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

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?

Just go all out with one of these and install some LEDs in the f-hole

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5MIAAOSw8Ipcsv75/s-l1600.jpg

lol oh no. i'll be required to join a 5th tier jam band that plays amorphous "festivals"

Black would look cool. Kinda like a tele deluxe from that era

yeah i was thinking of those, and i also feel like i've seen some natural with black hardware 70s strats that are kind of nice

+1 for I would buy that exact Jag

The Jazzmaster I have has a matching white headstock and block binding and I think it looks p great

i'd love to see it if you can post a pic!

i just find the chrome explosion on the jag body invites excess everywhere else.

i do feel very lucky that i snagged that jag. i didn't plan on buying when i did and it was a little more than i intended to spend, but between the aesthetics and the upgrades that had been done it was tough to imagine finding a better jag for me.

Have:

1950s Martin D-18 (inherited from grandmother)
1950s Martin O-18 (inherited from grandmother)
1976 Guild D-25
2015 Gibson ES-335 Studio
1993 Fender American Standard Stratocaster
Johnson Solara (cheap electric I have for weird reasons but am sort of fond of)

Want:
Some kind of telecaster-style guitar, possibly with a gold-foil neck pickup and a regular tele type bridge pickup

Considering selling the strat - I just recently got it back from someone who had borrowed it for years (long story) and I never loved it or strats generally.
I already feel like

*I already feel like I have too many guitars. No way I would have three acoustics but for the fact that I inherited two, and then bought a third because I felt nervous taking heirloom guitars out to some playing situations.

Actually would also love a Gibson ES-175 or L5 type full hollow, and maybe a baritone guitar.

https://i.imgur.com/NHsP3gn.jpg

Yamaha FG 380 acoustic
Yamaha Revstar RS502T
Gretsch Electromatic G5120
Ibanez AS73G
Ibanez TMB100 (bass)
Postitive Grid "Spark" amp

Not pictured:
1989 Squier Strat, Late 90s Epiphone double cutaway Les Paul Special (tv yellow), neither of which is currently in working order.
Vox VT100X amplifier, which is more amp than I need, and I've been meaning to sell since I bought the Spark amp.

Also, a cat.

*FG 830

xp holy shit those martins - I'd love to play one but would be terrified to handle it.

xp nice arrangement and that is a lovely and large-looking cat

If I had it to do over, I'd have gotten the Yamaha RS502 without the tailpiece. Would've been more versatile re: modification. But it's a fuckin tank and I'm sure I'll own it forever.

xp I love the D-18 a lot. Definitely has taken some wear - there's a small crack right by the pickguard, and I had to have another crack in the side repaired. I haven't really figured out the O-18, have not found the right strings for it possibly and don't love the sound right now.

As noted I bought the Guild recently at a cheap price (it had some damage but is very playable) because I wanted a beater acoustic that still had a vintage dreadnought sound - something I wouldn't be scared to travel with/use at a local singalong or a small gig if I ever play one again.

https://images.reverb.com/image/upload/s--IUxrKZ4E--/a_exif,c_limit,e_unsharp_mask:80,f_auto,fl_progressive,g_south,h_620,q_90,w_620/v1426607907/fwmddtneq7o8pxqlzmqi.jpg

This is the Jazzmaster I have. It's not my actual one, I don't own a barn

I don't think that person does either. That's a set if I've ever seen one.

https://i.imgur.com/8cJAm1E.jpg
- 2013 Jackson Soloist
- 2015 Charvel San Dimas
- 2013 Fender Pawn Shop Super-Sonic
- 1983 Hamer Phantom A5 (with the 'triple humbucker')
- 1984 Hamer Phantom 12 (same thing but 12 string)
- 2008 Fender Jim Adkins JA-90 Telecaster (prototype with block in-lays, MIK)
- 2008 Jackson Warrior

i play the super-sonic and JA-90 a ton, and the charvel quite cos its so comfortable.

That soloist reminds me - I'd also love to get a ridiculous 80s shredder superstrat. It's absolutely got to have the pointy headstock and shark fin inlays and would preferably be neon pink crackle or something equally over-the-top

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.)

damn this is hot

https://www.notreble.com/buzz/2026/04/27/inside-geddy-lees-new-custom-rickenbacker-4000v-bass-for-rushs-return/

I’m think of upgrading the pickups on my Gretsch and could use some advice. My electrostatic has 3 humbuckers. Is there an ideal way to choose which ones go closer to the neck vs bridge? I’m being blindly pushed to TV Jones pickups. Anyone have any experience with em?

TV Jones are pretty much considered top quality for Gretsch pickups and they use them as OEM on the Japanese pro models. That said, they are not cheap as they cost like Lollar or Fralin or other higher end pickup makers.

I don't know, they are kinda spendy and you can end up having as much in the pickups as the Electromatic Gretsch.

Other thing on Gretsch pickup swaps is that you got to make sure you have the right type of mounts as they install a few different ways and swapping out a pickup in an archtop or semi hollow can be a witch. I know some techs charge more to swap them out as you got to work through the F holes etc to wire them up as it is a PITA.

