Serena Willis

Opinions presented here are held in all of my roles and capacities, both personal and professional.

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Serena

XxSolarisGurlxX

Summary

Organizations

Computers & Programming

Genealogy

Hobbies

Social Networking

Geek Code

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GCS/E/G/H/IT/L/MU/P/SS d-- s+: a+ C++++ UBLAVHS++++$ P++ L++ E++ W+++$ N+ o?
K- w++ O+++ M V+++>$ PS+++ PE-- Y+ !PGP t+++ !5 !X R tv b+++ DI++ D--- G e
h---- r+++ x++++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Equipment List

Piano/Keyboard

My keyboard rig centers on the Korg Triton Extreme music workstation. All of the keyboards run into my MOTU rackmount USB MIDI interface.

• Kingsbury vertical piano (1906 Columbus edition)
• Korg Triton Extreme 88-key Music Workstation
• Korg 01/Wfd Music Workstation
• microKORG
• Roland sustain pedal
• Generic Footswitch

Flute

• Gemeinhardt 3SB

I took flute lessons from Nancy Christmore for a few years (along with clarinet).

Guitars

Epiphone Les Paul Studio "EPIC I"

This is the guitar I tend to use most often for straight-ahead rock music, and it saw the most action during my work with The Laggers. It has several upgrades:

• LSR Roller Bridge: this thing completely eliminated the problem of strings breaking on the sharp knife edges of the stock bridge, replacing them with rollers. It also improves tuning stability tremendously.
• Pearloid pick guard
• Planet Waves Trim-Lok tuning machines: I cannot recommend these highly enough! They are so smooth, fine-grained, and stable, as well as being super tidy and easy to string.

One of these days, I plan to replace the pickups with Bareknuckles.

Ibanez RG420RB "YAY-420"

This guitar is something I reach for when I want to do any solos, lead work, or metal music in general. Its Wizard neck and floating trem make it super comfortable to play and tonally quite flexible. It has an HSH pickup configuration, and is modded with custom knobs from Q-Parts with a cross design.

My song Hasn't Happened Yet was originally recorded on this guitar. I'd eventually like to put in some upgraded pickups.

Specifications

• Manufactured: January 1998, Japan (Manufactured by FujiGen)
• Serial Number: F98 00692
• Model: RG420RB (Royal Blue)
• Neck: Wizard II (1-piece maple; rosewood fingerboard; AANJ)
• Scale Length: 25.5"
• Pickup Configuration: HH
• Bridge Pickup: Ibanez V8
• Neck Pickup: Ibanez V7
• Bridge: Lo-TRS double-locking tremolo
• Body: Basswood

Ibanez GRG7221QA

This is my latest acquisition, and the only 7-string instrument in my collection. I plan to deck it out with Planet Waves Trim-Lok tuners, Bareknuckle Painkiller pickups, new electronics, Dunlop Strap-Locks, and possibly custom knobs, as well as upgrading to much thicker strings with decent tension in drop-A-flat tuning. It will be a proper djentleman.

Epiphone DR-100 Acoustic

Currently, my only acoustic guitar. Pretty basic entry-level instrument, but I like it well enough. I like to use Elixir Polyweb strings exclusively on acoustic guitars.

Peavey Milestone III International Series Bass

My trusty four-string bass guitar. I like this bass a lot, though it could stand to have some upgrades done. I'd like new pickups and electronics. It sounds good with flatwound strings.

Bently Series 10 Professional

This plywood marvel was my first electric guitar. It is extremely heavy, the pickups are extremely microphonic and noisy, and the electronics are dodgy at best. But, I will never sell or get rid of this instrument, due to its sentimental value. It has single-coil pickups in the neck and mid positions and a humbucker in the bridge, each controlled with toggle switches. This instrument has a rather cheap-looking sunburst finish, a Jackson-esque neck, and a rather Strat-like body. It also has a licensed Floyd Rose tremolo that cannot pull up, with the locknut installed above a standard nut.

Danelectro

This instrument has missing parts, and the electronics are shot. I did not buy it, but it was abandoned at my house by an unknown person. Never used.

Former Guitars

Fender HM Strat

This guitar had a scalloped fingerboard, Kahler Spyder floating tremolo, and a Seymour Duncan SH-4 bridge pickup, wired to a toggle switch for coil split. The finish was called "blackstone". I sold this back to the dear friend I bought it from in a time of financial need, and though I miss it, it's in great hands now.

Fender Eric Clapton Signature Stratocaster

This guitar was bought for me by my father, and was never an instrument I really wanted--the Stratocaster I wanted was a Standard Stratocaster with a C neck and three single-coil pickups. Instead, this instrument had the horribly uncomfortable boatneck and horrible-sounding Fender Gold Lace Sensor active pickups. I replaced the pickups with Kirk Hammett signature EMG pickups, but was ultimately glad to sell the instrument to someone who could appreciate it and use it far better than I could. I do not miss it.

Charvel Super-Strat

WHY did I get rid of this instrument? I adored the neck profile and fingerboard radius on this instrument more than any other I've had. I miss it terribly.

Olympia Acoustic

My first steel-string acoustic guitar. A cheap brand made by Tacoma. Not the best, but it served.

Tacoma Acoustic

Thinking about this instrument makes me want to cry. The headstock broke, but it was a gorgeous guitar with an equally gorgeous tone. I'm still mad at Fender for buying Tacoma and shutting it down.

Yamaha Classical

Meh. I don't like classical guitars. At all. The first instrument on which I began learning. Don't like the tone, don't like the high action, don't like the wide, flat fretboards, not interested in playing classical guitar, even stylistically. I don't miss this thing in the least.

Guitar Amps

Rig 1 (Live)

• Mesa Dual Rectifier Solo Head
• Mesa 4x12 slant-front cabinet

Rig 2 (Recording)

• Avid Eleven Rack
• Rocktron Intellifex On-Line
• Peavey Classic 50/50 stereo power amplifier

Rig 3 (Recording)

Don't make fun of the J-Station. It's a great, quick way to get ideas down quick without messing around with stuff, without a lot of fuss, though the J-Edit software doesn't really work on modern computers.

• Johnson J-Station

Former Guitar Amps/Preamps

• Peavey Blazer 158
• Peavey Classic 30 1x12 combo
• ADA MP-1

Studio Equipment

• INTERFACE/PREAMPS: Focusrite Scarlett 18i20
• CONTROL SURFACE: Mackie HUI
• DAW: Avid Pro Tools
• MIDI INTERFACE: MOTU rack-mount USB MIDI interface
• COMPUTER: Apple MacBook Air (2015)
• STUDIO MONITORS: JBL 2.1 active monitors

Microphones

• Shure SM-57 (2x)
• Marshall MXL large-diaphragm condenser (2x)
• AKG dynamic (1x)