Guitars... what you've got / what you want

lots of discussion in the Stratocaster vs. Telecaster thread but figured we need something a little more general and all encompassing.

hoping to see lots of gear pics, wish lists, items you're eying, etc.

Have: Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Telecaster Deluxe
Want: big headstock Stratocaster in Olympic white, a Michael Karoli tribute guitar

Really want: Science Earthling (OR120-ish amp) but I don’t see having enough room for a big amp and 2x12.

current wishlist:

– 70s guild s-100 (would take one of the 90s re-issues too)
– ~70s Tele Deluxe natural
– SG standard, any year really, any color but cherry
– Jazzmaster - would love a j mascis or troy van luween sig model

"a Michael Karoli tribute guitar"

whats this?

I have a 2000s Japanese Fender Tele, a Fender Duo-Sonic, a recent custom Squier Classic Vibe 70s Tele, a Jackson Randy Rhoads, an Epi Korina Explorer with upgraded pickups and an Ibanez RG.

I don’t have room for anything else at the moment but would like a Jaguar at some point.

xp - that’s the Stratocaster I associate with him, not an official model or anything.

cool, you gonna try and build one out of parts or something? or did he play a certain year model?

shari thats a good collection which rhoads version do you have? do you play it a lot?

Have:
Gretch country club 1961
Ibanez,dunno but it's black
Hondo, it's a Gibson copy I think, but a good one.

Want:
Nothing really. Maybe a bass.

oh gonna need to see a pic of that gretsch.

i just bought three vintage gretsch's at an estate sale two weeks ago, gonna flip two of them and keep one i think. also got a hondo super strat copy at goodwill a few months back. i'll snap some pics over the weekend.

My Jazzmaster from a stupid angle

https://i.imgur.com/ZGF3Sh6.png

nice, matching headstock? what year is it?

2018, I think - '65 American Vintage Thin Skin from Wildwood. It was B-stock because the Firemist Silver is off but I like it because it's a little more blue.

my collection is disgusting

I forgot one from above because it's currently not playable - Peavey T-60, waiting on a new aluminum neck.

thanks for making this! i have:

- '72 tele thinline reissue c. 2000, natural finish, made in mexico. a few months ago i put the new wide range humbucker reissues in this.

- 2002 taylor 310 dreadnought, no electronics

- c. 2006 classic player strat, also MIM, sonic blue. i got this for a sweet deal because i contacted the craiglist seller from my work email and it turned out we worked for the same company.

- 2005 MIJ '66 jag reissue in lake placid blue. tricked out with duncan antiquties, mastery bridge, and mastery trem before i bought it.

- 2020 FGN (fujigen) neo classic - their take on the goldtop p-90 les paul

wants list changes all the time but currently at the top would be a white blonde 50s spec tele and a late 50s style jazzmaster in sunburst with the anodized gold pickguard.

- my main guitar is a late ‘60s galanti grand prix - a funky weird old Italian guitar i love: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPcDy49hhBl/
- epiphone dot that was my primary guitar for a long time
- alvarez acoustic my dad bought me when i was a teen
- my old beloved but sadly broken vantage semihollowbody lives in the basement. I’d like to get it fixed (something wrong with the wiring or pickups) but haven’t been able to justify spending money on it
- my wife’s ‘90s SG (coral pink) and danelectro bass

i don’t plan on buying any new gear anytime soon bc I’m not playing much. but the dream would be a vintage es-355. most of the other guitars that appeal to me are weird trashy 60s guitars or newer guitars that replicate that aesthetic

I've been given more guitars than I've purchased, and sold or given away more than I have. Currently:

-early 90's Tele Plus+ in natural finish, with the lace sensor pickups. That's my childhood guitar though I had a cheap 'starter' guitar before this one. Weighs a ton and really beat up. I never touch it anymore but I've had it almost 30 years, so can't give it up now. It's identical to the one Dead Meadow guy plays. Well, might have a couple more stickers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmxPWo6kBxA

-Danelectro '59 DC. It's a reissue, but an older reissue. I've had it since like 2006.

-a Korean made Saint Blues 61 South with a bigsby

-A 70's Musicmaster bass (no finish, not even clear)

-A Savona AWN-20 violao made in Brazil

-a cheap Yamaha acoutsic/electric 12 string that I also never touch.

