Friday, October 5, 2012

Hi gang,

Thanks everybody, for participating this week. I had fun doing it. And I look forward to the contributions of Sprinter 92 next week.

Lunch:
Pretty sure it will be our ordinary Friday shindig at Buckley's. I'll go for the chicken fingers with honey mustard dip and a spinach salad.

G&L related
Time for an oldie but a goodie which needed some TLC at some time of her life. It involves an instrument previously owned by Josey Wales. I have bought about 5 instruments from him now and we frequently communicate by email. Through that channel, I knew already that he had 3 G-200s: one fair, one good, and one excellent (with flamed maple neck and breaks on ebony board). One evening, just before going home at 6pm, I check out eBay and find a listing for a G-200 with Josey's name attached to it. But I did not really pay attention. Yup that happens once in while. I didn't read the description and just put in my price, just a little higher than the then highest bid. When checking my stuff after dinner, I turned out to be the rightful owner of this G-200.



Clearly it is the 'fair' one. The guitars shows some trauma: the pickup selector once had a unfriendly collision with something hard.

It has been professionally repaired and I do not intend to do anything just for esthetics. This guitar now allows itself to be played!

Here are the stamps in the pocket and on the heel.


This G-200 sounds incredible. Unfortunately I cannot compare it with a contemporary F-100, but the sound is definitely different than my F-100 Return Edition or 25th Anniversary for that matter. It is more like an Gibson LP or PRS SC when handling the controls but with more top end than those models. Of course the ability to balance volumes and change the tone separately for each pup adds an infinite number of additional settings especially when combining the pups.

Q: Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another.

Non-G&L related
When I volunteered for this week, I though that one of my inlaws would be in town. But actually she was here 4 weeks ago and left 2 weeks ago. We have a fairly large garden and one of her hobbies turns out to be gardening. What luck! And how we have become beneficiaries of all her hard work. The garden looks great right now with lots of weeds and vegetation that is not supposed to be there gone and a bounty of edible fruits and vegetables. We still have lots of tomatoes, some beans, kale, herbs, and what not that we are enjoying while preparing and eating food. In part it is because we have had this amazing summer with dry, not overbearingly hot, humid kind of weather. So whereas there was no precipitation for 49 days (we missed the record by 2), the vegetable garden was doing great with just a moderate amount of watering. Many years ago while visiting the Greek isles, I was told that their tomatoes were so good because the leaves would just suck up the water from the humid air. Think it might work here in the Pacific NW too at times!

Q: How was your summer? If you have a vegetable garden, were you able to harvest anything?

Next month I'll be attending a symposium in Groningen, NL to honor my thesis advisor. When booking the hotel, I looked around what was playing in the jazz cafés and theaters I frequented more than 20 years ago while preparing and doing my experiments. Lo and behold, De Dijk, one of my favorite Dutch lyrics bands, happens to be in town one of these nights. So I got me a ticket. Pretty weird still, to be able to reserve a seat in a theatre on the other side of the world from the convenience of your own home. Oh well. I present to you 'Bloedend Hart' . (I put the text into Google translations and was laughing my … off).
[youtube]adNYFh1P3Kk[/youtube]

Have a nice weekend.

- Jos

P.S. Maybe I bored you with all these Dutch songs. But as we say, [i]"If it ain't Dutch, it ain't much"[i]

Jos, thanks for the interesting week with a bonus of pictures to boot. I just had some leftover pizza for lunch and have the T&C loaded with equipment for the weekend gig which I will be setting up shortly.

That is an interesting G-200 and I bet it has quite a story behind it. It looks as though it had been well used. Were you surprised at the condition after you had won it? I took a chance a few years ago on a Tele Plus based on the photos. I did a buy it now early as I knew it would go higher. It was pristine when I received it and it has it's place on the wall.

I have not watched all the videos this week but have checked a couple. They were interesting.

Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another.

I am going to cheat and chose a couple as you cannot just have one and I already have the ones I want. I wouldn't mind finding a nice Duesenburg to try! They are both ASATS and they are not even Red! Here they are:


The Pine Alnico and:


The Gold trimmed Z-3
They are both special and I love them.

Ginny is into flower gardening and her clients love our back yard during the summer. She has plants that bloom at different times throughout the summer and has placed them accordingly. I do help but she is the master at it. We had tomatoes this year and they were good even though the late summer has been very dry. I have been able to keep the lawn green with minimal watering.

