The Ones That Got Away

Tulsa Blue Legend Steve Pryor's 1964 Stratocaster

2013-02-22T00:57:00.003-08:00

This isn't one that got away...thank goodness. But it's a guitar that I have seen and admired countless times in the hands of my personal favorite guitarist of all time, Tulsa blues legend and Oklahoma Blues Hall of Famer, Steve Pryor. I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which has a rich musical history, and I was fortunate enough to see some amazing Tulsa musicians, famous and not, over the years. There was even something called "the Tulsa sound" at one point. Steve Pryor is my all-time fave.

To me, the Tulsa sound is a mix of blues and rock and country and grit and soul and sweat. Steve Pryor embodies all of that. He was once called the heir apparent to Stevie Ray Vaughn, and I can understand the comparison. Steve can start with a slow burn and build and build until the building is on fire. He's got that gritty vocal quality that just oozes life experience and countless nights playing in bars and on smoky stages. In the early nineties, Steve started getting quite a bit of national attention. He released a more commercial album produced by Dwight Yoakam's guitarist and producer, Pete Anderson. He toured nationally, blowing the Fabulous Thunderbirds off the stage every night. But, like a lot of musicians, his career got derailed by drugs and personal issues. Eventually, in April of 2004, Steve ended up in a one-car accident that left him seriously injured and put his music career on hold throughout a long recovery. But Steve Pryor is back and, most would say, better than ever. If I still lived in Tulsa, you can count on the fact that I would be at one of his countless shows as often as I could.

I was curious about Steve's well-worn 1964 Stratocaster, so I sent a note to his Facebook page. Gretchen Mullen, who runs Steve's social media, was nice enough to respond to me and let me know that she had just written a story about Steve's famous guitar. She has been extremely kind enough to allow me to reprint it here. I will include photos from Steve's Facebook page and link up a little video for you as well. Without further ado, here is Gretchen's story of Steve Pryor's '64 Fender Stratocaster:

The Story of a Guitar: Steve Pryor and the Stratocaster

By Gretchen Mullen

According to music legend, guitarist Chet Atkins was in a Nashville studio warming up for a session. A young technician came into the studio and stood watching open-mouthed until Chet finished.
”Gee, Mr. Atkins, that guitar sure sounds fabulous,” the tech exclaimed. Chet placed the guitar on its stand, smiled at the tech and said, “Well, son, how does it sound now?”

In 1975, Norman’s Rare Guitars opened in Reseda, California. It was a small, word-of-mouth shop specializing in vintage instruments known among musicians as the go-to location for the finest guitars available in the United States. In 1978, Tulsa blues musician Steve Pryor walked in to Norman’s, knowing he wanted to buy an L-series black Stratocaster. The only specification he wasn’t sure about was the year. After a bit of discussion, ten black 1964 Stratocasters were brought out for Pryor to inspect. He spent his entire day there, trying each guitar with equal interest. By the end of the day, he walked out with the black Stratocaster he still plays today. It cost him $200 and a Music Man Amplifier which the store agreed to take in trade.

Since that time, Steve Pryor and his guitar have travelled many miles, played thousands of venues from nice to not so nice, and shared the stage with the likes of such blues greats as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Paul Butterfield, Bugs Henderson and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. The guitar has accompanied him to his 2006 induction into the Oklahoma Blues Hall of Fame and his 2009 induction into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame as a blues inductee.

The first Fender Stratocaster appeared in 1954. The body of the Stratocaster was more sleek and contoured than any other guitar that preceded it. The guitar’s build allowed the musician to move more freely and allowed for greater showmanship on stage. Once it was embraced by rock icons such as Buddy Holly, George Harrison, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, the guitar’s popularity soared. Simply put, the Stratocaster looked “cool.”

Interestingly, this is one of the reasons, aside from sound, that Steve Pryor went into Norman’s Rare Guitars that day way back in 1978 and requested a black Strat. Pryor’s guitar needed to be black for one reason and one reason only: Jimi Hendrix’s last guitar, a 1968 Stratocaster, was black, and photographed with his black Strat, Hendrix looked very cool.

Pryor has made some unique modifications to his instrument, thanks in good part to the expertise of Tulsa Guitar and Electronic’s own Steve Hickerson, known affectionately among musicians as “Doc.” Pryor explains the modifications, which involve terminology such as “bridge pickup,” “saddles,” and “open string harmonics.” Suffice it to say, the modifications have made the guitar sound better—in fact, the modifications have made the guitar sound like no other.

While many musicians have given their guitars nicknames—Willie Nelson and “Trigger;” B. B. King and “Lucille;” Stevie Ray Vaughan and “Number One”—Pryor’s Strat has never had a name. But this does not mean the guitar isn’t treated well. When at home and not in its case, the guitar rests high up off the floor on a soft pallet. And only once did the beloved guitar get mistreated by its owner. In a frantic and hurried restringing session, Pryor lost his temper and threw the guitar across a concrete dressing room floor. The guitar did indeed suffer an injury, which Pryor repaired himself with a vial of super glue. Fortunately, it did not change the sound.

So, has Steve Pryor been asked to sell his guitar? Absolutely. Has any offer tempted him to date? Nope. Pryor predicts his Strat will always be repairable, though he does occasionally toy with the idea of retiring it and getting a new one.

Has anyone else ever played Steve Pryor’s Stratocaster? Pryor hesitates, and has to think about that for just a moment. “Well, yes, sometimes, but only if I’m standing there. There’s no borrowing.”
So, now for the big question. Is it the guitar that makes the musician, or is it the musician that makes the guitar, or is it a combination of both? On this question, Steve Pryor does not hesitate. With complete humility, he asserts that the guitar does not make the musician. What does help is a level of familiarity with the instrument. “It is really more a matter of personal comfort,” he explains.
In other words, harkening back to 1978, Steve Pryor could have walked out with any one of those ten Stratocasters that day and the results would have been the same. Thirty four years and five albums later, thousands of live performances, and Steve Pryor would still be the guitar virtuoso that he is today. As the world renowned Andres Segovia once explained, “Lean your body forward slightly to support the guitar against your chest, for the poetry of the music should resound in your heart.”

MORE ABOUT STEVE PRYOR’S GUITAR

Entering the serial number printed on Steve’s guitar into a database called “The Guitar Dater Project” produces the following information: “Your guitar was made at the Fullerton Plant (Fender - Pre CBS Era), USA in the Year(s): 1964.” Leo Fender sold his company to CBS in 1965 and pre-CBS Era guitars are highly sought after by collectors.

If you place Steve’s guitar next to Strats owned by Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Mayer, the scuff marks above the pickguards on all three guitars would line-up almost exactly, reflecting similar styles of playing and hand movements.

Pryor’s black Strat, upon closer inspection, has an undercoat of Sherwood Green. Fender frequently painted its guitars with two layers, sometimes to hide flaws, and sometimes to meet customer demand for a particular color. The colors chosen for undercoats were used by Fender based on availability, and combinations of primers and finishes are inconsistent. Fender custom colors were highly influenced by the colors of the most popular automobiles of the day.

Please note: all photos were "borrowed" from Steve Pryor's Facebook page. I know the top three photos of his guitar were by Seth Lee Jones. I don't have credits for the others. My apologies.
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T.K. Smith's 1956 Gretsch 6128

2012-12-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

I am a big fan of T.K. Smith's work. I had seen him play guitar years ago with Big Sandy and the Fly Rite Boys and thought he was a great player...but I didn't know who he was. Years later, through the miracle of technology and chance, I now follow him and his fine work on Instagram (@tksmithguitar). He does some cool custom work, mods and other cool things to Telecasters and pickguards and whatnot. I just went to his website to check out more of his work and discovered this story that he posted about wanting to know whatever happened to his 1956 Gretsch 6128. Here is his story:

1956 Gretsch 6128

by T.K. Smith

Lately I’ve been wondering where my ’56 Gretsch 6128 ended up. It was in my possession for about six years from ’89 until ’95. During that time, I used it on Big Sandy’s ‘’On the Go’’ LP, and a few other Fly Rite Trio recordings. Of all the guitars I’ve bought and sold over the years, I wish I ‘d hung on to this one. Throughout the eighties I owned a couple of Duo Jets and a Jet Firebird, you could find them for around $600 to $1200. The one I ended up keeping I found at a place on Sunset Blvd called ‘’Guitars R Us’’. I think I paid $1100 for it. It was a ’56, the neck had been reset and the back was refinished. This guitar was nice because unlike the other beat up old Gretsch guitars that I had owned, I could use 13’s on it and not worry about the neck coming unglued. Of the few details I can remember about it, one is that the headstock had been drilled out for 3/8’’ tuners, so I stuck an old set of PMMH-015 Grovers on it. The guitar also had a push-pull pot on the tone control to put it in and out of phase. I used to have the S/N written down on a little piece of paper in my toolbox but it’s long gone now. When I left the band in ’92 I didn’t play it much and thought it was a shame to have such a nice guitar just sit in a case under the bed. So around ’95 or ’96 I put it on consignment at a music store called Music Music down in El Cajon, Ca. I think it sat there for about a year before it sold. I know it’s a long shot, but if anyone has a clue as to where my Gretsch is now, I’d love to know.

