BackPorch Twisters Episode 1: Enter The Rabbit Hole

The first episode of our new series on Five String Holler, BackPorch Twisters is officially in the books, and Banjo Barnett is joined by none other than The Professor of Shred himself, Travis Fields.

On this episode, we kick things off with a pile of conspiracy talk, strange questions, and a few deep dives that may or may not get us put on a list. We talk about AI, how folks have gotten so desensitized that now anything they don’t understand gets labeled “AI,” and how hard it is to know what’s real anymore.

From there, we get into COVID, the Disney cruise/Hantavirus conspiracy, and even ask the hard-hitting question everyone’s been afraid to ask: is Mitch McConnell still alive?

Then we switch gears and talk music, diving into the recent Fender controversy involving cease and desist letters being sent to guitar companies over body shapes that have been copied, modified, and played for over 50 years.

It’s weird, it’s funny, it’s a little unhinged, and it’s exactly what BackPorch Twisters was meant to be.

Pull up a chair, put your tinfoil hat on, and come twist with us.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Howdy folks and welcome to the Five String Holler Back Porch Twisters. I want to thank you all so much for the support you've shown the hauler so far. Um, if you've liked, subscribed, shared it with your friends and family, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart because you truly don't know how much that means to me. And I I'm enjoying this little show. And we're going to start this little mini-series here called Back Porch Twisters. And I got this idea the other day because, you know, sometimes it takes a little bit to arrange these um interviews uh with these guests that I have come over. So I was trying to think of something fun that we could do to give you all something to entertain you, something you'd enjoy listening to. And I was talking with a good friend of mine, Mr. Travis Fields, who happens to be episode two, and uh we call him the Professor of Shred. So my co-host with the show is the Professor of Shred. Say hi to the Professor. Hey. And we're gonna talk about everything. We're gonna talk about guitars, amps, gear, um, urban legends, crazy stories going on in the world, and the best one, conspiracy theories.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:50

You know, conspiracy theories is them things that deep down inside you don't want to talk to people about at parties.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

But two weeks later you find out it was all true.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

You know, as Jack Nicholson says, You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. So sometimes, you know, it's right there in front of your face and nobody wants to believe it, but hey. But we're gonna talk about all kinds of stuff here, and if you got a topic, heck, send it to me. I don't care one bit to to dive into it. What say you, Professor?

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Oh, I'm all yeah, absolutely. Throw them out. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

So one thing, you know, one thing today that we uh as musicians too we run into a lot of and uh uh has becoming I was would say within the past two years that's become more prominent in our world is of course the dreaded AI.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah. And and I have very strong opinions about AI in the first place. Um and we'll get to that later. But yeah, in music it's it's becoming uh a thing, a big thing.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Cause I mean you take there's they're doing some albums with some country stars that can no longer sing vocally.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

And they're using AI to re to recreate their voice and some of these um songs they're doing is it's scary how How authentic they sound. Exactly, exactly. So I mean you don't really know sometimes when you listen to things like are you listening to the real guy or we we listen to AI.

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Yeah, and it's you know, it AI in its infancy w was kind of crude, and you could tell that it was. You know, you could tell that it wasn't real. But the new stuff, man, you know, people are telling me, Hey, you heard Jelly Roll's new song, and I go and listen to it, and it's like that's not you know, that's not him. But you know, it takes a uh you know, we have very finely tuned senses of hearing because we've been in music for so long. Uh we we might hear it and we can tell the difference, but to the average listener, they cannot.

SPEAKER_02 3:50

What what gets me too, and uh this is something I think about a lot, is eventually it's gonna get to the point to where we're gonna have to start making mistakes just so people know that it's real. That it's real, that it's not AI. I mean, pretty soon, you know, all the little mistakes and flub-up ups that you dread, you're gonna be welcoming them for long because it's gonna separate you from the from the computer.

SPEAKER_00 4:15

I remember you said that, and that made, you know, that was a very profound moment for me when you said that, because it's like, you know, that's true. That's the only way we could truly know the difference. Is if but then what if AI figures that out and adapts and it throws that in too.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Got it, baby. Yep. Bar it up. It's like you said at one time, did you not watch The Terminator? Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Did you learn nothing from Jurassic Park?

SPEAKER_02 4:43

I I mean these these little movies we watch, you know, you might want to take a look at them because they're not so far-fetched.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Not really. Not now, especially. You know, it uh a good experiment, if you will, will be to go back into the nineties, even in the eighties, and watch some of these videos that are supposedly science fiction and these things that are so kind of far-fetched, and see how many of those things actually are now true. Uh or now uh in existence. For instance, uh Back to the Future, uh the second Back to the Future, where they actually go to the future. And uh that you can see that some of these things that they had, you know, the the self- you know, lacing shoes and stuff like that, Nike Nike actually made those now. And so, yeah, the hoverboards and things like that, all these things, they're not necessarily all that far-fetched, neither are uh, you know, the conspiracies, which we'll get to later. But you know, some of these conspiracies uh not so far-fetched.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

No, no, no. And and the thing and the thing that adds to the AI thing, this is like I was telling you one time, is that you know, nowadays, and we've all seen it, like, you know, nowadays people starting to, I guess, kind of wake up and see the internet for what it is, but in a way that's kind of a bad thing because now where AI has become so prominent, what does everybody say when they see something?

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Is that real?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

That's AI. Well, that's AI, that ain't real. So people and even the even our elderly people that you know we used to laugh at for doing goofy stuff on Facebook, even now they see stuff and they're like, oh, that's at AI, that's that AI. So we've already been conditioned, most people have. They've been conditioned that when they see something bizarre on Facebook, like a bizarre picture, a bizarre video, oh that's AI. That's that's AI. I I know that's AI. So what happens when something real comes out with their favorite politician or whoever in the photo or the video doing something, what are they gonna say?

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Oh, that ain't real.

SPEAKER_02 6:55

That's AI Even though it is real, they're not gonna believe it. They ain't gonna be able to distinguish from AI and reality, so eventually they ain't gonna care. And they're not gonna believe anything whether it's real or not.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

When they first started this and I seen it going this this way, uh I I I thought I saw this coming, and I the first thought that came to my mind was in the Bible it says that there will be a second coming, but it won't be the act it won't be actually Christ. It will be but many will be fooled. And I just thought the minute I saw this and people questioned, oh that's AI, that's gonna be a very strange sight, right? When the when that happens. Or what what's to say they won't you how many people will be fooled by the fake, you know, and how many w will miss out on the real because of it? Um it's a dangerous thing. It's a dangerous door that we open when we open the door to that thing.

