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

lots of discussion in the Stratocaster vs. Telecaster thread but figured we need something a little more general and all encompassing.

hoping to see lots of gear pics, wish lists, items you're eying, etc.

Have: Jaguar, Jazzmaster, Telecaster Deluxe
Want: big headstock Stratocaster in Olympic white, a Michael Karoli tribute guitar

Really want: Science Earthling (OR120-ish amp) but I don’t see having enough room for a big amp and 2x12.

current wishlist:

– 70s guild s-100 (would take one of the 90s re-issues too)
– ~70s Tele Deluxe natural
– SG standard, any year really, any color but cherry
– Jazzmaster - would love a j mascis or troy van luween sig model

"a Michael Karoli tribute guitar"

whats this?

I have a 2000s Japanese Fender Tele, a Fender Duo-Sonic, a recent custom Squier Classic Vibe 70s Tele, a Jackson Randy Rhoads, an Epi Korina Explorer with upgraded pickups and an Ibanez RG.

I don’t have room for anything else at the moment but would like a Jaguar at some point.

xp - that’s the Stratocaster I associate with him, not an official model or anything.

cool, you gonna try and build one out of parts or something? or did he play a certain year model?

shari thats a good collection which rhoads version do you have? do you play it a lot?

Have:
Gretch country club 1961
Ibanez,dunno but it's black
Hondo, it's a Gibson copy I think, but a good one.

Want:
Nothing really. Maybe a bass.

oh gonna need to see a pic of that gretsch.

i just bought three vintage gretsch's at an estate sale two weeks ago, gonna flip two of them and keep one i think. also got a hondo super strat copy at goodwill a few months back. i'll snap some pics over the weekend.

My Jazzmaster from a stupid angle

https://i.imgur.com/ZGF3Sh6.png

nice, matching headstock? what year is it?

2018, I think - '65 American Vintage Thin Skin from Wildwood. It was B-stock because the Firemist Silver is off but I like it because it's a little more blue.

my collection is disgusting

I forgot one from above because it's currently not playable - Peavey T-60, waiting on a new aluminum neck.

thanks for making this! i have:

- '72 tele thinline reissue c. 2000, natural finish, made in mexico. a few months ago i put the new wide range humbucker reissues in this.

- 2002 taylor 310 dreadnought, no electronics

- c. 2006 classic player strat, also MIM, sonic blue. i got this for a sweet deal because i contacted the craiglist seller from my work email and it turned out we worked for the same company.

- 2005 MIJ '66 jag reissue in lake placid blue. tricked out with duncan antiquties, mastery bridge, and mastery trem before i bought it.

- 2020 FGN (fujigen) neo classic - their take on the goldtop p-90 les paul

wants list changes all the time but currently at the top would be a white blonde 50s spec tele and a late 50s style jazzmaster in sunburst with the anodized gold pickguard.

- my main guitar is a late ‘60s galanti grand prix - a funky weird old Italian guitar i love: https://www.instagram.com/p/CPcDy49hhBl/
- epiphone dot that was my primary guitar for a long time
- alvarez acoustic my dad bought me when i was a teen
- my old beloved but sadly broken vantage semihollowbody lives in the basement. I’d like to get it fixed (something wrong with the wiring or pickups) but haven’t been able to justify spending money on it
- my wife’s ‘90s SG (coral pink) and danelectro bass

i don’t plan on buying any new gear anytime soon bc I’m not playing much. but the dream would be a vintage es-355. most of the other guitars that appeal to me are weird trashy 60s guitars or newer guitars that replicate that aesthetic

I've been given more guitars than I've purchased, and sold or given away more than I have. Currently:

-early 90's Tele Plus+ in natural finish, with the lace sensor pickups. That's my childhood guitar though I had a cheap 'starter' guitar before this one. Weighs a ton and really beat up. I never touch it anymore but I've had it almost 30 years, so can't give it up now. It's identical to the one Dead Meadow guy plays. Well, might have a couple more stickers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmxPWo6kBxA

-Danelectro '59 DC. It's a reissue, but an older reissue. I've had it since like 2006.

-a Korean made Saint Blues 61 South with a bigsby

-A 70's Musicmaster bass (no finish, not even clear)

-A Savona AWN-20 violao made in Brazil

-a cheap Yamaha acoutsic/electric 12 string that I also never touch.

I mostly play the Dano (because it's got a super comfortable neck and sounds good unplugged) and the Brazilian acoustic.

Always wanted a butterscotch 52 RI Tele. In 2008-ish I played a 6129T-1962 silver jet in a guitar store in Queens that I've lusted after since, mostly cause it looks amazing. It's basically a duo jet with the silver sparkle. Very much doubt I will ever purchase another guitar, though.

I'm not a gearhead or very fussy about guitars and guitar tones but I was into pedals at one time.

I was never one of those guys with 50 different overdrive pedals in search of the perfect tube screamer (at the risk of stating the obvious), more of a Gonkulators and Space Stations kind of pedal freak.

Currently have:
1. Goya classical from the 60s, it was my mother's

2. MIM Stratocaster

3. Squier Thinline Telecaster

4. Yamaha TRBX174 bass

5. Recording King Martin 000 copy

6. Fender mandolin

7. Hora bouzouki

8. Kit ukulele

There are probably a few more in storage but that's what I can put my hands on at present.

Want:

Mandola or octave mandolin

Hollowbody with p90s

Something with just a neck pickup

late 90s gibson les paul deluxe double cutaway, cherry sunburst

late 90s american standard tele, rosewood fretboard, 3 tone sunburst

early 80s ovation acoustic that belonged to my dad and is very special to me so please be nice

always really wanted a jackson randy rhodes or kelly or something.

i would like an es-335 too i guess

this thread is already great--i'm curious about what drove everyone's haves/wants. what motivates someone to get a given guitar is always interesting to me.

I’m dying for a Guild S-300 (not the one with the Dimarzio pickups, the one with the shitty Guild pickups)... in white, if possible.

I have no reason to get another guitar; I already have way more than I can use. But those things look so FUCKING cool, & with the phase-inverter switch I could get the tinny funk tones I want on occasion without any other fuss.