Hope that you have a great trip to the NL next month and I wouldn't have any idea of what kind of weather you could expect, but probably similar to where you are now. Thanks again for the great week Jos and Sprinter will do us up next week! -- Darwin

Ginny is into flower gardening and her clients love our back yard during the summer. She has plants that bloom at different times throughout the summer and has placed them accordingly. I do help but she is the master at it. We had tomatoes this year and they were good even though the late summer has been very dry. I have been able to keep the lawn green with minimal watering.

-- Darwin

Wish I could send you a few of my Columbia Black-tail deer to eat all those tomatoes and flowers - Then I would have a few less eating mine!
Just kidding!!

Q: Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another.

G&L: I don't know if they exist or not, but I'd like a 1983 or 1984 mahogany bodied L-1000. Black hardware, preferably crinkle.

Otherwise: I have a small list in my head of instruments I want. Godin A4, Taylor ABG, that L-1000, custom made bass with L-1000 electronics and a bridge piezo...

Jos,
Very cool G-200! I would love to see another shot of the neck pocket because I think my initials are in this one. This was a very early ( maybe the first? ) rear loaded control body. It's hard to see in the picture but that sure looks like the way I initialed things back then. I rarely initialed any bodies, but this was a special one. Once again, great job this week.
Fred

G&L: I don't know if they exist or not, but I'd like a 1983 or 1984 mahogany bodied L-1000. Black hardware, preferably crinkle.

Yes. They exist.

[quote="yowhatsshakin"]Q: Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another.
Maybe a G-200! Great shape, and a little bit different.

G&L G200. Thanks for the description. Probably the best guide I've come across as to the tone of the G200. I seem to recall a G200 at Buffalo Brothers a couple of years back with similar damage near the selector switch. I have a pic of it at work but not here at home. Do you know if this one was ever at BB's?

Q: Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another. From the G&L stable ... perhaps the legendary (or is that mythical) HG1.

Music: Another nice track today.

... and from yesterday ...

And Robbie, good luck reinventing yourself over and over again. Every morning when waking up perchance? ;)

I generally don't have any energy for reinventing or anything else when waking up in the morning LOL

Entertaining week as always Jos

cheers, Robbie

This has been a great week Jos! Unfortunately my work schedule has been horrible, and I've been too wiped out most evenings to think about replying.

Q: Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another.

A G-200 is at the very top of my list. An El Toro or two (one 'hog and one maple) wouldn't be bad either. Unless any of these pop up sooner, the next acquisitions will probably be an L-1500 or a Climax Bass, and a fretless second-style SB-2. I'm really gravitating toward 1.5" bass necks and no frets lately.

Q: How was your summer? If you have a vegetable garden, were you able to harvest anything?

My summer was exhausting. My family spent over a month up in Maine while I stayed home and worked. Normally I wouldn't mind having all of that time having the house to myself, but my group at work has been at 50% staffing for almost a year, and I spent most of that month traveling. The days I wasn't on the road were 8-10 hours in the office, plus about 3-4 hours commuting. Oh well, it's a job...

No room for a garden in my yard. Back in the spring we did pull out some very corporate-looking plantings the previous owner had put in, and replaced them with a butterfly garden of perennials. It's gradually filling in, and lately we've been swarmed with butterflies and bumble bees. The best part of the change-out for me was the tree we'll anchor it with. I really wanted to find a native holly tree, but none of the nurseries around here carry any that aren't imported species. After a couple of weeks of searching and researching I decided to throw in the towel and buy something ornamental. When I went to the planting area (from which we had removed the old stuff 2-3 weeks before) to take measurements, there was a tiny holly poking up right in the middle! It was about four inches tall. We carefully worked around it when we put the perennials in. Now comes a couple of inches above my knee, and has another stem coming up about a foot away. It appears to be the same type that grows wild in the woods around here. It will eventually get to be about 20' tall.

Ken

yowhatsshakin wrote:
Q: Of all guitars ever produced, G&L or otherwise, what would be the one you like to own and why? Lets assume money is no impediment and that instruments that have been lost could be revived in some way or another.

So many but for me Interceptors , any generation. A hot little last generation 2 tone espescially.
Really enjoyed the week Jos
Cheers
Anthony

That is an interesting G-200 and I bet it has quite a story behind it. It looks as though it had been well used. Were you surprised at the condition after you had won it?

