Guitars... what you've got / what you want

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I’ll post about my archtop, why not. I have a couple songs where I fade up an Eventide H9 on the “Mangledverb” setting and it was always making my Sigma feed back. “Try a Godin,” they said.

So I got this Acousticaster. I fucking hated it. Too light, neck felt flimsy, sounded vaguely annoying. But it didn’t feed back. I took it out on tour but hated the sight of it, it felt like I was dating somebody who wouldn’t stop quoting The Simpsons.

I was on tour in Japan. I was walking in Shibuya. I had never played an archtop before. Sam Amidon plays one, I looked it up after seeing him live, it’s some kind of an L6 or whatever, so I knew what they were. I walked in to Walkin. I wasn’t even planning on it, I literally just saw the place as I was walking by and though “ooh a guitar store”. They stock Westville guitars, almost all new stock, and a cheaper factory-made line called “Archtop Tribute”.

I didn’t know anything about electric pickups. I played every guitar in that store. I got to their Archtop Tribute ES-350 clone, it had a single P90 on it. I fell in love. I bought it on the spot.

I didn’t know about humbuckers or Charlie Christians or anything. Over time I started to realize the drawback of a P90– the hum. I thought about getting a second pickup installed, for the phasing trickydoodle, but I play fingerstyle, and I had been told (and had noticed) that you lose your transients when you do that. So I frittered away wondering how on earth I was going to solve this problem and then bit the bullet and bought a Kinman and my friend Andy installed it and it sounds so fucking good.

I wish Archtop Tribute would make more 350s! I follow them and look at all the axes that come out of their factory. Really good price for those guitars.

your dog is fed and no one cares (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 14:53 (one month ago) link

that's awesome thanks for all that info, i do want a small body guitar i should keep an eye out for a sigma

i've always been skeptical of noiseless pickups and i have no idea why i am

Yeah, I spent a good two years trying to find “the perfect cheap acoustic” and Sigma won by a mile. But I play small body and prefer mahogany, so my range of choice is pretty small

your dog is fed and no one cares (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 16:21 (one month ago) link

And weirdly, regarding the Kinman? I was so stressed. I spent three weeks trying to figure out what the hell I was gonna do. Emailed the guys in Shibuya. Consulted all these different guitar techs. Went to the antique store and tried a bunch of other archtops with other pickups. I even was trawling through Internet Archive stuff trying to find more information on other Archtop Tribute models.

After a thousand hours of reading forums and subreddits I saw somebody post “just buy a Kinman”. It had to be a blind buy, I didn’t know anyone who had one. I bought it. Definitely it is in my top five most successful blind buys of all time. Sounds fantastic.

your dog is fed and no one cares (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 16:34 (one month ago) link

loved those stories - and I am a sucker for people gifting instruments, a beautiful and selfless act. Giving an artist a voice? Gets me everytime. I gave both my daughters nice electrics for their 18th birthdays and I get such a rush hearing them play and enjoy them.

assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 22:39 (one month ago) link

Gave my friend's son my Boss Katana when he started playing before COVID, he's still using it onstage with his psych band. Which is good because at the clubs they're playing it's only a matter of time before someone breaks into their hand me down van.

I love my Kinman Jazzmaster pickups, completely noiseless but still 100% JM pickups.

papal hotwife (milo z), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 23:01 (one month ago) link

Ah! There you go. Yay for Kinman

your dog is fed and no one cares (flamboyant goon tie included), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 23:31 (one month ago) link

Yeah I briefly had a MIJ JM with a Kinman prototype in the bridge, it was a wonderful pickup, all that top end glass and husk.

assert (matttkkkk), Tuesday, 7 May 2024 23:59 (one month ago) link

do triple p-90 guitars do the out of phase thing strats do? I had a firebird with that config like 10 years ago and don't remember it. on the other hand, I didn't really play clean tones at the time so I'm not even sure I checked.

encino morricone (majorairbro), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 04:04 (one month ago) link

my guitar is the same but i got a yamaha desktop amp that is keeping my still new-seeming casino very amusing. i know it's ot, but it is guitar adjacent at least. my bad chords now have new fiddly dimensions.

well below the otm mendoza line (Hunt3r), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 05:00 (one month ago) link

I tried a triple P90, sounded great to me. I was told that the disadvantage to “more pickups” is that it’s more magnets dampening the string resonance. I did notice this! Still sounded great.

Jazzmaster pickups look like P90s, and apparently “are very different”, but they sound v similar to my ears, the couple times I’ve had the joy of playing one

your dog is fed and no one cares (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 06:00 (one month ago) link

milo, syd's esquire was an opaque blonde finish originally, and he covered it in mylar sheets to make it silver and added the mirrored discs.
he probably chose the blonde enquire because of the similarity to Steve cropper's telecaster.
I think a more fitting tribute would be to take a guitar you already have that is associated with another player you admire and decorate it with found materials to divorce it from that association, y'know?