I mostly play the Dano (because it's got a super comfortable neck and sounds good unplugged) and the Brazilian acoustic.

Always wanted a butterscotch 52 RI Tele. In 2008-ish I played a 6129T-1962 silver jet in a guitar store in Queens that I've lusted after since, mostly cause it looks amazing. It's basically a duo jet with the silver sparkle. Very much doubt I will ever purchase another guitar, though.

I'm not a gearhead or very fussy about guitars and guitar tones but I was into pedals at one time.

I was never one of those guys with 50 different overdrive pedals in search of the perfect tube screamer (at the risk of stating the obvious), more of a Gonkulators and Space Stations kind of pedal freak.

Currently have:
1. Goya classical from the 60s, it was my mother's

2. MIM Stratocaster

3. Squier Thinline Telecaster

4. Yamaha TRBX174 bass

5. Recording King Martin 000 copy

6. Fender mandolin

7. Hora bouzouki

8. Kit ukulele

There are probably a few more in storage but that's what I can put my hands on at present.

Want:

Mandola or octave mandolin

Hollowbody with p90s

Something with just a neck pickup

late 90s gibson les paul deluxe double cutaway, cherry sunburst

late 90s american standard tele, rosewood fretboard, 3 tone sunburst

early 80s ovation acoustic that belonged to my dad and is very special to me so please be nice

always really wanted a jackson randy rhodes or kelly or something.

i would like an es-335 too i guess

this thread is already great--i'm curious about what drove everyone's haves/wants. what motivates someone to get a given guitar is always interesting to me.

I’m dying for a Guild S-300 (not the one with the Dimarzio pickups, the one with the shitty Guild pickups)... in white, if possible.

I have no reason to get another guitar; I already have way more than I can use. But those things look so FUCKING cool, & with the phase-inverter switch I could get the tinny funk tones I want on occasion without any other fuss.

I bought a Guild B-301 a couple of years ago, same body type, roadworn as fuck, a beautiful beast, & I haven’t had any occasion to play it.

I haven’t actually picked up a guitar except strumming a cover or 2 once a month or so since Covid started (except for a couple weeks last fall when indoor gatherings weren’t yet banned, & my keys player & I jammed with a drum machine)

xp I collect Japanese solid bodies mostly, I love how well they’re made and I particularly like getting something a bit cheap or weird and fixing / adjusting until it’s great to play. I also can’t resist something I know to be underpriced compared to its quality. The problem is there’s no endpoint for that kind of process so I have a lot now. Better than collecting cars maybe.

Currently have:

1. 1965(?) Gretsch Corvette, the model with 2 hilotrons. Neck like a baseball bat, fake bigsby only goes down & not up so not super useful for the kind of vibrato you want a bigsby for, lo-output pickups play nicely with my hot little amp (a Tex Bernie CC)

2. Gretsch CVT, the Chinese-made modern version of the Corvette. Neck is wicked, bigsby is great, plays like a dream. Too hot for my amp; I should have just bought a volume pedal instead of the vintage Corvette

3. ESP Hybrid II. Swapped the shitty stock bridge pickup out for a TV Jones & scrapped the neck pickup altogether. Stupid purchase, and it’s a reasonably expensive guitar that nobody wants so I’ll never be able to sell it. It’s nice to play but it’s way more of a lead guitar than a rhythm guitar & I have no chops

4. Gretsch baritone guitar of some description. Was a placeholder for a Reverend Descent when I was in a 2-person band, just drums & bari... band never got off the ground so I don’t have a lot of use for it. Still jonesing for a Reverend Descent tho, for NO GOOD REASON

5. MIM Tele Cabronita. Decent player, lotta raunch. I think I swapped out the stock pickups for TV Joneses? Can’t remember. Didn’t get much stage time since the Corvette(s) came along

6, 7. A couple of shitty cheap Japanese acoustic guitars

Basses:

1. The aforementioned Guild B-301

2. The dumbest purchase I ever made, a 1968/1970 Fender Telecaster bass (one year is the neck, one year is the body but I can’t remember which). Used to belong to Billy Joel’s bassist apparently. Traded a late-70s P-bass plus a whack of cash for this glamourpuss, which looks like a million bucks but just doesn’t have any mojo whatsoever, like dating the most boring model you ever met

Pretty much after I got out of college in the mid 90s, I pretty much have been a gearwhore up til a few years ago, I realized this was nuts. It has taken quite a while to sell off the lot. I actually sold 2 basses, a guitar head, a vintage drum machine and an analog synth today.

