Every so often I creep off to the darkside ....

Lovely looking guitar, Mark. I've long hankered after a Yamaha SA2000 that looks a little like that. Sounds great, too! My darkside activities are mostly restricted to on-stage, but I do have to get the Fenders out once in a while (usually just before gigs) to make sure I still know how to do widdly widdly over a blues using just pattern # 1 of the minor pentatonic. That's about my limit on the electric!

Very atmospheric - great sound.

Nothing wrong with the dark side of electric guitar.

You'll have to call it an iCantremember Alison!


Thank you all for your comments - you're all very supportive.

These occasional electric visitations seem to be like some sort of regular blood-letting needed for me to keep moving forwards without losing links to the past.

The Hagstrom Viking Deluxe was uniquely for me a guitar bought on line that was also a used guitar. The seller liked the guitar in general but had apparently bought it thinking it would be quite light in weight. At 8 lbs it isn't. I recall putting a bid in for it with about a week to go that was my "top limit" .... and I then went back 3 days later to increase the bid.

I would put the guitar in the "good category" when I got it - with everything as factory standard hardware. It moved straight into the category of "excellent" when I got the pick-ups upgraded to Seymour Duncan / Seth Lover SH55 pick-ups. Billed by Seymour Duncan as an authentic recreation of the P.A.F. They say the SH55 has the same nickel silver cover and long-legged nickel silver bottom plate, butyrate plastic bobbins, plain enamel wire, Alnico 2 bar magnet, maple spacer, and black paper tape. And, they add, just like the originals, it’s not wax-potted, so it has a slightly more lively tone compared to potted pick-ups.

Whatever all those technical details are, for me they're a winning combination. And there's a touch of single coil attack to the sound that proved a bonus for me as I find in general humbuckers to be too muddy in their sound for my liking. I've had a liking for Alnico 2 ever since first getting pick-ups with that type of magnet - 3 of my 4 surviving electrics have Alnico 2. For the sort of music I liked to play - slow, long notes, melodic lines rather than riffs - they just sound more pure and airy, but I think the SH55s are probably too warm sounding for heavier styles and larger amounts of overdrive.

Nice one Andy - I love that idea of a David Walliams BT!

Derek - I have spent more time than I care to remember on that minor pentatonic widdling you speak of! The same David Wallimann that did the backing track on this recording did a couple of short video lessons on modes that I chanced upon and within a day I found I could play in all these different modes which added so much in flavour to my electric guitar playing. It was a huge "Ah-hah" moment. He managed to unlock the modes door with hardly a mention of theory too - which is probably why I "got it" - just a practical guide of how to find those few extra notes. As a result Mr Wallimann is on my heroes list for life.

Mark