scottb

It comes out in his playing as well, doesn't it.

They do but it's the Santana model and I don't like the look of the pickguards.

Option with black pickups

All this guitar talk got me fired up and besides making the rounds at the local shops I also spent some time with my guitars today. I replaced the strings on my Broadway and Oh, my God! I never thought strings could make such a differnce! I have not been able to find Flatwound strings so I had some of those Elixir strings in it which I let a salesman talk me into. Today I changed to a set of Gibson strings. It's actually not that easy to get strings for the Broadway. It has that crazy Frequencinator tailpiece which requires longer strings. Anyway, with the new strings in, that baby's tone was TOTALLY different. I may actually be keeping it now. Which presents a problem because I was really getting geared up to buy a new one. Thought I might still trade my epiphone Les Paul (may regret that) towards a Korean PRS and might install Humbuckers to make it more like the real deal. Here's my proposed outcome. If I use the extra set of buckers I have now $500, if I buy some new Golden Age buckers $600. Compared to the $2000 for the real deal.

A couple people mentioned Dearmonds. They are owed by Fender now. Today at a new more friendly guitar store. (more on that later) I saw that Fender is making Dearmond-like guitars under the Squire name. I played an archtop that listed for $700 and it was pretty nice. Maybe another reasonably priced archtop option. Back to the new guitar shop. About 2 minutes into the store an I'm deep in guitar talk with one the salesmen. Felt real comfortable there. Two other salemen spoke kindly to me while I was trying out guitars. One of the things we discussed are how prices on guitars are actually going down for similar quality. Like he said, 5-10 years ago you couldn't get crap for $200 and now there are some nice pieces out there. The Korean PRS, Cort, Epiphone, Squire, Samick are all making guitars of improving quality and decreasing prices. When I was making my custom Strat, I never was satisfied with my $120 Warmoth neck so I ordered a Squire Bullet for $99 got the neck which worked for me much better, sold the body and later the pickguard / pickups on Half.com and got half my money back.

I have a black reissue Danelectro DC '59. Looks like they are back to one guitar, an upgraded U2. Looks like they are following the same format as the last comeback only with a little higher price tag and maybe quality. I got my DC 59 for less than $200 and got a free Dirty Thirty amp with it! That's was money well spent. It's a fun guitar! I wish that little amp could go clean though. It lives up its name.

It's hard to tell from the photo but it appears to be a sunburst finish. The caption says it's from the ALONG CAME JOHN sessions.

I found the picture I was thinking of. It's in the Patton Select.

I remember seeing Grant Green playing a Les Paul fitted with P90s. (or did I dream that)

Here's that Korean PRS I guess I'm not so sure about the pickups. I don't have alot of experience with Soapbars but think they might be too bright and punchy for my tastes.

You know that's not the first time he's acted that way. The other day I asked him about ordering some parts for my Broadway (couple knobs and a pot) and instead of taking the time to order them for me, he actually told me to go check at one of his competitors! I know it may be a pain to order parts, but that kind of service wins customers. Customers who need strings, polishing cloths, tuners, new guitars, amps, cases for a lifetime!

Today I went back to the store I saw those Cort guitars. I played them again and am really getting interesting in getting one. They also had a couple SE guitars - apparently Korean made PRS's. They are equipt with two soap bar pickups. One had a beautiful finish and played nicely as well. So i go to talk to the dude behind the counter. I ask him about the PRS model and he blountly tell me "It's $500." I ask about trade or consignment on my guitars. "Bring it in we'll look at them." Then I ask if the other store had any Corts or PRSs with different finishes. He just walked away... I kid you not. No answer, no interest in me or what I was saying at all! I couldn't believe it. This was not some punk teen after school worker, this was an older guy and I think he may be one of the owners. How do think you can treat customers that way? Especially a customer who just expressed an interest in a $500 guitar? I'm all for supporting your local bricks and mortar but if you think I'm buying anything from that guy and his store, you're nuts. Not a string, not a pick and sure as hell not a guitar!!