SPEAKER_02 7:55

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

So we you know, we open ourselves up to the possibility of passing up something that's like you said, or or claim uh dismissing something that's very real for something we think is just too outlandish.

SPEAKER_02 8:08

You know, for example, when they start releasing more and more of them legendary Epstein files, now everybody's gonna be like, Oh, that's AI. That's AI. That's not real. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Like that picture they saw in uh or so showed in Florida of Epstein driving a convertible and it was caught on a traffic cam. That's AI.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

That's AI.

SPEAKER_00 8:29

Is it?

SPEAKER_02 8:31

The real conspiracy right now that I that's on everybody's brains in the state of Kentucky is where is Mitch McConnell?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Mm-hmm. There's all kinds of these things floating around. You know, is it uh some have said that he he's possibly brain dead, and some have actually s you know said that he's actually deceased. So what is it? And are are they carrying him around like we can at Bernie's and and letting him make appearances? Weekend at Bernie's baby. Party time.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Dancing around on the beach.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

With Daddy Mitch.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Big Daddy Mitch. I mean, I and you know, I I'll be honest with you, this is something that kind of slipped under my radar until you mentioned it. But I know that a while back he was pretty sick, and you know, you alright. I ain't heard nothing about him or where he's at or how he's doing.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Well, he had that episode on camera, wasn't it? Uh I don't know how long ago that was. He had an episode where he uh either passed out or uh lost consciousness or something, or at least he kind of zoned out and stuff like that. So, like you said, ever since there was rumors of his health declining, you know, he hasn't been seen very much.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

Now, according to uh the Googles over here, I've consulted uh McConnell's office has stated that he continues to improve and is working closely with his staff on Kentucky and Senate Matters while the Senate is out of session.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Weekend at Bernie's bro. I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

They have not disclosed his exact diagnosis or prognosis and have not released any public appearances or video of him since his admission. Hmm. Suspicious? I tell you, I don't know. Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 10:14

And leave that to the legal folks to say something that totally dances around the subject and answers no questions.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

Right, right. I mean, I don't know. That sounds kind of a little bit little bit fuddy, doesn't it? A little sus, huh? As the kids say. A little sus, yeah. That's sus, bro.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

That's very sus.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

IRL.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

IRL. IRL. Even it says right here on Yahoo that President Trump says he hasn't spoken to Mitch McConnell, unsure of senators' health condition.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Yeah, and and and you know, here's the thing about that. We're not saying uh that, you know, we w wish any kind of ill will on anybody. No, no, absolutely. But here's comes the the biggest issue. Where's the truth at?

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Exactly. That's the whole point. Lord, no, I wouldn't wish no ill will on anybody.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

No, and that's not the point. The point is, where's the truth? And who's telling it?

SPEAKER_02 11:03

Exactly. You don't know what to believe and what not to believe.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Well, and the way that you can tell that legal teams write these up because it's all and I'm an English teacher, so it's all about semantics. It's all about the way you say it. You know, the way you and the way you just said it, all kinds of information there. What was that? That's a pretty good sized paragraph. Mm-hmm. What was said there? Do we know anything?

SPEAKER_02 11:25

Nothing.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

Absolutely nothing.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Nothing. I mean, it's like it's like they're skating around the skating around the hole, you know, not wanting to dive in it.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

Oh yeah. Yeah, they're not gonna dive in yet. They gotta wait and see how they need to need this to play out.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

The narrative has to work out before you turn it loose.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

And I mean, you know, we're and we're we're not talking political because I I'd be the first one to tell you right today, I hate politics, don't care nothing for them.

SPEAKER_00 11:53

Here, here, man. Same.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Both sides are a bunch of daggum morons, and if you honestly think that they care about you, I've got about twenty-five acres of beach property up here in uh Whitesburg that I'll gladly sell you if you really believe that. Because I'm gonna tell you, they don't care about us.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Prime real estate in eastern Kentucky, yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:14

I mean, they just they just they they get in positions and it's an easy paycheck for 'em, I guess, and uh uh more than likely an opportunity to make more money doing other things. So I mean, I don't you know, I'm sorry, I just don't I don't see none of them having our best interest at heart. I mean our side or figure has shown me anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

No. And bringing time back AI into this thing, who's to say that they may even show him up and about and Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

They're gonna they're gonna all these people asking questions, they're gonna release a video and it's gonna be Mitch McConnell dancing or something. Yeah. At some gala party or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

And it's like, can you believe it? You know, it's it's so much more realistic than it used to be. Oh my God. Oh, Daddy Mitch has got some moves.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

He does.

SPEAKER_00 13:04

You know.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

We can it burnies. We can it burnies, man. I'm telling you. That music's that music starts, honey. There he goes, he's up and at it. Oh Lord, what have what what have we become, folks? My goodness.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Well, yeah, and it that that that kind of goes all the way back to uh everything that we've been talking about is where where's the truth at?

SPEAKER_02 13:25

You know, I remember back when I was a kid, it used to be a big thing, like when the Popes was getting to where they was going to pass away. They'd be like 24-7 surveillance on every news channel. And like around the clock updates their conditions, you know. And I mean, you don't hear that anymore.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

No.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

Nowadays it's all it's all about uh which celebrity they saw somewhere on a TikTok or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:54

I mean it's it's so trivial. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

The whole world is trivialized. And have you noticed that even like the war with Iran and stuff like that, the Strait of Hormuz, uh, all that stuff, they trivialize it. Simply because we're not there. You know what I'm saying? It th we're not close enough for it to be relevant. So they trivialize it. And then they bring focus on the it's distractionary politics.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:22

You know, they focus on other things. So that you don't really so that you're not paying attention to the the absolute uh cluster madness that's going on over there.

SPEAKER_02 14:32

It's like I told you, you remember the story I told you about the Disney cruise ships?

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:37

And we'll uh we'll we'll we'll let's talk about that because that's that's something that I am surprised that was not blown up bigger in people's radars than what it was. You know, uh and for what I'm talking about, folks, is do y'all remember back here uh I guess a couple months ago. It's been a couple months ago when there was a uh cruise ship out in the ocean and they had a case of the Hinata virus. I think um I'm trying to remember when it the outbreak of it was. It was uh uh The Haintovirus. The Haintovirus. The Haint. They got the Haint. Got the haint up with the haint virus. I I think it was back in May, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Something like that.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

It was it was May. But anyway, so this they got the haint virus, you know, all built back up, and you know, they was getting people worked up thinking COVID-19 was coming back, and all these people in this cruise ship had the Hanata virus, which to my understanding is transmitted by feees and urine from rodents, mice and rats. And uh they had uh everybody tore up thinking this was gonna be the next pandemic.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

And you know, and you you're you're a nurse and you're in the medical field, been in it a long time, you know the fact that the the ha the haint has been around a long time. And it's always been associated with those types of things. Uh i it's basically uncleanliness and that people get a little sick over it. Is it fatal? It's not. Alright, so what's the point of acting like when they unleash these haint infected folk? What's the point in say in making people believe that it's gonna catch like wildfire and infect everybody? What's the point?