I also finalized an order getting this parts guitar put together today, which when it is done I will have 10 instruments (4 basses, 4 electric guitars and 2 acoustics).

guitars...

I got two of other peoples 'failed' parts guitars of fleabay way cheaper than the parts itself would have cost. One is a black 'Gilmour' inspired strat that was wired up all wrong and had a thin neck. I sold the neck off, got a big fat neck made for it. I've had this one a decade now.

The other 'failed' parts guitar was a Warmoth firebird copy body (that they no longer made) that had a single TV Jones Powertron and was painted this ugly white color. I traded a Gibson Flying V (that I had found cheap)and the strat neck to get it repainted and a new neck. The F-bird was a mess as it needed a 'conversion neck'. I got it painted the same color red and the firebird logo from a '74 Transam. It's pretty wicked looking. That said, the neck is not as thick as I was really wanting...so I don't really jive with it like I would like.

The other guitar I have is a 2 Humbucker Tele build that I friend of mine who is a pro luthier put together when he was building out of his house for a few years. It has a pair of Dimarzio zebra humbuckers that I had at one point in a black mexico strat. I've had it also for over a decade now.

basses...

I sold my 78 Pbass and my first year Geddy Lee jazz bass in the past few months. I bought the Pbass for $250 bucks in '91 and a buddy of mine said I paid too much at the time. Could not believe I got $1500 bucks out of GC for the thing...it weighed a metric ton. The Ged I played in the cover band I was in when I first moved to KY.

I got one of those SG reissue basses when they first came out and kinda got hooked on it. I got it and found dirt cheap that Norlin bass I was talking about. Liked the SG one, I ran into one of the guitar of the week sunburst versions - so I got and later on a Thunderbird (Watt/Kim Gordon) that I always wanted. The Firebird is the best 'sounding' bass I got. That said the aircraft carrier case is kinda awkward, so I always dug having the two SG basses. I kinda think humbucker pickups are a bit underrated on basses now. I think they work really well in a trio setup.

acoustics...

I got a mid-70s Alvarez acoustic that I have had probably 15 years or so. It's not a particularly 'loud' acoustic but it has a very sweet sound. I got a used Martin Dx... series acoustic and that one I play ALOT. I love the laminate neck, it is so stable. It has excellent action up the neck.

amps...

I got a couple of Mesa Boogies including a 50 Caliber+ head (knicked named the DOOM BOOGIE) and a Single Rectifier head. I also have a 50 watt'68 silverface Bassmen head. Previous owner had it completely gone over. It's killer for recording Bass and with my Ampeg Scrambler reissue pedal - it sounds DEAD on for Jim McCarty's tone on the early Cactus records.

I have:

1997 Japanese John Jorgenson signature "Hellecaster" (heavy as fuck champagne sparkle/gold strat/G&L Comanche style guitar with Z pickups)

White 90s Japanese Jazzmaster

Teal post-2000-seeming Mexican tele

Want:
A tele that's brighter sounding/a bit less of a slog to play (unless they're all like that, I can't even remember)

A Rickenbacker bass (lol)

I'll probably succumb to the siren call of a Jag at some point in my life but my Jazzmaster is very nice to play so no rush

I've got every piece of music gear (minus the $100 drum set with $150 in new heads that lives in the basement) along one wall in the tiny room that has become my wife's home office over the last year; she gets lots of comments during zoom meetings and has to tell the guys (always guys) that she has no idea about or interest in what is going on behind her.

https://i.postimg.cc/HkrLhkqX/IMG-1139.jpg

1. 1981 Tokai Silver Star, modified with a blend pot instead of the second tone knob and a direct out switch because I hate hitting the volume knob all the time by accident. I posted about this earlier in the thread, never wanted a strat but found this one for pretty cheap and wanted white one with a rosewood fretboard and big 70s headstock (Karoli style?).

2. 1974 Gibson SG. I got this last year right before lockdown. It's in decent shape, I love the skinny neck, and I wanted something from my birth year and this was relatively cheap compared to most other options. I replaced all the pots and capacitors and jack which feels sacrilegious but they were all scratchy and loose but I kept the switch. Ian Mackaye and Carrie Brownstein, some Iommi, not really Angus Young.

