Guitar Corner

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pablo jaye
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by pablo jaye »

Monkeybubbles wrote: Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:11 pm I said I retired and I meant it, but I'm putting a crew together for.....one......last.....heist......

https://www.christies.com/en/auction/th ... 19986-nyr/
I’ll dust down the swag bag, and iron my hooped jumper… see you at the usual meet-up. I’ll let Crusher, Muncher and The Prof know too! 😉
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Morocco Mole »

Image

Got this from Santa.

Basically all the guitars he’s flogged at Christie’s over the years to fund Crossroads in Antigua and some spiel about each one.

Doesn’t matter whether you like EC or not - just 373 pages of absolutely disgusting guitar porn.

:scarfer:
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Monkeybubbles
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

Couple of weirdos I bought this week.....

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Supro Belmont, from their Americana series released in 2017 and discontinued pretty soon after. The back of the body is semi hollow mahogany, the front is moulded ABS (instead of the fibreglass used in the originals). It's finished in shockingly bright "Poppy Red", with lots of white plastic bits, which made the ever fragrant Mrs Monkeybubbles squeal "you've bought......a toy?".

The body is a good size, not as wide across the front as a 335 or whatever, but bigger than a Les Paul. But it weighs nothing, because of the construction, and recently my creaking physiognomy has developed a deep appreciation of lightweight guitars.

The trem feels beautiful. It's like a sore tooth that you just can't stop fiddling with. Every sustained note, every held chord.....Waaangaaawaaangaaawannng!!!

BUt the real kicker is the Supro Vistatone pickup. Read more here: https://www.premierguitar.com/gear/uniq ... ar-pickups. It looks like a humbucker, but it's really a (very) overwound single coil with a unique magnet structure that senses an abnormally long string length. It's got a great mix of bright clarity and low end fatness that I've never experienced before. A bit like a Dynasonic, maybe. Crossed with an overwound Jazzmaster, maybe. Anyway, it loves a little bit of crunch and does that gritty, punky blues thing with body overtones for days. Chuffed.


It's like this, it's like that:

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Monkeybubbles
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

Image

1961 Rickenbacker 450. Was a bit of a basket case.

In typical Rick fashion, the neck runs all the way through the body. Unfortunately, the body 'wings' had come partially unglued from the neck adjacent to the neck pickup, and the routing for the pickup meant that the neck block/tenon was too thin to take the tension of the strings.

Two owners back, the guitar was written off and parted out. The guy I bought it from had bought just the body and neck, and then sourced all the replacement parts and refinished it in nitro. Unfortunately he didn't glue it together securely, and the body started delamination again so the neck just wafted around, action was mile high, and tuning was an abstract concept. Also, the nitro reacted with the finish on the fingerboard so that it just peeled off like clingfilm. I guess at that point he just lost heart, so I got the opportunity to buy it cheap.

I took it to my guitar tech who glued in some fillets to stabilise the neck, and cleaned off the finish on the fingerboard (and actually I prefer it au naturel to the usual thick coating that Rickenbacker use). I also got some super hot mini humbuckers made in Ricky shells by Gemini Pickups, which is probably sacrilegious.

Now, I love it. Its feather light, but really really resonant. The neck is the skinniest I've ever played, which suits my childlike hands perfectly. Its like a puppy dog that you just want to play with ALL THE TIME, but the pickups bark like a Rottweiler.

It's a cute little punk rock hoodlum: endless fun, and the perfect companion in a cartoon bar brawl.
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pablo jaye
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by pablo jaye »

They look like beautiful creations MBubbs - A Rickenbacker is on my list of 'Guitars I MUST have'.

Bought myself a Fender Jaguar a couple of weeks ago - its one of the cheaper Mexican ones but has a wonderful action and the pick-ups sound sweet to me.
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Greatest Cockney Rip Off »

Not sure about the guitars but Rickenbacker basses are utter gash (yes I know Lemmy used one). The bridge has to go down as the worst design for a bass bridge anywhere, even worse than the early Fender bass bridges to the point where they're almost non-functional for any action or intonation adjustments. Then there's the double truss rod - what idiot thought that would be a good idea? Trying to get the correct neck relief with two truss rods in the equation is just plain daft.
The sound is pretty average (although not unpleasant) but I just cannot get on with them. The biggest things for me though is the extortionate price for these things (they really aren't worth the money they cost) and also the ruthless way in which Rickenbacker CEO John C. Hall ruthlessly pursues copies of his basses and pulls eBay ads of people selling anything remotely looking like a 4001.
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

Greatest Cockney Rip Off wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 2:45 pm Not sure about the guitars but Rickenbacker basses are utter gash (yes I know Lemmy used one). The bridge has to go down as the worst design for a bass bridge anywhere, even worse than the early Fender bass bridges to the point where they're almost non-functional for any action or intonation adjustments. Then there's the double truss rod - what idiot thought that would be a good idea? Trying to get the correct neck relief with two truss rods in the equation is just plain daft.
The sound is pretty average (although not unpleasant) but I just cannot get on with them. The biggest things for me though is the extortionate price for these things (they really aren't worth the money they cost) and also the ruthless way in which Rickenbacker CEO John C. Hall ruthlessly pursues copies of his basses and pulls eBay ads of people selling anything remotely looking like a 4001.
You might well have some good points here, but Ricky basses look properly cool AND THAT'S WHAT'S IMPORTANT.
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

I use the black one quite a lot. The white ones a bit ostentatious or something.

