The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

[Lewguitar]

Hi Guys!

Sorry to steal Joe's opening line, but I liked it - so I did.

"Many thanks" to Gearjoneser for asking Bruce and I to head up the Well #8. :soapbox:

I'll be here every day and Bruce will drop in from time to time.

As usual, you can ask almost anything you want: Amps, Guitars, Gear, Music, Dogs, Growing up in Detroit in the 50's and 60's, Cowboys & Indians, Spending the afternoon with Ted Nugent...anything except banned topics. :ban:

Fire away, :firedevil and as usual, if we don't know the answer we'll just make one up and pretend to know what we're talking about!

Lew

 

[subanots]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

how are you?

 

[subanots]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

do you like cheese?

" " " snow?
" " " leftovers?
" " " brass?
" " " silk?
" " " bass?
" " " milk?

 

[Tor]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Cool!

Bruce? Forum bro, or your bro, or both?

Could you post some pics of the scenery around Nederland? Or pics from your favorite places when you're out and about hiking in the nature around Nederland?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Cool!

Bruce? Forum bro, or your bro, or both?

Could you post some pics of the scenery around Nederland? Or pics from your favorite places when you're out and about hiking in the nature around Nederland?

Sure thing! Here's a shot from my back deck of the Continental Divide:

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

One thing that's interesting is that you grew up in Detroit in the 50's and 60's, and I grew up as a kid in Detroit in the 70's. Specifically, I lived in Sterling Hts, Warren, and St. Claire Shores. My dad was a young engineer at GM. Mom stayed at home back then, before becoming a nurse.

What kind of work did your parents do?

What places in the US did you dream of playing music in, back when you were starting to play guitar in bands?

Did you live in Detroit, or a suburb?

 

[Tor]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

A bit small image there, but it looks absolutely beautiful! Exactly like I thought it would be. I would certainly not complain if I had that kind of view!

 

[Ken]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

A while back you were telling me about the '69 Riots in Detroit...would you repost some of your memories from that time and thoughts on it now?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

One thing that's interesting is that you grew up in Detroit in the 50's and 60's, and I grew up as a kid in Detroit in the 70's. Specifically, I lived in Sterling Hts, Warren, and St. Claire Shores. My dad was a young engineer at GM. Mom stayed at home back then, before becoming a nurse.

What kind of work did your parents do?

What places in the US did you dream of playing music in, back when you were starting to play guitar in bands?

Did you live in Detroit, or a suburb?

I was born in Detroit and we lived in Detroit until my folks bought a tiny little white frame house at 25194 Norfolk in Inkster, Michigan about 1951 or 52. Inkster was just a little blue collar suburb of Detroit at the time. I liked it.

It was racially mixed and some of my elementary school teachers were black and at least half of the kids I went to school with were black. When I was in the first grade I was invited to a birthday party and I was the only white kid there. Boy did I feel special!

Later we moved to Farmington, Michigan which at the time was pretty much all white and the kids all dressed like they did on Ozzie and Harriett or Leave It To Beaver. I didn't like Farmington.

My dad was a carpenter...used to have a logo painted on the door of his pickup truck that read: "Have Hammer Will Travel". lol!

Mom was a schoolteacher in Redford Township.

As a kid I always loved the guitar ( loved Elvis and Ricky Nelson!) but I didn't get serious about it until the Beatles and Rolling Stones came out. Then I taught myself to play by slowing down 33 RPM LP's of the Rolling Stones to 16 RPM.

The first place I really wanted to play was at my Junior High School to show all the girls I was a cool guy after all...because until I learned to play guitar I was kind of nerdy. lol!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

BTW, some of you might like to know what I look like. This is me:

 

[Pushpin&Poetry]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

can you post pics of some or all of your personal gear?
Are you a huge star wars fan?

thanks

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Here's another shot of Nederland:

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Nice to finally put a face to the name Lew!

Where and when did you have your finest onstage guitar moment?

