OMG... I just pre-ordered this new book by Tony Bacon concerning our favorite Gibson guitar. How many posts have we read, bewailing the fact that Gibson's best selling guitar does not have a book dedicated to the best electric guitar ever made... Well, who knows what this will be like, but I have some of Tony Bacon's other books and I like his writing style, and I like the illustrations he gets, so I'm putting my money up and ordering this book. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/14..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0TMTQJA40AGYJ34MD7AY If you like guitar books, I suggest you do the same. We've all been wanting something like this. Paul Balmer's book of a few years ago was okay, the illustrations are the best part. Balmer writes for people who need to learn how to work on their guitars, so this one is recommended highly to many of our posters here. http://www.amazon.com/Gibson-SG-Manual-Includes-Epiphone/dp/0857332899 Balmer likes Epiphone guitars, and talks about them without cork sniffing prejudice, which lots of our members will appreciate. I have this book and recommend it.
I myself have loved the devil horned beast ever since I first saw one. It was either Chicago Transit Authority or photos of Lord Tony Iommi playing one that made me a convert. I have two knock offs. I need to get a Gibson. I have an old Japanese Kay K-2T, as well as an Epiphone SG Special. The Epi only sounds good through two of my Marshalls. When I play a Wilshire it makes me think SG all the time. I will look into this book by Mr Bacon. I have the Les Paul one he wrote a few years back and, it is a great book. It amazes me how much the Brits are into our American guitars.
Awesome. I'm Pre-ordering. Seems like it's worth the price of admission to me. I mean, the guy's name is Bacon. Have you ever been disappointed with bacon....and an SG ?!?! No Brainer. Thanks for the info Col !!! Let the waiting begin.......
I put my order in for this book "The SG Guitar Book" months ago....still drooling over the possible eye candy and info coming my way. Yes indeed -the SG Manual is great. I highly recommend it too.
This is a reasonable question, and deserves an honest answer. Quick answer: IMHO yes... if I didn't think so, I would not have started this post. But it's so subjective. Lots of us really love books... the kind you can hold in your hand and sit in a comfortable chair and enjoy. But also lots of people are indifferent to them and do all their reading on line. In truth, books have a questionable future in our society. Except for one thing... they last longer than the latest operating system, and you can still access the info when the power goes out. All you need is a candle. If you think that our society is going to keep going, and technology will keep improving and getting more compact and keep replacing itself, then books may be passe. Buy them for a dollar at roadside sales. Or drive on by, texting at the wheel. Or buy them used from amazon and pay less. But I regard buying a book as a way of supporting an author (and his publisher). It's one of those things where what you do with your money makes a difference. Buying a cd is like that. When you play for an audience, and they come up between sets or after and want to buy your recording, that makes a HUGE difference. Sometimes you make as much or more from selling recordings as you get from the venue (the kind of places I play anyway)... We get to thank them personally when they buy recordings, and to tell them we use their money to pay for the next project. And they get to take home a good record... knowing that. What's THAT worth, eh my friends? If people stopped buying the recordings, it would be a LOT less interesting to practice so hard and try so hard to get it right, and to fret so much at the mix down and to worry so much when it gets mastered, and to receive big boxes of product and store them, and to haul them around with all the other gear. If enough of us buy this book, the publisher may think it's worth while to translate the text into other languages... Espanol... la Francais... etc. If nobody buys it, they'll make a few thousand of them, mark them down, and then go find something else to do. One of the best things about Tony Bacon's books: The illustrations! We all like those. And Tony Bacon and his publisher go to some trouble to make these very high quality. I can't wait to see them. And he writes from a position of knowing his subject (you can't say that about ALL authors) and his style is very easy to read (for me anyway) Hope this answers your question... *grins
I find the trouble with Backbeat/Balafon books is that many of those nice pics are stock that get used over and over again. Anyone who looks at Guitar & Bass magazine (UK) will probably have seen most of them on some occasion. I looked through the "new" Carter Epiphone book and most of those pics are to be seen in other Backbeat publications. Many seem to date back to the early '90s with the publication of The Ultimate Guitar Book from... you guessed it: Balafon. Many guitars pictured in the Chinery collection and the Encyclopedias of Electric and Acoustic guitars also frequently turn up again in other places too. Is that penny-pinching or just efficient use of an existing resource? Either way it would be nice to see some new pics - and also the correct captions (I'm looking at G&B mag here!).
Ignorance is bliss I suppose! Penny pinching on the part of publishers sounds like something we should expect, and you might be justified in feeling cheated if you had already paid for the pictures once. That's my main peeve with Paul Balmer's books. He cuts and pastes the same passages from one of his books into the next one... leading a reader to feel that if he's read one, he's read them all. He's done it with some of his illustrations too, which is also irritating. But I guess I'm a fan. And I don't have the magazines, so these photos are likely to be new to me. Compared to what we had before, which was the deadly dull and poorly illustrated SG book by Bulli... these are an upgrade to my library. Bulli's book covers the vintage era, but cuts off in the eighties. So we're long overdue for something "new." Or at least partly new. But you've added something to this thread... El Marin was asking if we thought this book was worth the price, and this adds to the answer. He gets to make up his own mind. we don't want to get all giddy at the prospect of a shiny new SG book. Do we? We'll try not to be disappointed if it turns out to be another big plateful of the SOS.
Bacon's recent Gretsch book used a few familiar photos, but the text was all new. The photo reproduction is excellent. Lots of new photos as well. Most of us readers like words as well as photos. If you just want photos then google images is your friend.
Col! Question for ya... Sort of a smart Alec comment you made about driving on by and "texting at the wheel"... I mean c'mon! Do you not think that technology will keep improving itself? And when you say supporting authors and publishers are you saying that every venue you play, you only perform original music and no covers, lest the venue has and does pay fees to various music publishing company's to allow you to play covers so that those original artists get compensation for their original works? I get it that we are nostalgic people (tactile albums-artwork liner notes etc) that's why we play guitars modeled after 55 year old designs but to say that if we don't buy your (or anyone's) obsolete format cd then suddenly people will stop playing/practicing their craft is a bit of a stretch to me... Music has been thriving without copyrights and publishing licensing for as long as man has been making music, with no signs of stopping. I'm just curious. And it ended up being a few questions actually
Thanks for your answer So, you can hold it on your hands and spend some time on it... Yes, I love Books, I am an Engineer, a hungry reader, I usually read two or three books at the same time and now I am even studding Philosophy at the Distance University from Spain just because I love reading. I only have two guitar related books... one about Guild history, not bad even my own Guild guitar is not there and the second is The Blackguard that I can only say is an ART FORM Both have some "meat" inside, they are not only nice pics... That was the origin of my question... Thanks again