(Here is a video of T.K. on this very guitar with Big Sandy...)

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Limited Edition Taylor Tony Hawk Guitars

2012-10-07T22:28:00.002-07:00

This past month I was honored to work with Taylor Guitars to design five custom Tony Hawk guitars to be auctioned off to benefit the Tony Hawk Foundation. The idea was to take some of Tony's classic skateboard designs and adapt them to the top of the guitar. Then each guitar would be matched up with it's corresponding skateboard, and all would be signed by the skateboarding legend, Tony Hawk himself and auctioned to the highest bidders.

We did four different one-of-a-kind designs that were based on the Taylor 214CE model guitar. This is a beauty of a cutaway instrument with nice sounding electronics built in. These guitars were beautifully executed by the Taylor Custom Shop team, and the finish and detail on these was just gorgeous. Then, additionally, we did one more design that was adapted to the Taylor GS Mini model, and there were nine of those guitars produced. This design came out really well also. It's a more budget model instrument, so it didn't have the full gloss finish as the others, but it came out looking really cool. Maybe the best of the designs really.

The guitars were auctioned off at the Tony Hawk Foundation's Stand Up for Skateparks charity event, held each year in Beverly Hills, CA on Oct. 7th, 2012 and the proceeds went to help build skateparks in underprivileged areas here in the U.S. I couldn't have been more pleased with the way they came out, and the way they sound is just an added bonus...what great guitars! Thanks so much to everyone at Taylor Guitars for making this project happen. We may be making a couple of additional guitars, and if so, I am going to go film them being made and will share here with you.

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Daphne Blue Thinline Telecaster Project

2012-05-01T00:51:00.004-07:00

Here's one that I had high hopes for, but it just didn't pan out...mostly because of my lack of technical and woodworking skills. I have always thought that a sonic blue or daphne blue Telecaster Thinline would be my dream guitar. I actually have a previous story on here about a daphne blue Thinline that I bought a number of years ago that had two humbuckers in it that just didn't really float my boat. But I still had it in the back of my mind that that guitar was very close to what I wanted, but I just still like the standard single coil pickups. So the years have gone by.

Then, last year, I was at the NAMM tradeshow, which is the big music equipment industry tradeshow where they show off all of their latest products for retailers. The show is not open to the public, so to get a pass you have to know someone really connected, someone who owns a store with an extra pass, or a famous musician who is connected to a company. I got very lucky and got passes from a friend of mine who is endorsed by Taylor Guitars. If you are a music gear junky, going to this tradeshow is like letting little kids loose in a candy store. It's amazing...all the newest effects pedals and accessories and new amps and guitar models and on and on. Down at the basement level of the show are a ton of companies who make parts and bodies and necks and components and much more. They are the suppliers to the industry. I was walking along and passed a booth with a long table full of guitar bodies. Mostly Fender-style bodies...Strats and Telecasters and basses...in every color combo you could think of. The one that caught my attention was the daphne blue Telecaster Thinline body with cream binding.

Holy moly...it was the body to my dream guitar!

It was the last day of the tradeshow and everyone was tired and dreading having to pack up all of their products for the trip home. Especially if they were from overseas like many of the parts suppliers. I stopped and looked at the guitar body and asked if, just by chance, it was for sale. They owner of the company said that since the show was almost over, he would sell it to me for $60. I couldn't believe it. I pulled three new $20 bills out of my pocket before he could change his mind and the deal was done. After I made the long drive home, I went to the Warmouth website and priced how much it would cost to custom order this exact body, with paint and binding. A whopping $514! Man, I was feeling good about this. I decided that I just didn't have a huge budget to custom order a neck and pickups and parts and strap buttons and everything else, so I decided to keep an eye on Craigslist for a donor Tele. A nice Fender MIM Telecaster that would provide the neck, pickups, switches, knobs and everything. I also realized that this body had the Thinline F-hole, but had the standard layout for the controls. Usually on a Thinline the controls are mounted on an extended pickguard. But I was actually happy about this because I really prefer the standard Tele control layout. So, I went back to the Warmouth website and custom ordered a pickguard to accomodate the F-hole and also the standard controls. I got in a beautiful cream color that matched the binding very well. This guitar was going to be a beauty.

After finding a really nice Lake Placid Blue Telecaster on Craigslist for super cheap, I got ready to put together my new guitar. When I got ready to take the donor Tele apart I actually had second thoughts. The Lake Placid Blue was a beautiful color in person, not at all cheap looking like the photos on Craigslist had convinced me of. I was a little torn, but finally got busy taking it apart. I sold the body and pickguard on Ebay the very next day and got more than half my money back from my purchase price. This was going well! I got the rest apart and removed the pickups and had my buddy do all the wiring for me. I put the rest together and bolted the neck on and strung it up. When I had bought the body from the manufacturer, he specifically said it would perfectly fit a Fender neck. Sadly, once I got it all together, I discovered that the neck pocket was just slightly not deep enough. This caused the action on the guitar to be a little too high. Adjusting the bridge was just not going to work. The neck pocket was going to need to be precisely routed.

Unfortunately, I don't have those skills or equipment. So, the guitar sat here, month after month, staring at me. Taunting me. Begging me to do something. I finally gave in. I realized that I was just not going to ever fix it. I unstrung the guitar, got my screwdrivers out and carefully took it apart. Same as it ever was. I listed the neck on Ebay and then later the body with the custom pickguard included. It would be a shame to separate them and make someone have to order another one. Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. So, that was the end of dream guitar, attempt number two. I think what I'm going to have to do is win the lottery so that I can order guitars from the Fender Custom Shop. I see their guitars for sale and I drool. I know that they can make whatever I want and actually get it perfectly right and sounding amazing and then, maybe, just maybe, I'll finally be happy. With guitars anyway.
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Epiphone Dot

2012-02-16T21:47:00.001-08:00

Here's another recent one that got away with a good story. Over the last nearly 20 years I have had the good fortune to play music with a really talented drummer whom we'll call Rob. Why? Because that's his name. So Rob is seriously an amazing drummer and his brother Dave (also his real name) is an amazing guitarist...music just seems to run in their family. A few years ago Rob decided he wanted to learn to play guitar and within about a year he was already better than me. That's enough to really piss you off. The good thing about this is that he finally understood my obsession with guitars and buying them and looking at them and wanting new ones and selling something in order to get something else. Along the way he picked up a really nice, dark tobacco sunburst Epiphone Dot hollowbody. You've probably seen these...they are actually really nice copies of the Gibson 335 at a fraction of the cost. Rob really liked this guitar a lot, but hit a stretch where he needed to sell a guitar or two.

I have a buddy named Jesse (again, that's really his name) and at the time he was in a band that was getting some notoriety. They were recording their second album and for one particular guitar part needed that 335 sound. I told him that Rob was selling his Dot and, long story short, Jesse bought Rob's guitar. At least it was sort of in the family.

So, a couple of years go by and Rob mentions that he'd love to have that Dot back. Jesse came into my office not long after that and I asked him how the Dot was doing and wondered if he'd be interested in selling it. He kind of gave it a big "hmmmm" and said maybe, just maybe, he'd consider selling it. So he thought about it for a few days and came back in and said he'd sell it if I bought it right then on the spot. I didn't hesitate...I got out my checkbook and paid him exactly what he'd originally paid Rob for it back then.

