Saw Loudness last night...Akira Takasaki still rocks!

[TX-Joe]

Yea i had looked at your pics.
Went to cross check mine cause i was sure i didn't see that, dunno.
They were right on the side of the stage on the floor here, i walked right up to them and no one was there. I picked up the flame one with the led markers cause it's mahogany bodied and wanted to check that out. Do want one.

You picked it up! Wow...how was it. Low action...light or heavy strings?

I wonder because I had a situation with George Lynch once.

I worked at a guitar shop back in the '90's and we had George Lynch do a clininc.
His guitars came in from ESP 1 day before he arrived.
I opened them up to fondle them and the first on I pulled out was the grafitti graphic guitar. I tried to play it and was horrified at how heavy his strings were and how high the action was. They must have been 012- to 56 sets. It seemed to be about 1/2" high at the upper register but probably not really that high in reality. I thought something must've happened in shipping, got scared and quickly put them away.

He shows up the next day and asks about the tanning salon a few doors down. Since I knew I chick that worked there I got him a free tan...he was in there about an hour...this was during his muscle/ body building era.
When he finished he asks if he can warm up in one of our back rooms. He had about 3 hours before the start of the clinic. He
He came back sat in the room picked up the graffiti guitar and began to shred like it was strung with .008's

I was amazed...he was two feet in front of me in basically a closet (that we converted to guitar lesson rooms) just doing his thing. He asked if I wanted to play and I passed but the in house guitar teacher who was a GIT grad said sure.

He tried and all that came out was these little plink plink sounds from being unable to even fret a not much less play a scale or lick.
George laughed and took the guitar back and went on about his business.
I have to say that George was a super nice guy.
I've met George, EVH, Paul Gilbert, Zak Wylde, Steve Morse, Dimebag and tons of others. All were super super cool.
The biggest a-holes I've ever met were Reb Beach and Vitto Bratta and some nobody named Greg Bennet. Total ass hats
Now if I could only meet Schenker and Akira....
Oh, and I don't know how guys feel about him but one of my long time friends of 20+ years and we used to jam / shred / party together is Rusty Cooley. He really is a nice guy who has worked his ass off to be as good as he is.
I talked to him Monday and he was dissappointed that he missed Akira. He is a big fan.
I ramble...sorry.

[Trem]

Well, I do like thick strings and a little higher action as well,.. so compared to how i have my KG's strung his strings were lighter and the action seemed about an average setup. Main thing i wanted to feel was the weight and the resonance of the guitar as the KG's all have a very distinct tone when you strum the strings, it's very pronounced, you can't play one "quietly" heh. I just lifted it and felt the weight, set it back down and strummed the open strings a few times to get an idea of the tone.

Rusty is a great player. Bit speed demonish, but i mean who can complain to have that skill . I haven't heard enough of his material. Seems like a good teacher though.

[Robotechnology]

F! Why couldn't I see this thread before! Akira is one of my influences. I'm 4 days to late to catch their last US show... ARGH!

Well.. at least I did see them the last time they were here (2005 I think) but, DARN

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

I always had a lot of respect for Loudness. I hope to catch them sometime.

[devastone]

I opened them up to fondle them and the first on I pulled out was the grafitti graphic guitar. I tried to play it and was horrified at how heavy his strings were and how high the action was. They must have been 012- to 56 sets. It seemed to be about 1/2" high at the upper register but probably not really that high in reality. I thought something must've happened in shipping, got scared and quickly put them away.

Interesting, I played Haji a few years ago, and it played pretty much like a normal guitar. I don't recall exactly, but I was just playing my guitar that had pretty low action and I didn't really notice Haji's action being that much higher and it had 9s or 10s on it. FWIW to anyone interested, it had a Duncan 59 in the bridge at the time IIRC. Maybe he was such a he-man during the weight lifting days he needed more resistance (I will crush wimpy guitar <- said in Terminator voice).

[psychles]

Recent vid, Akira finally ditched the "Big Trouble In Little China" look he'd been sporting.

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/bla...sitemID=158665

Not sure if it was post-mix or ?, but his tone seemed really great for being live. Also quite a bit different (better than) from the old records (yeah, I'm that old I have Loudness vinyl. /smile).
Thanks for posting - really great to hear them again.

[Trem]

? His sound is pretty much the same as the old records, Marshall and his fingers.

[TX-Joe]

Interesting, I played Haji a few years ago, and it played pretty much like a normal guitar. I don't recall exactly, but I was just playing my guitar that had pretty low action and I didn't really notice Haji's action being that much higher and it had 9s or 10s on it. FWIW to anyone interested, it had a Duncan 59 in the bridge at the time IIRC. Maybe he was such a he-man during the weight lifting days he needed more resistance (I will crush wimpy guitar <- said in Terminator voice).

Is Haji his graffitti guitar?
It was definitely in his weight lifting days...he played half of the clinic without a shirt on and he had bacne real bad.
But I also rememeber it was a hot day...he did the clinic outdoor on a flatbed trailer we set up for him.

String guage preference is a funny thing.
I met Billy Gibbons at a strip club we used to hang out at and we talked a little guitar...actually a lot.
The dude uses 7's!
Yeah, he gets that monster tone with a 7 - 38 guage set. I kid you not.

[devastone]

Haji is the one with the skull and snakes graphic from the first Lynch Mob record on it.