Buck Owens Harmony Acoustic

In honor of 4th of July weekend I thought I'd post about the Buck Owens red, white and blue acoustic that I once had, but remains in the family. So, technically it did get away, but I know where it is. I walked into a guitar shop in Laguna Beach one day and was checking out the amazing selection of gutiars they had. I walked into the acoustic room and immediatly my eyes were drawn to a really beat up Buck Owens acoustic. When I was a kid, my dad would watch Hee Haw every weekend and eventually Buck Owens and Roy Clarke would do a song. On that show Buck always played his red, white and blue signature Buck Owens Harmony acoustic guitar. That guitar was an absolute icon to me. I won't even go into how cool Buck Owens is...if you're not a country fan and think Buck is just one of those old country dudes, think again. An amazing guy in both music and business and his band back in the day featured one of the all-time most influential guitarists, Don Rich. Now back to the guitar...

I inquired about the price and it was only $250. The guy pointed out some serious cracks on the back of the guitar, and the action was pretty high. The white paint had faded to a yellowish puke color. And the pickguard was missing...though someone had put a generic, cheap white plastic guard on it. Even with all those faults, I wanted it. I wanted to fix it up a bit and give it to my dad. I took it down to Fred at the Repair Zone in San Diego, one the guitar gurus in town, and asked if he could help me find or create an original pickguard. I had found some photos, and you could still see the faint outline on the guitar where the original had been. Fred hand cut a new one for me and we were back to original appearances.

The headstock on these guitars are a thick plastic overlay that seems to be made out of some very brittle material. On MANY of these guitars, the headstock overlay is cracked, pieces missing, peeling away, or just plain missing. The one on mine was in pretty decent shape except that right where the words "Buck Owens" were, was kind of scraped or rubbed off mostly. I didn't really want to pay for a neck reset, especially since my Dad doesn't play guitar, so I left that "as is." It actually had a decent case too and lots of interesting case candy.

I had asked the guy in the store about the stuff in the case and he said "No matter what's in the case when a guitar comes in, unless it's damaging to the guitar, I leave it in. I figure that's part of the guitar's mojo."

I have now adopted that rule myself when buying any guitar. I keep the mojo together. I took the guitar to my dad who really seemed to like the gift. I don't know that he's really attempted to play it, and a few times when I went to visit I found it out in his garage in the HOT summer in Sacramento...probably not the best place for a guitar. I have tried and tried to get him to put it in a safer spot and I have no idea if it's currently in a storage unit or at my dad's place. I'm worried that it's in the storage unit, going from hot summer to cold winter and probably falling apart in the case. But, not much I can do...just hope for the best. It's a really cool guitar, warts and all, and it will forever remind me of being a kid in Tulsa, OK, watching TV with my dad on a Saturday evening.

2014 UPDATE: In this past year, my dad moved in with me as he is getting older and it just made sense. When he moved all his stuff from storage into my garage, I kept waiting and waiting for them to unload a guitar case off the truck. Nothing. Finally I asked him about the guitar and where it was. He said, "Well, I think the guys that helped me move stuff into the storage unit a long time ago stole it. I haven't seen it since then, so I guess it's gone. DOH! I just sort of knew that the fate of this guitar was not going to be good. I guess I'll keep an eye on Ebay and see if I can spot it at some point. With all it's cracks and fading, it should be easy to spot.

Once again, since the guitar is not in my hands, I have found some photos on the internet to use for this story. This is not the actual guitar I gave my dad.

1963 Fender Tremolux Amplifier

I had an opportunity to get an old Fender Tremolux once in a trade situation and completely blew it. When the opportunity came up a second time, years later, I wasn't about to let it get away. I'm pretty sure I've told the story of the first chance I had...I needed an amp for the first actual band I was going to be in. All I had was a really nice, extra fancy Martin D-41 (MAN, I wish I had that one back). I took it to the local guitar store to trade it for an amp and a lesser acoustic guitar and I blew it. I did get a really sweet, cherry sunburst Gibson Dove from the late 70's that played like buttah and sounded great. But when the guy said, "You can pick from those two amps over there in the corner," that's when I blew it. The two amps were a 1963 blonde Fender Tremolux with 2-10" cabinet and a Roland Jazz Chorus 120. You guessed it folks...I picked the Roland, god help me. Suffice it to say, I had no idea what I was doing when it came to amps at the time and I'm sure the guy from that shop still tells the story of how some schmuck traded a D-41 with thousands of dollars of additional inlay for a Dove and a Jazz Chorus.

It's probably his shining retail moment.

So, fast forward a few years, and I come across this second Tremolux, identical to the one I missed out on. That's how I say it..."missed out on." Prior to the world of eBay and Craig's List you had to rely on local papers and entertainment publications and the Penny Saver. In San Diego we have The Reader, which has the listings for all the live music in town, movies, articles about local politics and stories about all kinds of goofy local people, usually with a parrot on their shoulder and wearing Hawaiian shirts. The best part of The Reader for a musician though is the ads for musical instruments. That's where I found this amp...in The Reader. I actually don't remember the details in any way...I'm completely drawing a blank. But I do know that this amp sounded like a million bucks and I fell in love with tremolo.

