The album ‘Sargasso Sea’ (opening track - ‘Fable’) with John Abercrombie is one of my all time favourites. Someday, if I’m diligent and the gods smile on my endeavours, I may be accused of being derivative of Ralph Towner and I will die happy because I got close enough that my theft was recognizable.
Ah - got it. Very cool. As I said above, it sounds like you approached this guitar with thoughtfulness and made the decision based on what you will get more use out of it. Best of luck with it - it looks wonderful. I can’t tell from the photo - does the top have bearclaw, i.e., places where the spruce isn’t perfectly straight, but instead has ripples or swirls in spots where the grain is compressed?
If so - what do you think? Back in the day, tops with bearclaw were considered less desirable due to aesthetics - i.e., the top must have uniform, straight grain - but now, if anything, bearclaw is enjoying some buzz because it usually comes from the bottom of the tree, where the grain is tighter and more compressed (leading to the bearclaw) and supposedly resulting in a more resonant top…
FYI: Brian May from 1984, explaining his rig:
http://guitarsquid.com/posts/great-web-finds-up-close-and-personal-with-brian-mays-1984-rig/10150/
Damn, he’s good.
The quick answer is ‘yes’, it has bearclaw. I’ll see what I can do about a better photo - I need the stand to get better closeups of the nut and bridge, and I’ll try for a shot of the grain on the top and back.
As to affecting resonance, I don’t know - it’s a much bigger box than my 6-string steelie, and the extra strings make for a lot more sympathetic vibrations. It also isn’t settled yet; I want to hear what it grows into over the next year. It already has a good sound, but it hasn’t sat open in the studio with the piano and the other guitars yet…
I’m taking it to a friend’s memorial this afternoon - if I can remember all the words, we can do Stan Roger’s ‘Mary Ellen Carter’.
Yeah 12’s are a different beast. Keep us posted and hope the memorial is good and fitting.
Oops, made a mistake…
I have seen ads for this show on Discovery, but this is the first on-line link.
Some new auction show is claiming to sell a smashed Kurt Cobain guitar.
Oy. No clue if it can really be authenticated - there was a guy claiming to be selling a smashed Who / Pete Townshend guitar for years on eBay (“I have the photos of it being smashed!”) but no real evidence. In this case, it appears to have some Cobain carvings on the back, so maybe. But even if it can be authenticated, what are you going to do with a smashed guitar?
Meh. But then again, I have problems with any guitar being bought ONLY for its collectibility, like those Clapton Blackie limited editions that go for $25,000…
… but I was wondering what the device is called which converts your words to guitar notes?
Thanks
Q
You mean like Peter Frampton, Quasi?
It’s a talk box.
Best Tele pickups on the planet are Ron Ellis. No web site, no online catalog but he makes the best. Spendy, but if your ears can hear the difference, they’re worth it.
Good lord, how did I miss this? Sorry E-Sabs. It’s a neck/ body joint thing to me, I guess. The neck is well finished, in terms of both the frets and the actual finish, which is not too thick and feels good to my hand. Once I shimmed the neck - common and, to me not a big deal - the angle is good for the action and the neck-body joint feels resonant. I get the feeling that the body is either made from a lot of pieces or only okay wood; just doesn’t sound/feel as good as my home brew Tele; again, that is typical of a MIM Fender - a US made Fender or Custom Shop is more likely (but in no way guaranteed) to have a body where the wood/material makes a noticeable, good contribution to the overall tone. So, overall it has pretty solid bones. Fun to play.
It’s okay wood. Blondie is only three pieces, as far as I can tell. That’s pretty much where I’d expect it to fall down, myself. I am curious if the effect would be less in a Strat, where you’ve got a floating trem block anyhow, and the body is separated from the music one more step.
Final question on the Creamsicle, while I’m at it, you never did tell me what happened when you stuffed it through the good amp. How do you feel about the pickups?
Hey, so I finally got my new Tele pickups installed. I got a Duncan Jerry Donahue in the bridge, and a GFS Alnico Fatbody in the neck. I’m still getting settled in, as it takes a while to figure out a new/different tone on a familiar instrument, but so far I’m very pleased. The Donahue is properly Tele-sassy, but with more character and less tinniness than the stock Fender SCN bridge pickup, which I hardly used because it was too bright even for me. The GFS Fatbody has a lot of tone, bold but bright, and still low output and suitable to be paired with the Duncan bridge pup, and I think it’s a huge improvement on the stock Fender SCN.
I also took the opportunity to change out the pickguard for a white one, as I was never that fond of the original pearloid one, which was a little too country-western or Elvis or something. I may swap in a parchment or cream pickguard next time I change my strings, as the white is a little bright compared to the color of the binding, which is just slightly cream although you can’t really tell that from those pictures. I really like the cleaner look, and the cherry finish really pops when paired with a plainer pickguard.
Hey, one thing I was wondering when I had my guitar apart to install the new pickups: what is this odd hole that’s covered by the pickguard? My guess is it’s where the NC jig connects to the blank body before it gets shaped. Anyone?
Also: a better picture of the stock country/Elvis pearloid pickguard on a 2K8ish AD Tele. Plain is so much better. I probably should have gone with the butterscotch 2K8 AD Tele, but the two sunbursts I played felt nicer for some reason.
(I also need to figure out why the photos I’m posting are so washed out in Photobucket. I’m using Photoshop with a calibrated monitor, and the pix of my tele are almost garishly well lit and bright, then I upload to that web site and my guitar looks like I left it out in the sun for a year.)
I would like to complement you on your wise choice of neck pickup.
(I’ve got the bridge equivalent in the offset I own.)
God, it really pops, visually, in the neck, doesn’t it? Those huge jbass magnets. You’ll never have a problem recognizing your guitar across the room now.
squeegee, your Tele body was pre-routed to accept a middle pickup, so it could be converted to a Nashville layout - nicknamed back in the day when Nashville studio cats added one along with a 5-way switch so they could fake a few Strat tones on their main Tele’s. Now it is a specific model.
I like all of your changes - glad to hear the Donahue is working out. I have grown to love mine. With the Volume down to 8.5 and Tone down to 6 or lower, I love the thick-but-still-fully-articulate, almost Gibson tone I get. Try a thick, single ply vintage white guard - one that isn’t fully Mint, but has been aged a bit. Parchment didn’t work for me - too yellow. There’s a bunch out there so it is just a matter of time.
**E-Sabs **- it sounds great plugged in. With its body and the somewhat hotter pickup, it is a bit brighter/more waspy in tone vs. my Blackguard with the Donahue. But it delivers that classic Tele brightness and versatility. No complaints with the Volume and Tone controls, either - although I will probably swap in new pots at some point simply to give my son the practice doing it and because it is a cheap and easy upgrade. Thanks again.
I own that exact Tele and it is one of the few guitars I like the pearl pick guard on.
I guess I wasn’t clear, apologies. I meant this hole.
Thanks for that info – I just called Allparts and canceled my parchment pickguard order. I also found this, which sounds like what you’re describing. If that’s a better match for the color of my binding, that would be most excellent. I will miss having a 3-ply version, I rather like the black stripe on the edge.
De gustibus etc., if it pleases you. I just find it a bit… busy for this guitar. But it’s all good.
Hmm - as for that hole, all I got is that it there for the various computerized machines to hold the body in place while they do their business. I am sure folks over at TDPRI would know.
And for what you have described that you are looking for in a pickguard, that looks like a great choice. Keep us posted.