Guitars, Guitars!

It's the antique sunburst. I'm actually partial to more "natural" finishes. However, I've fallen in love with this one. I had two people comment on the guitar when I was in for lessons this week. Here's the eBay picture:

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

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Olympic White is a new Fender colour to the UK. I had to order it in. I was tempted to get a sunburst but they are very common and deservedly so, but, being me as soon as I heard the white was hard to get I knew it was the one for me.

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You know that the sunburst finish is an upcharge item nowadays, right? That said, the current Olympic White Strats do look killer, thoguh the prices have significantly gone up since I bought a green American Standard in late '94.

After years of looking at 1965 Fender Jaguars in custom colours and not being able to raise thousands of dollars to actually buy one, I've found a 1965 re-issue in Ocean Turquiose Metallic and it's absolutely stunning. Arbiter, the comany who import Fender guitars into the UK will only bring in Jags from Japan in three basic colours, Candy Apple Red, Sunburst, and Olympic White. The won't import the lovely Lake Placid Blue, Ocean Turquiose, Sonic Blue, or Sherwood Green Metallic, so tracking one down in the UK has been a ball-ache, but it's mine now! And for £600! Bargain.

The action is really good, no nasty buzzes, rattles or other nasties, which is unusual for a Jag. The intonation needs a bit of a tweek, but thats part of the fun.

I'll post some pics later today!

Mick.

Anyone knoe what it is? Answers on an e-postcard...

Stephen

It is indeed an Ashbory fretless 'trying to sound like a double bass but sounds like nothing on earth'

More at www.ashbory.com

Stephen

Anyone else tried Gordon Smith guitars, which are made in England?

Mine cost me £369 and its a pleasure to own and play.

It is shaped like a Gibson Les Paul Junior, a mahogany body and neck & fitted with a Coil tapped Humbucker, giving it both Humbucker and Single Coil sounds.

Look what fell through my mail box this morning…



How Joy Division is that?

It’s a 79 Shergold Masquerader, and is in fabulous condition other than an amateur paint job on the body (I will eventually get it professionally redone as close to its original condition as is possible). I landed it in a long and complicated swap that started with a little Lexicon reverb that had in reality only cost me about 40 quid – bargain or what!

The pickup switching is remarkable, top switch is a three way pickup selector, the next two switch the pickups individually between humbucker, out of phase, and single coil – i.e. you really can have every possible combination.

Tony.

Great looking instrument, Tony.

The Masquerader was always a favourite of mine, although I never got around to getting one. The ones I've been offered were either seriously overpriced (in my opinion) on in crap condition.

Anyway, I thought you were bass man?

Chris L

This is my new baby. I've always wanted a tele thinline, and this one came up recently. It's a made in Mexico '72 reissue, in a limited edition range of colours. I understand there were 30 each of 4 colours made.

It's a delight to use - I've never owned a guitar with a maple neck, and this is lovely and slick. The pickups are excellent - quite fat for a tele, and suits my playing nicely.

I plan to sell off my American Deluxe tele and replace it with a strat, as it's not getting a great deal of use.

kevin

It can do almost everything a regular tele can do. It's not as unrelentingly bright - the humbuckers really break up well when overdriven.

The acoustic sound really nice too, with a real "sprang" when you play chords. I tend to play my guitars acoustically, as I get complaints when they're plugged in...

kevin

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Chris - Tony L is a bass man (and a keyboard man too if memory serves).

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I made the firm decision to play three instruments badly rather than one well!

Tony.

To me there are only a few people capable of playing within the limitations imposed by a telecaster and wringing out the right stuff.

My personal tele guitar god is the late and underappreciated Roy Buchanan. He has two recorded versions of 'The Messiah Will Come'- one done on a tele and one on a Les Paul. No prized for guessing which one is the superior. Even lesser knows is Danny Gatton who accomplished considerable fret wizardry.

ISTR that the twiddly stuff on Stairway to Heaven was also done on a tele.

Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo

Andy

It's interesting and will require a lot more time for me to be comfortable with it. After playing it, the fretless seems almost easy peasy. You'll need a lot of talc for the strings and a decent preamp - I use a bass POD. The output seems low even though it's active. It goes very deep too.

All in all it's fun & quite cheap.