As you can see from the photos, this amp has a separate head and cabinet. The Tremolux came with a 2-10" cabinet with Jensen speakers, though sometimes you'll find one with 2-12". I'm pretty certain that if you come across that, you're not looking at an original pairing. The old Bandmasters and later Bassmans came with 2-12's and, although they still sound great, it's the 2-10's that I think give this the sound. The head has a sort of built-in bracket system that keeps it attached to the cab with large thumb screws and it had tilt-back legs as well. I was always scared shitless to actually use the tilt-backs because I was afraid the whole thing would tip over and KA-BAM, no amp. I had a custom road case built for this amp with a red finish, so if you happen to own this amp with it's red road case let me know. I'll trade you for a Jazz Chorus...wink, wink. Not that I still have the Jazz Chorus...that's another story.

The end of this amp came about when I was playing a gig one night at a local San Diego bar called Dreamstreet. It's one of those bars that has 4 local bands a night playing and no one's crowd supports any other band...so your band plays, your people come in and hang out, then your band finishes, your people go back outside, and no one ever builds up a local following because no one supports good live music...just supports their friend's band. But I digress. We got set up as quickly as we could, being the third band of the night, and got ready to kick into our first tune. I was the lead singer and rhythm guitarist. I stepped up to the mic to sing the first words and my lips slightly touched the mic and BOOOM...I literally got the shock of my life. That old Tremolux wasn't grounded and, even though I had used the same amp successfully for a long time, the situation that night all added up to massive electrocution. It literally blew me backwards just a bit and I had a burn on my lips for quite a few days. We kept playing but I stayed about a foot from the mic the rest of the night...rock'n'roll must go on.

It didn't take long for me to decide to get a different amp. I suppose I could have had that one altered with a grounded cord, but I didn't want to alter the originality of it and I just decided to get something else. I'm pretty sure I sold it and ended up with a Music Man 4-10 Sixty Five, which was no slouch. Hey, I wish I had that one back too.

Once again, I can't find photos of this actual amp, so I have resorted to stealing some from the 'net. These photos are EXACT though, so pretend this is the one I had and no one will know.

Vox T-60 Bass Amplifier

Vox is a brand name that brings up thoughts of both really cool and really marginal instruments and amps. I love Vox Mando-Guitars, Vox AC-30 amps, and some of their guitars look pretty cool (and some are even decent sounding). I've got a friend who owns one of those Vox Tonelab guitar amp modeling things for recording and he swears by it because it's got a tube you can see. One thing that I always think of is that Vox is always very identifiable as Vox.

So, when I opened up Craig's List one day and saw a Vox T-60 bass amp for sale I was very curious. I owned an inexpensive bass at the time and thought it would be cool to at least have a small bass amp around the house in case an impromptu jam session broke out...you know, like in Josie and the Pussycats. So, after a little online research, I emailed the guy and offered him $200 for the amp and he accepted. I went and picked up the bass and got it home and couldn't wait to plug it in. This amp has 60 watts of power, a 12" speaker with a horn, active and passive inputs, that cool Vox vintage amp look, and, most importantly, what they call the "Bassilator" circuit for low-end enhancement. It's a button you push that's sort of like the "loudness" button on those old silver-faced Sanyo stereos from the '70s that sound so good.

It just fattens things up with a nice bottom end...like my lady. D'oh.

Since I'm not really a bass player I won't (can't) go on and on about this amp, but I can tell you that it is definitely worth the price of admission and makes an excellent practice amp or for smaller gigs. It can kick it out pretty well with some nice tone. A few times a jam session did actually break out (but not like Josie and the Pussycats) and each time the bass player was more than happy and always asked me about the amp. There are some other Vox bass amps that look sort of similar...maybe a Vox T-40 or something like that...and those really suck from what I've heard. But this T-60 is a nice buy and, in the theme of this site, I wish I had that one back.
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Way Huge Swollen Pickle Jumbo Fuzz

You may have a different opinion, but personally, I don't think it matters too much what guitar you play through when you use a big, fat fuzz pedal. It all sounds the same...it's like playing through a Line 6 amp...what difference does it make if you use a Strat or an SG if all you are doing is dialing in some modeled sound of a "British Stack" with delay? For me it's the same with a fuzz pedal...it all sounds the same. I'm sure there are variations that I'm not discerning enough to grasp, but for me, no need for fuzz. Which brings me to the Way Huge Swollen Pickle I used to own...for about a week.

The good news is that Way Huge is about to reissue some of their pedals. The bad news is that those of you who own some of the originals might be getting ready to lose some of the enormous value that these pedals command. Maybe not...maybe the fact that they are "originals" will keep the prices high. A Way Huge Aqua Puss analog delay pedal easily goes for $800 or more. Back when they first came out I remember reading something about them and that some famous guitarists were saying they were the best pedals ever made. I stopped in a well known guitar shop in Huntington Beach one day to gawk at the super rare vintage Marshalls and old Fenders and other cool stuff and, lo and behold, they had a couple of Way Huge pedals. I didn't know much about compression (still don't), and I already had a delay pedal, so I migrated toward the Swollen Pickle, which was categorized as "Jumbo Fuzz." Not just regular fuzz...JUMBO fuzz. I think that I forked over around $200, which was unheard of for a new pedal at the time, and walked out the door feeling pretty pleased with myself.

