ksdaddy

The ‘64 SJ is alive and well. Given the choices presented I would likely pick the J200 but in my old age I am less tolerant of a 17” body. Ditto for the wide waist of the square shoulders….they’ve always tended to slide around on me. I know they’re not choices but I’d lean towards a slope or J-180. As to Ginger and Maryann, the closest I’ve come is the white purse that came from the wardrobe dept and was assigned to Gilligan’s Island. Mrs Howell had many purses… I do have the box set of GI and intend to watch every episode again to look for it. (Why would I NOT have some random thing like that in my house?)

I've probably owned 25 Les Pauls. The only one I currently own is a sandwich body 1971 gold top Deluxe. A couple Les Pauls from my past that were outstanding.... a 1979 and a 1980. Gotta get past the stigma and let them speak to you if they want.

Fred has caused a lot of confusion with Gibson fans decades later. But hey, no leftover parts!

Remember, this is Gibson we're talking about. I know they sometimes had laminated sides, or laminated backs, or both, and it wasn't something that would be catalogued. "Oh look, a stack of laminated back blanks, Fred, use these up first so I don't have to inventory them".

I’m slowly culling old VHS tapes. I still have a couple hundred or more. The hardest stuff to cull is ones that are bits n pieces I recorded off tv over the last 38 years. One bit was from SNL around 2000 or so, when AC/DC was the musical guest. There was a technical glitch. They did “Stiff Upper Lip” and the only things that were “on” were Brian’s microphone and Malcolm’s guitar. The rest of the band could be heard a little, but not much. Any band is the sum of its parts, and sometimes MORE than that. If anyone other than Malcolm had been playing rhythm, that band wouldn’t have been the same and in fact, would have suffered. Anyone who says they “just play rhythm guitar” should listen closely to AccaDacca. You’re much more than you think.

Currently reading Tearing down the Wall of Sound about Phil Spector. Odd dude. Serious mental issues that started early.

It's making me pause to reassess my priorities.

As to seller’s descriptions on Reverb…. Last week I took delivery of a used guitar (mid 60s) and the seller raved about the tone of the pickups, the recent professional setup, and that it was ready to rock. It arrived with approximately 3/16” of relief in the neck (you read that right) and the electronic output amounted to one of the pickups working but with the volume and tone having zero effect. I would have tried to return it, but it’s something I wanted. Even though I have had to spend several hours working out the kinks, it’s difficult to find one of these models, and it was only a few hundred dollars. I have mixed feelings about leaving poor feedback. Either he is too stupid to realize the state he sold it in, or he’s too crooked to let any bad feedback bother him. Getting back to the 2019, I would simply suggest, if you want a guitar to be new, then you should buy new. Sellers are there to sell, and sometimes hype the condition up, hoping you won’t notice.

My goal has been to retire debt free. I did so. Our house is paid off, my “old” house is paid off and my youngest daughter rents from me (at a laughably low dollar amount), I own the property across the road and my stepson has an identical rental situation. We have zero debt except for my wife’s 2021 Bronco, which will be paid off early. Not bragging. Just saying I always lived within my means and drove ten year old cars while my peers drove new ones. Anyone’s financial situation can be a wreck because we can’t foresee or control many things that happen to them. I maintain though, that there are always elements you can control and all you can do sometimes is focus on them…and maybe the storm will pass. As to guitars, I have many that, if I were to be honest, I may never play again. I’ve got a couple J200s, a J100, an L-5, a Heritage Super Eagle, plus probably more kicking around that might as well not be here. And even though the prices have gone up and up lately, I wonder how much people are buying. I see huge prices on guitars on Reverb and they sit there for a year. That’s not how supply and demand works. I’ve been shopping for a pre CBS Jazzmaster for a solid year and the only ones that appear on the market with decent prices are quickly scooped up by other dealers who promptly relist them with “their” inflated prices. And then they sit for a year or more. Doesn’t make sense.

I just sat here on the edge of the bed doing my rendition of “She Took Off My Romeos” on my ‘93 Original Hound Dog. Because nothing says ‘Lindley Quasi-Reggae’ like a round neck reso. I think Dave would understand. It doesn’t matter what you play. Ever. As long as you play. Mortality sucks. Heroes and dogs should live forever. I’m tired. I’m sad. I’m going to bed.