No, I wasn't surprised because it was clearly stated in the description and the appropriate pictures were part of the auction. I just hadn't read and/or watched it carefully. The funny part is, if I would have read the description I might not have bid on the guitar at all! Now knowing what a great guitar it is, that would have been a serious oversight (you would not be aware of of course)! And I fully trust Josey!

Greg - Nice to see you pop up on the forum and likely make Brock drool and salivate with that beautiful L-1000. We'll have to send him some tissues

Fred - There are 2 pictures of the pocket displayed above. What part of the pocket are you particularly interested in? Is is the kind of 'W' character in the center of the pocket? I will gladly take more pictures if needed.

Jamie - As a follow up to my response to Darwin above, at least I can rock out on the thing and make it do what is it so good at: sound great! Now I know what all that G-200 hullabaloo is all about ...

From the G&L stable ... perhaps the legendary (or is that mythical) HG1.

At least one entry I had expected.

Anthony - Modest bunch you people are ... I had also expected '59 bursts (previously) owned by Jimmy or Paul or Eric or Keith, '52 Tele's, Jimi's reconstituted Strats before they got slashed and burned, SG's Pete planted in Marshall speaker cabs, any of the Beatle gear etc. etc. But I'll take the HG-1, or Interceptor, or any of Ken's basses, because we all really seem to like this brand

Ken - Those are some grueling work days. Don't overdo it my friend! And what luck (or was it preordained) to find a native holly smack dab where you would have wanted it in the first place.

Have a nice weekend all,

- Jos

Thanks for a great week Jos. But how about some sound clips of your G? I've been lucky enough to own one as well but don't have any clips recorded. And one for Anthony, albeit 1st, not last gen:

G&L G200. Thanks for the description. Probably the best guide I've come across as to the tone of the G200. I seem to recall a G200 at Buffalo Brothers a couple of years back with similar damage near the selector switch. I have a pic of it at work but not here at home. Do you know if this one was ever at BB's?

Robbie, Josey Wales bought this one from BB since he told me Tim Buffalo Bros signed off on the repair so it is the same guitar.

Thanks for a great week Jos. But how about some sound clips of your G? I've been lucky enough to own one as well but don't have any clips recorded.

I wish I could Jon, but I don't have any recording equipment. Sorry Great Interceptor though!

- Jos

Jos,
"Fred - There are 2 pictures of the pocket displayed above. What part of the pocket are you particularly interested in? Is is the kind of 'W' character in the center of the pocket? I will gladly take more pictures if needed."
I am 99 % sure that the markings you see to the left of the lower right neck screw hole are my initials, FV. I have been initialing things like that since before CLF. No need to remove the neck again to take more pictures, it's not exactly a Tadeo Gomez marking LOL. Thanks though, that is one cool guitar, damaged or not.
Fred

G'day JonC, thanks man, awesome incredible ,beautiful . I love that thing
Don't get me wrong I love the Xbody as much as the sleek last generation.
Interesting that Jos started it with a G&L guitar in the Gibson spirit . Then you posted your Interceptor clearly influenced by Gibson. But to me Leo did it better than Gibson. Although the Gibsons are fine Guitars . I own A 1968 Gibson Les Paul custom.
How does the X body Interceptor sound with the buckers?
Cheers mate
Anthony

Hi Anthony

I've played both and chose the humbucker version over the single coil because i like Leo hummers a lot. whether in a Cav, HG-2, G-200, etc. the only guitar i don't like them in is the original F100, but that's due to the way they're wired up. I've found that with Leo hummers you need to work the amp eq and tone controls on the guitar a bit more than with the singles, as the hummers are pretty powerful, but for me they're the best of both worlds, and far surpass any LP with traditional Gibson hummers. though to be fair i've never been fond of Gibson hummers, but love the hell out of P90's. especially the ones from the 50's.

Jos: i have a spare "M-Audio" Fast Track system if you want to check it out. real simple to use and great for doing quickie recordings:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/A ... tudio.html

Robbie, Josey Wales bought this one from BB since he told me Tim Buffalo Bros signed off on the repair so it is the same guitar.

In the office today, so here's the Buffalo Brothers pic I was referring to ... and looking at the file date on my hard drive it was five years ago. Seems like yeaterday.

cheers, Robbie