Maybe I should have tried the pedal out first.

I got home and called my fellow bandmates and bragged about my new possession. We had band practice the next night and I was the first one there. I got all plugged in and powered up and kicked in my new Way Huge, cream of the crop, coveted by many owned by few, Swollen Pickle and...FUZZZZZZ. Big fat fuzz. Jumbo Fuzz if you will. Man, I'd heard that before in a $45 pedal and it didn't sound much different than the thing on the floor that I just paid two hundred bones for. Let me note right here that I know some of you are reading this right now and thinking to yourself, "Holy shit, this guy's an idiot. Fuzz is awesome and there is good fuzz and bad fuzz and the Way Huge Jumbo Swollen Fuzzy Pickle Machine is the best f*$%in' fuzz known to man!"

I'm sorry. It's me, it's not you. I just don't like you that way.

Let's continue...I had no use for a fuzz pedal for the kind of music I play. I quickly realized my mistake and thought about seeing how fast I could pack it back up and put it in the car before anyone else showed up for practice. Too late. Door opens and in walks our lead guitarist, also not a big fan of the fuzz. I decided to get his very valued opinion. Quote: "You paid HOW MUCH for that?" Damn. And at the time there was no such thing as eBay or Craig's List. I honestly don't remember how I sold it or for how much. I do wish I had it back right now to sell on eBay since the value has gone up so much. And, by the way, I have played through other Way Huge pedals and they really are amazing...I don't want anyone to think I'm bagging on Way Huge...it's the fuzz that I'm not excited about and the fact that I bought a fuzz pedal is my own mistake. I'm a little stupid.

Ironically, just last year I got an email from Jeorge Tripps, the original inventor/owner/mad scientist behind Way Huge and he had seen my website about Locobox pedals. He asked if I would be interested in building a tribute website for Way Huge pedals. I was gung ho and we were going to do a trade out for some Way Huge pedals he still had...but Jeorge is a super busy guy who now designs pedals for Line 6 and MXR (Jim Dunlop) and it just never came together. From what I understand, MXR just came out with an analog delay pedal called the Carbon Copy that is supposed to be as good as or better than the Aqua Puss for less than $150. I believe Jeorge designed it. I think I'm going to need one.

Silvertone Guitar and amp model 200G

I'll have to keep this one short and sweet because I have to admit I don't remember much about them. One weekend I went to my favorite Sunday swap meet and came across this '60s Silvertone guitar and matching amp. I was actually kind of excited because I thought that maybe the guitar would sound kind of cool and it would become a very interesting guitar for recording or maybe a few songs at a gig. I figured the amp sucked and I was right, but when you come across a set that has been together for that many years you can't break them up. I think that should be a cardinal rule of guitar collecting. So, I forked over the money for both, which I don't remember how much I paid. Since I never take more than $100 to the swap meet I know it was under $100 and I seem to remember it being somewhere around $40 or $50 for both.

I got them home and they both needed a good cleaning. The guitar was missing a couple of knobs but worked just fine and sounded okay. I seem to remember that the action was pretty decent and the amp did work fine. I was right about it sucking though. The sound was terrible. I think we forget about how good the quality of our cheap instruments tends to be these days. If you bought a "student model" or inexpensive brand back in the '60s or '70s you were most likely getting a pretty inferior instrument. And the amps were downright awful for the most part...unless you consider a silverface Vibro Champ a student amp. But if you are talking about a solid state Sears Silvertone 200G, you are talking crap. Think about how truly usable a Squier P-Bass is these days. Or a Jay Turser Strat-style guitar.

I bought my daughter a Squier Affinity Strat for $75 NEW (with a gig bag) and it just plain doesn't suck when it comes down to it.

It's obviously not my choice for guitar of the year and it doesn't have any "vibe," but if you got to a gig and had no choice but to play it, you could survive just fine. Anyway, back to the real story here...the Silvertone. I quickly realized that it was just a guitar to put on eBay and make a little money with. I paired it up and, true to my own rules, sold the guitar and amp as a pair. I have no idea what I sold them for, but I do remember being quite pleased with the outcome. So, the moral of this story is: Sears is not a guitar store.

Grant Distortion 15 Pedal

A few years ago I read a story in Tape Op Magazine (if you don't get this free magazine you are now required to go sign up...seriously) about Jason Falkner from the band Jellyfish. They were talking about how he was able to get amazing home recordings on things as basic as 4-track cassette recorders. He mentioned that he ran literally everything through an amazing effect pedal called The Choker by a '70s company called Locobox. Of course I had to find one and it was next to impossible to do. So I checked to see if "locobox.com" was available, which it was, and I bought the domain name and started a website about Locobox pedals. I figured that if people had a Locobox pedal for sale they would Google "Locobox" and find me. And guess what? It worked. I ended up buying many Locobox pedals...not just The Choker compressor pedal. They made some really cool other stuff as well...I recommend the Locobox Tubemaniax and the Mysto Dysto distortion pedals.

