Flatforkcrown

Not vintage, but definitely classic

bamboobike4

Al Di Meola

thinktubes 

Maybe jumping the gun a bit, but here's a late 90's MIK Hamer Sunburst I just picked. I've wanted one of these since 1980. The USA made ones are $$$, but the Korean ones are still a bargain. Plays great and is a good alternative to a Les Paul.

The Golden Boy 

Sort of reminds me of the Epiphone/Gibson Spirit. My brother in law found one at Goodwill- he called to ask me if it was worth him spending $75 on- I doubted it- he wanted it, and that thing was BEAUTIFUL and it played and sounded great. One of the last Kalamazoo made "Epiphones," and it was cool.

Like this one:

bamboobike4

Hmm….time warp?

bamboobike4

I once re-fretted a cherry sunburst Les Paul. Then he wanted quarter-pounders.
Somehow, it still played well. Never offered to work on a guitar again.
Stuck to rehabs of Marshall heads and cabinets. Prior hobby, almost a career.

Being completely tone deaf and finding no logic in chord structure does not work in GuitarWorld. There are plenty of craftsmen who can also play and hear and know what they are hearing. I can read music and play, but I can’t tune without a tuner. The “proper key” means little to my hearing. Try working with a guitarist when you don’t understand how any of that works.

It’s akin to being color blind in the fashion industry.

The Golden Boy 

I used to be friends with guys whose band were Fernandes endorsees. The two guitarists in the band both had two electro/acoustics like that (but more Strat shaped)- but in "1990 Red" with a pointy headstock. One guy sold his, the other kept his, but used it very sparingly.

Phamilton

I can’t remember if I’ve posted here about this guitar before, it’s the body and electronics from a mid 60’s Kay Vanguard, neck from a mid 90’s Korean strat copy, and a bridge from who knows where. I bought the body from a friend, had the neck on another guitar, and I can’t remember now where the bridge came from. I built it for my son about 10 years ago. It was a sunburst color before I painted it. It’s almost lake placid blue. It’s got a jazzmaster/tele vibe to it. I call it “Bluebird”. This is what it sounds like:


This is what it looks like, next to my bass which is called “Charlie”:

BTinNYC 

1980 Tokai Strat

thinktubes 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
😍😍😍😍😍😍

RobertUI 

Here are a couple of mine (the Ibanez is gone)

JacobLee 

I'm 4 days into a 5-day Covid quarantine, so I've been spending some quality time in the basement with an old friend.



It's a 62 Reissue made in Mexico that I bought new in 96. Let's see, the bridge is blocked, strings are Ernie Ball Heavy Bottoms, pickups wired like a Tele (middle disconnected) with the switch reversed so that when I inevitably hit it with my hand it stays in the neck pickup (which is super beefy), and one of the tone knobs is deleted so that the volume knob is moved down and out of the way of my ham hands.

I never wanted a Strat, but in 96 all of us teachers, at my first real job, got a $475 bonus for our standardized testing scores, so I headed to Zone Music in Cotati, Ca to buy my first real electric guitar. (I'll post my first fake electric guitar later) I always wanted a Les Paul, but my friend Chris Vibberts, who is an awesome musician and worked at Zone, explained to me that for $475 I was more in Fender territory. He said, "This is a really nice one," and pulled down this Strat and started playing it, and it was love at first sight. The reissue plastics are all tinted a mint green to make them look older, and the finish on the neck is deliberately yellowed, so with the shiny, black body, I was just smitten. Those of you who've sat and played a Strat after holding a Tele or Paul know that they just feel smooth and right. And Chris was correct, this is a really nice one.

It took a few years to realize that I wasn't ever going to be precise enough to be a real Strat player, so with the help of a few good shops, mods were made that allow me to beat on this thing the way I like. I've rarely taken bikes into shops, but I learned with this guitar that if you just take it in every couple of years and talk to the set-up person, they'll suggest things that you never would have thought of that will make the instrument so much more fun to play.

