[thechat] Hijack: Guitars (was: Re: Fish do feel pain)

[Luther, Ron]

Erika Meyer asked:

RonL wrote:
>ended up trading it for some new pickups
>and an old Fender amp.)

tell us more, please!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hi Erika,

I started off with an Ampeg amplifier I bought used in 1971 or so 
for $100. Tube amp. It weighed a ton - at least 100 pounds - but it 
had a handle on top so it must have been portable. ;-) Spring reverb 
that probably had 16" springs in it. Dual footswitch for reverb and 
vibrato.  A strange little toggle switch for something Ampeg called 
'afterbeat'. A single (most likely blown) 12" speaker. Put together 
with 'butterfly-head' screws cuz I had to buy a new screewdriver just 
to take it apart to swap out the speaker.

It was _very_ LOUD!  

<--- amp facing ... my house ... road ... neighbor house ... garden -->
      this way 

I ran a turntable through it once while it was on the back porch and 
cranked it up a bit.  The neighbor roto-tilling the garden behind 
his house across the street with a noisy gas powered device could sing 
along with the lyrics ... it was LOUD. [I never lost a 'stereo war' 
when I had *that* bugger!]  ;-)

Unfortunately, being a tube amp, it had that darn 'sweet spot' where, 
it you tried to play softly ... it sounded like crap.  You HAD to 
crank it to get any kind of decent 'tone'.  This didn't go over very 
well with my parents and siblings ... or the neighbors ... or the men 
in blue.  So it mostly did time as a bedside table.

In the late 80s, early 90s or so my brother 'borrowed' it and sold 
it to one of his buddies.  Cool, huh?  He didn't get anywhere near 
what a vintage tube amp should go for!  (and I didn't get a penny - 
thanks Bro!)  Grrrrr!

Anyway, I bought one of those tiny little crappy Crate amps that you 
see everywhere. It wasn't very good, but at least it had a headphone 
jack so I wouldn't bother the family.  {Currently on loan to my new 
son-in-law ... and I don't really want it back.}

Feeling nostalgic for that 'warm tube' sound while living in Akron 
about 9 years ago -- I went out and bought a new Marshall combo amp 
that looked a lot like the one in Garrett's photo.

I only had it a couple of weeks when all of the 'sweet spot / must play 
loud' memories became current issues ... it had to go.  At that same time 
I had an 'el cheapo' Fender Strat (Squier) {Mexican I think} with those 
scum-sucking bottom of the line pickups that produce more 'hum' than an 
ungrounded metal band playing in the loading dock of a flourescent light 
factory during an electrical storm. Most annoying!

I blame a buddy of mine at work. The Controller of the company I was 
working for at the time lent me one of his guitars for the weekend -- a 
Fender Strat Ultra. <drool />  Ebony fretboard. Roller nut. Fender lace 
pickups.  Dual red bridge pickups wired to a splitter to play the front, 
rear, or both together as a 'simulated humbucker'. Very very nice.

So I traded the Marshall (and some more cash) for a Fender lace blue 
neck pickup, a lace silver middle, and a double red lace bridge pickup ... 
and a used Fender Princeton Chorus amp. Dual footswitch for chorus and 
distortion. {Loud enough - but with that solid state 'linearity' so the 
tone, [while not perhaps quite as 'warm'], doesn't degrade as much at 
lower volume levels.

{Yeah - I'd also rather have a vintage 'blackface twin' or a dual 
showman -- but I don't need that kind of volume ... OR expense. Ouch!}

I also found (the only) Fender tech in Ohio and had him router out my 
Squier, load in the new pickups, wire in a splitter for the double reds, 
and put on a 'mother of toilet seat' Ultra style pick guard.  Yep $400 
in mods and upgrades put into a $300 guitar!  Totally whack.  My 
'Frankenstrat'.  I like it a lot.  The hum is gone. The tone is wonderful 
with the lace pickups ... but it's not a multiple thousand dollar guitar 
so I don't have to be anal about not letting other folks near it -- this 
is the 'house' guitar - it gets thrown at any player that walks in the 
door. The sound is good and I don't have to worry about it getting beat up.

I made a note to myself to try to get photos of my guitar junk tonight.


RonL.
(Who really needs to play the "good" guitar more often.  It's probably 
pretty lonely.)