Nic Neufeld

nicneufeld@hotmail.com

Guitars (various), Bass, Keyboards, Programming, Etc.

Information Technology major at U.M.K.C., 21 yrs old

Some of my favorite bands/musicians are Yes, the Beatles, U2, Radiohead, the Who, Steely Dan, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Rick Wakeman, Phil Keaggy, etc...

As far as band experience, I have played in Erasing Adam since it was formed as Point Blank in 98; I played bass until last month, when the departure of the guitarist finally put me in the position to take over six string duties. Also I played in a couple "bands" before that, but we were just learning really. My freshman year in college I played in a really ace trad jazz combo in the UMKC Conservatory of Music. They were so much better than me! ;) But they were tolerant I guess. ("poor little rock musician...") At our church (Kansas City Baptist Temple), I played in the high school praise team for a year or so, and I have played for a couple of years in the college class band. With the introduction of Tom Miles on bass into the college band, I strapped on a six string (giving up bass playing duties) and have enjoyed every minute of it. The process radically improved my electric guitar technique and style. The only other band project worth noting is the occasional side projects that occur...working with Dan Reneau and Lucian Canole on a song recorded for Dans wife, played during the recessional at their wedding last year. There are/were lots of other small projects, but i shan't bore you with the details!

But anyway, let me rattle some more off about me, hmmmm, I was born say about 20 years ago in southern california, and moved out here about 12 years ago. I go back frequently to see my family out there. California rules! We are definately touring there someday. Or at least I'll become a session cat on the L.A. studio scene. Me and Larry Carlton, yeah...I'll be the new guitar man on the next Steely Dan album! Yeah, that's likely! Anyway, I got saved May 15 1997, four years ago, after passively attending the Kansas City Baptist Temple for almost two years. I was in the High School ministry fellowship for a while, until late 1999 when I got my heart right (they tell me to say that ha ha ha) and joined the College Class. You should too! I dont know you, but I just like random recruiting.

OK GearHeads, its time to wax poetic about my guitar army.

My main guitar is one I built myself. I bought parts from Warmoth (body and neck), Lindy Fralin (pickups), and StewMac (general hardware). Its a swamp ash rear routed JazzMaster body. I finished it with ten coats of tung oil for a real smooth natural finish. Its routed for P90s, and Fralin P90s are just about the best sounding pickups in the world, in my opinion. The tremolo is a Gotoh/Wilkinson two-post floating style. The neck is maple with maple fretboard, low-wide frets, no fret inlays, standard Warmoth "Thin" neck with compound radius and modern style truss rod, reverse CBS style peghead, Sperzel locking tuners, graphtech nut, and a gorgeous vintage amber lacquer finish, which accents the slight birdseye figure of the maple perfectly. The controls are wired like a Telecaster, essentially. It sounds awesome. Best guitar I have ever played. Extremely versatile, and used constantly.

My other main guitar is my Gibson Les Paul Studio. It has an ebony fretboard with trapezoid inlays, gold hardware, and a lovely wine red finish. The pickups are custom rewound with replaced magnets, for a better vintage tone. This work was done by Wolfe Macleod of Wolfetone Pickups, who I highly recommend. It has a deeper, throatier voice than my homebrew guitar. Great for hard rock, and darker jazzier parts.

Then I have an armada of "specialists"...a Danelectro Hodad 12-string electric, a Danelectro Hodad Baritone converted to 6-string bass, a Morrell lap steel guitar, my cheap Fender Gemini acoustic, my first guitar (an 80s Yamaha strat style), and some basses. As for my 4-strings, I have a customized Fender Jazz Bass, which is loaned out right now. My main bass is a mapleglo Rickenbacker 4003. Fabulous instrument. I then have a cheapo mongrel P-bass I just finished building, and an Epiphone SG bass that I converted to fretless. Thats about it.

Amplification...for guitar I use a Crate VC3112 amp, mainly. Its a 30 watt Class A all tube 1*12 combo, an El84 driven Vox soundalike. Very good tone, it surprised me immensely, and convinced me to bypass my amp snobbery in buying a Crate. My backup amp is a Marshall Valvestate VS102R, 100 watt 2*12 hybrid amp. My bass amp is a Fender BXR300C, a 300 watt 1*15 monster combo...i always use a Sansamp Bass Driver as a preamp for it, and sometimes I add an SWR Workingmans 12 combo to it, to act as a sort of fake biamp system (the SWR with its tweeter and 12" driver tuned to highs and high mids, and the Fender with its 15 inch woofer and higher wattage tuned to pass the low end). It works pretty well.