ksdaddy

In 1985 I got my first Les Paul, a wine red 1980 Standard. It was in excellent condition but the finish on the back of the neck was worn through in a “predictable” pattern. It was almost like they had clearcoated it and THEN applied the red.

I'm not a pianist. I sit down to a keyboard and muddle through a handful of chords with one hand and try to connect them with a single note run with the other. I don't read music, never taken lessons, and likely never will. I do enjoy having keyboards around, and true to my nature that is evident in stringed instruments, I have no aversion to dragging more home. I had a 1920 Mendellsohn upright piano given to me in 2012. It was more or less in the way downstairs so I gave it away in 2018. No regrets about that act, as it went to a young teenage girl who fell immediately in love with it. Old pianos are offered to me on a regular basis, so I will have another. Taking it down cellar will be a challenge. But we did it once, we can do it again. I've got a few cheesy keyboards, including a 90s Yamaha, a 90s Casio, and a 1983 Lowery Micro Genie (hardcore cheese right there, complete with puffy silver case that looks like a bowling bag). Last year I did buy a Casio digital piano, which is pretty amazing. It "sorta" feels like a real piano; it's close anyway. And I can move it easily and don't have to tune it, so there's that. A couple days ago I was given a 1967 Hammond J-110, a very basic transistorized organ in tuxedo black, and pristine other than some hardcore oxidation in the key mechanisms. My observation is this: Over the years, I have owned many OTHER keyboards and organs. If I go to a group or forum connected with a certain brand or style of keyboard, the reaction is guaranteed to be exactly the same: How much did they pay you to take it away? You need to haul it to the dump. Pee-yoooo, what's that stink? That model was a POS from Day One and you need to run. Every. Single. Time. It matters not what I buy or LOOK at. I found two old pianos (not free) that were CLEARLY upscale and very expensive units from 1900-1920. These were not junk. I googled them and they were held in high regard by the industry when they were made. But you can already guess the reaction from the piano forums. "Stay away from these old pianos unless you're willing to pay a piano technician a hundred dollars to go to the person's house and assess it, give you a 4 page report with an estimate of what it will take to be on par with Liberace's piano." I 'get' the idea that old pianos can sometimes be a money pit, but according to them, any piano I've stumbled upon is, by default, pure junk because it doesn't say Steinway. What kind of standard are these people using? It would be like us saying the Les Paul Custom is "okay" and the Standard is alright if you are so poor that you are resorting to eating the family pet, and if someone offered you a Studio, you should call the police. Melody Makers are not guitars. They are ad hoc weapons or firewood. Do we do that? Please tell me we don't. I have the view that, even though there is a pecking order in instruments' values and desirability, it would make me a pretty crappy human being if someone came on this board and was happy about buying a used First Act and I told them what a piece of junk it is. I would HOPE I would be more likely to offer little tidbits on how to make the most out of what they bought, as to setup or small improvements they might make. Rule #1, make music with what you have on hand.

Hotter now than in the 80s. She has a 'beat up 50s Telecaster' appeal now.

I was willing to keep on driving it but I was advised that it might not be a good idea to be driving a car that has been deemed “totaled”. At least from a legal standpoint. If I got into another accident driving THIS one, the lawyers would have a feeding frenzy.

I think the Recording has a built in adaptor for low impedance. If there’s a switch for hi/lo, there’s your answer. The Personal (gold hardware) and Professional (Nickel or Chrome hardware) both required the adaptor cord. One of the Personals I owned, I mounted the adaptor inside the control cavity so I could use a regular cord.

118 in Maine but 74 in the Portland area alone. None in Aroostook County where I live. But we're shut down like many other areas/states. And so be it.

Yeah, whiteout. I slowed down, a lot. Maybe barely moving. The Lincoln Navigator behind me didn't see me. Technically it was "their fault" but in that spot, on that day, there was NO seeing what was in front of you. Which is exactly why I slowed down in the first place. I was trying to avoid hitting something that may or may not have been in front of me. I bought that 2010 Impala 5 years ago this month, 107,000 miles, $6000. I beat the snot out of it. It now has 190,000 miles and there were no signs of aging. It was the best car I've ever owned, and I've owned many. The silver 2016 is the last of the 'old style' Impalas and only has 32,000 miles. My round trip to work is only 24 miles now, instead of the 110 before, so this Impala will likely last me a long time.

That was easy! (assuming you can see it) That's my new used 2016 Impala that replaced THIS one:

Okay, here's a test:

Oh I’m definitely on Facebook lol.

