SteveFord

I don't know if there's anything specific but Levy suede straps work well. https://www.levysleathers.com/straps/

What a beauty! I see why you bought it and light weight, too. Congratulations!

A quick sidetrack to replace a headphone system that I sold years ago to buy a Firebird or something. Here's the first part, a used WooAudio WA6 headphone amp. Built like a tank in Brooklyn and I really missed that thing. Comes with a bunch of tubes and should be here in a week or so.

Not the early 1960s Sherwood tuner as that sounds better than anything else you'll encounter. We'll see how the Oppo DVD/CD player w/ tube buffer sounds. If it bites I'll upgrade. Hear they got this newfangled thing called Blu-Ray... The center channel speaker stays, that's a good one (Magnepan CC5). I know those little LRS' are like sonic magnifying glasses so anything that's reallyaub-par will stick out like a sore thumb. I should be able to put something together really good for $2500 including the speakers. The way it sounds now it's good for watching TV and that's about it.

Finally decided to upgrade the wife's TV/stereo system. This will be a bit of a project as it'll be speakers, amp, preamp and maybe the TV itself. It's all overdue. Ordered a set of Magnepan LRS speakers for starters. https://www.magnepan.com/model_lrs

Thank you, I'm getting used to it. You can tell this one wasn't played very much just by the feel of it. The only downside to it is the weight, it's a lot heavier than my 335. I know they vary, too, just like everything else. I guess the stereo wiring and VariTone are the culprits. The current 345s don't have any of that but it just doesn't seem right without the gold plating and extra stuff. Easier on the shoulder, though.

If all of the new Firebirds sound like this one they've got a winner. I wasn't expecting it to be such a screamer. It makes my Firebird VII sound pathetic by comparison.

A while back I purchased a 2020 Firebird V which I mistakenly identified as a 2019 when it first showed up. I gave a little review and then kind of forgot about it. It's nothing really eye popping, it's a dark cherry with nickel plated hardware and the Grover tuners. I think I made an unkind comment about the flat, Fedner-ish headstock and that was about it. Today I have some spare time so plugged it in to give it a whirl and this thing SCREAMS! This is the Firebird tone you hear from Johnny Winter's albums but none of the other recent Firebirds attain. They always sound kind of glassy and brittle. When you think of a Firebird neck you think wide, shallow and flat but the one 1960s model that I've managed to play had a slim, round one like a fast SG neck. That leads me to believe that Gibson altered the neck profile when they reintroduced the Firebirds some time ago. This one has the sim, round neck so maybe they went back to the original profile. Low frets and a really nice feeling fretboard and none of that dreaded sticky neck feel. Action is real low and like all of the new ones you can adjust the string height with either an Allen wrench or the thumb wheel. I don't know about the nut as I always give the top 3 strings a little work with a welding tip file when I first get them. It also comes with a usual giant Firebird case but this one is made in Costa Rica which means you'll have to hire someone to carry it up a flight of stairs for you. You can spot them by the large, industrial strength hinges (or by looking at the owner's bulging biceps). They're really quite something. This really is a great rock and roll guitar. Light weight, no upper fret access problems, stupidly easy to play and they finally got the sound right. This thing rips. Recommended!

Nothing was throwing me off, that was a joke about the 2015 model's dubious innovations.

Boy, that's a pretty guitar. String spacing looks a little off, you might want to have that looked at.

Nope, I'll just be stuck to seat 301 on the bus next to the gal from the GTOs, seen in 200 Motels, who went wee wee on Jeff Beck's head while she was wearing his boots. I guess it could be worse, they'll be me a pizza.

No but I always wanted one. A buddy in college opened up a guitar case and my gleaming little, acid burn out eyeballs went BOING! How did they go? BOING! I had a wine red ES-335 with a trapeze tail piece at the time so I didn't feel cheated or anything, just a handsome guitar for those syncopating sodomites at Jazz School.

I agree. That's what always made the ES-175 such a striking guitar. Everytime I'd see one it was WOW!

As threatened, here she be: After concentrating on solid bodies for quite some time this certainly feels different. This is not my Firebird... It really does slot right inbetween the 335 and the 355/Lucille. I can see why so many of the greats chose this model, they're worth hunting down if you're in the market for an ES model.

I've got it set up and will take some pics tomorrow when the lighting is better. Hopefully I can capture the wood grain on this one. A fellow here a few years back bought a 345 and spent quite some time talking it up about how impressed he was with it which is what got me thinking about the model again. It's heavier than a 335, lighter than a Lucille, the whole thing really reminds me of a current 60s neck Les Paul Standard with slightly higher frets and a different body shape, of course. The fret board isn't as nice on the new Les Pauls but this one may have spent quite some time drying out (it's a 2008 model). The sound of it is really good and I always liked messing around with the VariTone. The stop tailpiece is tarnished pretty badly but other than that, I can't find anything to complain about. It just needs another truss rod adjustment or two and lot of playing time as this feels like a case queen.

He's really good. 3 humbucker Firebird with an unbound dot neck and banjo tuners. You don't see that every day.

That bike is a trip down memory lane, very nice. I suspect Rabs is right, they do it they way they do it because of tradition. Kind of like Ducati with desmodromic valve gear for all those years.

That they do. I let the case sit over night so I don't get instant finish checking and will get it going later on today.

Frank Zappa wasn't much of a herpetologist, baby snakes are neither pink nor wet. Unlike this oldie but goodie: A friend of mine used to own a picture framing store in a mall and he had that one framed, he was telling me about some nuns who came into the store and how they were so horrified by it.

What's with the Mike Hailwood Replica I see hiding there?

Well, that might take a bit of work to schlep them all into one heap, it's been a long lockdown . You always see the stereo because that's where the good light is in this house, there's a picture window right there. Albums sound really good, CDs are okay but not as good as the turntable. From my experience it's just not worth spending the money on really expensive digital play back as the sound is just never quite there although it can come close. There's just something that's always a little "off". Bad news, seller hosed me and shipped me a Burmese Python after all. Just what I need, another mouth to feed.

It might contain either a very large sandwich or a chilled python. Box doesn't appear to be moving, probably a 6' tuna and swiss sub.

I wonder what this might be?

For the price of that one 3 pick up SG with a little hunting around you could get a new or open box: Firebird V Les Paul Standard and an ES-335. Decisions, decisions...