What happened next was that I started finding information about other pedals as well. Guyatone, Memphis, Coron, Electra and many others. I found that some of the factories in Japan at the time would make particular pedals and put many different brand names on them, but they were all essentially the same pedal. Locobox did this with Electra and Volz. Coron is probably a more well known name, but the same people also made the Memphis, Storm and Grant brands exactly the same as the Corons. Many of these pedals sound great, many are at least interesting, and quite a few I have found to suck. Just my opinion. The one that I have found to like quite a bit is the distortion pedal made by Coron/Memphis/Grant/Storm etc.

I ended up buying a Coron Distortion 15, a Grant Distortion 15, and a Storm Distortion 15, mostly just to see if they really did sound the same.

Of course there were slight variances, but for the most part they all sounded about the same and I really like the sound. I would say they fall more in the Tubescreamer variety of distortion...more of an overdrive I guess than heavy distortion. The one I kept for a long time was the Grant pedal. It sounded the best of the ones I had, though that's probably fairly subjective. I have found the Memphis pedals to be the least consistent and quite a few of their pedals that I have found I sold right away. In particular the Freq Attack. For some reason, people email me all the time at the Locobox site wanting to sell their Freq Attack pedals.

If you happen to come across any of these I would suggest giving them a shot. It just might be that little slightly different sound that you are looking for. I ended up selling mine at one point and I really do wish I had that one back. If you want to see what all of these pedals look like, visit my site Locobox.com and scroll down to the bottom of the home page. You'll find links to all of these brands that I have mentioned and a few more.

Dickerson Lap Steel and Matching Amp

I used to work in San Juan Capistrano, CA at Snowboarder Magazine and it sat right in the direct center of about 8 really good thrift stores that I could hit at lunch time now and then. If I went one direction I could make it to Las Golandrinas for cheap Mexican food and still hit 3 great stores. The Salvation Army in San Clemente used to have an "antique" section that they would put anything that they remotely thought was worth a little more than the regular junk. It was funny what they would deem "valuable."

One day I walked in and there was a late '40s Dickerson lap steel guitar and matching MOTS amplifier. I figured they were going to want an undeserving fortune for it. The week prior to that they had somehow received a Fender Rhodes piano and matching amp and it was sweet, but not worth the $4000 they wanted for it. I'm not joking. So when I saw the Dickerson set I figured I was going to end up arguing with the manager about the real value. To my surprise they only wanted $125 and five minutes later it was mine.

I took the set home and hesitantly plugged the amp in. If you've seen the back of one of these things you know how scary they can look electrically.

Long story short, it all worked great and sounded pretty cool. I knew, however, that this was one of those items that should be in the hands of a real lap steel collector, which I'm not. I cleaned everything up and headed down to Guitars West, an old dealer that used to be near my house that has since gone internet only or disappeared or something. They always had really cool stuff and I wanted a Strat. We struck a darn good deal and I ended up walking out with a nice Japanese Fender Stratocaster in Fiesta Red.

That's it. That's the end of the story. It's not much. Oh, a quick disclaimer: I couldn't find my photos of this set, so I have found exact matching photos on the internet of the same thing. Please Lord, forgive me for stealing these internet photos. Phew.

Guyatone Bass 1966

Here's a really interesting one...it's a 1966 Guyatone Bass and I have no idea what model it is. But it's wacky and weird and really cool all at the same time. I found this for a whopping $40 at the Oceanside Swap Meet and left the parking lot feeling like the cat that ate the canary. Going to swap meets and garage sales and thrift stores hoping to find a gem is a LOT more about perseverance than anything else. I have been lucky enough to find some really cool items at these places, but more often than not I come home empty handed. But on those rare occasions that you do score big, you just can't help but feel like it's all worthwhile.

When I got this bass home I started trying to figure out what it was. There was no logo on the headstock, though later I noticed that there is the very faint mark left of a large "G" which can be found on old Guyatones. There are a lot of similar instruments to the Guyatones (though not this one) with a large "K" for Kent that look like the same art department made the logos. There was a sticker on the back of the dong-shaped headstock that just said, "Electric Bass No. 99-9920." It was actually in very good condition except for one area on the side that had lost a fair amount of finish. Otherwise it seemed good (more on that later). I took a bunch of photos and sent them to Mike Robinson over at My Rare Guitars. Mike is also the creative genius behind Eastwood Guitars and just happens to be an all-around nice guy. Mike knows a lot about these weird old guitars and has a lot of them for sale...be sure to click the first link and check out his archives of '60s and '70s oddballs.

Mike wrote back to inform me that from the looks of the inlays on the neck, and from his past experience with another similar instrument, he thought it was a Guyatone. It was only at that point that I recognized the faint outline of the G logo and confirmed that Mike was dead on. With this new knowledge at hand, I snapped a few more photos of the weird headstock, the odd bridge with actual cotton-like padding and a large screw holding things in place, and I listed it on eBay.

