My Washburn Dime 333 "Dimebolt"

I have been a Pantera fan since I first heard “Walk” back in 1992.  It was raw, it was fresh, and It was a change of pace from what was going on in the Metal world. Metallica had begun their demise with the “Black” album in 1991 and also in 1992 Megadeth released “Countdown to Extiction” , Anthrax was in disarray, and the Metal world in general just seemed bleak.

But in 1992 Pantera released their second album “A Vulgar Display Of Power” and thing started looking up. I discovered “Dimebag” Darrell, who at the time was still going by “Diamond” Darrell, and things started to look up. Dime was a wild man. His tour antics were legendary. He was also in complete command of his guitar at all times. He was like Eddie Van Halen and Yngwie Malmsteen combined. He quickly became the symbol of the next generation of guitarists. You could not pick up a guitar magazine in the 90′s and not see Dimebag somewhere in it.

Fast forward to the mid 90′s. I am in college and Dime inked a deal with Washburn to produce his signature series guitars. The guitars were a copy of infamous Dean ML guitars that he played and they were pretty cool. I had a friend in college who was a bigger Dimebag fan that I was and spent the two or three years we were in college together chasing down and building his own Dimebag rig Along with his studies, he was a very good student).

I remember hen he got his Washburn Dime 333 “Dimebolt”. He ordered a Bill Lawrence XL 500 and Duncan ’59 (Black and Creme) and I helped him install them. After those upgrades, the guitar was now pretty much identical to the Dime 3 (which was the “full” model. It cost between $2,000 to $3,00 back in the 90′s compared to the Dime 333 which were around $1,000). After playing his, I decided that I wanted one of my, except that I was not willing to pay a $1,000. So I started scouring the used market to find a Dime 333 in Dimeslime.

Washburn Dime 333 "Dime Slime"

Since Pantera was hugely popular the guitars retained their value well and I was unable to find one at a price I was willing to pay. I kept searching and checking eBay, and finally in 2004 Dime signed a deal with Dean guitars to produce his signature model and the Washburn models became forgotten. Just as they were dropping to a price I was willing to pay, tragedy struck. Dimebag passed in December 2004 and as a side effect the Washburn guitars rose in price again. Six years later I am still awestruck by the events of Dime’s death. The music community suffered a great loss when Dime passed. I continued my search for the Dime 333. The Dimebag Dean guitars are in great supply, and are great guitars, but I still wanted the Washburn, because that is what he was playing when I was following him.

Fast forward to August of this year where I finally found a Dime 333 model I was willing to pay the price for. I found it on eBay. It was not the finish I wanted, but I can live with that. I got it and it plays great! I am planning to make some modifications to it and I am planning to post my progress here. The first thing I am going to do is upgrade the pick-ups to A Bill Lawrence XL 500 and a Duncan ’59. I am excited to see how that will change the sound. This guitar is already the “meanest” sounding guitar that I own. I plugged it in the night I got it and it started feeding back immediately!

To help me with making sure my modifications are all legit a ordered a copy of “Riffer Madness” which is a collection of Dime’s Guitar World columns as well as some other tidbits such as Dime’s guitar rig set-ups. It also has great collection of Dime’s riffs all tabbed out.

My first order of business is finding a Trem arm for the guitar. It did not come with one that fits. I called Washburn and they told me that the Trem on that guitar was a Washburn 600s and was no longer being manufactured and that you could not order replacement parts. So if anyone out there has a Trem arm or knows where I can get all the specs on the trem please drop me a line at aaron@signaltonoise.fm.

Make Some Noise!

Headstock of my Dime 333

Washburn 600s Trem

The body of my Washburn Dime 333 Dimebolt

Suicidal Tendencies circa the 80's

I had the opportunity to interview Mike Clark and Dean Pleasants from Suicidal Tendencies for Iron City Rocks. Both interviews were fun to do and especially with the release of their latest album “No Mercy Fool/The Suicidal Family” which contains new recordings of songs from their second release “Join The Army” as well as songs from Mike Muir and Mike Clark’s side project “No Mercy”.

