Another one followed me home.

My father in law called me maybe 4 or 5 months ago to say he'd been at a yard sale, and somebody was going to throw away an electric guitar that nobody had bought. He knew enough to see "Fender" and snag it, and then he called me to see if I wanted it. When I figured out it was a mid-80's Japanese build fender (made at the same factory that did Ibanez work, making most of these kinda collectible now and usually guaranteeing a good playin' piece at the least), I said yes, and it's been sitting at my sister in law's place in Madison until 2 weeks ago waiting for me to pick it up.


[img][375:500]http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/5046/dscn2502.jpg[/img]

It's an odd one... probably the simplest and cheapest one they made, by the looks of it. Just the one humbucker, a volume knob, and a straight-in pickguard jack. All black. There is a truss rod, but you can only access it by un-bolting the neck - it's buried on the end of the neck down below the grade of the body, and it's a 2-way huge flathead screw. So I did take it apart in cleaning it up, and eyeballed the little adjustment to the truss rod, (which I think I got right having now strung it up, so wOOt). I also noticed a penciled date underneath the finish at the bottom of the neck by the adjuster, 2-22-1985 I think it was. I took a cell phone pic but it's blurry.

[img][375:500]http://img188.imageshack.us/img188/2923/dscn2508s.jpg[/img]

The pickup isn't original, which is just as well, because I'm sure the stocker was fucking abysmal. Fender can't make a humbucker worth a damn. What's in there now is an old early-80's DiMarzio, worn and yellowed worse than Keef's back teeth, with 2 mismatched screws holding it on and sloppy solder work hooking it up to the lone volume pot. Also the cut of the pickguard is not very good, which is odd, because that factory did incredibly good work on the neck and body - that guitar plays much, much better than my 1999 mexi strat, and frankly almost as well as the trusty american stock I have laying around. It's 24 years old and hasn't been treated especially well, and the intonation, fretwork, and resonance are really, really good. It's held up very well.

No clue what it sounds like plugged in. I may change the pickup and pickguard, I donno. It's not like I have anywhere to play it anyway. And I love the gold and silver logos on the headstock.

(Hanging on the same hook as the 88 Am Std)
[img][374:500]http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6043/dscn2517l.jpg[/img]

80's Jap-built Squiers are quality axes. Solid.
My 1988 Squier Strat has been dragged all over the place and still plays beautifully.
Love those things. Nice find.

So you haven't even plugged it in and played it yet? That's just wrong.

Oddly enough, I don't have an amp plugged in anywhere in the place. A 1966 fender 2x12 cab is my sidetable next to the couch, but the head isn't on it. And then the mesa and the other fender are stashed in the closet, where there is no receptacle.

In short: my place is tiny, and I have made no effort whatsoever to drag something out to plug it into. I'm garbage.

Ok I dragged out the 66 tremolux head and the mesa v-twin pre amp, downed a beer, and a few things have become apparent:

1. This guitar plays really, really well. Better than I thought even. Stays in tune really well, intonation is great, and man is it just "right."

2. That old yellow pickup is staying! It sounds incredible. Like an old gibson, tight bottom end without much bass, scooped mid, and bright top end without being brittle or harsh. Allmost P90ish, really. Damn close. Very early EVH. Great balance.

3. I still wanna replace the pickguard. I want suggestions.

perhaps a tortoise shell pickguard, ivory?

If you could pull it off without it being too noisy, go anodized. With the logos and the all black it'd be bitchin'.

On a related gear note, I have a silverface Bassman Ten on the way in. Know much about them? I was able to snag this in a pretty good deal, so we'll see how she sounds. I'm sure WAY too loud for my needs, but there's a master volume.

Hahaha, yeah right.

Is it a 4-10?

mmmm... free gear.

nice work if you can get it.

terrapinguitars.com for pickguards. They'll cut it right.

I'd go mint black mint or gold anodized

No, never played one, but I looked it up on the fender amp field guide and it looks like a 50 watt 4x10, similar to a super reverb, but with a much cleaner / simpler circuit and no effects.

My guess is that it's a bargain amp waiting to be maybe cleaned up and checked over, and could sound very very good for clean work once it's running right. See if you can find a local amp tech and ask about modding a Bassman 10 to blackface specs, replacing all the caps, etc. Do some homework on thetubestore.com or elsewhere to see what kind of tubes it should have, and get everything all nice'd up. It makes a shitload of difference on those old amps. Fresh caps and tubes = teh goodness. Night/Day on my old tremolux, best $150 I could've spent on it.


Oh and I like the gold idea, or maybe mint and black for a pickguard. Good thinking Phil.

I think if I bother to change the pickguard, it oughtta be something unique, without being gaudy.

Black Pearl?

Yeah, it's the 4 x 10 model. Early seventies, new tubes and clean inside and out from the photos I saw.