The next thing I did was get out my phone, snap a photo of it and sent it to Rob with the message, "Look what I just bought."

Rob couldn't believe it and said he was coming over the next day to check it out. But then something came up and a couple of weeks went by. During those couple of weeks I played the Dot quite a bit and really ended up liking it quite a bit. I was now having thoughts of keeping it for myself, even if Rob wanted it. Of course I knew what I was going to have to do. Sure enough, two weeks later Rob finally makes it to my house and we plug the Dot into my amp and he gives it a strum. "You HAVE to sell this back to me!" Of course! He gets out his checkbook and it's now finally back in his possession.

Now you'd think that was the end of the story, but no. The following weekend Rob's brother Dave comes to visit and brings his Epiphone Les Paul for a little jam session. He picks up Rob's newly reacquired Dot and falls in love. He offers to trade Rob the Dot for the Les Paul. For some reason, Rob makes the trade and now the Dot is in the very capable hands of brother Dave. Still all in the family, but definitely not what we all thought was going to happen. The end.
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Black Fender Stratocaster MIM

2012-02-14T00:16:00.001-08:00

Hey, it's time to catch up on some new stories. I think I'll start off with the one that is least flattering to my skills as a trader...might as well get it off my chest. Every year, on the day before New Years, I walk into a pawn shop near my house and see what guitars they might be looking to clear off the books before the end of the year. The last couple of years I've found some great guitars to make a little extra cash on, including a Tom Delonge Strat I chronicled here previously. This time I walked in and asked if they had the big "half off" sale going on and they let me know they weren't doing that this year...they were just selling everything for great prices. They didn't have any of my beloved Telecasters this year, but they did have a few Strats and they were all marked down to $199. I figured I could make a few bucks on that and so I started checking out which was the best of the bunch.

I finally settled in on a pretty decent black Made in Mexico model Stratocaster that had a white pickguard and enough smudges and dirt and crap to make it not that appealing on first inspection. I even asked the guy working there why they don't at least wipe down the guitars before they put them up for sale. If you were a store and got in used merchandise, wouldn't you at the very least clean all the grimy hand prints off of it and make it look presentable? I'll never understand the lazy mentality sometimes. But I suppose that's beside the point. I figured it couldn't hurt to ask if they'd come down on the price a little more, but no such luck. I figured that it probably wouldn't have a case either.

For some reason guitars at pawn shops mysteriously never seem to have a case. I mention this to the guy and he says, "hey, you're in luck...this one has a nice Fender hard shell case!"

Shocking to say the least. I got ready to pay for the guitar and the guy asked if I'd ever been a customer there before. I told him it was the third year in a row I'd bought something on December 31st. He thought that was funny, so he didn't charge me tax. So to sum things up so far, I've now purchased a black, Made in Mexico Fender Stratocaster from 1991 with a nice Fender hard shell case for $199 out the door. Sweet. I figured there was money to be made.

I headed to Guitar Center and bought a brand new black pickguard and black pickup covers and back plate and knobs and switch tip for the guitar. The white pickguard just looked cheap-ass and was in crappy condition. This cost me right around $46 total. So now I've got $245 into the guitar. I figured I could sell it with the case for $350 and make an extra hundred. Not a huge profit by any means, but a fun little project. I changed out all the new parts while I watched the football games on New Years and when it was all done it looked sweet. I don't care for Strats all that much, but I thought maybe I should keep this one. A couple of days later I found out my son got picked to play on an expensive competitive league soccer team, so the idea of keeping the guitar went right out the window. I listed it on Craigslist and sat back to see how quickly someone would jump on it.

And I waited. And waited. And no one ever emailed. I lowered the price. Nothing. Lowered it again. Nothing. Relisted again with a different description just to switch things up. Finally got an email with an offer that was embarrassingly low. Then I figured maybe someone would want to trade for a Tele and I could then sell the Tele. Nothing. Relisted it for sale and got an email from a guy asking if I wanted to trade for a 1994 MIM Fender Telecaster. Huh? Uh, I mean, yes, that would be great.

If you've read any of my other rants about Craigslist idiots you know where I stand. Rude, forgetful, insulting...the list goes on. But it does serve it's purpose and I've had pretty good luck for the most part when it comes right down to it. I made an arrangement to meet the guy near my work at lunch time. He would bring his Tele, I would bring my Strat. I asked quite a few questions and discovered that they Tele had a Roland Synth pickup installed on it in addition to the regular Tele stuff. The synth pickup is a little sort of thin blade that fits under the strings behind the bridge pickup and then has a wire that comes out to an external unit that attaches to the guitar. I was unfamiliar with these things to be honest, so I asked how it attached and would it come off easily? I'm not going to want to leave it on there. They guy said it had one small pressure screw that didn't affect the guitar. Cool. Sounds easy.

I should mention at this point that I got lucky and found a brand new padded Gibson gig bag for $10 at Guitar Center and decided to include that with the Strat instead of the hard shell case, which I now am using with another guitar. Okay. So the guy shows up and the appointed time and we begin inspecting guitars. He complains about the pickguard on the Strat not being on quite right...something I had not noticed but was about a two second fix. He seemed to inspect the guitar very thoroughly, so I realized I should be doing the same. I start checking out the Tele and notice a scraped area on the headstock, down at the end. I ask if maybe that was a small Squier decal that had been removed. "Oh no, definitely not." Okay. I look at the synth pickup and I see more than one screw and they don't look harmless. He says, "No those come right off and don't leave any mark." He then says everything else works perfectly. It's got the right kind of serial number and stuff and I do know a little about that, so the rest looks fine. Kind of dirty and the strings looked to be about as old as the guitar, but that stuff is easy. So we make the trade.

I get home and start to immediately remove the synth pickup and lo and behold, this now leaves three permanent holes in the guitar. Yep, even after asking point blank, the guy swore there would be no screw holes. There is one down on the body by the bottom and another up by the bridge and another that actually required screwing a hole through the metal of the bridge and down into the body! No...that won't leave a mark at all! God I'm an idiot sometimes. Whatever, the neck felt great and I figured maybe I could relic the guitar a bit or just take a little less for it when I sell it. Next I head in and list the Roland Synth pickup on eBay for $90 and it sells right away. Cool. Now I'm starting to get my money back at least a little bit. Of course now I'm stuck with the guitar too. Can't ask the guy for a trade-back without the synth pickup.

Next day I finally have a little more time and go plug the guitar into my sweet little Vox AC15 amp and holy crap the scratchiness of the knobs and pickup selector switch is so loud it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. The jack was fine at least. Then I realize the neck pickup is super microphonic and the bridge pickup is really weak. This just keeps getting better, doesn't it?

I got curious at this point about the headstock and why it was scraped up a little. I did a few Google searches and find a forum over at the Telecaster forum (which is fantastic by the way...not just for Teles...really knowledgeable guys) that basically informs me that my guitar used to have a little bitty decal on the end that said "Squier Series." What is interesting, but hard to explain when you are trying to sell something, is that this guitar is basically a regular Fender that was made in the Mexico factory back 1994...the first year of Tele production there. From what I understand, and feel free to correct me as you always do, Fender wasn't completely sure how the quality was going to turn out and they didn't want to go ahead and put just the Fender name on these guitars in case they sucked. So they added a little "Squier Series" decal on the end of the headstock. Once they figured out that the quality was great, they changed it for the following year and made them straight up Fenders. So my guitar is basically a Made in Mexico Fender guitar...but technically...and really only technically...it's a Squier. Ah crap. Try explaining that to a potential buyer...he's going to shake his head and say "oh sure, it's a Fender...wink, wink."

Okay, so I should wrap this story up. The truth is that the guitar is a great guitar. Neck feels fantastic and it plays really well. It's set up perfectly. So I think I'm just going to keep it and upgrade the pickups and clean out the pots and switches and get everything working perfectly. And it's going to be a great guitar. Heck, maybe I'll put a Bigsby on it! I didn't mention that these mid-'90s Telecasters from Mexico have a toploader bridge on them...some people are not fans and others are big fans. I like them just fine, but since there are no string holes through the body, I think that makes this a great candidate for a Bigsby. Genius! I'll keep you posted on the progress of this guitar. I think all in all it's a keeper!
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1972 Yamaha FG-450

2011-12-16T08:52:00.000-08:00

As always, I am on the lookout for cool stuff at pawn shops, thrift stores, swap meets and anywhere else I happen to be poking around. I am not a diehard, every day junk picker, but if I see a good spot and I have time I will definitely pull in the parking lot and see what's lurking in the corner somewhere. Quite awhile back I posted a story about finding a seriously beat up vintage Yamaha FG-160 at a local thrift store for $25. After cleaning it up and fixing a few things, it turned out to be an amazing sounding guitar.

