The guy is outrageously talented. I immediately went to both the Pensa and Monteleone websites just to see how far I am from affording their guitars.
What’s interesting is that Rudy Pensa’s guitars for MK were, to my knowledge, originally called Pensa Suhr guitars, referencing John Suhr. He was one of the guys that started Fender’s Custom Shop, bringing the excellence back to Fender in the 80’s. He also wound Jeff Beck’s favorite set of pickups that he has in his main white Strat.
He is still making guitars, many of which look like MK’s: Guitars Etc. – Suhr.com probably more affordable vs. a Pensa if Rudy is still making them. I go to Rudy’s SoHo but it really is a Guitar Aficionado store. High end in a high rent area, everything behind lock and key. Excellent inventory, but I feel like I need to be wearing a $10K Rolex to qualify. Rudy is a true guitar man, though - he sold one doctor I know a re-finned '54 Strat about 20 years ago. Strongly advised him that this was a good one - man was he right.
As for Monteleone, I have not played one. By all accounts, he is a true master and his Four Season guitars were featured in an exhibit at the Met. Personally, I can’t stand the look of this guitars - too cute and blingy - more about the art of the build than a playing tool (although I noticed that MK’s personal Monteleone was much simpler).
To me, the most beautiful guitar in the world is an archtop, but I prefer a simple Gibson design like the first archtop, a 20’s L-5, or an L-7c, which is an even simpler L-5 with a cutaway: http://www2.gibson.com/Products/Acoustic-Instruments/Archtop/Gibson-Acoustic/L7-C-Acoustic-Archtop.aspx
I meant to post this awhile ago, but got sidetracked. The browser window has been open this whole time, though. Let’s see what happens.
Hehehe, I had just about forgotten about that project (90% of my gear is packed away due to a remodel that just finished). Now that life’s settling down, I may have time to work on that thing again.
If you have a guitar repair shop in town ( or just a smaller store that does repairs ), I’d drop by and ask if they have the part you’re looking for. They’ll usually let you go through their odd parts to see if you can find something that matches, or is at least close. I’ve done this for screws, tuning keys and gears, bridge saddles, etc. Sometimes they’ll charge me a buck or so, often I get the parts for free.
That said, unless they’re stripped or cammed out, I wouldn’t replace the screws. New screws on an old guitar just look wrong to me.
Oh, and if anyone wants an extremely cheap battery powered amp that sounds pretty good ( it’s speaker ain’t great, but through headphones, its awesome ), you could do worse than a Danelectro HoneyTone. I got one a few weeks ago, and I don’t think you can beat it for under $30.
I haven’t posted here in a while, but I haven’t been playing much in a while either (new kids will do that to you).
Another birthday passed, and my wife got me a looper I had my eyes on. HOLY CRAP, why didn’t I get one of these sooner? I’ve played more in the time I’ve had this pedal (4 days now) than I did in the preceding 12 months!
And I noticed my playing getting better already with it, too. I put down a simple I - IV - V in A, noodled around in A Major Pentatonic, and added a bass line. Just like that, I wrote music.
What did you get?
The Jam Man Solo XT. Storage for more riffs than I could possibly write, and so many features that I don’t know if I’ll ever do everything this can do. And this is a relatively simple looper, comparing it to some others.
After selling my big Fender amp and only having the computer to play through, I decided to get a small amp. I decided on a Yamaha THR10. Went for the standard THR10 over the C (cleaner sounds) or the X (high-gain amps). Bought it used for a great price through Reverb (my first time buying there…went great) and just got it yesterday. I really like it so far. The sound is really good compared to some of the crap 5W practice amps I’ve used. And the amp modeling and effects sound very good to my ears. The computer interface to manipulate all the settings works seamlessly.
Only problem is it comes with the free version of Cubase AI and I can’t get it to register/license. I’m wondering if the former owner has it on his computer and I’m out of luck? I didn’t try too long but will give it another shot tonight.
Found the missing serial number on a card and Cubase is working. Recorded a bit with it. I used to use my phone camera to record riffs I thought were brilliant (simpleton style) but now I can use Cubase. Pretty cool. Still love this little amp. I can really get good sounding tones from a lot of genres. And fairly easily too. Using the THR Editor software makes it a snap. And, just by looking at the different settings it uses, I’m learning how to turn the dials myself. Love the thing.
This sounds promising. I am an old tube amp guy, but what you are describing sounds fun and cool.
