Man Uses Guitar to Defend Home from Palmyra Intruder

Newsplex.com ^ | October 5 2011 | AP

[bk1000]

“I’ll be packing a natural American Deluxe Tele (but in northern Ash, not Swamp Ash).”

Excellent choice! My personal is a Custom Shop ‘51 Nocaster. Neck like a Louisville Slugger. It won’t break.

[the invisib1e hand]

On that note, I bet a Jackson Soloist would probably work REALLY well for home defense, given that it’s a neck-through-body design.

A little unwieldy, but for sheer brute force, I think the Gibson Firebird looks good.

[bk1000]

Hey! Your story is better than the one in the original post!

[Revolting cat!]

You can defend against nukular attack by playing a few bars of heavy metal.

And to be fair to all genres of music, banjos (strummed, of course) are good defense weapons as well.

[left that other site]

Why Thank You!

(Takes Bow) :-)

[left that other site]

Th Gibson Flying V would leave a mark, if wielded effectively....Hell, it would leave TWO Marks! LOL

[wastedyears]

Strats cut chords better, and they have more versatility with a tremolo and 5-way selector switch. Plus I’m a small guy so I’d prefer a lighter guitar.

[wastedyears]

poplar-bodied MIM Stratocaster

I have one of those. Black, white pearloid pickguard, DiMarzio Fast Track 2 in the bridge and SD Hot Rails in the neck. It's hot-rodded because of the upgrades, but I still don't think I'd want to gig with it. I got it in 2003 and it doesn't have much life left.

[wastedyears]

Probably defend against alien attack if everybody plays thrash. They’d think we’re all crazy.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

Mine’s a ‘97 bought new that year. Red with a white 3-layer pickguard, upgraded with shielding inside the pickup cavity and a set of Fender Texas Special pickups. I gigged with it for quite a while and it never let me down (although to be fair, for part of that time it served as backup to my PRS).

[wastedyears]

My bridge is pretty rusted; my friend once made a joke asking me if I sweat battery acid. My neck can’t stay straight, and it doesn’t fit me as well as I’d like. It just isn’t a part of me, I have to adapt to it.

[Scoutmaster]

The reissue models will also work for this purpose (they have non-chambered bodies, just like the originals) without requiring a third mortgage on your house.

You're right. I also remember that when Gibson introduced the "weight-relieved" (i.e., chambered) Les Pauls the reaction from 99% of Les Paul buyers was a if Gibson was slowing killing Jimmy Paige by locking him in a small room and making him listen to a live performance of The Shaggs. Some people like them now.

[Scoutmaster]

What I find interesting about Townshend's red Strat is that it's an Eric Clapton Artist Series model.

When Townshend played that red Strat, Fender's website still had the Artist Series Clapton listed as having a body made from a single piece of alder, and being made by a single luthier. When I was about to pull the trigger on a black/maple Clapton Artist Series very early this year, I found out that Fender had quietly removed those specs and bumped them up to an Eric Clapton Custom Shop Artist Series Stratocaster, and added about $2,000 to the price. Fender still sells the regular Artist Series, but it's dumbed down the specs in the last year (or dumbed down the specs on the website in the last year).

Thanks for the information on Townshend's custom electronics - I'll file that away.

[Scoutmaster]

A little unwieldy, but for sheer brute force, I think the Gibson Firebird looks good.

Th[e] Gibson Flying V would leave a mark, if wielded effectively....Hell, it would leave TWO Marks!

As a collector for the past forty years, I have an armory that can fill certain specialized needs, such as a weapon that looks good and leaves two marks. For example, my (mint; case candy still intact) 1996 Gibson Custom Shop Jimi Hendrix Psychedelic Flying V:

Some of my other weapons for the fashion conscious would include a '61 Reissue SG (custom "The Fool" paint job), a Mayer Stratocaster (custom Hendrix Monterrey paint job), or a 2004 Rickenbacker 381v69 (the juxtaposition of John Kay's Steppenwolf "Born to be Wild" guitar against the checkerboard splinters of binding it would leave in the intruder's skull have a certain artistic value).

It may be most fitting to use the Rickenbacker Pete Townshend 360/6 model.

And if we have to go acoustic? The hands' down winner would be a Guild D-55. Guild guitars have always weighed a couple of pounds more than a Martin or Gibson. The Guild D-55 (the model that George Strait plays) is a beautiful guitar in appearance and tone, but it's the Les Paul of acoustics.

[Liberty Valance]

LOL! - BTTT

[the invisib1e hand]

I picked up an Eko accoustic at a pawnshop a half a lifetime ago. I liked it, but one friend said playing it was "like driving a truck." It had terrific action and another friend said its "harmonics are so rich!" There was a tag on the inside that had the Eko logo and somebody's signature on it, which I felt was cool.

Anyway, owing to the section of pressure-treated 4X4 that the previous owner had jammed inside to brace up the bridge (talk about juxtaposition!), it could almost have doubled as a baseball bat.

[the invisib1e hand]

I also remember that when Gibson introduced the "weight-relieved" (i.e., chambered) Les Pauls the reaction from 99% of Les Paul buyers was a if Gibson was slowing killing Jimmy Paige by locking him in a small room and making him listen to a live performance of The Shaggs. Some people like them now.

My first axe was a Yamaha Les Paul copy (a beautiful black one, I might add, and copy or no, in its own right it was a fine guitar). Reading this reminds me: a Gibson (or a good copy) is clearly the first choice for self defense. However, the more philosophical among us might prefer the Strat for its aeordynamics and maneuverability.

[the invisib1e hand]

Man, that's beauteous. It blows out amps just sitting there. It screams an overture of the '70's from its case.

Good memories for me. Lots of summer days, sunshine, fresh air, and my sisters' records on the "the stereo." Nothing but the joy of today and the promise of tomorrow.

[ZirconEncrustedTweezers]

A few weeks ago I picked up a weight-relieved Les Paul at a music store. I think it might actually be lighter than my Stratocaster, and it definitely weighs less than my PRS does.

[Scoutmaster]

Anyway, owing to the section of pressure-treated 4X4 that the previous owner had jammed inside to brace up the bridge (talk about juxtaposition!), it could almost have doubled as a baseball bat.

Previous owner? Are you certain it wasn't a luthier?