Well, fast forward to this past weekend and, after walking into a local pawn shop, the first thing I spied was an old Yamaha looking right at me...calling my name. I walked over and picked it up and, sure enough, it was another one from the early '70s. A very rare and very high quality Yamaha FG-450. I didn't really realize just how nice it was at first...I was too busy finding an employee to get a price. The lady informed me that it also came with it's very nice original hard case. We did a little haggling and eventually I walked out the door with my new baby. Maybe the best $130 I've spent on any musical item. Yep, that's right...only $130. A true bargain.

My original intention was to get it home, put some new strings on it, and sell it on Craigslist for a decent profit. However, after restringing and sitting around playing it for awhile, it became more and more obvious that this guitar wasn't going anywhere. What a beauty! The sound rivals any of the finer acoustics I own or have owned in the past. This just might be, dollar for dollar, the best guitar I've come across. I say dollar for dollar because I am lucky enough to own a really nice, expensive handmade acoustic that just can't be beat. But I paid dearly for that guitar and it will be with me 'til I'm a goner. But for the money, this FG-450 is one heck of a guitar.

I should add a few details here: this guitar features a spruce top with jacaranda back and sides with a mahogany neck, and has an ebony fretboard and bridge...all this according to the Japanese Yamaha instrument website. The site is mostly in Japanese but you can figure it out and find what you are looking for.

The great thing about these old Yamahas is that they really did a great job with the serial numbers and records. It was super easy to find out that this guitar was made on June 20th, 1972 at the famous Nippon Gakki factory in Japan and was the 350th guitar that the factory built that day. Love it. Try getting that accurate on most any other vintage guitar and you'll be out of luck.

Prior to finding that old FG-160, I had no idea that these old FG's have quite the cult following in the guitar world. I was at home with this FG-450 and thinking that there was no way I was going to sell, but making myself list it on Craigslist anyway just to gauge the interest. The first email I got about it was from an FG collector who let me know how rare this model is and how badly he wanted it...if only he had the extra cash. I'm glad he didn't because I probably would have ended up selling it for a little extra Christmas money and regretted it later. After a couple of other emails from interested folks I took the ad down, wrote back to them and told them I had changed my mind. This one is staying with me...at least for now. I have learned to never say never when it comes to guitars, but I have a feeling this one will be with me for awhile.

UPDATE: It is now a number of months later and I finally talked myself into getting serious about selling this guitar. Sometimes you just have to pay your unexpected taxes! I listed it back on Craigslist and, after a couple of times relisting the guitar I got an email from a great guy who was interested in finding a great guitar for his dad for a gift. We met up, he inspected the hell out of the guitar...from top to bottom, every single inch, giving me an education in the process. We made a deal and I think we were both very happy. He loved the beautiful sound this guitar makes and really appreciated the craftsmanship of this 40-year old instrument. He is in the Navy and headed out for a tour of duty in Afghanistan shortly, so I wish him the best and am honored to have met him. A real great guy. Hope your dad enjoys the guitar as much as I think he will.
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Vox AC15 CC1 Amplifier

2011-06-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Haven't written in awhile, but I've got a few things to add lately. This first one is a little amp that sounds so good, I've saved the guy's email and phone number that I sold it to so I can maybe buy it back some day. It's a Vox AC15 amp, which is commonly known as the little brother to the legendary Vox AC30. This is the CC1 model, which stands for Custom Classic. It's a reissue that was made sometime in the double oughts...otherwise known as the 2000s. I found this amp listed on Craigslist for $400 and that's what I paid for it. Worth every dime. It was owned by an officer in the military. I live very near Camp Pendleton in Southern California, and many times guys in the military will get shipped out or get out of the military and move back home and they don't want to take extra gear with them. You can find some good deals without taking advantage of our brothers in the service.

This guy was extremely nice and was bummed that he was moving. He had raised his family...wife and two kids...right here in the area while stationed at Camp Pendleton, and was very unexpectedly reassigned to somewhere in Texas. He didn't want to have to move the amp, so Craigslist was the answer. The price was very fair and I was happy to get such a great little amp. These things put out only 15 watts of tube power, but it was nice and loud for only 15 watts. I had the opportunity to use it when I opened up for Chris Shifflett of the Foo Fighters when he was on tour with his band the Dead Peasants, and it really filled the room. The sound was fantastic and I had a few people actually ask me what I was playing through.

One thing I will mention about this amp is that, when I first got it, I was pretty disappointed with the reverb.

I'm a Fender geek and this was not up to standards. I found the correct Accutronics brand replacement for the reverb tank and made the switch...super easy to do. And boy howdy did it improve the sound. All the difference in the world. Plus, I put the Vox reverb tank on eBay and got most of my money back. Sweet. I don't have a great photo of this amp, but you get the idea. I would really recommend this amp to anyone looking for a smaller size amp, with one 12" speaker and not so much volume that it alerts the neighbors.
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UPDATE: Well, here is a happy update to this story. A few months have gone by since I sold this amp and I have regretted it ever since. I started putting a few pennies away to get another one at some point and started keeping an eye on Craigslist. Lo and behold, I happen across an ad that has a Vox AC15 for sale. I clicked on the ad and it was MY old amp. The guy that had bought it was in the military (ironic, since I originally bought it from a military guy) and he found out he is about to get discharged. He decided to sell the amp rather than take it home with him. I recognized his name and shot him a quick email. I would have the money in three days if he could just hold onto it for me. He agreed and the rest is history. I have my own amp back and it still sounds extra fine. Pretty pleased about this one.
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Unknown Vintage Lap Steel

2010-10-22T22:17:00.001-07:00

This is a really cool vintage lap steel guitar that looks to be home made...in every single aspect. Not only is every part of the body hand made, but even the pickup and pickup cover were probably put together from scratch in someone's garage a long time ago. Oh, and the case is also home made with some really nice hand painted flower motifs. Yep, this is one very cool instrument.

Much like the pedal steel guitar I most recently wrote about, I found this instrument in a pawn shop while I was driving across the country on vacation. My goal was to find a few instruments along the way that I could bring home and sell for a profit. I really thought this one was going to be more profitable than it turned out to be, but you can't win them all. I did turn a profit, but not a huge one.

I found this lap steel as I was driving down Main Street in Henryetta, Oklahoma...which also happens to be my parents' old hometown.

I was headed to the home of an old friend of my father's and missed the turn. Glad I did. As I was craning my neck, trying to read the street signs I passed the pawn shop. Looked almost empty to be honest. But right there in the window was this lap steel. Seven string lap steel to be exact. I went inside and inquired about the $175 price tag and the haggling began. We ended up at $120 and were both happy with that. I pulled out my credit card and was told "cash only." Luckily I had a few bucks on me and the deal was done. As we chatted about how unique this lap steel was we discovered that the owner of the shop knew my parents from way back when. How cool is that? He showed me another lap steel that was still in pawn that was really cool as well but just not for sale yet. Wish I could go back for that one.

So as far as I can tell, this lap steel is made of solid mahogany, has seven strings, all the parts are hand carved or cut, and the designs on the lap steel itself are old water decals. There is a 1/4" jack on the very end and no volume or tone knobs. I guess you just have to use a volume pedal. The case was also hand made and the artwork on the case was all hand painted. Very nice slice of Americana really. The old Stevens slide bar and metal fingerpicks were also included.