Deflatormouse, Wednesday, 8 May 2024 06:37 (one month ago) link

Has anyone bought guitar's at estate sales? Not sure if I should get overhyped but there's an estate sale from a lower-budget instrument collector and one of the items is a Telecaster Nashville Power Deluxe electric guitar w/ Fishman PUP. I don't know what a Fishman PUP is, but I've wanted a tele for a while now. Hoping I can get it for a couple hundred. it's hard for me to justify buying another guitar on-site if I'm not getting a sweet deal

Heez, Wednesday, 8 May 2024 17:15 (one month ago) link

Piezo bridge so you can sound like the worst acoustic guitar on Earth.

papal hotwife (milo z), Wednesday, 8 May 2024 17:25 (one month ago) link

okay guitar cru

this guy has listed this on craigslist recently and dropped the price. i want to clarify that i have zero business buying a new bass

however, can i really pass this up at this price??

https://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/msg/d/saint-paul-1973-fender-precision-bass/7741693231.html

that seems like an absurdly good deal if it’s legit

katy perry (prison service) (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 9 May 2024 17:21 (one month ago) link

as far as I can tell I think it is, he says 73, I found a serial number site that would placed it as produced in 72 but maybe he's off by a year or it was produced in late 72 and went out the door.

also from what I can find the placement of the thumb rest is the old fashioned way, below the strings, which it looks like they moved in the 74.

there is definitely a crack in the body but I'm assuming that is fine if repaired...my friend who knows a lot about that stuff says the only bad thing is he stripped the finish off the neck which apparently feels great at first but gets tacky as it gets dirty, but honestly I could have that refinished and still be way less than anything comparable

You could rub some tru-oil on the neck to re-seal it probably without even paying someone

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 9 May 2024 17:50 (one month ago) link

Def worth getting your hands on and giving it a try.

I Chet the Holmgren (Spottie), Thursday, 9 May 2024 17:55 (one month ago) link

def worth checking out in person imo

hard to imagine you wouldn’t at least get your money back if you sold it on further own the line

katy perry (prison service) (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 9 May 2024 18:02 (one month ago) link

oh lord that's a beauty - did you actually get it??

yessir, that's mine!

I Chet the Holmgren (Spottie), Thursday, 9 May 2024 20:59 (one month ago) link

gorgeous

yep

assert (matttkkkk), Friday, 10 May 2024 00:18 (one month ago) link

lol so i was not necessarily in the market for a Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 signature bass but I didn't know this thing existed but a jazz bass body with a precision pickup is a pretty cool hybrid

https://reverb.com/item/81956694-fender-mark-hoppus-artist-series-signature-jazz-bass-2015-surf-green-transparent

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 16 May 2024 19:03 (one month ago) link

three weeks pass...

https://reverendguitars.com/guitars/reeves-gabrels-dirtbike-royale/

Got the urge for a doom guitar to tune down to C# or a low open tuning, this seems like it might be awesome for that - noiseless P90s, Gibson scale, the Reverend bass contour knob

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 6 June 2024 19:51 (one week ago) link

Either that or buy some 12s and tune my Danelectro down for lipstick doom...

papal hotwife (milo z), Thursday, 6 June 2024 19:52 (one week ago) link

i know people like them but i've never personally been a fan of how the reverend guitars look. but this is their one model that i think looks pretty slick:
https://reverendguitars.com/guitars/bob-balch-signature-2/

na (NA), Thursday, 6 June 2024 19:55 (one week ago) link

IDK, it's not bad but it looks kind of like an AI-generated SG. The pickups look interesting though.

longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Thursday, 6 June 2024 21:01 (one week ago) link

it’s not that different from the Guild Polara but for some reason that one looks cool to me: https://guildguitars.com/g/polara-deluxe-canyon-dusk/

na (NA), Thursday, 6 June 2024 22:01 (one week ago) link

I wouldn't mind trying one of those Guild Surfliners someday.

encino morricone (majorairbro), Saturday, 8 June 2024 03:59 (one week ago) link

I had a longtime Jones for a Reverend descent baritone.

It was on a accident (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, 9 June 2024 03:10 (one week ago) link

the guitarist in my band has one he uses on a couple songs, sounds fantastic and he says it stays in tune or pretty well. really cool guitar

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Saturday, 15 June 2024 11:55 (two days ago) link

I have a blue one - the neck is frankly amazing, the tuners are a little hinky and the pickups are too hot - but it’s a great guitar. Beautiful build and finish.

assert (matttkkkk), Saturday, 15 June 2024 12:14 (two days ago) link

The green Squier paranormal HH bass in that color looks pretty sweet if you want to color coordinate.

https://www.fender.com/en-US/squier-electric-basses/other/paranormal-rascal-bass-hh/0377105546.html

papal hotwife (milo z), Saturday, 15 June 2024 15:46 (two days ago) link

looks so nice in that color!

encino morricone (majorairbro), Sunday, 16 June 2024 08:05 (yesterday) link

Yeah I went down a wormhole of researching that after clicking the first link yesterday. Not sure it's reaaaally what I need in a bass, but...hmm

hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Sunday, 16 June 2024 13:23 (yesterday) link


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