What's up everyone? And welcome to FAQ number 95, welcome welcome
So happy to be here
Let's just talk about the elephant in the room right now
I know what you're thinking
You're like 'Holy shit Ola is so badass right now'
He's wearing one of these, you know, like Kiefer Sutherland wears them in The Lost Boys
Out there to fight
But no, this is actually a support for my broken thumb
And I've already talked to you about it in like 10 FAQs
And even though it looks badass
I must say it's a little bit awkward... you know, when I'm out there walking on the streets
you know, I have to convince people that you know...
No, I'm not here to fight you
It's just a broken thumb
Thank you
And... yeah
I can't hold a pick... Yes I can hold a pick, but it's awkward
Doctor said absolutely no holding a pick, by the way
Right
I don't really have that much to say, let's just start with the FAQ
Rawrr483
"Are you concerned at all about the Gibson lawsuits and if they could potentially affect Solar Guitars?"
Great question
You know, I've seen a lot of other people reacting to this
And you know, spoofing and talking shit about Gibson and all that and...
I thought of not doing a response
You know, because everyone did a video and I'm not like everyone
So... But I've gotten so many questions regarding Gibson and the lawsuit and all that
So yes, I did see the Gibson lawsuit
I saw the video where Mark Agnesi, the managing director
basically threatened guitar builders and smaller brands
Because Gibson are authentic
Let's just say that the video turned out a little douchey if anything
And obviously people hated it, they pulled the video and it made them look like total assholes
And a couple of days later...
They announced that Gibson are suing Dean Guitars
On a bunch of different trademark disputes or points I would say
And you know what?
Personally, if I was Gibson...
I would just skip the first video
And just you know announced that they were suing Dean Guitars
This first Mark Agnesi video...
Just made them look like a bunch of assholes basically and if they had just skipped that...
And just sued Dean Guitars without, you know, mentioning it before
I would have understand that situation
This video I do not understand at all.
Well, I understand why it's been made, it's basically like the big shots...
who saved Gibson from bankruptcy and basically made a whole...
...reconstruction of Gibson
Obviously they want money
And that's how it works.
These are the big shots who want to have money, so they decide...
Okay, trademarks
Suing people
Great way to get money quick
Making great guitars? No.
No, that's not on the map
How do we make money quick? Well...
Suing people that make better guitars than us, that's probably it
And personally no, I'm not worried about Gibson suing Solar Guitars at this point
I mean, they have bigger fish to fry than us
It's gonna be super interesting to see how this whole lawsuit against Dean Guitars will develop
I'm not so informed on how the jury system works in the US
And... But it's gonna be very interesting to follow that development
Thank you for that question
Discount Dimebag: "If Dimebag only played strats, would you have bought a strat Southern Cross?"
Great question
Ad I would probably have done that, I would say
I mean, if you just switched out the guitar and his playing was the exact same and all that
and just switched out to a Stratocaster, I would probably own the Souther Cross Stratocaster, with even like...
Maybe...
Even cooler might be the Dimebolt Fender Stratocaster
Like this one that I'm holding right here
But I can't play
This is awkward
The doctor said that I should not play guitar or hold a pick for 4 weeks
And that sucks, but I haven't played guitar in 2 months
So that isn't really a big problem for me to stay off for 4 weeks
You know playing guitar for Will It Chug
I don't consider that being guitar playing, that's just me noodling around
I have to call off one festival with The Haunted in Germany, which sucks
And also a clinic, so that sucks, I'm sorry
But that's how it goes... But yes, I would... what were we talking about?
Henning Hansen
"Hey Ola, Now you mentioned that you have used plugins for your album guitar tone
"I have seen Nail the Mix with The Haunted and got your DI
"How do you get such a rich guitar out of your DI?
"When I try it gets flat and without bottom and top"
"Is that the guitar? Or your DI flow? Or the way you play? Or just me who stinks?"
Thank you so much
Something that I've been an advocate for a lot of years...
is that I try not to use any equipment at all or as little equipment as possible
I mean, a lot of people, they track DI signals with a DI box for instance
I never do that, I always plug in straight into like a hi-Z input on a audio interface
And that's it basically, like guitar straight into the interface
I'm a big fan of the Apogee inputs and the UAD inputs
They have the most clear hi-Z inputs that I've heard
I think when I got my first Apogee card that was such a huge upgrade
when it came to my guitar DI signal
And I was really anal about that back in the day
but as long as you're playing through these more expensive ones
I haven't really thought that much about it
Apogee at least has like a 1 input... I don't know what it's called, Apogee Jam or something like that
it's the same input as on the more expensive one
So you can still get a really good DI tone going if you buy their less expensive interfaces, so...
