From onlinemusiclessons@yahoo.com Wed Jan 22 15:37:07 2003
Subject:re: Electro Drawbars

One thing I found that once you get used to them,
they're not so difficult to deal with... what I did on
my European shows was pre-program the basic shapes I
used... (88800000, 888800000, 80880808, 88888888,
etc.) then I was able to modify them pretty easily
while playing. - - I will say that I traveled by
train from Stockholm all the way down to Zweibrueken
(4 hours from Paris) - - making numerous stops in
between. I wacked myself in the face with it several
times, studio owner's kids DANCED on it, and I had a
comedic encounter with a bathroom door during an
explosive bout of the GIs - I couldn't get the thing
off and - - well imagine... I made it through the
door, but the NORD went sideways, and I couldn't...
and all I wanted to do was plop my *ss down on that
can... but I was so disoriented rather than backing up
and taking it off, I just kept ramming it into the
wall... quite violently... I was so delerious I would
have cut off my own arm to get to that toilet. - -
Also, on the ICE train, like an idiot, I propped it up
against a seat, and wham, it took a fall... I put it
between two seats, and wham, it went sideways...
whatever, I will say, that after all that, when I got
it back to America, the thing had only one scratch on
it... Except for the fact that the case wound up in a
puddle of Teutonic Pee Pee during the notorious
Mannheim Colon Blast and does look a bit soiled (I'm
sure it can be cleaned)... I could probably pass it
off as new... I'm wondering if a unit with wood and
drawbars would fair as well ? - - While at the
factory, I was shown the room where they test them,
and the stair case where apparently they are
occasionally thrown down (*seriously !)... (By the
way, not to give the wrong impression... I will always
chose a B-3 over the NORD... and if given a choice,
might even consider a double tier clone with drawbars
over the Nord even for a live performance (if provided
with a Leslie)... however, for in studio work (if
there's no Hammond and Leslie), and for gigs that
involve transporting the thing around... especially on
buses and trains (and situations I couldn't bring out
a Leslie to beef up what I'm playing) and clubs with
lot's of steps and tight angles... I highly recommend
it.

Ed