I put it up for sale on eBay and it sold for only $175. I have to admit I was a little disappointed...almost wish for that price I had kept it. But that's not why I bought it in the first place...I have learned my lesson about lap steels. I always think I want one and then, once I buy one, I realize I have no business trying to play it. I'm glad someone got such a cool instrument for their collection. I hope they enjoy it as much as I did in the short time I had it.
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Beck Musical Instruments Pedal Steel Guitar

2010-10-06T20:10:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's been awhile but I've got some new stuff to write about. This first one is actually still in my possession (but it's for sale...let me know if you are interested). I decided awhile back that I would love to just hop in the car and go on vacation and stop where I pleased, sleep wherever I ended up, and of course, look for stray guitars that need a new home. Somehow I talked my employer into letting me take two weeks off all together and I made arrangements for the kids with the ex and all that stuff. Finally the day came and off I headed in my mini-van...headed towards the midwest to meet up with old friends and have some fun along the way. I live in the San Diego area, so anywhere is a long drive. I played a breast cancer benefit show on Sunday afternoon and then hit the road on Sunday evening, driving until 3:00 AM. I pulled into a truck stop and climbed into the back of my van with a pillow and sleeping bag and got some sleep.

When I woke up it was around 8:00 AM and quickly got it together and hit the road again. The first town I came to was Las Cruces, NM. I drove around looking for a pawn shop or music store and finally came across a pawn shop on the corner. I went in and there wasn't much to look at. I asked the guy if there was another pawn shop in town and he pointed me in the right direction, saying that they owned the other too. I kind of figured that meant they wouldn't have much there either, but I was mistaken. As I walked through the door in pawn shop number two, the very first thing I spied was a dirty, dusty pedal steel guitar. They didn't have it put together correctly, but it appeared to all be there. I looked at the price sticker and it said, "Mexican Fender Telecaster $999."

Hmmmm. They didn't even really know what they had. I played dumb too.

"Hey, what's this thing with 10 strings?" The guy said it was a pedal steel and I sort of pretended to maybe kind of know what that was. I told him it looked interesting to mess around with but not for a thousand bucks. He asked how much I'd be interested in paying. "Oh, maybe more like $300." I figured he'd say no way and I'd be on my way. I only had about $500 to spend on fun stuff on this trip and $300 would take up a big chunk on day one. He hollered back, "Okay, we can do $300."

Oh shit. I asked if that could include tax and everything. $300 out the door? "Sure." Well, now I better figure out if this thing is worth it. I told him I needed to go outside and call my wife and see if I could spend that much. I don't have a wife by the way. I started frantically looking on my phone internet for Beck Musical Instruments. I'd never heard of that brand before. I found their website and sure enough, the cheapest instrument they make sells for $2875 and another $350 for the case. I'd say this thing is a bargain and although it's the first day of the trip, I should go ahead and get it.

I walked back in and said, "Well, the wife won't really go for $300 but I talked her into $250. Any chance we could do it for that?" Nope. He won't go that low. As I'm negotiating I look over and on the pawn shop TV is that show, American Pickers. Guys literally doing exactly what I'm doing right at that moment. I was inspired and I said I guess I'd just have to pass at $300. He told me to come back if I changed my mind. I told him I was on the road and wasn't planning to be back in Las Cruces in my lifetime. To my surprise he said, "Awww, okay. We'll do it for $250 plus tax." Sweet. We basically met in the middle once the tax was added up. I took the thing apart and put it in the case before he had time to actually look the thing up and figure out how much it's worth.

I headed out the door and struggled to get it in the back of the van. Damn, those things are heavy. If you play pedal steel I admire you my friend. Carrying a pedal steel AND an amp and whatever else you need to a gig has got to be puttin' muscles on you. After my trip was over I headed on over to the world famous Buffalo Brothers Guitars and had my friends take a look at it. We got it all put together and their resident pedal steel guru Rick put it through it's paces. Very nice! So these things are heavy and incredibly complicated to play. He gave me the scoop on it, telling me I had found a really nice single neck, 10-string pedal steel made by Beck Musical Instruments, which was originally founded by pedal steel Hall of Famer Zane Beck. Zane was the first to incorporate knee levers into his instruments and now they are pretty standard issue. This particular steel has 3 pedals and 4 knee levers. What we couldn't decide was whether it had started life as a double neck or a single neck. It has the padded arm rest where a second neck might be, but I believe this came from the factory this way. The pickup sounded great and was clean...no scratchiness...especially for how dusty it was when I found it.

So, it's currently sitting in my living room and I suppose I could hang on to it just to mess around with. But I think I am going to sell it for a fraction of what it's worth, but still a profit to me. Someone is going to want this nice pedal steel at a great price. It just might not be right away. San Diego isn't exactly a pedal steel capital. If you are interested let me know.
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1964 Epiphone Frontier Rope & Cactus FT110

2010-05-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

It is with GREAT sadness that I report the departure of this guitar. A lot of guitars are pretty or cool or have expensive features or parts. This guitar had SOUL. It had MOJO. I got it through eBay a couple of years ago and loved it the minute I came across it up for auction. It wasn't mint condition...nope, far from it. You could say it was beat to hell. But functionally it was perfection. It just had that certain something that you can't put a price on. It is a 1964 (or possibly '63) Epiphone Frontier dreadnought acoustic guitar. It's the one that's got the coolest pickguard in history: the rope and cactus tortoise shell pickguard. This was Graham Parson's guitar of choice and a lot of Graham disciples have to have one. That wasn't my case, but certainly is true for many. This thing has scrapes and dings and nicks and the finish is checked and then checked some more. There is play wear in places I didn't know you could play.

If it were a Fender Relic you'd be paying an extra $2000 for this kind of a relic job. But this one is real. This one is earned.

It had that sound. Magic. And as a songwriter, this guitar just seemed to have songs in it. I'd say that 9 times out of 10 when I picked up this guitar I was inspired to come up with something new or the spark of an idea for a song. From speaking to the original owner, I don't believe it was previously owned by a songwriter. I believe it did it's time playing covers in the bars and around the house. When I got it, the first thing I did was write about 4 new songs. They were just busting out of this guitar. Maybe it's the folk art portrait of Hank Williams in the soundhole...maybe it was channeling Hank. I don't know. All I can say is that I have never finally made up my mind to sell a guitar and then nearly reneged on the deal more than once.

The guy who bought it turned out to be a great owner of this guitar...very respectful of the magic it contains. He owns quite a few gems already and was looking for something not like anything else out there. Yes, he came across it because he was looking for a Frontier, but he bought it because it was different...imperfect...soulful. He came by my office today and took it out of it's case and strummed a few tasteful chords. He smiled and knew it was what he was looking for. He immediately took the money out of his pocket and handed it to me, as though maybe in this last second, this one last chance to bail out, I would change my mind if he didn't get it over with. And he was right. It's a good thing the wad of hundreds was thick and my need for new transportation outweighed logic. Because if you've read everything I just wrote, there is no logic in selling this guitar.

It makes no sense. But it's done and the Frontier has a new home. A good one I think. And my faith was restored when the new owner looked at me as he was leaving and said, "If you ever change your mind and want it back, let me know. I have a lot of guitars and I understand. We'll work it out."

Man...that's too good to be true. I hope he meant it because there will come day when I will be calling him. As the guy in the Men's Warehouse commercial says, "I guarantee it."
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Fender Concert Amplifier

2010-04-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

Story submitted by John Shields

Back in 1982 I was in a working band playing 6-7 night a week. I was using a Peavey Renown amp with two EV Force speakers that weighed 2 or 3 tons. My sound man dragged me to a place called Music Museum in Pitman, NJ, and told me to get an amp with tubes. Out I walked with a new Fender Concert. It was great and I used it for a couple of years.

We started playing bigger rooms and I traded it in on a Marshall half stack. Years went by and I thought about it from time to time like a favorite old girlfriend. I even started looking for one a couple of years ago but the prices scared me off. While searching Craigslist a month ago, I was logging off for the night and caught site of an ad for a Fender amp out of the corner of my eye. I opened up the ad and there was a Fender Concert looking back at me. It had no Fender logo, changed jewel pilot light and replaced speaker. When I bought mine back in '82, I took off the logo, changed the pilot light (don't ask why because I have no idea) and replaced the speaker.

I quickly called the gent and arranged a meeting to see the amp. As I looked at it, I knew this was my old amp. He said it had been in a music store for three years before he bought it. He was asking $600. I offered him $475.

He looked at me with vigor in his eyes and defiantly said to me, "I won't take anything less than $450.....!?" I said, "SOLD!"

