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

I bought a crusty old Japanese jaguar for cheap because it's an 86 from the first run, and I have a lot of work to do to strip a terrible airbrush job from the original finish, but to my delight the pickups have been switched out for an AVRI in the neck ... and a 1964 in the bridge!

There's some guy near here who posted on a local for sale site saying he has around 150 guitars he needs to "move." Based on the picture they seem to be mostly beginner/budget guitar brands, but it's hard to tell, because it's just a basement full of (mostly acoustic) guitars. We asked him if he had a master list, and he said he'd prefer if people just came out to check out what he has. Precise wording:

"I prefer that you come ... I can send a list but it will not reflect what I have very accurately as conditions vary. They are all set up and play perfectly, but some have scratches or dings and others are mint condition."

Dunno what to think.

― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, August 16, 2022 4:59 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I wouldn't waste your time unless it's like 5 mins from you - if they're mostly beginner brands, they're probably all beginner brands. Sounds sketchy too - why would he have 150 of them?

Here in the Bay Area, Guild acoustics area almost always cheaper than equivalent Gibsons & Martins (except low-end Martins)... for some reason they just don't drive the same demand, thought they're wonderful American made guitars.. love the arched backs

I think that's generally true, I think of Guild as being a "value" brand but in the best sense. Guild doesn't have the same obvious celebrity factor, even though lots of greats have played them. There aren't as many iconic Guilds, certainly nothing like the Hendrix or SRV strat, the Jimmy Page Les Paul, BB King's Lucille etc. No one starts guitar wanting a Guild. When I tried the $3300 Guild D-55, I also tried a $7000 Martin for comparison (a 1939 "aged" D-18 whatever the fuck that is) and liked the Guild better, and I say that as a huge Martin fan.

The Martin D-18/D-28 and the Gibson acoustics (Hummingbird, J-45 etc) similarly just seem to be more iconic than the Guild acoustics.

Guild doesn't have the same obvious celebrity factor, even though lots of greats have played them.

O hi there

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ktwAAOSwzUVhgrBg/s-l400.jpg

https://ibb.co/1rdjmyH

My buddy went to the guy's basement (and lived to tell the tale). I guess they're largely cheap parlor guitars from the '50s, a lot of cheap Stellas, some Japanese stuff, some 12-strings in there, a handful of other things, nothing special and nothing he wanted to pay more than $100 or so for (the guy was asking $300 for a lot of them). Apparently there were a bunch of heavy metal basses hanging on the walls (not for sale), Schecters, things with pointy headstocks ...

I know it's pretty obnoxious so I will limit myself to 3 photos, but the Jaguar I mentioned above is now finished. It came out ... pretty good.
https://i.imgur.com/0Snjwnt.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/rhvfBrj.jpghttps://i.imgur.com/JaXLT5K.jpg
Thank god for bulletproof Fender Japan finishes, I had to strip SEVEN LAYERS of paint off the body and then buffed out the sanding scratches. Rewired everything, raided the parts bin, etc.

god bless you sir

My buddy went to the guy's basement (and lived to tell the tale). I guess they're largely cheap parlor guitars from the '50s, a lot of cheap Stellas, some Japanese stuff, some 12-strings in there, a handful of other things, nothing special and nothing he wanted to pay more than $100 or so for (the guy was asking $300 for a lot of them). Apparently there were a bunch of heavy metal basses hanging on the walls (not for sale), Schecters, things with pointy headstocks ...

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, August 18, 2022 7:07 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Great decor for your airbnb, probably not much else

matttkkkk doing the lord's work in resurrection. Looks fantastic!

gorgeous matt!!!

Thank you! I feel richly rewarded, have wanted an 80s Jag for a LONG time and it's a fair bit better than the 90s one I had. The paint is pretty much immaculate under all the futz, and as a bonus I am carefully cleaning up the 1964 pickup which is too rich for my blood, the AVRI from my parts bin has plenty of Jaguar spank for my tastes.

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

Fender simply cannot stop itself from making ugly Joe Strummer signature guitars.

