Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

In reply to Tony Sestito :

I like the Jackson! It reminds me of my old Squier with a Floyd Rose. I am doing a slow burn search for one...

My old guitar stand was like yours, the rubber was falling off. Then my new girlfriend (now wife) said Medical Rubber Tubing will fix that, but I don't remember the size we used.

RossD said:

In reply to Tony Sestito :

I like the Jackson! It reminds me of my old Squier with a Floyd Rose. I am doing a slow burn search for one...

My old guitar stand was like yours, the rubber was falling off. Then my new girlfriend (now wife) said Medical Rubber Tubing will fix that, but I don't remember the size we used.

That's a cool Squier! Reminds me of the early 80's Aria Pro II shredder guitars, and probably made in the same factory in Japan. I almost bought one like this a few months ago: 

The one I almost bought had a Kahler instead of a Floyd Rose, but it was a great playing/sounding guitar... until the doofus sales guy at the music store smacked the neck on an amp and all the strings buzzed.  They typically sell for $200-300, and they are nice guitars with most of them made in the good Japanese factories. 

On the guitar stand, I just got one of these: 

Holds 7 guitars and was $35 on Amazon. Not something I would use on stage, but it's great for the house/practice space. Good tip on the rubber, though!

Hey guys wanna see my new guitar?

I'm pretty sure we all saw this coming.

I picked that slab of Honduran Mahogany up at a yard sale about a decade ago. The Brazilian Rosewood piece came was found at the local Woodcraft during their move.

Yes there are two sets of tuners, two truss rods, 3 pickups... I have ideas. Proper build thread forthcoming.

Two truss rods?!?!? Double neck guitar? Which pickups will get the Bigsby vibrato? lol

My guess was an electric sitar, but the drawing doesn't show that

Multiple guitars guys!

Jumper K. Balls said:

I picked that slab of Honduran Mahogany up at a yard sale about a decade ago.

Should be pretty well adjusted to the local climate by now! 

This is gear related, but not my gear. One of my favorite Premier Guitar Rig Rundowns features Living Colour's Vernon Reid and Doug Wimbish. They just seem so happy to explain it all. I also have a Paul Reed Smith S2 Vela, but mine's the satin model. I also don't have  Vernon's talent. 

Last night, I finally saw them live. Yeah, not sure why it took so long. And, yes, I paid the extra money for the VIP package. Five of us did, so it was just a small group. First, we got to watch the soundcheck. We weren't told where to stand or anything, so we all stayed in the back of the hall. Finally Doug Wimbish was like, "Don't you all be in the back--come up front." So we did.

After a few songs, they asked if we had any requests. There was an awkward silence. Really? So they did Cult of Personality. And after the soundcheck, we all hung out for half an hour or so. Vernon Reid is into cars, so he shared some car stories with the group. Once the opener started their soundcheck, though, they hustled us out of there. 

I got to the watch the show itself from front center, meaning I got to watch their gear in action. I shot this with my iPhone. I think it's an example of the blind squirrel getting lucky, because it looks and sounds way better than it should. My hand was resting on the monitor. I was ahead of the house speakers. Awesome experience. 

I knew there would be a time when getting my nephews into music would pay off. 

Last night, I got a text from my bass playing nephew about a cheap bass on Offer Up. So, I messaged the seller this morning, and unlike my last Offer Up dealings, the guy actually wanted to sell the bass! We met up, agreed upon a price, and I brought the thing home. Easy peasy. 

So what is it? 

Well, the hardshell case says Peavey on it...

It's a 1987-vintage, USA-built Peavey Foundation S. They made two flavors of Foundation basses back then: the regular dual humbucker Foundation, and the P/J equipped Foundation S. I've wanted to pick up a USA Peavey for a long time, and these ones are tough to find. Last one I found for a reasonable price looked like it was dragged behind a truck and was $100. This one was in rough shape, but much better than the one I looked at previously, and it was... get this... $40 with the original hardshell case. The case alone was worth it! You can't go wrong there.

Like I said, it was rough. Some pics:

There were dings and dents all over it, and there was sticky black tar all over the poor thing. These basses came with passive Schaller pickups, but the P pickup had been replaced sometime on it's journey with one from a SGC Nanyo bass from Japan, which is a rare piece and completely random. Those basses have passive pickups with some rudimentary preamp circuitry, so there were some extra wires stuffed in the cavity, as you see here. Also, someone metal foiled the cavity, and used what appeared to be solder to link the pots in some places instead of wire. I feared the worst, and was planning a complete gut job already. 

But, I took some stuff apart and started cleaning, just to see if I could get anything out of it. 

The bridge was disgusting. These use a weird Peavey-only bridge, so I was going to have to make do with what I had. 

Better. 

The frets were not in too bad of shape, but they were heavily tarnished. The one on the right was after the first round of polish. 

And the result, after a long cleanup session and restring: 

Much better. This thing was disgusting, and now it's not as disgusting.

This Eagle One bug remover really saved the day here. I liberally sprayed it all over the bass and let it marinate for about 10 minutes. After that, the tar-like goop that was smeared all over the bass could be wiped off with a paper towel. It does wonders on cars, too. Highly recommended!

And the best part: to my surprise, I plugged it in and it made bass sounds! And not only that... it sounds AMAZING. It has a surprising amount of growl and, for a lack of a better term, balls. I'm going to source a new set of knobs, clean the pots, and put it into service! 

