Official Luthiers Forum!

So I presume that most of you are guitar people and that means when we are not buying them, building them, fixing them, etc. we likely are playing them.

I play every evening at around 5:00 ish for an hour or so and have been enjoying the hell out of my new, made just for me RedPlate Dumble clone. It's 50 watts with reverb and has the cascading gain circuit that Dumble is famous for. Best sounding overdrive I have ever played. Mine also has the "Robben speaker" affectionally known in the trade because it's the 75 watt speaker that Robben Ford uses in his Dumble(s).

The Tele is a Suhr Classic with roasted, flamed neck, stainless frets and a compound radius. Plays and sounds like a dream.

I had earmarked this one for pick-up swaps to some hot Tele pick-ups that I bought from Lindy Frailin but through this amp the stock pick-ups on this Suhr sound killer so I'm keeping it as it came.

The pick guard I replaced from gloss black three ply with white in the middle (yuck) to this matt black one that looks much more like the "black guard Teles" of the 50's my favorite.

I'm playing 9's (Super Slinkys the very same strings I played when I was 10 years old) on electrics these days with some arthritis in my hands now bends can hurt these days.... and still using 12's on acoustics.

So what are you playing when you are not building, etc?

I'm still playing this multi-scale OOO. Best guitar I've made to date.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Oh that's purdy Steve she's a real beauty. The nut is a piece of art too - nice work my friend!

Thanks Hesh. Been making nuts like that since I hung out with you guys in Ann Arbor

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

A 16” archtop with laminated plates from Steve Holst. (Excellent quality). Kent Armstrong hand wound pickup and Fhole plugs made from $5 Target flip flops.

3A2B664C-B449-4CB7-8248-EFEAAABB1027 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

1932 Harmony Gene Autry Parlor. Re-built and X-braced. 12 fret, 24" scale. Solid mahogany back and sides, and solid spruce top. They changed the body to birch after 1932.

That's gorgeous Terry and I love the burst too. Looks like a vintage Gibson burst with the smaller blonde part in the middle. That also looks like a lot of fun gigging with your band. Very cool!

I'm shifting these days to working on guitars a bit less and playing a lot more. My childhood best friend and band mate may be moving back to my area he's in Florida now and I sure hope he does. We want to get the band back together too

Very cool and what a great idea too. You breathed new life into this old geetar and that's always good to see (unless it's an Ov*tion...). There are people who collect these I'm sure you know and they are very popular. When they appear at some of the resellers I follow on line they are snagged up at once and often as project guitars like you did.

Also very cool!

Love that Harmony. Much mojo. Put a K&K in it and it’d be a real conversation piece at a gig.

Tony F did the burst Hesh. Here’s another shot. A few years ago with a different pickup.

IMG_2024 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Wow it's beautiful!!!

Merry Christmas to all of you!
My main music is flamenco. I could not play Flamenco guitar for more than ten years because I destroyed the nails of my right Hand with gel. Since last year it is possible again, so I play about one hour every day to rebuild my right Hand flamenco technic. I have a wonderful real "tablao"- Flamenco guitar build by the spanish luthier Ricardo Sanchiz. Cedar five piece neck with rosewood reinforcement, cypress back and sides and cedar top. It is the lightest guitar I ever had in my hands, and I loved it from the first note I played on it in 1992! To keep my brain activ, I am working on new music pieces, "classical gas" at the moment. It is just great fun!

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SUPER cool, Terrance! I love that.


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Hooky.

I've been playing several things. First off, an old pedal steel that was built by Jon Frye, who did a lot of the building for Paul Bigsby and later Semie Mosely. This guitar was built for Eddie Bush, a great Hawaiian player from the twenties up through the sixties. He played this particular guitar with Harry Owens' Royal Hawaiians in the early 60's. Cool old instrument. Rosewood, weighs a ton... I have it tuned in A6, like Eddie did.

The other things I've been playing are my 6120 Gretsch and a Manhattan Guild. I play thumb style guitar, and I love these big old boxes...

Dave

Cool axes-

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Dave some really cool gear there and even cooler history for some of it! I do this thing where if I pick-up a firebird I'll spend the next winter learning songs by Johnny Winter. I had three Teles so I took a string off one of them and learned Keith Richards stuff. But having the actual instrument of the player is very cool!

Hey Hesh, I'm like you buddy, it’s always the last one in that gets played the most.

So at the moment this baby requires some attention :




Weights nothing, sounds huge with my personal favorite magnet swap in most P90-loaded guitars. Instant Pete Townshend.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

Oh cool what year is that Pierre? It's very cool and there is nothing like a P-90 except with hotter magnets That's a rock-n-roll machine for sure. Looks like it's in beautiful condition too.

I have a new family member arriving Monday a PRS Santana Retro. Been wanting one for a long time so it's actually been on a list I keep of stuff I would like to collect and play. You're right too the latest one in here as well gets played the most.

Really nice SG!

Hey Hesh, I'm like you buddy, it’s always the last one in that gets played the most.

Agreed here too. I added a new one to the herd yesterday and have been playing it almost exclusively since. I wanted a decent inexpensive guitar to take camping and stuff like that, and I found a good deal on a new Squier Paranormal Strat O Sonic. Made in China. Strat body with 24.75 inch scale and P90's. Basically a LP Jr in Strat clothing. $250 with free shipping, and arrived in 2 days.

Much much better than I expected. The neck and fretwork are great. Sounds good. Really just as nice as the American Professional Fenders I have, and a step nicer than the Mexican Fenders that I have (and they're good). Anyway, it's hard to believe what $250 can buy you these days...

Not much for playing electric but really enjoying playing the 12 fret 000 I recently built. The chicks really dig it too!

I started out playing electric back in the late 60's into the 70's but have been an acoustic guy most of the time since. But, after arthritis moved in, I moved over to wimpier light gauge action and steel guitar, and have been playing mostly electric in my post 60 era. It doesn't hurt!

Love the 12 fret 000s. Between those and L-00 style guitars, they've been the bulk of what I've built outside of banjos. Built the 000s because chicks don't dig banjos quite as much.

Dave

Very cool Dave she looks like a great addition to the family. Today's inexpensive guitars are hands above the crap that was available when I was a kid.

There is a Michigan based mostly mandolin maker who is making their most expensive stuff in China and the less expensive stuff here in Michigan, both of their offerings are excellent. Kind of a reversal of the trend of the past. As you know I see imports everyday and they are usually excellent in all respects and value for days.

Howard Klepper once said on the OLF that he learned to play guitar to get all the babes and then he adds, it didn't work

I learned to sing so I could stay single

I can relate Dave my hands started hurting a lot last summer so I went from 10's to 9's on my electrics and was going to go from 12's to 11's on the acoustics but decided to try simply not bending much on the acoustics. My hands are back to normal as a result of both changes. I was surprised at how quickly I adjusted to 9's without over bending.

Whatever keeps us playing, eh.

Exactly! The chicks dig my playing too. And we’re all lovin’ the eggs around here.

[GRINNING FACE WITH SMILING EYES]