Guitars
 

I just got a new geetar.

well, a new used one. but it's a goodun:
http://www.martinguitar.com/guitars/...mages/D-35.jpg

It's a 2001 Martin D-35 with a Baggs dual response pickup installed. saaaaweeeet!

I got it at Guitar center in Cherry Hill from a guy named Ron. Contrary to my usual luck, he was excellent. got a great price, and lots of good advice. plus a brand new case, and he re-strung it for me. he was as excited as i was about the guitar.
ask me if I'm stoked.

*ahem*

...Are you stoked?

Beautiful, LJ.

I find myself wondering ... is what goes on at a used musical instrument dealer at all similar to what happens at a used car dealer?

How much for the undercoat?

if you can't afford it don't ask.. really it depends (obviously Pawn Shops are the worst, with mark-ups that would make a wine seller blush) on how well you know the person and how desperate they are (or so I have found) I've been buying gear from the same guy for 10 years (and know a few people who are sponsored... so when they get free stuff and are broke.. deals galore!).. so I'm usually pretty set. but for the most part they are about as shady as any salesmen (no offense Lj).

damn nice guitar though.. damn nice.

the price was definitely right. guitars are negotiable just like cars. I didn't hock the guy too bad, but he saved me over $500 on the price. a new one is $1500 more than I paid. it's in great shape, too. And Martins gt better with age. yes, i'm stoked.

That's a fine axe LJ. On the other hand, you won't be able to blaim your instrument for bad notes. :D

Are you actually going to have time to play that thing? Your schedule is pretty manic.

As long as we're showing off our instruments...

Here's my new baby. Dean Pace - electric upright bass. Set up with Rotosound 88s - it's jazz heaven. I've got the version in black. Her name is Ruby.

Niiice LJ.

Niiiiiice dar! I used to have one just like it, :D except that you played it horizontal:

http://cellar.org/2004/hohner1.jpg

My own latest acquisition is not as impressive:

http://cellar.org/2005/sr400.jpg

Your basic Ibanez Soundgear SR400, with a rusty bridge, a missing knob and a faulty battery compartment. This is a fix-er-up project that this guy near me Craigslisted for $100. With a little work and $30 in parts this will go for about $250 on eBay, or become my backup bass. I don't really like it as an instrument, but it was a no-lose proposition and I enjoy the experience repairing it.

I'm jealous of you guys. I'm flashing back to high school, sitting around dreaming about new instruments I can't afford.

dar, those basses are sooo cool. They actually sound good too, despite the lack of wood. I was kinda shocked when they plugged one in at the local music store.

Nice catch on the guitar, LJ. I never find good used acoustic instruments around here. They're all owned by hippies who take em up to the mountains for their peyote-and-roasted marshmallow camping trips and they get all grunged out and don't sound good anymore.

UT, is that a Steinberger? I can't remember who else made headless guitars in that era. I used to try playing one that my friend owned, but I was scared my hand would go flying off the end. The headstock is a comforting visual reference for me.

Here are the electrics I play now:

And here's the Larrivee I own, and the one I wish I owned. Erm. no they're not to scale.

oh man, are we doing this now?

This is my pride and joy. Everything else is down at the theatre (playing for Aida this summer), I'll snap pics when I get a chance.




http://addisonrd.com/images/gear/suit3.jpg

That old bass is a Hohner, a Steinberger copy made out of wood instead of graphite. It had licensed Steinberger parts so it was a very good copy. I learned to play on it but as time went by I liked it less and less. After getting my main bass, which is a Jazz, the Geddy Lee signature model, the old Hohner felt like and played like a toy. I eBayed it, and don't miss it.

And here's the Jackson custom flying V that I would own if I could find one, because I idolize Dave Mustaine. And the David Thomas McNaught guitar I would buy if I just had too much money to spend (because his initials are the same as mine, and he puts DTM on the headstock. Plus it's just pretty, in a sorta metal/metrosexual way. No street cred, but plenty of flash.


K I'll stop now. You've hit the one materialistic bone in my body. I love me some guitar stuff.

That is beauty! I am a total sucker for a flame top with that transparent single color dye finish. It doesn't sound better, but if you're going to develop a close relationship with a chunk of wood, it might as well be as purty and have a lot of soul.

looks like I'll have to borrow a camera.. although my pride and joy is the mid 90's Ibanez les Paul rip off (yeah the one they got sued for! for making an almost exact copy :) ) although it has active electronics and for my money (which there isn't much of) it was a helluv a deal, the thing that annoys the hell out of me though is a friend of mine was hard up for cash and sold his 1988 jcm800 Marshall 50 watt and Cab for 500$, if only I had had the money at the time... it's my dream amp, other than an Orange...drool drool. ah well, maybe next life.