SPEAKER_02 16:39

Well, here's the point that I was m I was gonna make is about the time that this all this hoopla and uh people getting nervous and scared about this Sonata virus thing, there was a bust on the Disney cruise line of about uh twenty-eight crew members who were busted for child exploitation.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

Imagine that, the world's largest industry targeted toward kids.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

I mean Disney's always been, you know, we've always known it as the gold standard for kids, right?

SPEAKER_01 17:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

So while everybody's worried about the Hanada virus and you know, getting tore all to pieces over that, the uh US Customs Border Protection FBI, all the federal offices um bust these cruise ships. I think there's five of them. Yeah. Five cruise ships total, twenty-eight total members, and apparently they was caught uh with uh child sexual exploitation material.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

And um weren't several children rescued from this. Oh yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

But the thing get thing that gets me because these people was recording and taking pictures, how long has this been going on? How many kids was affected?

SPEAKER_00 18:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:07

Thousands, I would imagine. I mean, you think them boats are going twenty-four-seven.

SPEAKER_01 18:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

They're going out out every single week and people are taking and uh paying all kinds of buckoos and money to take these Disney cruises, because again, we always consider what Disney is the gold standard for kids. The gold standard for kids. So tell me how this is not the Hanada virus was not a distraction to take people's anger and frustration away from the Disney cruise.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

Well, you notice that nobody that wasn't a big headline. No. And most people don't know that. Or at least most people I've talked to don't know that.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Yeah, like I tell somebody about it, they're like, huh, what are you talking about, Disney Cruise?

SPEAKER_00 18:51

You can look it up. It it and in fact you're looking at it right now.

SPEAKER_02 18:54

Yeah, it's right here.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

It's real.

SPEAKER_02 18:56

You know, I mean it's real.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

And uh Wonder why they didn't hear about it. You tell me. But they had no problem with overhyping a virus that's not deadly. You know, easily treated.

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Oh heck yeah, the day the day that they started talking about that an altivirus, I was down there at Walmart, people was coming in wearing masks and I noticed that too. It was like twenty twenty it was like twenty twenty and twenty twenty one all over again, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

I noticed it.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

Hey, it was getting fired up. They was I was ready, son.

SPEAKER_00 19:31

They were ready.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

Toilet paper, Mountain Dew.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yeah, you gotta have the essentials. You gotta have the essentials. Toilet paper and Mountain Dew is the top of the list.

SPEAKER_02 19:39

You know what always what always got me is like when they ever in the winter time and it snows, they holler that milk and bread nonsense.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

That's the truth.

SPEAKER_02 19:46

I'm like, well, Eastern Kentucky, most of the time, it's usually Mountain Dew, pizza rolls, and sonomas.

unknown 19:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

I mean, like energy drinks.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Yeah, you can't forget your Red Bull or your monster. But I mean, like, it's uh it amazes me that that's what people you know focus on.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

But as essentials. As essentials, right. But yeah, like so everybody was well aware of the Sonata virus thing. Like they knew about it, knew what happened, and they were gearing up, you know, getting ready to watch uh uh Happy Hour with old Dandy Andy, like we used to back in the 2020 day. But they didn't hear about this Disney cruise.

SPEAKER_01 20:27

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Wonder why. I mean, you think about this twenty-eight workers spread across five ships on one of the biggest companies and cruise lines tailored towards children. And this goes on.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Well, you know, there's an old saying, you know, the best way to hide is in plain sight.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

I mean, I would be flipping outraged.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Well, yeah. People should be.

SPEAKER_02 20:54

I mean, I would be, you know, anybody that w harms a child is a no-good, dirty SOB.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

There's a special place in Hades for them, I'm sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

I mean, that's just my opinion, but I'm I'm not alone in that opinion. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 21:07

No, I don't think you are.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

So, like, you know, what the heck, man?

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Well you know, that that I mean, yeah, that makes you ask, what the heck? What what's going on here?

SPEAKER_02 21:19

And I still say to this day, and I'm not able to figure it out, but there was something that happened. You remember when that uh that submarine that was controlled by a video game controller imploded at the bottom of the ocean?

SPEAKER_00 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

There was something that went on that day or the day before, and that's why they made that such a big story. It was a distraction. It was a distraction. Now I never d I never was able to figure out quite what it was, but there was something that went on in that period of time. Cause every channel you turned it on, they was talking about that submarine imploding.

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Yeah, and uh a grand total of what, three people? We're affected by that? I mean, it's tragic. I'm not saying I'm not saying that either.

SPEAKER_02 22:03

No, it it's tragic. It's awful. But I mean, come on, you go down to the bottom of the ocean in a thing that's no bigger than a well, it's no bigger than like a a a carnival ride cart, you know, like a roller coaster cart. That's size of a good old John boat, you get up here off above. Yeah. And and control with a Logitech video game controller.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

It leaks a little.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

And won't you know that model controller that used to drive that submarine that we have to have happened? The prices of those are ridiculous. See? Just simply because it was the model.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

Associated with that and popular.

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Yeah.

unknown 22:46

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 22:46

Yeah. I mean, that's that's bizarre.

SPEAKER_00 22:49

Well, I mean, and you notice too, and uh here I am going to talk about politics again. Um, and feel free if you hate me, that's fine. I don't care. But you remember back when Sleepy Joe was at his sleepiest and he was making public uh fade uh feints and passing out and falling every which way and making a fool of himself in other countries and things like that. What better way to make it make people not think they had an imbecile for or a senile imbecile for a president than to talk about aliens? You remember that? They released those Air Force, they released those Air Force things about aliens. Also at the height of AI, guys, think about it. But also, why would they want to do that and create hysteria over aliens? Because they don't want you to realize that you've got a stumbling idiot for a president.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yeah, I mean, I I genuinely I felt bad for Joe. I really did.

SPEAKER_00 23:48

Well, and that's the worst part of it, is that our the people in with him, his wife included, and everybody everybody at his whole cabinet and all that stuff, what bothered me some probably the worst of it is the fact that they s they were okay with letting him do this. And they were okay. I mean, they didn't bother to even help, or it what better what couldn't they have found a better way to to distract us or a better way to protect him than say, hey, look, we found pictures of aliens.

