Lunch report: Friday, 19-Oct

Once again, I am intrigued by the cool pedals everyone is using. Louis definitely has it going on in the pedal and pedalboard department. Lots of interesting things on his board(s).

Lunch today is supposed to be with my daughters. Since they are both dieting, we'll probably head over to the local tavern and have whatever fits into their diet regimen. They've do a great job on their wings and burgers. Not sure what I'll have, but it will be tasty.

I apologize if I've offended anyone for posting some decidedly non G&L guitars this week. However, the connection to me is the guitars that I have purchased in the recent years have been from the boutique shops. I regard G&L as a boutique builder rather than a mass producer of guitars. And they are, in my estimation, one of the truest and innovative in that lot. I mainly purchase guitars for playing and not necessarily collecting. But, when it comes to collectibles, I believe G&L has a definite edge on the other boutique shops since George and Leo have such historic contributions to the music industry. On that note, I do have one guitar that I purchased more as a collectible than as a player. It is a G&L ASAT Classic from George Fullerton's private collection. My previous playable/collectible was a 1986 Broadcaster that I purchased used from Buffalo Brothers. I believe that was owned by Tim at one point. He wanted it back but thought the best way was to trade something for it. He and I made a deal where he got the Broadcaster and I received this exquisite ASAT. It is a very cool piece in and of itself, but the fact that it was personally selected by George Fullerton and actually played by him added some special mojo to it. For me, it provides some insight into the type of guitar sound and set up he liked.

Here's the guitar:


The guitar came with some other cool stuff too like a Certificate of Authenticity, a copy of the production log, and some handwritten labels on the guitar case so George could identify the contents without opening it.




What do you currently have in your inventory that you purchased for its collectibility? What is the story behind that guitar, amp, or pedal?

On an unrelated note, we've got a gig tomorrow night and I'll be using my new TopHat Club Royale MKII. I just received my clamshell amp cover from Studio Slips. For those of you who are looking for a really good cover, I heartily recommend them. (http://www.studioslips.com/clamshell.php)

I did have a comment on my pictures. I have revamped my photo gear. I was using Nikon DSLR gear for my pictures but recently sold it all and switched to a Leica M8 with a 35mm Summicron lens. Moving from a through-the-lens format to a range finder is a bit challenging but I like the "treatment" the Leica does with the pictures. Of course, composition and quality is all on me still and that's the challenge.

I had fun this week doing the lunch report. My work load has been especially heavy the past couple of weeks. So, this was a welcome diversion for me.

RickT

I'll bite!, as far as collectible guitar's I purchased a 30th anniversary asat special, ''lefty'' and a Takamine EF360GF, Glenn Frey ''lefty''
but I play them all the time so I guess they are more of a utility but still collectible!, oh, almost forgot my asat classic in MonkeyPod!
I don't believe they produced very many but the #'s aren't in yet?..lunch was heat n eat egg sandwich...lol.

Rick, thanks for the entertainment this week. Very interesting pictures and your ASAT Classic is a true classic. I wish I owned it!

Don't apologize for your Boutiques that you have shown this week. I have 12 different brands and I love everyone of them.

What is collectible is a term everyone has a different view of. I look at this as holding their value and possible increasing their value. The personal value is worth a lot to me. Most of the guitars that I have are limited or specialty items. Over half of my G&Ls are very limited production or specialty models. The value of these are still to be determined in the future as G&L is a young company. I usually buy used guitars. I am guilty of buying many new G&Ls which greatly reduces the chance of ever recovering my investment besides age is not in my favor. I have been buying new G&Ls because that is the only way you will get them. One has to look at their marketing strategy in recent years and I think they are brilliant especially considering the economy. I would love to show all my G&Ls but shown so many recently that I will save you having to look at them again. I am going to show some Fenders that I consider collectible and that is the only reason that I own them. One of them, a 79 Tele Plus is unusual for Fender. This type of wood is everyday with G&L. This one is like new.



and



Here is an 88 Strat Plus in as new condition.



and here is a Mary Kaye reissue.



And a pair of 88 Tanqueray Strats made for the Gin Company in 1988. I have two of 100 made and one is virtually unplayed, with the original strings.



I have changed my mind and am going to show a couple of my favorite ASATs

The Pine Launch Alnico



And the Z-3 with Gold trim.



Thanks again Rick-- Darwin

rick, what made you go back to leica? i shoot mirrorless slr, but other than the lenses, the actual digital capability of the m8 is still suspect compared to most others. the leica s2p solves all of this of couse, but at what cost?

