May 27, 2006 5 min read

As usual, it’s been a busy week, with teaching guitar and bidding on things that my wife describes as more “junk” on eBay. This week was our 14th wedding anniversary — kudos and appreciation go out to her for putting up with me for this long.

Last Friday, during a student’s usual weekly lesson, I learned that he is poised to buy a laptop, maybe a Dell.

After having advised him to buy a video iPod (which he did), I was again arguing the case for Mac over Windows. I even dragged out my G4 iBook to show him what the desktop and controls look like. I often hear remarks like, “Mac looks too complicated compared to Windows,” so I rise to the challenge and start staunchly defending Macs.

All of this is helped, of course, by Apple’s current battery of TV commercials that makes little digs at the Windows system. I use these to great advantage in the Mac versus Windows debate. I must add that it’s all in fun, and, in the end, it’s obviously the decision of each buyer.

It’s a matter of what you finally choose and feel most comfortable with.

My knockout blow in our discussion came at the end of the lesson. While pointing to his mom’s champagne-colored Mercedes sedan outside of Micarelli’s, I said, “That, Michael, is a Mac.” I then pointed at a drab colored, older Ford sedan nearby and said, “And that is Windows.”

He laughed and seems very eager to buy one of the new Intel chip Macs, especially since I told him all the features of the iLife software suite that comes free with the new MacBook. You can read about it online at a href=”http://www.apple.com/macbook/ http://www.apple.com/macbook/ end

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I’ll drop the MacBook subject now for this week (in case you think I’m too pro-Apple), but don’t forget that, thanks to the Internet (and, of course, the kind people at the Herald-Standard), you can read all of our columns by going online at www.bloodylimey.com/

, my humble site that I created with iWeb (oops — I said I’d stop boasting about Macs).

Instead, I’ll explain where the term “bloody limey” comes from by directing you to a href=”http://www.answers.com/topic/limey http://www.answers.com/topic/limey end

, where they explain it perfectly.

You’ll see that limey is a term used to describe someone of British descent. “Bloody” in this context is used (according to the site Chiefly British Slang) as an intensive, i.e., bloody well right.

See what you can learn online?

To sum it up, bloody limey means “some English guy.” I’ve been called “limey” off and on for years here, so it seemed perfect for my Web site’s name.

Hopefully, that cleared up any mystery in that department.

As I said earlier, I bid on some guitar goodies on eBay this week, inspired by our recent eBay show with Jeremy Burnworth. It really started after Micarelli Music got a new shipment of Fender custom shop guitars. One of the latest trends in the guitar world from companies like Fender and Gibson is new replicas of old guitars. For those of you unfamiliar with guitars, let me explain how it works.

Among the lines at their custom shops, Fender has three distinct models of guitars available:

– One is New Old Stock, which may look like an immaculate, pristine ’50s, ’60s or even ’70s guitar.

– Next is the Closet Classic. These guitars look like they’ve been played sparingly and then put away in your closet.

– The third line is the Relic series, which is the one that we personally like the most. These guitars look like they were played every day since the day they were bought.

It’s really strange that there is a huge demand for new guitars that look really old and beaten up. I’ve even joked about this with my students, saying that maybe the next fad will be old beat-up cars with fender damage and rust all over them.

Well, I kind of doubt that.

But people are raving about the relic guitars Carl has gotten in. He’s joked that at least it’s not like the immaculate, shiny, new guitars that you have to be careful with when trying them out, in case you make a mark on one.

To us as guitar players, the Relics play like a dream.

In particular, I’d been waiting for one special model that Carl told me he’d ordered that epitomizes the relic concept: the Rory Gallagher signature model. It’s an exact replica of the guitar that one of my guitar heroes used to play until he died in 1995.

When last week’s order came in, I knew from Carl’s grin and the distinctive beautiful brown case sitting on the counter that the Rory model had arrived. I played it and immediately fell in love with it — in fact, we all did.

To see what I’m rambling on about, check out a href=”http://fender.demonweb.co.uk/news/News-RoryGallagherStrat.asp http://fender.demonweb.co.uk/news/News-RoryGallagherStrat.asp end

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In fairness to all the other Relics we got in that shipment, we love them, too.

My problem is that I already have an old Stratocaster that looks like the Rory model. Due to fear of my wife divorcing me if I buy any more guitars, I’m instead looking on eBay for parts to spruce up my old Strat.

Taking new guitar parts and making them look old has become a big business, especially online. I’ll keep you all updated on the project as it progresses.

Until next week, happy surfing.