SPEAKER_02 24:20

I mean, I just I I don't know. I I felt so bad for him sometimes walking. It was awful. It was painful to watch. Yeah, because I mean I I'm sure the guy's probably probably a pretty good fella.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

I mean, yeah, I'm not saying that at all.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

I'm just saying that I'd say, you know, truth be told, if you sit down and had a cup of coffee with him or talk to him, he's probably not, you know, terrible at all. But how'd that look, man?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

How'd that look to other countries? How'd that look to our own country? Exactly, exactly. And then the best we can do is, hey, look at this. We're gonna shoot down some aliens.

SPEAKER_02 24:57

Yeah. I know it. Eehaw. Woo! You know. Get out my far crackers. Charlene, Charlene, LaFourth's coming early. Get me get me my AR, Charlene. I said I told some the other day we they was talking about the end like a nuclear apocalypse or zombie apocalypse. And I sitting there thinking, like, I know some boys that have been waiting their whole life for this small.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

It's my time to shine.

SPEAKER_02 25:26

And I think they and son, I tell you what, I want I won't want them to be on my side with happen because they're gone, they're they're ready.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

They're more than ready.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

They are ready.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

It's their time to shine, man. I don't know that I wouldn't be right with them.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

I really don't know what I would do in a case of a nuclear apocalypse or whatever. I honestly don't.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

You know, and you know, back in the when we were in the Cold War, and it was kind of a a fear always, you know, people were buying bunkers and things like that. There was a big scare about all that, and people were really being trained on how to survive these things, and a lot of people were worried about it and prepared. Not so much anymore. Have you noticed that? That nobody ever talks about anything like that. And nobody, you know, in fact, the people who are what they call preppers and whatnot are kind of made fun of and ostracized as kind of crazy people. Are they?

SPEAKER_02 26:21

I don't know. Well, I watched a video the other day, it was a little goofy, like 1960s uh nuclear thing, uh, something you'd see like on the video game Bioshock or something. Yeah. It was these three guys singing this song called Obey Your Air Raid Wardens. Like one, stay home. Two, get under shelter. Something once more water. Yeah, obey your air raid warden.

SPEAKER_00 26:55

I mean, it was just that's catchy. It is. I like it. Well, it worked. I mean, that was a big deal. People were legitimately concerned, mm-hmm. You know, and as they should have been. And you know I remember seeing one. Now this happened during COVID, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Uh, and I don't know if you remember this or not. I showed it in class. I showed it to my class because I said, Look at this. Alright, so this was a public service announcement that occurred. As this very attractive lady coming out in like this little front porch scenario, and she said, So this is it. This is the big one. They've dropped the big one. And it has been a nuclear ho it's uh it's been a nuclear uh weapon and a terrorist attack or something like that. And I thought to myself, what a way to just come right out. I mean, and and why? Where's this coming from? You know, we're worried more about, you know, they're trying to create fear and and almost hysteria over a a pandemic, a disease or virus, what have you. And then they release this public service announcement about a nuclear fallout, nuclear war. Hmm. That's kind of sus too. Mm-hmm. And so I showed it to my class and I was like, look, guys, when they blatantly tell you these things, or when they show you these things and they're planning for these things, there's probably something more to it than what we can realize. And there's more information and background to it than what we know. And I even led them into this discussion and and and and all this about how all these disease centers for disease control and uh research and and bioweapons and things like that, how they're all tied to the 1% who run this world. Isn't that funny?

SPEAKER_02 28:57

It is funny. Now, this is what I've always said about COVID. And, you know, I'm a registered nurse. I've been in RN now for eight years. I've worked ICU, worked ER, you know, I've worked med surge, a little bit of long-term care. And during COVID, I was working down at uh down at one of our big hospitals, and it was just mass hysteria. I mean, it was one of the worst times, worst things I've ever been through. And I hope I never have to go through it again. I hope not also. But there's one thing that I noticed during during COVID that I talked to people about, and much like the Disney Cruise thing, nobody knew about it. But I'm gonna see if you knew about it. Okay. Do you remember when the Harvard pro Harvard University professor and two Chinese national students were arrested and charged for using university money and property to do biological experiments. I do. I do remember that. And nobody thought that this was Nobody saw that coming.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Nobody thought that had anything to do with anything.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Right.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Hmm. Interesting. I'm just saying. I did, yeah, I didn't know that. And uh there's a lot of that stuff tied to that.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

I mean, you can and you can go look it up because the guy that got arrested, he was the chair of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

Mm-hmm. Easily find yeah, you can find that. That's a public record.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

I mean, you go, it's it's right on, you know, it's public record from a government website, and it ain't it ain't no Facebook story or nothing like that. It's legit. And nobody ever and I when I talk about it, people look at me like, what are you talking about? And I pull it up and I show them and they read it and they're like, hmm, oh.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Yeah. You ever seen the movie Tommy Boy?

SPEAKER_02 31:16

It's been a long time, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:18

Okay, there's a scene in the movie. Which uh it's a fantastic movie. If you've not seen it, you need to see it. It's funny. But at any rate, uh Dan Aykroyd, a great actor. Oh, Dan's my favorite. He's playing this character who is uh America's favorite auto parts king. Okay. And he's telling everybody, you know, that he is he makes parts for the American working man because that's what he is, and that's who he cares about. At the end of it, at the end of the movie, he's about to acquire the rights to and take over a whole other company of a small town company and lay off everybody in it so that he can just market the parts as he is. Alright, so did that seem like the American public, you know, he makes car parts for American people because that's who he you know, that's what he is and that's who he cares about. They even throw that up to him, the characters throw it up to him, and he says, Kid, what the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. I thought that was a such a profound statement. It was meant to be funny, but and it is, but how true? What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public.

SPEAKER_02 32:30

That's that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

It is. So, like you said, why does nobody know these things? And why can't people see? And that's what I was telling my students when I was showing this to them. I was like, question everything. Question everything. Because anything you you hear through mass media, anything that you hear on the internet, anything that you see on the internet, anything like that that they give you, that the government freely gives you, question it. Question everything. I do. I do too. Because I don't I just be honest with you, I don't trust, I don't trust nothing. No, you can't. And that's because they're assuming what the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

That's that's very it's funny how these little movies they have there'll be one line buried buried in a scene that hardly anybody pays attention, but you find that one line and it's like it makes power in it. Yeah. And that's why I like the the professor, because he he's this guy, he he analyzes things and he can pick something like that out of it. And to me, that's just that's brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 33:39

Well, thank you, but that's I it's just my nature to question things. And you know, it's it just that that ties into the theme that we've all been talking that we've been talking about the whole show, is that you know, distractionary politics, conspiracy theories, things like that, those are all things that they that are used against us so that we don't know what the rich and powerful are up to or what actually is about to happen to us.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Right. Now I I will say that I believe that COVID, because we seen it when we was working at the hospital. Oh yeah, you know, November, October of 2019, we started getting these folks that was just so sick with this weird respiratory infection. I remember the unit I worked on the whole hallway from the front to the back was nothing but upper respiratory infections because they couldn't diagnose it. And they was giving these people everything under the sun, everything.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Everything helped.

