First Visit To Fat Sound Guitars
I recently moved to Greensboro, NC from Philadelphia and I was thrilled to be living within a short drive of Fat Sound Guitars. If you’ve never been on the Fat Sound Guitar website, be prepared to be blown away by a music store that has few equals in cyber space or anywhere else. The owner, Stu Carter, has put together a business that caters to the player who shares his passion for tone - and he has definitely succeeded. Unlike most retailers, Fat Sound carries some of the best amps, guitars and effects available along with a knowledgable staff that really knows what there talking about.
Ironically, my first visit to Fat Sound had nothing to do with trying out a new amp or guitar, but to see if there onsite luthier, Mike Kane, could help remedy a nasty pickup corrosion problem on my prized ‘79 Ibanez AS200. It took me about 90 minutes to drive to Cary, NC from Greensboro, but the drive was well worth it. As I walked in, I was a bit awe struck at the wide selection of Dr Z amps, Top Hat amps, Germino amps, Bogner amps as well as the huge selection of dream guitars - PRS, Don Grosh, Fender and Taylor acoustics.
To my benefit, Mike was busy with another customer, so I had some time to look around and soak up the “candy”. One instrument that caught my eye was a beautiful cherry finish PRS McCarty Soapbar - I’ve been thinking about a nice P90 guitar for a while and this one was really sweet. But first things first, I had to get my Ibanez taken care of before I got to far ahead of myself with a new guitar - they get jealous you know…
I met Mark Kane in his shop at the back of the store and gave him a look at the pickup corrosion on my Ibanez AS200. It was pretty bad, and Mark was upfront that little could be done to restore the original finish - something I had already suspected. Since I was thrilled with the sound of the Gibson humbuckers that were in there, I asked him for some replacement recommendation. I was open to anything, but it would be great if I get a pickup that I could tap in the rhythm position.
Mark started telling me about the Lindy Fralin Unbuckers and they sounded like the perfect match for what I wanted. Along with the new pickups, we also agreed that my 26 year old Ibanez was probably in need of her first fret job, so we put that on the list as well. It’s gonna take a few weeks to get it all done - Mark is a busy guy - but I know the end result will be worth it.
Who knows? After I get my Ibanez back I might forget about that cherry PRS McCarty… well, honestly, I doubt it! Be sure to check out Fat Sound Guitars at www.fatsoundguitars.com - it’s a guitar players dream.