Woods & Strings

A tale of the Finnish gods, by Steve Baric A very very long time ago, when the world was still young and the people in it still like children, the gods were taking a break. Ahto, the sea god, and his wife Vellamo, goddess of waters and the rains, had worked hard all through the spring to ensure the streams were filled to the brim for the salmon and the fields were lush and ripe for planting. In their rest, the Sun was finally free to stretch and yawn after his long winter sleep. He planned to stay awake all day and night so he could fully revel in this freedom and enjoy the beauty and wonder of the world the gods had made. But the Sun was greedy, and he found that when he shone brightly the world would get hot. And the hotter it became, the more the ground parched and reflected his light. And the more his beauty was reflected, the more vain he became, until he realized he had usurped the world from the waters! The Sun came to believe he was more powerful than even the water gods, Ahto ...

Quora Q: As a guitarist, what is something you wish you knew sooner about playing guitar? Kit guitars are every bit as playable and sound just as good (sometimes with minor modifications) as major brand guitars, for 1/10 of the price. Here’s a “Strat” I built from a kit last summer: The kit cost less that $130. I replaced the pickups with Fishmans, the tuners and nut with Graphtechs, and the bridge with a special GFS bridge (the only short-block Strat bridge with a full-sized block). In total, about $1,100. But out of the box, this guitar was 100% gig-ready with the usual minimal setup. It’s currently the main go-to guitar for everything I do in the studio. Had I known this 30 years ago when I started, I would have had a full wall of guitars by the time I was out of high school.