by the neon
cocaine n. a drug used in medicine to prevent pain and also used illegally, often in the form of white powder which is breathed in through the nose
Cocaine is also a song popularised by Eric Clapton, originally written by J. J. Cale, an Oklahoma blues guitarist. I could dramatise the whole motivation behind the name, but I honestly don’t have a good script.
I bought her second-hand off eBay, and while waiting for the auction to end, I had my Slowhand album playing on the stereo. That was that.
I had her shipped from Japan and was surprised she didn’t arrive at my doorstep with a broken neck. She is a 70’s reissue Stratocaster in, what Fender deems, candy apple red. Personally, it reminds me of blood more than apples. Call me crazy but it’d be interesting to see a QT-like director shoot a similar Mia Wallace scene using blood-red cocaine instead. It’d be tougher to differentiate coke from real blood dripping from the nose. What am I doing here? I actually have a wussy-low tolerance for blood. Need a breather sekejap… phew.
She is crafted in Japan as opposed to being made in Japan, which makes no difference whatsoever. Now here’s the dilemma, it says that the CIJ label was used from mid-‘97 onwards. However, a check against the serial number of my Stratocaster suggested that she is a ’93 or a ’94, but the site author did say that dating Fender instruments is an inexact science, so I’ll see her as a ’93. hehe. She has the unmistakable big headstock as the symbol of ‘70s CBS-era glory and the lovely rosewood fretboard gives her a sombre tone – very different from Eleanor’s bright and chime-y sound.
Since I bought her used, the description on eBay was she has the usual nicks and scratches. What the seller meant by it was she has a few paint chips down to the bare wood of the guitar. That’s the mark of a well-loved guitar because mint guitars are rarely played. Try playing 300 gigs a year and keep the guitar in showroom condition. Yeah, try that. Or the previous owner might just be a plain, clumsy fella. Regardless of which, the chips and nicks add to vintage vibe. 😛
The first thing I did with my Strat was to block the trem. The official line was I wanted tuning stability. The truth is I’m Clapton’s biggest bitch and he had the trem on all his Strats blocked. After all, I don’t have the technical prowess to perform fretboard acrobatics with the whammy bar. Maybe I’ll unblock it once I play like Jeff Beck. Or when lmsn plays like Joe Pass, whichever first (read: never).
She has not, as of yet, performed at a gig, but she was on the outro solo of A Simple Goodbye and the rhythm guitarist for TMMBB* played her on (I’ve Got) News. I don’t know the guitarist, though. I just left the guitar in an unmarked box at the park for him/her to pick it up. Just exercising my plausible deniability clause here.
I don’t condone drug abuse and I’m sure neither does the owner of this blog site, but I think this J. J. Cale song is less about coke and more about heartbreak than anything else.
I wanted a dark-ish sounding, blues-y guitar reminiscent of a broken heart dripping with candy apple red blood.
And that’s what I got.
She don’t lie, she don’t lie, she don’t lie
Cocaine
—————————————
*the murg masalam blues band
cocaine is a japanese-crafted 1970’s reissue fender stratocaster, currently only available on the japanese market.
COCAINE (j.j. cale) as performed by eric clapton ©1977 warner chappell music publishing
Have you ever loved a woman so much but all the time you know she belongs to your very best friend?
No, I’m not talking about Pattie Boyd. I’m talking about your CAR. She’s. Nice.
the sound that comes out of this one… shall i describe it as ‘delicious’. a screaming solo yet soothing to hear. as if the tone was produced by the great ‘slowhand’ himself. i think this is a ‘steal’ you have here.
–ok– now do i get something for endorsing this strat?
i remember ‘a simple goodbye’!! btw where’s your big love song neon dude??!! 😆
p.s: sorry, takde kena mengena dengan your post. heh.
…and how much did this set you back???
sorry for the lateness of the pics. enjoy!
gitar, gitar,….gitar.
that guitar reminds me of SRV’s Lenny and Mark Knopfler’s Strat (when he’s young). I guess having a candy apple red strat is not so bad ehh?!!… Is it hotrodded to the fullest yet?
so how does this guest writer thing work then.. i’m new to this. you get somebody to write about something normally covered by you kinda thing? *blur*
ijun: the guest writer slot allows my non-blogging guitar-playing mates to talk about their gear, since some of the readers like yourself are interested in… well, guitars. better have the owners talk about a guitar then me rambling nonsensically about ’em!
boys with sleek toys and PINK LAUNDRY???
hahahahahaha!
THE Neon do you have a guitar named Leyla? I’ve seen Clapton live a few times and he is terriffic!
OK, this is a pre-emptive, pro-active defensive post – the Papa Roach t-shirt I bought while I was 19, naive and drunk to boot. So… yeah…
I mean, lmsn likes Girls Aloud and kudo likes you know… Britney Spears (OK, maybe I like Britney too)… My point being, sometimes, we go through a momentary lapse… and … and … err …
(This ain’t too convincing, is it? Sigh.)
eh adik,
saya MEMANG main gitar macam Joe Pass…
😉
t: heh. thanks. i know what you mean. i loveee this acoustic guitar my friend has. in fact, he doesnt play it much. ive pestered him to sell it to me. but it was a present from his late uncle and they were pretty close and he keeps it as a reminder of their relationship. it wouldnt have been right for me to have it.
f: thanks, man. but if youre talking about the solo on ‘News’, thats actually Blondie. and shes the MEANEST strat ive ever known owned by a civilian (guitar heroes are gods, not civilians). Blondie is tricksy’s. the skanky rhythm parts was Cocaine, tho. unless you were refering to the outro solo on ‘A Simple Goodbye’, then youd be correct. but Id be surprised if you have a copy.
ash: big, big love song still in the works. hehe. no ‘muse’. find me a ‘muse’.
iJun: set me back 300 squids, if I can recall correctly.
a-lee: I like the red. lmsn thinks its appalling. but even if I had an ‘original’, not ‘reissued’ underlined, sunset orange ’54 custom str
…sunset orange ’54 custom strat pun, hed say that. I guess its down to personal pref. N the only ‘hot rodding’ Id make, if ever, is to change the pups to a set of Fralins or Wizards.