I bought a Guild B-301 a couple of years ago, same body type, roadworn as fuck, a beautiful beast, & I haven’t had any occasion to play it.

I haven’t actually picked up a guitar except strumming a cover or 2 once a month or so since Covid started (except for a couple weeks last fall when indoor gatherings weren’t yet banned, & my keys player & I jammed with a drum machine)

xp I collect Japanese solid bodies mostly, I love how well they’re made and I particularly like getting something a bit cheap or weird and fixing / adjusting until it’s great to play. I also can’t resist something I know to be underpriced compared to its quality. The problem is there’s no endpoint for that kind of process so I have a lot now. Better than collecting cars maybe.

Currently have:

1. 1965(?) Gretsch Corvette, the model with 2 hilotrons. Neck like a baseball bat, fake bigsby only goes down & not up so not super useful for the kind of vibrato you want a bigsby for, lo-output pickups play nicely with my hot little amp (a Tex Bernie CC)

2. Gretsch CVT, the Chinese-made modern version of the Corvette. Neck is wicked, bigsby is great, plays like a dream. Too hot for my amp; I should have just bought a volume pedal instead of the vintage Corvette

3. ESP Hybrid II. Swapped the shitty stock bridge pickup out for a TV Jones & scrapped the neck pickup altogether. Stupid purchase, and it’s a reasonably expensive guitar that nobody wants so I’ll never be able to sell it. It’s nice to play but it’s way more of a lead guitar than a rhythm guitar & I have no chops

4. Gretsch baritone guitar of some description. Was a placeholder for a Reverend Descent when I was in a 2-person band, just drums & bari... band never got off the ground so I don’t have a lot of use for it. Still jonesing for a Reverend Descent tho, for NO GOOD REASON

5. MIM Tele Cabronita. Decent player, lotta raunch. I think I swapped out the stock pickups for TV Joneses? Can’t remember. Didn’t get much stage time since the Corvette(s) came along

6, 7. A couple of shitty cheap Japanese acoustic guitars

Basses:

1. The aforementioned Guild B-301

2. The dumbest purchase I ever made, a 1968/1970 Fender Telecaster bass (one year is the neck, one year is the body but I can’t remember which). Used to belong to Billy Joel’s bassist apparently. Traded a late-70s P-bass plus a whack of cash for this glamourpuss, which looks like a million bucks but just doesn’t have any mojo whatsoever, like dating the most boring model you ever met

Pretty much after I got out of college in the mid 90s, I pretty much have been a gearwhore up til a few years ago, I realized this was nuts. It has taken quite a while to sell off the lot. I actually sold 2 basses, a guitar head, a vintage drum machine and an analog synth today.

I also finalized an order getting this parts guitar put together today, which when it is done I will have 10 instruments (4 basses, 4 electric guitars and 2 acoustics).

guitars...

I got two of other peoples 'failed' parts guitars of fleabay way cheaper than the parts itself would have cost. One is a black 'Gilmour' inspired strat that was wired up all wrong and had a thin neck. I sold the neck off, got a big fat neck made for it. I've had this one a decade now.

The other 'failed' parts guitar was a Warmoth firebird copy body (that they no longer made) that had a single TV Jones Powertron and was painted this ugly white color. I traded a Gibson Flying V (that I had found cheap)and the strat neck to get it repainted and a new neck. The F-bird was a mess as it needed a 'conversion neck'. I got it painted the same color red and the firebird logo from a '74 Transam. It's pretty wicked looking. That said, the neck is not as thick as I was really wanting...so I don't really jive with it like I would like.

The other guitar I have is a 2 Humbucker Tele build that I friend of mine who is a pro luthier put together when he was building out of his house for a few years. It has a pair of Dimarzio zebra humbuckers that I had at one point in a black mexico strat. I've had it also for over a decade now.

basses...

I sold my 78 Pbass and my first year Geddy Lee jazz bass in the past few months. I bought the Pbass for $250 bucks in '91 and a buddy of mine said I paid too much at the time. Could not believe I got $1500 bucks out of GC for the thing...it weighed a metric ton. The Ged I played in the cover band I was in when I first moved to KY.

I got one of those SG reissue basses when they first came out and kinda got hooked on it. I got it and found dirt cheap that Norlin bass I was talking about. Liked the SG one, I ran into one of the guitar of the week sunburst versions - so I got and later on a Thunderbird (Watt/Kim Gordon) that I always wanted. The Firebird is the best 'sounding' bass I got. That said the aircraft carrier case is kinda awkward, so I always dug having the two SG basses. I kinda think humbucker pickups are a bit underrated on basses now. I think they work really well in a trio setup.

acoustics...

I got a mid-70s Alvarez acoustic that I have had probably 15 years or so. It's not a particularly 'loud' acoustic but it has a very sweet sound. I got a used Martin Dx... series acoustic and that one I play ALOT. I love the laminate neck, it is so stable. It has excellent action up the neck.

amps...

I got a couple of Mesa Boogies including a 50 Caliber+ head (knicked named the DOOM BOOGIE) and a Single Rectifier head. I also have a 50 watt'68 silverface Bassmen head. Previous owner had it completely gone over. It's killer for recording Bass and with my Ampeg Scrambler reissue pedal - it sounds DEAD on for Jim McCarty's tone on the early Cactus records.

I have:

1997 Japanese John Jorgenson signature "Hellecaster" (heavy as fuck champagne sparkle/gold strat/G&L Comanche style guitar with Z pickups)

White 90s Japanese Jazzmaster

Teal post-2000-seeming Mexican tele

Want:
A tele that's brighter sounding/a bit less of a slog to play (unless they're all like that, I can't even remember)

A Rickenbacker bass (lol)

I'll probably succumb to the siren call of a Jag at some point in my life but my Jazzmaster is very nice to play so no rush

I've got every piece of music gear (minus the $100 drum set with $150 in new heads that lives in the basement) along one wall in the tiny room that has become my wife's home office over the last year; she gets lots of comments during zoom meetings and has to tell the guys (always guys) that she has no idea about or interest in what is going on behind her.

https://i.postimg.cc/HkrLhkqX/IMG-1139.jpg

1. 1981 Tokai Silver Star, modified with a blend pot instead of the second tone knob and a direct out switch because I hate hitting the volume knob all the time by accident. I posted about this earlier in the thread, never wanted a strat but found this one for pretty cheap and wanted white one with a rosewood fretboard and big 70s headstock (Karoli style?).

