EdwardMarlowe

Yeah, inreality they're quite a lot cheaper than the Squier CVs which they at least equal.

I'm interested in hearing from people who gig about the relative importance of form and function. For example, friends who have played in pro bands have often mentioned the importance of having the right 'look' - both for themselves and their instruments - for niche scenes. No reason why you couldn't play rockabilly on a Dean ML through an AC30, for example, but a large chunk of that scene's potential audience will switch off if you don 't have 'the look'. Same for very many scenes. I do wonder how many people in these parts who actually gig choose gear and/or stagewear with audience expectation in mind?

Pretty much word for word what I'd have said. Were I looking a cheapish Tele with no mods to make to add to my armoury now I know what I want (and bearing in mind it would be slipping in alongside a CIJ 71RI Tele), I'd start by comparing a 50s CV Tele with a Vintage (JHS brand) V52 or V58 or V62 or V75 model. Aesthetically, the headstock on the Vintage guitars is less pleasing (simply because it's a lot more Strat than Tele), but those Trevor Wilkinson designs are cracking otherwise. https://www.jhs.co.uk/-4463/vintage-electrics/vintage-reissued-electrics Vintage also do some in a slightly distressed finish, if you fancy the novelty of a relic but don't want to pay out the big money: https://www.jhs.co.uk/-4463/vintage-electrics/vintage-icon-electrics TBH, if I was going to gig out regularly in rough venues or otherwise wanted a few guitars I didn't need to worry about much, I'd quite likely start with Vintage. Just a shame for me their left hander provision is limited, or I probably would pick up a couple for fun. If I wanted a Tele type just as an initial experiment to see if the basic style worked for me, I do hear good things about the HB. The Squier Affinity Tele, however, is surprisingly good for the money. String thru body, generally quite good pups in it. Every so often I toy with the ideas of buying one of these and a blank pickguard, and rewiring it as an Esquier. Always seemed odd to me that Fender don't do more with the Esquier design, compared to the big deal Gibson/ Epiphone have made of their singly pup guitars over the years.

Interested to see photos. I always thought it would be cool to rehouse a bunch of favourite pedals, give 'em a uniform look/size/shape and an air of mystery!

The "Single Malt" sound? It'd be interesting to experiment with for sure. Personally, I'd always planned that if I made it as a rock star I'd have a mystery pedal labelled "The Diagonal Steam Trap" which I'd stand on every so often. It would, by design, do *nothing*, but the aim would be to see if I could create demand for one or con people into thinking it was part of my sound.

I should think it will be a bit too convincing. Hell, after playing guitar for closing in on thirty years (badly, mind), I'm still not sure I'm ready for Uke having tried and failed at five string banjo! The better alternative if this is going to be a regular thing - wanting to travel with your guitar - is to go looking for a guitar design specifically for travel. A few years ago I bought a used Steinberger Spirit (basically the Squier version of a Steiney.... Ed Roman hated them, which is always a plus, ha!) for travel. The ideal travle guitar is one with minimal body, so the neck is the main thing. Most are electric (allows it to be as small as possible ). You could find a used Martin Backpacker cheaply, but I wouldn't. A friend bought one years ago ,and oh my did it sound.... well, shite. Better a travel electric and a tiny headphone amp. TBH, for acoustic sound in a quiet room on my own, an unplugged electric is grand for me; plug in if you want distortion. One of those cigarette pack sized amps, or the ones on Etsy in an altoids tin are fine. I'm thinking something like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anygig-Electric-Guitar-Strings-010-046/dp/B07M6XLV2M/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=travel+guitar&qid=1604072293&sr=8-8 Not played one, but it seems to have reasonable reviews, and it's what I'd buy if I was looking for something now. Actually, I am tempted.... THomann has some options, both cheaper (but a bigger body - basically looks like a headless strat with a small body the size and shape of the PG) and more expensive, depends on your needs and budget. Another option, if your folks are groovy with it - would be to buy a bottom end (but reasonable) acoustic - maybe something like this at £62 - https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbd110nt.htm - or a cheap second hand one - when you're at your folks, and then store it there for when you do visit. I've done that for years, though my folks are moving and downsizing soon, so I'll soon have to review that. Finally, there's always the option of a forty quid cigarbox-guitar (see Amazon) - buy a three stringer, tune it to EAD and practice your powerchords while you're away....