SPEAKER_02 34:42

Every antibiotic, you know, every this and every that. I mean, eventually they would after a few days they would get over it and go home, and I some some that was unfortunate they would crash and we'd have to intubate them and send them to the ICU. So I believe that it was it was already starting to take place in 2019.

SPEAKER_00 35:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

And they can say what they want to, but it was No, I agree. We we s there was too much coincidences, you know.

SPEAKER_00 35:14

There are reported cases uh as early as September of 2019. I can believe that. And so and and here's an I'm gonna make a bold statement. And you know, tinfoil hats on, guys, if that's if that's the way you see it.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

I got my tinfoil on, Billy. Let it far.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

I'll wear mine always. But it it this was created. Uh this disease was made in a lab and it was released on purpose. Uh what the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public. They don't know. Uh, cause my God, what would you think about people who would do that? Release something like that on purpose. Uh did you notice the populations that it was the hardest on?

SPEAKER_01 36:04

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

Who was it hardest on?

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Honestly, and this is just me, it was it was hard on a lot of you older people, but it was also hard on young people that wasn't really that was fairly healthy. That was the bizarre part.

SPEAKER_00 36:21

So, let me ask a dangerous question here. Why is it that you would want to release a disease with no known cure, no known disease on record in the CDC, which has a record of most all things? Why would you do that? Why would you do that to your to the American public? Or why would you do that to anyone in the in the country? What's the goal? Depopulation. Our one presenters one percenters, I'm sorry, uh have said it very openly. George Soros, Bill Gates, all these guys have said, our problem is there's too darn many people. So what better way to get rid of a bunch of people is with something you can't cure?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

That's true. I mean, I got a better idea. We can open a spay and near clinic here down the road. We can run half this county through it, they need it. It's just like you said one time, so they've plenty of them out there willing to donate to C because they ain't gonna take care of them.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Yeah, I might have said that. Uh I I might have also tried to suggest that perhaps we offer uh vouchers for free side-by-sides and four-wheelers for sterilization. Uh you know. I'll give you a side-by-side if you'll agree to never have children.

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Oh son, heck Lord, you'd have you could you Polaris couldn't make them quick enough. No, they couldn't make them quick enough.

SPEAKER_00 38:00

And they they the whatever vaccine or whatever methods needed to uh uh sterilize couldn't be produced fast enough either.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

God no, heck, they'd be lined up down there. They'd be they'd already be on the the the team over there ordering their covers and their little light-up whips on the back. Absolutely. Like I'm gonna give them my parts and get me a side-by-side. It was a good trade. So I can go riding. It's a perfect trade. I get what I want. I don't like school. I like school.

SPEAKER_00 38:32

And girls.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

Speaking of sterilization, so folks, this is the part of the show where basically I go out and I find the most bizarre story, but true, bizarre but true story that I could find on the internet and spring it on the professor over here just to get his reaction. Because one thing I've always loved about the the professor the most, especially when I had him in school, is that like if you come at him with something that's like just so bizarre and uh something that's hard to believe, or something that's I guess just makes makes him speechless, he has the best reactions and the best words to go along with it. That that's uh we all love to we all love to we go there in the morning in his classroom and he'd hold court there for a few minutes, and something one of the guys would tell him something one of the bubs done, or uh something involved and usually involved a girl or a foil wheeler, and he'd sit there and he'd just shake his head and say, Ain't that stupid? Ain't that dumb?

SPEAKER_00 39:49

Now what was accomplished with that?

SPEAKER_02 39:51

So uh this this portion of the show here is gonna be a little fun because I'm about to present a true back porch twister tale. Alright, you ready over there, Professor? I am ready, sir. All right, so this setting takes place in Fort Wayne, Indiana. All right. So we've got this young man here named Christopher Pedden.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 40:14

Okay. So Christopher Pedden here decided the other day that he is just fed up with his genitalia.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

I mean, he just looked down there at the old meat and tooth veg and he's like, nope, gone. So he goes and gets a kitchen knife and he proceeds to cut off his genitals.

SPEAKER_00 40:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:35

He cuts them off. I mean, just clean.

SPEAKER_00 40:38

Perfectly logical.

SPEAKER_02 40:38

Yeah, cuts them off clean, you know, like there's my meat and taters in my hand.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Yep, perfect.

SPEAKER_02 40:43

Well, that ain't good enough for the old fella.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:47

So he decides to take the uh the severed phallus. Take take the take take the severed bean bag. Oh, okay. And go in a garage. I'm thinking it's his garage. They the these stories don't uh on yeah. They don't elaborate that much. Yeah. Let's see here. Yeah. So he goes into his garage and he throws down his severed bean bag and meat stick and pours gasoline on it.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

And then sets it on fire. As I would do anything I disliked, yes. And then he calls the law. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 41:29

Then he calls the police, isn't it? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

So uh press the reports, you know, Fort Wayne firefighters were dispatched to both a garage fire and reports of a stabbing. And uh when they got there, this guy told told them apparently that he was stabbed somewhere and been threatened the day before. But then he decided to tell the officer that uh I can't lie to you, buddy. Um I went in the kitchen, got a knife, and I cut my bean bag and my meat stick off, and then I took it out in the garage and I set it on fire. And that gasoline canister, four lighters, and the kitchen knife were all found at the scene. Four lighters. But uh court records do not detail whether the genitals were located. I love how they they said the court records do not detail whether the genitals were located.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Well, that's important information. That's important information to know. Everybody wants to know what happened to the beanbag in the fuse.

SPEAKER_02 42:36

So um tell me about this that this story. What what are you what's your thoughts on this?