All cleaned up and sporting a new Vintage 30 Celestion speaker, I've got my girl back! Boy I missed her.
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Hey, We're Featured in Guitar Edge Magazine

2010-03-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

Well, you are definitely going to want to pick up the new issue of Guitar Edge magazine. Articles about Nels Cline of Wilco, the Way Huge Aqua-Puss reissue (of which I already got one 'cause I'm cool) and, let's see...oh yeah, a feature about this here ol' blog.

If you are already a regular reader of Guitar Edge then start looking for it now. If you are new to Guitar Edge, be sure to click here to check out the story about this blog and check out the rest of the digital online version of the mag too. Great stuff.

And by the way, stay tuned this week for a couple of new gear stories that will be posted as well as a story and photos about some Fender history that is really cool.

Fender Stratocaster Tom Delonge Model

2010-01-07T21:54:00.001-08:00

I'll make this one quick because I really just bought this guitar to resell. I found it in a pawn shop near my house that was having a half off sale for the last week of the year. I haven't made my way into too many pawn shops lately because A) they mostly just have a bunch of second rate crap these days, and B) they want MORE than retail for the decent stuff they do have. For the life of me I don't understand where they get their pricing. I have ranted about pawn shops on this blog before and got quite a few comments supporting my view. So, I'll leave it at that for now. This time I guess I got lucky.

When I walked in I spotted the Daphne Blue Strat hanging amongst the usual crap. It stood out. I immediately noticed it was a Tom Delonge model. These are easy to spot because they have one pickup and one knob. That's it. Blink-182 style all the way. Now most people would say that this is a lame concept. But I actually like the idea. I'm not the most amazing lead player in the world, though I'm not a bad rhythm player. I usually find one pickup setting on a guitar that I like and pretty much stick with it. That's just me. So, if I could design my own guitar, I'd probably do the same thing...find a pickup I like and connect it to a volume knob and be done with it. BLASPHEMY! Whatever.

So, I asked the lady how much the guitar was and she said it was $700...but they were having a 50% off sale. So, $350 (duh).

I knew this guitar HAD to be worth more than that. She told me that they had actually sold it on eBay the week before and then the guy that won it emailed them asking if he could make payments for 6 months. Who does that?? So, they just wanted it sold. I came home quickly and looked up previously sold Tom Delonge models and figured out that I could make a few bucks by buying it and posting it on eBay. I actually tried to get the lady to come down to $300 but she was a tough cookie. She knew she had me by the balls and she ran with it. I finally agreed to pay the full $350. I asked what kind of case it had and she gave me that typical pawn shop answer..."oh, there's no case with it." Right.

There's never a case that comes with a guitar at a pawn shop, yet miraculously there are tons of cases sitting around in plain sight.

I knew I had a nice spare Fender gig bag at home, so I didn't even get into it. I brought it home and cleaned it up. Amazingly they were trying to sell guitars at this shop, but just left them dirty and sticky and very unappealing. They actually had a decent black MIM Telecaster I could have picked up for $200 but it had sticker residue all over it and the tuning pegs were coated in grime and knobs were missing...it was just too easy to see that this guitar had not been cared for in the least. Once I got the Tom Delonge all cleaned up and looking good I posted it on eBay and put a very reasonable (but still nicely profitable) price on it. I think it turned into a great deal for everyone. The guy who bought it today is a big Blink-182 fan and also owns one of the Gibson Tom Delonge hollowbody models as well. So, he's happy. I'm happy. We're all freakin' happy! And now I can try to buy that blonde Fender Blues Junior on Craigslist I saw this afternoon.

It's always something!
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One Comes Home

2010-01-07T00:36:00.000-08:00

Well, if this isn't the most heartwarming story on this old blog, I don't know what is. Let's go backwards in the wayback machine to the early '90s. My daughter (who is now 20) was just a little tyke and for her 4th or 5th Christmas I wanted to get her something to keep forever. I happened to walk into Moonlight Music in Encinitas, CA and there, hanging on the wall, was a reissue of the Fender Telecaster pink paisley guitar. It was made in the late '80s and I know it had not been in this store for the whole time, so maybe he picked it up NOS from another store or something. I decided that I would get it for my daughter and it could be something she kept forever and hopefully learned to play when she was older.

It's really a cool guitar. Some of you might have man issues with a guitar like this, being pink paisley and all, but keep in mind that it was made famous by James Burton who played with none other than the king of rock n roll himself, Elvis Presley. The original models from the late '60s now command huge dollars...tens of thousands of dollars. (Here is a great link about Paisley Teles). I am not positive, but I believe these reissues from the late '80s may have been the first time these were reissued. The quality is fantastic...they were Made In Japan at a time when the Japan factories ruled. I'm still a fan of the Japanese Fenders and actually prefer them over the USA models. The paisleys have since been reissued a couple of additional times, but the vibe is just not the same as these first reissues. In fact, they have started to command quite a bit of money themselves.

So, sadly my daughter never really took up the guitar. I say sadly mostly because she really has a knack for it and just never wanted to put any time into it. She could accomplish more in 20 minutes of learning than I could in days and days of practice. As she got older the guitar sat in its case in the closet. When she was almost 18 she moved out of the house. She was a tough one. After being out on her own for a year or so I figured she could probably use the money, and a friend of mine had become a huge fan of country star Brad Paisley. I guess if they made a guitar with my last name on it I would probably play one too, much as Brad Paisley had become known for playing original Fender Paisley Telecasters.

So I suggested to my friend that he see if my daughter would be interested in selling the Tele. I gave her my blessing and the deal was done.

I was happy that it had at least gone to a friend of mine and "stayed in the family" so to speak. My friend Rob is a guitar player, but his first instrument is drums. Amazing drummer actually. He loved the paisley Tele and did maintenance on it and kept it sounding fantastic. It's a really great sounding and playing guitar just straight up stock from the factory. So a couple of years has gone by and I have always told Rob that if he should want to sell it to call me first. Yesterday I got the call. Rob needed to unload a guitar and hounded him to sell me the Paisley...bring it back into the fold. After an evening of anguish he finally agreed. I drove over to his house tonight and picked it up and he practically cried handing it over.

The news was leaked to my daughter who is ecstatic that I have managed to bring it back home. I think she may be slightly mistaken though...it's MINE now. I guess she can have it when I'm dead and gone, but until then...

Memphis Bass - Rob Halford: The Metal God

2009-12-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't get rid of this one. Just wanted to share the fact that Rob Halford of Judas Priest signed my bass a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I know, I'm pretty cool. I was never even really all that into Priest but if Rob Halford walks into your office and your bass is sitting there with you at your desk, you very politely ask him to sign it. He signed: "Rob Halford the Metal God." Yes he is. And he was super nice by the way. I work for Tony Hawk and we have a radio studio in our office for Tony's Sirius XM radio show. Sometimes the one and only Jason Ellis does his show from the studio and has guests drop in. Sometimes it's Rob Halford and sometimes it's a karate kicking naked Penthouse Pet of the Year. Either way, you can't lose.

I did some recording with it yesterday and I'm pretty sure it sounds better now.

Oh yeah, and Pete Dee from The Adicts was in the office the other day too. I talked guitars with him until they made him leave, but he promised to write up a good story and send my way. Be sure to check out the Pete Dee signature model from Schecter...it's pretty cool. Tele style with two humbuckers and a Bigsby. Nice.
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Harmony H22 Hollowbody Bass

2009-12-26T22:53:00.000-08:00

Face it, sometimes you just get lucky. Of course, you're not going to get lucky if you don't put yourself in position to find the luck. One day I happened to walk into a thrift store that I had been in a million times before with very little luck and there sat this Harmony H22 hollowbody bass guitar over in the corner. Sunburst with a big, weird shaped pickguard and those beautiful F-holes. It looked to be in pretty good shape from a distance and had a crappy chipboard case next to it. I don't think I had ever owned a bass up until this point, but I knew I wasn't going to pass up this one. I checked out the price tag and it was a more than fair $75. I knew it was mine.

If you are like me, and god help you if you are, sometimes $75 is a piece of cake and sometimes it's the most money in the world. Lately it's been a hefty sum anytime after the 10th of the month. So, luckily when I came across this gem I was doing just fine and was able to fork over the dough. I rarely take much cash with me when I'm out junkin', so there is always that horrible feeling that I need to find an ATM machine and find it fast and hope that the lady at the counter will hold whatever it is that I need the cash for. In this case the lady was nice enough to hold it for me for 30 minutes, "but no more." I scrambled out the door as casually as possible so as not to raise any suspicions. Came back, forked over the bills and smiled my way out the door.

