Beautiful Strats guys. The Strat over all is one of the most comfortable guitars to play, the ergonomics are just right to sit comfortably in the lap when playing, a very natural feeling. The body design, the cutouts, even the taper at the top back corner that allows your arm to comfortably rest against the body and it just seems to bring you naturally closer. Fender built a special one with this design. Up until that point in the mid-60's I was enamored by the Jaguars. My friend, Mike who today you may say that he was like a guitar savant, just a true genius on the guitar, his folks bought him many great guitars, among them was a sunburst Jaguar and Dual Showman combo, that guy could really play. If you heard him play and closed your eyes, you'd almost swear he was the original artist. I was lucky to have him for a good friend as we were the same age and though he probably had a touch of ADHD back then, he was no doubt one if not the best guitarist I've heard play, personally and professionally. If he could keep it together long enough he could no doubt have gone pro outside being another studio musician. And he hooked me with Fenders, I purchased my first a 64' Fender Mustang after hearing his Jaguar in search of that chimey Fender surf tones from the 60's.

The best thing about my vintage 65's was it was light as a feather, but the red 57' Reissue with the maple board was my go to player. It was just classic Fender, sounded great as expected, and was the ultimate comfort in playability.

Thanks for the snaps above of your Strats, all beautiful guitars. Here's another closer snap of my 65' body of the Strat, man that guitar was light. I always could pick it up by the top cut away in one hand to carry it, albeit very carefully.

The sunburst 65'

And I also meant to ask 6guns, I know in the past I've listened to some of your recordings but if I remember they were on acoustic. I just assume most players have both electrics/acoustics. Do you also have electric favorites? Btw, I love that Martin!

Here's Mark Knopfler's quick "Rabbit Hole Video" on his guitars for today's enjoyment. He has some beautiful Strats but you can see him kiss his 58" Les Paul, I'd guess there's something very special about that guitar!

Oh, I forgot to say that my first amp was an Ampeg accordion amp. M-15, IIRC. I hated that thing with all my heart. I played a vintage Ampeg at a music store last year and it had the exact same smell when the tubes heated up the wood cabinet. Even if it would have sounded great (it didn't) I would never have bought it because of that. Brought back how much I loathed that Amp.

When the tubes finally blew out, I put it in the trash. I wasn't going to pay even $2 to get that thing fixed. It's probably worth a few bucks all these years later.

My first and only guitar was a brown acoustic of unknown make or vintage. I was maybe 5. It had no strings, I mostly used it to El Kabong things.

Ohhh, that sunburst '65!


And, Oz - that's a great Strat, too. I like the understated coolness of that finish.


I'd seen that clip of Mark Knopfler a few times. It's worth watching again, too. He's really an amazing player, and I could listen to him talk guitars and music for hours.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
Oh, I forgot to say that my first amp was an Ampeg accordion amp. M-15, IIRC. I hated that thing with all my heart. I played a vintage Ampeg at a music store last year and it had the exact same smell when the tubes heated up the wood cabinet. Even if it would have sounded great (it didn't) I would never have bought it because of that. Brought back how much I loathed that Amp.

When the tubes finally blew out, I put it in the trash. I wasn't going to pay even $2 to get that thing fixed. It's probably worth a few bucks all these years later.

If you get the smell after start-up I'm no amp expert but do have a few decades of being an power company electrician and use the electrical schematics for troubleshooting almost daily when I was employed. I mostly checked all the wiring cables and electronics to include speaker(s)and tubes prior to warming them up. Even the speakers in the past have been found to have bad speaker wire(s) connections, signs of any hot spots on the coil that may indicate a start of a short and could indicate a suspect heat/smell spot. Then check the cones for damages and clean them up and blow dust out. Especially vintage stuff. Any vintage electronics caps, resistors, even tubes have been know to cook in a musty vintage cabinet and create a smell. Lots of stuff really. But this was a pre inspection standard for me when purchasing vintage amps or equipment, your miles may vary.

Mark, I've only had a few vintage Ampeg Gemini amps in my past and both even when placed on stand-by for periods never had any smells, pretty much the same with all the vintage Fenders. And both these amps were used for years. Like mentioned I still have the only one and remaining that I never got around to restoring. Ampeg was used widely in my time for many bass players who loved them and never heard many complaints.

I still favor the vintage blackface Fenders myself. If I had any regrets and continued playing my next target was going to find a good shaped vintage blonde face Fender amp.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
And I also meant to ask 6guns, I know in the past I've listened to some of your recordings but if I remember they were on acoustic. I just assume most players have both electrics/acoustics. Do you also have electric favorites? Btw, I love that Martin!

Hi Will. All the videos I've posted are playing acoustic. Soon after I started playing guitar I went down that road where I had to have a bunch of guitars. And do. I really need to thin them out as I never play some and rarely play others. Maybe in retirement I'll justify them more. As for electrics, I have two strats; Jimi Hendrix look-a-like and a burst w/ rosewood neck. Les Paul custom in burgundy. Heritage 525 jazz guitar. Classic black tele. I went kinda crazy....

quote:

Originally posted by 6guns:

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
And I also meant to ask 6guns, I know in the past I've listened to some of your recordings but if I remember they were on acoustic. I just assume most players have both electrics/acoustics. Do you also have electric favorites? Btw, I love that Martin!