 

[theodie]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Lew, I thought you wrote on here at one point you lived in WV?

Is Bruce a member or, is he going to be on your account?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Lew, I thought you wrote on here at one point you lived in WV?

Nope. My dad's from a small mining town in West Virginia. Premier, WV. We visited his home town in the 50's and I kid you not: it was exactly like Dogpatch in the Lil Abner comic strip.

My mom's from a small mining town in Michigan. Calumet.

Bruce is a member. He doesn't post as often as I do because I'm on the computer all day at work and it's easy for me to check in. But Bruce has posted on the Amplifier page here quite a few times.

He tends to post more often on the more technical guitar amplification websites like Ampage.

Lew

 

[Lucid_Lunatic]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Why is it that after looking at someones avatar for so long, that when they finally post a pic, they are nothing like what you expected. I really thought your ears would be a little longer Lew!

Just kidding bro,

I know your a dealer for a few different pup manufacturers and was wondering since you have alot of experience with different pups, if you had to choose one set of pups to use, what would they be? I'd like to hear your answer for Pauls, Strats and Tele's. Also what style of music you would mostly play on each.

It doesn't even have to be something still made, it could be original PAF's or something like that, just curious to see what your picks would be.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Nice to finally put a face to the name Lew!

Where and when did you have your finest onstage guitar moment?

Hmmm....you know, I think the music I'm making right now with Bruce and our lead singer Sherrie Scott is the best music I've ever made. We do as much acoustic guitar music as we do electric.

Going back to the past, I loved the old Ballroom days of the late 60's and playing at places like the Grande Ballroom in Detroit. Saw the Yardbirds, Jeff Beck Group, Cream, BB King, the Who, John Mayall with Mick Taylor, Buddy Guy and Junior Wells, etc. there as a kid in the 60's.

Never forget the time we opened for a local group: the MC5! They blew us off the stage. lol! Very High Energy group!

Lew

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

Why is it that after looking at someones avatar for so long, that when they finally post a pic, they are nothing like what you expected. I really thought your ears would be a little longer Lew!

Just kidding bro,

I know your a dealer for a few different pup manufacturers and was wondering since you have alot of experience with different pups, if you had to choose one set of pups to use, what would they be? I'd like to hear your answer for Pauls, Strats and Tele's. Also what style of music you would mostly play on each.

It doesn't even have to be something still made, it could be original PAF's or something like that, just curious to see what your picks would be.

I don't brag up other manufacturer's on Seymour's own forum, but since you asked:

Les Pauls: the truth is, I have Tom Holmes double cream HB's in my Les Paul and they are great. I don't believe they are made any more. I also love the Duncan Pearly Gates set in a Les Paul.

Strats: For single coils, I use Duncan Antiquity Surfer for the neck and middle and a 10K Antiquity Texas Hot for the bridge. I've tried Fralins, Van Zandts, Rio Grande, Harmonic Design and many others but the Duncan Antiquitys are my favorites.

In my favorite MIJ dual humbucker Fender Strat, I like the PGn and Duncan Custom and plan to put that set in my Big Apple Strat too.

Telecasters: I'm a huge Danny Gatton fan and love his tone. I have some original Joe Barden pickups in my '54 Tele. I also love the Duncan Antiquitys, the Duncan Custom Shop Tele ala Strat neck pickup and alnico 2 Tele Hot Tapped and the Lindy Fralin Blues Specials. But my favorite Tele, my old '54, is set up just like Danny Gatton's '53 Tele and uses the Bardens.

 

[newking70]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

haha, i always pictured you as a squat chubby guy. anyway have you ever played at ziggie's saloon down in denver? have you ever jammed with any of the guys from big head todd & the monsters?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The Well 8. It's party time with the Collins Brothers!

haha, i always pictured you as a squat chubby guy. anyway have you ever played at ziggie's saloon down in denver? have you ever jammed with any of the guys from big head todd & the monsters?

Nope. and Nope.

I've jammed with Ted Nugent though...