Maintainer
Maintained by Dick Schoeller.
Last modified: 13 September 2007
We have some interest in music in our household. Here is some idea of the interests and equipment that each of us has.
My primary bass rig is a Schecter Stiletto Elite-4 in Black Cherry plugged into an old Univox UB-250 amplifier. This axe sounds and plays great. Blew the socks off of the other similarly priced basses that I tried. The opportunity to buy the Stiletto was a birthday present in 2002 from my wife, mother-in-law and parents. Thank you all!
For acoustic guitar I'm playing a late-1970's Sigma DM-5. Sigma is Martin's entry-level import line. My banjo is a hand me down from my Mom. It is a Picador, another Asian made instrument.
New to the gear bag (hardly a bag any more) is some PA stuff. I aquired an old Shure SCM268 mixer, some microphones (SM57 and PG48) and a Behringer B300 powered PA speaker. When I need it, I have a Rolls Matchbox DB25 direct box.
Besides hacking around for my own enjoyment (and the torture of my children), I have been playing bass and coordinating the repertoire of the Temple Aliyah Klezmer Band. It takes a bunch of time but is well worth it. I've been using Lilypond to typeset music for the group and put it on-line where they can get it. This approach makes getting clean copies and transpositions quick and easy. It also provides generated MIDI files to get the feel of the music. The MIDIs aren't great but they can help for solo practice. You can see some examples here.
I have also been singing with the Temple Aliyah Chorus for a few years now. We organize ad hoc for various events. Most have been entertainment oriented. When we do liturgical stuff we call ourselves the Temple Aliyah Choir. The people are the same; the name has been changed to protect the guilty.
9 May 2004 Lisa finally has a keyboard. We pitched in and got her a Yamaha P90 electronic piano. Add to this an OnStage stand and bench and Numark M20 powered DJ monitors.
Melissa is playing a Washburn BT-2 in Sunburst plugged into a Fender Frontman Amp 15G practice amp. It is slightly different than the current Series II version. She also has a 1970's Sigma DM12-5. This is a 12 string with a dreadnaught body that used to be her Nana's.
Birthday 2005, Jonathan got a new guitar. It is an Epiphone SG in cherry. The above photo was snagged from the web. His looks slightly different than this.
Jonathan and Melissa both started on a 1/2 scale Suzuki SSG-100 steel string acoustic. I believe it is roughly equivalent to the more recent Suzuki SSG-1. This guitar has a broken tuning peg knob and is currently (Feb 2006) out of service.