There you go, and also of course... pick hard
Make sure your guitar pickups are awesome and you know, that you don't stink
Tobster 26: "Hey Ola
"Can Solar start making a left-handed six string model with a fixed bridge?"
Yes, we can and this past week we actually did
We release the A1.6FB left-handed
Just look at it
At least look at my video, it's a great video.
So there you go
Congratulations Mr. left-handed, there's yet another left-handed guitar for you.
Our fourth one actually
So we are looking after you, okay?
Rünescript Official: "#Teamcart"
Yes
"Really like your stuff, any advice for keeping a glam heavy-metal band together?"
Well, that's a really hard question, I've never been in a glam heavy metal band
So I wouldn't know
But you know, based on seeing, you know, The Dirt movie
And you know...
Just seeing movies like that and just from experience in general watching movies...
You know, maybe not sleeping with eachother's girlfriends
It's a really great way to Kkep a heavy glam band together
Positive Ola, just don't sleep with eachother... 's girlfriends
Music sucks: "Ocarina of Time or Breath of the Wild?"
I'm not sure I can answer that
I mean, Ocarina of Time was super awesome when it came out
Because you know, it was the first Zelda game in that manner
and it was amazing and mind-blowing
But Breath of the Wild is absolutely sick
It's such an excellent Zelda title and between those 2 I'm not really sure
Ocarina of Time has a very good nostalgic value for me
But I think Breath of the Wild is a better game, I think so. So there you go.
Ola Tasting Shit, amazing, let's just do it quick
Today I'm trying out kool-aid
Ola, why are you trying kool-aid?
That's just some bullshit that you pour in your water and some sugar and it's... you drink it
Well, you know what?
It's because I've been seeing these commercials like from way back
You know, where people are like 'Oh no, oh no...'
And then the kool-aid guy shows up and he's like 'Oh yeah'
And that's it
And I've seen those commercials a bunch of times even like on Family Guy and shit
But I've never tried kool-aid
So here's a glass of kool-aid, let's just try it
Yeah, that was f***ing disgusting, okay great
Oh, the after-flavor sucks... shit.
Let me remedy that with some pop-tart
shizzlefohizzle417: "Hey there Ola, What do you think of the new Killswitch Engage single?
"Cheers from Edmonton, Canada."
Thank you so much, I heard it...
I'm not gonna play it right now, because that's gonna demonetize my video
But yes, I heard the new single, it's called Unleashed I think...
And I'm gonna be completely honest, I'm not a fan of Killswitch Engage
For the simple reason that when you know, Killswitch Engage were on their prime time...
Like, when was this like? 2003? 2004?
I was listening a lot to like technical death metal and you know I...
I was just not into this type of music, you know, melodic and all that
But I was really impressed by their production and whatnot
And you know, the guitar sounds and the drum sounds and all that sounded really great back in the day
So I know about Killswitch Engage, but I'm not a huge fan of their music
Because I haven't listened to them... I heard the new song and...
Yeah, I don't want to say that I didn't like it but...
I guess I didn't like it
Maybe I'm getting old and maybe I've heard too many songs with...
What was that?
Yeah, I'm just a little bit sick and tired of listening to...
And... 'Save my life yeah' ...
'Save my life'...
That's basically Preachers of Death right there
Shit I'm describing my own music, great
Diab Soule
"Hey Ola, are you concerned with the YouTube censorship and demonetization
"that has been becoming more and more prevalent?
"I suspect this is part of the reason why you have diversified your brand."
You know...
In the big picture my channel has not been affected
by what's happening in the past month with YouTube and all that
I see a lot of other creators, they're basically like 'Oh YouTube are killing YouTube'
'Oh, Google, youtuber... Google kills my youtube channel.'
And you know people with covers obviously get demonetized and...
And their videos get claimed... you know, some of my videos get claimed
But the majority of my videos...
Nothing happens
You know why? Because I have mostly original content out there, I mean, these FAQs is basically me talking
I'm not playing that many covers. You know, I do my Will it Chug, I just chug...
You can't really copyright 'chug'
Or can you?
Can you copyright the chug?
How long does it take to drink a chug jug in Fortnite?
That's not what I was googling
Yeah, so I think a lot of creators, they're making a hen out of a feather
In regards of this whole YouTube thing and they're like 'Oh, YouTube is dying.'
YouTube is not f***ing dying, man, take it easy.
All I see is a lot of people complaining for a lot of good reasons, by the way
because their videos get removed and demonetized and they're not making a living
You know, when I started my youtube career or when I quit my job
To become a youtuber or full-time, you know, work with this and music
I knew that YouTube is not a secure income at all.