I do mainly clean work as it is and get my dirt from pedals already, so it should work out fine. I've been rocking the handwired Heritage AC-15 and was wanting something with a different flavor to switch out with. I figure if it doesn't suit me, it should be easy enough to flip for something that will. I worry about the weight though... 70 some odd pounds. My Vox is heavy enough at just under 50. Good thing I use one of those foldable hand carts for loading in and out.

Cap'n... seriously, the anodized guard would be sex on that guitar.

its awesome when you come across
free stuff
like this.

looks pretty rad too.

though
to be brutally honest
i think it's a SIGN
that you should take time for a musical project
outside of tinkering around and enjoying the company of the instruments

even with the new bbay in the oven
even with your small space
there's no excuse
somehow
you are supposed too play music regularly

god is throwing guitars at you.
and
if you don't play them
you look like a big pussy.
to god.



i love that it only has a volume knob on it. less is more.

congrats!

I think all pearl is gaudy. I think mint or gold would look classy. If you want something UNIQUE and classy, get a pickguard made out of wood.

Like my 68 gibson has a macassar ebony guard.

[img][375:500]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_k7hxLdiURq0/SZq28npPPgI/AAAAAAAAAKA/PJoSAG2PWoo/s800/gibson2.jpg[/img]

Dammit Phil. Those Darkstars make me feel funny inside.


Also cats: Thank you for saying what needed to be said.

When I read this I think about the crying wrestling dude. "It's still real to me DAMMIT!"

Anyway, not to pile on here...but yeah Cap, you need to get off your ass and do something with your talent. It really makes me sad that you COULD pull a three our gig out of your ass if you wanted to just playing stuff off the top of your head, but to prepare for something like that you'd need a month to get your fingers ready cause you don't play enough.

Doesn't mean you have to play every day, week, or month. Just means you need to make an effort to do SOMETHING.

YOU DESERVE IT!!! And don't let ANYONE make you feel otherwise.

Guitars I own:

Early 80's Squire Stratocaster
Epiphone Sheraton
70's Harmony SG Copy
Hondo Les Paul Copy
Aria Acoustic
a really old Harmony archtop acoustic

That was the intended reference. Mark on the wall.

Some days I feel like all I have ahead of me is noodling for an hour every night on the couch (unplugged) and eventually getting my kid / kids to play. And that's really depressing. I like everything about my life right now *except* this part. Literally everything else is 10x better than I ever thought it would be, and wildly better than I deserve. I just live in a tiny, tiny place, and I don't have a car (or want one). With work (and a wife who doesn't work), there are no parts of the day during my regular weekly routine where I have time to myself. It doesn't happen, not 10 minutes, not anywhere*.

Once in awhile it does happen, where I'll get 2 hours somehow, and I invariably get out the acoustic, an ipod, and beer, and over-indulge in all 3 of them as quickly as I can. Usually involves playing along with Willie & The Wheel, or The Pogues, or Dale Lawson or Dwight Yoakum, where I go through a song first doing chords and singing backup, then a second time trying to flatpick out the craziest solos the beer and I can muster, all with one earphone half-cocked off so I can hear me a little.

It gets me by. And things will change. I'm not hung up on it. We'll move somewhere bigger due to the kid in a year or two. Meanwhile I'd LOVE to stumble into something here in town I could sit in on.



*edit: except on the motorcycle, an hour each way everyday, which may explain some of its continued appeal as a Not-Snowing commuting option.

Dude, maybe it's time to sell the bike, get a car, and hit some open jams. Besides, no matter how good a driver you are, you know how bad drivers all over america are. Do you really want to chance not being around to teach your kid how to play?

Look, you're not going to get any sleep when the kid comes, maybe it's time to get used to that now by staying out late playing rock.

And chris... maybe a darkstar bass is your next project? How's the lakie copy coming?

I can't imagine being a parent and not having a car. Of course, I live out in the deep woods.

There must be open mic nights around... I'm sure most suck, but a friend of mine here used to run one, with a revolving cast of town musicians who acted as a backing band for whomever needed one. Most of the walk-ins were pretty awful, but once in a while some great players would show up.

A darkstar WILL be one of my two next projects...it will either be a Thunderbird or a Jazzmaster copy. Sorta just depends on whether I can find a raw JM lefty body. The other will be a lefty Bass VI.

The Lakie copy has been done for a few months and plays really great, I've just been lame about taking any updated pictures of it. I'll get on that and post some.

Oh, and everybody in my band has young kids. We just make it work the best we can.

I wonder how hard it would be to rig a guitar case onto the bike...? The clincher though would be to finally get my hands on a killer tiny amp. Shit, even a fender blues jr would probably do it. Something that fits into the top box on the back.

And I've been playing that squier every night now, and man does it feel good. Stays in tune incredibly well, especially considering how new the strings are.