Epiphone Les Paul Custom

Doubleneck Jazz Bass Les Paul Custom SG Stratocaster Yamaha Acoustic

Fender Sidekick Marshall Acoustic Mesa Boogie V-Twin Vox Pathfinder 15R

Boss DR-5 Lowrey Jamboree Roland JV-1080 Roland MKB-200 Theremin

The Genesis Project IBC Worship Team

I had decided to buy the guitar synth, but there was no way I was going to drill holes in the Strat to mount the pickup for the synth.
I considered several models of guitars. Since I already had the Strat, I didn't want another single-coil instrument. So I thought about SGs and Firebirds, but since this was something that I'd be playing in church all the time, I wanted something classy. There's nothing classier than a white Les Paul Custom with gold hardware. There's no way I could afford a Gibson, so I went with the Epiphone.
I was sitting on a bench at Guitar Center (Tacoma) playing the guitar when a customer walked around the end of the aisle and saw me sitting there strumming (unplugged). When he saw the Paul, he remarked, "Now that looks nice." Yes, it does.
The quality of the instrument is very nice. The inlays are mother-of-pearl, and they are gorgeous. The quality of construction and attention to detail is better than what you might expect for a guitar in this price range. The only change I've made is to add gold Schaller straplocks. Strings are D'Addario EXL 120 (.009-.042).

I can't say enough good words about the Roland GR-20. One day I was remembering Roland's guitar synth efforts in the early 80s. They sounded awful, tracked horribly, and were very expensive. So I checked out their current offering on the Net and was very impressed.

Imge of the GR-20

I had been playing bass in church for several years. I don't have the bass player sense that's really necessary and really wanted to get back to playing a guitar with six strings. Since our worship team only has drums and piano besides the singers, I thought the guitar synth would give us more variety. I'm not much of a keyboard player, so this would let me play strings, organ, and whatever else I felt would fit a particular song.

The synth has worked out great. I play bass, strings, organ...whatever the song needs. And it's easy to switch from one sound to another. I'm working on combining the natural sound of the guitar with the synth.

Image of the GR-20 turned on

Not much change in technique is required. I play mostly chords anyway. The synth goes through the church's bass amp (that 18" speaker sounds great) and, if I use the guitar sound, it goes through the Boogie. The unit routes the signal automatically.

Image of the GR-20 back