I really didn't know much about this bass and was really just beginning to get into cool vintage instruments. I wish I had come across it now instead because I think if I had, I might still own it. As it turns out, I believe I only kept it for a short period of time and eventually took it to a nice little vintage shop and sold it for about $350-400. Can't remember for sure. I was just looking on eBay a second ago and noticed that one sold within the last two weeks for well over $700.

So, not only did I miss out on continuing to own a sweet bass, I missed out on the financial appreciation as well. I usually do.

I got this info (and some photos) from vintageguitars.org.uk: "The H22 featured a laminated top, back, bolt-on maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and is only really let down by its cheap looking plastic knobs, and too-small guitar style tuning pegs. The electronics feature a passive DeArmond pickup, volume and tone controls, and a 'bass enhancer' switch that really makes this instrument rumble. The Harmony company was based in Chicago where the H22 was manufactured. The company was disbanded in 1975, having produced thousands of instruments for itself and other companies."

The H22/1 featured double cutaways and looks just about as cool. I found some photos of this model and a few other Harmony basses here. I have to say, even though it's not that big of a difference between the single cut and the double cut, I really like the single cutaway better for some reason. Maybe the double just looks more standard or Gibson-esque.

Squier not Squire

2009-12-20T22:36:00.000-08:00

This is just a pet peeve and I need to get it off my chest. All day long, every single day, here in the San Diego area on Craigslist people list guitars and basses for sale by Squire. I'm sure they do it in your area too. People! It's right there on the headstock. It's spelled S-Q-U-I-E-R.

I feel better now. As you were.

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Creston Guitars (very cool)

2009-12-17T10:42:00.000-08:00

This is not a paid promo or anything...I just came across a link to these guitar this morning and wanted to share. I don't usually blatantly promote stuff on here, but these are darn cool. The photo I included shows a few hand-painted guitars, but most of them do not include this style of artwork. Many are made from or include materials supplied by the person commissioning the guitar...old pieces of wood from a barn, or pieces of metal from a childhood home. Jay Farrar of Son Volt had Creston build him a guitar using pieces of an old rock, some wood and an old carriage bolt from the childhood home of Woodie Guthrie.

Anyway, check them out...very cool instruments. CLICK HERE

Oh, and credit where credit is due...I found the link about these at Draplin Design, a great graphic design site and blog.
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1978 Fender Antigua Hardtail Stratocaster

2009-12-16T19:34:00.000-08:00

Submitted by Michael Rose • Madison, NC

1984; I'm in college at Western Carolina University (Cullowhee NC, about an hour west of Asheville). I had been playing guitar since I was 13, but didn't get an electric until my third year of college. A Memphis Les Paul copy ... after a year of that, I was ready to get something better. I was a college student with limited funds. But I did work each summer, and during the Fall semester I had scored a job as a short-order cook three mornings a week at a restaurant right on campus.

In the spring semester I got a small tax refund check and was ready for a guitar upgrade. I planned to drive into Asheville on a weekend and hit all the music shops and pawn shops in one Saturday. If that panned out, I would go to Atlanta the next weekend and hit Rhythym City.

It was then that I learned about a student in my dorm who was in a bit of a predicament (we'll call him Mr. X). Mr. X missed a lot of classes and always seemed to be hanging out in his room...laying on his bed in his underwear...eating a large bag of Doritos, watching TV...and a record might be playing at the same time. Mr. X drank a lot too...not just on weekends. Mr. X had a baby pet squirrel that fell out of a tree. He kept it in his room for about a week but rolled over on it in his sleep and it died. Mr. X was a little overweight...and Mr. X was in trouble. BIG trouble. Mean people were looking for him...people he had purchased substances from...so there was a large debt he couldn't pay, we're talking about a lot of money.

Mr. X was going to go away, but he needed some money.

So, Mr. X was selling everything in his room that wasn't bolted down. Including a '78 Antigua Stratocaster I had played several times when visiting. I knew nothing about guitar values, rarity, and the "Vintage" market (this was pre-Internet, after all). All I knew was that it was a Fender. Stratocaster. Maple neck. Hardtail, so it always stayed in tune. And, he had the original case.

Mr. X knew I played and told me the guitar was for sale. He said he was hoping to get $500 for it. I told him it was several years old and had a couple of scratches. He came down to $450. I could tell by his state of mind (and the state of his room) that he was desperate. I offered him $175 cash! He got upset, but didn't rise from the bed. He said it was way too low. I told him about my tax refund check and, that if he didn't sell me the guitar at that price, I was going to Asheville Saturday morning to buy one. And that was that. My best deal, ever.

I "grew up" on that guitar - it was inspiring to play a professional, American-made instrument. In a couple of years, boredom set in ... the folly of youth. As stated earlier, I didn't know anything about guitar values. I put a Strat-sized humbucker in the bridge position. Later, the neck started fretting out. Instead of getting a fret job done and keeping the original neck, I replaced the entire neck ... and the guitar shop kept the original neck. And then I traded the guitar in to the same shop for something of lesser value which I shall not name. A year later, I was in the same shop and saw my guitar on the wall. A Fender Stratocaster decal had been carefully placed on the headstock of the replacement neck. At least I knew that was creepy, and told all my friends to steer clear of that shop.

Because of the Internet, it's a lot easier to learn about guitar values today ... but it's a lot harder to find deals like I did. Whenever original Antigua Strats do pop up on ebay, Gbase, or Craigslist, they typically go for between $1800 and $3000.
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Music Man 112 RD One Hundred (another one)

2009-12-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have had this exact model amp once before and even written about it here on the old blog. The only difference I can tell about this new one I got last night and the old one is the background color on the logo nameplate. Otherwise they appear to be exactly the same except this one does have it's original EV speaker, which, after looking at it, may explain why this amp weighs in at slightly over 1200 lbs. Okay, obviously I'm exaggerating, but not by much. It's a small 1-12" combo amp and it weighs over 70 lbs. Luckily it has casters.

Okay, but so more to the point of why I'm already writing about this amp if I just got it last night. No, I haven't sold it yet (UPDATE: SOLD), though that was the original plan. And I never rule out the possibility of almost any of my instruments taking a walk. But the story of how I got this was too funny to pass up, so here you go...

I was doing my hourly check of the music section of Craigslist here in the San Diego area and up pops an ad with the title Music Man Amp - $150. I figured either something was wrong with it or it was a misprint. I clicked on the ad and sure enough, there was a photo of the amp (blurry) and one short sentence saying it was for sale and it was in Lakeside, which is WAY far from me. But for $150 I'm willing to drive a bit. There was a phone number, so I quickly dialed the number before anyone else jumped on it. A somewhat young girl answered the phone and I asked if I was speaking to Jennifer. She said yes. I said I was calling about the amp for sale and was it still available. She said yes. I asked if it worked properly and she said yes. She really offered up no other info and sounded sort of clueless. At this point, especially since she sounded young, I asked if this was her amp. She said no, it had been her dad's and he had recently died and they were selling some of his stuff. Oh. Shit. Now I just felt bad. My instincts as a decent person were to stop and tell her to shut down her ad and relist the amp for $350-400 and make some more money off the amp. But in that split second I decided that, instead of just buying it and turning around and reselling the next day for a profit, I could really use a good amp and I would buy it for the cheap price and hang on to it. I kind of felt weird about profiting from her family's misfortune.

So, I asked for an address, assured her I would be coming to buy it that evening and to be sure to hang on to it for me. Check. All systems go. I got off work around 5:00 and had to go pick up my kids. I live in the San Diego area and, as you may know, it doesn't rain much around here. But, when it does, all chaos breaks loose. You'd think it snowed 25 inches...cars are sliding around and slamming into each other on the freeway, no one slows down to allow for the slicker roads due to the oil and water buildup, and traffic turns into an even bigger nightmare than it usually is. I headed out on this adventure figuring it would take me about an hour or so to get there. Lots of weird backroads and two-lane highways and other weirdness as I went to a part of the county I'd never been to. Lakeside is sort of known as a bit of a redneck area...yes we have rednecks here in California...maybe bigger rednecks than half of the south.

