Let's see your guitar and bass gear!

Gimp wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: Not to derail this, but I just got back from visiting the Paul Reed Smith factory. I'll be posting some pics soon.

Following up on this, Judy says hi.

Judy rules.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

I tell her that all the time. I play drunken D&D with her, her husband, and some friends at a bar across from the factory every few weeks. I was also a high school teacher with her mother (who now has a rad PRS and is learning how to play). Known her for years.

procker wrote: Here's the guitar I'm teaching myself how to play on. My old man's 1978 Fender Stratocaster with amp. He bought it as a kid, never learned how to play really and it sat for quite a while. Got some books and YouTube to help me learn! It's a lot harder than I thought it would be! Even though I feel like I'm very clumsy at it, my wife enjoys the string picking while she reads and does HW and the cat loves to sit and watch/listen. It's pretty therapeutic, but I really want to skip the learning and go straight to jamming!

Too cool for school man. Love the color.

Tim Baxter wrote: Alex, I'm a bit late, but I can tell you Surf90s are very nice, but you'll get a sort pseudo-Dyna thing going on that may or may not pair nice with the P90. Worked (in reverse) for Eddy Cochran, so it might work, though. Lipstick will be super easy to install, so there's that. TV is a super-nice guy, though. He's been one of my site sponsors for years, and he came to the KC Gretsch Roundup last year, so I've spent some time talking to him, and he really is as nice as people say. You might give him a call and see what he recommends. I'm getting a pair of T'Armonds in my in-progress project, and am all a-giddy with anticipation.

So, here's a pic of TV Jones himself playing my new baby:

And as it turned out, I ended up coming home with one of these, too:

My guitar cup runneth over.

JUST scored this puppy for $250. I really wanted a vintage one, but I couldn't pass on the price. I can't wait to hear it through my 2x15.

Does this count? I picked it up yesterday.

It counts! Good luck playing that thing!

This weeks project.

Bianca was bemoaning the bulkiness of her bass rig so I consolidated it.... and gave it a bit of a retro restyle.

It was an old fender cabinet with a single fifteen and a small head.

What a monster!

So lets build a combo out of it

box built, shaped and routed

Started Tolexing

Getting the corners

Baffle routed and test fit with the chassis

I reclaimed the grillcloth from a 60's Farfisa console organ and stretched it over the new frame, screwed on the fender logo and attached it with sticky backed velcro tabs

Some ivory chicken head knobs are on their way here to finish it up.

Pretty pleased with how it turned out. Especially considering I have less than $10 into this project. The plywood was reclaimed shelving from industrial cabinets and the tolex was a craigslist score 5 years ago that I still have 6 yards left over from.

The amp weighs a quarter of what it did before and the extra room in the practice space and small stages will be nice.

For some of us there is no sound more 60's rock and roll than an italian combo organ. A Vox Continental or Farfisa Compact

Like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTa0TGJ8J74

Now a nice working Farfisa Compact isn't inexpensive. I actually have a minicompact that needs a lot of work, but when I stumbled across this Farfisa Leader console I gave it a good inspection and realized it had the same guts as the rock and roll combos I love so much.

Paid $25 for it, it works perfectly. Beats the $2500 for a nice compact.

The amplifier part I do not want supplies the power to the upper circuit. Lets look into what we need

Jumpered in my lab power supply to see if I was right. Yep it works!!

Lopped off the base, installed a 1/4" output, hit the electronics recycler for a 9VDC power source and the thrift store produced a keyboard stand.

I still have a lot of work to do. Make up a slimmer, lighter case, tolex it and make a cover but as my friend Jason verified. It is ready to make some dirty ass rock and roll

In reply to ditchdigger:

Very cool!

Since we're on the subject of vintage keyboards, I picked up this recently. An original Hohner D6 Clavinet. It works but needs overhauled. Unfortunately, I can't play keys worth a damn, so I'll likely be finding a new home for it eventually. I have an old Gulbransen and Hammond organ too.

I paid off my mortgage today (yay!) and had some time to kill in the town where the bank is... they had a music store... At first, I picked up a used Goth model Epiphone Les Paul with a Floyd, but it really didn't do much for me... next I picked up this one and I had a moment of weakness:

It's a late 80's Japanese Charvel. I've been itching for a "Super-Strat" guitar like this since I started playing again earlier this year. Hopefully, this will scratch it for awhile... it plays and sounds pretty good. Especially for the price: $250. By contrast, the Les Paul was $300, was in worse condition and didn't play or sound as good. But it had that cool all-black thing going for it. Score one for ugly 80's metal pointy guitars.

In reply to Ian F:

I understand why you bought that. I've tried finding a '80s Squier HM3, MIJ, with HSH (IIRC), Floyd Rose II and pointy headstock.

It was my first guitar for real cheap. I can't find one locally. I think it would be fun. It reminds me of your Charvel.

