Anybody else have any vintage guitars? I played music (bass player) in my early years, and collected a few from over the years. The first vintage guitar I bought in 1980 (and still have) is an near mint 1967 Hofner Violin Beatle Bass. Made famous by Sir Paul Macartney The next one I got also in 1980 is a 1965 Fender Mustang. Someone had rattle canned it in white it looked really bad. Then a painter friend of mine wanted to practice some air brushing, so I told him to go for it. I'm getting ready to tear it back down and he is going to paint it the original red. The next one is my pride and joy and I bought it new in 1983. MusicMan Cutlass 1 Bass guitar. Leo Fender acquired Music Man for a short period of time, and when he did he hired a company to make graphite necks for a limited production (2oo total). I actually bought a wood neck bass and had some problem and the store sent it back to the factory for repair. It was taking longer than expected so the store owner called and said he had the same guitar but with a graphite neck and would trade, so I did and played it in bars for many years. I'm Glad I did the trade, all these years later the bass is very desirable. Anyone else have anything cool to show?
I have my Dads guitar 1938 Nobility Arch top acoustic. Sent from my SM-J320V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Got the common MIM Strat ,Tele,and Geddy Lee Jazz Bass. Still got my 67 Precision I bought new for $286. My dad took me to the bank, and they convinced me that they were loaning that money to a 14 year old. Made the payments to my dad, and he paid "my" loan back. Real Mayberry stuff. That one is in a safe place. Love to play, was in a band in high school, but don't find the time to play lately. That working for a living shit gets in the way of a helluva lot of things.
Nothing too special about my Les Paul copy except it was the first thing I bought when I left school. I've had it for 45 years and it plays and sounds really good. I rarely play it these days it's more sentimental than anything else nowadays.In recent years I tried to buy an original gold top but I didn't like the poor quality of the finish. My copy looked better than their offerings which was all to sad.I guess that's why Gibson have shut their doors.
I have 2 of my dad's old guitars. One is a '65 Teisco Del Rey. Single pole pickup, crappy action, wasted tuners, Louisville slugger like neck. Hard to play but it's mine and I'm not changing it. Oh yeah...also have his old '65 Strat. That's mine.
When I was in college in 1983, there was a guy in my freshman Chemistry class who I became friends with. At some point during the semester, i learned that he had a left handed 1980 Les Paul Custom. Black beauty. He was right handed, and had it strung upside down. I am left handed. Later on that semester, he missed a few days of class. I see him later, and he says he needs tires for his car and can't afford them. He offers me the Les Paul if I put tires on his car. He says that they just have to be white walls. I found 4 super cheap off brand tires, think I paid $150 for the four. Fixed the nut he had screwed up on the Les Paul, and played it for many years. Stupidly sold it, wish I still had it.
I have a mid-'60's vintage Epihone Melody Maker and same vintage Teisco Del Rey. Vintage guitars are too pricey for my style of play. I beat the shit out of my guitars. My "players" (synonymous with "daily drivers") are my 1995 Gibson Les Paul TV Special and my Indonesian hot rodded Squire "classic vibe" strat. The strat is an unbelievable guitar for the money. Put different pickups in it and it screams. The Les Paul is awesome as well. My kids play and I had the good fortune of picking up a couple of VERY nice guitars for them this past year. One is a Carvin that is absolutely beautiful and the other is a reissue 1954 Gibson Les Paul Custom. Both of those guitars are personally signed by Mr. Les Paul himself. Andy
I started with a Harmony acoustic from Sears in about '62. Soon decided I needed an electric so picked up a Teisco Del Ray. Thought if I had a better guitar I could play better so bought a used Mosrite Ventures model. Kept if for a few years and had a chance to double my money at $250 so let it go. Just like all the old cars I sold, I never dreamed it would be worth 10 times as much today. Everything after that was new stuff, Ovation, Carvin, Taylor, and some chinese junk.
National Guitar by CaptainComet posted Aug 13, 2018 at 6:36 AM 1965 National Solid Body Guitar. Dual pickups, the bridge has a lucite block under it housing the 2nd pickup there. Fiberglass over a wood body. Heavy beast. I read they built them like this because it was easier to do the custom finish in gel coat. I have never seen another exactly like it in internet searches over the years. The closest that I have come is several 1962 similar Nationals (same finish) that do not have a whammy bar, the earlier ones have a stationary tailpiece, but this one is hinged. 21 frets. I was given this in 1968 as "brand new, but been in the shop for 3 years" shortly after I took up guitar at 8 years old. The shorter scale was probably what made us a match. I was pretty small at that age. Struggled to bar all 6 strings when playing chords. I also have a matching small, but mighty National amp, 10 inch Jensen speaker, 3 inputs, still running the original tubes that came in it. My parents bought both together for $300, a good chunk of change in '68.
