ksdaddy

There was a guy who did some polishing on an old Gibson a month or two ago and had bad results. He used some expensive polish and it hazed the finish badly. Whatever you choose to try, try it on an inconspicuous spot.

I would just put bronze or phosphor bronze 13-56 as a starting point. Brand? Who knows? If your fingers can handle 13s on it, your search is mostly over.

Sometimes I hope for a cheap but decent solid body to show up so I can paint it some crazy color. Specifically one that had already been butchered. I would question “restoring” a 15 year old Affinity but I would have no qualms about picking up some rattle cans in an obnoxious color. Fender beat me to it this time. I like my Fenders made in California but when they can crank something GOOD out like this on the cheap, and it makes a kid (or adult) pick up a guitar, then I don’t care where it came from. This is SO much better than some of the entry level trash I encountered in the 70s.

Nope. Just an impulse purchase.

I just bought a bright lime green Squier Esquire for $139 shipped. Pretty amazing guitar for the money. I get what you’re saying about typically needing to spend a good amount of time polishing the frets but I find it to be hit or miss. I won’t need to do much to this one but a Squier Jazzmaster I bought last year had frets that were not only razor sharp but looked like they had been sanded with 240 grit. Luck of the draw.

What would you like to see happen then?

Or when Prince sued the pasta company.

“The brand is arguing that the marks have become generic after years of use across the industry.” Ya mean like a single cutaway design?

Great videos. I never gave a lot of thought to the Bee Gees. I'm just old enough to remember the "Words" era. "Jive Talkin'" came out when I was 15 and I though it was hokey crap. When I was a senior in high school Saturday Night Fever came out and I had respect for them for having nads enough to sing all girlie like that.... all the way to the bank. Seeing both of these videos just now, I feel I have mostly dismissed their talent wrongly.

I didn’t even hear the phrase “pre-CBS” until about 1976, and that was not taken that seriously. As to Norlin, there are some who believe any Norlin Gibson is trash. Not going to waste my breath defending Norlin. This is not the hill for me to die on.

Watching an episode of the Midnight Special from 1973. Barry is playing what appears to be a J200 in white with dark binding and a plain pickguard. Not bad looking!

When that song came out I thought it was “when I’m six feet four.”

64.

Gibson bought Dobro in 1993. According to a reliable source (former Gibson employee), Dobro had dwindled down to making a handful of instruments and they were housed in a rented former auto body shop. I have a 1993 Hound Dog, no frills. Best Dobro I've ever owned. And I have owned several. The whole transition to Nashville.... to me, it changed things. The brand eventually ended up on Chinese stuff anyway.... no surprise. If I had been running things, I would have left Dobro in Huntington Beach. But it's not my company.

^but they run forever^

From 1990 to 1992 my 'fun summer car' was a 1949 Oldsmobile. I sold it in the fall of 1992 for $1000 and drove it to the guy's house. Over the next few years it got painted again, reupholstered, and it went from 43000 miles to 61000. Last registered in 2006. It ended up in the collection of a local car collector. I discovered it because my son in law worked for him for a while. He developed dementia and his family is in the process or has already sold off his collection. I bought the Olds back for $3000 last fall. At the same time I financed a 1940 Studebaker Commander for my daughter so she could have an old car too... I had sold my '57 Bel Air to my son in law a while back. The Oldsmobile is legal to drive but I don't go far with it... it still has the same tires I put on it in 1990! In fact, my suicide knob and fuzzy dice were still in it, along with some Lucky Strike non filter butts in the ash tray. All that's missing is the Colt 45 16 ounce cans. This pic is from 1992: This pic is from about 2017 when it was re-discovered: And once I got it home:

I’ve found some lavash bread in the cupboard that I don’t remember buying. Months and months easily. Still looked great.

I consider (as a completely randomly chosen example) the Japanese Washburn electrics of the early 80s to be “vintage”. However, this is my own myopic, narrow minded interpretation of the word, which means something representing a certain era, be it a page in a company’s history, a fad, a set of colors, materials, quality, etc that are no longer in mainstream use, by that company or in general. Or any combination of these points. Whew! To that end, I would also consider Fender’s cost cutting measures in the late CBS era as being vintage as well; two knob Strats, white dots instead of pearl, Jazz Basses with one piece pickguards… I call that “vintage ‘83”. So the word vintage isn’t always equatable with positive. Narrow minded but owning it.

I think we should also try to absolutely define “pretty” and “delicious”. Never going to happen. Too subjective. Everyone should just self-validate their own definition of “vintage” and be happy with that.

I was given an early Christmas present a little while ago.

A couple photos of the front might help. The tuners look typical of 1930s/40s.

A "very nice" gig bag + UPS.

The last guitar I had shipped to me was in a gig bag. UPS smashed the top. Never another gig bag in this house. Not one.

It's snowing out at the moment. Supposed to get a few inches, I don't know.... it changes every half hour so I don't pay attention. Someone posted on a local FB group that my city is going to have a crappy time with the roads this winter. We have four plow drivers where we should have ten. Apparently the city doesn't pay much and many of the city employees have gone elsewhere. In the not too distant past, people would be getting into fistfights in the parking lot, racing to apply for a steady job. Not anymore. Replies to the FB post were predictable, people either wanting to know what the job paid before they would even consider applying or people pointing out that the city doesn't pay well. I see many help wanted signs. In the 70s 80s 90s I don't think I ever saw one. Anywhere. Didn't NEED to put the sign out. I spent a couple years cleaning offices in the 90s. I was supposed to be a Supported Employment Specialist, helping people with mental health issues get back into the workplace (or get into the workplace for the first time!). We rarely had participants because the system rewarded them more for sitting home collecting a check. But the offices needed to be cleaned, so guess who did it? People used to place a penny under their desk to see if I had vacuumed. If someone's telephone had dust on it, I got a lecture. If one of the restrooms ran out of TP, that was my fault because six rolls apparently wasn't enough to go two days. By contrast, in 2023 the cleaning lady leaves us nasty notes if there's too much trash. Who's working for who? As to buying American, good luck. I did pay $250 for an L.C. King denim barn coat last year and I don't regret it. But that is so insignificant in the rest of the year's purchases. I don't hear the car makers saying anything about buying American anymore. My wife's Bronco was made in Mexico. Every time I buy a part for my Impala, it is marked "made in China" regardless if I buy it at the local parts store, Rock Auto, or the Chevy dealer. Makes no difference. As to buying local in general, I do try. And a good percentage of the time they don't have something in stock and say "I can order that for you". I say, "I can do that myself". As to guitar stuff.... I gave up on Fender telling the truth about anything a LONG time ago. "On the XYZ models, we carve the bodies out in the US, then they are sent to Mexico to be sanded, then back across the border to be spray painted, but then back to Mexico to be buffed, then they are assembled in the US, except the ABC models, which is exactly the opposite. Subject to change without notice. " Gibson and Martin at least have labels that hopefully speak the truth. But I bet in my lifetime I will see both Gibson and Martin's daily production move to China, leaving only a 'custom shop' of sorts in the US.

In the 70s all Gibson acoustics were 25.5”. I think it was around ‘83 they switched back to the traditional lengths.