SPEAKER_00 42:43

Okay, I noticed several things. First of all, who hasn't looked down there and been disappointed at some point? Okay. I mean, it happens to us all. Um so yeah, I mean that part's at least somewhat understandable, you know, that you can look down there and be kind of unimpressed, or what have you, maybe a little sick of the fact that you know that you've been dealing with this your whole life. Um, I can see that. And then I can also see that, you know, as he's looking at these things, he's saying that'd make a good looking fuse. Maybe I can use that star fire. You know, and so uh now you have to give it to the guy for prep, okay, and and you have to give it to him for planning and follow-through because it this was well executed. All right, so he did plan well. He got a good kitchen knife and you know, used it uh plenty sharp to remove the parts, of course. And then he also made sure that he not only had gasoline but four different lighters so in case one failed, you had at least backup. You know, this this plan was gonna happen. So, you know, yeah, I mean you have to you have to admire the the the thoroughness in which it was conducted. However, the most Motivation for such. Um, a little questionable. Not real sure why he would have done that. But also, and I I have to agree with the article, the American public wants to know, needs to know, were the pieces recovered?

SPEAKER_02 44:14

I mean, like, what goes to these people's heads that possesses them to do such a thing?

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Well, see, I try to, like you said, I'm a kind of an analytical guy, and and my thinking is, you know, who who among us men haven't been I ain't thought about going to get a knife out of my kitchen mub. No, I I don't believe I've ever considered, you know, removing them. Uh however, I you know, I think I can understand why people would be disappointed in them. You know, perhaps hey, now here's another scenario I hadn't thought of. What if it had recently failed him in the heat of battle?

SPEAKER_02 44:51

Now see, if they had an established program you can trade in for a good Polaris, he wouldn't have had to resort to cutting it to cutting it off and setting it on fire in the garage.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

See? That's all it would have to taken to have done that properly.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

See?

SPEAKER_00 45:06

Offer him a good Polaris sabiside, and all would have been prevented. No fire, no self-mutilation.

SPEAKER_02 45:15

I think the the what what's really the kicker is according to the uh the Yahoo article is the Indiana man is facing twelve years.

SPEAKER_00 45:24

But they're gonna arrest the poor devil and put him in jail for doing that to himself. Charging with arson. Take the way I see it, man. He'd done the world a favor. See right there. That's something that's already eliminated from the gene pool. Uh we don't allow we don't have to worry about that anymore.

SPEAKER_02 45:43

Oh, that gene pool right there is probably about ankle deep.

SPEAKER_00 45:46

Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying. Now that it's, you know, there's no possibility of that ever reproducing. I call that a win.

SPEAKER_02 45:57

I tell you, I just don't understand. I I just don't understand where people get. And the Facebook comments never disappoint. Oh, they don't. One person writes on a on a the the comment on the news story, wonder if he was singing chestnuts roasting on an open fire the entire time.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

That that would be inappropriate, as was Burning Ring of Fire. Very appropriate. And again, you know, he did light the fuse.

SPEAKER_02 46:31

This this one guy said, well, one thing about he can't be charged with a missile wiener. I leave. I just I don't know. These people, they do this stuff, and you're like, huh.

SPEAKER_00 46:48

Is that AI?

SPEAKER_02 46:50

No. No, this is this one I can't. You can't make it prevent. I wish this was AI, this and I wish.

SPEAKER_00 46:58

These are things you wish were.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

It's 100% real. So that that that's our twister story of the day, right there. I I just That was a good story.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

I did not see that one coming.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

I'd say he didn't either.

SPEAKER_00 47:12

Not anymore.

SPEAKER_02 47:14

Oh Lord, I just can't get over that one part. Court records do not detail whether the genitals were located. Yeah, right there's the best part. That is, it's like we gotta know. We recovered the gasoline canister, the four lighters, and the kitchen knife, but But we can't find the parts. No, we just can't find the parts.

SPEAKER_00 47:33

There's no charcoal briquettes or anything left shriveled up. Burnt to a wrist. And you know that we need to know.

SPEAKER_02 47:43

Oh lordy, I swear. So speaking of being an offender, as that gentleman in Fort Wayne is now, let's talk about Fender, because Fender is kind of stirring the pot here lately with the uh with the musicians and builders and all that with their uh ceased and desist letters they've been sending out to people over the Stratocaster body shape.

SPEAKER_00 48:08

Yeah. Probably one of the most popular body shapes of all time for for guitars.

SPEAKER_02 48:14

So I mean like why now?

SPEAKER_00 48:17

That's a good question. Um two things, I think. Um one, they were under new ownership. And the owner of said uh the new owner is from the fashion industry. And so yeah, the fashion he granted he is a guitar player, but he is from the fashion industry in which you protect your copyrights, right? So if you you have a design, then you protect it. So I get that philosophy. However, like you said, why now? There are millions and millions of millions upon millions of copies of this body shape. So why now? I mean, it's they're they're already out there.

SPEAKER_02 48:58

Yeah, I mean, like, you know, I ever since I've been a little kid, I've seen tons and tons of different named uh guitars that are strat-shaped.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

Even the same layout, even the same electronic layout and everything.

SPEAKER_02 49:11

I mean, like, you know, you're talking. Yeah, just about just about every off-brand company makes a strat style guitar. They do, yeah. Like, you know, I mean, back in the day in the n in the nineties when I was a kid, you know, you opened up the JCPenney catalog and there was the harmonies.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 49:29

Radio Shack sold a brand called XL. They were strat-shaved.

SPEAKER_00 49:33

I mean, just generally just any most any Most any imported, you know, foreign-made um company makes a version of that.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

You know, and another thing, you know, the first thing was the fact of the new ownership. I think he thought he could treat it like he would a fashion industry copy and just start sending cease and desist letters. Okay. We'll talk about the effect of that in a minute. But I think he kind of got the idea from Gibson. Gibson tried it a few years earlier and because of their uh Explorer well it it it wasn't just any particular guitar, it was all of their guitars. They sent cease cease and desist letters and actually brought a lawsuit against some companies for copying theirs. Well, the the result of that worked a little better for Gibson in that it bankrupt several companies. Uh Dean guitars struggled bad. In fact, it almost killed them and may have, uh actually put them under. Um, so I think perhaps the CEO said, well, you know, Gibson done it and they still survived, you know, they did okay with it. Maybe we should try the same thing. And then, of course, in the fashion industry, that's common practice. So maybe those are the two things that motivated them to do it. But I the minute I heard about it, I said, Well, that's brand suicide. Because the minute Gibson did that, they lost a bunch of followers too. You know, as many as they won, they lost a bunch too. Right. Because people saw that as petty.

