Menu
We’re you a random collection of scattered molecules in 1959 or were you you yet? - 1959 #Gibson #ES140 3/4T - 1959 #Fender #Princeton - 1959 #Ontario, #Canada automobile license plate #guitar #guitars #guitarra #chitarra #guitarre #rockstarguitar...

We’re you a random collection of scattered molecules in 1959 or were you you yet?

- 1959 #Gibson #ES140 3/4T
- 1959 #Fender #Princeton
- 1959 #Ontario, #Canada automobile license plate

#guitar #guitars #guitarra #chitarra #guitarre #rockstarguitar #electricguitar #vintageguitars #vintagegibson #gibsonguitars #tone #guitargear #guitarsdaily #guitarporn #guitarsofinstagram #geartalk #guitargear #vintagegear #guitarsdaily #gibsonsofinstagram #guitarphotography #ampphotography #vintageamps #fenderamps #vintagefenders #smallguitars

vintagegibson guitarsdaily guitars guitarre guitarphotography ampphotography vintagegear guitarporn electricguitar smallguitars fender guitar guitargear ontario chitarra gibsonguitars guitarsofinstagram gibson vintageguitars vintagefenders canada gibsonsofinstagram princeton guitarra fenderamps rockstarguitar tone es140 vintageamps geartalk

Jun 16, 2017
Since I went to bed at 6 am and woke up at 10, I am fading fast. So let’s wrap this day shall we? Here is a last shot for today, of the latest incarnation of #ToneHenge™ incorporating the new #tweed #Princeton (left…the yellow one), and bringing​ the...

Since I went to bed at 6 am and woke up at 10, I am fading fast. So let’s wrap this day shall we?

Here is a last shot for today, of the latest incarnation of #ToneHenge™ incorporating the new #tweed #Princeton (left…the yellow one), and bringing​ the ‘63 #DeluxeReverb (right, bottom) back into the fold. It had been in the other room serving as a set piece for my photos for the last few weeks.

The dynamic duo (1965 #VibroChamp and #Vibrolux #Reverb) are still in the same spot, although you may notice that I have removed one rack of 3 #guitars to squeeze in the #Deluxe. My 1964 #Fender #5F1 “transition” #Champ (which according to @gavinhornsey looks like a basic #ProJunior! Cheeky sod, him! 😁) now sits on the Deluxe, and I should be able to also sit the '57 5F1 tweed Champ beside it when (if?) it comes back from long term loan to the @desmo_damo collection of St Jacob’s #Ontario.

Now…don’t bug me for the next 12 hours…I’ll I be fast asleep! GOOD NIGHT! 😆

#guitar #guitars #guitarphotography #vintageguitars #gibson #gretsch #rickenbacker #gibsunday #amp #amps #amplifiers #fenderamps #vintageamps #ampphotography

vibrolux champ reverb deluxereverb tonehenge™ guitarphotography amplifiers rickenbacker ontario tweed amp fenderamps deluxe guitar amps vintageamps projunior gretsch princeton vibrochamp gibson ampphotography 5f1 gibsunday vintageguitars guitars fender

Mar 12, 2017
A very interesting ‘90s Gibson R8 Les Paul with a crazy top, spotted yesterday at @folkwaymusic in Waterloo, Canada. I don’t think I have ever seen a Gibson “R” reissue this early, and it’s interesting to see that it is not aged in any way…so either...

A very interesting ‘90s Gibson R8 Les Paul with a crazy top, spotted yesterday at @folkwaymusic in Waterloo, Canada.

I don’t think I have ever seen a Gibson “R” reissue this early, and it’s interesting to see that it is not aged in any way…so either it predates the introduction ol’ VOS finish, or at one point Gibby did, to borrow the Fender nomenclature, an “NOS” style finish in addition to aged finishes. Does anyone know when Gibson started doing “VOS”?

#gibson #lespaul #lp #customshop #gibsoncustom #guitar #guitars #gibsonguitars #gibsunday #reissue #r8 #r9 #guitarshopping #folkwaymusic #waterloo #ontario #guitarphotography

folkwaymusic gibsunday guitars customshop lespaul guitarphotography r8 r9 gibsonguitars guitar reissue guitarshopping lp ontario gibsoncustom gibson waterloo

Sep 18, 2016
Ok, ok, back to #Straturday celebrations. Here’s yet another fancy #Strat, this one from 1965, available at @tgscan. They also have a really great condition 1965 #Fender #Deluxe (non-#reverb model) that would go very nice with this #guitar. Just...

