Thanks all for the friendly welcome!
Thunderhead, I'll have to look up the Semie video. I've never seen or heard his playing. Somewhere I have a great LP of the Happy Goodmans, all tricked out in their matching purple suits and outfitted with Mosrites. They backed up their guitar player (name escapes now) on his solo instrumental album. I hear his version of "Bells of St. Mary's" once in a while on a Christmas mix tape I pull out to play in the truck during the holidays. Mosrites are a great match for Gospel picking!
GattonFan, I really like my Deke Model. It's a fairly heavy guitar and quite bright, but in a good way. I really like the bridge pup a lot. Very similar to the old Carvin AP-6 in sound, although I don't think it has as much bottom as the vintage ones. Wax potting seems to give it a tighter, sharper snap that makes me want to bend the strings more than I had expected to! Love the middle position sound! Our group has piano on some songs and just guitar/bass/drums on others. I particularly like the way my Deke Model cuts through the mix while the piano is in there. I could use it to have a little more "meat" for the 3-pc stuff. (But, then, the guitar that sounds best for 3-pc stuff tends to "fight" with the piano more, too...)
After deepening the nut slots a tad, I'm very pleased with the playability. I like heavy strings and pretty low action---and this guitar delivers without the slightest buzz. Excellent fret work! And, speaking of excellent work, there's the rest of the package. The guitar is a lot more eye-catching than I am! Our bass player's eyes always light up when he sees me open that Hallmark case.