I can't imagine Joe Strummer playing beautiful guitars

That's a sweet Jaguar rebuild.

yeah very cool

i finally got an sg. 08 metallic green standard with the robot tuners replaced with grovers. ebony fretboard. probably going to replace the pick guard with standard black.
https://i.imgur.com/S4lk58M.jpg

nice! omg i forgot about the gibson robot tuners.

my god spottie that is *the shit*
Hilarious that the vaunted robot tuners just happened to have the right drilling for folks to throw them away and go back to the right kind. That guy (Juskewicz?) seemed intent on tanking Gibson as fast as possible, thank goodness the folks making them were still doing it right.

might look good with a cream pickguard too

ooh yeah cream would be nice

hadnt thought of cream! might look really good.

yeah the robot tuners lol what a disaster. its still got some of the wiring in the cavity and the weird robot knob so i gotta figure out what to do with everything cosmetically.

I got a handheld robot tuner thing for Christmas one year. It worked (until I stepped on it) but it felt ridiculous to use.

it’s so funny that people don’t grasp that tuning a guitar is enjoyable

if you're gonna put that on anything it should be on cheap ass instruments for beginners

Agreed; pretty much no one who owns a $3,000 guitar is craving a shitty robot that will tune it badly.

Call all destroyer is right. When I love an instrument, tuning it is part of my relationship with it. And I don't want to own any instruments that I don't love. Life's too short.

Imagine an elite chef who doesn't want to own knives or slice anything. That person does not exist.

I say this in full awareness that I am susceptible to it, but I think a lot of gear marketing is based on "gig fantasy" - as if the middle aged greying dude buying it (i.e. me) will at some point be part of a gigging band and needs that robot tuner for a quick change to open G when we bust out the Stones cover.

you're not wrong but you also know that the baller move is to have a second guitar onstage tuned to open g

i mean my gigging career would impress absolutely no one but did i switch guitars at a VFW once in 2007 for one specific song? fuck yes i did.

I'm pretty sure the rules state that if you're the guitarist in a band you are *required* to have at least one song in the setlist that features a 12-string. Double bonus if the 12-string can also function as the alternate-tuning guitar. (fuck yeah electric-XII in drop D!)

absolutely, it's why I have collected a couple of dozen guitars, when I go back to gigging (any day now, I'm only 52) I will be e.g. Ed O'Brien or someone like that.

I stopped by the shop again and someone was claiming they were going to go get a guitar to trade in toward the Guild D-55. So I put a deposit down on it and reserved it. So psyched to bring it home soon.

haha you got that push to get it done! congrats!

It pretty, congrats!

Yeah man. I haven't sold everything I want to sell yet, but it's fine. That guitar was clearly my destiny.

excellent

verra nice

I don't want/need another guitar, but after reading the leak about Fender's American Vintage II models I have to acknowledge that the AVII Jazzmaster in Lake Placid Blue w/block neck and matching headstock is something that I've wanted for years.

that’s the same color scheme as my jaguar. it’s pretty great.

you better show us that

I'm all set on guitars but if they did a Jaguar in that scheme I'd have to reconsider. The Jags and JMs are usually the same years and mostly the same colors so it could happen.

(also... Fender hear me out... a Jaguar just like that but with Wide Range Humbuckers)

I bought a used Ovation electric and a used ESP dirt cheap, both fully stage-playable, just a few weeks ago in Pittsburgh. kinda goin bananas

That Guild electric I bought, I’ve been using it with the stock late-70s hard-rock buckers and it’s not bad at all. Plenty of plinky-plink funk goodness with a compressor and the phase switch.

realized I never posted the finished product shot of that Godin I had modified by my friend's shop

really pleased with how it turned out

https://i.postimg.cc/rFBpmhkg/PXL-20220330-201227586-MP.jpg

looks great! is that the one where you were getting some custom pickups for it?

thanks! yeah those are Porter pickups, a custom set. The humbuckers are his standard PAFs but with the open top covers which were a custom order. the center one is a "T90" - basically a P90 that fits a telecaster neck pickup slot (that's what was originally there). there's a push/pull on the bottom knob that splits the coils on the humbuckers as well.

(my friend cut the pickguard on his cnc machie)