Ok, ok, back to #Straturday celebrations. Here’s yet another fancy #Strat, this one from 1965, available at @tgscan. They also have a really great condition 1965 #Fender #Deluxe (non-#reverb model) that would go very nice with this #guitar. Just bring your checkbook…the #amp is affordable for the average collector,, but the #guitar ain’t cheap! 😅

#guitars #fenderguitars #vintageguitars #vintagefenders #sunburst #theguitarshop #portcredit #ontario #toronto #guitarshopping #guitarphotography

fenderguitars toronto ontario theguitarshop vintageguitars fender strat portcredit guitar guitarshopping guitars guitarphotography amp reverb deluxe sunburst straturday vintagefenders

Jul 23, 2016

Weekend guitar shopping at Folkway Music in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.  Here we have a 1964.65 Toastmaster, a 1968 Gibson ES-175 in near mint condition, a 1927 Washburn Type A, and a trio of acoustic guitars:  to the left is an original 1930s Cromwell, made by Gibson during the depression.  The two on the right are modern Collings “Waterloo” repros of the Cromwell, which itself was a budget version of a Gibson L-00. 

The other photos were taken in nearby St Jacobs, Ontario.  It’s a quaint small village full of boutiques and shops that sell local arts art, crafts and antiques.

folkway music guitar shop waterloo ontario guitars guitar photography guitar shopping guitar st jacobs gibson fender es-175 stratocaster washburn type a vintage vintage guitars nikon

May 12, 2015

More fun from Folkway Music in Waterloo, Ontario Canada:

  1. Left to right:  1963 Gibson B25-12, 1929 Gibson Nick Lucas Special, 1932 Martin C-1
  2. Another look at the 1929 Nick Lucas Special.  $7,000 USD!
  3. 2010 PRS Lefty Custom 22
  4. 1927 Martin 0-18K Lefty
  5. “Earth, sky, scenery. Is she coming back again? Men of straw, snooker hall. Words that build or destroy Dirt dry, bone, sand and stone.  Barbed wire fence cut me down.  I’d like to be around in a spiral staircase To the higher ground.”
  6. Loft Building, Kitchener.
  7. Incredible Taylor inlays!  PS16ce.
  8. 2011 Gretsch White Falcon & 1968 Fender Telecaster.
  9. Another look at that Taylor PS16ce
  10. An evil farm.  On the bad side of town.  You can just feel the evil oozing from it, right?  Right???

folkway music waterloo ontario guitars acoustic guitars acoustic gibson martin taylor fancy inlays fender telecaster vinatge gretsch white falcon prs custom 22 0-18k left-handed lefty rural farm evil countryside guitar photography nikon 12 sting b25

Aug 31, 2014

When a shop is this good it doesn’t need to be big.

I was out in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada yesterday - just an hour’s drive west of Toronto - and stopped in at Folkway Music.  Folkway is a small shop, but every single instrument they have is incredible.  I’ll take “small and packed with awesome” over “giant and 90% garbage” any day.

  1. Just a stunning 1953 Gibson ES-175 in a rare original natural finish.  Wow.  I hear you saying “Wait…Is that a 175 with a P-90?  I thought 175s had humbuckers??” and I would answer “Yes - yes it is!  While the 175 as the first production Gibson to come with the now famous "PAF” humbuckers…that wasn’t until in 1957…4 years after this guitar was made.  What?  don’t believe me?  Look at any Les Paul between 1952 and 56…what do you see? Yes.  P-90s!“  :D
  2. King Street, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.  Kitchener and Waterloo are Sister cities and butted right up against each other.  Also interesting (to me anyway…) Before WWI "Kitchener” was called “Berlin”.  Most of the population were descended form German immigrants.  When Britain got into a war with Germany in 1914 the townsfolk figured it was better NOT to live in a city called Berlin, and promptly changed the name to the uber-patriotic “Kitchener”.  Lord Kitchener was a British military hero.  Don’t believe me?  Wow, you are a skeptical lot ain’t you??  Well here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_to_Kitchener_name_change
  3. Yeah, I don’t know what it is either!   http://www.folkwaymusic.com/vintage-instruments/resonator-steel-guitars/2009-celtic-cross-weissenborn-0814/
  4. 1933 DoBro Model 37
  5. Ditto
  6. 1966-ish Pontiac Firebird.  Not a guitar, but still vintage.
  7.  There’s that 1953 ES-175 again.  Incredible.
  8.   More vintage automobiles on the streets of Kitchener.  As you can see I barely had time to grab the camera and take this shot!
  9. 1941 Oahu Lap Steel guitar & matching Amp.  So fun.  So inexpensive!

guitars guitar shop folkway folkway music waterloo ontario canada toronto gibson dobro vintage oahu lap steel es-175 blonde p-90 resonator guitar photography kitchener berlin wwi

Aug 31, 2014

One last post from my weekend trip to Folkway Music.  But first…a funny story:

As a guy who goes into guitar shops and takes pictures, I never know how the store staff will react to me (taking photos that is.  I know how they will react to me personally - and it’s not nice!).  98% of the time the staff just let me do what I do.  1% of the time I get asked what I am doing and why, but when I explain myself and hand them a business card (yes…I have my own business cards specifically for these occasions!) they happily let me snap away.  The remaining 1% of the time I get asked to stop taking photos.  Luckily for me and this blog, this rarely happens.