SPEAKER_02 51:07

Well, I know, like, you know, I really didn't hear about the whole thing until I got on Facebook, and a lot of my guitar playing buddies are posting, you know, like, I'll never buy another fender, or or some of them was even putting their strats up for sale. I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's what's what's going on? Like, what's the deal? And that's when I found out about it.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

Well, yeah, and uh I kind of found out about it the same way, uh, because a buddy of mine owns a music store, and another friend of mine, uh a mutual friend of all of ours who plays music in the neighborhood, brought every Stratocaster he had in for s and traded them immediately. Wow. Every one of them. Uh they're hanging on the wall now. There's four of them. And so, I mean, it it it did not work well. Uh it it created a lot of outrage. It was seen as petty. Um, which it I mean, call it what you will. That's what it looks like.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 52:06

And so, yeah, and a lot of people did react badly to it. And uh the question now will be to see how Fender deals with that fallout.

SPEAKER_02 52:14

Right. I mean, Fender, and I'm a and I'm a telecaster player, like I, which I'm a banjo player first. That's what everybody knows me as, and that's always gonna be my instrument, but I play country music, and you know, I've always played a telecaster guitar. Not because the whole it's gotta be a telecaster to play country, not not that reason at all. That's just the guitar that I bonded with. Because I, you know, I I like to sit down and play other stuff too, like blues and I like jazz, and you know, uh I like playing my telecasters. That's my favorite guitar. That's it's my it's my it's me. That's what I'm comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

That's the one that inspires you that you're most comfortable with.

SPEAKER_02 52:58

You know, it's and it's not because it's the go-to chicken picking thing. That's that's not it.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:04

But Fender always has bone fuzzled me because they have all these different models of the strat and of the telecaster, and all at all these various prices that go from $300 up to $6,000. So my whole thing has always been exactly how many ways can you make a Stratocaster? Because I tell you right now, I'm in I'm in the camp that there ain't no fender guitar that should cost over $2,500.

SPEAKER_00 53:38

No, I'm I agree with you too a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_02 53:41

And the $2,500 should be for the the signature models, because I know the artist has to get their cut for using their name and likeness, but I mean, just for your standard models, they sh you know, they should hover around. I mean, it's it's it's a it's a telecash and it's a strat. It's not that intricate to make, it's bold on necks.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Yeah. I mean, and and and the any guy, any person who's familiar with instruments could buy the parts individually, aftermarket or fender branded parts, and put one of those together for almost nothing, you know what I'm saying? A whole lot less than what they might cost. And so there's actually not a whole lot of labor and or finishing that goes into them. No. Not to justify that kind of cost. No. Uh now on the converse, Gibson hand finishes a lot of stuff. And they use a finish called nitrocellulous lacquer, which requires a lot of time, it's very time-intensive to cure.

SPEAKER_02 54:40

And but now Gibson, though you gotta look at two, the neck's glued in. Yes. Glued in neck, uh, the tops carved.

SPEAKER_00 54:46

Yep, hand carved.

SPEAKER_02 54:48

You know, so I mean they're Les Paul I can see because it takes more to put those together.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:55

You know, I mean, it's it's very those are very intricate when it comes to like the wood part of it.

SPEAKER_01 55:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:01

Yeah, I I've actually got a friend in London that actually builds Les Paul guitars and he's he's got a wood shop in his garage, and and the stuff that's stuff that he's had to buy to carve those tops is expensive.

SPEAKER_01 55:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:18

Basically, like it's it's just it's this weird thing. It's like a it's like a uh uh on one side it's got the router and it's where you put the blank at, and on the other side he's got a looks like a doorknob. And he's got like a Les Paul top and he traces that Les Paul top with that doorknob, and on the other side, the router's cutting it out, making the same movements he's a making, you know what I'm saying? It's kind of like a drafting type, you know, setup.

SPEAKER_00 55:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:54

But essentially it allows him to copy that shape. Because whatever movement he makes with over here on this top with that doorknob looking thing, it makes the same movement with the router bit on that blank piece of wood.

SPEAKER_00 56:07

And those are tedious. That's tedious, you know, it's tedious movement, tedious work. Uh a fender is mass-produced. All their parts are mass-produced. Their finishing is common lacquer, I mean common polyurethane paint and stuff like that. So, and and like I said, they're all bolt-on.

SPEAKER_02 56:26

And that was and that was Leo's whole thing was making a guitar for the working man.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:31

Leo's whole idea, to my, you know, to my knowledge, was so was going so far as like when you wore the frets out on that neck.

SPEAKER_00 56:40

Just get you a new one.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

Just get a new neck. Instead of paying and and today, depending on what model telecaster straps you got, it's about lucrative to get a new neck.

SPEAKER_00 56:53

It's cheaper to get a new neck, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:54

Compared to a $400 refret job.

unknown 56:57

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:59

You know. You can get them cheaper, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

I mean, and you know, the the fender, most of the fender guitars have not got the binding with the little nibs like the Gibbsons have, so refretting them is not as tedious. You know, so it was always it was meant to be a working man's guitar. And I just don't understand, like they went way off.

SPEAKER_00 57:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:17

Way to the l way to the wayside, uh, you know, f from what it should be.

SPEAKER_00 57:21

And it's a controversy in the music world, you know, and and guitar players, it's so weird, you know, that they stand on one side of the fence or the other, there's no in-between. If you notice that, there's no in-between. They either I'll never own another one, or they're, uh, no big deal.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 57:39

You know, the it's one or the other. There's no middle ground in that.

SPEAKER_02 57:44

And I mean, like, you know, which I've got a over on the wall, I've got a Paul Reed Smith strat, you know, the silver sky, they call it. And it looks like a strat, but if you get up close to it, though, it's a little different.

SPEAKER_00 57:59

It's different in that they're they actually made some enhancements that correct some inherent flaws that the defenders do have.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

Yeah, like they're uh they the way they got the the blower horns like flattened on that one part.

SPEAKER_00 58:15

And there's a little bit of a carve so that it would accommodate your hand so you could your heel would reach further.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

And like the the little uh the little where your arm comes across little piece that's kind of beveled back is belly carve, yeah. Yeah, it's a little different on it than it is on a strat guitar.

SPEAKER_00 58:33

The headstock is designed differently so Oh lord, yeah. So that the tuners are aligned better with the bridge in the in the nut slots. So uh that's what she said. Uh but at any rate, that's what they did that for was to alleviate the pressure and the string trees that the fender always had to have to keep their strings in line.

SPEAKER_01 58:53

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 58:54

Uh that the PRS solved that. So that's you know, I'm sure they got a cease and desist letter.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

Yeah, I I'm sure they did too. I just I don't understand all these companies that's been making making these guitars for forever, and Fenders never said a word about it till now.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

Well a buddy of mine said this, and you know this to be the truth too. A person who wants a Gibson guitar and who typically buys a Gibson guitar, they're not gonna buy the copy in the first place. They're gonna go buy Gibson. Same way with a Fender. If you were shopping for a new one today, a working man, a gigging musician, you need a professional level instrument. Are you gonna go buy one of these $200 knockoffs? You're not.