So not really gear, but I did get this on Monday...

Currently lusting after this - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f144/50s-kay-m1b-%241750-1026093/

In reply to Gimp:

That's awesome!

DILYSI Dave wrote: Currently lusting after this - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f144/50s-kay-m1b-%241750-1026093/

Dave, you need to visit here: http://www.gruhn.com

I stopped by while passing through Nashville on the way home from Solo Nats. Lots of cool stuff--including upright basses.

David S. Wallens wrote:

DILYSI Dave wrote: Currently lusting after this - http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f144/50s-kay-m1b-%241750-1026093/

Dave, you need to visit here: http://www.gruhn.com I stopped by while passing through Nashville on the way home from Solo Nats. Lots of cool stuff--including upright basses.

Visiting Gruhn is on my bucket list. The guy was in charge of the Guild Factory for awhile in the 80's--his designs were some of the best ever. I have a Martin M-28 that was originally ordered by him (to sell in his store) to his exact specs, and it is probably the best guitar we've owned out of 60 or 70.

Gruhn, by the way, is about 5 minutes from the Lane Motor Museum. I know we mention them a bit, but it's really a cool place to visit.

Between Lane and Gruhn, you can hit Gabby's for a burger.

In reply to David S. Wallens:

I have no idea why I followed the Gabby's link, since I'm thousands of miles away.

But now I'm dying to know what's on the secret menu.

Ian F wrote: I paid off my mortgage today (yay!) and had some time to kill in the town where the bank is... they had a music store... At first, I picked up a used Goth model Epiphone Les Paul with a Floyd, but it really didn't do much for me... next I picked up this one and I had a moment of weakness: It's a late 80's Japanese Charvel. I've been itching for a "Super-Strat" guitar like this since I started playing again earlier this year. Hopefully, this will scratch it for awhile... it plays and sounds pretty good. Especially for the price: $250. By contrast, the Les Paul was $300, was in worse condition and didn't play or sound as good. But it had that cool all-black thing going for it. Score one for ugly 80's metal pointy guitars.

Sweet Charvel. Nothing wrong with 80's pointy metal guitars! I want an Explorer in the worst way.

I was out and about last weekend and we stopped at some antique stores I liked to frequent. To my surprise, they all had guitars. I didn't buy any, but it was nice to look.

The first place we stopped had some crappy Ibanez GIO guitars that were way overpriced, but they had an ESP LTD SG-style guitar (Viper) that was interesting. It had pearl inlays and upgraded pickups, but someone hacked in a really ugly square push button on there. I passed at $250, because you could almost buy a new one for that much. One of the Ibanez guitars was actually cool; it was a dual humbucker Tele copy. But not for $200+.

Next place had an Epiphone Goth Thunderbird bass in decent shape, but it was missing one string and needed a good cleaning. They wanted $200. If it's there in a month or so, I may go back and haggle for it. They are cool. The place that had it has worked with me on prices in the past, so I may be back. I did however score an original pressing of Bad Company's debut album on vinyl for $2, so that was cool.

The next place had the most interesting guitar of the day. It was a non-archtop "Gibson" Les Paul in a natural finish. The Gibson logo was not painted on, it was carved into the headstock, which was also natural wood. It appeared to have traditional Gibson chrome humbuckers on it, but I didn't get to really look at it long to see if it was the real deal or not. It had kind of a homemade vibe to it. They were closed for a baby shower, but forgot to put the sign up. There was no price on it, and judging from the stuff that did have prices, it was probably $$$$$.

Ian F wrote: I paid off my mortgage today (yay!) and had some time to kill in the town where the bank is... they had a music store... At first, I picked up a used Goth model Epiphone Les Paul with a Floyd, but it really didn't do much for me... next I picked up this one and I had a moment of weakness: It's a late 80's Japanese Charvel. I've been itching for a "Super-Strat" guitar like this since I started playing again earlier this year. Hopefully, this will scratch it for awhile... it plays and sounds pretty good. Especially for the price: $250. By contrast, the Les Paul was $300, was in worse condition and didn't play or sound as good. But it had that cool all-black thing going for it. Score one for ugly 80's metal pointy guitars.

YOU RAT BASTARD!!! Pretty much the same neck that I'm having put on the new project, but I hunted for months and couldn't find one with a Reverse Headstock. Is that a Predator?

In reply to poopshovel:

I have no idea. I did some Googling when I got home, but wasn't able to find much information about the Japanese Charvels. Tons of info about the original San Dimas guitars.

As much as I hate to say it, I'm finding myself drawn away from the Les Pauls I loved so much when I was younger... kinda depressing in a way...

Gimp wrote: So not really gear, but I did get this on Monday...

Awesome !

Oh yeah, are we jamming at the Challenge?

If we are talking old keyboards. That I have, or used to before I went electric.

My old 1902 K52 Steinway.