I love guitars. I don't know the first thing about them, but I like them. I can play a little on my accoustic from the 1970s. Thats all I know.

I think my acoustic is around here somewhere...I know it's not in Philly...hmmm...

hey speaking of guitars and basseseses... if ANYONE comes across a Yamaha Motion B II in reasonable shape for sale, please let me know. they are impossible to find. it is a medium scale bass with a 32" neck and 24 frets. the sweetest sounds ever roll from the strings of this 4 string beauty.

Here is my baby; 1988 Yamaha FG-400A. Given to me by my dear departed Mom, so lots of sentimental value. I am in the process of getting a real bone nut and bridge done to replace the plastic ones, as I haven't played in a while and I broke the original nut off cleaning it. The two electrics are the ones used by Trey Anastasio and are custom-made hollowbodies AND I WANT THEM!!! Apparently they are virtually identical except the top wood is different...

My guitars are at diametrically opposite ends of the spectrum...Martin HD 28, Epiphone Les Paul Studio (with Roland synth pickup), and Dean Edge One Bass.

...the Martin is unreasonably expensive, the Epi is ridiculously cheap (although a really nice playing and sounding guitar), and the Dean somewhere at the low end of in-between.

Your acoustic is from the 1970's, or the songs are from the 1970's? :lol:

There are some *very* nice 70's vintage acoustics out there. They still made many of them in Japan back in those days, and there are some killer guitars to be had at very nice prices if one knows what to look for.

http://www.thomaokaze.be/images/fender_strat_white.jpg

not the actual guitar, but close enough. this is what my electric looks like. except i have a humbucking pickup installed from my heavy metal phase,and a steal your face sticker on that little round part on the top thingy where all the knobs are from my dead head days. same color, tho. it's an 87 or 89...i cant seem to pin that down. after seeing some of the prices on the ones at guitar center, i'm starting to wonder how much it's worth. it was something like $440 when i got it, and i saw one onlne for $1700. maybe that one was something special. mine's an american standard. i cant seem to find the guitar blue book online.

I wish I actually knew more about electrics than I do. I, for the life of me, do not know why I would want a $1,800.00 Strat American Standard over a $900.00 Strat American Standard.

Obviously, I'm not enough of a player to know the difference when playing them.

but that hd28 IS worth the extra thousand, isnt it? damn straight.

Well, acoustics are something that I *do* know something about...and yes, yes it is. Every penny.

It is the guitar I dreamed about owning for the first 34 years I played, and I've had it for the last four. I love it. It is the one thing that I will starve before selling.

the difference between a $5 cigar and a $25 cigar is minute. the difference between guitars over $1500 and those under $1000 is pretty extreme, imo. the action on this martin I got is very similar to my strat. nnice and low, and light. clean as raindrops, too. and when i bang on it, it gets loud without rattling itself. very impressive. my dad has the HD35, and i'd played that a good bit. maybe thats why it felt so familiar and right.

To my ears and hands, there are worlds of difference between a high end acoustic and a cheaper model. I've never really been able to discern that same difference in electrics. Oh, sure, there are neck profiles I am more comfortable playing (original Strat necks and Gibson SG necks come to mind most often), and there are even some playability points that are present in more expensive electrics that I can appreciate, but I've played the $900 "starter" American Standard Strats and I've played the $2k American Standards, and I just can't see it somehow.

All this means is that, when I go finally get that Strat, it will be a $900 one. Hell, I had a Mexican Strat for a couple of years, and it played great. Sounded like shit, but it played very nicely.

Enjoy that 35, LJ. Sounds like you cut a great deal. I bought my HD 28 brand new at MARS before they went bust, and I still feel like it was worth every penny (and no, no one charges full list for anything in guitars anymore...I don't even know why they bother to note it anywhere).

My next Fender is going to be a G&L. I tried to sell one of my strats on consignment, and the shop owner basically said that he would use it as a "bad example" in order to sell new G&L's because they looked so much nicer. Dang if he wasn't right. There's a story about Leo Fender starting G&L to compete with Fender, but I don't know the details (and can't be bothered to look em up). However, pics=1k words..

Very nice! I would like to try G&L and/or Lakland but it's hard to find dealers who actually have stock.

I have won an Japanese P-bass on eBay, and will be picking it up tomorrow night because it turns out to be local. Most of my stuff is bayed at this point, and all purchases have been tremendous deals. I think I may start buying broken items on the bay and repairing them for resale, just as another thing to do, as if I aren't spread thinly enough.

Some people don't know what they are selling or how to sell it. I haven't sold much so far, but it's so easy: just give 'em big, clear pictures with lots of explanation of everything any buyer might have a question about.