2. 1974 Gibson SG. I got this last year right before lockdown. It's in decent shape, I love the skinny neck, and I wanted something from my birth year and this was relatively cheap compared to most other options. I replaced all the pots and capacitors and jack which feels sacrilegious but they were all scratchy and loose but I kept the switch. Ian Mackaye and Carrie Brownstein, some Iommi, not really Angus Young.

3. A 2017 Telecaster Deluxe neck on the routed out body of a 1998 MIM telecaster, with P90s. I had built this with Lace Matt Pike humbuckers and the full 'Jimmy Page' wiring with four push-pull pots but learned I don't like humbuckers that much. I didn't really know these guitars existed til 10 years ago or so and I love the weird hybrid bastardized neck/body combo and 'fuck it just route everything and make a giant pickguard' Fenderness of it.

4. 2014 Epiphone 335 Pro with updated pickups and the Jimmy Page wiring (in a semi-hollow for pure masochism). This was the second electric I got and would probably be the first to go if I was to sell any - I like bright as shit guitars and this one isn't, plus the neck is very square feeling. I honestly don't remember why I wanted to get a semi-hollow - probably some sort of No Age / Bob Weir combination.

5. 1971 Yamaha FG 180 - one of the red label / 'Nippon Gakki' ones that seem to be prized. I got this for $100 a pawn shop. It's not as nice to play as some friend's Martins but it's decent enough.

6. 1998 MIM Telecaster neck and pickups on a wudtone finished GFS swamp ash body. This tele, originally with the black body above, was my first guitar, bought new at a guitar center in Phoenix because of Joe Strummer and Buck Owens and Luther Perkins and Pete Anderson. I owned it for years and didn't play much at all until I got back into it in 2013 or so.

I did the body swap and Tele deluxe spin-off a few years ago on a whim one day after staring at the cover of Born to Run for a while. The body was like $60 and is hilariously cheap with four chunks glued together somewhere in Asia with no concern for matching grains or anything - like the back side looks way better and more cohesive than the front. This has a five-way 'super switch' for phase and series/parallel stuff. If I had to only keep one guitar, this would be it.

7. 2015 Squier Jazzmaster with Fender pickups and a new pickguard. - I got this new in Portland a few years ago at a place that had it priced really cheap and gave me a deal on a case with it and I've wanted one for years due to Elvis Costello, Sonic Youth, Television, Dinosaur JR, etc. I always think I don't really like this one, then I play something like 'Divine Intervention' by Matthew Sweet on it and love it again.

8. 2013 MIM 50s Lacquer Precision with a black pickguard. I have a Jazz bass but was always trying to dull it down in the band I play in to fit around the keyboards and the neck felt too skinny so I found this on craigslist for like $200 less than the cheapest ones on Reverb. It's got a huge neck with a 7.25" radius and tiny frets and a red fuzz lined tweed case and I love it.

9. Not shown - a 2003 Squier Jazz Bass that I got for $75 at the guitar center in Seattle; it's being stripped because I hate sunburst and is going to get something like a big dumb gibson mudbucker added to the neck spot along with the existing J pickups.

Other than that it's a 1978 Fender Princeton Reverb (with the 'pull boost' and death cap removed the ground switch converted to a 0/half/normal negative feedback resistor option), a totally stock 90s GK RB400, a recent used 2x10 GK bass cab, and a bunch of cheap or built-from-kits pedals. There's also a Sunn Alpha 6 PA that a friend left at my house years ago because it didn't work but it just needed a new fuse holder. It sounds good as a bass amp but honestly just kind of looks rad.

Honestly I like to build and fix and modify guitars/amps/pedals about as much as I like to play them, if not slightly more. I have zero need and not much room for anything else but things I would be ecstatic to find at a yard sale for cheap:

- fiesta red Jaguar
- rickenbacker bass (lol)
- goldtop les paul
- one of those short scale PJ mustang basses that showed up a few years ago

Have -

Mid Eighties G&L Lynx Bass
Mid Eighties G&L El Toro Bass
1991 Warwick Thumb Bolt On Bass
Aria Electric Upright Bass

EastCoast cheapy Gibson 350 copy
Cheapy Acoustic, from the antique shop around the corner

Want -

Another Warwick (needs researching)
60s Tele Bass
G&L Interceptor bass (w/whammy bar)
Fernandes Tele bass (for project)
Shergold Marathon 6 String Bass (had two at one point, sold them both, instant regret)

Ampwise I have had various Fenders and Voxes but am happy now with just a Blues Junior.

A lot of the time I end up going direct, because of how many instruments I may end up playing on a given evening. Way easier to use a Para Driver or Blonde Sansamp when I may be switching between guitar, bass, mandolin, bouzouki, and electronic drums.

have: lefties

want: more lefties

(want gibson acoustics more than anything)

i'd like to play a bass vi someday

I have:
(an old picture when everything was out)

https://qc-ckb.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/ilx/et_guitars.jpg

1. 1965 Jazzmaster. I've been posting about this one in the Jazzmaster thread.

2. 1975 Telecaster. I've had this since 1984. Unforgiving but sounds fantastic with the AC30.

3. 2005 CIJ Stratocaster XII. Purchased it mostly new from a gray marketer in Costa Mesa and took it everywhere when I was regularly playing gigs at this time. Really nice guitar & stays in tune. Overdue for a pickup and wiring swap.

4. 1999 Am Standard Strat. In 2004 I was shopping for amplifiers and ended up coming home with no amp but the guitar I was trying them out with. I gutted all the electronics, put in a set of 1968 Strat pickups I found on eBay, replaced the pots with push/pull ones for in/out phase switching, and replaced the bridge & tremolo block with a heavy Callaham one. Extremely forgiving and somehow I just naturally play better with it - which is why it's sitting in a closet on the other side of the country rn.

