This guitar was a birthday present just before the two-week production of Episode went live before an audience. Through long binges of late-night review research and browsing through miles of guitar porn, I had fallen in love with the Talman from afar. The plan was to save up and buy it myself, but with the show dates fast approaching, it just wasn't going to happen. I was so busy with the production that I didn't even have time to go to class, nevermind put in any extra shifts pumping gas. Unbeknownst to me, my dad had ordered the guitar through a local shop and put up one hell of a fight to make sure I got it. Apparently some fool employee thought he could hide it in the back of the delivery truck and buy it for himself once the storm blew over. But that wasn't about to happen. The Talman arrived just in time to save me from being without an acoustic guitar during the show.
It's a small-body guitar, so while it doesn't have a whole lot of acoustic volume, it sure sounds sweet. At times it seems almost like an Irish Bouzouki, especially in open tuning. The active single-coil neck pickup is wired to a 2-band EQ, and sounds great plugged into nearly anything. It takes a bit of overdrive exceptionally well and just rips up the blues. With a fantastic neck and awesome shape, it's a perfect sibling for the jet king.

 This guitar was me in a past life, and somehow it just happened that we both exist in the same place at the same time. It began as a home project; I wanted to build a guitar. Several months of plans and concepts later, I had my layout - basically a Fender Jagstang shape with a Gibson-scale maple neck, P-90 pickups, and a string-thru mahogany body with a lime green paint job. Not your typical off-the-shelf production guitar, by any means. 
A short while later, while rambling around northern BC looking for work, I happened upon a small guitar shop I just had to check out. I think I was in the door for approximately 6 seconds before my eyes hit this lime green supernova hanging on the wall. According to witnesses, I walked towards it with my hands stretched out like a zombie. I was caught in the gravity well of this guitar, and there was no getting out. There was no doubt the universe had somehow manifested this instrument for me - right down to the Ibanez quality-control sticker declaring its birthday to be 4/20. I sat there bonding with the fretboard for about 20 minutes, pulling both Les Paul and Telecaster voices out of the chrome toaster pickups. It was a chemical reaction. This guitar was meant for me, and before I had even gone up to the counter to pay for it, I had named it Saturn.

 Hands down, this is the nicest guitar I've ever played. It continues to out-sex every other fretboard I lay my hands on, sometimes to my dismay as I've invested a good chunk of money in some of my other guitars. A $100-pawn-shop-wonder when my dad bought it in the 90's, the Roadstar found its way into my stable when my dad stabbed a nerve in his finger and could no longer play guitar. He sold me all of his gear in one big musical conglomeration, and still regrets letting go of this one. Naturally, I still bug him about it. The pickups have a unique throaty voice to them, with a pristine clarity and a gritty funk at the same time, depending how you play it. She's the special girl I'll never let go of, that I'll hold and caress and obsess over endlessly, kind of like I'm doing right now.

Somehow, even after endlessly taunting my dad about the Roadstar, I ended up with this guitar as a graduation present. It blew my mind, more than a little bit. Suddenly in my hands was a plank of solid ROCK. Not long after the guitar came home, it told me what 'SG' really stands for - this one is Satan's Guitar. Numerous jams and gigs later, I took the plunge into the world of P-90 pickups, ordering a custom set of Bareknuckle Mississippi Queens. The new playing response is incredible; from sweet sweet blues to balls-out rock with little more than adjusting picking pressure. Tim kindly fitted them with allen-bolt pole pieces, rather than the traditional screws, and the flat black finish (now slightly chipped and very experienced looking) propelled the SG into Sexy Guitar territory. The body is one slab, which is rare for this faded-finish model. Everything about this rocker blew the other guitars off the wall when I was shopping for it.

Buying this guitar took almost a full year. I had been searching high and low for a Flying V that I could actually play, but every time I picked one up I was just left wanting. When I finally spied this beauty in a small music chain, it was already on layaway for some other plank spanker who fell in love with it. But I didn't give up. The unfolding saga of trying to buy this guitar had me chasing it through 3 different outlets in 3 different towns before they finally gave in and took my money, seeing as the other fellow hadn't even put so much as a dime on it yet. The pickups are near-vintage spec; slightly underwound for the neck, and slightly overwound for the bridge. It is very diverse in its voice, with a master volume, master tone, and master bass controls. I had never come across a bass control before; it's almost like a coil tap, but with more room to funk about. I love the classic vibe, the weight, and the clarity. It'll rock your socks off with some good old distortion, and then it'll slowly massage your feet with the little reggae subtleties that are all locked up in the woodgrain. It's a very tight, well-balanced guitar, and very comfortable to play.