Oh, I think those were the famous “chainsaw” cases. By the look of it, it’s a prized 1st generation. They are famous for being incredibly tough, with the notable exception of the clasps. They fetch pretty good prices on eBay, especially if the clasps are intact.
That’s kind of cool. That was a great solo in the song, but I have to say that out of context it doesn’t sound like much, just like some guy noodling around.
I heard the isolated guitar tracks from the end of Layla once like that. Same kind of effect–out of context there was just nothing that special about it.
That’s always my struggle with jammy songs. Some work, like Layla and Freebird (to my then-15-year-old ears), but most are noodling.
Too late to add: in an old thread about jazz, I tried to distinguish between a Lead and a Solo. A lead is an instrumental bit that serves the song; a solo uses a song’s foundation as a starting point, but the soloist is expected to “say something” fresh - like improv theater. I struggle with long rock instrumental breaks because they are typically filled with jam leads that de-volve into riffy noodling, not actual solos where the player is really trying to say something.
Can’t disagree. It’s hard to say anything interesting in a solo beyond, say, the 1 minute mark. And usually about half that is even better.
I was more interested in the technical details of what I’m hearing in that recording. This doesn’t sound at all to me like “some guy noodling”. It seems heavily produced, edited, and layered, not just a guy doing a solo, but several takes edited together with delay added and removed at certain points, alternate performances mixed in at other points. I thought the “canon” Free Bird song you’d hear on the radio was a live recording, but listening to those tracks it couldn’t possibly be. Is that version of FB actually a studio recording with a live intro prepended?
This never felt like wandering into noodling for long, to me.
Jerry Garcia was the King of Noodling, IMHO.
Story time kiddies…
You know those times when every sign and omen the world throws at you just screams “Certain death, idiot!”. Don’t walk down that dark alley to ask the guy with the switchblade for directions…don’t go over and wipe the drool and foam off of the chin of that poor raccoon…don’t worry about sparing your shoes and socks the mess when splashing over barefoot to troubleshoot why your clothes dryer in all of that standing water shorted out…
So naturally a few alarm bells flashed (or rang, if you prefer, I like my bells flashy) when this guitar showed up on an auction site, looking shiftier than a one-armed guy at the dog track. Teisco EP-8T hollowbody,GIS link of a different one, but pretty close to the same styling.
–suspiciously low starting price worthy only of a spare-parts project…check
–poorly framed low-res pictures…check
–obvious dirt, grime, and wear…
–a broken string left empty, other strings obviously old…
–a description that amounted to “5-string (sic) guitar, plugged it in and seems to work, as is”
–a make and model that hit me firmly in the “Can I take it home, please? I promise to walk and feed it every day!” spot, killing any rational objectivity I may otherwise have had…
–no, I repeat, no competing bids. I bid the minimum and nobody else even tried…
–from the seller history, never having put up any sort of any instruments before, it was clearly just a quick find they were looking to quickly dump for whatever they could get.
Well, it just arrived. First impressions were poor…grime, stains, it hadn’t even been ever given a simple wipe down. Picking the 5 remaining strings, it sounded like breaking bicycle spokes. Actual rust came off on my fingertips from the strings. Something inside rattled. Damn you world! You could’ve at least given me a sign…some kind of sign…no no, those were too subtle…a real obvious sign…
Well, after only an hour of TLC:
Moist rag wipe down
Fixing the rattle (yay, free pick!)
New strings
Bridge adjustment
Electrical analysis and maintenance (i.e. twiddle the knobs until the scritchies go away)
This thing is mint, baby! Beautiful finish, very minor wear, perfect sound, perfect action, nothing else needed to setup or tweak. An instant joy to play! It quite literally, aside from a slight belt buckle rash, could have come off the showroom floor.
This will be the last time I ever take a chance on a guitar. I mean it. Never again. I know what you’re saying, world, I see the signs. Honest. Lightning never strikes twice. Except for that poor guy in Ripley’s, he was hit a dozen times…how many guitars do I have now? One, two, three…no that one doesn’t count, or that one, or that one if I trade up…three then. In the basement? Crap, well, don’t look in there.
