Larsongs

You should research how the Music business was run back in those days... Most Songs came from Publishing Houses with Staff Writers. The Record Companies chose the songs Artists & Bands recorded. They molded Artists & Bands completely & made them into the Image they wanted them to be & sold them like Toothpaste.... It was an Assembly Line.. Music moved at the speed of light in the 50’s & 60’s... There was a new Artist, Band, Song & Record every other minute! Musicians weren’t even allowed in Control Rooms in Studios like Abbey Road in the early days before The Beatles came along.... It was very different then.... Rush & Yes had a couple great songs... Great Musicians but to most are 1 or 2 Hit Wonders who don’t hold a high place in the Annals of Music... Ask a 16 year old today & they won’t know who you’re talking about... Ask them if they know Elvis or Sinatra most will...

I guess you have issues with Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Dean Martin & most other Artists & Bands of the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s etc & even now...... By the 60’s the Music Business was a real Assembly Line machine... It was common for Session Musicians to do the Instrumental Studio Recordings. They were fast, good & cheap. No Royalties to worry about.. The Singer would then sing to the Tracks & the Band would learn to Cover the music... Then the Suits sent the Groups on tours.. That’s how it was done.. Probably 80-90% of the Hits you heard on the Radio were done that way.... Then Artists became hip to Publushing & Writers Roylaties! Then everyone was a Writer! Which explains why Music has become increasingly worse over the years... Most people can’t Write Hits... Most people write poor to mediocre songs... Writing Hits takes Talent & Magic... That’s rare..

Many many Artists & Bands have had their Songs written by other Song Writers.. It was the way it used to be.. Very common, forever... Til The Beatles came along..... There were a few Singer Songwriters... Del Shannon, Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran but they were the exception, not the rule.... Even The Stones were a Cover Band for their first Albums... It was how it was done in the early days......

Glad it’s working out..... sort of... Yet, I don’t know why you & others, you’re not the only one, are reluctant to pick up the Phone & contact a live Customer Service person at Gibson or Epiphone as the case may be? In each case that I’ve done this the Guitars were either expertly repaired at the Factory or, if not repairable sent a new replacement Guitar.. And Completely perfect, including the Set up.... Dealing direct with a live Customer Service Rep on the phone has been the most successful way for me to get Warranty Issues resolved at the Factory. Not at some so called Guitar Tech in the Directory or at GC or whatever... Every time I tried that the experiences were not great to absolutely horrible..

I didn’t see them there, I saw them a Humphreys on the Bay in San Diego....

I was in the Army Jan. 66-Dec. 68... I was stationed near Wash D.C. I don’t recall watching any TV in 66... When we got time off we were in D.C. & Georgetown.. Partyin’ our asses off.. Dec. 67 - Dec. 68 I was in Vietnam... No TV there either... I wouldn’t have had time for it anyway.. When I came home I didn’t watch TV for years........ I did play in RnR bands but nobody played Monkee songs at that time... I was unfamiliar with them as they didn’t get airplay on FM Radio either..... Missed all of their early stuff..

LOL! I probably did! I was a big Miami Vice fan.... Until I heard that song! Aaaarrrgghhh!!!

Not much help on this one.. I was never a fan of their music... As for Collins I can smell it burning or whatever that was, I couldn’t change stations fast enough.....

I was in Vietnam when The Monkees came out.. They weren’t even on my radar. I was into Cream, Doors, Jefferson Airplane, The Stones & of course The Beatles. A few years back, while all 4 were still alive, my daughters gave us tickets to see The Monkees for my BDay gift.. They thought, I was a big fan I guess? Anyhow, we went. I wasn’t expecting much.. But, they played all the Instruments extremely well & sang the songs as good as the Records! They did have some really good Songs.. Stepping Stone, Believer & several others that hit the Top 40.... They were really talented & very entertaining.. Now with only 2 left I don’t know if it would be the same... Although, Mickey did sing almost all of their Hits... Except, for Davy on Daydream Believer....

Musiciansfriend has a 20% off Coupon right now.. You should call them & ask if they’ll do that deal.. It’s worth it even if you have to do an Order & wait a bit....

I have 3 Casino’s.. A 50th Anniv 1961 Reissue with Tremotone with black Plastic Dogear Covers. My Peerless with Bigsby & John Lennon Revolution have Chrome Nickel Covers... To my ears the 2 with Nickel Chrome Covers sound brighter...

A Gibson Les Paul Special or Jr are excellent choices & USA Models can be had in many Price ranges. Available with P90’s or Humbuckers. Both are great choices. That said, The Tele is an excellent choice.. If you do go Squier get a Classic Vibe. There are some xlnt Made in Mexico.. The best are USA...

It appears to be an older ES330.... Guess we have to wait until a few more are out there & comp YouTube’s are more available....

I have to agree... Is that the new 2021 USA ES330 Slim Harpo or an older model?

