pippy

As we are considering an Explorer I thought that the use of the word 'Angles' was intentional.... FWIW I also agree with Keefoman that 57 Classics would be a good choice. Pip.

Ah, you must bear in mind that my experience with really good Hot Dogs is practically non-existent, Bill. Just because I thought the Dog I had on Coney Island was tasty does not mean that it would, erm, cut the mustard (Ho!) with all you folks who know the real-deal when it comes along and bites their bum. Pip.

We have avocados at least once each week. Usually we just have them as they come and as part of a side dish but I really love preparing a good home-made guacamole. I've had the guacamole-style with home-prep'd hamburgers but we don't really eat hot-dogs very often - IMX good ones are not that easy to find here in the UK - so that's something to try I guess. There was one very good eatery called Ed's Diner in London's West-End (only around 50 yards from the 'Guitar District' of Denmark St.!) which did a mean hot-dog but the founder/owner passed away earlier this year and it's been turned into a poor-quality KFC-clone. Great Shame. The best hot-dog I've ever had was in Nathan's on Coney Island a few years back. I cannot for the life of me remember which 'Dog' I went for but it was super-tasty and super-big! My daughter found the concept of an International Hot Dog Eating Contest Countdown Board utterly hilarious! Pip.

Hi and welcome to the forum. Good luck in hunting down the guitars you fancy but you should be aware that the chances of anything from the regular Gibson plant these days holding value - let alone increasing - is effectively nil. There are simply far too many examples of each model being manufactured. To give you an example; one of the most desirable Les Pauls, the Custom Shop 1959 reissue, currently lists for around the £5,000 (Sterling) mark here in the UK. A second-hand recently-made example in near-mint condition can be found around the £3,000 mark any day of the week. That is a 40% drop in value in just a few years. With thousands of examples being made every year what chance do any of them have of increasing in value? The only instruments which might have a chance of holding/increasing value are some of the Artists Signature or the Collector's Choice releases from the Custom Shop and/or things a bit special such as the Tom Murphy painted and aged Les Pauls but these tend to be considerably more expensive than the upper limit you are hoping to spend and yet even the vast majority of these are hardly likely to increase by much if, indeed, at all. There are a few exceptions; if you could track down one of the aged/signed Billy Gibbons 'Pearly Gates' reissues it might be worth a bit more at some future date but AFAIK currently these are hovering around the $20,000 mark so it might be a long wait to see a substantial profit. Best to think of it this way; Today you buy a brand new C-Class Mercedes Benz Coupe for $45,000. How much would you expect it to be worth on the used market in five years time? In 10 years time? In 30 years time?......... Unless you are considering something really special and rare then, unfortunately, modern guitars are simply not a good investment opportunity. IMO of course. YMMV. Pip.

Well, that's really not much to go on is it? Explorers have been released in a great number of years since the first 're-issues' in 1976 and without more useful info we are not going to be able to help you very much. There were many changes in design details from year to year so you could try to narrow it down by comparing yours with what info there already is out there in internetland. Even the Wiki entry has some good pointers. FWIW according to some sources the 'closed' b and o letters on the peghead logo suggest a pre-1984 period but exceptions are numerous. Does it have the original potentiometers for the vol / tone knobs? If so then these might be one way of finding-out a rough year as all USA-made pots are stamped with a date of manufacture (accurate to one week). Pip.

Hello. Welcome to the forum and thank you for a very entertaining first post! Well, best wishes in your quest to become known as the 'King of the Firebird' and so on although you might want to have a quick google at, say, Johnny Winter first just to see what you are up against in that role. After all he's only ranked down at number 63 in the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" so I'm sure you can get ahead of him on the list pretty soon... Seriously, though; welcome to the madhouse and I hope you have lots of fun here! If you have any tracks to share I'm sure we would all love to hear you and 660V~66A in your element. Pip.

Please excuse my taking the liberty of shortening your post, Col Mustard, but I thought that the whole thing was one of the most wonderfully worded testimonials to the humble Electric Guitar I've read here in a very long time. Thank you very much; for 'feeling it' in the first place all those years ago and also for taking the time to write down your thoughts and observations so we could all enjoy it here, now, at our leisure and both individually and collectively. May you continue to enjoy your Sweet Thing for many, many years to come. Pip.

Some lovely snaps! It must have been quite something to be let loose with all that History and Hardware lying around. Lucky old Mr. Joe Giddens! Thanks for posting the link. Pip.

Hey! Many Congratulations on the Award! Liking the track very much as I type! Pip.

Terrible news, KB, but as has been said by the others at least your brother-in-law and his family and, it seems according to the article, everyone else was evacuated safely. Thanks-be for the firefighters' unquestioning bravery and my best wishes going out to you and yours. Pip.