Image
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Greatest Cockney Rip Off »

Monkeybubbles wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 3:17 pm You might well have some good points here, but Ricky basses look properly cool AND THAT'S WHAT'S IMPORTANT.
It's funny how "cool" basses play like *****. I had a Gibson Thunderbird (one of my ambitions when I was younger to own one). What a massive disapointment. Fully of neck dive, almost unplayable because of it and yet again, another shitty bridge design. For the record, I think Leo Fender got it spot on with his basses, all have stood the test of time and are the default basses for almost all bass players. You always end up coming back to a Precision or a Jazz bass.
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Kludgehammer
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Kludgehammer »

Support the Ukrainian relief efforts, and have a chance to win a groovy Ukraine-themed strat at the same time

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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

Image

Been using SGs quite a bit recently.

The one on the right is a '76 Standard with a weird slim neck with dot inlays. Bit of a factory anomaly as Standards would normally have block inlays. Gibson were apparently using up stock parts before releasing the next iteration of SG designs in' 77. Anyway, it plays and sounds really nice, and I thought it deserved a bit of TLC from the technician feller I use.

Here's where it gets (vaguely) interesting.....

When the tech stripped it down, he found a couple of little pieces of paper tucked away inside:

Image

Image

The names are both Italian. The area code for the phone number (same number on both notes) is for Buffalo, New York.

I did a Google search, and one of the names brings up a serial felon in Florida. The other is a more common name but I found someone who now lives in Montreal but used to live in the New York area during college years and sort of looks like the kind of bloke that might have played guitar.

I'm wondering if I should contact him? It might be a nice story, he might be tickled by some limey finding his message-in-a-bottle

Should I do it?
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Johnny Byrne's Boots »

Have you not seen the film :crylol:
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pablo jaye
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by pablo jaye »

Hmmm … the messages are certainly to the point and I’m not sure if it doesn’t suggest ‘aggressive’ rather than ‘passive aggressive’. Add the serial felon factor in and what a recipe you have for a lifelong ‘friendship’ …

… still l, we can all remember you fondly when the film comes out. 😉
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Kludgehammer »

Took advantage of being blocked at work to instead do my regular guitar cleaning*and change the strings. Learnings from this:
1. The fretboard looks ****ing amazing after being oiled with one of these: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194705737062
2. Looking back at pictures from when I got the guitar in September 2020, the fretboard was pretty dry then, which I find a tad annoying as that feels like something the shop should have addressed before sale
3. G strings really don't like being tuned 1 octave too high, and I have the weal on my hand to prove it



(*also my first ever guitar cleaning, I'm embarassed to say)
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

^ Nice one. I like the idea of that cloth. There's not much in life that's better than the feel of a polished fretboard and some new strings.
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Monkeybubbles »

What do the following have in common?

T Rex
The Sweet
The Glitter Band
Showaddywaddy
Dr Feelgood
Eddie and the Hot Rods
The Clash
The Stranglers
Steel Pulse
The Undertones
The Buzzcocks
The Specials
Joy Division
The Cure
XTC
U2

and pretty much 90% of British bands in the seventies that weren't heavy rock or metal?

Answer: they all used HH amps.

I mentioned on a guitar forum that I had a hankering for a HH and within a day I'd been offered a few at pocket money prices. So at the weekend I got these, with one more on the way:

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The one on the left is minty. The others are a bit bashed about, but I'll enjoy tarting them up. Christ on a bike they're loud! And they have a really unique sound, really evocative of the era they came from. It's punk rock, maaaaaaan!
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Greatest Cockney Rip Off »

Back in the 1980s I had a 150 Watt H|H bass amp head with a H|H 2x18 cab. It was immense, heavy and sounded brutal. Lugging around the amp was a nightmare and it became totally impractical to use as a regular gigging amp. Got shot of it in the end and replaced it with a Trace Elliot stack which was bigger, heavier and louder (work that one out!).

I do have a soft spot for H|H and as far as I know, they're still going. I knew a bloke in a rock covers band in the early 90s who used a H|H guitar amp (similar to the one on the right hand side of your photo) and also had a H|H PA too. He swore by them and I have to say they were very reliable from what I remember, much like the 80s Peavey stuff.
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Arnold Layne
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Arnold Layne »

What’s the guitar forum called Monkeynibbles?
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Morocco Mole
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Re: Guitar Corner

Post by Morocco Mole »

My first amp was an H|H. Had some cool built in effects as I recall (flanger and phaser I think?). My dad got it from an exchange and mart place. As a no-nothing kid I didn’t like it because it was massive (relatively) and there was no distortion like the other kids had on their generic little Marshall/Fender practice amps. Wally. Wish I still had it.
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Re: Guitar Corner

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