5. 1967 Vox Cheetah. Rescued from a heavy metal supply store in Huntington Beach in 1993. Idiosyncratic and dark sounding. Only sounds its best when it's right on the edge of feedbacking so powerfully that you can feel the glued joints loosen up. At some point I expect it to turn to wood powder in my hands.

6. [not shown] Unknown early 60s electric bouzouki.

7. [not shown] early-00s CIJ JM-66 Jazzmaster. Currently disassembled but will eventually become a "72 Jazzmaster Deluxe" with the CuNiFe WRHB pickup reissues.

I want:

Nothing. Ms. Telecom has two terrific basses (a Musicmaster bass from the 70s and a '62 J-bass reissue from the 90s) so there isn't really anything I want except more time to write and maybe a Bass VI or baritone. Sure, if I had stupid amounts of money I'd love to have an all-original Fender something in Lake Placid Blue or a hollowbody Gretsch.

BTW, we’ll want another of these threads for synths/keys

I have:

1997 Japanese John Jorgenson signature "Hellecaster" (heavy as fuck champagne sparkle/gold strat/G&L Comanche style guitar with Z pickups)

― hiroyoshi tins in (Sgt. Biscuits), Saturday, May 29, 2021 8:09 AM (thirteen hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

holy shit, i remember seeing this guitar in catalogs. can you tell me how you ended up with it? i was looking and apparently there are only like 500 of them. also, this incredible fact from jorgenson's website:

Due to a factory error, the total run of guitars ended up with an extra resistor on the bottom tone control which made the guitar sound as is if the treble was completely rolled off. After getting many enquiries about the tone of the pickups (my personal guitars were prototypes and didn’t have the problem) I finally had the chance to compare a factory model side by side to my own, and was dismayed to hear the difference in tone! Luckily the remedy is very easy, just unscrew the pickguard and clip out the resistor closest to the bottom of the guitar and voila, it sounds as intended! Most players and owners by now have already done this, but I do believe that this error initially hurt the sales and image of the model.

Elvis, there is a synth zone thread

- '72 tele thinline reissue c. 2000, natural finish, made in mexico. a few months ago i put the new wide range humbucker reissues in this.

- 2005 MIJ '66 jag reissue in lake placid blue. tricked out with duncan antiquties, mastery bridge, and mastery trem before i bought it.

― call all destroyer, Friday, May 28, 2021 6:13 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

would love to see pics of these.

My main guitar is one of those thinline reissues. I plan on installing those creamery humbucker reissues once the guy starts taking new orders again. A couple years ago I got a Trem-King installed on it, which is a lot of fun.

About halfway through a rebuild of a shitty Davison warlock knockoff I got new for 100 bucks a decade ago. Installed a floyd rose bridge and new neck on it. Still have to finish routing a pool, designing a pickguard (gonna install lace sensors), and revamping the electrics.

I've got one of those short-scale Airline Map basses that Eastwood makes. Love her dearly.

I also have an old beater bass that's a hollowbody with no brand name and scratchy electronics but it was supposedly Jenny from Erase Errata's first instrument so I rock out on it occasionally for the good juju. I want plenty more but just don't have the space in our shoebox in SF.

As for wants, I've never played a baritone guitar but have been lusting after that Ronquillo edition of the Rivolta Mondata and regret not pulling the trigger on it before it sold out even though it would've been a foolish financial decision at the time.

here's my gretsch's l-r:
- 2015 Panther Prototype MIJ (center block, hardtail)
- 1995 Brian Setzer 6120-SSU
- 1979 Chet Atkins Country Gentlemen 7670
- 1963 Streamliner 6103
https://i.imgur.com/M2Ccs3d.jpg
got the three on the right at an estate sale a couple weeks back, all are in ridiculously good shape. the binding is usually breaking/coming apart on a lot of 60s gretsch's but this one has no issues. planning on keeping the chet and selling the other two i think. the panther was my parting gift when i left fmic.

Here's that 80s hondo i was talking about. i cant find much info on it but its supposed to be like a kramer baretta. pulled the pickup in hopes it was one of the dimarzio humuckers that were in some early hondos... it was not. it sounds pretty cool tho. $10 at goodwill.
https://i.imgur.com/gIwMqvW.jpg

Here's my list of shame. I could make excuses for any one of them individually, but collectively? no chance.
1950? Unknown parlour guitar
1965 Sadao Yairi classical
1965 Teisco TG-64 guitar
1966 Fender USA Mustang
1966 Mory Jazzmaster
1966 Teisco TB-4 bass
1966 Yamaha SG-3
1967 Morales ZES-300
1968 Höfner Galaxie 175
1969? Canora MIJ classical
1971 Yamaha S-50A classical
1972 Greco TL-350 (shortscale Tele)
1973 Greco TE-500 (Tele Thinline)
1975 Greco TD500 (Tele Deluxe)
1976 Eston (Suzuki) acoustic 12 string
1977 Greco Super Sounds (Strat)
1978 Fender USA Musicmaster
1978 Ibanez Concord acoustic
1981 K Yairi DY-51 acoustic
1982 Squier JV Tele Custom
1983 Squier JV Strat
1983 Squier SQ Tele Custom
1985 Fender Japan Jazzmaster
1985 Fender Japan TL33 Tele
1985 Ibanez Roadstar II bass
1987 Fender Japan TL52 Tele
1988 Fender Japan ST-456
2000? Epiphone Casino MIK
2012 Fender Japan Bass VI

call all destroyer, there was exactly one of those Jorgenson Hellecasters in a music shop in Birmingham (UK) leading up to Christmas 1999, and I basically went all in on getting it via every family Christmas present I was getting and a 12 month payment plan on top. It was actually reduced to £580 just before I bought it but I guess is worth a bit more now. I remember the other music shop across town also had the blue sparkle Jerry Donahue model which I was also kind of tempted by. It's a little more uh elegant looking than mine

People aren't kidding about the muddy tone, didn't get that fixed until a few years later. Once I had it fixed up it plays beautifully though, so easy to get around.

I believe there may have been 500 in the west and 500 more in Japan; mine is 234

that’s so cool. the thing i read said that there were 500 total with 250 staying in japan but either way, very very limited.