Like Big Bill I have also liked to play along with 'The Weight' ever since I first learned it so when I clicked on the link I also picked up my recently acquired Washburn R315K Parlour guitar to "play-along-a" the track. So far so good. Then, at the 02:04 mark, what do I see but John Cruz playing his Washburn R314K Parlour guitar!......Spooky! Nice version! I particularly liked the sitar bit! Thanks for posting! Pip.

'Running Wild' (think of Marilyn Monroe in 'Some Like it Hot') in the key of A. Good fun! Now all I have to do is do justice by the dress and I'm all set. Pip.

Exactly right, rct! One free bottle to be shipped in the case of every new LP bought! Pip.

...in which case - and in the interest of accuracy - I should point out that I was indeed wrong about the type! It's a clipped-wing Mk XIV - which was (and I quote from the 1962 edition of Owen Thetford's pretty comprehensive 'Aircraft of the Royal Air Force since 1918'); "...an interim production version (of the Mk XII) released to bridge the gap until the fully re-designed Mk XVIII became available..." I was fooled by the bubble canopy - thinking that this first became a feature on the XVIII whereas it turns out that whilst the Mk. XIV had a regular canopy when introduced the later examples of the Mk. XIV had the more aerodynamic 'bubble' modification. I had actually seen that particular JEJ example somewhere before but only after I googled it this morning did I discover that it is a Mk. XIV and not the XVIII as I had assumed previously. My Bad. FWIW the XIV was intended for operations at high altitude (hence the Griffon 65 and clipped wings) and was the most successful Spitfire Mk. in shooting down the V1 flying bombs - accounting for over 300 of the 429 claimed Spit 'kills'. Hope that helps clarify things a bit more! Pip. EDIT : Here's where further details about the Johnson tribute Spitfire can be found; https://www.flyinglegends.com/aircraft/vickers-armstrong-spitfire-fr-xiv-g-spit-2.html

I was fortunate enough to be on a photo shoot a few years ago 'backstage' at Duxford. They had somewhere around 16 Spitfires in storage / being repaired / prepared for flight. Chatting with one of the mechanics I mentioned that it was somewhat unusual to see so many Spits in one place at the same time. 'Not at all!', he retorted. And, of course, he was absolutely right. The skills required to work on these WWII Warbirds is no longer taught 'proper' in regular engineering school. All the mechanics at Duxford have learned their craft - and it is a very skilled craft - the hard way. They, in turn, pass this experience on to their apprentices and / or those who come after - as they, themselves, had learned from their own masters - and because so much of this skill and knowledge is concentrated in Duxford it follows that Duxford is one of the most logical places for these aircraft to be restored, fettled and hangar'd. Pip.

With the very greatest respect and in the full knowledge that I could well be wrong, of course, jdgm but as that has a 5-blade (but not twin-5-blade-contra-rotating) prop, bubble canopy and the twin-22mm guns by my reckoning it is the fighter variant of the Rolls-Royce 'Griffon 65' engined Spit XVIII. Most embarrased and sincere apologies in advance if I'm talking shite. In any event and whatever the case might be I DO love your photographss. Love the F4U-1D Corsair (is that with RAF South-East Asia roundels?) in the background of the above snap. Thanks for posting! Pip.

No need in the slightest to make apologies for those very atmospheric photo's, Two L's. Lovely images! And what a treat to come across by chance. It must have been wonderful to see them at such close quarters. The Rolls-Royce Merlin is something else entirely! It really does have to be heard in 'real life' for an understanding of how different it sounds from 'regular fare' to be properly appreciated. A few months ago some friends and families had met up with ourselves for an afternoon out walking around (part of the) the 3,000 acre estate/deer park of an old ex-Royal Palace (Knowle) some 20 miles south of here. It's on the 'other side' of the hill from us of the ex-RAF base aka Biggin Hill mentioned in an earlier post. Many light aircraft are flying overhead all the time as Biggin Hill is popular with learners, weekend pilots, small uncharted flights and so on. But half-an-hour after we started our ramble there was an altogether much more 'Basso Profundo' note to be heard. Realising that something VERY different was about to pass-by overhead I managed to rattle-off a few frames quickly before the 'craft was lost to view. I post these images just to show that I can take crap photos as well as half-way decent ones. No problem! I feel that, in order to place no blame on my camera, I should point out that the Spit WAS at c. 300ft altitude and the camera had, through no fault of its own, been fitted with a 28mm wide-angle lens. Not ideal for small subjects far off. Mea Culpa, I'm afraid. First the cropped image - showing the distinctive D-Day stripes on the wing and rear fuselage; Secondly the full-frame showing that I hadn't given my equipment a chocolate teapot's chance of obtaining a decent snap; It sounded MAGNIFICENT!!!!! Pip.

...as in the manufacturers of the Folland Gnat? The aircraft used (amongst other roles) by the Red Arrows in the days of my youth? That's heading back to my Airfix days once more. FWIW I have always greatly preferred the Gnat over the Hawk. VERY elegant craft. Pip.