Confucious say "If offer too good to be true..." I can only surmise that anyone selling off a collection like that who really didn't need to money would still either ask for a bit more, or maybe sell at market value for charity, or donate to something like Jail Guitar Doors. Of course a fake guitar can be a good one: Slash's Appetite for Destruction LP was a fake... Before Fender got on the ball with their relics, there were people making "replicas" and selling them as such, but still using the Fender TMs. These, however, sounds like a con from start to finish. At that price they simply can't be better than the very bottom end Harley Bentons; the fact that they are using the Gibson name to try and sell them suggests they aren't. Likely they are the cheapest and nastiest of kit guitars thrown together, and not what the photos depict. That is, of course, assuming there is any product to sale and somebody isn't intending just to hoover up cash and disappear. My best guess is that its' a con, and you would get a guitar but the cheapest and nastiest sort, likely built to order based on whichever model you asked for. In the leather jacket world, it's very common for sellers based in Indian, China & Pakistan to steal copyrighted photos from other businesses (and even buyer photos from forums - yes, yours truly ended up a "model" on one such website after I put up photos on a forum of me in a US-made leather jacket!) and then put those up on their website. They never actually make the jacket unless or until one is ordered, at which point they send you a cheap approximation thereof. Quality varies.... usually from low to substandard. Put it this way, if somebody is this cavalier with the truth - and other people's IP - do you really expect they care enough to make a good product? The other long-running con eBay fought for a long time before they stopped it is charging a tenner for a guitar and £200 for the postage. If it was what it claims to be, £210 ain't bad, but when it shows up and it's clearly a crap fake and you ask for your money back, well , you only paid £10 for the guitar..... (eBay stamped this out from self interest as it was a way of avoiding their fees, but I'm sure it still goes on elsewhere.)

Anyone seen these? Stumbled across these the other day. Been a long time since I've seen as interesting a new concept in pedals. If they could do these at reasonable prices and expand a range, this could be a great way of having many of the advantages of a pedalboard without having to have the board.... Clever idea. Also clever is the fact that to have the big advantage of the sign, you need to buy more than one! https://www.gearnews.com/puzzle-effects-a-quirky-new-concept-for-boutique-effects/

I liked the idea of the aluminium bits in the sides. Definitely they were selling these as a collector's piece, but it would be really interesting to see somebody give top notch manufacture to this sort of thing in a regular line, see how affordable it could be. I suspect it'd have to be a "non-first world" manufacture, though, given how big a chunk of the cost of something like this made in the US or UK would be the labour, so it might end up that in reality to do what this is as a regular production model could be hard to market, given the so many people still believe in "tonewood" - especially at the price of a regular Taylor. Nonetheless, I love seeing thingsl ike this that explode the myths!

Good rundown of the story here: http://www.guitaradventures.com/taylor-pallet-guitar-story Not a fan of the inlay, but otherwise if they did these as a regular model and passed any cost saving on the the consumer, I'd be seriously interested. Only bit I didn't like so much was the inlay. GAK had or maybe still have one on sale used for seven and a half K (ouch!).

Cracking looking projects. Two things I especially love. One is how you can produce great instruments from wood many would dismiss as scrap. Taylor made a run of gorgeous guitars some years ago from old packing palettes, to prove the point that the build quality and design matters as much or more than so-called "tonewood". What *really* grabs me about these, though, is the idea that Music Endures: you've taken an old instrument that was presumably just past saving, and create something new with it such that it can live again in another form, and make music once more. That's pure poetry, that is. Not to mention that it would be a great gimmick if ever you were going to go into selling them! Like barncaster, but somehow a step cooler. Love to hear some recordings of these.

TBH, in your position I think I'd go for something like one of those Vox floorboards - https://reverb.com/uk/item/34994780-vox-tonelab-se-valvetronix-multi-effects-floorboard?locale=en-GB - and if you need to supply your own PA, just go through that. Bonus ball: if you're playing a venue where there's a decent house pa, you have much less to carry. Don't think they're interchangeable with bass, tough they do do bass models which don't have to be particularly complex, imo - a godo bass sound is a good bass sound.... The purists will stone me for saying this, but I honestly think we're not far off seeing the death not only of huge amps that modern PAS have rendered redundant, but on stage probably amps at all. I know when the Buddy Holly show was last in the West end, every single amp on stage was solely for set-dressing; all the guitas were through Line 6 Pods, and nobody ever noticed...

