Kong Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I thought I would share a goofy project that I put together over the past week. My girlfriend is a member of a site called Freecycle. It's like craigslist but the items are free. Anyway she yells to me the other night that a member has placed guitars and an amp by the curb in the next town. It's like 9:30 at night and I figure what the hell lets take a ride. There was a pretty nice amp with a cover. It was a carlsbro lead 90 from the late 70s or early 80s and I grabbed it. There was also a Memphis Les Paul copy. Both the amp and guitar looked pretty grimy but I grabbed them anyway. I took the amp home and took the cover off, cleaned the pots and it actually works pretty well. I will categorize it as a great find. The guitar is another story. Apparently there were 2 types of Memphis Les Paul. One with a set neck that was decent and the other with a bolt on that may be the worst guitar ever made. Of course I have the crap one. I thought the body and neck were okay and it was black with binding that had yellowed nicely. Body is plywood, but with nice weight. I ripped it apart and tossed the tuning machines, and electronics. The pickups were a joke, single coils with humbucker covers . I had a couple of humbuckers in the parts bin from guitars that I had that were flood damaged. I rewired it and put in the pickups and new strings. I also did a nice cleanup job with windex, furniture polish, car wax and more furniture polish. I put on strat style tuners, but I made them work. I put it all together and it actually plays pretty decent. Definitely not bad for a free guitar! Check out the pics of the amp and guitar: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordy01 Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 That looks like a pretty good deal for the price you paid! How does the thing sound? How do your better guitars sound with the amp? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crust Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 staggered tuners look cool, nice for free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted October 13, 2009 Author Share Posted October 13, 2009 That looks like a pretty good deal for the price you paid! How does the thing sound? How do your better guitars sound with the amp? The guitar sounds pretty good actually. The tuners look a little funny since they're offset. It sounds even better through my Line6. The amp is a little temperamental. I think they were both sitting in a garage for 20+ years. I cleaned the pots and there is a spring reverb that does not seem to work. I may change out the reverb tank, I've seen them on Amazon for $20 which might be worth a shot. The other controls seem to work well, but the amp unexpectedly can get very loud. I'm trying to get a schematic to see if there is a bad solder joint somewhere. I'll try and post a vid of the guitar and amp this weekend so you can see/hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deflepfan Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Nice find! Tell me you thanked your girlfriend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animalfarm Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I AM familiar with "FreeCycle" - never heard of gits and Amp being given away before - I'd be all over that, too! Well, you have SCORED! Bolt-on necks can be tweaked with shims if needed, and what you have is a project and free guitar just dropped in your lap! Lucky, lucky.... GREAT Condition it seems.... DANG! Here's the link to Harmony Centrals reviews for your guitar: http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Memphis/Les+Paul+Copy/10/1 Plywood, Schmywood - I just rebuilt a 70's era Hondo II made of plywood sheets glued together, decent ending, weighs a ton. Completely stripped down to bare wood then did the whole repaint thing and all new electronics and hardware... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 I AM familiar with "FreeCycle" - never heard of gits and Amp being givenaway before - I'd be all over that' date=' too! Well, you have SCORED! Bolt-on necks can be tweaked with shims if needed, and what you have is a project and free guitar just dropped in your lap! Lucky, lucky.... GREAT Condition it seems.... DANG! Here's the link to Harmony Centrals reviews for your guitar: http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/product/Memphis/Les+Paul+Copy/10/1 Plywood, Schmywood - I just rebuilt a 70's era Hondo II made of plywood sheets glued together, decent ending, weighs a ton. Completely stripped down to bare wood then did the whole repaint thing and all new electronics and hardware... [img']http://i594.photobucket.com/albums/tt26/Animalfarm1984/100_0338.jpg[/img] Animalfarm, That thing looks awesome, nice job on the finish! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest icantbuyafender Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 that's a REALLY nice beater guitar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EpiEric Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Hey, I think the amp is a Carlsbro Cobra 90 Lead! Just kidding. It's just kind of funny that on an amp that size it has Carlsbro twice and Cobra 90 and Lead three times each! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Nice find! Tell me you thanked your girlfriend! Oh yeah, she was properly thanked. She is awesome and very supportive / tolerant of my guitar obsession. I'm lucky to have her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lpfan Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 Wow, thats an awesome find, especially for free. I think they both look nice too. Animalfarm - That LP project looks awesome! Very nice job on that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kong Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 I added a video of this guitar for those who wanted to hear it .... http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGravuh#p/a Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muskank Sally Posted October 17, 2009 Share Posted October 17, 2009 Carlsbro is from the UK http://www.carlsbro.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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