I haven't done a #MartinMonday in a lonnnnnnng time! Here's my one and only #acoustic #guitar, a 2008 #Martin #0018V. You knows I likes small #guitars and that sentiment extends to #flattop acoustics as well as #electricguitars. Ideally I'd love to have a size 0 one day or (dare I dream?) an even smaller #MartinGuitar (size 0, 1, 2...or, god willing, 5!), but until then a 00 will do! This is one fantastic sounding #guitar and I am giving it some fresh #strings and a thorough cleaning tonight to make up for many months of neglect! Then I'm spending the rest of the night playing #JohnnyFlynn's "#Detectorists" theme song on it! 😁 #acousticguitars #martinguitars #size00 #style18 #nazreth #pennsylvania #cfmartin #guitarcollection #guitarphotography
"And in the evening when the sun is sinking low/everybody's with the one they love/I walk the town, keep a searching all around/ looking for my street corner girl" - Bobby P., 1970. Well, actually, forget the aforementioned female person: when the sun is sinking low...I prefer to be fiddling (figuratively not literally) with my #guitars. Changing #strings...adjusting the #neck...doing #intonation. Generally the tweaking setups. Much more fun that traipsing all around hell's half acre looking for some girl who don't love me no how anyway! 😄😅😆 Here is the '66 #Fender #Musicmaster which is on the kitchen count...um...workbench...this evening! #guitar #vintageguitars #vintagefenders #studentguitars #offsetguitars #guitarrepair #guitarphotography
1966 Fender #Musicmaster II. Ever since I started following @tomojustfunky, I seem to only buy #Fender "student" #guitars! 😄😅😆 Other than a few dings and some lovely parallel #lacquer #checking lines on the body, this is an extremely clean 50 year old #vintageguitar. Look at that clean #rosewood! Look at those gleaming original #frets! Also, I was so pleased when I found, by using my StewMac 7.25" radius gauge, that the #saddles had been adjusted so the #strings matched the radius of the #fretboard exactly. So much more comfortable to play that way. Thanks for the impeccable setup on this one, @shyboytexrepairs! #vintageguitar #guitar #vintagefender #fenderguitars #fendermusimaster #guitarcollection #guitarphotography
I'm on the east side of #Toronto, sitting in my parked car waiting for a certain #guitarshop to open and I can do my weekly #guitar stalking! Er...I mean "shopping". 😄😅😆 In the meantime here is a really sweet and minty # vintage 1962 #Stratocaster I saw last week, soon to be available at @folkwaymusic in #Waterloo Canada. The #strings? Yes, they are those new #DAddario Ultra Ultra ULTRA Light gauge you have been hearing about! 😂 #guitars #fender #fenderguitars #vintageguitars #vintagefenders #strat #straturday #guitarshopping #guitarphotography
I know it's not #MacroMonday, but I had the neck off my new #vintage 1957 #Fender #DuoSonic (I was restringing it with.012s to tighten up the feel of the #strings on its short 22.5" scale!) and came across this hand-pencilled neck date of April 1957. I think it's incredibly fun that when this #guitar was made, the #Stratocaster had only been on the market for a bit less than 3 years! Strats are so ubiquitous today that it's hard to imagine a world where the Stratocaster was still shockingly new and innovative! Anyhoo, they stopped penciling in the neck date by the end of the 50s, when they started stamping the neck date on. This is my first Fender old enough to have a 1) a genuine, original "#spaghettilogo" (silver for the #Musicmaster and gold for the Duo-Sonic) #decal, and 2) a handwritten neck date! I am so pleased by this. Perhaps unhealthily so...😄😅😆 #guitars #fenderguitars vintageguitars #vintagefenders #fenderduosonic #macrophotography #guitarphotography
1969 #Gibson #SGStandard. I spent some time changing #strings and tweaking the setup on this @puisheen-restored #guitar last night and then played it for a couple of hours. It reminded me that despite recent the acquisition of two very serious, all original, #SG Specials, this is still the best looking, playing and sounding guitar in my collection. #guitar #gibsonguitars #vintageguitars #vintagegibsons #gibsonsg #guitarphotography
Aaaand we're back to my obsession with small #guitars. Here we have the 22.5" scale (as determined in yesterday's conversation across multiple posts!) 1966 #Fender #Musicmaster along with the oldest #guitar in the collection, a 1959 #Gibson #ES140 3/4T. Both are a true joy to play. And I don't use the word "joy" very often! 😂 PS: the ES140 sports .012s! You need the fatter #strings to make them feel less like overcooked spaghetti on the short scale. Oh and my friend Phil from Long & McQuade says you need thicker strings to "drive the top" and make an #archtop sound it's best. I will say that this guitar definitely sounds better with .012s! #vintageguitars #vintagefender #vintagegibson #gibsonguitars #fenderguitars #guitarphotography
I removed the #wraparound #tailpiece and reinstalled the original #vibrato on my 1961 #Gibson #LesPaul #SG #Junior. Now I am trying to wrap my head around it! The #strings are anchored in the back of the tailpiece, so they go underneath and up over the #lightningbolt #bridge, but this has the curious effect of raising the #pitch when the arm is depressed and lowering it when the arm is pulled up - precisely the opposite of EVERY OTHER VIBRATO EVER INVENTED! I am convinced I am doing something wrong in the way I'm stringing it, but I can't see another way to do it, and there is pretty much zero information about this vibrato on Internets. HELP! #guitar #guitars #vintageguitars #vintagegibsons #gibsonlespaul #lespauljunior #sgjunior #guitarphotography
