Guitars, what all do y'all play?

[JohnR]

When I was a poor kid in college (as opposed to a poor kid today) I would bike down to the nearest guitar store and play with the merchandise. They had a Strat in what they called a blueburst paint scheme, which was unique to about 1982. That was when Fender made everything in USA and was just coming out with their vintage reproduction series. That blueburst was top of the line new production and the sweetest playing Strat I've ever played, and I wanted it bad, but it was something like $800-900 which was out of the question so it got away from me. Never owned a Strat but had a '79 Tele that I loved.

[jlottmc]

Can't play anymore, (nerve damage in the left arm from some time back) used to play a Bullet Strat from the import side of Fender, then later a five string Ibanez bass. Last amp I had was a Krank, forget which one but it was small.

[Bawanna]

jlottmc, dude, thanks for stopping by, your visits are far to infrequent of late.

[Darkstar888]

PRS Hollowbody II Violin Amber with a Piezo pickup. Also have a custom built strat in natural wood grain and an Epiphone Sheraton.

[jlottmc]

Been busy lately, have a new "leaderpship" team at work. Been hoping around like a one legged frog on a hot skillet.

[b4uqzme]

Can't play anymore, (nerve damage in the left arm from some time back) used to play a Bullet Strat from the import side of Fender, then later a five string Ibanez bass. Last amp I had was a Krank, forget which one but it was small.

Darn. It would suck if I couldn't play.

I'm a big fan of small amps. They can make some beautiful noise. I've got a 100watt twin that collects dust in the closet. Just too big and heavy and LOUD! I can make good sounds with those small amps without my ears bleeding.

[b4uqzme]

PRS Hollowbody II Violin Amber with a Piezo pickup. Also have a custom built strat in natural wood grain and an Epiphone Sheraton.

My cousin is "semi-pro". PRS is his favorite brand. Last time I asked, he said he had more than thirty of them. I asked why so many? He swears each one is different...

An ancestor to your Sheraton has been stashed away around here for years. It's the other guitar I worked on this weekend: a 1970 Epiphone 5102t. That was the first year of Japanese production. The biggest problem I had is the neck isn't set straight. It doesn't take much. Fortunately, I was able to shim the tailpiece and now it's perfectly playable. It's another keeper. I'm not sure it's worth much anyways.

[b4uqzme]

I bought a red plastic toy guitar at Sears decades ago, it was probably 18" long total and cost ten bucks or less. I put real nylon strings on it, and it was one of the most fun instruments I have ever owned.

I came across a Youtube video of Jeff Beck showing some of his guitars. One was a plastic guitar that Jimmy Page gave him. He played it and it sounded good. But maybe it's in the fingers...

[b4uqzme]

That's a nice Beatle amp................back in the day, when you only needed to know 3 chords(come to think of it, it's all you need to know now) My first was a Danelectro with all sorts of sparkles...........cost me $45 which was a lot then. Then I managed to save some denaro and bought a beautiful red Gretch solid body. $400, and that WAS a lot of money. That guitar always stayed in tune. Wish I had the Danelectro now, probably worth a few bucks. If it would have been the one with the amp in the case, probably a lot more.

Thanks! I held onto this 1969 Silvertone 1445 from your Danelectro era. It's my favorite player. Each pickup has an on off switch and it's own volume pot so you can blend together a whole bunch of possibilities. But it also has a "lead" switch that makes each pickup louder and hotter. I can really drive them little amps with this one.

P.S. I know at least four chords. Funny story. I started playing with a singer songwriter who does not play an instrument nor know any theory. He feels it helps him write music that's not stuck in the typical "box". I kinda agree. But, learning and arranging his songs, I discovered most of them are only TWO chords.