This thing was heavy, awkward to play, and although it was a great find, it was never something I was seriously going to keep for long. It was really more of a money maker.

To cut to the chase, the bass sold for a couple of hundred bucks (or somewhere in there...I don't remember exactly) and I shipped it out. Everything seemed to be in order. After about a week I got a not very nice email from the guy that bought it. He was really pissed off that "I had ripped him off...the neck was warped and bowed and the instrument was useless." I was really taken aback. I know a little something about guitars, but I would never claim to be anything close to a guitar tech or an expert of any kind. However I really think I would have noticed a warped and twisted neck. Since the bass was long gone and I couldn't inspect it myself, I just had to take the guy's word for it that I had made a colossal mistake and sold a faulty instrument. I don't remember the exact details, but I think we came to an agreement about how much I needed to refund him to make it worthwhile for him to try to get it fixed. Hopefully he ended up being happy about it...I really don't want anyone feeling ripped off from an eBay transaction. I know how I have felt about certain guitars that didn't meet my expectations.

Now to the question I ask myself about each and every instrument...would I want it back. I'll keep it short: no! Hell no, in fact. Heavy, uncomfortable, not great sounding, difficult to change strings, penis shaped headstock...need I go on? I think not.

Sho-Bud Diamond Model Acoustic Guitar

Here is one that I wish I had back but I can visit anytime I want to. I wrote a previous post about a Sho-Bud Club Model guitar that I bought that got me started into the obscure world of Sho-Bud acoustics. As mentioned before, at the time, there was next to nothing on the internet about these guitars other than a listing in the blue book of guitar values and a couple of mentions in forums about people owning one or the other of the five models. So, I started a website about them not only hoping to gather info for Sho-Bud acoustic owners, but also for my own greedy purpose: to buy these guitars from people who are interested in selling and go to the internet to find out info. I figured if I am the "expert" on these guitars, people will come to me when they want to sell.

Well my little pretties, the evil plan worked! Once. Sort of. I got an email from a guy who was interested in selling his guitar on eBay and was gathering information. I provided him with what I knew and figured at least I knew the guitar was going to be on sale on eBay. Otherwise I might have missed it. Long story short, I won the guitar for a decent price and was on my way of completing my goal of owning one of each of the Sho-Bud acoustic models. There is the Club Model, the Diamond Model, the Heart Model, the Spade Model and the Grand Slam model...the granddaddy of them all. Problem turned out to be: I've never seen any of the other models for sale except for a Heart Model which I was outbid on at the last second. Ouch. That one cured me of attempting to collect them all. I came to the conclusion it was never going to happen.

At that point, I decided to sell the Club Model, which I did, and to give the Diamond Model to my very good friend and amazing guitarist Dave Quillen. I have played with Dave in a couple of bands and although he has amazing electric gear, he'd never been able to spring for a nicer acoustic. I decided this was wrong and that as much joy as Dave has given me as a fellow musician, the least I could do was to put a really nice acoustic guitar in his hands one way or the other. Our current musical conglomeration, The Small Pox Mountain Boys, are an acoustic group of eight musicians who take turns playing in different configurations. So, getting a good guitar in Dave's hands was somewhat of a selfish move on my part as well. Dave sounds good, I sound good. Pretty simple.

The hard part was actually letting this one go. The Sho-Bud acoustics that were made in the 70's are really nice instruments. They were made in Japan at a time when the Japanese factories were kicking the USA factories asses. A lot of the knock-off guitars of the period are really fine instruments and these definitely fit that description.

In fact, every forum posting I found from Sho-Bud owners consisted of the owner bragging about how his guitar sounded as good as a Martin for a fraction of the price.

I think one of the reasons that these don't come up for sale often is basically that no one wants to let them go.

The Diamond model features rosewood sides and a 2-piece back with a spruce top and mahogany neck. It is based on a standard Martin dreadnought size and shape and plays beautifully. The inlays on the neck of all the Sho-Bud acoustics feature hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades and look very cool. On the headstock is an inlay of the particular model shape...in this case a Diamond. The inlays themselves are not the highest of quality up close..definitely not abalone and pearl. They appear to be some sort of synthetic material. There is an inlay at the 12th fret with the name of the model.

This guitar sounds fantastic, especially in the hands of Dave. At some point during my ownership of the guitar I installed a Sunrise pickup in it coupled with a Sunrise preamp. I'm not sure the Sunrise is for everyone, although they get amazing reviews by their owners and are used by tons of big named pros. But on this guitar it absolutely sounds great.

So, the guitar now resides with my buddy Dave and I get to see it every time we play a gig. Even though I now own some very nice acoustics, I'd love to own another Sho-Bud at some point. Maybe someday it will happen.

