Neil Fein's Blog

At the moment, I have 4 guitars I use regularly. (I own something like 7 of them.) Some of them are named, some are not. I'll keep adding to this entry as I decide on names for the un-named axes.

Millicent, AKA Seagull S-Series Grand

This is a smaller steel-string guitar made for fingerpicking, of a body design commonly known as a "Parlor" guitar. The Parlor guitars were meant to be played in, you guessed it, a parlor. So Grazina decided it should be named Millicent, as that's a name of someone who sounde like she would have a parlor.

Kate, AKA Cort MR750

A dreadnought of decent heft, great color and sustain, and large string gauge (.013 D'Addario Phosphor Bronze), Kate is my main ax. Due to the aforementioned heavy strings, originally put on for practical reasons, and due to the great woods and a decent density of the fingerboard, you can sound a note and it'll still be there when you get back from making a spot of tea. (The dipped-in-a drum-of-polyurethane finish might have something to do with this.) Or filtered water. Have abused and dropped ths guitar and it's still very happy to produce a pleasantly scratchy, smoky, rich sound, like the actress Katherine Hepburn of yore.

The 12-String, AKA a Bluebird something-or-other

Slightly tinny, but I got this acoustic 12-string on the cheap, bought it for $200 in a parking lot. Really, I did. Added a Fishman rare earth pickup wired into an endpin jack, replaced the original open-plan hardware with closed gearheads.

The Light Bass, aka Yamaha electric bass

Not much else to say. Produces a great choppy Sid Viscious/Geddy Lee sound without paying too much for a Rickenbacker bass. Have to adjust the intonation.

The Fretless Bass, AKA Peavey T-40

Originally a stock T-40 I got in trade for a bass i got in trade for a Gibson "The Paul" guitar with tuning problems. (Shoulda kept that guitar, it just needed new tuning machines. I was Young and angsty and stupid.)


This guitar was also the victim of an ill-advised attempt to convert it into a fretless. Am looking at buying it a new neck.

The Bird, AKA Peavey Falcon

Started life as a stock Peavey Falcon, I replaced the single-coil pickups with stacked humbuckers in an effort to improve the sound. Also had a local guitar shop pull back the tension on the bridge so the whammy bar can't be used -- I don't use them much, they just throw the guitar out of tune.