Guitar thread

I have a 1981 Alvarez Dread; 5270 or something.

It's a bit beat up, but I noticed it at a shop, picked it up, and was amazed at the sound and how nicely it played. It's my travelling/camping/beater, but I play it nearly every day.

I'd really like to find a nice tobacco sunburst like yours.

Very cool! I think the LP Jr. with P90's is just the best all-around rock guitar there is. There's something about the way P90's work with that solid mahogany body and set neck that just does it. Here's my Collings 290, which has some cool contours in the back, and a Bigsby, in their "doghair" finish, that's kind of hard to capture in pics.

Extra cool points for the Bigsby!

I hate trems.

Period.

Nice Special. The TV Yellow's are nice. I love my Junior a lot. Too bad they weren't as popular. All of the Juniors and Specials have been discontinued from GIbson USA as of this year. I'd love to get a Junior Double cut in TV Yellow.

Shouldn't be too hard to find. I was just in the shop where I got mine, and they've got one of these in stock: http://www.alvarezguitars.com/instrument/ad60sb



I think the tobacco sunburst is the fastest color....

I've heard good things about those. I've been holding out for a '70's vintage, but I'm not really in the market for another guitar (read: my wife will kill me).

Glad to hear you're hooking up with a teacher and pursuing a dream! Enjoy, and remember that it's meant to be fun. Don't let yourself get frustrated, you'll be hitting milestones before you know it!

Good advice. It's like sex, golf, and fishing: you don't have to be good at it to enjoy yourself.

Here's one I just finished building a couple of months ago. I tried to repro a 62 Strat...so it's got the neck profile (7.25" radius) etc of a 62 Strat. Body by USACG finished in Surf Green. I hand finished the neck and headstock in Tung oil. I used Callahan hardware and old-style Kluson tuners. I have to say this thing plays as well as any guitar I have, I'm just tweaking the sound, as it's too bright for me right now. The pickups are (currently) Suhrs, but I have another set on order that I'm planning to install. It's funny after more than 40 years playing, and accumulating a lot of very expensive guitars....I tend to play my old Strats and home-builts more than anything else.

That's absolutely beautiful, mrmruph!!

I love the idea of building guitars. I've spent a bunch of time drooling over at Stewmacs recently.

I ended up taking my MIM Strat and shielding it with RF paint, replacing the bridge Pickup with a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 and the second tone knob with a push-pull pot. It's now a blend knob when it's on and the first tone knob is a master tone. I swapped out the plastics for black, as well, except the blend knob. I didn't have a black knob for the switch, so I kept the white knob on the blend. It looks goofy, like me, so people will know it's mine.

This was my first attempt at tinkering, but I'm better at tinkering than I am at playing, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Everything works as planned, so I guess I'll take that as an omen.

I'd love to see more of the guitars you've built if you have some pics, and if you have any advice, I'm all ears!

Looks like a carbon fiber body guitar next to it. What is it and how does it sound. Guess I've never played one, but I figured they would sound horrible?

Good eye! Yeah, it's one of the original Rainsong WS1000 carbon fiber acoustics (made in Hawaii). I actually didn't want to like the carbon fiber guitars...but I have a lot of outdoor gigs down on the coast of South Carolina, and I travel overseas with a guitar a couple of times a year...so I decided to try one....and it's very impressive. It's louder than my Martin D35 acoustically, but doesn't have quite the balance of a well-made all wood guitar. When plugged in, it sounds as good as anything I've played. The nice thing is, once it's in tune, you can play it in the sun, rain, wind---whatever, and it just doesn't change...not constantly tuning etc. AND you can't hurt it...I swear I could paddle a canoe with that thing and then play a set with it! Here is a better pic of it:



All in all...it's a great guitar and useful for what I use it for. If I could only have one acoustic, this wouldn't be it...but it's great (like a specific tool) for traveling or for outdoor gigs.

"That's absolutely beautiful, mrmruph!!

I love the idea of building guitars. I've spent a bunch of time drooling over at Stewmacs recently.

I ended up taking my MIM Strat and shielding it with RF paint, replacing the bridge Pickup with a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 and the second tone knob with a push-pull pot. It's now a blend knob when it's on and the first tone knob is a master tone. I swapped out the plastics for black, as well, except the blend knob. I didn't have a black knob for the switch, so I kept the white knob on the blend. It looks goofy, like me, so people will know it's mine.

This was my first attempt at tinkering, but I'm better at tinkering than I am at playing, so I figured I'd give it a shot. Everything works as planned, so I guess I'll take that as an omen.

I'd love to see more of the guitars you've built if you have some pics, and if you have any advice, I'm all ears!"



Thanks CaveDave...it was a fun build. I started out tinkering with my guitars too...more out of necessity and curiosity than anything else...I like to try different pups and caps etc....particularly on the Fenders. My main gigging guitars are an old 75 Strat that I've upgraded with Lindy Fralin pups, new pots and caps, Callahan bridge etc. and, like you, I always shield the cavities in a single coil guitar. The one I probaly play the most is a '96 Tom Anderson Drop Top that is dead stock though. I've built 2 others besides the Surf Green one, but I sold one and gave the other one to a young player that needed a guitar...and it was before the days when I had digital pics of them. Here is a pic of one wall of my man cave with the 75 Strat and a few others on it though:



If you want to talk about building or modifying one...PM me, I'll tell you what I know.....which ain't a whole lot ! It's a lot of fun though.

That's a beautiful wall!!

That's interesting that you mention the Fralin pickups. I have been looking at the Blues Specials to replace the middle and neck.

I appreciate the offer to PM, I will most likely take you up on that!

Yes, Rainsong, I couldn't remember the name. I looked at one once and almost pulled the trigger and passed. Mainly because just as you said, I rarely play in adverse conditions and just thought it was cool.

I spent 50% of August traveling. I found myself thinking that it would be nice to have a guitar along to practice in my downtime. I found a Martin Backpacker and a Washburn Rover both available for small money on craigslist. I did a bunch of Googling and thought I liked the Washburn better. I played both and bought the Washburn. It's an interesting guitar. Certainly a compromise, but fun to play. I'm a newbie hack who started in January and then didn't touch the guitar from about April until now. I'm hopeful that having this will make it easier to practice more often given that most of my downtime is when I'm somewhere other than home.

How long have any of you been away from the guitar. Lately I had to put my best friend down and just don't feel like playing. He would lay at my feet and just listen to me play no matter how long and no matter how bad. It is just not the same. Nothing worse in the world then telling the vet to give your bud the shot that will put him asleep and never wake up.

Oh and F-cancer.

I went for almost 20 years without playing--no real reason, just busy with other stuff. (Well, that, and I sucked. Never had any lessons, tried to teach myself (pre-Internet days, so no Youtube or justinguitar.com), reached a plateau and got bored....)

Sorry to hear about your pup. I've been there, and there aren't any words that will make you feel better. But over time, you'll remember the good stuff more than the bad. Giving them that shot is never easy, but it's usually the right thing to do... Maybe someday soon, you'll feel like playing the guitar because you want to remember how he would sit and listen to you, and it will feel good again.

Went for a tour Tuesday