3. A 2017 Telecaster Deluxe neck on the routed out body of a 1998 MIM telecaster, with P90s. I had built this with Lace Matt Pike humbuckers and the full 'Jimmy Page' wiring with four push-pull pots but learned I don't like humbuckers that much. I didn't really know these guitars existed til 10 years ago or so and I love the weird hybrid bastardized neck/body combo and 'fuck it just route everything and make a giant pickguard' Fenderness of it.

4. 2014 Epiphone 335 Pro with updated pickups and the Jimmy Page wiring (in a semi-hollow for pure masochism). This was the second electric I got and would probably be the first to go if I was to sell any - I like bright as shit guitars and this one isn't, plus the neck is very square feeling. I honestly don't remember why I wanted to get a semi-hollow - probably some sort of No Age / Bob Weir combination.

5. 1971 Yamaha FG 180 - one of the red label / 'Nippon Gakki' ones that seem to be prized. I got this for $100 a pawn shop. It's not as nice to play as some friend's Martins but it's decent enough.

6. 1998 MIM Telecaster neck and pickups on a wudtone finished GFS swamp ash body. This tele, originally with the black body above, was my first guitar, bought new at a guitar center in Phoenix because of Joe Strummer and Buck Owens and Luther Perkins and Pete Anderson. I owned it for years and didn't play much at all until I got back into it in 2013 or so.

I did the body swap and Tele deluxe spin-off a few years ago on a whim one day after staring at the cover of Born to Run for a while. The body was like $60 and is hilariously cheap with four chunks glued together somewhere in Asia with no concern for matching grains or anything - like the back side looks way better and more cohesive than the front. This has a five-way 'super switch' for phase and series/parallel stuff. If I had to only keep one guitar, this would be it.

7. 2015 Squier Jazzmaster with Fender pickups and a new pickguard. - I got this new in Portland a few years ago at a place that had it priced really cheap and gave me a deal on a case with it and I've wanted one for years due to Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, Television, Dinosaur JR, etc. I always think I don't really like this one, then I play something like 'Divine Intervention' by Matthew Sweet on it and love it again.

8. 2013 MIM 50s Lacquer Precision with a black pickguard. I have a Jazz bass but was always trying to dull it down in the band I play in to fit around the keyboards and the neck felt too skinny so I found this on craigslist for like $200 less than the cheapest ones on Reverb. It's got a huge neck with a 7.25" radius and tiny frets and a red fuzz lined tweed case and I love it.

9. Not shown - a 2003 Squier Jazz Bass that I got for $75 at the guitar center in Seattle; it's being stripped because I hate sunburst and is going to get something like a big dumb gibson mudbucker added to the neck spot along with the existing J pickups.

Other than that it's a 1978 Fender Princeton Reverb (with the 'pull boost' and death cap removed the ground switch converted to a 0/half/normal negative feedback resistor option), a totally stock 90s GK RB400, a recent used 2x10 GK bass cab, and a bunch of cheap or built-from-kits pedals. There's also a Sunn Alpha 6 PA that a friend left at my house years ago because it didn't work but it just needed a new fuse holder. It sounds good as a bass amp but honestly just kind of looks rad.

Honestly I like to build and fix and modify guitars/amps/pedals about as much as I like to play them, if not slightly more. I have zero need and not much room for anything else but things I would be ecstatic to find at a yard sale for cheap:

- fiesta red Jaguar
- rickenbacker bass (lol)
- goldtop les paul
- one of those short scale PJ mustang basses that showed up a few years ago

Have -

Mid Eighties G&L Lynx Bass
Mid Eighties G&L El Toro Bass
1991 Warwick Thumb Bolt On Bass
Aria Electric Upright Bass

EastCoast cheapy Gibson 350 copy
Cheapy Acoustic, from the antique shop around the corner

Want -

Another Warwick (needs researching)
60s Tele Bass
G&L Interceptor bass (w/whammy bar)
Fernandes Tele bass (for project)
Shergold Marathon 6 String Bass (had two at one point, sold them both, instant regret)

Ampwise I have had various Fenders and Voxes but am happy now with just a Blues Junior.