...what made you go back to leica?...

Actually, this is my first venture into the rangefinder realm. There's just something about the look of a Leica photograph that intrigues me. While some claim you can get that "look" with photoshop or similar post processing software, the real mojo happens in the lens and camera. The move to the M8 was soley based on price. I definitely was not going to spend upwards of $10K to start with an M9 and lens, so I chose to go used. I found a good price at KEH in their used camera department along with a 35mm Summicron lens which seemed to be a solid recommendation from most Leica users.

The main reason I went to Leica was to get that Leica look to my photographs. Now, if I could just hone my composition and lighting skills...

RickT

...what made you go back to leica?...

Actually, this is my first venture into the rangefinder realm. There's just something about the look of a Leica photograph that intrigues me. While some claim you can get that "look" with photoshop or similar post processing software, the real mojo happens in the lens and camera. The move to the M8 was soley based on price. I definitely was not going to spend upwards of $10K to start with an M9 and lens, so I chose to go used. I found a good price at KEH in their used camera department along with a 35mm Summicron lens which seemed to be a solid recommendation from most Leica users.

The main reason I went to Leica was to get that Leica look to my photographs. Now, if I could just hone my composition and lighting skills...

RickT

the leica lenses are indeed phenomenal, i would actually just use the m7 and shoot film for leica, as it definitely is a unique look and with the leaf shutter you have unlimited flash synch possibilities. the silent shutter is also a plus. the 35mm lens is basically a 50mm with the m8, so the biggest issue, the vignetting (1-2 full stops) on the edge of the sensor that is a problem with the wider angle (as often used with leica) lenses, won't bother you to much. still may want to frame a little wide though and crop in as a 1/3 to 1/2 stop drop off will still happen with 35mm around the edge of the frame. also, don't go over 320 iso, the noise is a pretty significant issue above that in the m8. but not much beats the leica for portability and image quality, and it makes you slow down a bit and think (slow buffer) composition and lighting instead of just snapping pictures.
i still have my full nikon film setup, but chose the sony nex7 for digital, so i can have the portability of size and weight of a leica in a professional camera while still taking advantage of the speed and features plus the video of top flight dslr's.

btw, for a point and shoot small digital camera, the panasonic lumix zs (10, 15, 19) series features leica lenses, and are about as good as a little 250 dollar point and shoot can get. i have used one for years with very satisfying results.

...

Thanks for the tips Louis. It's like the David Gilmour approach to photography, stop and think about what you want to say. My plan is to upgrade to the M9 full frame sensor next year but I wanted to get started with the Leica. I've read several articles where people have both the M8 and M9 bodies for different reasons. For now I'm pretty psyched with what I have. I just received a 90mm 2.8 lens that I ordered from Adorama earlier this week. For a used lens, it looks fantastic. I took this picture earlier today"


"Happy" little yellow jackets working away for the winter months ahead.

RickT

i finally entered the digital camera realm with a Nikon D-200 my bro-in-law gave me. still getting the hang of it, and it was hard to say goodbye to my Nikon F2 that has been a close companion for the past 30-some years. I've only bought one guitar, well actually traded for it, for collector value, though i doubt whether it will be worth all that much in the future. i'm not sure BBE-era G&L's will either, although i am hoping my Leo-era G&L's go back up in value at least to some extent. Strats are a dime a dozen and this 1999 is just a regular American Standard. The only difference is this is a 20th Century American made Stratocaster that Fender produced to commemorate the end of the 20th Century. They came with a Certificate of Authenticity guaranteeing that they were the last 100 to leave the factory in 1999, hand signed by William Schultz the CEO of Fender. These strats also have a special gold insignia on the headstock and a engraved neck plate. all 100 were 3 color sunburst with rosewood fretboard. the one i have is still in the box it shipped in and was only out once to take pics. maybe one day i'll take it to the Pawn Stars and see how much they'll give for it given the back story. lol. great week.

here's one of my favorite shots i took with the old F2 back when I was working on the Equalizer tv show as a location manager. shot at magic hour with the moon up the spike.

...one of my favorite shots...

What a great picture! Thanks for sharing.

