Official Guitar, Amp, Pedals, and Gear Thread

[Piobaire]



FYI piobaire... not sure if you already saw but you should be able to snag a free tuner.

http://www.epiphone.com/News/Features/2013/Its-Les-Paul-Month!-Get-A-Free-Polytune-Mini.aspx

Sweet! Thanks for that and will fill it out tonight.

 

[Piobaire]

Been watching youtubes of effects loopers. Holy crap are those things cool.

 

[Gus]

During remodeling I came across some old photos of some geetars I had in my collection in the late 80's. I'll be scanning and posting some of them. Many I had for anywhere from a few months to a few years. It was fun to track them down (pre-eBay, pre-internet). Met a lot of great guys, some real nut cases and some fine musicians.

One of my grail instruments was a Reverse Body Firebird I. This is a '63. Got it from the original owner who said it had been dead mint "until I let my stupid cousin borrow it for a month". These, without broken headstocks were hard to find. The few that did turn up made it to Japan in a flash. The Japanese would pay big $$$$ for any Eric Clapton era guitar at the time. They seem to be especially in love with the Firebird I. To be honest, I loved how it looked but they are weird things to hold and play. The headstock is heavy making things feel out of balance. Plus, they seem to break just looking at them. I wish I still had this 'bird.

 

[Piobaire]

It arrived, it's tuned, it's beautiful, my fingers hurt.

 

[Gus]



It arrived, it's tuned, it's beautiful, my fingers hurt.

Ahhh, the heart beat quickens, at the arrival of a new guitar. Have fun.

 

[Gus]

I didn't want my Firebird I to be lonely so I located a III from '64. Why did they call it a III when it had two pick ups? Beats me. I didn't have this very long. Great to look at but there were others to be had...

 

[El Argentino]

Read through the last six months of this thread while lying in bed this morning. Thank you all for the great discussion and pictures.

I was really heavy into guitar through my teens and early 20s, but it has significantly tapered off lately with school/work/family commitments. This thread gives me courage to shake off the rust and get back into it.

I may even have to get some photos going.

 

[Gus]

This was one of the very early Fender Custom Shop Guitars a Tele Thinline. At the time, many vintage Fenders, other than Strats, were still so low in price that it was hard to get people to pay retail for anything other than a fancy custom color CS Strat. Guitars like this sold for only $500, a fraction of their suggested retail price, just so dealers could just get rid of them. But it was an example of the steps Fender took to get back to the quality of guitars that became lost in the CBS era. This one was actually better than the original Thinline series with a nice thin finish on the neck and body rather than the heavy poly finishes of the time.

 

[Gus]

I had a nice collection of "blonds" , mostly Gibson archtops from the 50's and 60's. This was one of the last archtops built by Gibson in Kalamazoo, MI a "Johnny Smith" model. These were always expensive so they never made that many of them. They have a carved spruce top and beautiful maple back and side. Johnny Smith originally played a D'Angelico which is a stunning, ornate guitar. Guild musical instruments entered into an endorsement deal with him and created a signature guitar similar to his favorite D'Angelico and relased it as the "Johnny Smith Artist Award". That relationship didn't last long and Johnny came over to Gibson who essentially made a copy of a copy in a slightly smaller overall size. (Guild continued to sell the guitar but dropped the name Johnny Smith and kept the model name "Artist Award"). This Gibson Johnny Smith came in one and two pickup versions. I've seen them in blond, sunburst and cherry red. These are beautiful guitars with all the top-of-the-line Gibson features of the 50's and 60's.

 

[Gus]

I was always intrigued by Esquire Customs. I mean, if you want all the custom deluxe features on a guitar why not buy a Telecaster Custom? I found this one outside of LA. It had belonged to a real Bakersfield country & western cowboy picker. You can see by the body date that it is May 1959. When checking the serial numbers against collector records this was the very earliest Esquire Custom I could find. Maybe even the first. It is the only 5 screw pickguard Esquire Custom I've ever seen (all others had 7). Believe it or not, I had a very hard time selling it. At the time no one wanted an Esquire, only Tele's and Strats. Plus this was from a period when Tele's and Esquires weren't drilled for strings through the body. They were loaded through holes on the bridge. The feeling at the time was this design feature gave less desirable tone and sustain.

 

[gomestar]

god damn it pocketsquareguy

 

[Gus]

This is one of several TV Jr's I had but this was unique in that it had an especially hot PU. With About 15% more output than a typical p-90 this baby screamed, moaned and slapped your mama. Steve Miller once said, "A Les Paul Jr and a tweed Champ are the sound of Rock N'Roll." So true.

 

[Gus]

I love the full, warm, bluesy sound of P-90's so even though I wasn't looking for a Les Paul Special, when I stumbled upon this one I love it was love at first pick. At the time these double cutaways were very cheap. Collectors hated the weak neck joint that had a tendency to crack if the guitar took a fall. To me these were sleek, fast necks, easy to play and with a great sound. Most of these came with chipboard cases because a hard case was an expensive option in the late 50's.

 

[patrickBOOTH]

YUM!

I still want a mid fifties LP Custom.

 

[Gus]

This Style 3 is the most rare of the round neck Nationals. Originally owned by Taj Mahal who used it on tour for a few years. These are beautiful instruments with a distinctive sound.