Hi Will. All the videos I've posted are playing acoustic. Soon after I started playing guitar I went down that road where I had to have a bunch of guitars. And do. I really need to thin them out as I never play some and rarely play others. Maybe in retirement I'll justify them more. As for electrics, I have two strats; Jimi Hendrix look-a-like and a burst w/ rosewood neck. Les Paul custom in burgundy. Heritage 525 jazz guitar. Classic black tele. I went kinda crazy....

6guns, I did some reading from the Martin site about your EMP-1 Martin. I see that it is a special Martin employee design. Sounds like a cool idea that C.F.Martin would give the employees that kind of latitude to design and build a guitar based on their ideas. A great approach and makes perfect sense. Sounds like a great guitar. There were many of different manufactures like Taylor, Alvarez, Guild, Gibsons and others that are well built fantastic sounding acoustics and I've heard a lot of them in person. I just stuck with what guitar was well built, had a reputation, and was available to play in-hand and the shop I always bought from always had several Martins both New and Used usually hanging in the acoustic room racks.

Additionally, if you happen on some snaps of the Strats or other gear please feel free to post them. From where I always sit, it's some of my greatest joys is to browse others gear and chat about stuff. Keep it coming!

A Mexican Strat in IIRC 1999, along with some tiny little Crate solid-state practice amp. I still have, and occasionally play, the guitar. AFAIK the amp is somewhere at my parents or sister/brother-in-law’s place, but I haven’t seen it in years.

quote:

Originally posted by TheOtherDave:
A Mexican Strat in IIRC 1999, along with some tiny little Crate solid-state practice amp. I still have, and occasionally play, the guitar. AFAIK the amp is somewhere at my parents or sister/brother-in-law’s place, but I haven’t seen it in years.

I remember back in those days when you could buy a brand new Mexican Strat for $300. Now they're around $550. That's flipping ridiculous.

quote:

6guns, I did some reading from the Martin site about your EMP-1 Martin. I see that it is a special Martin employee design. Sounds like a cool idea that C.F.Martin would give the employees that kind of latitude to design and build a guitar based on their ideas. A great approach and makes perfect sense. Sounds like a great guitar. There were many of different manufactures like Taylor, Alvarez, Guild, Gibsons and others that are well built fantastic sounding acoustics and I've heard a lot of them in person. I just stuck with what guitar was well built, had a reputation, and was available to play in-hand and the shop I always bought from always had several Martins both New and Used usually hanging in the acoustic room racks.

Additionally, if you happen on some snaps of the Strats or other gear please feel free to post them. From where I always sit, it's some of my greatest joys is to browse others gear and chat about stuff. Keep it coming!

I'll try to get some other photos taken and posted.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

quote:

Originally posted by TheOtherDave:
A Mexican Strat in IIRC 1999, along with some tiny little Crate solid-state practice amp. I still have, and occasionally play, the guitar. AFAIK the amp is somewhere at my parents or sister/brother-in-law’s place, but I haven’t seen it in years.

I remember back in those days when you could buy a brand new Mexican Strat for $300. Now they're around $550. That's flipping ridiculous.

Inflation over the last 20 years has been lower than the 100 year average, still, something purchased today will be 1.5 x the cost of something purchased in 2000. That said, the MIM Strat is ahead of inflation (at least it’s not a college education).

I do not remember the name of my first two guitars. They were both cheap. My amp was a silvertone. Cannot remember the model.

My ex brother in law who was not an ex at the time wanted to buy my electric guitar and amp. I told him come up with the cash and it was his. I wanted some better gear.
He came over while I was at work and told my then wife I said it was ok to "borrow" it and he took it. I would never have loaned that out to very many people, even though it was not very good. He sold it. I never got any money.

^^^ Reminds me of my ex brother in law who borrowed a canoe and never returned after his sister and I divorced. Actually told me he "deserved" it for the hardship he felt! Typical fucking liberal.

Now...back to guitars!

Went through my files and finally located my Guitar receipts file. Luckily I saved all receipts and I've bought and sold a good bit of guitars, amps and gear. In searching thru I've found some amps and guitars, even services performed by one of the great Luthiers Dan Erlewine who did a complete work over on a special Gibson highly flamed Historic Reissue"Lemon Burst" which were a special run and my dealer bought 4 of them. I snapped up one and sent it to Dan, what a truly amazing job he did.

Also, I may have actually forgot that I had a few amps in the past I'd forgotten about, like a BF Princeton Reverb and a Marshall TSL-122 Combo amplifier..

Though my brain injury has messed with my memory, especially short term, I'm glad that I at least kept all these receipts of a time that is eroding in bits. Some really great memories in that stack of receipts and paperwork

Here's a pic of the Heritage.

Beautiful guitar 6guns. Back in the later 60's and 70's many of my friends played semi hollow body guitars. They all had that jazzy tone and unmistaken full body sound. Some of the best action and playability of most any guitars at that time. Several friends had ES 335's that had killer 60's vibe. What immediately comes to mind is a friend who played a gig using a 335 plugged into a Standel amp with reverb cranking out the song Satisfaction, that tone has just stuck with me all these years, I can still hear the depth of the reverb. Funny how those things just stick with you, and only a semi hollow body unique tone made it special.

Bought used in 1975, played it through my stereo input jack until I got my Fender deluxe amp.

quote:

Originally posted by Butch 2340:
Bought used in 1975, played it through my stereo input jack until I got my Fender deluxe amp.

Wow! What year was it made then?