Sector A : a tribute to Rush

>Sector A

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Bar Chez Maurice

Guitar Sector

Guitar : Mr. Schultz
Electric Guitares & Bass pedals

Who am I? :

I am from nowhere; been nowhere; not going where nowhere has never gone before. Say what?

A computer trasher, I work in a computer firm during the day and become mister Hyde in the evening. Even though I spend too much time with computers, my first love is guitar and music. I also suffer from an incurable desease, only controled by responsibilities and maturity: GAS (for those who don't know that terrible desease, it is one that gets you from within and can ruine your life quite easily). It is also known as Gear Aquisition Syndrom. Yes I am a gear feak. If it was up to me I would change my entire setup every week. But I can control myself since I have medications: family.

I started to play strings for a short period of time at age 16. Then sold everything and quit school after only 2 years of playing. Later, I returned to guitar playing with long time friend Stef with whom I played some Rush songs. These were the only songs we were listening to. But again, time and life had me take another road: I returned to school.

While completing my University degree in computer sciences, I was part time roadie for Stef's new tribute to Rush band: Afterimage. Luck would have it, when the band split up I also completed my degree. Not knowing what to do with my new free time, Stef and I started to play together again. Then MAD came onboard and we started to prepare some Rush songs. MAD was a friend of mine from University. After a couple of months of practice, we ended up doing mostly original material and consequently formed the band: Continuum. A CD album, Khronos, was produced and released in 1993. Boy was that a thrill :) You can get more information on Continuum here.

Now 10 years later, I am back in the saddle. Again, with long time friend Stef. Sylvain joined us in this new endeavor. This time for a complete Rush Tribute band: Sector A. For this new band, I play as always my guitars, my bass pedals, but also program the band's Akai sampler and load it with all sort of sounds to render the music as faithfully as possible. I am also responsible for giving headaches and stress test the other members. Let me tell ya, I fail miserably :) Thank god ;-)

Guitars

Godin LGXT Custom (red) "Janice" This is a "one-of-a-kind". 3 Seymour-Duncan single-coils: SHR-1 HotRails at the bridge + Duckbuckers at center and neck; silver Sperzel Locking tuners, etc.. Maple Body + rosewood neck. L.R.Biggs tremolo bridge with Hexaphonic pickups with 13 pins output for Synth Access. The tremolo is not precise enough and not really stable. I often lose my mind over this as Janice has a hard time staying in tune.
However, it is my main guitare when a tremolo is required and the brightness sound of it hotrails is required.

LGX-SA ('AAA' blue flame top) "Sally". This one has a « beige » binding which is unique to the first years they were made. 2 Seymour-Duncan humbuckers: Custom-Custom at the bridge + Custom Jazz at the neck. Mahagony body, neck is made of ebony. L.R.Biggs hexaphonic pickups with 13 pins output for Synth Access.
This is a do-it-all guitare ! I used to play Sally exclusively until I got Lucy and Leslie.

Dillion DSE533 (Tobacco Sunburst) "Sweet Lucy" : The Dillion guitars are exact replica of the real thing. This example is a replica of a Gibson ES-335. It sounds so sweet and have a nice bottom. I first thought I might change the pick-up, but I'll wait because so far, they sound great. The guitar feel really nice and I love it. It has 2 "no-name" humbuckers but according to some it sounds a bit like the original PAF. Most Dillions DSE533 I've seen had only the top in sunburst and the back in full color. Mine is sunburst all around. Really nice.

Dillion DL650Q (Light Violin Sunburst) "Leslie" : The Dillion guitars are exact replica of the real thing. This example is a replica of a Gibson LesPaul. I cannot tell if the sound is exact as I don't have a real LesPaul to compare to. But the sound either unplugged and plugged is really nice. It might be lacking some bass compared to the Godin and the DSE533 but the bass notes are well defined. The highs and mids are really nice and the sound deep. The guitar feel really nice and I love it. It has 2 "no-name" humbuckers. The finish is really nice and the guitar has a nice glow. This one has a color not shown in any Dillion catalog and I never saw one either. Chrome hardware and chrome tuners. Definitely better than the Epiphones I tried.

Kramer Classic (red wine)"Crissy" This is a Strat look-alike. Has not been made for quite a long time. EMG semi-active humbucker at the bridge (remplacing the so-so stock single-coil « noisy »). Also has a GK2-A from Roland for 13 pins synth access (like the Godin). Floyd-Rose floating tremolo. The tremolo is more stable and precise than Janice. However, the neck is in bad shape: the frets are too used up and the neck needs to be replaced. The neck is more like a real strat which is a bit narrow for me. But the action is fast and low. Primarily used for practice now, but I am tempted to start using it live as well as its bridge pickup sounds so nice : fat, powerfull and yet with enough brightness.

>Signature - Pegasus (Night Blue) "Peggy" This guitar served quite a lot; it was my main one until the LGX-SA came along. This model is identical to the one Lerxst used in the 90's album like Hold You Fire, Presto. 3 Evans single-coils; Floyd-Rose tremolo, etc. The sound is alright but lacks depth: it sounds quite thin. But the guitar is so light yet the neck is a bit wider than Crissy which is a plus in that case. I mainly use it as a backup guitar for practice (backing up Crissy).