Cort Jim Triggs TRG2A Model

Here's an interesting one for you. Ever wish you could own a nice old Gibson ES-175 or a 335 or a Gretsch but you just can't afford it? I happened across this guitar on Craig's List and was immediately intrigued. I had read with some skepticism the reviews of Cort product in magazines like Guitar Player that painted a picture of a guitar company with a reputation as an "affordable" brand, but one that actually made nice quality instruments. Now I have known the name Jim Triggs over the years as one of the top luthiers in the jazz box business, with instruments costing in the tens of thousands of dollars. This guitar seemed like it just had to be one of those sleepers that sneak in under the radar and sound like a million bucks. I was right.

I answered the ad and apparently I was the only one. The guy was very happy to have me come look at the guitar. Super nice guy probably in his mid to late 50s who very much enjoyed the playing of guitars. He had bought this Triggs model a few years earlier and it never left the house. It practically looked brand new. But he had inherited a very sweet 1930s Martin OM size guitar and he just wasn't playing the Cort any more. We plugged it in and gave it a test run and I was sold. This particular guitar was one of a limited edition 2003 100th Anniversary of NAMM model. Normally Cort made this guitar in black and in transparent orange, but this Anniversary model came in a beautiful tobacco sunburst. It featured two humbuckers and a Bigsby, with a 16" wide body that is 1 7/8" deep. It had a nice spruce top and maple back and sides and it really could pull off everything from jazz to rockabilly to whatever you wanted to throw at it.

Now, being a Telecaster guy, I wasn't quite sure what to do with it. I'm not a jazz player by any means and cool rockabilly licks are something I only dream about. I have to admit, the first thought I had when I saw it advertised was that it was a smokin' deal and I could probably resell it for a profit. But the more I played it around the house the more I liked it.

I kept trying to talk myself into keeping it.

I actually felt kind of bad thinking about the guy who had previously owned it. I'm sure he sold it to me thinking it would be mine for many years to come. But I really had something else in mind and was banking (quite literally) on the fact that I could make a little extra off this guitar and put it towards something else. The bank finally won the argument and it went on eBay. I did make a nice profit on it, but it was a little bittersweet, both sweet and bitter, bitter and sweet.

I really do wish I had this one back. What a beautiful guitar that played exceptionally well. In retrospect it was a great lesson for me. Open your eyes along with your ears and don't be afraid to go outside the box of familiar instruments. I'm sure whoever bought this one from me on eBay got the last laugh. Whatever it was that I used the money towards is now long gone and who knows when you'll run across another one of these.

Fender FR-48 Resonator

Haven't you always, maybe secretly, wanted an old 1931 National Duolian that you can sit out on the porch and play old time blues on? What if you can't afford the three grand for an old (or new for that matter) National but you still want to at least try to play some old swampy music? What I did was find myself a nice, used Fender chrome resonator for about $250. It took me awhile, but I finally came across one in my price range and scooped it up. It didn't have a case, but the guitar was in excellent condition.

These things weigh a ton...I don't recommend taking them on a long mountain hike just so you can strum Rocky Mountain High in drop D tuning. Being Fender, they couldn't help using the script "F" logo for the F-holes, which makes them very obviously what they are. The first time I saw this, being a graphic designer who does a lot of marketing, I thought, "What a great idea!" The more I have seen them though, I have to admit I am less excited about the idea. The neck felt very good and the guitar was very playable.

But what about sound? I had played some of the wood body Fender resonators over in one of those odd cedar rooms at Guitar Center they call the acoustic room. You know the one...there's always two high school kids sitting around the center post actually playing songs together...usually an acoustic version of Staind or something.

There is another older guy sitting in the "high end" room playing the opening riff of the Beatles' Blackbird over and over.

They have some Ovations and Ibanez acoustics in the main area and one token Applause mandolin, two acoustic basses, a messed up banjo and...a Fender resonator. Go to Guitar Center today and check it out and see if I'm right. Anyway, I've played the wood bodies and they sound pretty bad. Thin and weak and no volume. But the metal bodies sound pretty decent for the money. They are what they are...better than a Dean, but not as good as a National.

Like I said, this one came without a case, so I took a cheap chipboard case and decided to try to make my own case with a little mojo. I went to a fabric store and bought some purple fur and a glue gun. I carefully cut out the fur to fit and started hot-gluing it in. Getting the lid to close was a little tricky and I had to go back and do a little surgery on the fur, but all in all it came out good and funky...just like I wanted. I gathered up all the stickers I could find and put them all over the outside of the case and it looked just like something that had been sitting around for a good long time.

I wanted to use this guitar at gigs...I have a handful of bluesy/country songs in alternate tunings that this guitar sounded great on. However, I just didn't want to get into miking the guitar and I didn't want to spend the money and do the surgery required to put a pick-up in a resonator. So, as usually happens with me, I lost a little interest and wasn't playing it all that much. I thought it would be a good one to just hang onto and pull out for little jam sessions, but eventually I always start looking for ways to come up with a few hundred bucks for something else. So, like most (but certainly not all) of my guitars, it went up for sale online. I actually sold it for $350, which not only covered the price I paid for it, the crappy case, the purple fur and the priceless mojo I injected into it...it also made me just a little extra profit.

