Vintage Guitar Lovers Page
A wall of instruments from EFR guitars in 79
The 58 Korina V was one of the best
sounding guitars I've ever played.
Having developed my love for the guitar during my early teens watching the likes of Mick Taylor, Peter Green, Jeff Beck the late Rory Gallagher in smokey clubs, I've always gone for instruments of that period...The first Gibson Les Paul I ever picked up was Beck's, backstage when his band featured Rod Stuart and Ronnie Wood and it was love at first touch, although it was to be quite a while before I could afford one. Later I fell equally in love with Stratocasters, it took a little longer however as good ones were hard to find..
Every guitar I have ever owned was bought to be played rather than as a museum piece. Consequently I've always kept away from 100% original models. If a guitar has survived in pristine condition for any length of time, it hasn't been played and if no one has wanted to play it then there's a good chance it ain't that hot ;)
I'm constantly amazed at the number of clean looking vintage instruments available today. Having helped run EFR guitars, one of Londons first vintage shops back in the mid 70's when we supplied many of the instruments seen in the hands of internationally reknowned players. I got to play a lot of choice instruments. We had extensive contacts in the USA who were full time vintage hunters...Yet good instruments were incredibly scarce. If they were'nt around then how come they are now??? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to work it out eh?...Good Fenders were always particularly hard to find and many of the less scrupulous dealers would wait until they had 3 or 4 then swap the bits round to make up one really clean looking instrument that would be sold for top money and inevitably one very dodgy one made up from the worst bits...
Today vintage instruments are sought out by collectors as well as discerning players, the demand therefore even greater and with prices ever growing forgeries in my opinion abound...
I had an aquaintance in the UK who almost single handedly destroyed the 18th century ceramics market when it was discovered that many of the prized international collections had passed through his hands, that he coincidentally owned a kiln and was a dab hand at doing undetectable repairs....He ended up in the High Court but all charges were eventually dismissed. The dealers while desperate to maintain their reputations were also concerned with preserving the values of the items sold and terrified they might have to compensate their clients. Furthermore it could not be proven beyond doubt that any of the items in question were faked...If the antiques market, which has been established for generations can't 100% verify an items originality, then where does that leave the guitar market...Jury is still out on that one ;)
The guitars below are what I still own or have recently regrettably parted with...
1954/58 Gibson Les Paul Standard
This guitar started life as a 54/55 all gold factory overspray . The original ink stamped serial number vanished with the gold paint a coating of which is present in the rear wiring cavity.
Note the Gibson inlay is slightly further down the headstock than on most LP's a not uncommon feature of some 54/55 instruments. This guitar has been customized to 58 spec with the addition of original 58 PAF humbucking pick ups, stop tailpiece, ABR-1 bridge, pots and wired with spraque bumble bee caps. Consequently it's is as near as you can get to a 58 without selling your internal organs. PU's wired out of phase for that classic Peter Green tone. It also has a 50's unpadded brown case.
1955 Gibson Les Paul
All gold finish. Note the areas of wear on the body and back of neck, where top coating of
gold has discoloured to green through exposure to sweat. Extremely fat sound from the original p90's, neck like a tree trunk and weighs a ton... Includes battered brown case. Purely a personal thing but a p90 always seems to have more edge than it's humless younger siblings...
Out of all the Lp's I've owned and there have been many this is my all time favourite.
1962 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins
This model was renamed the Nashville in 67..
Bought from Mick Ralphs after the demise of Bad Company. This guitar is the nearest I have to original ( apart from replacing the foul smelling case with a brand new one). Front faded to rich blond. String damper slightly perished.
US Patent 2892371 Filter Tron Humbuckers. Lovely mellow sound with a clean amp setting but mean when cranked.
With three volume controls and two 3 position selector type switches I've never been able to fathom the thinking behind the electrical configuration on these guitars...Fortunately it sounds great regardless, provided you havn't overlooked the standby switch ( Doh!!!)
1961 Fender Stratocaster
Uncertain if the finish is original, as black is an unusual colour for the year. Body cavity shows signs of pink undercoat. I replaced the bridge pu with a Dimarzio Fat Strat back in the days when they were the only worthwhile replacement available, original pots and wiring replaced when it became too noisy though I still have the originals. This guitar has been my mainstay since the mid 70's when I bought it and I have yet to find one better....One day I might treat myself to a set of Kinman AVN-W's and luxuriate in the joys of a noiseless killer sound....
Sadly Missed
This 59 Esquire I sold to P Gabriel a while back to finance a new Mac.
I ended up giving the computer away when it became obsolete, try replacing it now ;-(
Nice old National Supro, fibreglass body, great for those Rye Cooder moments
Now with Zucchero.
Immaculate 1960 SG Junior I also had a matching Standard both with Les Paul decals.
Great guitars but a little too fragile for my heavy handed technique.
Standard now resides with Angus Young.
Amps
A third of your sound is down to the guitar, another third your amp and if you're sensible it's valves, the remainder is in your fingers...My first proper amp was a Vox AC30 and after years of Marshall use and abuse I returned to the AC format when fortunate enough to pick up an early Matchless DC30 head. Used on it's own or in conjunction with an old rack mount Marshall 9000 preamp I can get pretty much all the sounds I could wish for.... Like guitars and anything mass produced amps vary considerably and I would recommend trying out at least a dozen before picking one.
Recently when recording at home using a computer and fed up with the hideous hum produced by the interaction of old guitars and the unavoidable Crt monitor I grabbed a copy of Amplitube a virtual amp plug in. It doesn't have the versatility or subtleties of the genuine article but simplifies things enormously on the engineering front...