So, what did I do?
Well, I found other more sustainable sources of income
You know, bands, mixing, reamping, basically doing everything to build my name
Rather than just focus everything on YouTube
I think that's a problem for a lot of people because they only have YouTube
So now when they get demonetized...
It definitely affects them, but for me personally...
Youtube is one part of the whole picture for me.
And so in that way, it doesn't really affect me
Eric Solis
"Ola, I forgave your videos being centered now for the mass public
"You abandoning the companies that believe in you and endorse your ideas
"only for you to turn around and attempt to out brand them?
"No, that is blatant disrespect, shame on you.
"Done with your videos, adios."
In the last video I said that... you know, I'm leaving Randall amplifiers
And you know, I'm happy with how they treated me back in the day and you know...
But I'm out there to do new things in life and you know, I'm trying not to be endorsed by companies
And... You're saying I'm, you know, disrespecting these brands
Well, the thing is that you don't know the full story
I personally love Washburn guitars and Randall amplifiers
You know, I'm super proud to have been a part of the legacy that Dimebag also used
You know, he played Washburn and Randall amplifiers and I'm super proud that I came to that legacy
And was able to be a part of it for a short while
and you know, I love the people at Washburn, I love the people at Randall
The problem here is... just as with the Gibson thing actually
It's the big shots who are making all the calls
I mean the mothership that owns the brands basically
I mean, when I started my Washburn and Randall days
We were having so much fun, we made awesome products and you know...
We made sick guitars, we made a sick f***ing amplifier called Randall Satan that i'm super proud about
But after a couple of years, the brands got sold
And basically bureaucracy happened
And I wanted to do so much with these brands, but basically everything just stopped
It wasn't Washburn's fault, it wasn't Randall's fault
It's these big corporations that decide that you know, we should shift our interest to this, or this, or this
And you know, I would have loved to stay with both Washburn and Randall
But I got so sick and tired of seeing the bureaucracy of things
That I thought like 'Hey man, I can do this way better'
You know, I think I know what people want
That's why I left Washburn to create my own brand
And I'm not saying I'm doing the same thing with the amplifiers, but...
You know, nothing has happened with Randall amps for a long while
We did the Randall Satan 50...
But after that it's been dead basically
Lack Of Self-Control
"HellOla, I just want to say that I admire you for keeping up with guitar playing, videos, Solar
"hanging out in Discord and having fun with us mortals.
"All this while taking care of your family.
"Got two kids myself and I know just how hard it can be
"to have time and energy over for anything else but them.
"#positivecommentoftheweek
Thank you so much man, and I really appreciate it.
And you know, that previous comment pissed me off a little bit... That's okay.
The majority of you guys, I know you are awesome
I know you understand what I'm doing, and I guess that's why you're still here watching me
I just want to say that this is what it's all about, ok?
I mean, people say that I was way more metal and made cooler stuff back in the day and you know...
Back 8 or 10 years ago. Well, you know what?
That's f***ing 10 years ago
I am definitely not the same person as I was back 10 years ago
A lot of things have happened in 10 years, I mean 10 years is basically...
It's 25% of my life right there
I mean things are gonna change, I'm gonna change
My format will change, internet changes, that's how it is
I mean, if you don't like what I'm doing right now
That's okay. I mean, I've taken this decision, what do you want me to do?
I'm here doing my thing and I like doing my thing, you know?
So if you do not like what I'm doing right now, that's too bad.
But I'm not gonna do any excuses or anything like that, because this is how I am today
And... you know
I think that a lot of people still appreciate what I'm doing
And I promise I won't plug my youtube membership thing
where you can join me and talk to me on Discord and play Quake Champions with me on Discord
But I'm not gonna plug that shit today
Because I'm getting emails and comments that I'm talking way too much about Discord
So I'm not gonna talk about Discord and my YouTube membership thing today
You can click 'Join' down below, but I'm not gonna talk about that
Because that's plugging myself
And that's just way too commercial man, that's selling out right there
So yeah, with that said guys, thank you so much for watching this FAQ.
I love you guys, like seriously
You make it really easy for me to be me and make my youtube videos
It's a lot easier than it was back in the day trying to find motivation
To creat content basically, but nowadays it's easy
It's not that easy with a broken thumb though, but I'm trying my best
And you don't have to worry because I have so many videos stocked up
because I was going on vacation with my kids
and I stocked up on videos because I was going on vacation, and this happened
So, even though this happened and it was bad luck
It happened in the absolute best time ever, just when I went on vacation
So, you're still gonna see a bunch of videos from me.
Thank you so much for being a subscriber
See you next time. Okay, I- I-
I just spit on the floor.