For as long as I can remember the music of Suicidal Tendencies has been linked with skate boarding. But until recently I never knew why. You could not pick up a skate magazine in the 80′s (especially Thrasher) with out running across Suicidal Tendencies. They were everywhere. They even had their own Skate board.

Possessed To Skate

During the interview with Mike Clark Skateboarding came up and it got me reminiscing about skating so when I Google’d “Suicidal Tendencies Skateboard” I got back a result about Dogtown Skates and Jim Muir. Since “Muir” is not a name I encounter everyday, I Google’d him too.  Turns out Jim Muir is the founder of Dogtown Skates, was at one time a professional skateboarder and…the older brother of Mike Muir, the signer and founder of Suicidal Tendencies.

Once I learned that, it all made sense. Mike was raised with skateboarding, and of course his brother would help promote the band by having their own skateboard. There was the connection and I was surprised that I did not know that. Of course, when I was skating we didn’t have Google yet and I don’t think Al Gore had finished inventing the internet yet. The only thing I used a computer for back then was typing papers for school and playing a knock off of pac-man.

Since I was doing all this reminiscing, I put the call out on Facebook page to friend to share with me some of their memories of skateboarding and Suicidal Tendencies. Some of the memories were just about the music. My friend Scott said “Zorlac! and Power slides in the rain”. My Buddy Droz had a great story that only come from him:

“We were skating behind this kid Dane’s house one time, and he fell and broke his arm RIGHT AS ‘trip at the brain’ came on. I had never heard this song/of this band before, and it seemed like an appropriate track for limb-breaking. so I stole the dude’s mixtape while him parents were putting him in the car to go to the medical center.

Oh, and tell them that “the love you will find is the love that you will never find, cause it is the love that is not always able to be found”(from the Infectious Grooves 1st Album) is one of my favorite quotes to this very day.”

I hope you enjoy listening to the Podcast below. If you live in the Pittsburgh Area, Suicidal Tendencies will be in town on November 15th. Visit Iron City Rocks to enter to win a pair of tickets to the show.

Thanks for reading and make some noise!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Last night I saw the Misfits. It was my first time ever seeing them live, and it was great. I have not been to a show like that in years. My last punk was probably 10 years ago and there was a lot that I had forgotten. One of the things I had forgotten is that I should probably have dressed down a bit for the show. I wore a collared shirt and leather jacket. Not fancy by any mean, but I stood out compared to the guys in the leather jackets with spikes and the carefully cut up t-shirts. I also have hair now. I used to shave my head, but my wife talked me into growing my hair out a couple years ago, and I keep it neat and respectable (compared to how I used to keep it as a teen when it was half way down my back). So 10 years ago, I had a shaved head and wore a t-shirt and jeans and my Doc Martens. Last night I had hair, a clean cut look and style of dress and my Nike’s.

What does all that mean? It means I should have just painted a target on my back (insert laughter of a now wiser man here). I didn’t realize it, but to some of the other attendees, I appeared an outsider. Even though I had been listening to The Misfits long before most of them were born, I was the outsider. The Pit started to fill up, and I was getting pushed around and I realized I was just not dressed for this occasion. So I left the pit and moved to the back. I still had a great time and I still love all the people that were there. I still feel quite at home in a punk rock crowd. I love looking at the hairstyles and all the tattoos. I find it all quite relaxing.

Cupcake Tattoo and "Jem" tattoo

Speaking of tattoos, I saw a ton last night, but the ones that caught my attention the most were on a girl’s back. There were two. One tattoos was the logo for Jem and the Holograms and the other was a cupcake with a “Hello Kitty” face as the cherry,  Charlie Brown stripe on the cake part, and below it was a crossbones. I figured no one would believe me, so I had my wife take a picture of it.

Last nights show was really awesome! I can’t remember a time when I have seen and heard Punk Rock played better. And if anyone else who was there last night is reading this, next time I promise to dress more appropriately so I can join in the fun in the pit.

I did a review of The Misfits 10/22/10 show at the Altar Bar in Pittsburgh, PA. You can check it out at http://www.ironcityrocks.com/blog

A Couple of Fans after the Misfits show at Altar Bar on 10/22

Jerry Only signing autographs post show on 10-22 at the Altar Bar