Yah I’d never heard of that looks super cool

here is everything except the FGN which is in the other free corner of the room (also observant viewers may see part of my cat as he jumped up while i was taking this

https://i.imgur.com/lPeyCty.jpg

That’s like the exact jag I’d want

i believe ilx user albert broccoli also has this jag!

Definitely feelin the Jag envy

i think the jag is the one fender model where things like the block inlays, neck binding, and matching headstock actually look better than standard fender austerity.

i was just thinking the other day about looking for like a black/white/black 3-ply guard for the tele thinline....it's a rock machine with the new wide-ranges and i'm not sure if the white pearloid is the right spirit. anyone like or hate that idea?

Consensus is that baritone tuning is more appropriate, but mine is tuned to Bass VI tuning. The E is not not flappy— it’s manageable. Video above is Bass VI tuning.

I set it up with La Bellas and the flappiness increased— the guys at La Bella pointedly said “that’s not a Bass VI” (even though the exact same body would be sold as a Bass VI for several years in the 00s).

are they flats or roundwounds?

Flats. I use medium gauge on my acoustics but flats on all my electrics

ah okay was going to suggest flats which, at least in my experience with short scale basses, can help with the floppiness

Why a baritone? Glen Campbell tribute band? No but seriously, why do people care about baritones?

i dunno why do i care about being a middle aged guy slaving away at music maybe 100 people will hear at best?

The experience I had when I started taking the viola seriously was basically this: “why didn’t anybody tell me how amazing this instrument is”. Same with baritone guitar, once you start playing it you’re kinda gobsmacked that it’s not more of a staple.

Personally I like playing it because it compliments a tenor singer super well

And if we’re gonna be very real about it, “Wichita Lineman” IS the greatest recorded song of all time— and also have you heard of a band called The Cure

Ok, fair. I didn’t know the Cure used baritones a lot.

I can see why doom/stoner or anyone else who downtunes all the time would like one. And offset fans with the Bass VI of course, they are very cool.

I guess I’m the opposite in that I want a clear and sustaining high end rather then a surplus of low end from a guitar

i like this discussion because i randomly ended up on some guitar history wiki for jaguars last week, i dont know how. i there learned of the even the existence of the baritone, thought “how interesting what do players think i shld ask ilx.” and this thread did this. for a couple of days now i been all “what does it mean? am i supposed to get one now? it must be a sign. i cannot even play i dont need another one.”

The appeal of the baritone to me isn't just the low end. The thicker strings mean it's got more resonance in the mids. Got it in an open tuning just now and it feels really satisfying and rich sounding over all. I really enjoy hanging out between 2-5 doing drone modal stuff. The viola is a good comparison, having played violin/viola at school. Even when you're playing in the upper range, it has a different sound to the violin.

Steve Kilbey played a Bass VI on The Church's Priest = Aura which is a keystone album for me. When the band did the 2010 three album tour with P=A in the middle, he used a Bass VI and it sounded so cool

Also iirc Peter Koppes in The Church plays a baritone through much of Forget Yourself

I remember the first time I played a VI and all my shitty little riffs sounded like deep bells chiming

https://i.ibb.co/7N2WjZrd/IMG-2171.png

- rickenbacker bass (lol)

― joygoat, Saturday, May 29, 2021 10:55 AM (four years ago)

Obviously never thought I'd end up getting one of these, but what do you know.

https://i.ibb.co/zWWzKKPZ/IMG-7624.jpg

I swore I'd only buy one if I stumbled on it organically (I've only ever touched three in my life) and honestly wanted a 70s knockoff more than a real one.

But I ended up with a cancelled appointment and went into the guitar center to kill time where they happened to have a 1986 4003 on pawn shop lockdown, so available but not yet, and not listed online. It was a few hundred less than any other used ones online because it was kind of beat up and filthy as hell and had a replacement jack plate, which I didn't realize is where the serial numbers are.

(I'll attempt to justify this here by saying I purged a bunch of gear in the last two weeks including the barefaced bass cab I scored a couple years ago in a deal-of-a-lifetime situation and sold for twice what I paid for it...)

Anyway it cleaned up well and seems to be all original other than jack plate that shows as a replacement in the online serial number checkers, but has a date code for december 1986. The pots all indicate they're from March of 1986, so when I was in sixth grade a few weeks after the challenger disaster and a few before chernobyl.

One amazing detail is that apparently the guy who sold it was a prison guard who played the bass in some sort of band at the main state prison about 40 minutes from here. When he retired he convinced them to sell it to him, and he had to sell it to to pay to travel to south carolina to spread someone's ashes in the ocean.

It's got a metal property tag for the old "State Prison of Southern Michigan" which was renamed in 1988 on the back:

https://i.ibb.co/qLQfq6YT/IMG-7582.jpg

wooowww. good stuff.

Congrats on the bass, those are so cool

oooooh, fantastic score!

That is cool as shit. I bet it has that throaty deep twang.

That's a beauty and a dead ringer for my similarly beaten up and filthy 1977 4001
https://i.ibb.co/qF4yF35Q/IMG-20260318-092422371.jpg

I'd never noticed so I had to check and the tuners on mine are unbranded, but also looks like yours turn the same way as almost every other guitar in the world. I'm considering getting it refretted which feels like some sort of extreme surgery but I guess in reality it's the difference between it actually playing properly or being an (admittedly cool-looking) useless lump of wood.

i bet that bass has some stories

I recorded with one once in a studio, great sound. Only thing is I was playing kinda fast stuff with a pick and I remember getting a little raw spot on the inside of my wrist from the sharp corner of the body.

but a little touch overdriven, just an amazing and distinct sound.

A Rickenbacker, or a former prison bass?

Thanks yall, i feel like this is some sort of final score for the ages. My wife is normally disinterested in all this shit but is quite enamored of it design-wise.

I knew very little about them before crash coursing, like I had no idea what made that 4001 different from a 4003 because they look the same to me. The bridges are weird and the wiring is crazy and the pickups have actual wood as part of them, I believe?

A Rickenbacker, or a former prison bass?

I've seen neither the office nor rick and morty but general pop culture has given me enough secondhand exposure to both that I crossed the memes into the phrase "prison rick" when I first saw it

jailhouse rick!

My 125 TDC is feeding back with my new quadraphonic rig— surprising, but not that surprising considering the audio routing I’m doing. Sadness.