SPEAKER_02 59:40

No.

SPEAKER_00 59:41

And so that's what Fender needed to realize. Gibson too. And the new guy at uh Caesar at Gibson did realize that. He's like, though that customer base is not the same customer base. People who want a Gibson are gonna buy a Gibson. It's a different type of customer. Same way with Fender. If you want Fender and if that's the that's the style and and sound that you're chasing, that's what you're gonna buy.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:03

I know, I know a bunch, I have plenty of people, you know, and friends that you can give them the best boutique made guitar that plays itself, and they will not fool with it because it doesn't say fender or Gibson on the history.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:21

I've got I know plenty of people like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:22

I mean, and and I I it's true.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

It is true.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:27

They don't care how better that boutique guitar might be.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:33

Bougie don't matter.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:34

It doesn't say fender on it. Right. Or it don't say Gibson on it, you know. And in the in the world of trading instruments, that is highly that's something that's very true because it I'm gonna tell you right now, in case you're one of these people that you know you maybe bought like a boot a boutique guitar, uh like uh just any kind of let's say you bought a collings or a uh Well now call Collings they hold their value. Yes, they're they're not as they're not as bad, but let's say more like um uh Nash. Like a Nash or something. Just some kind of some kind of boutique guitar, and I'm not throwing off on these because I know some of the guys that make these, they're great instruments.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:21

They really are.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:22

But when you buy a boutique instrument, what you pay for it, you ain't gonna get that back out of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:28

Nowhere near it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:29

You'd be lucky to get a fourth of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

Right. Nowhere near it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:32

Um and I've seen it happen several times, you know, and especially in the banjo world. Like I've got I've got some of the very best banjos ever been built, you know, by my um late friend Arthur Hatfield. And you know what they what I what they what they cost in new the resurvey on them is it's not even close.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:59

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

Even though to me those banjos are wonderful and I'll never part with them. You know, or but a lot of people they don't going into the boutique world, they don't realize that they take in uh it's kinda like when you drive a new car off a lot.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:16

Depreciation.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

It th that depreciation's heavy though. I mean it's heavy.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

It is. Well now here's the thing too, uh going back to the American public, what the American public does know is for some reason, and I guess it's because of the length of time that they've been prominent, the American public does know that Fender and Gibson are known to be the top guitars, the top guitar brands. So if you have a bougie guitar and you take it to sell it or whatever, your common person, and especially newbies who are trying to get into it, they don't know that brand. They're not going to give you what you're asking for it. However, if you hand them a fender and it says fender on the headstock, and it's clearly an authentic fender, or a Gibson, they're more than likely to buy that off of you.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:06

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:08

Because the American public does know that those are household names associated with good guitars.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

Exactly. I mean, it might be brand suicide. I don't know. I mean Fender's got so much money it's hard to say.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:21

Gibson too. They're not hurting for money.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:24

No. No, they're not hurting for money. But I mean, I just I I think Fender's deal, they need to just sit back and take a look at their their price points. Like I said, like it's a bold on neck guitar that if you were going to m build something, I'd say a telecaster's probably the cheapest thing you could build. Maybe uh Les Paul Jr., I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:56

Well, they have set necks, so they probably wouldn't be. Well, probably wouldn't be, then I guess I I so I mean that's I think Leo designed the telecaster on purpose to be the most simplistic instrument, like you said, for the working gentleman. You know, all the parts bolt on.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:13

I mean you can just buy the parts and assemble it yourself.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

Them guys back in the day, you know, if they was playing in a dive bar or you know, them clubs and uh knife and gun clubs they called them where you had to fight your way in and fight your way out. Um if they broke the neck on their telecasters, they could just order a new one.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:30

Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:30

You broke a neck on that left paw, you got in trouble. Yeah, because you're gonna have to go somewhere and get it either glued back together or send it back to Gibson and get a new one put in, which is gonna cost you tons of money.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:43

You could have bought a new instrument probably.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:44

Yeah, which back and versus back then, you know, a screwdriver and four bolts, you know, screw the the new neck back in and there it's done.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:54

And I think that was the whole purpose. I think it's what Leo intended was it for it for it to be something it was the workhorse. And that it's gonna be something that the m the the average guy could fix. Right.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:06

I've always said that. It just they to me they're they're they're practical.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:11

They really are. You know, and they sound good too, that doesn't hurt anything.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:14

No, no. And I mean I don't get me wrong, I got I got a Lester that I I love really dearly. I love my Liz Paul and I've got a a Heritage Made 335 that I love dearly too. You know, but I've always I guess I've always been a fender guy.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:31

Nothing wrong with that. I've always been a Gibson guy.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:34

I mean, just that's I guess that's the way the cards crumble.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:37

Well, it's like my father-in-law always said, that's why they make Neapolitan ice cream. We don't all like the same flavor. Mm-mm. You know.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:46

That's true. They don't got my favorite right favorite flavor of ice cream, though I'm gonna get my kitchen knife and I'm gonna cut it off and throw it, throw it in the garage and see it on fire.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:57

Yeah. Well, I mean, wouldn't anybody like school. Don't like school. Don't like school.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:06

Boy, Professor, we've had a good time here. I I love this. This is so much fun. Um, I hope everybody enjoys this because I mean it's stuff I you know, you know, there's stuff that people's afraid to talk about. I ain't afraid to talk about it. Let's talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:23

Yeah. They're gonna take my birthday.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:25

Oh boy. I don't want a birthday no more.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:29

Yeah, you can have mine.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:30

Like I like I told a friend of mine the other day, um, I went through Dairy Queen the other morning and got breakfast, and this girl handed me my breakfast, and she uh she said, Oh, I know you. You're my dad's friend. And when she told me who she was, I was like, Oh, last time I saw you, you was a kid.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:50

Yeah, just a baby.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:51

And I'm like, Oh boy, I feel old now, and heck, I ain't that old, but I sure feel it.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:56

It hits us all, buddy.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:58

But heck yeah, though, I've had a good time doing this. We hopefully this will be something people enjoy, and we'll definitely do us another one. But uh until the next time, folks, this is Five String Holler Back Porch Twister Show. All the good conspiracy and uh music theory and urban legends that you need. This has been Banjo Barnett and the Professor Shred, Mr. Travis Fields, coming at you. And we'll see you down the road. Thank you for listening.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:26

Thank you.