Now and then, when I head over to Buffalo Brothers, I mozy on over to the resonator section and pick up an old National or a Beard and I think about the affordable Fender I used to have. Man, I wish I had that one back.

Fender '51 Precision Bass Reissue

I am a guitar player. I am a guitar player. I am a guitar player. What's going on you ask? Why does he keep repeating the same thing over and over again? It's because I have to keep reminding myself what it is that I do. For some reason I keep going out and buying mandolins and keyboards and basses and, lately, DRUMS. Why? I just sell them in the end. The truth is that I like to have this stuff around to record with. I can throw a quick, albeit sloppy, bass line down so I can hear remotely how it's going to sound. Keyboards? Well, it's fun to try to add strings and Hammond B-3 organ sounds to just about anything. Mandolin? If you've read previous entries here you already know how embarrassed I am about that. Drums? Don't get me started.

This was a very nice bass. It's definitely not a Squier picked up for cheap to pretend to play on recordings. This is the real deal. And you know what? That probably explains why I sold it. I do have this thing...this complex...about not being good enough for some of the equipment I end up with. And I feel guilty and I sell it to someone who "deserves it" more than I do.

There is no reason in the world for me to own a nice bass.

A $65 Memphis P-bass copy from the late '70s is bass enough for me. Currently I own a black Squier P-bass that I picked up at the Swap Meet for a mere $45. And it plays great and looks pretty good too...well, now that I sprung for the black pickguard to make it look a little less "Made in Korea."

So what about this '51 Reissue? Man, what a nice instrument. I've said it before (just yesterday) and I'll say it again...the Japanese Fenders are the best. They are my favorite. They always "feel" right. I'm no bass expert (but I play one on TV...yuck, yuck), but if I were to buy another good, quality bass, this is what I'd look for. First of all, I love the classic styling. How much more iconic does it get? There is this bass, a sunburst Strat, and a blonde Tele with a black pickguard. There are your three Fender icons. It features a single coil pickup, which probably scares some "real" bassists off. I know the bassist in my band looked a little skeptical when I first pulled it out of the case. But after a few minutes plugged in, he was converted. I know from reading on the internet that a lot of people replace the stock pickup with a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder (I think that's the one), but I left mine stock. The only thing I changed on mine was the cheap black plastic pickguard. I don't know if it was the same as the one from '51, but it just seemed flimsy and cheap to me and I couldn't get past it. I replaced it with a 3-ply BWB pickguard and was much happier. That 3-ply black pickguard always reminds me of Springsteen and his Tele, even on a bass.

This one was a casualty of the black Ehlers Jumbo mission I was on (see below a couple of posts) and I sold it to a dealer who was looking around on Craig's List. He was actually thinking about keeping it for himself, but that could have been a story...as if it mattered to me anyway. If I had the luxury of affording a nice bass I would definitely buy another one of these. If you are looking around yourself, see if you can find one. Maybe not as versatile as some basses, but when it comes down to it, you're just supposed to be back there holding the song together, making me sound good up front. Now do your job!

Fender Contempo Combo Organ

I know...it’s not a guitar. But it is made by Fender and, like most of the things I write about, it’s no longer in my possession. Fender got into the combo organ business to complement their already popular Fender Rhodes business and produced the Contempo from 1967-1971. I won’t try to get into the history of these or describe the sound other than it fits right in there with Farfisas and Vox Continentals. There is plenty on the internet about these keyboards. The significance of this particular instrument is that it’s the very musical instrument that made me open an eBay account and basically begin my downfall as a guitar owner.

One Sunday I headed the 20 miles towards San Diego and paid my $1.75 and entered Kobey’s Swap Meet, held at the now antiquated San Diego Sports Arena. There are always a few guitars of at least some interest and a couple of pedals if you’re lucky, so it’s usually worth the trip.

Last time I went down there I missed a silverface Vibro Champ for $20 by about 26 seconds. Doh!

Anyway, I walked into the Swamp Meet and within 5 minutes came across this Fender Contempo combo organ. Hmmmmm. “Does it work?” The guy shrugs. “Have you tested it?” The guy shrugs. Shrugs? That’s not even a correct response. Oh, wait. He doesn’t speak English. Okay, how much? “Twenny dolers.” SOLD.

I’m not sure why, but the law of averages at a Swap Meet are that, if you are going to find something really cool, it’s going to be heavy and it’s going to be within the first 5 minutes of arriving so that you have to carry the damn thing around with you if you want to keep going. Otherwise it’s a trip all the way back to the car to put it away, and that wastes valuable swap meet time. Today I opt for taking it back to the car. I didn’t really find anything else of interest that day except for one guy who had a sign that read “Going out for business.” Shouldn’t everyone there be going out FOR business?

I get the Contempo home and plug it in, jack it into my amp and, voila!, it works. Amazing. Now, I’m a guitar player, and this was just slightly before I had some decent recording gear, so now what to do with it? It seemed really cool, but if I sold it for what it’s worth, maybe I could get another guitar! That’s the ticket.