[berettabone]

Brings back memories................6th grade talent show.............................got a band together and played "I'm not your steppin stone." by the Monkees. I was on rhythm guitar.The fuse blew in my amp back stage and I didn't have another one. A friend of mine who was to go on right after us let me borrow his amp. His road to rockdum was playing " The Green Beret." He did a damn fine job too. I thought he should have won the show. We ended up winning, sucking so bad, that you could feel the air leave the room. In those days, everybody was Beatle and Monkee crazy, so you could have beaten a dead cow, and as long as the words Beatle or Monkee was on it, you were the hit of the day. Those were the days...........you could go down to the local city park on Fri. and Sat. nights and there would be a crowd of maybe 100 people, along with guitars, amps, supposed bands playing what was supposed to be some type of music, but it was a place to go, it kept everyone out of trouble, and it's a shame that things like that don't happen in this day and age. It was a good thing for the kids in the neighborhoods.

[Bawanna]

I remember Not your steppin stone well. Seems like that was about 6th grade for me too.

I was a big Monkees fan.

[CJB]

Blonde ES-333, with a repro '54 Super Amp (in a '56 cabinet). I built that amp. Forgot to add it to the list!



A nice Telecaster with a very aged maple top.



Tele Thinline and a nice blue Tele



The Tremolux in a 2x10 cabinet. They were 2x10 piggyback originally. This one needed a small tweak to work with an open back cabinet, as Fender severely limited the low end for use in their rather boomy closed back cabinets.



A black cherry SG with P90's



You can see... the top of my brown Princeton, a sort of repro '55 Deluxe, except in tolex, and who's circuit I designed. Then a Champ on top of my own design speaker resonance emulator, and a black face Deluxe Reverb I forgot to add to the list. I had two of those, and Bill Kamen, ex owner of Ovation guitars, beguiled me out of the other one!

[CJB]

Gibson make the BFG Les Paul's with unsanded, "as carved" tops. I saw one with a great AAAA maple top and said holy crap they wasted that! So I got it and refinished it in blue. The "black" is in the pores of the maple from the original BFG finish. Also redid the controls, so that the pickup switch works normally when the rotary switch is in the middle position, then you can eliminate the pickup switch and reverse phase the pickups, or reverse phase through an inductor coil. This was a take off of the original Gibson L6s wiring as designed by Bill Lawrence (the real Bill, not the guy who stole his name!). I spoke with him about it after I read his material, and interviews, and surmised what he had designed. My own take off was pretty much on the spot, he put a little cap in with the inductor. You get sort of regular, phased, and a "Brian May" tone from this one. That's a BB#3 in the bridge position.



That FrankenDeluxe I built, again. Notice the little plug in the opening in the front, to access the bias adjustment.




My amp bench



Seen here are the Toiletcaster, Champ, Vibro Champ (do I still have that? can't remember!), and my 2x10 Bassman, with old Celestion Vintage 10's in it (when they were still UK made in Ipswitch).

Toiletcaster came about as a challenge to build a guitar from a toilet seat, after seeing a guy that built toilet seats shaped as guitars. That one plays well, and is in use all the time by my bud Tim, up in Vienna, Md.

Below, a Tele I built to match the BFG, same controls, same pickups. It was for a bud, and I made up a custom label for it (in the soundhole). That's a AAAA maple top on it.

[AIRret]

b4uqzme, Playing in campground is great, and every now and then someone else shows up with an instrument.
One time we were driving into a very very small town in WY (less than 100 people) that had been fair size during a short gold rush. As we approached the town there was a building with a sign that said Guns, and Mechanic. Now that got our intention so we pulled in the large driveway. As we got out of the truck a guy on a creeper comes rolling out from under a truck and says hi. We told him we saw the sign and decided to stop but didn't want to interfere with his work. He said he needed a break anyway and we walked into his gun shop. Long story short, we talked with he and his wife for over an hour and just before we left he noticed my banjo earrings and asked me about them. So I said I played, he said he played, my husband said he played guitar and fiddle, the guys wife said she sang and a jam was born. He invited 3 other people over and we picked until midnight. How cool is that!!!
I'm going to figure the picture thing out, I'm just not computer savvy, nor do I own a camera, but Hubby does have a smart phone.
The only photo folder I have is one the kind you put out on coffee tables. Sad, but true.

[berettabone]

That SG is the same shape and color that my Gretsch was...........................................very cool