I've had a few days to play my $40 Peavey now, and I'm definitely digging it! Despite its bumps and bruises, it has that broken-in, comfortable feel that you want in a vintage instrument. It feels more like an old USA Fender than anything else in my arsenal. It has the right amount of heft, and the neck is like a hybrid of a Precision/Jazz neck. It's thin width-wise, but has the profile/depth of a P-Bass one, and it's very comfortable.

It does have one issue though, and this is an issue I've encountered on other basses over the years: The A-string.  When you hit open A hard, it rattles as if the string is sitting too high in the nut. If you put pressure on the string at the nut, it goes away. I did use heavier scale strings than I normally use, so maybe the string isn't settled completely into the nut. The nut itself is in fine shape and is a graphite nut from what I've read. 

I do have to adjust the string height and maybe tweak the truss rod a little for everything to be perfect, but it plays really well right now. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

That's usually a misshaped nut slot. It probably needs a slight bit of filing, not to reduce the height on the fretboard edge, but rather to angle it downward toward the headstock a bit. It could also be the nut slot is either too wide or too narrow for the gauge string you're using.

Very cool, Tony, on the Peavy. Congrats. I have a Foundation bass, too, but mine's fretless. Yes, they're totally undervalued.

IMG_0952 by davidwallens, on Flickr

Pete Gossett said:

In reply to Tony Sestito :

That's usually a misshaped nut slot. It probably needs a slight bit of filing, not to reduce the height on the fretboard edge, but rather to angle it downward toward the headstock a bit. It could also be the nut slot is either too wide or too narrow for the gauge string you're using.

I'm thinking it's too narrow. The strings I had lying around were heavy gauge strings, so I'll have to grab some different ones.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I forgot you have one too. Yours looks like an early 80's model and it has the Super Ferrite pickups that people love. 

Prices have skyrocketed recently on the earlier T-40 and T-20 basses, and I expect these to go up next as people start to remember that these weren't cheap junk and are on par with what the mainstream manufacturers were dishing out at the time. Glad to get in while the market's down! 

I forget the year. I should check. Cool piece, though. I paid $199 for it, including the original case. Been playing my P-bass the most lately, though. I still dig that one. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Peavey bass serial number guide:

The first numbers are the year key

8Mxxxxxx ............................................1978
0000xxxx t/m 0030xxxx ........................1978
0031xxxx t/m 0047xxxx ........................1979
0048xxxx t/m 0065xxxx ........................1980
0066xxxx t/m 0099xxxx ........................1981
0100xxxx t/m 0129xxxx ........................1982
0130xxxx t/m 0169xxxx ........................1983
0170xxxx t/m 0199xxxx ........................1984
0200xxxx t/m 0239xxxx ........................1985
0240xxxx t/m 0259xxxx ........................1986
0260xxxx t/m 0339xxxx ........................1987
0340xxxx t/m 0359xxxx ........................1988
0360xxxx t/m 0419xxxx ........................1989
0420xxxx t/m 0439xxxx ........................1990
0440xxxx t/m 0519xxxx ........................1991
0520xxxx t/m 0599xxxx ........................1992
0600xxxx t/m 0639xxxx ........................1993
0640xxxx t/m 0769xxxx ........................1994
0770xxxx >>.........................................1995

Yeah, I need to get it out. I'll report back. 

Looks like it's an 1987. Just realized that there's a strap in the case, too. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

That's funny, our basses were probably hanging out on the assembly line together!

David S. Wallens said:

Very cool, Tony, on the Peavy. Congrats. I have a Foundation bass, too, but mine's fretless. Yes, they're totally undervalued.

IMG_0952 by davidwallens, on Flickr

My buddy has a fretless bass, a Fender if I remember correctly. I only got to mess around on it a bit, but it was really neat!

Hopefuly I am posting pictures correctly.

Anyway. Here is the gear I have left after a few years of thinning the heard.

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Up top is a cheap Squier affinity j-bass I picked up just to have a bass again. On the left is my 1996 Les Paul studio. It has the EMG 57/66 set and that is my forever guitar.

The SG is one I couldn't pass up when I saw it at a local thrift shop. Its for sale on craigslist locally and on reverb if anyone is looking.

The black jumbo is an Epiphone something 200 that I found in a local shop second hand. It was one of those special moments. It never even made it back on the hook. And I still need to buy a case for it.

The backdrop is my go to. 1998 JCM2000. Full bore 100w. I've had the 50w version and it was even better. The tolex was harshed so I rewrapped it in maroon. The cab it a home made oak box, oversized, with a couple celestion 75s and a couple eminence texas heats. I don't have any effects other than the built in spring reverb.

I used to be a "no pedals" bass guy, but I have since learned the importance of having a good fuzz/distortion.  I was using a black Russian Muff, but when I was in the studio I met someone new.  We are in love and moving in together.

Damnation Audio MBD-1 - http://damnationaudio.com/mbd1/

If you are in the market it is worth the cost and 8 week wait.

Not my band, but they are using the pedal in the same studio I was in - https://thebandplease.bandcamp.com/track/head-pain

In reply to David S. Wallens :

That's berkeleying rad. Lerve me some Vernon Reid. What kind of cars is he in to???

My wife bought me a Martin Backpacker so I have a toy when I am travelling for work.  Tonight is the first night I get to use it in a hotel.

poopshovel again said:

In reply to David S. Wallens :

That's berkeleying rad. Lerve me some Vernon Reid. What kind of cars is he in to???

He had an early Mustang--'66, I believe--as well as a Mach 1. Just a super-nice guy.