Everett B. Donahue

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Everett B. Donahue was my dad who was taken from me in 1982 through the brutal ravages of cancer. This page is to celebrate him because previous to me publishing this page, the only thing that showed up during an Internet search of his name was his death notice and no one should be remembered solely from a short blurb in a newspaper obituary.

Born in 1929, he was 52 when he died. He had told me only a few days after my senior prom that he was sad that he couldn’t afford to pay for me to go to college and just wanted to see me graduate high school. He died the day after I graduated. I was 17 at the time. (more…)

Guild Newark St. M75 Aristocrat

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Here we have a 2014 Guild Newark St. M75 Aristocrat in Gold. The gold top (goldtop) was a bit of a limited edition for guild that was only made for about a year before being discontinued, though it was not called a limited edition. Typically available in Antique Sunburst or Black, this guitar is fairly striking in appearance with its gold finish. Did I mention that this guitar is gold?

Read on while I go through the process of reviewing this guitar in all it’s goldtop glory.

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1997 Guild Starfire III

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Today’s bit of 1990s Guild goodness is a Westerly-made Guild Starfire III from 1997. This black beauty came to me by way of private sale after requesting a Westerly Starfire with SD1 pickups on a popular guitar site.

The mid-late’90s is my favorite era of Guild electric guitars. From the Nightbirds to the last days of Westerly, I just love every guitar I’ve come across from that bit of Guild history, so I am forcing myself to try my best to be open-minded about this 1997 Guild Starfire III because Hot damn – I love that! does not make for a very thorough review. Let’s see if I can find something I don’t like about this guitar.

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2016 Guild Newark Street Starfire III

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Having owned a few of the Newark Street series of guitars from Guild, I’d always been curious about the Starfire III, but I hadn’t ever bought one because I had a rather low price limit that I would pay and in over three years, I had never seen one available for that price. As you may have guessed by the fact that I’m reviewing one now, that has changed.

As you may be aware, I’m a hardcore US-made Guild freak, so if you’re wondering how this Guild Newark Street Starfire III is going to hold up to this cantankerous old bastard who’s not afraid to tell it like it is, read on, ’cause it’s reviewin’ time!

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Happy Mother’s Day 2019

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Colleen and Meghan asked if I would help them to recreate a number of family favorite photos for Lauren as a gift for Mother’s Day. This took a surprising bit of time due to the three of us all being obsessively detail oriented and trying to get the same photos in the same poses in the same locations, but I think the end results are pretty damn great.

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Arista Warrior, 2nd Edition

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The long wait is over, and I’m happy to announce that the second edition of Arista Warrior is in the production phase. What does that mean? It means that the book is done and the only thing really left for me to do is approve copy-edits and quality control notes. So far as I’m aware, and if everything goes according to plan, the book should be hitting your favorite bookstore shelves, websites, and e-readers by mid to late June.

To give you a glimpse into the new edition, here are my notes from the preface about what’s changed. Remember, the first edition was published in October of 2012, so there’s over six years of advancement to cover which is part of why it took so damn long to finish. Well, that and having a job, family, dogs, guitars, and a life, all of which are excuses further compounded by my apparent compulsion to miss book deadlines.

My primary goals in writing the second edition were as follows: (more…)

1985 Guild D46

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This review is of a 1985 Guild D46 acoustic guitar which, believe it or not, is the first Guild six-string acoustic guitar I’ve ever owned. It is also the first acoustic guitar I’ve ever reviewed, so please accept my apologies in advance should I get any of the terminology wrong or if I just flat out write something stupid. Actually, scratch that last one; writing stupid things is what I do.

This is a fairly interesting guitar for a bunch of reasons, the most obvious being that the back and sides are solid ash. I tend to be drawn to uncommon Guilds, so let’s take a look and see how this one fares.

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Guild Newark St. T-Bird ST P90

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Today’s guitar is a Guild T-Bird ST P90 in Pelham Blue from the Newark St. collection. I scored this guitar in mint condition for a great price and had to buy it because it’s a fairly interesting combination of pickups, body shape, tailpiece layout, and controls. Plus it’s a Guild so the urge was appropriately amplified.

I’ve reviewed a 1964 S200 Guild Thunderbird, a 2016 Newark Street S200 T-Bird, and a 2017 Newark Street T-Bird ST, so what’s one more? Let’s take a look and see how this guitar fares when compared with its similarly shaped brethren.

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1985 Guild Brian May BHM1

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Over the years a few companies have built copies of Brian May’s famous Red Special guitar, and while they are pretty easy to come by today, that was not the case in the ’80s. One of the first to make one was Guild who, in the mid-1980s, produced a small number of these BHM1 guitars.

I’ve managed to procure one of these interesting pieces of Brian May and Guild history, so join along while I give it the detailed review treatment right down to the magnets in the pickups.

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