SpaceDock
Shred till your dead
No! I told myself 2021 would be tolerable, we are not bringing Alex Gregory back. 
"Maestro" Alex Gregory is back.
- Thread starter pantsaregood
- Start date
odibrom
.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2014
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- 6,717
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- 4,589
... and the Archaeology award goes to...
Demiurge
Intrepid Jackass
To be fair, there are a series of threads new members should read and the tale of this man should be included.
odibrom
.
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2014
- Messages
- 6,717
- Reaction score
- 4,589
You have now the responsibility to list them all with a clear justification of why they should read them...
SpaceDock
Shred till your dead
BRJ Black Friday thread, a true SSO must read. A cautionary tale of buying into hype.
Demiurge
Intrepid Jackass
BRJ really is the everything bagel of builder-implosion intrigue.
NotDonVito
molesta la breastas
Anyone remember Ron Sword? He was basically the ERG version of Alex Gregory who built microtonal guitars that looked like cutting boards.
Ed Roman and DeVries Guitars were all the rage when I joined SSO back in 2010... at least those were the threads I was reading back then 
don't remember if that was actually happening then.
I remember exchanging words with DeVries himself on Facebook. I just needed to see it for myself.
don't remember if that was actually happening then.I remember exchanging words with DeVries himself on Facebook. I just needed to see it for myself.
NotDonVito
molesta la breastas
Ed Roman was a classic beyond SSO. I was thinking about him randomly yesterday because I had vintage BC Rich's on my mind. Those were like the only guitars he endorsed other than his own. Everything else was Chinese communist crap!
Demiurge
Intrepid Jackass
Roman's was the first big guitar site I remember finding back from the late 90's with a ton of pictures. As a poor person (now, a cheapskate), I took exception at him crapping over imports, but it was in a "aw, no, you have that shitty import guitar- let's get you into something nice."
It was also funny that he predicted that PRS would come out with an import line as if we were condemning Paul himself to get ass cancer- I think the SE line is pretty well-respected, no?
It was also funny that he predicted that PRS would come out with an import line as if we were condemning Paul himself to get ass cancer- I think the SE line is pretty well-respected, no?
The first rule of Ed Roman was to remember that he was a salesman and a salesman of a particular product.
Pretty much everything he said was made to convince folks that: 1) they don't build guitars like they used to, 2) you don't really know what you're getting from manufacturers these days, 3) he could get you the guitar you actually want.
Was everything he said a lie? Not really, but he certainly framed some pretty standard, long running things as "bad" in order to scare you into buying a guitar from him.
He was also around the block long enough that he could name drop and name drop he did.
So you have this guy who seems to know what he's talking about, is damn good at talking the game, who tells you all this insider information about guitars you've never heard of, and has all these rich and famous musicians buying from him, it was easy to fall for, especially to folks that were more naive and newer to the nuts and bolts of guitars.
He was a scum bag in a lot of ways, but also a complex character. The internet distills him into a lot of things, but in person he was genuinely entertaining.
As an aside, knowing that three of the four folks being discussed on this page are dead makes me feel pretty old.
@MaxOfMetal , do we honestly know DMAG is alive and well? His 2016 album never came out, his website hasn't been updated since 2014, his social media is still limited to myspace and youtube, which indicate that he hasn't even signed in for nearly a year. Not to sound dark, but if Eric DeVries was dead for months before anyone knew, and he had a connection to the public through salesmanship, what if someone who was a marginalized musician from a decade ago passed away? Would anyone even know?!
Demiurge
Intrepid Jackass
Could be in hiding, "inventing" the 8-string guitar. It's gonna be a hit.
About 30 years too late for that joke, I'm afraid!
www.reverb.com/item/19839167-rare-1991-gibson-namm-show-custom-shop-maestro-alex-gregory-8-str-nylon-guitar
Demiurge
Intrepid Jackass
I feel like there's some sort of Mandela Effect thing where somehow Alex Gregory really was well-known & innovative, commanding these high-dollar customs Fender & Gibson made him and not a virtual confection of self-aggrandizement.
Dumple Stilzkin
I like the girls with the pumps and a bump.
How was he able to get both Gibson and Fender to make these?
https://reverb.com/item/24136495-fe...string-stratocaster-alex-gregory-blue-sparkle
It’s cool, but something just looks wrong.
https://reverb.com/item/24136495-fe...string-stratocaster-alex-gregory-blue-sparkle
It’s cool, but something just looks wrong.
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Maybe.
I kind of followed in his footsteps of trying to push the envelope with my own music, but no one really giving half a shit. A lot of people fill those shoes. For example, Meshuggah will always be considered to be the first to use 8 string guitars, even though they didn't actually use them until around 2004. I was a fan of Charlie Hunter, who was using 8's as far back as 1994. I think Paul Gilbraith was using them around the same time. Certainly plenty of solid body electric 8 string customs existed long before 2004. If you look at hollow electrics, there were people playing those back in the 1960's. Yet, there's DMAG claiming to have invented 8 string guitar, because of his 8 string classical from 1991, about 30 years after Roy Connors was touring the USA with an 8 string acoutsic. In fact, there appears to have been a US patent on 8 string guitar that expired in the mid 1980's.
But the current generation of guitarists don't care about any of that crap, so Meshuggah invented 8 string guitars, for our purposes, at least, whether or not Meshuggah ever claimed any such thing.
DMAG's vehement claims all seemed to be some sort of struggle against reality for some sort of notability. Claiming to have invented 7 string guitar, then 8 string guitar, then solidbody electric mandolin, then fifths tuning, then basicslly giving up when all of those claims evaporated under scrutiny. There's a fine chance that he honestly thought he came up with these ideas, maybe he was ignorant to his numerous predescessors on each bullet point. I think it happens to everyone at some point. Probably one day someone on Sentinal Island is going to invent a raft and sail to the coast of India and be surprised as hell that there's a whole civilization there with boats and cars and submarines and fast food, etc. It doesn't mean lack of cleverness or originality, it just indicates ignorance toward the outside world. I think DMAG is just ignorant to the outside world, but also happened to be clever enoigh to come up with these ideas independent of that, but didn't have anything musically meaningful to say to get anyone's attention until the internet allowed information to get everywhere, then, like the uncontacted tribe member from Sentinal Island, he was shocked that older generations had already done it all. It also probably doesn't help that he seems to be incredibly egotostical, but maybe that is mostly a result of him thinking for years that he was the first to come up with clever ideas like regular tunings and extended range.
Money.
ArtDecade
John Bohlinger's Miyagi-Fang Karate
Deposit up front and a long wait time.
nikt
LACS Lover
Oversized body and narrow spacing between pickups, because of the 24 frets.
People got used to standard proportions on a strat.
It looks different and strange from the first sight
I'm pretty sure rocks won't let this guy live under them at this point.
