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Show all your guitars - group pics


davidb1986

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I only have 2 group shots, but they have 4 of my favorites between them.....

this one many of y'all have seen, the Strat & Tele I built last yr, leaning on an amp I modded to suit myself:

 

GarysCam272.jpg

 

 

and a brand new shot [woot] Esther & Lester out together:

 

GarysCam283.jpg

 

Esther got her name 'cause she's an Agile Prestige series that is as close to a Lester as you can get.

materials & workmanship quality are the absolute best, as are tone and playability.

and that beautiful matched set of a 3/4" top !!!! [laugh]

 

 

i'll make it a point to get some REAL group shots in about a week when i'm off work a few nights.

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Bender: I do not have the case that originally came with the guitar. I remember them quite well tho from when I was a kid. I thought it was great back then.

 

Funny story goes with that guitar. I was working a cowboy bar in Winchester Ca, when a wino came in one night asking if anyone in the band wanted to buy a Les Paul for $20. I said sure (being the only guitarist). Needless to say they wouldn't let him inside with it...so we proceeded to the parking lot where it was hidden in some bushes. When I saw what it was I said "Its not a Les Paul, and only worth half of what you are asking"... he said okay (in a drunken stooper)... and I ended up getting it for $10. Two tuning keys were missing and it only had two strings on it. I think he picked it out of a junk pile in front of someone's house. Didn't matter...I had a genuine Sears Silvertone for $10. That was in 1985. I've owned it since then. It sounds somewhat like an L5 when you record it. I have turned down $150 for the DeMarzio "lipstick" tube pup. Its a great conversation piece. I replaced the tuners with Fender Schallers. Other than that its stock. I call it my Masonite Monster.

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Searcy & Kaiser Bill........do either of y'all have the amp-case that came w/those Silvertones??

if you do please never leave them plugged in unattended, I had one in '82 that caught fire!

 

Christ! I am used to the ladies over looking me, but now it's the guys.

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In all seriousness, the Silvertone 1448 amp in case is an electrocution waiting to happen. There's no ground so if you do like I did once*, you'll get your life time recommended dose of electrical voltage. My father, a line splicer for Detroit Edison, was rolling in his grave.

 

 

*With the amp on and plugged in, hold your guitar so you're touching the strings, reach over, and turn on the P.A. head by flipping that metal toggle switch.

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In all seriousness, the Silvertone 1448 amp in case is an electrocution waiting to happen. There's no ground so if you do like I did once*, you'll get your life time recommended dose of electrical voltage. My father, a line splicer for Detroit Edison, was rolling in his grave.

 

 

*With the amp on and plugged in, hold your guitar so you're touching the strings, reach over, and turn on the P.A. head by flipping that metal toggle switch.

 

I don't think it's any more dangerous than any of the other old two prong tube amps out there. It's a good idea to swap them over to three though.

 

I never wanna see you cry.

 

BROTHERS OF THE 1448! [biggrin]

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I never wanna see you cry.

 

BROTHERS OF THE 1448! [biggrin]

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

I don't think it's any more dangerous than any of the other old two prong tube amps out there. It's a good idea to swap them over to three though.

 

 

I look to you on my question considering your knowledge on this type of thing: Is there a place to attach a proper ground on these suckers? I didn't think there was, but what do I know?* Unless you can ground to press board.

 

 

 

 

 

*that's a rhetorical question ;)

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Christ! I am used to the ladies over looking me, but now it's the guys.

 

Totally unintentional EVOL !! I obviously skimmed the thread in too much of a hurry yesterday, and I apologize.....occupational hazard of getting home when everyone else is asleep, and rushing to get that way m'self [biggrin] .

 

anyhow...the reason I posted that is, I bought a Silvertone w/the amp-case back in '82....mine was grey metalflake though.

it was plugged in and laying on the floor when a case of the munchies hit so I left to make a quick sandwich.....got distracted and it was about a half hour later that I saw smoke coming up the hallway [scared] ...somehow this fire had burned DOWN, not up, and torched the back of the case and a dinner-plate sized hole out of my carpet.

I yanked both plugs and tossed the smoldering case out the back door, then drowned the carpet.

had I left the house w/it plugged in & on, all would likely have been lost.

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Totally unintentional EVOL !! I obviously skimmed the thread in too much of a hurry yesterday, and I apologize.....occupational hazard of getting home when everyone else is asleep, and rushing to get that way m'self [biggrin] .

 

anyhow...the reason I posted that is, I bought a Silvertone w/the amp-case back in '82....mine was grey metalflake though.

it was plugged in and laying on the floor when a case of the munchies hit so I left to make a quick sandwich.....got distracted and it was about a half hour later that I saw smoke coming up the hallway [scared] ...somehow this fire had burned DOWN, not up, and torched the back of the case and a dinner-plate sized hole out of my carpet.

I yanked both plugs and tossed the smoldering case out the back door, then drowned the carpet.

had I left the house w/it plugged in & on, all would likely have been lost.

 

It's cool. I was just taking an opportunity to post some self deprecating humor.

 

Sorry to hear about your amp. I've never had a fire, but I had one amp tech call these things a death trap. He said never play them unless you're wearing rubber soled shoes.

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Thanks!

 

 

 

 

 

I look to you on my question considering your knowledge on this type of thing: Is there a place to attach a proper ground on these suckers? I didn't think there was, but what do I know?* Unless you can ground to press board.

 

 

 

 

 

*that's a rhetorical question ;)

 

The technical answer is that there is no "proper place to attach a ground" onto most old 2-pin amp chassis. On these amps, the neutral is usually already attached to the chassis. This was normal construction for many years. The neutral is strapped to ground at the point where the electrical service enters your house, so the chassis is effectively grounded anyway. Modern design and code standards actually discourage strapping the neutral to ground anywhere else (e.g. at the amp) because of the potential for creating ground loops.

 

IN NORMAL USAGE, these amps are pretty safe UNLESS THEY HAVE ONE OF THE OLD, UNPOLARIZED PLUGS. In that case you can simply reverse the plug in the socket, and now the LIVE is connected to the chassis instead of the NEUTRAL.

 

This will not immediatly shock you under normal circumstances, unless you're standing outside in a pool of water. A pair of shoes and a concrete floor form a pretty substantial insulator. The danger occurs when you encounter another piece of equipment where the chassis is normal. e.g., grounded, or connected to neutral. This typically tends to be a microphone with a grounded case connected to another amp. Then, the chassis of your amp ( and hence the ground of your cable, and THE STRINGS OF YOUR GUITAR) is connected to the LIVE, and the micrphone case is connecetd to NEUTRAL/GROUND. Touch the microphone with your hand while holding the strings, and POW, 120 volts between your two hands, and a current travelling across your heart. This is what kills people.

 

The solution used to be to add a polarized 2-pin plug to all these old amps, and (if the amp has one) wire around the switch on the back that allowed you to reverse polarity. Nowadays it's hard to find even polarized 2-pin plugs, so I use a three pin plug, but cut the ground pin off so as not to give the impression that the amp has a ground wire.

 

The only other danger of these amps is that, because they have no ground wire, they will not set off a "ground leakage trip" of the type found in older house wiring. Therefore if the situation is reversed, and you amp is at neutral, and you touch something live, the current will flow aross you, to neutral, and not to ground, and will not be detected by a ground leakage trip.

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