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Ten Ninety-Six

Disappointing output
after years of waiting
hoping for better music

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Strings Saga, Part Twenty: Back to Eleven

Welcome, once again, to my ongoing Strings Saga: Yes, I’ve Gone Back to Elevens (And, “No, We Have No Bananas)!  Yes, I know.  This is like the 20th time you’ve read a strings review from me or found out that, once again, I had changed my mind about my Favorite Strings Ever.  Welp,   today is another day, and here’s another dollar:  I’m back to .011-.049 strings — and this time — I’m staying!  I think.

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The Perfect Blues Guitar Rig

We’re always searching for The Best, The Ultimate — The Perfect Blues Guitar Rig — and today, I’m going to share with you the center, and the chained core, of my most golden Blues playing experience.  It all starts and ends with wood: I’m currently loving on my mahogany Les Paul.

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Honoring the Born-On Strings Gauge

If you’ve been following this Boles Blues blog for any length of time, you’ve seen me do many guitar strings reviews with varying gauges and technologies.  In my article — Why Can’t You Pick a Strings Gauge? — I endeavored to explain the madness of setting up my guitars with different strings sets.

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The D'Addario EXL115 Strings Review

After throwing on a set of Gretsch 11-49 strings on my Gretsch G5120, I decided to get my hands on some D’Addario EXL 115 strings for “Blues/Jazz Rock” and at .011, .014, .018, .028, .038 and .049 they’re quite a hefty string gauge and harder to bend than the Super Slinky set o’ nines I’ve been using from Ernie Ball.  I bought an EXL115 tenner pack because you get such a greater value buying in bulk and the price drops to around $3.00USD a set.

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The Ibanez Artcore AG75 Review

Spending $3,000.00USD on a guitar — like the Eric Clapton Fender Custom Shop Stratocaster — can bankrupt a family when somebody just wants to start making music, so I set out to find the best electric guitar that cost 10 times less than the Clapton Custom.  I happened upon the Ibanez Artcore AG75 — the best guitar for the money at $300.00USD — and I invite you to find out why.

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Reviewing Jeff Beck's Emotion and Commotion

Jeff Beck is a great guitarist and musician.  He found his first musical success in The Yardbirds when he replaced Eric Clapton.  Beck then brought in Jimmy Page to play bass for the ‘Birds.  Jeff Beck didn’t find as much commercial success as Clapton and Page — probably because he didn’t sing or tie himself to a lead singer in a band — yet he still survives and thrives in the music scene as a major force majeure.  Jeff Beck’s latest album — “Emotion & Commotion” — was released this week.

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Plastic Clapton Confusion

On February 16, 2010, Eric Clapton joined Yoko Ono on stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music to celebrate her 77th birthday and to make a joyful noise with her Plastic Ono Band.

I love this image from the performance.  Clapton is clearly shocked/awed/amazed/bemused by Yoko’s classic screaming-as-singing while her son, Sean, is obviously used to her raggedy voice and just plays along.

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Recanting The Blues: Les Paul and DR Strings

We all like to believe in our private moments that we are always right and never wrong, but sometimes, in those quiet times, we do some reflecting and we reconsider what was said before. Today is one of those moments when my private reflections must become a public recantation, and I appreciate your attention and kindness in the forthcoming rebuttal of two of my recent BolesBlues.com reviews.

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Eric Clapton Access Fan Club Review

Over the weekend, I did something I’ve never done before — and I’m giddy as a drunken man! — I paid $30.00USD to join the Eric Clapton fan club online.  Eric’s fan club is operated by Warner Brothers, his record company, and it looks like there are around 2,000 paid members of the community.

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