The Guitar That Hated Me!

So it doesn't look that bad.
This guitar hated me.
I mentioned it in an earlier post, it's an Epiphone Les Paul. The photo's really don't do it justice, it was a beautiful looking guitar, the grain was a beautiful tiger stripe and I loved the look.
But playing it was like wrestling an alligator.

One of the very few guitars I never got on with, and I do mean few. This honestly was hard work. I bought it in 2000, it was made in 1998. I bought it purely on looks, I was in a shop my mate worked in and as I was leaving I saw it on a stand and bought it there and then, it was only £90!
Didn't try it out or anything, total impulse buy.
From day one it just never felt right. Even the way it hung on the strap didn't feel right. When I played it, it felt like it was constantly wriggling out of my grip.
I'm not superstitious or any of that crap, but looking back, this guitar didn't want me to play it. I couldn't get a decent tone out of it, everything sounded clunky. But because of the look, I persevered with it.
Now I'm not putting down Epiphones, this was an excellent guitar. Well made, excellent set up, I just couldn't get to grips with this one, I've played various other Epiphones since, and even own another Epiphone Les Paul, the only problem was this particular guitar.
I looked after it, I polished it regularly, put lemon oil on the fretboard everytime I changed strings. But it was destined not to be.
Eventually, in 2009 I sold it. For 9 years I persevered with it, but realised I wasn't gonna get anything out of it. So it went on Ebay. I'm just glad there were no kids to worry about :-)
I made a decent profit out of it, and used the money to buy my Gretsch.
Not long after I sold it I got an email from the buyer, he loved it, it was his perfect guitar. Which just shows the vagaries of guitar buying.

For the eagle eyed among you, it IS left handed. I'm naturally left handed, but can play guitar either right handed or left handed, I've played both ways at gigs, just to show off. Cos I'm like that.

My Pride and Joy

This is my Gretsch Electromatic Pro Jet. My pride and joy.
You know when you pick up a guitar and it just fits so perfectly? This does that. When I played it in the shop, I just knew this was my guitar. I 've had it 3 years, I've gigged it to death and I've never had a problem with it.
It keeps in tune no matter how I abuse it. The action is fantastic, and it has an amazing tone no matter wether I play it clean or dirty.
Not the most expensive guitar ever made, or even in the Gretsch range, but playing a guitar isn't about price, or even brand names, it's about the guitat itself, the vibe, the mojo.
I sold an Epiphone Les Paul to buy this. I had the Les Paul for years, but I could never bond with it. No idea why. The guitar looked fantastic, beautiful tiger stripe, cherry sunburst. But it just never felt right, I persevered for a long time, I really wanted the guitar to work, but it just never felt right. This isn't to say I don't like Epiphones, just that particular one.
But with the Gretsch, it felt right as soon as I picked it up. This is a guitar I'll never part with.

The only modification I've made, if you can call it a modification, is a Vibramate spoiler on the bigsby. I love bigsby's, on the right guitar it looks as cool a f***. But restringing a bigsby, especially mid gig, is a royal pain. The spoiler changed all that, takes seconds to change a string and I'd highly recomend them to bigsby users.

The above photo shows a wee bit of damage the guitar sustained at a gig. I'm still not sure what happened, no one saw it happen. The guitar was knocked of it's stand at a gig, just before we were due to start. A chunk was taken off the finish on the neck, at the third fret. I was so distraught! The guitar has a couple of dings here and there, but at the time I thought this was the worst thing ever. The first couple of songs we played were a bit rubbish cos I was so upset about this. I've got over it though, the way I look at it now is that I'll always be able to find the third fret without looking :-).

So anyway, the point is, you'll know when you find your perfect guitar, and the make and price are immateriel, but then.........it is a Gretsch

Guitar Project

I wanted to try building a guitar from parts bought on ebay, not exactly custom built, but as close as I could get. The photo above shows the ( almost ) finished version.
The body was an excellent hardwood body, I think the original guitar was made by Vantage or Vintage. Had a beautiful maple top in cherry sunburst. The neck was from an unknown brand. I fitted a wilkinson roller bridge and tailpiece as well as wilkinson tuners, all in gold.
The pick ups were GFS Dream 180's, described as a cross between a filtertron and a PAF. The electrics consisted of a single volume, single tone and an Artec 5 step distortion switch.

If you look closely at the photos above, you can see how high I had to set the bridge ( and bridge pick up ) to compensate for the angle of the neck. The angle was one thing I didn't check before I finished the guitar, consequently it remained very steep, not unplayable but felt weird when playing.
Anyway, I was pleased so far with how the guitar looked and wanted to make it a bit more personal. I came across a seller on ebay who custom made guitar headstock logo's. I didn't want to pretend this guitar was something it wasn't, so I had a personalised logo made.

Using as close a font as possible he put my band name as the logo in a Gibsonish style, and my name in a sort of Les Paul style font. This was a waterslide full face decal. I was very pleased with the result. I can't remember how many coats of laquer I put over it, but I would think at least ten.

The finished guitar was used for about a dozen gigs, as well as rehearsals. Although it had a great sound, very full and rounded with excellent sustain, I never really used the Artec 5 Step switch that often. Also it always felt to me to be a bit fragile, the steep neck angle had a lot to do with this.

The guitar looked good, a lot of people commented on it, even non guitarists liked it, but I never really bonded with it, mainly because of the neck angle, but also the small body.

So it was retired while I had a rethink.

I have decided to change the body, and am currently trying to source a Les Paul body that looks as good as the one I used. Obviously the wood would have to be as good quality to ensure I get as good a tone out of it.

One day the Spitfire guitar will return!!

Not exactly sure of how much I spent on it, but a ball park figure would be £150. Not too bad, wife didn't mind and it kept me quiet for a week or two :-)

Gretsch/ Fender White Chicken

Like the previous photo, this was made as an exhibition piece, but woudn't it be great if it was a general production model. Maybe we should petition Fender/ Gretsch and see if they can make them available, even if only for a limited run.
Based on the White Falcon, this has been christened the White Chicken.
Amazing work.

Now this is what I call guitar porn!

A cross between a Telecaster and a 6120. Looks absolutley amazing. I'm not a huge fan of Telecasters, or Fenders in general, but I would sell my kids to own this guitar. It has a vibe, you know? Even if it sounded crap, it'd be an amazing guitar to have in my collection. Just love how it's managed to capture the look of both guitars.

I beleive this was made just after Fender aquired Gretsch, there were a couple of other variations, pics to come soon of them. Would be great if they made production models of this, and even the other guitars. I'd definatley buy this one!