Any other Martin's or other acoustic lovers out there? I would hope that I don't seem overenthusiastic or forward posting up a lot of my gear and memorabilia, I just a huge fan, and photo's and/or memories is all I have to share. Some days I miss playing so much it pains me, but I can still look and discuss as I have so many good stories over the years..

Will, I have a 000-15M. That’s the only acoustic guitar I have, but I think it’s one of the best bargains in acoustics out there. The workmanship, QC and sound quality is right there with Martin’s much more expensive guitars.

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TMats, thank you for your post, when I read your post about QC and sound quality, it reminded me of a Guild acoustic a friend had back in the 70's. They were a bit more popular at that time and that guitar could ring! A beautiful full sounding resonance, a real treasure actually and extremely well made. Martins were always my go-to acoustic, but when I was in my late teens and up they were the guitar to aspire to own if you could afford them. But most all the ones I or friends had and played sounded great. The only mods I ever did to improve playability on my D-28 was sanding down the saddle and very carefully filing out the bone nut to lower the action a tad. Being extremely slow and careful not to create any fret buzz set-up for light gauge strings. That was the most amazing sounding acoustic I ever had and played.

Oh, and with Edmonds permission here's his beautiful D-18 with the Adirondack top he sent me. I'll always love and enjoy a sweet resonating acoustic, they just ring forever. I always loved restringing mine and hitting those notes and chords immediately following, unforgettable..

Edmonds D-18

I love my Martin! The smaller body of this EMP-1 is a perfect size for me and works with the songs I play; strum or finger style. And easy on the shoulders.

Just a quick change up as I had this bouncing around in my memory of some old gear/amp stuff. In the end I was mostly a straight signal guitar/amp kind of path but did play around with some vintage pedals. Never designed a pedal board or anything of sorts but experimented with these oldies..



and of course adding in some Hendrix Wah flare..

I need to get pics of my guitars up.

I once had a Jim Dunlop wah pedal but ended up selling it.

Also had a fuzz face that met the same fate.

Been thinking about picking up a Vox microstack and getting back into electric guitar.

My first guitar was a Harmony H-802 that my mom bought for my birthday in the mid-1980s. I didn’t have an amp until the early 1990s when I started to learn how to play and I purchased a used 35W Crate amp.

After a few months of learning to play, I upgraded to a used Gibson Les Paul and never looked back.

I still have my Harmony and the Gibson, but I “loaned” my Crate amp to a friend who I can only assume sold it.

quote:

Originally posted by TMats:
Very cool! Oddly enough I just recently read about Barney Kessel, when researching another guitar player. He was with the famous LA based Wrecking Crew, session musicians who played on thousands of recordings.

Thank you! I knew who he was as a kid, and didn’t realize he had put his name on anything other than his Gibson namesake models. When I started looking to replace my Airline I found out he had an endorsement deal with them, but that he couldn’t stand the guitars they built.

Just love the content, comments, photos and experiences from the members. It inspired me to go down the Youtube rabbit hole today for hours. Everything from Acoustics and Electrics, to great gear and so forth. From Mark Knopfler & Chet Atkins playing together on to Les Paul & Billy Gibbons playing together onstage. The rabbit hole is deep, way deep I would have loved to post a couple of those but sadly the Karminator is down for a bit, but will return soon.

My Christmas present to myself this year is a Fender American Professional II, in the burst finish and with a rosewood fretboard. Lovely, marvelous sounding guitar. It took a little tweaking to get the setup just right - a little tweak to the truss rod, some adjustments to the bridge and the pickup height, and some Shaller S Locks, and now it's just how I like it. The frets are taller and skinnier than what I'm used to - my other guitars use medium jumbo - but while it feels a little different, I love the way it plays. Some chords are easier, and the 9.5" fretboard radius and nicely rounded edges on the fretboard all feel very comfortable. The pickups are a little higher output and have a little more attitude than the noiseless pickups on my Ultra. It's a nice counterpart. There's a great clean sound, and it gives some really awesome overdrive and distorted tones too. Another very nice guitar from Fender.

Technically my first guitar was an Ibanez artwood acoustic from my ex-wife's aunt (see worked for Hoshino USA). I had it for about 15 years and probably once a year I would try to play it for about a week. For me it was very difficult to play, it was absolutely uncomfortable. After my last attempt I gave up and gave it to my dad who plays acoustics, mostly 12 strings. He did say it needed to be adjusted and setup but I told him it's his now to do with what he wants. That was about a year ago.

A few months ago I started watching Tyler Larson (Music Is Win), Rick Beato, Rhett Shull, Michael Palmisano, and others on YouTube. I found JustinGuitar and after listening to him and a few others I decided it was time to give it another shot. This time though I was going to get a guitar that was comfortable and would fit the style of music I wanted to be able to play eventually; rock, blues and rockabilly. So after much research I was starting to look at Fender Strats. Figure at some point when I get good enough I'll start looking at Gretsch hollow bodies.

As much as I told her not to get me anything, my fiance ended getting me a Fender Player Strat (Mexican) for Christmas. So now I have my black Stratocaster. Picked up a BOSS Katana MkII and some other gear and I'm off and running. Thru one week and I look forward to practicing everyday. Finger tips hurt but that is to be expected, the guitar is as comfortable as I remember the last time I held a Strat years ago.