A lot of the time I end up going direct, because of how many instruments I may end up playing on a given evening. Way easier to use a Para Driver or Blonde Sansamp when I may be switching between guitar, bass, mandolin, bouzouki, and electronic drums.

have: lefties

want: more lefties

(want gibson acoustics more than anything)

i'd like to play a bass vi someday

I have:
(an old picture when everything was out)

https://qc-ckb.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ilx/et_guitars.jpg

1. 1965 Jazzmaster. I've been posting about this one in the Jazzmaster thread.

2. 1975 Telecaster. I've had this since 1984. Unforgiving but sounds fantastic with the AC30.

3. 2005 CIJ Stratocaster XII. Purchased it mostly new from a gray marketer in Costa Mesa and took it everywhere when I was regularly playing gigs at this time. Really nice guitar & stays in tune. Overdue for a pickup and wiring swap.

4. 1999 Am Standard Strat. In 2004 I was shopping for amplifiers and ended up coming home with no amp but the guitar I was trying them out with. I gutted all the electronics, put in a set of 1968 Strat pickups I found on eBay, replaced the pots with push/pull ones for in/out phase switching, and replaced the bridge & tremolo block with a heavy Callaham one. Extremely forgiving and somehow I just naturally play better with it - which is why it's sitting in a closet on the other side of the country rn.

5. 1967 Vox Cheetah. Rescued from a heavy metal supply store in Huntington Beach in 1993. Idiosyncratic and dark sounding. Only sounds its best when it's right on the edge of feedbacking so powerfully that you can feel the glued joints loosen up. At some point I expect it to turn to wood powder in my hands.

6. [not shown] Unknown early 60s electric bouzouki.

7. [not shown] early-00s CIJ JM-66 Jazzmaster. Currently disassembled but will eventually become a "72 Jazzmaster Deluxe" with the CuNiFe WRHB pickup reissues.

I want:

Nothing. Ms. Telecom has two terrific basses (a Musicmaster bass from the 70s and a '62 J-bass reissue from the 90s) so there isn't really anything I want except more time to write and maybe a Bass VI or baritone. Sure, if I had stupid amounts of money I'd love to have an all-original Fender something in Lake Placid Blue or a hollowbody Gretsch.

BTW, we’ll want another of these threads for synths/keys

I have:

1997 Japanese John Jorgenson signature "Hellecaster" (heavy as fuck champagne sparkle/gold strat/G&L Comanche style guitar with Z pickups)

― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Saturday, May 29, 2021 8:09 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

holy shit, i remember seeing this guitar in catalogs. can you tell me how you ended up with it? i was looking and apparently there are only like 500 of them. also, this incredible fact from jorgenson's website:

Due to a factory error, the total run of guitars ended up with an extra resistor on the bottom tone control which made the guitar sound as is if the treble was completely rolled off. After getting many enquiries about the tone of the pickups (my personal guitars were prototypes and didn’t have the problem) I finally had the chance to compare a factory model side by side to my own, and was dismayed to hear the difference in tone! Luckily the remedy is very easy, just unscrew the pickguard and clip out the resistor closest to the bottom of the guitar and voila, it sounds as intended! Most players and owners by now have already done this, but I do believe that this error initially hurt the sales and image of the model.

Elvis, there is a synth zone thread

- '72 tele thinline reissue c. 2000, natural finish, made in mexico. a few months ago i put the new wide range humbucker reissues in this.

- 2005 MIJ '66 jag reissue in lake placid blue. tricked out with duncan antiquties, mastery bridge, and mastery trem before i bought it.

― call all destroyer, Friday, May 28, 2021 6:13 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

would love to see pics of these.

My main guitar is one of those thinline reissues. I plan on installing those creamery humbucker reissues once the guy starts taking new orders again. A couple years ago I got a Trem-King installed on it, which is a lot of fun.

About halfway through a rebuild of a shitty Davison warlock knockoff I got new for 100 bucks a decade ago. Installed a floyd rose bridge and new neck on it. Still have to finish routing a pool, designing a pickguard (gonna install lace sensors), and revamping the electrics.

I've got one of those short-scale Airline Map basses that Eastwood makes. Love her dearly.

I also have an old beater bass that's a hollowbody with no brand name and scratchy electronics but it was supposedly Jenny from Erase Errata's first instrument so I rock out on it occasionally for the good juju. I want plenty more but just don't have the space in our shoebox in SF.