At this point I had heard of eBay, but didn’t know much about it. I cautiously signed up for an account and went through the hoops and finally, a few days later, I’m all set up and ready to go. Of course, if you’ve sold much on eBay, you figure out all the tricks and best ways to title things to get the most views. I did my best, got it listed, and waited. It sold for a slightly disappointing $300, though I’m not sure how much I actually thought it would go for. I probably thought I had the rarest thing ever produced. But nevertheless, the thing sold and I was going to get something guitar related with the money. What I didn’t realize is that something that heavy and fragile was going to cost an arm and a leg to ship. It took about eight thousand feet of bubble wrap to make me feel comfortable and the most frankenstein of all cardboard boxing to hold it all together. When I finally got the UPS bill I realized that I had undercharged for shipping by about $80. Although I still made a tidy little profit on the thing, it didn’t get me nearly as much guitar money as I had envisioned. What it did do was get me going on eBay and basically heading me in the general direction of each and every one of these stories.

Of course, now that I’ve geared up with a nice digital 16-track at home and a small handful of cool gadgets to record with, I can look back at the Fender Contempo and say...”Man, I wish I had that one back.”

Eastman MD-515 Mandolin

Like a lot of guitar players, I THINK I want to play mandolin. I’ve owned about 4 mandolins over time, and I always end up selling them when reality sets in that, if I’m going to take the time to learn to play the mando, I should just use that time to be a better guitar player.

Of the four mandolins I’ve owned, this is the one I wish I had back. I was looking at mandos at Buffalo Brothers one day and the guy who runs their mando department started telling me about Eastmans. I picked one up and the sound was amazing, and the price was very reasonable for what it was. Eastman is an instrument company from China that builds mandolins, violins, archtop and flat top guitars, and maybe something else...I don’t know. But the quality of all of their instruments is astounding.

Most people have some pretty negative feelings about most things made in China these days, and rightly so. However, Eastman is sort of the cream of the crop of instrument builders in that country, and the workers take great pride in their craftsmanship (No lead in this mando!). But, because it’s China, the prices are much lighter on the pocket book than something like a Gibson or a Collings.

The lowest end model they make is the 515, and it was the only one under $1000. That’s the one I picked up, knowing that if I got hooked, at least it would be the cheapest model. I picked it up, strummed a few chords, and I was hooked. As a comparison I played a few other $3000 mandolins on the wall and I have to say that the $899 Eastman blew them away. Not as fancy, but sound is what is important, right? I’m not always the best at following through on that theory, but in this case it was a no brainer. I owned this mando for about a year or so and came to that inevitable realization that I’m not a mando player and never will be (although I currently own one for some reason). It went on eBay to help finance whatever was next on the list, and I can truly say, man, I wish I had that one back.

Yairi Alvarez DY58 Nine String

Uh, yes, that DOES say nine string. Kind of like half a 12-string. Sort of.

When I first moved to California in 1987 I didn’t have a lot of money and I didn’t have much for guitars. I did have a 1984 Ovation Collector’s Series guitar which, at the time, I was pretty proud of. I didn’t know too much about the guitar stores in my area, so one day on my day off I decided to drive around and see what was within driving distance. I ended up in Escondido, which is about 20 minutes from where I lived. There was an okay looking music store on the corner downtown and I parked and walked in. I quickly spied something I had never seen before and then didn’t see again for about 17 years. A nine-string guitar. WHAT YOU SAY? It looked like a normal dreadnought at first glance, then I saw the extra tuners. I thought, “Oh, a 12-string. I’ll check it out.”

When I picked it up I realized that the top 3 bass side strings were single, like a six-string, but the bottom three treble side strings were doubled, like a 12-string. What a great idea! Why wasn’t this more popular? For a rhythm player like myself it makes perfect sense...you can get that nice ringing strum on the highs, but can still dig in a bit on the low end without the doubled effect.

That guitar was always in the back of my mind, but I never saw one again. Then one day I decided to Google for “9-string” and came across a posting in a forum from 3 or 4 years previous. I decided to email the address on the post and see if anyone answered. Believe it or not, the guy wrote back and said he had JUST decided to consider selling it so he could buy a nice Martin. He said he’d take $500 for it, which was what he had paid years ago. Deal. When I got it, the pickguard was about to fall off, and the top was banged up a lot more than his description indicated, but all in all it was in fine condition. And it sounded really nice. I have only played a few Yairis in my time, but they all have sounded very nice and probably deserve more attention than they get. I added a pickup to the guitar so I could use it live and I always got asked after a gig what the deal is with the 9-string. Plus I had added a vintage water decal from the Oklahoma Flying Farmers association...not sure what it was, but I THINK it was a group of farmers who enjoyed parachuting. Really.

Despite it’s uniqueness, I ended up selling it to buy something else...it seemed to be most expendable at the time. But I have always kept the thought of a nine-string in my head and have thought that it would be fun to commission a nine-string from my trusted personal luthier Mike Franks some day. Of course I’d have to ask real nice for such an oddity. In the meantime, I have to admit, man, I wish I had that one back!