I'd save up your nickels and look at getting used MIJ Gretsch if you want the next step up. TV Jones pickups do sound good, and they have their own thing.

One trick to consider to tweak is getting an EQ pedal. There are some Nashville studio cats that have some videos out there showing using a regular ole' Boss pedal to change the sound to get other tones out of the same guitar.

Nice thanks. I actually just bought a boss EQ and should mess around more with the clean tones. Been using it to beef up my big muff mostly

Tom Bukovac did the EQ pedal video I saw a few years ago. He had some setting for getting a Gretsch tone out of a humbucker guitar I remember.

My summer project is modding one of those cheapo Mustang clones from IYV (or the Harley Benton branded one appears identical). I picked that instead of a low end Squier because it comes with a JM/JG style trem instead of the hardtail or Mustang trem.

Mustang-style seems like a perfect guitar for dipping my toes in, since all the electronics including the jack are in the pickguard. If I like how it turns out, I might pick up a wiring harness from Gunstreet or something. I've tried soldering before and it was a complete failure.

Anyway, I'll post some photos at various points in the process.

is there a guitar care/tech thread

Sorry thats not at all to you Johnny i am up for everything right here— it’s that i have a cheap old parlor that needs fret care and i’m even more ignorant about ‘what even is fret leveling?” than i am about playing. i just dont want to clutter the thread with my bs

also stoked to see yr mustang and proj pics, my brain is so wired for seeing repair/overhaul/upgrade.

like my casino has a v slightly twisted tone pot or whatever so that the top of the range shows at like 6 or something and i am too afraid to do _anything_ to my precious. i dont even want to restring it.

lol I've already started buying hardware and the guitar hasn't even been shipped yet.

Is using a router easy? I've never tried, but I'm gonna have to cut a notch in the trem cavity because I can't find a decent without the locking button and I'll need to route a little notch for that on the IYV.

decent *trem

Dremel that sucker

good luck with it sounds like a fun project!

don't get sued by Fender!

speaking of, what a guitar shitshow that has been

I bit the bullet and bought a 1978 Gibson ES-175T. It's fucking fantastic. It's a "player guitar"-- the neck has been clumsily sanded, the pickups and wiring swapped out-- and it was priced accordingly. Beautiful oxblood finish.

Nice! Would love to see it.
And I blanch at the question “is using a router easy” because those suckers are dangerous AF. Maybe try a laminate trimmer (mini router) and be absurdly safety conscious. If you have a drill press you can even put a router bit in that for a little job like adding a notch - much cheaper than buying a router!

I always forget I own a Dremel because I've only used it 2 or 3 times in the last 10 years, but I'm gonna try that first.

I’m guessing you already know there is a router frame attachment for Dremels? A great way to get a feel for it while minimising risk.

Routers are almost too easy to use. A person can easily get too comfortable and hamburger a finger. If you worked in a shop doing this all day a router would make sense, otherwise don’t fuck with them unless you are a tool guy.

If you use anything that rotates at a furious speed, make sure you put your hair back very well if it’s long. A friend had long hair that got caught in the dremel and in seconds it rode the lock of hair up to his head, ripped hair out and gave him a lump before he even knew what happened.

i was like-- isn't a 175 like a 295 (which i only sorta know cause i think i saw maybe roddy frame playing one)? so i went to something called "gear page" and read about customizing a 175 and how versatile the 175 is. i am so susceptible to this as an interest somehow. tell us as you go, ha.

i have the dremel and the router adaptor and found it a bit of a bodge. not structurally rigid enough to be reliable was my fear. but i didn't try too hard.

I've only ever owned one fully hollow guitar like the ES-175T, and it was a feedback monster. I wish you better luck.

A normal 175 has a centre block— a 175T has a “dip” under the bridge, not quite a block, but some extra wood under there to dampen it. It doesn’t feed back in my practice space, and if it’s good here it’ll be good onstage.

My 125TDC (with no “dip”) is remarkably feedback resistant. My former 350 clone had issues— I had to stuff it and stop the f-holes, and it sounded terrific even dampened, although the stuffing/dampening made me feel like I was using the wrong instrument

welcome fellow norlin era gibson owner

as for routers, I would be terrified of routing any cavities without having a template of some sort clamped in place - it's so incredibly easy to flinch and catastrophically fuck it up.

I've done lots of body routing with some combination of chisels, dremels, and drills with forstner bits. Chiseling can almost be enough on its own, but it also helps tremendously with defining edges so when things do chip there is a clean, strait stopping point, if that makes sense.

I may not end up needing to route anything. Maybe the term it comes with is fine. I don't suspect it will be, because even the term on my CV Jazzmaster isn't very good, and that guitar was 5x the price of the IYV new.

That said, I was able to find a Kluson branded offset trem without the lock. The only thing I know Kluson for is tuning pegs, but maybe the other hardware they sell is ok too.

spell check got me several times there... TREM!