A GUITAR CHAT thread

[Rick Lee]

The local Sam Ash had a 2016 Marshall JCM 800 in new condition for sale today for a a ridiculous price. I bought it to flip, but, once I got her home, biased her correctly and did some tube rolling, I might have to keep this one. I could not pass this up. I could flip for $1k profit tomorrow.

[ramonesfreak]

Upgraded my old RC10 to the RC500 and ended up building new loop board

Main signal splits into 2 channels. Main signal gets split into 2 mono signals to two amps- channel A. Channel B is only drums and loops (or main signal included) and split into stereo into 2 other amps. Both channels are blended via volume pedal. 4 amps and 1 extension cabinet. Sound in my cave is unreal. Been standing here 3 days. Ears are ringing

Current version of my happy place

[ramonesfreak]

[Steve Carlton]

[ramonesfreak]

I made all those cables :-)

[Steve Carlton]

Do you have a video of you playing something? Or a sound recording?

[ramonesfreak]

Nothing uploaded. Maybe someday


What comes out of this I would describe as a mix of JJ Cale and Ry Cooder on a bed of Brian Eno

Tasty

[TimT]

Damn thats a lot of pedals..

I have to get a new board as I outgrew the Nano+ I have..

my board:

TC Ditto Looper
Mooer Micro drummer
TC anti-graviy compressor
AnalogMan King of Tone
Electro-Harmonix Q-tron

And Spurr Audio Time travel delay with Flux Capacitor




Need to stop impulse buying pedals

[ramonesfreak]

Anyone using the Nu-X B8 wireless system? Just ordered it. looks well done

[ramonesfreak]

wow geeez

[Steve Carlton]

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paul-mccartney-hofner-bass-returned-lost-bass-project/

[oldE]

A guitar journey.
I think my first guitar was a plastic Reliable, given to me one Christmas when I was about 9. Predictably it eventually cracked at the neck-body " joint" . It was about a year after that when I found the carcass of a discarded guitar at the dump and was able to drag home the neck, fretboard and top. I cut a back out of plywood paneling and bent sides in a crude form. My mistake ( other than thinking I could reconstruct a guitar) was using the wrong glue, so it came apart as soon as it was done.
Some time after that, I suspect my father came across the sad remnants of my efforts and came to the conclusion that this boy really wanted a guitar. He purchased a used instrument which was probably typical of an entry level guitar in that the action was high and there was actually dry rot in the top.
That one got traded in a few years later for a Kent acoustic. It was cheap, which is not something to really recommend, but it went to university with me. It got retired a year later when I bought my first high quality instrument. I removed the strings and somewhere in our photos there is a picture of an orange tabby kitten peering out of the sound hole. Fifteen years ago I gave it to a luthier friend of mine who narrowed the neck and converted it to an octave mandolin. It was good to see it have a second life.
Best
Les

[oldE]

After my first year of university, I was instructed to take a year off. Possibly because I majored in "party". I then did the best thing I could have done to change my attitude towards academic application, in that I went to work on my BIL's farm. That winter I bought the Framus 12 string. The music store actually had a matching pair of guitars, one 6 string and the 12. I was heavily into Gordon Lightfoot's music at the time, so spent three weeks wages on the 12.
The construction is interesting in that the back is (possibly) steam formed and has no bracing. The neck is made up of laminations and bolts on. I have had this instrument for 50 years and keep it strung with D'dario extra light strings tuned down a half tone and capoed. I have been taking it to jam sessions as all other guitars which show up are 6 string acoustics and it is good to have a different voice in the mix.



Best
Les

[oldE]

Thinking I needed something else, I bought another 6 string. This one a Seagull, built in Quebec. It had a matt finish and a deep bass, but never developed a bright note. It always felt like a disappointment. Then the opportunity came to trade it for a cheap Strat copy. I suppose I thought I should broaden my repertoire, but it turns out I am like "Guitar George. Strictly rhythm, he doesn't wanna make it cry or sing". When I took it out to jam, my friends christened it the "White Lady". Uh-huh. It is just plain white trash.

I built a case for it and it seems to live there.

Best
Les

[oldE]

Thirty years ago, when I still had the Seagull, I picked up a local trader magazine in Western Nova Scotia. One advertisement listed "two acoustic guitars, one Yamaha ". I called and got the address. My first impression was disappointment. The guitar was leaning against a wall, spattered with paint. The strings were oxidized and were probably 5 years old. The machine heads had seized so the owner used Vice grips and a propane torch to move them. (The grips had started to melt and showed the marks of the pliers). The bridge was a piece of steel and the nut was a piece of hard wood. But when I picked it up and tuned it, it still was able to give evidence of the voice it posessed. It was an FG 580, the bottom end of a line of semi hand built instruments Yamaha produced in the early '70s. The owner had purchased it new in Halifax and played at dances for years until his hands developed arthritis. It bore cigarette burns and pick wear, but it needed a new home.
I cleaned off the paint, replaced the nut and bridge and installed Grover machine heads. She sings! When I play out, I will either use a Markley sound hole pick up or a condenser mic to amplify. This guitar, along with the Framus will be with me until the end.

Best
Les

[oldE]

Fifty years ago, when I was meeting my future in-laws for the first time, I noticed her father's guitar. It was a Hensel. Made in Toronto for the department store market in the 30s by a German immigrant who had switched over from violins. Her father bought it used for $5 in the 40s and it had not had a good life. With no case and living in a farmhouse with a central furnace. The dry air had cracked the back, loosened some back braces and the saddle was lifting. Years later my MIL bought him a classical guitar which was easier for him to play and the Hensel disappeared. 6 or 7 years ago, after my FIL had died, I was doing some work for my MIL, and came across the old guitar sealed in garbage bags. I asked if I might try to do something with the old instrument and she said she would be pleased if I tried.
The cracks in the back had curled a bit and needed steam to get them close to flat and cleats to secure the joints. I made a new ladder brace for the back and re-glued the saddle. Re-stringing was nerve wracking but everything went well and amazingly enough the action was not bad and the old parlor guitar lived again. My MIL was very pleased.
These days it is tuned DADGAD, with a capo on the 5th fret. I use it for some Stan Rogers songs and others in that tuning.
Here is the old girl. Not bad for 90!




Best
Les

[oldE]

And to wind up the whole story, I mentioned the classical guitar my MIL bought for her husband 30 years ago. It too was from the Quebec luthier. When he died, she told me he wanted me to have it. I thanked her and asked if it could remain in her house so I could play for her from time to time. When she went into care a year and a half ago, the classical came home with me and although I use the Yamaha when I play for the residents, a few times I have taken my FIL's old guitars to do private 'concerts ' for her. It is the least I can do for her and his memory.



Come to think of it, at the moment it is tuned to open G. I blame it on the Stones.

Best
Les

[unclebilly]

^^^ Les, that’s awesome.

I’d love to hear you play Stan Rogers someday. Oh the year was 1778…

[Jeff Alton]

Les,

Epic instruments! Love the timeline and the guitar history, and and the stories that go with each.

Cheers

[oldE]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

^^^ Les, that’s awesome.

I’d love to hear you play Stan Rogers someday. Oh the year was 1778…

Easy to do "Barrett's Privateers " as it is accapella.
One of my favorites is "Lies"
DADGAD is for "Harris and the Mare", "Witch of the Westmoreland " and of course, "Mary Ellen Carter"

Hope your ankle is healing.
Best
Les