As for wants, I've never played a baritone guitar but have been lusting after that Ronquillo edition of the Rivolta Mondata and regret not pulling the trigger on it before it sold out even though it would've been a foolish financial decision at the time.

here's my gretsch's l-r:
- 2015 Panther Prototype MIJ (center block, hardtail)
- 1995 Brian Setzer 6120-SSU
- 1979 Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen 7670
- 1963 Streamliner 6103
https://i.imgur.com/M2Ccs3d.jpg
got the three on the right at an estate sale a couple weeks back, all are in ridiculously good shape. the binding is usually breaking/coming apart on a lot of 60s gretsch's but this one has no issues. planning on keeping the chet and selling the other two i think. the panther was my parting gift when i left fmic.

Here's that 80s hondo i was talking about. i cant find much info on it but its supposed to be like a kramer baretta. pulled the pickup in hopes it was one of the dimarzio humuckers that were in some early hondos... it was not. it sounds pretty cool tho. $10 at goodwill.
https://i.imgur.com/gIwMqvW.jpg

Here's my list of shame. I could make excuses for any one of them individually, but collectively? no chance.
1950? Unknown parlour guitar
1965 Sadao Yairi classical
1965 Teisco TG-64 guitar
1966 Fender USA Mustang
1966 Mory Jazzmaster
1966 Teisco TB-4 bass
1966 Yamaha SG-3
1967 Morales ZES-300
1968 Höfner Galaxie 175
1969? Canora MIJ classical
1971 Yamaha S-50A classical
1972 Greco TL-350 (shortscale Tele)
1973 Greco TE-500 (Tele Thinline)
1975 Greco TD500 (Tele Deluxe)
1976 Eston (Suzuki) acoustic 12 string
1977 Greco Super Sounds (Strat)
1978 Fender USA Musicmaster
1978 Ibanez Concord acoustic
1981 K Yairi DY-51 acoustic
1982 Squier JV Tele Custom
1983 Squier JV Strat
1983 Squier SQ Tele Custom
1985 Fender Japan Jazzmaster
1985 Fender Japan TL33 Tele
1985 Ibanez Roadstar II bass
1987 Fender Japan TL52 Tele
1988 Fender Japan ST-456
2000? Epiphone Casino MIK
2012 Fender Japan Bass VI

call all destroyer, there was exactly one of those Jorgenson Hellecasters in a music shop in Birmingham (UK) leading up to Christmas 1999, and I basically went all in on getting it via every family Christmas present I was getting and a 12 month payment plan on top. It was actually reduced to £580 just before I bought it but I guess is worth a bit more now. I remember the other music shop across town also had the blue sparkle Jerry Donahue model which I was also kind of tempted by. It's a little more uh elegant looking than mine

People aren't kidding about the muddy tone, didn't get that fixed until a few years later. Once I had it fixed up it plays beautifully though, so easy to get around.

I believe there may have been 500 in the west and 500 more in Japan; mine is 234

that’s so cool. the thing i read said that there were 500 total with 250 staying in japan but either way, very very limited.

Yah I’d never heard of that looks super cool

here is everything except the FGN which is in the other free corner of the room (also observant viewers may see part of my cat as he jumped up while i was taking this

https://i.imgur.com/lPeyCty.jpg

That’s like the exact jag I’d want

i believe ilx user albert broccoli also has this jag!

Definitely feelin the Jag envy

i think the jag is the one fender model where things like the block inlays, neck binding, and matching headstock actually look better than standard fender austerity.

i was just thinking the other day about looking for like a black/white/black 3-ply guard for the tele thinline....it's a rock machine with the new wide-ranges and i'm not sure if the white pearloid is the right spirit. anyone like or hate that idea?

TV Jones are pretty much considered top quality for Gretsch pickups and they use them as OEM on the Japanese pro models. That said, they are not cheap as they cost like Lollar or Fralin or other higher end pickup makers.

I don't know, they are kinda spendy and you can end up having as much in the pickups as the Electromatic Gretsch.

Other thing on Gretsch pickup swaps is that you got to make sure you have the right type of mounts as they install a few different ways and swapping out a pickup in an archtop or semi hollow can be a witch. I know some techs charge more to swap them out as you got to work through the F holes etc to wire them up as it is a PITA.

I'd save up your nickels and look at getting used MIJ Gretsch if you want the next step up. TV Jones pickups do sound good, and they have their own thing.

One trick to consider to tweak is getting an EQ pedal. There are some Nashville studio cats that have some videos out there showing using a regular ole' Boss pedal to change the sound to get other tones out of the same guitar.

