All Things Guitar

[jfkbengals]

(01-08-2016, 12:04 AM)Wes Mantooth Wrote: I used to have an absolute shit ton of gear.  And as I got older (and more adult bills came and went) I parted ways with most of it.  Up until recently I only had a Frankenstrat I pieced together and a MIJ Aria Les Paul type, that I played though a POD or a little Kustom Hybrid.

Fast forward to this year... The old bug bit me again, and I started piecing together more gear these last few months.  Here's what I've added:

-Fender Tele (American Special in Vintage Blonde).  Man, did I miss having a maple fingerboard and a good old USofA Fender.
-Fender Blues Junior (Tweed NOS).  Mmmm...Fender guitars sound great though Fender Amps.  
-Epiphone Les Paul Standard.  You know, I always had Les Pauls and I missed my old ones.  So I went the cheaper route.  This thing plays ***** great.  I can't say enough about how impressed I am with a 500 dollar guitar.
-I added a Fulltone OCD and a Carbon Copy because I didn't have many pedals left (All I still had was a Crybaby and a Phase 90) and I wasn't going to run a POD in front of my new tube amp.

Digging my set-up right now.  It really simple and sounds killer.  Perfect for me just jamming at the house.  Eventually I'll probably snag an old US Peavey Wolfgang Special.  Love the necks on those and would like one guitar aith a Floyd.

How do you like it?

I too have been bitten again, and I've been considering one of these as all of my electrics are cheap knockoff brands.

I still run my Son of Boogie amp that I've had since '90 or so, and during that time I had a '51 Broadcaster for a period*.  It sounded fantastic with that amp, so I've been considering getting a Telecaster, and that one stood out to me.


*The Broadcaster story.  My acoustic guitar at that time was an Alvarez that I paid $99 for.  Nice big sound to it.  The elderly couple next door had a very musically oriented family (One of their sons wrote and performed a Billboard Top 10 single in the mid 80s and wrote for many household names).  The youngest son who still lived in town would come watch their house when they were off traveling the county visiting the rest of their 8 kids and their families.  We would jam together when he would stay there.  He'd always bring his Tele, and sometimes I'd just loan him my practice amp so he wouldn't have to lug his amp.

One day he asks me if he could borrow the Alvarez, as he hadn't had an acoustic in years and was kind of jonesing to play one and really liked the sound from mine.  While I was thinking about it, he said he'd leave me the Fender as collateral.  I said no problem and he left with the acoustic, leaving the Fender behind.  It didn't see him again for at least 4 months, and it was closer to 6 before he brought the acoustic back.  I had grown fond of the Fender, but I was ready to have an acoustic again.

It was when I walked over and said "here's your Tele" that he let me in on a little secret.  It was no Tele, it was a '51 Broadcaster that his dad had bought brand new and it had passed around the family over the years.  I was hesitant to believe him at first, but he pulled out the appraisal he had gotten in Nashville the last time he was there visiting his brother (the one with the Top 10 hit).  I was FLOORED.  This man had no problem trading me a guitar that today is valued in excess of $50k for a guitar that only cost me $99.