ksdaddy

I’ll give it a shot.

I can try to go in and delete some of your older pics if you like.

There were a few Murphy guitars at the Gibson Garage when I was there in October. I’m not a relic fan so I didn’t pay much attention. At Gruhn’s there was a relic’d ‘57 Strat ( reissue of some sort), that was only lightly relic’d, not all beat to dog crap. It was…. “believable”. It looked like a ‘57 that had been taken very good care of over the years but had light honest wear, mostly a little fretboard wear and a small area of forearm rub. A few minutes later I was hovering over an original ‘59 Strat ($40,000) that looked almost identical. Some of these guitars look like they managed to jump out of the wood chipper in the nick of time, and that’s just not realistic at all. If they want a true representation, ram a set of Grovers into an old Strat where the Klusons gave out in the 70s. And strip the finish and stain-varnish it in Hippie Sh__ Brown. Maybe rout it for a Gibson humbucker in the neck position like a lot of people did in ‘72. Put a Mighty Mite brass pickguard from 1980 on it to replace the cracked one, and while you’re at it, put some brass saddles and nut on it, or better yet, a Kahler vibrato and locking nut from ‘87. THAT would be a lot more historically accurate than what they’re peddling.

The LG-0 would have had a rectangular bridge at that time, so they were still in use.

I was just pondering that this morning. Thinking about Chet Atkins. He was great but... he seemingly had one style. Ditto Merle Travis. Les Paul played over everyone's head. Most jazz players play over everyone's head. Joe Pass didn't even play for human beings. I'm not sure what planet he was playing for. So many talented guitar players in our lifetimes, and if we, as individuals, were asked "who was/is the best?", at the very least our answer would be clouded by the type of music we enjoy. Not that the "best" could be quantified or digitized anyway. People like Glen Campbell and Jerry Reed come to mind, but they both seemed to be in a race to see who could play the fastest. It's not a race. I guess in my ripe old age, I tend to think about people like Tommy Tedesco, someone who was not only finger talented, but versatile. Finger talent, versatility, humility to play simple stuff when needed, and a lack of parlor tricks or muscle flexing. Suddenly the bar raises.

I skipped through the video, not enough to even grasp what’s going on, other than some Chinese people didn’t want to be “filmed”, as they hogged the camera and shouted down the guy in the shades. “Do not touch her.” “Do not touch her.” “Do not touch her.” “Do not touch her.” “Do not touch her.” “Do not touch her.” “Do not touch her.” All I can see is a fake scenario with some below average acting.

I’ve been using this one for 20 years or more. I bought it used. The power is on when something is plugged into it, which meant I would forget to unplug my guitar and drain the battery. I installed a mini switch and then ground the lever shorter so it would be less likely to break off or snag. It’s a good sounding little headphone amp. I’d like to try others as well.

I refuse to believe that Larsong's guitar cracked because it had inferior wood. Or any defect in workmanship. Wood cracks, windshields crack (two in our 2021 Bronco this year!) and concrete cracks. Likewise I refuse to believe that a 60 year old crack free guitar necessarily has anything superior in material. It happens. It happened. Or it won't. I don't care whether it came from an assembly line in Dink Chow, Southeast China or from under Bob Benedetto's pillow. If it wants to crack, it will, either brand new in a 47.5% humidity hermetically sealed room or 20 years later as it's leaning up against the wood stove.

Epiphone was using the name Masterbilt in the 1930s.

So if using that twist of a word to draw a customer in, would that be considered MasterBait?

Seeing Ted and a pile of Byrdlands reminds me of seeing a used instrument list from Elderly Instruments from 1984 or so. It had listed a black Byrdland formerly owned by Ted for $900. That was about the going rate for a Byrdland at that time.

I believe the 330 was "normal" 24.75 scale BUT the neck joined the body at a lower fret than the 335 family so it might have presented an illusion of being a shorter scale. Having said that, they did make some "long neck" 330s in the later 60s, which may have joined the same way as a 335.

In 1985 when I opened my guitar shop, I was able to buy parts directly from Gibson. I still have the binder catalog with price list. A few month later I was told I could no longer order directly from them, as I was not a Gibson dealer. That was a Henry move. Up to that point, the fact I was a legit music store was good enough.