Nice thanks. I actually just bought a boss EQ and should mess around more with the clean tones. Been using it to beef up my big muff mostly

Tom Bukovac did the EQ pedal video I saw a few years ago. He had some setting for getting a Gretsch tone out of a humbucker guitar I remember.

My summer project is modding one of those cheapo Mustang clones from IYV (or the Harley Benton branded one appears identical). I picked that instead of a low end Squier because it comes with a JM/JG style trem instead of the hardtail or Mustang trem.

Mustang-style seems like a perfect guitar for dipping my toes in, since all the electronics including the jack are in the pickguard. If I like how it turns out, I might pick up a wiring harness from Gunstreet or something. I've tried soldering before and it was a complete failure.

Anyway, I'll post some photos at various points in the process.

is there a guitar care/tech thread

Sorry thats not at all to you Johnny i am up for everything right here— it’s that i have a cheap old parlor that needs fret care and i’m even more ignorant about ‘what even is fret leveling?” than i am about playing. i just dont want to clutter the thread with my bs

also stoked to see yr mustang and proj pics, my brain is so wired for seeing repair/overhaul/upgrade.

like my casino has a v slightly twisted tone pot or whatever so that the top of the range shows at like 6 or something and i am too afraid to do _anything_ to my precious. i dont even want to restring it.

lol I've already started buying hardware and the guitar hasn't even been shipped yet.

Is using a router easy? I've never tried, but I'm gonna have to cut a notch in the trem cavity because I can't find a decent without the locking button and I'll need to route a little notch for that on the IYV.

decent *trem

Dremel that sucker

good luck with it sounds like a fun project!

don't get sued by Fender!

speaking of, what a guitar shitshow that has been

I bit the bullet and bought a 1978 Gibson ES-175T. It's fucking fantastic. It's a "player guitar"-- the neck has been clumsily sanded, the pickups and wiring swapped out-- and it was priced accordingly. Beautiful oxblood finish.

Nice! Would love to see it.
And I blanch at the question “is using a router easy” because those suckers are dangerous AF. Maybe try a laminate trimmer (mini router) and be absurdly safety conscious. If you have a drill press you can even put a router bit in that for a little job like adding a notch - much cheaper than buying a router!

I always forget I own a Dremel because I've only used it 2 or 3 times in the last 10 years, but I'm gonna try that first.

I’m guessing you already know there is a router frame attachment for Dremels? A great way to get a feel for it while minimising risk.

Routers are almost too easy to use. A person can easily get too comfortable and hamburger a finger. If you worked in a shop doing this all day a router would make sense, otherwise don’t fuck with them unless you are a tool guy.

If you use anything that rotates at a furious speed, make sure you put your hair back very well if it’s long. A friend had long hair that got caught in the dremel and in seconds it rode the lock of hair up to his head, ripped hair out and gave him a lump before he even knew what happened.

i was like-- isn't a 175 like a 295 (which i only sorta know cause i think i saw maybe roddy frame playing one)? so i went to something called "gear page" and read about customizing a 175 and how versatile the 175 is. i am so susceptible to this as an interest somehow. tell us as you go, ha.

i have the dremel and the router adaptor and found it a bit of a bodge. not structurally rigid enough to be reliable was my fear. but i didn't try too hard.

I've only ever owned one fully hollow guitar like the ES-175T, and it was a feedback monster. I wish you better luck.

A normal 175 has a centre block— a 175T has a “dip” under the bridge, not quite a block, but some extra wood under there to dampen it. It doesn’t feed back in my practice space, and if it’s good here it’ll be good onstage.

My 125TDC (with no “dip”) is remarkably feedback resistant. My former 350 clone had issues— I had to stuff it and stop the f-holes, and it sounded terrific even dampened, although the stuffing/dampening made me feel like I was using the wrong instrument

welcome fellow norlin era gibson owner

as for routers, I would be terrified of routing any cavities without having a template of some sort clamped in place - it's so incredibly easy to flinch and catastrophically fuck it up.

I've done lots of body routing with some combination of chisels, dremels, and drills with forstner bits. Chiseling can almost be enough on its own, but it also helps tremendously with defining edges so when things do chip there is a clean, strait stopping point, if that makes sense.

I may not end up needing to route anything. Maybe the term it comes with is fine. I don't suspect it will be, because even the term on my CV Jazzmaster isn't very good, and that guitar was 5x the price of the IYV new.