Score!!!
I love it when a chance pays off big-time. And then, when you get to actually adjust it and start to realize the guitar you wanted is in there - Very Cool. What will you play it through and can you give us a sense of the sound? Gretsch-y twangy? Or something better suited to a distortion pedal?
“Here I slip again
About to take that trip again
I got that grip again
Taking a chance on a guitar…”
- with apologies to Vernon Duke for the scansion of the last line.
That’s a nice find! If I’d known it was out there, you would have had someone bidding against you. Which finish is yours?
I’ve had one of those for a looooong time. It’s what made me want to take those pickups behind the junior high and get them pregnant. Clean, they’re ok, through distortion or fuzz they are beyond heaven - but a feedback machine in the EP-8T. I just bought a basket case Teisco off of a co-worker purely because it has 4 of those pickups. If I can’t make that guitar work even for slide, they’ll get transplanted into other guitars. My EP-8T has plastic pickguards and a three color sunburst, but those aluminum pickguards are gorgeous, does yours have them?
And don’t worry about the number of your guitars. I have 14 functional ones, and am working on repairing the 4-5 broken ones. Just get a wife that plays guitar, and it all works out. 
Didn’t you forget one important detail?
I’ll add some pics soon. It sounds great, as mentioned a “feedback machine”. Clean, it does indeed sound a bit Gretch-y, kind-of Brian Setzer meets Social Distortion. Or at least that’s the story I’m trying to convince Mrs G.
Hell, tell her it sounds better. It sounds crisper and bigger! (mine certainly isn’t more mellow). I do wanna see pics, but the part of the story I want to know is: How much did it cost ya? I am almost certain that my 1989 price was better in raw dollars, but I wanna know!
ETA: I used to gig with one with a SuperFuzz through an Ampeg VT-22. It’s a feedback machine, but the veg-o-matic switches do allow you an off position.
Here’s the baby, along with my ET-311 that I have. The EP-8T is only missing the trem arm, but I have one in a box to put on
Linkage. I got it for $199, a real great price since I won’t have to put a single penny into it.
Twang on!
Oooooooh! they’re both beauties! Is that mother of toilet seat?
Very cool - congrats.
No kidding – those are worth something?
Back in '73, I got a “National LPC”, used, from a high school friend, for $60, when he upgraded to a Strat. Yup, a low-cost LP copy, made by National. At the time I assumed “National” was just a dumb Japanese brand trying to sound American, like “Panasonic”. It was indeed a cheaply made guitar, with weak pickups, laminated neck, and a zero fret. I stripped it, so there’s no longer any proof it was made by National, and I can’t find any info on the web about it. I’ve since replaced the pups with a pair from an LP (490), and all the hardware. Here’s a pic.
Anyway, the cheap OHSC fell apart, so I went to Music Mart in Ann Arbor looking for the cheapest usable case for it. Someone had just bought a new LP Custom and replaced the case with a better one, so I got the “Chainsaw” case (never heard that term before) for $60. I still have it, and it’s in great shape, though it has a bunch of stickers plastered on it. I rarely gigged that guitar. Ah, I see they’re asking $200 for these on ebay.
Only the finest in drugstore acrylic press-on fingernails for my pickguards
Well, I think that plastic case can stand up to anything. My old Marauder is still being protected by its case, I saw them both with their current owner a bit more than a year ago. It still looked new. Rip them off, and wipe any leftover adhesive away with naptha. If you don’t think the stickers add to its value, that is :).
Well, if you’ve covered aluminuminuminuminuminum Teisco pickguards with shelf paper, I’ll cut you new ones from mother-of-toilet-seat looking pickguard material using mine as a pattern, send them to you, and pay you money for yours! <Michael Keaton> Come on, shelf paper! </Michael Keaton>
If yours aren’t the nice metal pickguards, that’s still a great idea. Is that shelf paper available everywhere? I have several cheapo guitars that are probably dying to have an all-over faux mother-of-toilet-seat finish. (I DARE you to be more fake than faux mother-of-toilet-seat!)