Regards

Stephen

Hey Dozy,

The Marshall Valvestate AVT 50 and AVT 20 are terrific little amps. If you haven't heard them, there are a couple of samples on the Marshall website

Dave

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=916472869

P

Yes it is however if it's 4 years old it pre-dates the new model which is a much better amp. But if you can get for £80-90....

Dave

Here is my list, in case anyone is interested;

Musicman Stingray Bass 1983(pre Ernie Ball); my working instrument, the remainder are pretty much bedroom toys.

Hofner 500/5 semi bass 1962
Gibson Historic Les Paul double-cut TV Special 2000 (I have gigged with this)
National N-style 2000
Collings D1 1999
Fender Jap strat 1980s
Takamine EN20 1999

I've got a double bass too

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Musicman Stingray Bass 1983(pre Ernie Ball); my working instrument, the remainder are pretty much bedroom toys.

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I love the Stingray, one of my fav basses along with the Jazz, Rick, and the Shergolds I use myself. I notice people are revering pre-Ernie Ball Stingrays in the same way to pre-CBS Fenders. What actually changed? With Fender the quality control went out of the window for a while, but I don’t recollect this happening with Musicman…

Tony.

Tony
The main change was the move from strings anchored through the body (a-la-tele) to a conventional anchor at the bridge. Many of us believe this lost a bit of sustain.
The newer Ernie Balls also tend to be much lighter in weight. Whether this is good or bad is a matter of taste. Unlike Fender to CBS, there was no major drop in quality control with the move to Ernie Ball. In fact I've seen much nicer grain figuring on the bodies and necks of newer models.
I was really lucky to pick up my pre-Ernie Stingray new in London (1984), as it must have been one of the very last made and had just been hanging on the shop wall for a while. It is a natural ash body with maple neck. Despite being staggeringly heavy, I love it, and because it would be so difficult to replace I NEVER leave it in the car but am pretty careless about the rest of my gear.

malcolm

My Babies:

1978 Gibson Les Paul Custom-Cherry Sunburst-stock
2001 Gibson Les paul Standard-Black-stock
1997 Guild Bluesbird-Goldtop-stock
1969 Gibson SG-not stock at all, but sounds great

maxwell

I'm one of a strange breed that prefers the Ernie Ball Musicman to the Leo Fender.....well....sort of. Back in '76 I tried a Stingray bass & really didn't like it at all.

At that time my workhorse was a Rickenbacker 4001, a very different beast to the MM. Years go by & I'm now rather enamoured with old Fender Jazz basses, I used to hate them but have now acquired the taste.

Anyway the Music Man is a very reliable instrument & I'm the proud owner of a teal green one with 3 band
EQ.

From what I can recall of the original other differences are a lighter body, a one piece maple neck ( I'm sure the '76 one had a laminated neck).
The outcome of all this is that I find the newer ones have a slightly toppier sound & they are better for a funkier style. As I recall the older ones had a bit more sustain, a slightly more
'woody' sound & were a little more suited to rock.

I am now a convert & would like to try the bass that I 'hated' so much 26 years ago!

Bob

Couple of pictures of the beauties...

The original maple neck (pre-Ernie) Stingray is also one-piece, with a skunk-stripe. I entirely agree that the older models mainly suit rock/blues, while the Ernie-model sounds toppier and is more versatile.

malcolm

In a rather strange coincidence I tried a '76 Stingray yesterday. It was black, maple neck with 2 band EQ. Condition was fairly good.

I've got to say from the start that I didn't like it much. It was a little heavier than my Ernie Ball, but not much. The neck was pure Fender Precision, loads of varnish on the back as well as the fingerboard, a bit too much for me really. The neck was not as rounded in section as the newer models & this one actually had less sustain. Playing it reminded me of a rather spongy CBS Precision. Mine is a 'crisp' instrument & this one was a bit stodgy in comparison.

To me it felt like the blot on neck needed tightening a bit, hence the lack of sustain. Price was 1500 UKP which I thought was a bit OTT.

I am now doubly happy with my Ernie Ball.... They did have a '74 Rick 4001 though, this was a delight & reminded me of the one I bought in about the same year.

Bob

Yes, I'll even accept "stodgy", but through an Ampeg SVT it can underpin a blues/rock band like no other.

malcolm