The Axl.

When I lived in Egypt, within the first couple months I'd grown pretty sad that I didn't have a guitar. My wife graciously allowed me to put some of our earliest cash towards one, so we went down to Mohammed Ali Street in Cairo and I bought the guitar you see below: an Axl Badwater. I think. I mean, it's not like it came with a label or anything. But I think it's a Badwater of some sort..

I took it apart and planned to carve it up a bunch, but like most of my guitar customization plans, I still haven't made that happen. I thought I'd brought home a unique guitar, but found a very similar one in a guitar shop in Victoria. That kind-of took the wind out of getting it ready to rock.

So yesterday I put it back together and walked over to Long and McQuade and bought some regular old nickel-wound strings for the first time in a decade or so.

Bought this beast in Egypt back in 2012. I finally reassembled it and strung it for the 1st time in almost 3 years. pic.twitter.com/BZlmxzUeF4

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) February 21, 2016

I fiddled with it a bit, but didn't quite want to plug it in yet. 

I think I'll make a video tomorrow wherein I plug this guitar in for the first time since I brought it from Egypt. pic.twitter.com/QGu9L16NUh

— Jeffrey Nordstrom (@jeffnords) February 21, 2016

But after a lone "heart" from Tinker McJingles, I decided to make sure I made the promised video.

It's not entertaining, but I have to admit that the guitar sounds better than it ever sounded in Egypt. That's partly due to the brand new strings, but definitely also due to the fact that I'm using my Marshall now. Middling guitars can sound pretty good with new strings and a good-enough amp.

It's not an overly comfortable guitar, at least in comparison with The Crow. But it's sure nice to play with a humbucker for once. And it could be a lot worse. And, as I've learned with most of my judgement calls, there are millions of players who will make this guitar sound much, much better.

Sounds great with that distortion and tremolo.