That said, I was able to find a Kluson branded offset trem without the lock. The only thing I know Kluson for is tuning pegs, but maybe the other hardware they sell is ok too.

spell check got me several times there... TREM!

Weary of my collecting mania, I’ve decided to ease up, but allowed myself the exception that if an original Tele Deluxe ever came up at a good price I’d consider it. You know what happened next, very much against the odds here in the arse end of Australia.

https://i.ibb.co/6JgLG5bk/IMG-0660.jpg
1976, all original bar a refret and one saddle.

A fair bit of cleaning and adjusting to come, but man, those pickups.

wow what a find!

Nice!

My IYV Mustang project is on hold because I got distracted by a strat build instead. The only actual strat I've ever owned is a Squier from 1989 (MIK), and I figured I'd better start snatching s-style bodies and parts while I can before Fender messes up what's available on Aliexpress. Currently waiting for a neck to arrive.

that tele is gorgeous

That is a beautiful tele.

I’m curious as to which end of Australia is considered the “arse end”. (My visits around Australia, it’s been all arse wocka wocka)

I’m getting close to my 2xP90 Strat being complete. We’re daringly wiring in a piezo into the spring box. Google videos of people wiring up piezos into their Strats, the results are pretty startling, I’m excited

i'm jealous of that tele

that tele is gorgeous wow ♥️

Well thanks all. It was a fair bit cheaper than they usually go so I was kinda swept up. The downside is the grunge on it is like earwax, and has kind of merged with the finish in places - I am tackling it with slightly soapy water and extreme care. And then I have to sort out the neck, hoping the truss rod is still functional. It’s playable but not perfect.
Such a lovely thing though. And the guy selling it plugged me into a Deluxe reverb and gee, those pickups are all they’re said to be. My first experience with the real thing.

fgti I’m glad your “trip down under” was all ass - I was referencing a notorious comment by our ex prime minister that Australia was “the arse end of the world” and of course Tasmania is its lowest point. Even on such a small island I had to drive 5 hours to get this, but it was my “white whale”.

driving 5 hours on tasmania seems like whoa.

worth it imo

That tele's a beaut.

Also, piezo in the springbox?!
(i know, I know it's serious)

What a strange, simple idea, never heard of it before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8N3C6tfdq4

This video is just amazing-- this kid, wow

@ mattt I was just kidding obv and Tasmania was by a yard my favourite place in Australia and featured a meal I still dream about fifteen years later

Oh lovely! And I didn’t read any disrespect in your previous, sounds like a fine trip all round. Hunt3r I cheated a bit, it was 2.5 hours there and the same coming back. Still worth it. It’s possible to drive 6 hours from the SE to the NW one way - Tas is about half Vancouver Island size.

thx- merely someday travel dreams for me.

This video is just amazing-- this kid, wow

omg that's fantastic

guitar complaint: i would definitely be open to a one-pickup guitar if they weren't so often just a bridge pickup. i feel like they should be in the middle like a fender p-bass.

A lot of older guitars (esp hollow bodies) will only have a neck pickup... I've seen a couple with only a middle but it's not common, mostly cheapo imports

I had a Harmony Bobcat with only a middle, it was just okay

Fender Musicmaster is neck-only, right? I saw a video of Paul Carrack playing a Hofner Jazzica. I saw one in a shop once but did not attempt to play or buy it.

Lots of archtops fit the bill in this regard. Personally I find the combo of bit-of-piezo plus neck to be the most wonderful sound imaginable

my favorite pickup combo is probably the "Gilmour" mod where you have the neck and bridge of the Strat together

I bought a 1964 single neck-pickup Harmony Rocket in high school for $30

Like an idiot I spray-painted it black and added a dumb DiMarzio humbucker, crudely cutting a hole in the bridge position... I think I played a couple shows and then it spent many years in the closet

A few years ago I stripped it, stained it grey (with three applications of Danish oil followed by 0000 steel wool polishing), replaced the humbucker with a P-90, with one volume knob per pickup and no tone knobs. New 'vintage' kluson-type tuners... so something I had basically ruined in my youth is now a guitar I play all the time, it's really solid and playable and stays in tune

(oh the original pickup was one of those gold-foil DeArmond pickups that Rick Fork loved so much, it sounds rad)