Another view of the funky original #vibrato system that came with my '61 #LesPaul #SG #Junior, but I had removed to convert it to a regular #hardtail with a #wraparound #tailpiece. Later models of this system had "#Maestro" engraved on one side of the leading edge and the #strings loaded from the front and wrapped under, around and back over the tailpiece, unlike this model where the strings load from the back, go under the tailpiece and up over the bridge. This has the curious effect of raising the #pitch when you push down on the arm, and lowering it when you pull up! Or...maybe I am not installing the strings correctly. This is more likely actually... ;) #guitar #guitars #gibsonguitars #vintageguitars #vintagegibson #gibsonsg #sgjunior #gibsonlespaul #guitarphotography
A short time ago we were talking about my '61 #Gibson #LesPaul #SG #Junior and its weird original #vibrato system that I have only seen on very early SG Jrs. and #SGSpecials, as well as an #Epiphone #Coronet or two. But only in '61/62...after that these just disappear! Anyhoo: I was changing #strings and decided to put the trem system back just for giggles and for the reference of anyone at the Gibson #CustomShop (I'm looking at you @adamzero13!) who may want to reproduce this system on a limited run of #VOS Juniors! Feel free to use this as a reference photo. All I ask in return is one of the finished #guitars! ;) #guitar #gibsonguitars #vintageguitars #vintagegibsons #gibsonsg #lespauljunior #guitarphotography #gibsunday
You know your #guitar is going to be very lightweight when the #body, #pickups, #electronics, #bridge, #pickguard and strap buttons altogether weigh only 3 lbs, 10.75 oz! Here's my neck-less #Thinline #DeeBeeCaster™ during the process of neck swapping I did earlier this week. As you may know I am obsessed with lightweight #guitars, and this #Telecaster thinline style body by @maverick_guitar is about as light as they get! With the #neck, #tuners and #strings it's still only about 6 lbs. Heaven. #guitarcollection #partscaster #fender #tele #replica #guitarphotography #surfgreen #maverickguitarparts #toronto #build #project #diy #homemade #luthier
Still with #DeeBeeCaster™ #2 (see last post). Here is the tinted and lightly #relic-ed #Allparts neck. I applied the #decal myself which is actually quite easy to do...I just Googled images of #transition #logo #Telecaster #headstocks to get an idea of proper positioning. The hard part was sanding and buffing the thin layer of #laquer I over-sprayed without damaging the decal! You might also notice the snazzy new @stonepicks J3 woven in between the #strings. If you like your picks heavy...with no flex on them...then these are the picks for you. Live, I always used the heaviest picks I could find because I always loved playing percussive rhythm with my strumming arm. I got that from my first guitar mentor @funkyceltic, who had started out as a drummer and so he approached the guitar with an incredible rhythmic foundation. From watching him play literally hundreds of times back in #Montreal, I developed an appreciation for #funk and R&B rhythmic #guitar playing that's still with me even though the last real gig I played was over 20 years ago! #teletuesday #fender #tele #replica #homemade #diy #partscaster #guitarphotography
Have you guys been as productive as I have been today? I sincerely doubt it: I watched 4 episodes of #StarTrek #Voyager on Netflix (but before you ridicule me, I followed them up with 4 episodes of #NeilDeGrasseTyson's "#Cosmos", so :P), then I intonated my '72 #Gretsch...which raised a question: Is it possible that you can't intonate all gauges of #strings on all #guitars? Here's why I ask: I put a set of .012s on this #guitar a couple of weeks ago, but noticed that the intonation was off, especially on the low E and B strings. I tried to correct it, but regardless of how I moved the #saddles, I couldn't get the #intonation right...or even close on those two strings! So I scrapped the .012s and put a set of .011s on instead. And as if by magic, the intonation, even on the 2 strings I was having trouble with, was perfect. What the? I thought you could adjust the #bridge to intonate correctly for any #gauge strings? Have I been grossly misinformed?!? :D #guitarrepair #gretschguitars #vintageguitars #vintagegretsch #countrygentleman #guitarcollection #guitarphotography
I finally gave in to all the hype surrounding D’Addario’s new NYXL strings.
I usually will spend no more than 6 or 7 dollars on a set of string, and these cost more than double that amount!
But I put a set of my ‘69 SG Standard - which I have had trouble lately making sound good, and I am happy to report the NYXLs are really great feeling and sounding. I will buy them again. That is as soon as I get through the ten 3 packs of normal D’Addario XLs that I bought when a local guitar shop had them on sale for 9.99! That’s $3.33 per set...hard to beat. Those will last me about one year...but after that, I will definitely buy NYXLs again!
1966 Fender Jaguar - extreme macro edition.
As you can see in the last shot, I found a sale on D'Addario 3-pack .010s! :D