Lisa: real men wear pink! heh. no, I dont have a Layla, but Ive a Brownie. Next two entries, perhaps.
Tennesse Neon&Kudo: Dudes, I think we should cover Cale’s Cajun Moon. I’m hooked!
A-lee: I know, CAR? what was he thinking? Too flaming. Sunburst is the new pink. Whahaha.
Hey T.Neon, will you let me touch her nanti? I’ll be back in Nov. Kudo? jhom?
Kasi la link to Simple Goodbye. She wails a mournful cry in that song.
( If it was up to me, I’d have named her Lamenta)
siapa ‘adik’?
dan kalau encik main MEMANG macam Joe Pass, saya MEMANG main macam Jeff Beck.
so petang ni kena mintak Trabye tolong unblock the trem. Tapi Trabye mesti kata, ‘Siapa The Neon?’ HohohOhoHo
Release ‘Just A Miles Away’, dude. You know you want to! 😉
Loh, ‘t’ tu ‘tricksy’, eh? This is the problem with shortening one’s nick. My bro has a friend named ‘Thomas’ sorang, and ‘T’ sorang. So I always thought they were the same person. Until satu hari dia kata, ‘T and Thomas are a couple now.’ and I went, ‘what the hell?’
Anyways, aku takde online space dah, dude. The links are all dead… Tumpang space? *muka comel*
p/s: sebenarnya kalau aku dapat main mcm the 2 mighty Ts (Trabye & Tricksy) pun dah gilang-gemilang…
hehehe 😉
Looking at the lady, ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ sprang to my mind. And ’til right this moment, I have yet to get that song off my mind.
Kudo: Like your blog, sir.
but thoz jazz licks in ‘Just a Miles Away’…
… Tal Farlow beb…
xpun Al Casey… fuhh!
keh… keh… keh…
🙂
Aku serious nak post the song up somewhere. Biar orang semua dengar ke-Tal Farlow-an kau, lmsn!
kudo, love the pseudo-Fender ad. But kalau aku compliment gambar kau, nanti kau kata, ‘Berapa mau pinjam?’ pulak… So… aku senyap je lah, eh? Hehehehe… And come home in Nov along with Trickmaster Magick. Lepas tu kita buat satu gig kecil2an… Amongst family and friends. At some dewan kat sekolah Tamil mana2 on a Saturday afternoon. With a bbq grille outside…. That kinda thing.
guys, i’m coming home this april and dec for the big day. let’s do the bloose… i mean, the jazz cat!!!
aku cari basslines crossroads.
post cepat!!!
kasi telinga depa berdarah dengaq fills aku!
muahahahaha… 😉
so kudo,
u’ve known eh? 😉
see u bro! cepat² balik!!!
😉
Halamak cayalah al-kudo. but, chances are slim that aku stay till Desombre though 🙁
Ada songlist dah ke? Lagu jazz tak berapa layan-lah. Aku jadi groupie ja. Boleh?
Coincide the holidays, mates! At least dapat 3-4 hari overlap, cukup cool la tu. Aku akan amik cuti, definitely. Working is for wusses anyway. 😆
t: jazz cat = not really jazz. in some circles it is known as ‘lmsn jazz’ as a homage to one of its most revered protagonists of the genre.
hohohoho…
hoh neat strat… terbayang gua axe mark knopfler… fickerpickin’ sket brader… 😀
kudo: kita main crossroads, ngan strange brew lah! jom jom. ngan outside woman blues.
*drool*
tiba2 excited plak. yay!
waaahh.. handsome lah neon dude! you pilih the pic very very the carefully one eh? 😆
then i was wrong.. i thought the solo in ‘i’ve got news’ was done with this strat. but the facts still holds true about Cocaine – tonewise – perfect. can’t wait to read about Blondie tho…
p/s:wah, so many comments on this one. 🙂 🙂
Trabye bersuara: “Who’s neon?”
He he….
Hemsem? I didnt pick the pics. kudo did. I mcm biasa2 je.
*The Neon mula perasan*
‘Hemsem?’
*sambil menatapi wajah nya di cermin*
(HohohHoOOohhoho!)
Lmsn Jazz… i like!
tapi ‘jazz-cat-solo’ memang kepunyaanmu Neon!
😉
uih.. if i find you a ‘muse’, you belanja i KFC hot n spicy tak???
*writing it down as the next big project*
dude, T.Neon, kau memang hemsem!
ash: huh? that’s too good to be true. this must be my lucky year! kfc’s hot n spicy tu just a snip compared to how much a muse will increase my kualiti hidup.
tricksy: hohohoho… don’t start, man. don’t.