I would absolutely expect it to be miles apart better than the the Peerless & IBJL’s... I’m curious how it compares to the Terada built Casino’s.. Those are incredibly good Guitars.. And very accurate Vintage Reissues.. I’ve had mine on order for over a year. Im not sure what I’m going to do now?

I’ve had a Royal Tan on order from Sweetwater for more than a year.. But, now, with all the negative out there regarding how incorrect they are I’m beginning to wonder? I’m waiting to hear from Epiphone as to why just about every spec on these Guitars are inconsistent with any vintage Casino? Including the backwards Inlays? The list is long & is posted on many Forums including this one....

Joe Walsh has some good You Tube on how he sets up his Guitars...... Part 1

While I’ve heard that said, I’ve never heard a Guitar with a bad 57-59 PAF Humbucker Original Vintage Pickup. I have played & even owned some modern Guitars with so called Reissue or Tribute or whatever Vintage Correct PAF’s that sound nothing like the Originals... I’m sure there are exceptions given those Guitars are from 60 years ago & could be the result of poor care or any number of things..... Asian P90’s sound nothing like USA Gibson, Fralin, Lollar, Duncan & other high quality P90’s. I own Gibson’s & Epi’s with USA P90’s which sound great... I also own a Peerless Epi Casino. While a wonderful Guitar the Asian P90’s sound harsh & I need to change them... All the Asian, except Terada Epi’s, , with Asian P90’s I’ve played sound Harsh... Changing them to one of the Boutique builder P90’s would make them wonderful sounding Guitars.. Pretty easy & inexpensive mod to have done....

The 2nd best Guitar I ever owned I bought in a Pawn Shop in Wash. D.C. a really long time ago. I was a kid with no money.. I’d almost given up buying an Electric Guitar as I couldn’t afford any of them... As we were leaving the last Pawn Shop I spotted a Neck sticking up behind some stuff back in the corner... I asked, what’s that.. The Storekeeper said, it’s an old Guitar that’s pretty beat up. I asked to check it out.. I had no idea what it was but it played ok. I asked how much? He said, how much do you have? I said, $73.00. He said, that’s exactly how much it is! LOL, naive me.... Turned out to be a 50’s Gibson Les Paul Jr. with P90. It was one of the best sounding Guitars I’ve ever owned. But, once again I had no idea what I had.. I foolishly sold it a short time later for $100.00. Which went to buy a Vox Phantom 6 string.. That’s another story..... I love Gretsch Guitars.. I have an older Korean G-5120 that is a great Guitar.. I paid about $400.00! I also have a Gretsch George Harrison Duo Jet that cost a bit more than that. I love that one too.. I think one of the coolest Guitars out right now is the Epi Wilshire with P90’s... Awesome sounding, cool Vibe & $449.00.... Guitars at any price can be awesome...

I have some MIC & Korean built Epi Casinos. The Peerless built Korean Guitars are far better built quality than Chinese & Indonesian. The Peerless come close to Terada Japan built Guitars.. What they lack are some of the high quality USA components like USA Pickups & better Bigsby’s.. MIC’s are quite good though......

335... Forget the others.. You’ll be glad you did...

Tuner, Janglebox, Tube Screamer, Boss Fender 63 Reverb, Boss Delay, Keeley 30 MS Double Tracker.....

Depends on what level of Guitar you bought & where you bought it.. Some higher end Guitars come with great Set ups. Some Sellers do Set ups & some don’t... It all depends... I agree, if it feels right, just play.........

GK’s with Neo Dymium Spkrs. 250 Watts. Weighs about 20 lbs, loud & sounds great! 500 Watts even louder.. Still only 30 lbs aprox... Both are inexpensive..

Unfortunately, Everybody uses the PAF name.. the holy grail Gibson PAF Humbuckers were between 1957 & 1959... Arguably, Some say 1960 & 1961’s.. Everything else is a reissue re-creation trying to duplicate those 57-59’s... If not all, almost all fail.... Most sound nothing like the Originals.. They range from absolutely awful to very close.... Like the Thro Bak’s which even uses the original Gibson Kalamazoo Winding Machines... Hence the wide range of Prices.. Gibson moved from Kalamazoo & they Guys who stayed bought the factory & Gibson Guitar building equipment. They became “Heritage”. They build beautiful variations of Gibson designs. Anyhow everyone has been trying to reproduce a serious reproduction of the original PAF’s including many attempts by Gibson... A few sound close.. I owned a 1959 Gibson ES 345 with PAF’s.. It was in Mint condition when I bought it in 1986.. And remained so, even after playing for a thousand hours until I foolishly sold it in 1997.... The biggest regret of my Music Career! I would buy it back if I could... I’ve played hundreds of Guitars & bought 50 or so since then chasing that Sound.. I’ve come close but nothing sounds as good as that ‘59 ES345 with those Holy Grail PAF Humbuckers.....