I’m bringing down the partscaster I compulsively bought off my regular tech to see if things improve. The partscaster is a 100% perfect guitar— three Jag claw pickups over a piece of fuselage. But it’s not my style visually. And Jag claws aren’t my beloved P90s. And the middle pickups gets in the way of my fingerpickin nails.

What to do what to do. Can’t decide if my future is semi-hollow (can I reasonably put P90s into a 335? I can’t work with humbuckers) or if I should start asking my tech to collecting the parts and making me a dream solid body

Which is: ash body, mahogany top, transparent brown finish, 2x P90s with cream plastic covers, pearloid pic guard, an a heavy chunky quartersawn maple neck. (I eat toast and surf the Warmoth site with baleful regretful eyes)

This is very charming. The state of the art in 1984! Richard Thompson interrogated about his mid-'50s Strat: "A lot of people would think, why doesn't he buy a new one?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZmrE_MHXos

David Lindley and Midge Ure too

fgti is a Casino too hollow? Or maybe a 330 or a Riviera?

Well, I actually figured it out-- it was a preamp issue is all. The 125 is sounding phenomenal now. I'm still really feeling its "student model" qualities tho.

I'm trying out both a Heritage 530 and a strange Norland-era 175T in the next couple weeks. I'm not so enthusiastic about the 530 really but I figured I'd give it a shot. The 175T though, that one I'm excited about. Archtops from that era get glowing reviews.

I have only played one 330 that I really fell in love with but it was very vintage, very red, and very very expensive. I know the Memphis-era VOS 330s are reputed to be terrific, but I haven't seen one in the flesh and there's no way I'd drop 6k+ CAD on one without playing it first.

Casinos are awesome, but every time I've played one the nut is like 1 5/8" and it's a small difference but I play finger style and my ideal is 1 3/4". 1 11/16" is fine and usually what I end up with. I have the same problem with a lot of gorgeous Guilds, I'm like "wow" but then the nut is just too narrow and I'm not gonna do it.

I could type for hours about guitars but I'll just give a few Coles notes:

- going ahead with my custom Strat revision. Bought the body yesterday, it's some transparent weird butterscotch finish that is somewhere between a dingy Olympic white and a nicotine stain. I love it.

- stringing up my Baritone Jaguar A-A as God intended

- I bought and fixed up a 70s Sigma GCS-6 (Yairi workshop) for my brother in law, he plays in worship bands. Got it for $400 but with a new nut and saddle it plays and sounds just marvellous. Put a Baggs M1 on it for him, too, he's a happy camper

- I've got two acoustic guitars that belong to me but I'm thinking, maybe, of getting rid of them both and getting an Iris instead. I played some Iris guitars when I was in Seattle last and they really just are all that. Their all-mahogany L-00 is basically my dream guitar, and it's inexpensive enough that I won't feel weird about leaving the house with it (and getting on a plane); it's worth less than both my current acoustics but I think it might actually be my best choice

I'm trying to get some work done this evening but I'm hitting some walls so I'm just gonna type my guitar history, I feel like I've typed about it here and there over the years; I would be interested in reading other people's own accounts.

When I was 17 I discovered that my stepfather had a very deteriorated Martin OO-17M from the 50s in the attic. The bridge had become unglued and the neck needed a re-set. He told me it was mine if I paid to get it fixed, so I did so, and I learned on this instrument. It was a dodgy guitar, hard to play and didn't sound that great, but I learned Nick Drake and John Fahey tunes on it, I only played fingerstyle. I became accustomed to its big V-neck and its dusty sound. I wrote my first songs on it.

In my very-early 20s I was doing pub gigs with my violin accompanying a lovely fingerstyle guitarist who was also functioning as my teacher. She had a Lowden O from the early 90s (original workshop, I think) that once belonged to noted fingerstyle player Don Ross. She persuaded me to sell my OO-17M and buy the Lowden, and I did so eagerly, it played and sounded (in comparison to the OO-17M) like a dream. It also had a Sunrise pickup in it, which meant it worked great amplified. Very quickly, though, there was something 'off' about it in context, like, me playing with my weird bands in weird basements and there was this very lightly-finished $4000 guitar sitting on the stage just begging to be kicked over. When my band broke up in 2005 the Lowden basically sat in its case for ten years.

At a certain point I played and bought a Jaguar Baritone for just over $1k, it was a weird item that had a unique-to-Fender scale that kind of made it some kind of cross between an actual baritone and a Bass VI. I strung it E-E used it primarily in studio when I needed to lay down a bass part. This would (until just over a year ago) be the only solid-body guitar I owned.

Ten years later with little-to-no guitar in my life, in 2015, I was visiting L.A. with my then-boyfriend and we wandered into TruTone Music in Santa Monica. They had (and maybe still do) a bevy of beautiful acoustics there, and I tried many of them. I saw, on the wall, a 1934 Martin O-17M, and was struck with a pang of nostalgia for my stepfather's old guitar. I took it down and started playing it and it was immediate love. Everything about it, the mahogany top, the V-neck, it felt so natural. My then-boyfriend was typically "holding the leash" when it came to any "can I buy it mom" moments, but his eyes were as wide as my own, and he told me we should get it, so we did, on the spot. I paid $5k USD for it. Suddenly all my songwriting and film work was involving the guitar in some way. I recorded a film score later that year at Magic Shop with Kabir Hermon (same place and engineer as Bowie's "Blackstar") and when Kabir mic'd up the O-17M and got back into the booth he proclaimed "that's the most beautiful guitar I've ever heard". I wrote and recorded my last album on it. Jason Isbell apparently owns and loves the same guitar and did that "Foxes In The Snow" album; it's not my style of music but his playing is amazing and the guitar is amazing. (The Martin-issued Jason Isbell O-17Ms they've been making and selling are not amazing, but they're not expensive, maybe try one out if you see one).