I used Photobucket for years, and then they got weird so I switched to Tinypic. Then THEY went completely bat ____, and Photobucket started charging. I’d like to find a basic hosting service. Not crazy amounts of storage, just somewhere to upload pics to be used on forums. I wouldn’t mind paying for it if it meant no pop ups while I was using it. Suggestions?

Surely you’re not sniffing glue.

If everyone had just continued buying household products as they did before the panic, the shelves would still be full. People are in a different state of mind now. People are hoarding. We didn't hoard. Maybe we did come home with an extra 12 pack of tp, but I would scarcely consider that panic mode. We don't have a ton of food stocked up, but I'm not really seeing anything bad at the stores other than bread/tp/Ramen/pasta stuff being bare. I did buy a bag of bread flour and some yeast, and may try making a couple loaves at some point, but to be honest, most of the time bread turns blue at my house before it's used up. Maybe it will get worse before it gets better, but I doubt we're going to starve. As to tp....come on, people. I have running water and plenty of washcloths. I'm betting you're okay too. I'm a federal employee, and different agencies are handling it differently. Mine is currently: front doors are locked. One person per agency at any given time. We rotate with whatever schedule works for all of us. Some of us are set up to telework, but there are other problems with that...we're upgrading much of our computing systems and most of the time the stuff doesn't work (nothing to do with the virus btw). I will telework quite a bit but I may take annual leave here and there. I usually end up needing to take half of December off rather than lose it. This too shall pass, and we will be bruised but wiser.

Saturday we were in a whiteout and got rear ended. Totaled my Impala. This morning my Jack Russell Terrier (Dobby) passed away. I suspect I will get Coronavirus within the next couple days.

I deleted one post that was political. Thread will stay up otherwise.

That sunburst definitely looks early 60s to me. Tuners are incorrect for a mid 50s. Intriguing! And that label looks like something left over from an L-5 or L-7 in the 40s. I hope you find a FON starting with an X or a W!

I have read about incidents when Gibsons went back to the factory for repairs/refinishing and were stamped with a new serial number. I'm sure that this was not "standard procedure" but "standard procedure" and "Gibson" don't fit in the same sentence well, especially back then. Any photos would help. If it were me looking a this guitar, I would be looking inside for a factory order number on the headblock. If, for example, it truly is a 1954 or 55 with 19 frets and DID get re-serialized during a repair project, there's a good chance the original factory order number might still be visible.

1376552 is a CTS pot made in the 52nd week of 1965.

Just Kalamazoo. Nashville didn’t open until 1974 I think. Not sure when the B-25 was dropped but I’m positive none were made outside of K-zoo. Bozeman didn’t open until 1988-9, long after they were dropped.

It's either an LG-1 (ladder bracing), an LG-3 (X-bracing) or B-25 (basically a renamed LG-3). Serial number, finish, etc, looks like very early 60s. They would have changed the bridge to a belly up (and then belly down around 67-68) so that should help date it as well. I don't know when they switched from the straight bridge. I'm thinking 1961 or 62. The serial number puts it either 1962 or 1964 (odd, I know). I'm betting '62.

I bought two mandolins for $5 each and this 12 string for $10. Same person, cleaning out their junk. One of the mandolins was a semi decent El Degas from the 70s with a detached neck and missing bridge. And 10 years of dust. The other was a horrific MSO (mandolin shaped object) with a caved in top. I stripped all the parts off that one and sold it on ebay for $9.70. I used the bridge and tailpiece on the El Degas, once I reglued the neck and flattened the fretboard in the process. I restrung it and sold it locally for $65. I pondered even trying to make the 12 string playable. If nobody buys it for 24.99 I may do some nasty things to it, hard to say.

In 1982 my father bought a new (1981) Martin M-38. It came in one of those blue thermoplastic cases. He didn't like them because he was afraid of banging the guitar on the aluminum edges. He bought a new plywood case, no idea what brand, but right in line with any good case. I think he sold the brand new blue case to the pawn shop for $50 just to be rid of it. In that particular case (no pun intended) I wish he had stuffed it in the attic because it would bring a couple hundred bucks or more nowadays.

My advice is to just stash the case somewhere and if you ever try to sell the guitar, offer to include the original case with it. It may matter to a potential buyer.

I promise, they did not hide the glue.

Sometimes I just don't care if someone buys something or not. https://www.ebay.com/itm/114106945980