can come back from two cherry burst Les Pauls. If anyone has done any research on that subject please DM me.) So if not that, I'm left with plan A and just keep looking for the perfect classic Les Paul. Like this one: Look at that gorgeously simple and classy top! THIS is American muscle. You wanna know how we won the war, look at that pic and tell me how we couldn't have. Regardless, I will use my Trump Bucks for something foolish, that's a given. What isn't given is can I do without any flames at all or do I need aaaaaall the flames that ever were and ever will be. Your boy might not be able to win this one. I also came across a quilt...

Remember way back when I asked of anyone had the ins on a MIM for my nephew? Apparently MIM Strats and the like were difficult to find mid-pandemic for a good deal but Foggy did Foggy things and found this clean one for below market. That nephew is finally getting it in a few days and the family is excited for him. I wanted to drop this here to also thank Foggy in the thread. Dude made a bunch of people happy and one kid an unforgettable Christmas.

I'm not hip on the robos used in Jr's, but Schaller Keystone DR locking tuners are a popular drop-in replacement for the LP Standard robos. Some tuning knob retrofit kits come with bushings, though. You can remove one of the robo tuning knobs without removing the whole assembly. After that you can caliper the hole and settle it once and for all. And I'm surprised to hear you cant tune it manually. The Tronical models in the Standard can be adjusted manually, and in fact can store a bunch of user defined tunings which might REQUIRE manual tuning to set. Double check that you can't tune that badboy by hand. As a side note, both of the robos I own tune fast as shit and a damn sight faster than I can do it.

This dude does a pretty good run down of the HP features. He omits a few things like the reduced headstock angle (no more snapping at the bend, knock on wood - but not the wood of the headstock) and the treated frets, but you get the idea. And here's one of the prettiest guitars Gibson ever made, but I'm biased.

Most do. They dropped them during the lawsuit, which overlapped the end of HP production by half a year. For the ones that do, popping off the robotuners is a matter of unscrewing the 6 posts holding the tuning body in place, and slotting in the 6 replacement tuners of you choice. The Tronicals don't leave any evidence they were installed. You will need to add 2 small screws per tuner (I recommend making a pilot hole so you don't split the headstock, which is a possibility. The pilot hole is easy peasy with a pin drill and it's a safe operation.) With pilot holes, it's just a matter of screwing the new tuners down snuggly. Whole shebang should take less than an hour. You can sell the G-Force for enough to cover the new tuners AND the pin drill.

Gorgeous.

The sweet spot is around $2k, which is less than half what they streeted for just a few short years ago. The case they come in are $600 by themselves (the rare times you can actually buy one). The 2017 is my favorite of the run, with a churched up appearance befitting a model that sits at the top of the line (nowadays you can't tell a Tribute apart from a Standard from across the room), the most dependable Tronical model made, and the move from heavy plastic to metal knobs, but the 2018s are very interesting and unique. They commit the cardinal sin of pushing the Les Paul platform so far that it no longer looks like the guitar your grandpa played. (Insert sarcastic tsk tsk here.) But if you can get past the audacity of a naked pickup switch, pickups without rings, and a burst paint job that's waaaaaay out there for the typically staid LP crowd, the 2018, HP's final hurrah, is by far your best deal at prices that can go sub $2k. That's wig-flippingly crazy for the amount of guitar you get. It's a shame that Gibson is not really allowed to evolve their flagship, but the upside is when they do you can find the result for a song on the used market. You just have to come to terms with the fact that you're buying a Les Paul Standard with a more refined and modern playing experience, which your typical LP fanatic hates.

2017 HP was Gibson's top of the line, stands for high performance. I think of the line as everything Gibson knows about making guitars jammed in - Plek'd cryogenic treated titanium frets, weight relieved body, Burstbucker Pros, asymmetrical taper neck, rounded heel, tops that'll change your religion, Custom Shop attention to detail, the works. But used, since our guitar culture isn't exactly known to embrace progress, you can find these Ferraris for the price of a tricked out Altima. They obviously aren't for everyone, and the line ended up like most lines when Gibson or Fender try to bring modern processes into their flagship products, but I see that as an opportunity for players who are open to the idea of things like playing above 19th fret with ease or standing without your lumbar exploding onto the floor behind you. RIP HP

New (to me) Les Paul in the family. I have a thing for HP's. This one has flames for days and once I saw it, it was lust at first sight. Still has the plastic on the pickguard and some on the pickups. It's minty. I've been debating getting a heritage cherry burst, but this honey burst was irresistible. Chrome hardware compliments the paint imo. (But chrome compliments every paint, obv.) And, since it's an HP, it came with the greatest case known to man. Might pop the Tronical G-Force off for Grovers, we'll see. Other than that, gonna jumper it for warmer play and leave the other HP hotter. Rock on.

How do you delete someone else's thread?

This is these guys at their best, imo:

That's elbow deep into the bargain bin. Gotta hope it's about leverage and not sincere interest. Sarkisian gets announced and me and Tim Crowder are gonna arm the homeless population with pliers and blow torches.

That motherfucker said Steve Sarkisian. lolol

Reminds me of that Eagles doc (that might have been linked on Shaggy or we might've talked about it elsewhere) where Don Henley, in full view of the orchestra they hired to back a track, turns to the camera and in that exasperated Don Henley way complains that the orchestra can't grasp the concept of "blues" and play with feeling. I always thought, beyond my initial reaction to just assume Henley is habitually being a dick for its own sake, can you imagine if 60 classically taught musicians, who are trained to play in a specific, exact symphonic way, all suddenly try and "feel" the music instead? Probably gonna sound like cats fucking. What do you really want, Don? Go get a big band, dude, not the Philharmonic. Whatevs, here's a cool version of I'm On Fire. I'm hesitant to call it better as this one of the few Springsteen songs I really dig. (All my favorite Springsteen songs are sung by Huey Lewis and the News loo) But the Springsteen video for this song is straight bullshit. Carson McKee has a great feel and it warms my ever aging heart kids today can appreciate these old jams on a seemingly personal level:

double

I last posted my shelfie in May (at the top of this page). Here's 6 months later. I've lost contain.

Reminds me of this FB group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/366844200852428

Careful with the tele route. If he's a Jerry Garcia fan, that dude was about as progressive as it gets when it comes to his guitar - a Telecaster is a blunt utilitarian product of the Cold War, and that's an entirely different charm than what Garcia went for. If you want him to stay engaged, that might mean finding something that will inspire him on a level beyond simple tone. Disregard the above if he has like a shit load of 40-something friends he wants to impress. In that case, Telecaster would be perfect.