As jdgm touches on above many folks consider the re-issues from the '90s as being more desirable than those from the first decade of the noughties. As far as the COA goes I believe (but I might be wrong) that Gibson only started the practice in 2001 so if it is - as I'm sure it will be - a 1999 it wouldn't have had one in the first place. I certainly wouldn't let the year of manufacture put me off in the slightest. Personally I couldn't care less in which year a reissue was made as long as it sounds and plays superbly. Pip.

Hello and welcome. Unfortunately the serial numbers used by Gibson in the late '60s and early '70s are notoriously unreliable as a means of dating a guitar because the same numbers were duplicated over several years and records were poorly kept. Detail differences exist between the models produced during this period, though, so pictures would help. An easier - and quicker - way to narrow down the approximate manufacturing period would be to check the numerical codes stamped on to the body of the Tone / Volume potentiometers assuming these are the original items. All USA-made pot's have this feature and the number(s) can be decoded to tell which manufacturing company made the pot and when it was made. As an example 1377125 would break down thus; 137 = CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply - Gibson's usual source). 71 = last two digits of year of manufacture. 25 = week of the calendar-year when the pot was made. Here's where to type the number. https://www.guitardaterproject.org/potcodereader.aspx Remember that this was when the pot was made. The guitar would have been made some time after this date but at least it should give you an idea... Philip.

OOPS! Sorry for the massive brain fart, jdgm. Obviously my thanks were intended to head-off in your direction. Apologies! Pip.

The Battle of Britain has been something of a fascination of mine since my early days and now I live 'down south' the place has so many connections with the conflict it's astonishing where things might turn up. I live just a handful of miles from one of the most famous RAF bases of the time of the B.o.B. - RAF Biggin Hill - and, just inside the perimeter fence next to the Pilot's chapel, there are full-size facsimilies of both a Hawker Hurricane and a Supermarine Spitfire as a lasting memento to those pilots who served in the days when squadrons of these aircraft types operated out of the airfield. The airfield is still in use today. It is no longer a part of the modern RAF but the 'old' part of the complex still has the original RAF markings on the gates! Here's a pic of one of the gates' shadow; Furthermore; we sometimes fly out of Southampton Airport when we head to France. The first time we went down I was amazed to see this sculpture which had been erected on a roundabout on the approach-road for the airport. It turns out that the Supermarine Aircraft works was sited on the old airport where the modern airport now stands! Lastly; a small 'Damn You, you Lucky Blighters!' to all those fortunate enough to have obtained tickets for the upcoming Goodwood Revival Motor Race weekend. The race circuit is based (like Silverstone) on the perimeter road of the former RAF Westhampnet airbase (which is only a few miles away from Tangmere!). This was home to pilots from both the RAF and the USAF during WWII and there is always one of the most spectacular air displays of the types of aircraft which operated from the base. Pip.

Weird coincidence! I was reading about both Johnnie Johnson and Douglas Bader - two of the RAF's best known fighter aces - just yesterday and, at one stage of the war, both of these pilots flew out of Tangmere as part of the 'Duxford Wing'. I first heard of Johnson - in common with many kids of my age (60) through assembling the Airfix 1/72 plastic kit based on his Spitfire Mark IX. Both Bader and Johnson had the rank of Wing Leader and one perk of this rank was that the individual's aircraft Identification Insignia could be the pilot's initials hence Johnnie (actually James Edgar) Johnson's Spit was marked J E J. Anyone interested in this chapter of the War who has not read the book / seen the film 'Reach for the Sky' - the biopic of Bader - really should have a read through his wiki entry. To say 'They don't make them like that anymore' is a colossal understatement. Winston Churchill summed up the victory of the Battle of Britain with his now-legendary phrase; "Never, in the field of human conflict, was so much owed by so many to so few." As true today as it was back then. Bader's Wiki entry; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Bader ...and just for giggles here's the box art of JEJ's Mk IX; Thanks for posting, Ian! Pip.

Any guitar shop asking $1,500 for that should be reported to the law enforcement authorities because there is no way in Hell that they don't know it's counterfeit. Additionally as the current market price in the USA seems to be between $2,500 and $3,000 it's clear they are trying to shift it ASAP. The dealership really should be reported for trying to pass-off a counterfeit item to some poor soul who doesn't know any better. It's fraud - pure and simple. Pip.

As 'old guy' says above the Chinese Supremes do, indeed, appear to say 'Suprome' on the headstock. The epithet 'Suprome' became well-known around here as there used to be "Is this a fake?" threads on these abominations on an almost weekly basis a few years ago. It baffles me why they chose to make counterfeit Supremes as, due to the complex nature of the original instruments, they are probably the easiest of all Les Paul fakes to spot. Don't even think about spending $500 on that thing. They only cost $249 when they were brand-spanking new... Pip.