My favorite amp is a 1973 Ampeg GT-10. Solid state, 10 watt, 8” Jensen. I set all the knobs at halfway and manipulate the volume and tone on the Tele. Every tone is there. Except maybe surf. The reverb isn’t great. On occasion I have plugged a Les Paul into it, turned the volume, bass and treble all the way up and let it scream. I remember doing that 20 years ago and thinking, this is the tone people have paid thousands of dollars to get, and this is a $100 crap amp. Not saying I wouldn’t appreciate and enjoy a Cadillac amp, but when an ugly girlfriend is keeping me happy and sleepy, why jump the fence?

I don’t go along with “harder is better”. Yeah, yeah, I know what I said. Sycamore is softer than most maple but the early Bozeman J200s (in Sycamore aka European Maple) are considered by many to be totally superior to the ones made of Eastern Maple (which is harder). I was speaking with a couple engineers at work about 20 years ago, talking about making saddles from various materials, and they started talking about Young’s Modulus of Elasticity and soon my eyes glazed over. I made a few saddles with various materials and found that while harder materials (I.e. brass or steel) might be more efficient in their transfer of vibrations, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be better. The other end of the spectrum is true too, too soft and things get lost. Think of some Gibsons that had adjustable rosewood saddles. Not saying they were BAD, but once people switched to bone, not many went back. I’d be interested to hear what Gibson has to say about the side crack. I am not taking sides but I just can’t see any company repairing a crack in the side of a 20 year old guitar and calling it a warranty repair. It would be setting a dangerous precedent. If they do fix it for you, great! Happy for ya!

The engineers in my agency have a saying: There are two types of concrete. Concrete that has cracked, and concrete that hasn’t cracked yet.

I built a mandolin with a cedar top and black ash sides n back.

What about on the pots themselves? Bear in mind, the date codes weren’t used until 1947 so you don’t have a 1945 speaker. You have a 1955 speaker. But who’s to say it’s original?

I had one back in the 80s. 1/4” sounds right to me.

I wonder how much of that is the fact it’s Brazilian. I’ve had older Gibsons where the boards stay nice n glossy year after year. I had a ‘96 Herb Ellis that had the most horrible coarse dry feeling board (Indian).

I’ve owned a couple parlor guitars from around 1920 that had oak sides and back. I don’t remember much about them but they did exist.

Some suggest guitar owners overdo it with the oil in general. If I get a guitar and the board seems dry, I will wipe a little on, but I may never oil it again as long as I own it. I don't even think "lemon oil" is anything more than mineral oil with lemon scent. A couple years ago I found a bottle of Snow River Wood Oil. I have no idea what's in it but it's meant for cutting boards. It has no scent and doesn't seem to leave any residue. Maybe it's just mineral oil too, I don't know. But the "lemon oil" leaves some kind of grit and slime I can't quite explain, and this stuff does not. I've got a 1971 LP Deluxe that, seems like every spring, the neck would go wonky, not wanting to stay in tune, I'm not going to pretend to understand the science, but the guitar was miserable for a month or so. That began when I got it in 1997. About 3 years later I wiped a couple very thin coats of boiled linseed oil on the fretboard. Not enough to build up any gloss. It hasn't misbehaved since.

Sometimes I would get a robocall asking me if I was interested in a business loan. If so, press one. Then I would be greeted by Rashneesh, who would ask my name (fake), the name of my business (fake) and if my business income was at least X per month (yes). He would then ask the nature of my business, and I would reply “it’s a specialty division of a dry cleaning chain, picking farts out of old men’s shorts”.

I had one person call my house claiming one of my daughters owed on a payday loan. I hung up, they called back, more insistent. After the 4th call the curse words were flying from both directions. On the fifth call I turned into Apu from the Simpsons, which made our conversation much more exciting. It was like two street vendors arguing in Kolkatta. I ended the conversation with a suggestion he have relations with himself. I believe I had suggested that many times before to no avail. It's amazing how that two word phrase is universal. That must be one of the first phrases they teach at telescammer school. Side note, I have no idea if my daughter had a payday loan. Doesn't matter. Don't strongarm me or mine.

Yep if you answer, you have signaled to them that your number is a working number. And even though they have not scammed you, they now can sell your number as legit.