shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by vvv » Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:40 am

The pups on my T-40 are called "toasters".

Just sayin'* ...



*The discerning reader of this forum will again note that I, the maker of this post, have again located same at the top of the page, as I seem fated to do.
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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:29 am

That G&L is sassy! How do you like it?

Like you, it seems I have also been struck with a case of Guitarus Accumulitis:

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I had to do it, it goes with the color scheme in here!

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by shedshrine » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:04 am

Awesome! Your finally got your quilted maple Charvel! Is the thing killer or what? Mahogany and maple, and that fretboard. Just great.

Yeah, that's a G&L ASAT Special. Cursory search with the serial number puts it around 2016. U.S. made. Like I was telling Markjazzbassist in the vinyl thread:

"used, consignment hanging in a shop. I took it down and started messing around with it and ..such a solid machine. I had to walk out with it."


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It had been there for quite awhile. After I bought it I saw the store's online price had been cut a couple times, but it was lower still in the physical store. I didn't even plug in, the feel and sound acoustically were enough to let me know, especially for the price, a pickup swap would clear up any perceived shortcomings there. There are several companies that make replacement pups that will fit that unique size, and those will let you use that white cover over them so it will still look sharp.

The build quality is off the map, like holding a tree branch or a bat, so solid (I'm not talking about the neck feel. Compared to the Charvel's the neck is just a bit rounder. Great!). And beautiful. That metallic gold is deep. And the ASAT sounds different than any of my other guitars. The MFD G&L pickups are tele/P90 hybrid sounding is the best description I've found. I'm no country player, and I see that some people online don't care for it's clarity, mainly in the bridge, but I am finding that for overdriven/distorted tones that clarity is fantastic, and for cleaner than clean tones, effects make magic. So yeah, it's a keeper and I am giving it a lot of time lately. :)



another shot with less glare:

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Last edited by shedshrine on Thu Feb 18, 2021 5:54 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:39 am

shedshrine wrote:
Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:04 am
Is the thing killer or what?
I LOVE it. Looks beautiful, plays great, sounds awesome. As you know! I really like how that Full Shred pickup is voiced, seems just right. Stays in tune perfectly, I've barely touched the tuners since taking it out of the box, and it's been subjected to all sorts of Floyd stupidity.

They just put out a new batch, mine's dated 1/22/21. I found it at a little shop in CA, glad I could get it from them and not one of the big places.

I like that the tag that comes with it shows who worked on it. Arcenio and Victor worked on both of mine. Thanks dudes!

As far as build quality of all my new guitars, both the Charvels get an A, they're both pretty much perfect. The Jackson gets an A-, mostly fine except for a few sharp fret ends. The Gretsch on the other hand....the first one I got, all the electronics died completely after a half hour, and I was really not in the mood to fish everything out through the f-holes to try and fix it, so I returned it and got another. v2 has electronics that work, which is nice, but the fret ends are lethal weapons, the bridge is a buzzy joke, and the volume/tone pots are essentially on/off switches, they're basically useless. Fortunately it sounds good and is fun to play, but all that stuff was kinda disappointing/annoying. The Epi SG I got earlier last year also had lethal fret ends and a not-great bridge, but that's a $300 guitar, I really expected a little better with the Gretsch ($549).

Not complaining though! Happy with all of them, nothing that can't be fixed with a setup.

Your Les Paul is looking a little lonely over there all by himself on the right, don't you think you need to get him a brother?

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by shedshrine » Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:52 am

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:
Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:39 am

Your Les Paul is looking a little lonely over there all by himself on the right, don't you think you need to get him a brother?

Ha! Way ahead of you. I have a black 1988 Gibson Les Paul "the Paul" that I would have loved to have put up alongside that 2014, but I ran out of wall space. :)
I did a second shot of basses and put the Paul in with those:

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by vvv » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:27 am

I have a "The Paul" - whadda sweet guitar, much lighter than a Standard, etc., and I love the green-burst non-bound mahogany body.

Mine came with Dirty Fingers which I used to love when playing out, but I am thinking of swapping to a PAF or even a P90 type. The guitar is just so playable in comparison to Strat-length or even my Tele-types - baseball-battish neck and short-feeling scale. I bought mine used for about US$250 or $300 at a guitar show in in '92 in the last hour before it was closing, and it is and always has been one of my top-5.
Here it is flanked by my G&L's, the left-most of which was my #1 for 20+ years (bought used inna pawnshop about '87 for US$200 or so when no one in Chi really knew G&L) and still would be except I think it needs a fret job; the right most (bought used in another guitar shop about '94 for similar a price) is active electronics which are OK, but not my preference:

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by shedshrine » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:39 am

vvv wrote:
Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:27 am
I have a "The Paul" - whadda sweet guitar, much lighter than a Standard, etc., and I love the green-burst non-bound mahogany body.