Anybody try pickups from Stewart MacDonald? I put a set of their Golden Age pickups in my Epiphone Les Paul and I've been very pleased with that classic PAF sound. Only $40 apiece.

Sounds like Jim went through quite a few keyboards in the 80s though.

I would like to refer you to a certain 10 page thread about a recently acquired A100 and another thread posting pictures of "bad ass B3s"

When I bought mine in about '96 I thought the price might go up as older Gibsons became more scarece and more expensive but never really saw much demand for them. I had some trouble selling it and got just what I had paid for it.

Gibson L6S trivia First guitar with 24 frets First guitar to feature Gibson "super humbucker" pickups Briefly played and endorsed by Carlos Santana I had a Sunburst '76 L6S custom that was pretty cool. Sold it a few years back.

Those prices on the Agile guitars are ridiculous! Those finishes belong on $1000 guitars! I like your designs. What a great experience!

Audioquest is the same Audioquest that makes high end speakerwire and cables so they pride themselves on sound quality of their recordings. I picked up Tribute To Someone last night and so far, so good. I'll probably go back for the Bennie Wallace. Just to remind you these are cheap! $2.99 each. I just shipped 4 out to a member and the total was only $18. ($4.50 a disc aint bad)

I don't really expect the guitars to make me play better. I think my issue is that I dabble in mid level guitars yet want top level quality. I just can't justify paying a grand for a guitar. I've gotten most of mine in the $350 to $550 range. It's also just fun to play with different guitars, get differnet sounds etc. I think when playing is hobby and not a profession, you tend to change things up a bit more. When it's your living, it's more about the music you play not the guitar you're playing. Also, getting a new guitar usually sparks my interest in guitar playing again and gets me practicing more.

Don't. I'm like a little kid looking the through the Sears catalogue before Christmas when I get a Musicians Friend Catalogue. I have 5 guitar now, have owned 5 others that have come and gone. That's not so unusual for a real musician, but I suck and only play around the house. What in the world do I need 5 guitars for? Having said that, I WANT more but so far have resisted. I go through periods where I really get into guitars then it dies down for a while.

Next guitar question: Prelude: Currently, my best playing / sounding jazz guitar is my Epiphone Les Paul. The replacement pickups have a nice clean / rich tone. It's not ideal because it's not well balanced and it's a struggle to keep the thing on my leg! It is also my best AC / DC, Led Zep axe when I feel the need so I'd hate to lose it. Actual Question: What would be a good guitar to maybe replace both my Broadway AND my Les Paul? Maybe a solidbody double humbucker style with good clean tones that was more balanced. Answer to question: I'd answer myself and say a PRS but I can't spend $2000 on one. I played a couple nice looking CORT PRS rip offs today. One felt very good the other not so good. (I think they were M600s) Follow up Question: Any others come to mind? (I don't really need you guys, I'm doing pretty good just amongst my multiple personalities )

I tinker around with my guitars quite a bit, rewiring, changing out pickups, adjusting truss rods, filing frets. This is the only time I've ever brought a guitar to the shop. I had worked on the frets quite a bit and the problem persisted so I was getting a little nervous to continue the filing. I eliminated probably 90% of the problem but I was afraid to keep going. He talked about replacing the frets and starting with a clean slate. He felt like the neck kicked up a bit at the junction with the body and so there's a trouble spot for buzzes. I like a low action and the buzzes were driving me crazy! With new frets you could leave the frets a bit higher and compensate for the dip.

Thanks for the answers. I think my amp has mellowed in a good way over time. Perhaps losing a bit of output, I wouldn't really know since I rarely crank it up. (did today and my Paul had those tubes growlin' It was awesome! My five year old came in my room and told me to cut it out, she and her sister were trying to watch Nick Jr.)

Maybe some jazz nerd told all his friends at some retarded internet chatroom and then he sent them... wait a second...