So, even though the acoustic was my first, the Strat is the one that makes me look forward to playing. I told my fiance that it's all down hill from here, now I need to start a savings bucket for guitars and gear

kx90, and down the rabbit hole we go

Yeah, I told her anything I spend on guitars or guitar related equipment from here on out will now officially be her fault

I got to fool around with my father in law’s old Martins over the weekend. He has a 1943 000-28 and a 1937 00-17 mahogany slot head. Those guitars have the best sound of any I’ve ever touched, not that I can do them justice.

first amp - Line6 Spider

second amp - Orange

third amp - Blues Junior

gave away the Line6 as a door stop to a friend of mine

quote:

Originally posted by kx90:
Yeah, I told her anything I spend on guitars or guitar related equipment from here on out will now officially be her fault

Let us know how that strategy works out.

Out of the several blackface era Fender amps that I kept around for the Fender flavor and Ampeg tube amps, besides an early solid state Acoustic 155/105 combo, I purchased a compact amp by Tube Works with Mosvalve technology, it was an amazing little amp with 1-12" that was incredibly versatile for getting a little growl or distortion at lower levels if you desired it.

The Tube Works RT2100 is a 1x12 combo dual channel guitar amplifier that contains the infamous MosValve technology of the eighties and nineties. The Genz Benz owned company used the MosValve technologies to simulate the tones of a tube power section at any volume. It's a two channel amp with clean and drive channels. Each channel has it's own EQ and the drive channel contains unique cascading gain controls labelled drive (amount of saturation) and stack (changing the tonestack to suit different styles of playing). There's also onboard reverb and an effects loop. The featureset is pretty standard, but it overshadows needless features for great tone. Each side is capable of about 100 watts of power and it serves well in jam and gig settings.

UTILIZATION

Setting up this amp is a fairly standard process. Other than the cascading drive controls it's a very typical amp and will respond as such. I find it has a bit more of a US voicing as opposed to British, though that classic UK roar can be heard peeking through the sound spectrum at times. The EQ controls work fairly well on each channel to shape a variety of tones, and the overall smooth and refined character is pleasing to the ear; it's not rough or grating sounding. It's definitely aired towards more of the classic vibe of tones. The overall tonal centre is rooted in traditional stylings which make it a cool amp for things like blues, classic rock or fusion-y lead.

SOUNDS

This amp sounds great with a variety of different guitars. Using a Strat yields some really rich yet chimey clean toned that are great for funk or soul music. It can also do some great classic cleans a-la Hendrix or Mark Knopfler. Using a humbucker loaded guitar gives the cleans more bite and hair, rendering it an excellent choice for blues or early rock n roll sounds. Switching to the drive channel brings forth a smooth yet articulate voicing. Single coils seem most at home with more articulate lead work a-la Eric Johnson or Yngwie, and humbuckers work well for an even thicker yet still very smooth lead tone. It doesn't quite have the low end grunt or saturation for modern rock or metal tones, partly due to the strong midrange voice of the drive channel. The Tube Works RT 2100, a dual channel amp that contains MosValve tech of the 80's and 90's. It's 2-channels contain a clean and drive channel and each has it's own EQ. Using a Strat can get that rich chimey clean tones similar to Hendrix and Knopfler and using humbuckers can get more bite and growl rendering it a great choice for early rock and blues. A great little compact amp that I had played around with over all was fun if you wanted to experiment or dial in your favorite tone.

Otherwise it was Fenders. Never did buy a Marshall. There always seemed to be favorites and lots of good amps available to fit your tastes.

And this was my last guitar purchased from my favorite local shop before the owner Ed passed away. I actually enjoyed playing this maple neck Strat more than my 65'. Should have went with the maple board Strat many years ago and would have got more enjoyment playing them. It is a 57' Reissue and a great Fender.

quote:

Originally posted by just1tym:
And this was my last guitar purchased from my favorite local shop before the owner Ed passed away. I actually enjoyed playing this maple neck Strat more than my 65'. Should have went with the maple board Strat many years ago and would have got more enjoyment playing them. It is a 57' Reissue and a great Fender.

I have come to really enjoy Strats. That one looks fantastic - I'd love to add a Strat in Cinnamon or Fiesta Red one of these days.

Here are my two:

This American Ultra, with maple neck. The blue paint sparkles like a car's finish. I love the feel of the maple neck and the medium jumbo frets. The highs come out so nicely on this guitar, with lots of shimmer and sparkle when you roll up the tones. I'd call this my #1, just by a hair.





And here's my new American Professional II. It's a little warmer sounding than the Ultra, and there's not as big of a shoulder on the fretboard. The pickups are a little higher output, so it has more attitude when you put on some overdrive or distortion. Really, a great all-around sound. The narrow-tall fret wires took a bit to get used to. They don't really disappear under the fingers the way the medium jumbo do. But, they do make barre chords a little easier. And I love the burst finish.

Not my first guitar, but my first Strat, actually quite recent - I was torn by the Adorama gloss Lake Placid blue AmPro strats, but ultimately I went with the color I absolutely loved from the first time I saw it. There will eventually be an actual blue guitar in my collection, but I really love this one. All my others were black.