RickT

thanks rick. it was one of those happy accidents so to speak and the right place at the right time. the location was liberty state park in nj, which is just across from lower manhattan. also the site of the refurbished 1890's ferry terminal where we shot the indoor scenes for the def lepard video "hysteria." btw, if anyone here wants a larger copy for themselves you can grab it at the 1st link below. just please don't post it all over eternity, or if you want to share it, please go ahead and share the "small" version.

large version:

http://www.alapoupee.com/m3pics/TwinTowwersMagicHour.jpg

i finally entered the digital camera realm with a Nikon D-200 my bro-in-law gave me. still getting the hang of it, and it was hard to say goodbye to my Nikon F2 that has been a close companion for the past 30-some years. I've only bought one guitar, well actually traded for it, for collector value, though i doubt whether it will be worth all that much in the future. i'm not sure BBE-era G&L's will either, although i am hoping my Leo-era G&L's go back up in value at least to some extent. Strats are a dime a dozen and this 1999 is just a regular American Standard. The only difference is this is a 20th Century American made Stratocaster that Fender produced to commemorate the end of the 20th Century. They came with a Certificate of Authenticity guaranteeing that they were the last 100 to leave the factory in 1999, hand signed by William Schultz the CEO of Fender. These strats also have a special gold insignia on the headstock and a engraved neck plate. all 100 were 3 color sunburst with rosewood fretboard. the one i have is still in the box it shipped in and was only out once to take pics. maybe one day i'll take it to the Pawn Stars and see how much they'll give for it given the back story. lol. great week.

here's one of my favorite shots i took with the old F2 back when I was working on the Equalizer tv show as a location manager. shot at magic hour with the moon up the spike.

unreal. thanks for posting it. i still shoot with my f100, as there is something about chrome film (velvia) that digital still can't touch. also, i have about 25k sitting in that camera bag, i don't want to get rid of it. it's 60 lbs, so i don't take it very often though.

thanks louis. i guess a lot of folks have gotten used to digital and it has gotten very good looking. but i'm a luddite at heart and still love the look of film. i think i shot this picture with FujiColor which i really liked for it's saturated reds and yellows as compared to kodak. although the directors and lighting guys liked us to shoot the location shots with kodak since it was closer to what the locations actually looked like. it's sometimes hard to rationalize the use of film versus digital for most folks especially if you don't see the two side by side. and of course digital is much easier to work with for the most part. but there's something special about film. i remember taking a friend of mine who was raving about Avatar, which does look very impressive, to a remastered version of The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. He had never seen technicolor on a big screen and his jaw dropped. sometimes the old ways are still the "best."

G'day,
RickT and JonC
Respect .
Anthony

What do you currently have in your inventory that you purchased for its collectibility?

Something amazingly similar. And just like you here, it's my avatar over at BassesByLeo. While it may not get too far from the house, it does get played.









Ken...

What do you currently have in your inventory that you purchased for its collectibility? What is the story behind that guitar, amp, or pedal?

I've never bought on collectability, but I did buy the Ashbory Mark II I have because they are alarmingly rare (less than 100). Other than that, nothing (though my Martin bass is one of less 300, and my first-style SB-2 might not have reached 1000 units either.)

Thanks for a great week Rick! I trust that the gig went well on Saturday night.

I have quite a few rarebird G&Ls, but only one was purchased as a potential collector's item: a John Jorgenson Sig ASAT that was autographed (and apparently previously owned) by John Jorgenson.





I guess collectability did factor in on the Nighthawk, as I already had that sound completely covered with my Skyhawk and was lured by the rarebird factor. I have jumped on several G&Ls just because I would probably never get the chance again at a reasonable price (the Nighthawk, SC-1, Interceptor Bass and early production 'hog L1K/L2KE come to mind).

Ken

...I trust that the gig went well on Saturday night....

We had a good time playing last night. Not a big crowd though. The state fair is in town and this weekend was the last weekend. It was a gorgeous day and very fine autumnal evening. Plus a couple of big conference football games. NC State vs. Maryland and UNC at Duke. There was plenty of stuff going on to siphon off the crowds. But, I did get a chance to take out the new Tophat Club Royal MKII. It doesn't have as thick a sound as the Swart but it did sound pretty good. It breaks up a lot earlier than the Swart and has that typical Vox/Marshall shimmer. Since the crowd was kind of small it gave us a chance to practice some new material and dust off some songs we had not played in a while.

RickT

I bought because I collect some of them but also that I play them. My main gigging guitar is a 84 F-100. I own a 80 F-100, 82 S-500, 83 Nighthawk, 84 Skyhawk, 84 F-100, 88 sickle head Skyhawk, and 89 Leo signature Skyhawk. My favorite skyhawk has always been the 84.
LS