Not a huge amount to tell. I found an old Goya at a junk shop in 1984 for $12. I knew Dave was into weird old guitars. I thought he might like it as a gift. I mailed it to his management company (found the address on the back of an album) and a while later I got a nice multi page letter from Dave. He thanked me for the gift, said it was cool and he just happened to have the electronics for it (the pickups and controls are all mounted on one rectangular plate that is held to the body with 4 spring loaded screws). The electronic plate he had was RED however. I always hoped I'd see him play it sometime. It would have been instantly recognizable.

Long time fan here. I gave him a Goya electric back in ‘84. Never actually met him.

It’s an L-50, made sometime between 1948-ish and 1955. As to value, a quick search in the “sold” listings on Reverb show anywhere from $800 to $3000. I think $2000 would be absolute high end, and those that sold higher than that were misguided buyers.

I retired in August. My honey-do list started out long and remains long. I work slowly. I actually started going back to my old job for 4 hours a week, culling old files and doing historical research on farms ad-hoc. Rumor is, I will be hired on one day a week (my choice, to minimize any effect on my Social Security). I don't need the money, and my hope is to just bank whatever it brings to go towards a pickup.

I've never seen a 125 of any variety come stock with anything other than a P-90 so you have a rare bird indeed. If you can see the codes stamped onto the pots, that could help narrow it down a lot. You may have to take them out to see them. Depends on how bad you want to know, I guess!

Are the tuners individual or are they on a strip? If they’re individual and you’re willing to do a little tinkering on them while keeping an open mind, I can help. If you’d rather just swap them out, that’s fine too.

I think even if you have it set exactly to the radius of the board, so many tiny changes such as string gauge, core size vs wrap size, nickel plated vs pure nickel vs stainless etc, wound vs plain G, you may need to tweak one or more pole pieces. And it may drive you nuts seeing a lack of symmetry. And as RCT says, minutiae kills. And once you get it perfect, you play it in a different room with a different amp and you’re right back at square one. Sometimes you can find the manufacturer’s setup specs online. I figure… they BUILD them, they probably know a good setup. I sometimes default to their settings and if I sense something is lacking, I’ll tweak. But I do use their setup specs as a starting point.

I don’t know that P90s can be dated other than the early ones having non adjustable pole pieces. Are you specifically trying to date the pickup or the guitar? Looks like an ES225 in the pic and I would be looking at the date code on the pots.

Buzzes like that are sometimes misleading. I chased a rattle down I could have sworn was at the body and it was a tuner button.

I’ll never forget my grandfather’s last words to me. “Quit shaking the ladder, you little b*stard!”

They also used the 400,000 series in 1974-75.

That ozone is weird smelling, ain’t it? It’ll go away soon. If you can, set a fan near it.

It's to help the neck from shifting side to side in the neck pocket. It's like studded snow tires.

I bought an ozone generator last year. If you go on the internet and read what people say about them, they have a bad rep. They say they cause everything from cancer to measles to making Coke flat. My son in law bought a 2011 pickup that was owned by a heavy smoker. They "tried everything" and resigned to the fact the smoke wasn't going away, so much that they called the truck "Stinky". I turned the ozone generator on inside the cab and let it run for.... I don't recall how long.... must have been at least an hour or two, maybe more than that. Then we had to open it all up and run a 20" box fan to get the ozone smell out (not pleasant by itself). The truck no longer smells. No exaggeration. I had one guitar case that was really bad. It had been musty inside and I had the bright idea of wiping down the inside with a rag soaked in bleach water. Don't ever do that. It doesn't get rid of the musty odor at all and it adds a layer of bleach.... like what your hands smell like if you get bleach on them, it's a kind of odor that's neither animal, vegetable or mineral, it just stinks. I opened the case up inside my old Blazer and ran the generator inside for a while. Same treatment afterwards, fan it out a long time. Case smells fine now. Some places rent them. I bought one on ebay, hit it just right, maybe $50-60, I don't remember. It's there when I need it. Don't be in the area and inhale it. It has it's own horrific odor, will cause headaches and possible respiratory distress.

I guess if you're looking for "edge", then of course they don't last very long. But in this particular case, they still sound fine to me, and if I were to change them, I'd go through a period of a month or more where they would sound too metallic to me. Then once they broke in nicely, I'd be right back where I already am, just $30 poorer.