ernie ball reconized at grammy's

[Suriel Zayas]

it was good to see that grammy's didn't forget ernie ball. good job!

[Stan Malinowski]

Suriel,

Any link to additional info? From what I've read about Ernie lately he was a pretty innovative guy and defiintely deserves such an accolade.

[tom]

i remember him well. i took lessons at his store in tarzana,CA when i was 8 yrs old. they had this big room where every year they had recitals for the students. there was a stage where the student would sit and play. ernie sat at a podium on the side where he mc'd the show. he also had a jazzmaster in his lap and would play along with the students. wow, that was a long time ago. he also taught a class at night for older students that mostly wanted to play chords. my dad took that class, and we would play together with him playing chords and me playing melody. my mom would sit and listen. she really liked "i love you because".
i have nothing but fond memories of ernie and his sons running around the store. ah, and then there were those crazy slinky strings! where would we be without those?

[killerburst]

i remember him well. i took lessons at his store in tarzana,CA when i was 8 yrs old. they had this big room where every year they had recitals for the students. there was a stage where the student would sit and play. ernie sat at a podium on the side where he mc'd the show. he also had a jazzmaster in his lap and would play along with the students. wow, that was a long time ago. he also taught a class at night for older students that mostly wanted to play chords. my dad took that class, and we would play together with him playing chords and me playing melody. my mom would sit and listen. she really liked "i love you because".
i have nothing but fond memories of ernie and his sons running around the store. ah, and then there were those crazy slinky strings! where would we be without those?

That right there is a real eulogy. Very nice, Tom.

[jimmieb]

I remember Super Slinky's when they first came out. I couldn't believe how easy they were to play. Of course, I couldn't play so good and would always break them tring to tune up. Alway over shot the B string. Bing! And snap the string.
I just bought a Ernie Ball Jr volume pedal... Very cool! Saves a lot of pedal board real estate. The diferent volume slope and the impedance change is very cool. Another great idea, thanks To E.B.

Jimmie b

[harrellab]

Wow, that's really cool, Tom!!! I just bought an E.B. volume pedal too, Jimmie B.

[tom]

jimmie, when do you think slinky's first came out? i think you weren't born yet. ;) i just got an eb jr for my smaller pedal board too.

[jimmieb]

jimmie, when do you think slinky's first came out? i think you weren't born yet. ;) i just got an eb jr for my smaller pedal board too.

I'm thinking when I was freshman. I'd say '69? '70 maybe. I played electric on a Tasco Del Rey that my dad bought at Thrifty's in '69 actually X-mas of '68.
Slinky's may have been out for a while, but no jr high kids knew about them. I shopped at Whittier Plaza Music. In '67 I worked the whole summer mowing lawns and saved $140.00 and bought a Yamaha FG-180 acoustic, my first guitar. I didn't have enough for the case. I must of looked pretty sad at the prospect, so the sales guy gave me a thrashed cardboard one free. I could not figure why the case wasn't included in the sale price. Up selling even before G.C.
My first electric was a classical guitar of my dads. I wrapped telephone wire around each string, then twisted them all together and jammed them into the tone arm of my dad's $800.00 stereo. It was a tube amp of course, I always prefered tubes since. Anyway I cranked the stereo all the way up and proceeded to rock. The only problem was if I moved I pulled out the wrap of telephone wire out. I would also pull the tubes out of the stereo and play in the dirt pretending they were space habitats. If dad only knew... I wouldn't be alive to tell the story.

Jimmie B

PS What was your first guitar?

[tom]

i started life on a fender. got a brown burst duo sonic and a brown princeton in '62. still have the amp.