Mine came with Dirty Fingers which I used to love when playing out, but I am thinking of swapping to a PAF or even a P90 type. The guitar is just so playable in comparison to Strat-length or even my Tele-types - baseball-battish neck and short-feeling scale. I bought mine used for about US$250 or $300 at a guitar show in in '92 in the last hour before it was closing, and it is and always has been one of my top-5.
Here it is flanked by my G&L's, the left-most of which was my #1 for 20+ years (bought used inna pawnshop about '87 for US$200 or so when no one in Chi really knew G&L) and still would be except I think it needs a fret job; the right most (bought used in another guitar shop about '94 for similar a price) is active electronics which are OK, but not my preference:

My "The Paul" has the Dirty Fingers as well, a real down and dirty tone. I've left them as it is a good crayon as is. Yep, really solid guitar. $400 around 2001? I eventually swapped out the Kluson's for some locking tuners.


If your G&L feels anything like mine, it is the most solid feeling instrument I own. I would get on with the re-fret post haste. :)
I put off refretting my Model 6 for over a decade. Beautiful thing is, once you do it you realize why you wore the frets out on the thing in the first place.
Last edited by shedshrine on Thu Feb 18, 2021 6:13 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by vvv » Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:55 am

Before the G&L re-fret I have to get a crack fixt in my low-end Martin, which as only been there about 5 years ...

I do still play the G&L, it just has a note or two I hafta remember to fret extra hard when doing vibrato (E at ix is one, G and B at xii).
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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by drumsound » Thu Feb 18, 2021 2:58 pm

shedshrine wrote:
Mon Feb 15, 2021 9:15 am
Sometimes you have to be practical. it's not always possible to get a piece of gear when household necessities are required, like kitchen appliances.
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Especially kitchen appliances with dual G&L PAF-ish pickups with a narrower wind so tele tones don't bark so much (it is so written anyway). Makes coffee and toast that much better.

____

G&L ASAT special, P90 replacements??
I have a fairly early ASAT (I think they are called ASAT Specials) like that, no 'soft' bout for arm comfort. It's one of the best sounding guitars I've ever heard. I got it from a buddy who's band split and was selling off extra guitar gear because he joined a band on bass and needed bass gear. He was a Chicago guy, but bought the guitar down here, so I kind of returned home. He would play it in an alt tuning so it wouldn't get used as much as his main G&L (the Shark a dual humbucker with big chunks cut out of it). I would constantly tell him the ASAT sounded better. When he asked me to help him price gear, I made him sell me the ASAT. I play in a band with a guy who has at least 10 guitars but plays MY ASAT as hIS main guitar in the band. Those pickups are THE BUSINESS!

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by shedshrine » Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:22 pm

when it rains it pours..I've got a line on a Ibanez artcore AF-95, in heinous green. Looks to be in good shape from the one photo i have of it. And such lovely finger grime! gold worn off the pickup edges, can't tell how the frets truly are from this one pic. Says it's about 15 years old and he "doesn't play it much." A 45 minute drive to get to his place to check it out. Anyway, i don't have a jazzbox, considering this one, he's asking $375. Anybody with experience with these Ibanez artcore guitars?

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Fri Mar 05, 2021 3:27 pm

I've never owned one but a few clients have them and I've had a chance to record them a bunch. They sound good. The build seemed really good and the owners all seemed quite happy with them.

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by shedshrine » Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:36 pm

Thanks David. I know next to nothing about hollow-body electrics. In the brief research i've done on the particular model in question, it seems to be (sort of) agreed that the newer versions of this model have better pickups. (super 58 customs) so I think i'll pass on the green guy this time.
I will delve into the history of hollow-body guitar and I'm sure pick one up someday, there's absolutely no hurry..


https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guitar- ... 475fcf6a7b

https://ibanez.fandom.com/wiki/Artcore_ ... er_pickups

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by The Scum » Fri Mar 05, 2021 10:08 pm

** invents little wet wipes dispenser that fits in a guitar case so that doesn't have to happen
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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by shedshrine » Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:58 pm

    Anyway, so I've been enjoying my guitars (as one should). All these various configurations, tones and variations of feel. they are incredibly fun to collect I am finding. (Touches finger thoughtfully to cheek)

The latest…
Well, a friend I have been getting back in touch with who moved back east (NH) still has the guitar he had when I first met him when we were bussing tables as kids at Hilltop Cafe in Novato. A pic he sent of him gigging with it made me remember the first time he brought it over to my place around 1982.