But I have to add a new category since my visit to Folkway:  The new category is called “as soon as I walk in with my camera the owner who is also an avid photographer (and a REALLY good one too!) immediately spots my camera and comes over to talk to me about it and we chat about the challenges of guitar photography and how we each approach it and then he opens his own camera bag and pulls out a couple of really nice lenses and tells me to try them around the shop”

OK, long title…but that is basically what happened!  Every shot on the page (except for the last one which I took at home later) was taken with the owner’s lenses!*

  1. 1944 Gibson Banner J-45 Maple
  2. 1927 Martin 0-18k Lefty Conversion
  3. Same as 1.
  4. Oops…I have NO IDEA what this was and I can’t find it on their website!  :\
  5. Same as #2
  6. I think it’s a 1930s Gibson L-1 (but it’s not listed on their site)
  7. Same as #6
  8. My beloved 1957 Champ with my beloved 1968 Telecaster.

*For those photography buffs in the crowd, the 2 lenses that my new Folkway friend let me try were his 105 mm f2.8 macro, and a lovely prime 85 mm f1.8.  

folkway music waterloo ontario acoustic guitars guitars gibson martin vintage fender champ l-1 robert johnson 0-18 lefty slot tuners headstock macro nikon lens photography guitar photography

Jul 16, 2014

On the road again.  I just can’t wait to get on the road again.  The life I love is making music with my friends.  And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

No wait…I have no friends.

On the road again.  I just can’t wait to get on the road again.  The life I love is making music BY MYSELF.  And I can’t wait to get on the road again.

PS:  the guitar is my homemade Tele/Partscaster with a Stewmac maple neck and reproduction Broadcaster decal. The first landscape shot was taken somewhere along highway 407 (which also happens to be the most expensive toll road in North America!) And the second was taken on the Raglan Road somewhere between Toronto and Peterborough (Ontario, Canada)

fender telecaster tele homemade partscaster stewmac maple neck reproduction broadcaster decal back roads ontario canada summer landscape guitar electric guitar my collection toronto willie nelson on the road again guitar porn guitar photography nikon d600

Jun 06, 2014

I can’t say I have a favourite guitar, but out of the roughly 35 guitars in the collection I have many favourites.  This is one of them.  Some notes:

  • It started out as a late 2000s Gibson SG Classic, which is sort of a modern reproduction of a late 60s SG Special (except with a Tune-O-Matic bridge instead of a “lightning bolt” compensated bridge, and individual tuners instead of the Kluson “plate” tuners).
  • The original colour was “ebony” (Gibson’s fancy way of saying “black”)
  • The original had a full-face “batwing” pick guard.
  • The good people at Legend Custom Guitars in the great province of Nova Scotia, Canada, did a complete makeover on it. 
  • Legend stripped it down to the bare wood and refin'ed it in a creamy white.
  • They removed the individual tuners and installed a period-correct set of Kluson “plate” tuners.
  • To remake it with the half face (instead of the stock batwing) pickguard they had to rout out the entire area under the batwing and replaced it with a new piece of mahogany.  They then covered all this work up by gluing a mahogany veneer over top!
  • They replaced the tune-o-matic with a “lightning bolt” plugging the narrower holes left by the t-o-m, and those of the stop bar.

gibson sg sg classic sg special vintage replica guitar electric guitar my collection toronto legend custom guitars makeover polaris guitar porn guitar photography nikon d600 macro photography ontario highway clouds outdoor landscape

Jun 05, 2014

New Toy Alert!

But before you get too excited (thinking this REALLY looks like a vintage early 60s SG Special in a glorious custom colour…) let me say this up front:  

It’s not.  

Nor is it a Gibson Custom Shop VOS reissue of a vintage SG Special…

So what is it??

It’s actually a recent SG Classic!  Well, at least it started out as an SG Classic.  Two owners ago, it was completely converted and refinished by a company called Legend Custom Guitars. in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (on the east coast of Canada).

The “Classic” model is very reminiscent of the original “Special” model, but there are a lot of differences too.  Legend basically stripped it down to nothing and rebuilt it in the style of an early 60s “Special”.  I won’t go into detail about all the stuff they did.  You can read that for yourself here…this page shows my actual guitar…before conversion and after! Fine work, I must say.

http://www.legendguitars.com/before-and-after/gibson-sg-conversion

More info and photos to come…for now I have to change the strings and set it up to my liking…and then play it non-stop for 8 or 10 hours!  ;)

new toy gibson sg sg special sg classic conversion replica vintage polaris custom made legend custom guitars dartmouth halifax nova scotia canada 60s reissue kingston ontario guitar porn guitar electric guitar my collection toronto guitar photography nikon d600

May 03, 2014

Indy Theme by Safe As Milk