dbakl

Speaking of old guitars;

My friend wants to sell her '63 or '67 really nice condition cherry red Gibson 335 she's owned since new. I offered to help her research value. Anyone have an idea or know where to look? Block fret markers.

She's a good person but really needs the money...

20grit

It was in the top end with the Slapmaster and Slap Pro. There were a few signature models from time to time that probably commanded a premium over those three though.

Until tonight when I can get home and take some pictures, we have details. The bass was left outside a barn in the rain for some time. Various parts of the body began to delaminate and as my friend who I purchased it from got more and more into the repair, he found himself replacing more and more pieces. It's a bit of a frankenstein of new and old parts at this point.

bigbossman 

Here's a question for you guys that know your amps. I have a chance to trade one of my Korean Squiers for an amp. Here are the choices I'm being offered:

1. Crate 2x12, 100 watts. If rocking the neighborhood is your thing
2. Fender Princeton Chorus 50 watts on tonal bliss
3. Gemtone very rare 4 watt tube combo

I'm thinking #1 or #2..... thoughts/comments?

20grit

You'll never need more than 30 watts tube or about 90 Watts solid state. For personal use, a 15-20 (45-60 watt solid state) watt tube will really be all you'll ever need.

bigbossman 

But.... that doesn't answer my question.

Kanegon

I gigged with a Crate (rented) and separately, a Princeton Chorus (borrowed), many years ago. I remember the Princeton, it was a red knob solid state job. Don't remember the Crate, they tend to be rather forgettable. If you need loud, go with the Fender. If you want to record, jam or experiment maybe the tube amp. Four watts is plenty for bedroom, but you won't be able to hear yourself with bass and drums.

auchencrow

dbakl -
An original '67 ES335 is worth about $3-6k, depending on condition. A '63 would be worth more - and factors like stop TPs and such will have a bearing. (They went to the trapeze around '64 or '65).

What you should do is have it appraised by a reputable, knowledgeable and independent 3rd party. (Not someone who wants to buy or consign it.)

Coreyk

One of the finest sounding guitars I have ever played - God's own Dreadnought, we called it- was a 1936 J-35. This particular one sat in a case for decades in Tacoma, WA- it was on it's second owner in 2005. It's funny though, since Gibson flat-tops had always been a little spotty in their construction compared to Martin and the like. David N will know what I mean by that.

20grit

auchencrow

Oh that is definitely cool, 20grit!

Coreyk

As some here know, I am a luthier as well.
Here are some of the ones that are currently here:



Highly modified 1973 Gibson J-40. It was abandoned at my lutherie mentor's shop for years, with a kicked in top and the lacquer flaking off in huge chunks. I built a new top out of high grade seasoned sitka spruce, with red spruce parabolic braces and a Martin rosewood bridge, and sprayed a nice thin nitro lacquer finish. It doesn't sound like the sad double-x-braced critter it was.



Maple capped thinline telecaster. alder body, birdseye maple and Brazilian rosewood neck. Lollar custom wound broadcaster and r/w P-90 pickups. This is my main electric guitar.



Esquire built for my wife - this has a one piece birdseye maple neck and a two piece swamp-ash body finished in cream nitro. Lollar '52 pickup and a custom switching scheme.



1947 National New Yorker lap steel guitar. All original, including the plexiglas bridge cover made from left-over B-24 bomber nose assemblies. It sounds a little more Hawaiian and sweet than your typical snarly National.

Here are some that have moved on, and one that I modded for a client:



1976 Gibson SG Standard. I bought this as a 16-year-old, and played it for 26 years. I ended up finding the neck uncomfortable, so sold it. Unusually for these, the neck had never been broken.



1983 Takamine J-15e archtop. My first steel-string acoustic. Supposedly these were co-designed by Ry Cooder, and are quite rare. Now in Florida.



1960 Del Vecchio Dinamico resophonic guitar. My second steel-string acoustic, and a fabulous sweet sounding thing. It had structural issues, poor thing. There is a very funny story about how I sold it, and who I sold it to. It lives happily and healthily in Seattle now.









A piece for a client- this was a basket case 1980 Rickenbacker 4003. He wanted something arty. I posed the question "What if we did our take on Clapton's "Fool" guitar?"
We dubbed it the "Sea Nymph". All design and pop-art type painting by me.
The bridge pickup is a rare Lollar neodymium H-shoe; he only made a few dozen before the Rickenbacker folks shut him down.
It has old-style mono Rick wiring with no treble cap.
The whole thing sounds just fabulous.

bigbossman 

Thanks for the reply!

I ended up trading for the Fender Princeton Chorus. Don't need loud, but you sure do get clean notes at low volume when the amp has a lot of headroom. I figure that as I traded across for a $100 Squire, I couldn't get too badly hurt. The amp is pretty much mint:

auchencrow

Cool guitars Coryk!

I especially like your wife's Esquire and the Rick is just - COSMIC!

rothenfield1

The only C&V guitar is the Epiphone Caballero on the right. I bought it over 30 years ago as my first real guitar.

The Golden Boy 

Those are some pretty strips of wood.

rothenfield1

That's one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. I've often wondered what it sounds like to pluck around on an acoustic bass. The sound must reverberate throughout the house.

20grit

Thanks Goldenboy and Rothenfield. This particular one is quite a bit louder than the Engelhardt I was playing before and given that there are few absorptive surfaces in my apartment, the sound does travel a lot. Every now and then Kay made basses that were simply monsters. I've played one and heard two others. This one doesn't quite get there, but it's more bass than I'll ever need.

David Newton

I'm building future Vintage guitars, you can watch along on my facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-...06305429400854

auchencrow

This neck dowl pin is novel, isn't it David? I don't know if other builders do this (but they ought to, based on some of the repairs I've seen).

Nice guitar pics, on your site BTW.

bigbossman 

Another (more or less) vintage guitar finds a home...... a "Made in Korea" 1998 Epiphone Gibson acoustic I fished off of CL for $60. Not a high dollar collectible by any means, but a nice solid entry level guitar in great condition that I can bang away on without disturbing the rest of the house.

As an aside.... since I first picked up this endeavor, I've learned all kinds of stuff. I'm pretty good at standard 12 bar blues progressions, and after some real frustration bar chords have become my friends.

auchencrow

Hi BBM !

Looks like a copy of the 60's Epiphone Texan. -A round-shouldered gem made right alongside the J-45 in the old Gibson Kalamazoo factory... I've never tried your later version, but I am a HUGE fan of round-shouldered dreadnaughts!...to wit:

Here's my '43 -



My '52 -



- and a recent (1994) bear claw knock-off by Dana Bourgeois.




12-bar blues progressions are a great start.

I used to tune in to "It's a Mean ol' World" - a radio program out of NYC back in the 60's, and I was for a time a blues fanatic. To this day, I credit it with teaching me how to wring the mojo out of every note!

The Golden Boy 

A week and a half ago, I got my left hand crushed.

I've been unable to ride, and unable to play guitar or bass.

*sigh.*

ColonelJLloyd 

^ What's the problem?

David Newton

Once again, not Vintage, but "Vintage-style".
It is a Size-1 in White Pine, which is an unusual material, but turned out so good I'm keeping it for myself, which is what I intended all along.

The Golden Boy 

That is pretty inspirational.

However, I think I'll wait for my hand to heal.