The problem with an antique $5k guitar is that it's a constant source of anxiety. I stress about moving with it, I stress about humidity in the room in which it resides. I don't want to play gigs with it. This still is the case. In an attempt to try and duplicate its magic, I tried out about six different Chinese Sigma mahogany OOs and I found one that was very nice for about $500, and bought it. I pulled the Sunrise pickup out of the Lowden and put it in the Sigma (lol the pickup was work twice as much as the guitar!) It was perfect for gigging... but I wasn't doing acoustic gigs with any frequency and so I lent it to my friend Thom, who loved it, and lent it to Martha Wainwright, who loved it, and there are a lot of photos of her playing it. Thom experienced an awful tragedy in his life a few years ago and I gifted the Sigma+Sunrise to him because I love that guy and I was happy he loved that guitar. He still has it.

In 2017 I wanted to start integrating guitar into my live set and I had a number of false starts. I was doing some sound design stuff with filters and reverbs and the Sigma wasn't gonna cut it, it fed back too easily. I tried a Godin Acousticaster and it neither sounded right or played well, for me. Godin, for my money, have an incredible line of guitars with their 5th Avenue series, I love the way they play and sound. (I can't stand the way they look, both the black and cream models are easy on my eyes but why do Godin have to write "Godin" a dozen times on every guitar, on the pickups, on the pickguard, on the headstock, everywhere it just says Godin Godin Godin). But the Acousticaster was serviceable, and I took it on a tour to Asia.

In Tokyo in 2017, without meaning to (I was just wandering through Shibuya), I stumbled upon a shop called Walk-In that was stuffed full of Japanese-made arch tops. I'd recently seen Sam Amidon play a concert at Disney Hall and he was playing some grotty old Gibson archtop (I think he only had a piezo on it?), and it sounded so good, and I'd been wanting to investigate. I played almost every guitar in the shop, and they were all beautiful, but there was something 'not for me' about all of them. Until I tried the Archtop Tribute 350; 16" bout, full depth, one P90 pickup at the neck. I was shocked. I texted my FOH to come find me and he heard it and he told me to buy it. I bought it and started playing gigs with it. I put a piezo under the bridge and a second output so I could roll some of the harsh trebles off the P90 and use the piezo to give me the needed transients for fingerstyle sound. Eventually I wanted to deal with the noise of the P90 and I swapped in a Kinman and it was really, unfortunately and fortunately, just as amazing sounding as that dude's website adores to proclaim. I loved that guitar. My FOH would later tell me that anybody who asked him about "the best guitar sound", he'd reply that it was this Japanese 350.

Around this time, I sold the Lowden. It was just languishing, I preferred the O-17M for recording. I made money on the sale, ultimately. I've played many Lowdens over the years and they are always appealing, there is something just terrific about them, they scream "Paul Brady" to my ears. My favourite is, unfortunately, the "Wee Lowden" model, which is intrinsically associated with Ed Sheeran, and that association has effectively kiboshed any possibility that I'd ever seek to own one again. Love Lowdens, tho. Incredible (and incredibly expensive) instruments.

As much as I loved the Japanese 350, playing and touring with it over the years revealed some things I wished were different. It was so large and heavy, and I tour alone, so it was like having a cello on my back anytime I had to get anywhere. In order to keep it from feeding back, I had to plug the holes and that made me feel weird and sad for some reason. Also: the neck had a glossy finish and it just wasn't as playable as I'd like it to be. So I started trying many, many other guitars. (The aforementioned Godin 5th Avenue almost would've been the replacement, except that I never found the cream model that I desired).

Just over a year ago I ended up finding the ES-125 TDC that I currently own and play live with. Everything about it was "player grade"-- all aspects of it had been replaced, the tailpiece, bridge, pickups, frets and tuners; the pickguard was gone. It was priced so low that I called the shop and bellowed "what the heck is wrong with it that it's priced that way??" Even the finish had been treated somehow, it kind of has this pumpkin pie colour that I actually really like. I got it and I don't regret it. I sold the Japanese 350 to Liz from Picastro and she's loving it. I had the ES-125 TDC fixed up with new pickups (and the piezo) and it's been terrific-- except, basically, for the weird palpable feeling that there is something student-y about it, just the way the strings respond and the way the frets feel. I can't describe it.

That same year I saw the brilliant musician Carmen Elle (ex-DIANA and Army Girls) play a little solo set in a bar. She was playing fingerstyle on a Strat and I was transfixed by how good it sounded. I went into the music shop and said "show me some Strats!" and my friend Simone immediately pointed out the Jagcaster that my tech had put together, for himself. It played so good and sounded so good and was priced so insanely low for how well made it was that I had to buy it. I have played some shows with it. Ultimately, the middle pickup doesn't work well for fingerstyle (the claws on the Jaguar pickup are always playing around with my nails). And although the Jag pickups are very beautiful (and very close!) I found myself missing the thunk of my P90s. Also, the green paisley finish was decidedly not really coded for my own modes of presentation. Happily, my tech (who did built this guitar for himself) is willing to take it back, take the neck off, put it on a more fgti-appropriate body, and get some P90s put in to it, and he's doing it as a favour and goddamn I love my tech, what a fucking guy. So: there is a perfect Strat in my future.

Recently I've been fielding requests for live performances with orchestras where I'm playing fingerstyle guitar, and it's been a little awkward, because I don't actually own an acoustic I can tour with, just my antique O-17M. Recently I was just renting acoustics city-to-city, but I did find a "priced to move" Martin CEO-7 online, and I impulsively bought it. I love it. The stock pickup isn't 100% my favourite but it really sounds and plays terrific otherwise. I have to admit, too, that there is something very different about a spruce top, the sound is rounder and more "orchestral" than the dusty "every string counts" quality of a mahogany top. I can't decide if it's the guitar for me, but I don't regret buying it.