Over the years we've written lots of songs, had a band, played a few shows, and made four records. All of it on a low-key, just-for-fun sort of level. I have been lucky to have been friends with three different recording engineers in Portland, so the records that we made, as I bartered my contractor services, sound way better than they might have. I'm not sure if I can link them, but if you search Heavy Sweaters (band name) you'll find three albums: Old Man Garage, Loud Love Songs for the Girls Upstairs, and The Art of Retreat. One of them is probably the only album cover with a 72 Super Course in the background!

icedog

These are 3 of my guitars....only the Univox qualifies as "Vintage"...maybe...depends on how you feel about mid-60's Matsumoku-made guitars. They built under a lot of names, Epiphone included. This Univox has been refretted (my first attempt), modified for humbuckers in lieu of the original pickups (which were long-gone). I got rid of the poor Bigsby copy and replaced it with a trapeze for tuning stability. Same with the keystone-style tuning machines. The originals were pretty poor. Happy with the result. Funky vibe.

The strat is a parts-caster that also turned out quite well. GFS classic 63 pickups-jury is still out on those. The Hamer has no serial number but I'm guessing 90's and probably Korean made. It has a repaired headstock so it didn't cost a lot. Repair seems very stable and it sounds great.

Hobbiano 

Fretwork looks nice from here.

The Golden Boy 

I have friends that make fun of me because I don't get along with Strats. I've just never been able to get comfortable with them. My wife had a nice Strat (that currently lives with the little boy), and I spent a lot of time trying to get it. Truth be told, I don't really get along with Telecasters either- but it was much easier to rearrange the switching on the Tele. So I'm glad to see you've got the controls set up for you- it makes sense.

My Telecaster is an early 90s Foto-Flame. I just got it as a cheap Japanese Tele- it had this garish clown burst with the totally unbelievable Foto-Flame veneer under it. It was a cheap Japanese guitar- so I sanded it down and spray painted it Krylon Almond. (of course those are $1000 guitars these days... But the veneer looks really good on the neck. It's wired sorta like a Flying V or something. Bridge volume, neck tone in the middle, neck volume- with a 3 position up/down toggle. I dislike the blade switch. Since this pic was taken (years ago), I've replaced the plate with a blank plate so no extraneous holes and bends...

JacobLee 

That Krylon almond looks good. I'm gonna have to look up foto-flame; sounds awful!

I feel lucky that my guitar curiosity was extinguished as soon as I owned a strat, a tele, a good acoustic, and a Fender Super 112 that I bought off my college roommate. I wish it were the same with bikes!

thinktubes 

The Golden Boy does it have a joker or hamburgular on the back of the neck?

fender1

Got this recently from an online pawn shop with a cracked headstock. All fixed with some other reversible mods and it plays/ sounds great!

1974 Rickenbacker 4001 bass in Azureglo:

The Golden Boy 

Azureglo!!! (there's no way I would have remembered that). Wasn't that one of the colors that was discontinued in the early 80s until they found a less toxic formula for it?

And what kind of swingy spinning acrobatics do you have to do and what do you have to hit to break off a Rick headstock?


Here's my old Rick- I still have the Marshall cab and the EB-0, but everything else is gone.

fender1

Nice! I wish I still had all the stuff I sold off!

This is what the crack looked like before repair:





If you flexed the headstock it opened up a good bit. This is a pretty common area to break on old Ric.

I cracked my original 4001 in the same spot when I threw the bass down on the ground in anger. The promoter at a club didn’t like the band I was in and cut power to the stage mid song. We were opening for The Replacement’s at Trenton City Gardens in NJ and I was really excited to play the show.
We got kicked out and didn’t get to see the Replacement s play. It was a double loss!

SurferRosa

Is there a better deal/value on medium acoustic strings in brass/bronze than these two?

d'addario bronze 3-pack for $16

ernie ball earthwood 3-pack for $19

Hobbiano 

@SurferRosa That's a decent price. I like the d'addario phosphor bronze EJ16's, 012 - 052. They are lite gauge but heavy enough for me. I think most new acoustics come with 12's. A little less tension sometimes sounds better. I also like tuning down a half step on an acoustic, just feels better and sounds good, to me. I've ordered from juststrings.com. I usually try to find 10-packs, a little cheaper and last me years.

SurferRosa

Thanks. I'll try that next time I string it.

I wanted more bang for the buck, thinking 13s would sound deeper or something. And my fingers are used to that gauge.

Also noted the 10-pack tip.

Hobbiano 

@SurferRosa Strings and Beyond has D'Addario 80/20 3-packs for 10.99 https://www.stringsandbeyond.com

SurferRosa

Sure wish I could change strings once a month. I love how bright and loud harmonics sound with new strings. FMaj7 sounded wrong tuned down, so I went standard.


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