I've got a few really nice guitars ('89 Gretsch 6120W, '97 PRS Custom 24, '93 Fender Strat Plus Deluxe, '89 Gibson SG, '73 Gibson J40), but only my 1964 Hagstrom II technically qualifies for this forum. Do the others count since the design hasn't changed?
Goofy guitar story: I live in a very small town in rural Wisconsin. My oldest daughter was taking guitar lessons at the music store downtown. I would kill time waiting for her by perusing the rack of used guitars. I don't play, but I love music and old guitars. One day I spot a new arrival. It is a "made in Korea" Kramer Aerostar guitar. Nothing remarkable about the guitar, except for the fact that it had been custom painted by a previous owner. I immediately recognized the Chrysler Plum Crazy Purple paint. Just so happens that the flames on the front of my Merc are the exact same color! Luckily, it turned up under the Christmas tree a couple of months later.
A lot of Teisco guitars on here. I'll take a pic of mine to post later. It's a bastard to play but sounds so good!
Sold all my vintage guitars, but got some cool vintage amps. Do they count? Only guitar left is a '00 AVRI '52 Tele.
... ... I put this Teisco Del Rey back together for my buddy after he painted it to match his '56 Chevy ...
Teisco bass c. 1963, Danelectro convertible c. 1965, the Alvarez acoustic is from the 80s, so nontraditional.
When my brother passed his friends gave me his old Viintage Gibson’s... one is a 1966 ES 125 dual pickup & single cutaway... other is 1969 Es 150 dual pick up, double cutaway W/ sunburst Finnish... I’d like to sell em’ to buy speed parts... Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
This is the vintage Gibson 66' ES 150 Archtop I talked about above... I would sell them both together for $3,400...
Great thread. Cars and Guitars. I have a acoustic Gibson in the house and a 20 dollar swap find classical in the garage. When I am in my shop wrenchin and weldin. I take a break to stretch out my fingers.
This video seemed appropriate for this thread. Lots of great guitar players are into hot rods, we all know about Jimmy Vaughn, Billy Gibbons, Clapton, Jeff Beck, among many others. But Danny Gatton could wrench, and was a sinister guitar player.
One of my favorite guitar players, I think he was named "The worlds most famous unknown guitar player". I remember seeing him often on Austin City Limits. Awesome guitar player! Thanks for that video.
My 1962 Epiphone Olympic special. Built by Gibson in the Kalamazoo, MI factory. It's had a hard life. I just mostly restored it two days ago. I bought it when I was about 20 years old so I've owned it for about 40 years. The day I bought it, it fell off my guitar strap and broke the headstock. Gave it to my buddy to fix it and he had it for four years before he did the work. Bastard! He sanded off the original name that was silkscreened onto the headstock. Only recently was I able to find a water slide decal to put there. It's supposed to have a Gibson style wraparound compensated tailpiece on it but it only came with a stop tailpiece (non-compensated). I put a Leo Quan BadAss bridge on it 40 years ago. I will find an original compensated tailpiece for it but the BadAss sets the intonation so nicely. The finish is in amazingly good shape. No cracking or checking like I have seen on virtually every other example of this guitar from the same era. It had non-original pick guard and electronics in it when I bought it, but the original pick guard and electronics came with the guitar as did a non-original tremolo set-up (the holes are still in the front of the guitar). I put the original electronics and pick guard back on it, and installed the decal. I'm waiting on the missing pearl dot inlay to be delivered to complete it. It's the first time in 40 years that the guitar is wearing it's original electronics. Sounds amazing. Classic cheesy '60's guitar sound. Can you say, "Surf Monster"? Andy
I`ve seen that video before.But Damn,it`s even better the second time around.Thanks for posting. Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. leo
Picked up a cool vintage amp., 1965 Danelectro DM25. Bought it on the cheap, didn't know if it worked or not so took it right down the road to a big guitar shop and had them try it out. Works perfect. Bought a 60th anniversary Fender MIM strat at the same thrift store with the amp.
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