I don't know if these people I was about to encounter were rednecks or survivalists or meth dealers or what, but they didn't resemble my neighbors much.

Keep in mind, I have a 7-year old and a 5-year old in the back seat. I FINALLY find the address and pull up this long driveway up to a house on a slight hill. The garage door is open and I notice a few people milling around in the garage, very curious who the hell is pulling up in their driveway. As I open my car door and tell the kids to get out, two guys saunter out of the garage holding rifles. At this point I notice many other rifles leaned up against the wall and the work bench and the lawn mower. So I quickly holler out, "Hi, I'm Jaimie." The guy on the left says, "So." Uh, well. Hmmm. Don't shoot. The guy is sizing me up. Thank god just about this time some lady comes walking quickly out of the house and tells everyone to chill out, it's just the guy who is here to buy the amp. They put down their guns. Oddly my kids never noticed the guns because about three tiny chihuahuas came running out of the garage and my kids are deathly afraid of dogs. Any dogs. Even ones that resemble rats.

The lady invites me to come in and check out the amp. I decide to be cordial and I shake the hands of the guys in the garage. Just bein' friendly and all. Please don't ambush me when I go in. At this point I'm wondering what the hell I'm doing. It seems okay, but I also don't ever recall going to pick up any other guitar or amp and being confronted by gun-toting paranoid garage dwellers. I went inside, saw the amp, quickly surmised that it looked good and complete and I gave the nice lady her money. I picked up the 1200 lb. amp and headed to the door. I wasted no time getting it in the front seat, getting the kids buckled in, and hitting the road for the long drive home.

Once I got home, I plugged in the amp and gave it a quick test. It was sweet. These old Music Man amps are just awesome. This thing has enough power to blow out a small town. I got the kids to bed and couldn't turn the amp up past .5 or so. I plan to give it a better work out tonight. I am planning to keep it...at least for now. I'm sure at some point I will come to the conclusion, just the last time I had one of these amps, that it's just too much amp for me. But until then...guns, dogs and rock'n'roll.

UPDATE: Just thought I'd throw this in. I was just doing some research on this amp and found an old Music Man price sheet. Brand new this amp was $695.
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Fender Champion 600

2009-11-30T14:08:00.001-08:00

Much to the chagrin of my good friend Rob, I have a new entry into the old blog. There was a short period of time recently that I owned absolutely zero guitar amplifiers. I live in a small place now and had sold my ridonkulously loud Rivera Hundred Duo Twelve. I'm not in a band that requires electric guitars. And lately I've been doing some recording in GarageBand with their all new guitar modeling that is really pretty amazing. Especially considering how cheap it is. So, I was out at my buddy Rob's house and he was thinking about parting with his little Fender Champion 600. He's got a sweet Vox AC30 and lots of room for loudness, so the Champion was really just more for fun for him. He sold it to me for $100 and I was happy to be back in the amp business, no matter how small.

So I had the Champion and was actually playing around with it quite a bit. Last weekend I went to the Swap Meet in Oceanside, CA and found a Korg Toneworks AX3000G modeling pedal thing for a mere $60. This thing is so much fun to play around with. But, again, not something I have a need for. Hence, the reason it is currently on eBay for a really good price. Maybe you might like to get it?

But all this amp playing made me really want to get something a tiny bit more substantial.

If you've read lots of the stories here on this blog you might remember that I'm a big fan of the Fender Blues Jr. amps...perfect combo of size, price, and sound. At least for me anyway. So, I decided to get myself back in the Blues Jr. business.

Just as I was deciding that's what I wanted to do, a guy ran an ad on Craigslist wanting to buy a Fender Champion 600. I emailed him and we struck a deal. I put the amp in a backpack and hopped on my Vespa and even delivered it to him. Voila! Now I have the seed money for a Blues Jr. Maybe once the Korg pedal sells I'll be able to come up with a few extra bucks and get one very soon. I do have to say though, I really like the lacquered tweed models I see pop up on eBay sometimes. However, they are a couple of hundred bucks more than the standard black. And now Fender seems to be putting out some special colored tolex models that match guitars. I've seen a surf green tolex and a red version. Interesting. I guess we'll have to see.
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Thrift Store Find: Yamaha FG-160

2009-11-15T21:49:00.001-08:00

This weekend I needed to put some miles on my car...I just had some work done to pass my smog test and the computer was reset, causing me to need to put about 100 miles on it before going in for the retest. So I headed out to a a smaller town about 25 miles away and wandered into a thrift store. First thing I noticed was an acoustic guitar behind the counter. It was pretty beat up, scraped up, had a tuner and some bridge pins missing, about 10 inches of binding gone, only 3 strings and enough dirt and grime on it to hide what was once a decent guitar.

It was marked at $49.95, but then I noticed that everything was on sale for 50% off. I decided to take a chance. I needed a less expensive guitar to take camping with me and thought maybe, if I could just clean it up a bit and put some new strings on it, it might work.

I took the old strings off...they must have been original to the guitar because they practically disintegrated in my hand when I took them off. There was a dustball inside the guitar about the size of a golf ball. I started to just clean it off, but then I just kept going and ended up buffing and waxing the whole thing. As beat up and dented and scraped as it was, you could tell it just wanted to try to look nice again. Like an old stray dog after it's first bath in years. It still had the scrapes and dings, but underneath it all was a really nice guitar. I found an old tuner I had and screwed it in and found a couple of old bridge pins I had saved from some other old guitar.

I put a new set of Martin SP strings on it and tuned it up and guess what? It sounded fantastic.

Definitely the best $24.95 I have ever spent on music gear.

It's a Yamaha FG-160, made it Taiwan. I hopped online and started doing some research and determined it was made in 1983 and the internet is full of people who just go on and on about how much they love their old Yamaha FG-160. I'm telling you, this thing sounds darn good. It will definitely be the best sounding campfire guitar around. I haven't had time to take any photos yet, but the one I have put here with this story was found on some Japanese website. I will post some of mine when I get the chance.
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MOJO STOMP BOX

2009-11-10T22:18:00.001-08:00

This isn't really one that got away, but just wanted to share a cool new percussion box. It's the Mojo Stomp Box. It's one part folk art and one part old time percussion. It's as simple as you get...you keep rhythm with your foot while you are playing guitar (or banjo or uke or whatever you've got). It's got that old jangle sounds from the bottle caps loosely nailed all over the box. There's even a bottle cap opener on the front that doubles as a handle. These are hand made and no two are alike. Pretty cool. Might make a good Christmas gift for that guitarist who has everything.
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Vintage Takamine

2009-10-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

Story submitted by Tim M. (Tim, how about a photo?)

About two weeks ago I was onstage about to start “my gig” when one of the tuning keys on my Takamine broke. There wasn’t anything I could do about it at that moment, so I grabbed a guitar from one of our other guitarists and used it for the performance. The next day I decided it was time for a new guitar. I’d had that old cheap Takamine for about ten years and had always known I wanted to buy a better guitar. I took this broken tuning key as a sign that today was the day! So I drove down to Guitar Center, dragging my Takamine along with me to buy a replacement tuning key, but mostly with a new guitar in mind.

After a couple hours in the holy of holies, I decided on a Breedlove acoustic/electric. Nothing particular special about the guitar, but it had a great pick up, solid build, and felt great in my hands. And rather than dishing out the money I’d need to pay for the Takamine repair, I decided to instead trade it in on the Breedlove. And thus the heartache began…

The minute I walked out of that store I regretted trading in my Takamine.

It was cheap, but I had played that thing all over the world; from the Eastern seaboard of the United States, to all over the UK and Ireland, to France and even Eastern Europe. The thing had become an old friend and was full of memories for me. And now I had sold it over $100 worth of new tuning keys.

I literally had trouble sleeping that night. In fact, I didn’t even pull my new guitar out of its case to play that night. And the next morning was more of the same. What had I done?!!! And so, twenty-four hours after trading it in at Guitar Center, I found myself driving back to Fairfax to see if they still had my guitar. They did. And I bought it back at full price. Hahaha!

Oh but it was worth it. I love my new guitar and it will likely be the one I play on stage from here on out. But my old friend is back home with me and, when I’m in the mood to have a guitar in my hands while I’m laying around the house, my Takamine is the one I reach for.

Good to have you back old friend!
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