sparquelito

I ended up pulling the guitar out of the downtown shop yesterday. The fellow wasn't able to get to it, and I had given him two weeks. Kind of made me mad. A phone call would have been nice. (7 to 10 days was the expectation.) I took it to a good friend, Danny Matthews (the fellow who has built one tele for me, along with a pedal and an amplifier), immediately. He had it done this morning. Frets are shiny, smooth, and snag-free. Life is good. Pinch, the pickups are advertised as 'double-slugs', Alnico 5 DS-A5 Rhythm and DS-A5+ Lead humbuckers. 😐

Looks authentic. A 1971 Gibson SG Professional. Originally had two black P90 pickups. One has been removed, a white P90 installed in the bridge position, and an aftermarket (or hand-made) pick guard was added to cover up the neck pickup cavity. The original tuners have been replaced, obviously. The dot inlays are period-correct. The Bigsby and control plate are original, though the micro-switch is an add on. And that bridge is a later addition. It's broken and beat to ****, and Fjestad's Blue Book would value it at $500 USD. (If it were Mint Condition and unbroken, it could fetch $1,500 easily. ) 😐

Oh no. Man, this makes me sad. And we just lost John Spinks a few years earlier. Such a great band, and so many fantastic songs. As a band, we always had to lower the key of The Outfield songs to something else. Tony could still hit those high notes, even late in his life. 😦

One of my favorites, introduced to us by Searcy a few years ago. Such a killer groove, and the humorous chemistry in the studio there is evident. 🙂

Welcome, Corey. Great guitar, good sir! I just gave a listen to The Beast. Good stuff! 🙂

I slept like a baby last night. Woke up every two hours crying. 😐

Such an interesting fellow, and such a distinctive voice. I admire him a lot. 🙂

Goldrake, Can you post a more close-up photo of the headstock, and one of the pickups? The neckplate on the back of the guitar would be fantastic. That headstock logo has me stumped. 🤨

I can't eat sweets, but as I recall, the attendees to the party reported that it was a really delicious guitar cake. I crafted the cake myself, after I learned that the (admittedly good-intentioned) host of the 50th birthday party had ordered a tombstone cake, and was planning to decorate in black crepe paper and all that mourning-style nonsense. Guitars = a celebration of life. 😐

Eleven + years ago. My 50th birthday. This was my home-made cake. Guitar in action. Right before it got eaten. 😑

Very, very good. Plenty of that Fender-like spank and quack. Whatever you call it. They got it. 🙂

It's crazy, but this is the best all around Strat I have ever played. And it's not even a Strat. 😐

Wow, I really do love that car! I wasn't a fan of the last generation Corvette Stingray. Too angular, too 'science fiction' looking. THAT looks like a fabulous car! And I love the orange and black colour theme. 🙂

BB King with a Telecaster. That's something you don't see every day. 😐

I like this. A lot!! 🙂

I picked her up at a local pawn shop in mid-August for $160, and I haven't posted about her on this forum until now. Two reasons; Details on this make and model are scarce, and, it's such a fabulous and nearly-perfect Strat copy that I wanted to evaluate it for a while before I shared her. Focus by Kramer 111M, made in Korea, probably from the 1990's, give or take. Awesome condition, and fitted with Kramer Dual Rail single coils and a Kramer Quad Rail humbucker. To the first thing, I just can't find much on these guitars. There are a lot of 111S's out there, but no 111M's. My research and the serial number tells me she might've been made in 1989. I have no idea if the grey pearloid pick guard is original or not, but the fit and finish tells me it's OEM. To the other, man oh man, this may be the most complete Strat I have ever owned. (And I have owned a few, including a US made Fender Stratocaster Sandblasted.) Versatile, great neck feel, low action, stays in tune, and the bottom tone knob coil-taps the humbucker. Weighs a heavy 7 lbs, 14 ounces and has a 25 ½ “ scale length. And buddy, I can't put it down. If anybody has ever owned one, please share some wisdom with me. Thanks!! 🙂

Just beautiful!! 🙂

You guys guessed most of them. I'm sure I never could have. A Leo Fender B Jim Dunlop C Les Paul D Jim Marshall It started when I looked up some photos of Leo Fender, and said to myself, "Man. I couldn't have picked him out of a lineup. And he changed everything back in the day." So I dug for some old photos, and offered up a fun quiz. Les Paul was the wild card. I had to find a really old photo in order to trip-up anybody there, since he was so recognizable as an adult. 🙂

It's raining like a ***** here, so I backed the serial-killer van out of the garage a bit, and spent a few hours cleaning up an old bicycle I bought from a neighbor lady the other day. I paid her $40 for it, which is probably $20 more than it's worth, but I had a variety of parts leftover from some 'fix up some bikes for kid's Christmas' charity thing I had been involved with a few years ago. Cleaned her up, oiled her down, and rubbed some wax into everything. Applied chain lube, adjusted the chain and derailleurs, put new handgrips on the handlebars, hung a small carry-bag from the down-tube, and put a new saddle on as well. Can wait to give her a spin. But again, it's raining like a ***** here. So there's that. 😐

Three of us from the band and one guest singer at a large hangar Christmas party, last December. I'm playing my Luna Bamboo Grand Auditorium and Stacey his working his trusted Hohner five string bass. 🙂

They all very likely contributed to the scene, culture, and nature of our very being as musicians, after all. If you recognize some or all of them, you are a better man than I. 🤨

I dropped her off at Tom Shepherd's guitar shop in downtown Huntsville today. He's going to a proper job of getting the fret ends ultra-smooth, silky, and snag-free. If I did the job myself I would botch it, and be really sorry. 🙂

Looks like a very nice Firebird, SteveFord. I lusted after a silver mist Firebird I last year, and waited too late to pull the trigger. You made the right move at the right time, I reckon. 🙂

Mihcmac, You got me inspired, sir. I picked up an Ibanez RGA32 today (10 years old, and as dusty and neglected as any guitar I have ever seen) from a pawnshop near here, for a hundred bucks. I hope to have as much fun (and success) as you have in restoring and upgrading her. She's got some Ibanez versions of EMG active pickups in it (LoZ3's they are called). The neck is really nice, just needs a lot of fret polishing and some love. I picked up some black switch tips to replace the missing pickup selector switch tip. Fun times!! 😝