At the timeI was plinking around on my first guitar, a starter Memphis Les Paul copy piece of doodoo. Maybe that's overly uncharitable, but I seem to remember lousy action (I had no clue about adjustment) and dead spots. Anyway, Skip played it for a bit then said "Hey, check this out" and handed me his Gretsch. I couldn't decide if I liked the looks of it, but there was not denying how great it felt.

Immediately it became very clear that
A: the Memphis had served its purpose and I didn't want to fight with it anymore, and
B: It was time to hit the city and check out used guitars.

That weekend we hit Skip's Music in SF. While there I asked Skip (my friend, not the proprietor) what he recommended. He very sagely suggested that I just check a bunch out. I did, and came home with a '77 Fender Tele Deluxe. At the time I just remembered I liked how everything was bright, clear and detailed unplugged, which was how I tended to play early on.

In any case, fast forward to 2021. I periodically see one of these Gretsch's for sale. There are similar models that come up more often, but this particular model was top of the line at the time and lately I had been thinking it would be cool to get one. I came across one in pretty good nick last week, but found I just couldn't pull the trigger. I tossed and turned a night, and had to accept sometimes you just really want something even if you can't nail down just why. And right now we are painting our house, the Camry has helacious miles on it and isn't passing the smog test for registration. (It's a California thing)  But I move some things and finally I just buy the damn thing. I didn't even haggle which wasn't ideal because I think I probably overpaid. But that's how this stuff seems to go. What wasn't popular when it came out (this Gretsch wasn't) starts to maybe seem a cool novelty much later in time for its quaintness or rarity. or maybe it just was and is ugly and I have bad aesthetic taste overuled by a fond memory. Regardless, It will be arriving Wednesday.

It's not a typically coveted Gretsch, though it has its devotees. From what I recall they made their name for hollow-body guitars used by country, jazz players, and George Harrison. Fender and Gibson were the big dogs in ’79-'80 of course, and to compete Gretsch put out a walnut/maple/rosewood solid-body that was a mash up of a strat and a Paul. It gets maligned as fugly in some corners from what I've seen online, for what amounts to it’s arguable “furniture” looks, but photos don't tend to do it justice.

It was made when Gretsch was owned by Baldwin. (Pianos and Organs, y’know, furniture). Workmanship was awesome, they just didn't seem to know what to do with Gretsch?  

This particular model: Dimarzio super distortions, a hotter one in the bridge, coil tap push pull knobs, a phase switch. Neck thru, amber tinted white maple strips all the way up sandwiched between dark-brown walnut wings. Strat neck, Paul headstock and hardware.

Researching, there was just one vid I could find that put one through its paces. There are a few of the similar 'committee' model, but only one for this model on all of youtube as of now that I could find..
Es en espanol, pero it doesn't matter. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xx4QIW0IbJ0

I showed some pics of my impending new arrival to a couple guys at work, and one of them, Gordon, said it reminded him of a boat. As in an old Chris-Craft. I think he might have been on to something there, at least in part. Baldwin made organs and pianos sure, basically furniture which the BST5000 can kind of be seen as having been approached with with that German carve they call the routered outer edge bouts. But the maple against walnut strips, the dark against light, that’s straight out of the more ornate nautical examples that Chris-Craft put out in their swanky outboard craft.
Anyway, maybe there's a connection there. I can see putting a small decal on the front of the guitar of that red, white and blue triangle flag you see in harbours. Of course then I"ll have to play yacht rock.


Some pictures. Here's the best looking one I could find online. Great converging walnut woodgrain on this specimen.

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____________________________


Mine in a similar pose (I got a bonus stripe):

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Last edited by shedshrine on Mon Apr 19, 2021 9:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: shedshrine build 3.0 - furniture, cats, gear, enlightenment, and yer mom, man

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Mon Apr 19, 2021 8:46 pm

shedshrine wrote:
Mon Apr 19, 2021 7:58 pm
 

It's not a typically coveted Gretsch........................................................
The looks remind me a bit (and make me sentimal for) my Martin EM-18, long ago stolen. It was my first "nice" guitar after a string of battered Teiscos & the like. Heavy as fuck, with a similar "furniture" look (I like the looks of a nice piece of furniture, & never really minded when a guitar borrowed the aesthetic). I admit to buying it in large part because of the name on the headstock, but I didn't regret buying it. It's probably the only guitar I no longer own that I really miss.

Congrats on the purchase--to my eye it looks delightful.

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