My quick story is that I am visiting my mom for Thanksgiving. I knew we’d be puttering around today, and she wanted some time with my daughter/her granddaughter, so I did a quick lookup of guitars in the area. Found a guy in the area and called him about a 1930’s Martin he had.
Went over there and must’ve said the right stuff, because before long, he was bringing out his collection - I played some of the best guitars around. A 1928 Gibson L-5 archtop, a '34 Gibson Super 400, a 1944 Martin D-28, a '27 Martin 00-28, and a 000-30 (incredibly uncommon), and the '35 0-18 I came to check out alongside a '34 0-18 from his collection. He was telling me stories about hanging out with Jackson Browne, David Grisman, selling guitars to Bruce Springsteen. Just a wonderful time…
Very cool! Did you buy it?
No - he wooed me along, but it wasn’t going to happen. It was on consignment so cash only; I can only move via trades and haggles 
I’m jealous, Wordman.
Not quite a guitar but for those of you looking for a fun, relatively inexpensive instrument to expand your collection, check this out!
SQUEEE! SWMBO bought me a Taylor GS Mini as a surprise Christmas/Birthday/anniversary gift! I haven’t been able to put it down for two days now, and my fingers haven’t been this sore since I started to learn playing my 12 string!
Happy Dance!
She said she tried to get me the koa version but all the vendors were sold out.
I’m very impressed by the sound this little spruce topped wonder throws out, though!
Oh yeah, GS-Mini’s are great. We have a spruce-topped one that’s been cross country and down to Nicaragua, and my niece has a mahogany-topped one that has been to Iceland, Nepal and Portland They travel well, and sound great. I only wish they made a version with a grown-up width neck!! They are 7/8’s size - I get that the scale of the fingerboard is shorter vs. a standard Gibson, Fender or Taylor - but I wish the nut width could be a standard 1 3/4". I think the current one is 1 11/16" but man it feels much smaller.
Huge congrats. And while the Koa is shore purty ;), in my experience playing various GS Mini’s, Taylor has a design where variations in wood don’t result in huge tonal differences.
Simple FYI. Not as douchey as Guitar Aficionado, but definitely high end. If you haven’t heard of Ervin Somogyi, who is interviewed, he is one of the “grand masters” of guitar building in boutique circles - his guitars start in the $25,000 range I believe.
I am just stunned at how many boutique acoustic and electric makers there are these days. Look at all those ads – how do they stay in business??
First, thanks for the fret porn, and yes, the ratio of advertisements to content in that mag explains how they can justify giving it away.
Anyway, I’ve only talked to one custom luthier, and he was a guy with a day job who built his guitars mostly on weekends, but could still knock out one a month or so. He also supplemented his income by taking on setups and repairs. His goal was to someday take his luthiery full time, but I don’t know as he’s got there yet.
And even if he hasn’t, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that he has an ad in Guitar Connoisseur. 
OK, having read the whole thread, I now know more about pickup electronics than I ever though possible…
My situation: I’ve been playing about a year and a half (bass before that), and I wanna be a jazz cat. Right now I have this (the tobacco-colored one), which is a fairly versatile semi-hollow guitar. It’s pretty good, but I think I’m starting to get good enough that a nicer hollow-body guitar might actually do me some good. My local guitar shop has this, which sounds quite nice. What else should I be looking at? Washburn? Ibanez? (There’s an Ibanez AG95 on craigslist for $425…)
Any suggestions for solo and harmony learning resources would also be much appreciated. Right now my latest find is this – a copy of a 1980’s VHS (!) instructional video with Joe Pass. Fairly awesome.
Gretch is known for its hollow body electrics. It’s what they do best and they do it very well. Do you plan to use the vibrato? Because if you don’t, you really don’t want a guitar with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. And if you do intend to use a whammy bar, if they offer any other kind of vibrato tail piece, I’d look into it.
Interesting. I wasn’t even aware of that feature. Given that I’ve never tried it, I’m not sure I would ever use it. Is it the sort of thing that can be modified afterward, or better to get a guitar without it in the first place?
They can be removed afterward and replaced with a standard bridge, but there are two reasons you might not want to:
- Fixed bridges mount differently; you’ll have unfilled holes showing afterwards.
- Bigsbys are about $100-150, which is a cost that will be reflected in the end cost of your guitar. A non-Bigsby guitar is going to be more guitar for your buck at a similar price point.