In short, the current arsenal is:

Martin O-17M (1934), likely to be replaced in the future by an Iris MS-OO mahogany top, so I don't feel "antique anxiety"
Martin CEO-7 (2024), what I use for gigs but will perhaps find itself made redundant also by the aforementioned Iris, although I might keep it so I have a spruce top for recording
Gibson ES-125 TDC (1964), the ultimate "player's grade" archtop, great for touring; may be replaced soon by either a Heritage 530 or a Gibson ES-175T or something else, though I'm not-at-all unhappy with it, I just am considering other options
Partscaster-in-progress (2026), nicotine stain body with a quarter sawn maple neck, can't wait to have this one put together
Fender Baritone Jaguar 'Custom Classic' (2004), it's been my proxy-bass for twenty years but it's now taking its rightful place as my studio baritone

Gone but not forgotten:

Martin OO-17M (50s), my stepfather's guitar
Lowden O (early 90s), stunningly beautiful but too fragile and expensive
Sigma OO-17M (2015), lent to a far more deserving guitarist
Godin Acousticaster (2015), not for me
Archtop Tribute 350 Natural (2016), now onstage with Picastro
Jagcaster (2024), to be returned and dissembled for the aforementioned Partscaster

The only instrument I wish I owned is basically a P-bass, but my standards for bass performance are (perhaps oddly) really ridiculously high, and I find it easier to just call a professional when a song is asking for it.

I feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such beautiful instruments. Over the past ten years I've been streamlining things, getting rid of synths I don't need, selling violins I don't use, and the cull has felt good. I own only one poly synth and I know it inside out, I own only one mono synth and the same is true, and only one drum machine (still figuring it out, it's a RYTM 2 and we're still learning each other). There's nothing unnecessary in this room and I like it that way.

Wonderful post! My only rejoinder is that the anxiety around the O-17M seems like a manifestation of the love you feel for it, which doesn’t sound like a good reason to get rid of it.

Good stuff fgti, would love to see some images if you’re willing to share.

xp I mean, I loved that Lowden but there's not a day that I want it back. I try to sift through what is "sentimentality" and what is "pragmatism"-- do I need a mahogany top guitar? yes. Do I want to be able to leave the house with it? yes. Can I do so with my 92-year old Martin? no. Does an Iris (for example) match my utility requirements? yes!

I recently sold the antique (1870s) Czech violin that I bought back in 1999 to a wonderful young student violinist for a reasonable price. It had a Strad body (shallow, bright) that doesn't suit my needs onstage or in studio, and it wasn't getting used. That violin appears on hundreds of albums, but its absence is met with relief, not regret. I have a deep-body $2k Chinese made violin that is exactly right for my needs and I don't miss the antique Czech.

Recently I've been paying attention to wood availability and so on-- my bow, for example, is a 1992 locally-made object and the quality of pernambuco simply doesn't exist in 2026. An impossibility, now. Good mahogany woods are still available tho!

Might be worth looking at some of the high end K Yairis - they are still pretty undervalued from what I’ve heard. Not sure about mahogany tops but I have a nice cedar top DY-81 I got pretty cheap.

fgti those posts are so enjoyable to me as a barely-player, so much to follow up about. like, a casino is my first and only electric for now, and have never considered nut width as an issue yet— but i will now and am anxious to compare stuff now. will be a long time if ever before it could possibly functionally matter to me. i think.

Honestly— if you’re looking to “upgrade” from your Casino, try a recent USA Casino. They started making them workshop-grade in USA and for whatever reason it’s been a financial bust, but the guitars themselves are crazy amazing. They’re not cheap, but feel weirdly underpriced in how gorgeous they are

My one caveat about Casinos (aside from the typically narrower nut, which my preference skews away from), is that I personally hear a marked difference in sound quality when a P90 is housed in chrome or nickel. Get plastic covers, it sounds better

Apparently USA Casinos are consistently 1 11/16” nut across the board… I should try a few more. I just have so many times picked up a beautiful Casino and the neck felt like I was holding a pencil

When I play guitar I do favor a wider nut due to having played fingerstyle first. I have a very serviceable 000 copy that is 1 3/4".

But then my mandolins are mostly 1 1/8" for eight strings so the contrast is all relative.

because my casino is what imprinted first, most guitars i pick up feel kinda leaden, flat, and dull to my hands and abs. i’m used to the archback and relative light weight. i wonder if ppl are like birds with “parents,” what you see/feel first shapes your brain.

https://imgur.com/a/bkMR6Kf

For a guitar thread, not really too many pictures, so I figured I would post one of mine that is pretty unique.

It's a parts guitar a buddy of mine built for me on a body I found at a guitar show.

Pure class

I got a really good deal on that bound Korina body and it had a Bigsby when it was first put together. I figured out later why it was a good price, as when they routed for the studs, it is off just a bit - enough that the high E was always out off.

It never played all that well, so I couple years ago I got it changed over to the top loader using that Schaller bridge. It plays great now. If you look down at the bridge, you can kinda see how the routing was off a little bit, as the top loader is dead on.

Idea was to go kinda Neil with the Bigsby and Firebird pickups. I went with those amp knobs as Muddy Waters red Tele had them. It had a set of Duncans that I thought were kinda dull but I switched them to a set of the Mojotone Johnny Winter pickups quite a few years ago. It's pretty gnarly now.

Oh yeah, one cool trick that my buddy the luthier did to fill the screw holes was that he melted a Crayola into the hole with a color that matched. You can still see them, but not as much.

hm that image is not loading for me

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index.php?attachments/davenport-tfb-jpg.2479175/

https://imgur.com/a/bkMR6Kf

ILM like life, I could use an editor.

I almost hate to admit this but I'm currently waiting on a custom guitar build (it was sort of a gift thing)

Update: I haven't taken any glamor shots yet, but this is now in. Torrefied pine Mustang with Jag/JM vibrato, 5-way switching, and some other fun tweaks. Absurdly light and resonant, loads of character to each note in a way I'd normally associate with semi-hollows — after years of playing offsets with those pure bell tones, it's been fun to adjust to. But most of all it is pleasant as hell to pick up a guitar for a first time when it has all your perfect preferred neck specs, and just melts into your hand like it was always supposed to be there.

(Sadly this will not necessarily prevent me from wanting one of the Vintera II Mustangs if their prices plunge after the Vintera IIIs arrive in a few weeks ... I am clearing out cheap old project guitars, so now it seems fair again to have, like, three good ones.)

after the Vintera IIIs arrive in a few weeks

Update on the update: I love that it took less than 24 hours after posting this for them to announce the Vintera IIIs in question

My latest rescue animal:
https://i.imgur.com/KmSJAMA.jpeg
(1966-8 Guyatone EB-9 "Sharp 5" bass in ... average condition.)