Rule NUmber 1: if you wqant to keep a gift from an ex, a new partner doesn't need to know that's where it came from! Better all round. But yeah, eBay will be a guide at one end - make sure to check completed sales for what they actually sell for rather than what people want. Reverb might be worth checking too.

I was briefly a fan of that sot of thing when I was fifteen. He was definitely a hugely significant guitar player for many in the eighties and beyond. Suddenly, 65 seems terribly young an age to go at.

I think in large part it's a rebranding of the old MIM vintage series guitars, but definitely they've upped their game. quite likely because of the success of the Squiers. IME the CVs are good enough that I think they could have gotten away with badging them as "MIC Fender". Always like the look of the MIM vintage models, but no lefties so no dice for me. The CVs are the only "vintage reissue" Fenders that have a left handed option south of the higher end US made stuff. Fender Japan were always good with lefties, but those are rarely seen now because of the shift to Mexico in the main for US & EU markets. The left handed availability in the Player range is a huge step forward. First time Fener Mexico have ever done a left handed P bass, and it's the only maple-boarded bass lower in price than the US 50s p bass. I remember Squier doing the Vista series in the mid/late 90s. Japanese made, the Supersonic, the Courtney Love endorsed Venus, the HH equipped Jasgmaster... the latter definitely later got a Fender run via Mexico in some form. Squier have occasionally been used to do something 'diferent' and of their own; some of them ore conservative end of that have definitely had Fender runs. Squier have broght basck the Supersonic; I'd love to see what Fender might so with that in Mexico. Me, I'd love a lefty in the original blue sparkle with two p90s and a full-scale, 68-spec neck, maple board, big headstock.... Considered Hendrixing one back ni the day, but I coldn't get on with the tiny neck when I tried it in the shop.

Squier seem to be a test bed for a lot of things for Fender. I'm sure I've seen quite a few models start as Squier and later appear as MIM Fender and so on.

I've picked up a few of those in my time, though to date I've never actually had the scratch to pay thousands for 'em, so it's largely academic! If I had two grand to spend ona guitar, though, it'd have to be something custom made rather than OTR.

Interesting range. They certainly look to be bang on the money, and while I prefer the more traditional appointments that the Big F use (I'm not one for active pickups at all), it's nice to see somebody offer this sort of variation on a traditional theme at this price point. Must be plenty of players out there would welcome the active bass tech / superstrat style in a more 'traditional' package. I'm intrigued by the acoustic guitar selling with an included outboard preamp. Not something I've seen elsewhere. As a lefy, they don't seem to have any guitars that cater to me, but an unusually wide range of left handed basses. Im' not an active guy, but if they did one of those nice JBs with passive pickups, I'd definitely look at them as a contender. I do like the look of the passive, short-scape bass, though I'd prefer to stick with a full size neck, I think. One of those with a full scale neck and a pick-up akin to the original 51 P Bass design would be something...

On the plus side, it probably makes it easier to wrap the thumb opver the top of the fretboard to hold down the low E, a la Hendrix....

Did you ever find out anything more about this?

Have you tried doing a rubbing of the logo impression on the headstock? bit of white paper over it, rub lightly with a pencil or crayon - might give a clearer view of it. Time-wsie, my best guess would be 50s-early sixties, European - possibly German?

Oh, I hear ya on that! I remember once talking about the madness of a guitar costing two grand in front of some classical musicians.... that was an education!

I vaguely remember fitting some Dean Markley Earrthwound(?) bronzes that worked well on mine. I have flatwounds on my Brandoni P bass, and I love them - if only they weren't so lethally expensive for guitar! Leanig the strings on for years so they go a bit "duller" sounding somehow also seems to take the sharpness off the high end.

I always thought thatwas a great idea of Gretsch's, but it seems few others did given it never caight on... I guess that's all part of the "relic" look, eh? Maybe the next thing will be a gorilla-glass type clear sheet to go over it, like a screen protector fo a tablet or phone...

Ha, well... I think you'd find Gibson woulf od it if Gibson weremore in the business of selling aftermarket wiring and such.... I suspect in part nobody thought of these things when they we designed because there was no "aftermarket" availability in those days.... The cool thing abouyt a removablew back would be you could rpealce one if it got badly dinged up by buckle rash. Also, we could debate the effect of different back materials (and not using one at all) on tone - win!