LR Thursday September 5, 2013 - Schools in ...

It's Thursday already. Doesn't time fly. I'm reminded of joke by one of my favorite American comedians named Jango Edwards. Most of you will never have heard of him because he lived in Amsterdam from the '70s onward. Not only was he a great comedian but a hell of an acrobat too. In any case, the joke goes something like this:
"My master Confusion says: 'Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like bananas. And my fly is always open! Women without men is like fish without bicycle.'"
You might have heard that last part in different contexts. At least I have.

Lunch
Bambino's pizza and a great beer. This place close to the Space Needle has a wonderful list of microbrews either on tap or in the bottle. And a real wood burning oven to bake the pizza. I usually share their version of the Margharita dubbed the Buffala.

I have been listening to Pat Metheny's interpretation of some tunes John Zorn wrote for his second Massada book called Book of Angels. The 20th volume in that series is called Tap and it is absolutely fantastic. It caused me to reflect on all those albums and project Pat Metheny has done over his prolific career. He started out on ECM, the label produced by Manfred Eicher. And then I recalled that for many albums up to the mid-80's, Pat worked with this technician named Jan Erik Kongshaug. So I looked him up. Scroll down this article and in one of the picture you might find a pleasant G&L connection!
Non-G&L question
Any favorite engineers/technicians/producers? What is it they bring to the table you find appealing?

After looking at this guitar for years, at least that's how it feels, I finally decided to go for it so I could 'complete' my collection of G&L entry level instruments aka student models. The comes out of the collection of Jon Chakin (jonc on this forum), had been consigned to Buffalo Brothers and then moved to Guitars West in Murrieta, CA, when Tim and Bob sold the store.


One of my pre-BBE era ASAT III guitars has an HG bucker in the bridge which makes it a rare guitar. But I was still curious what the original would sound like. Although it seems from things mentioned on the 'interwebs' that this model was introduced in 1983, and thus there might be a Mustang body HG-2 out there, all the entries in the Registry are from 1984 if a date is provided or explicitly mentioned Strat-type body in the Other Features field.
Jon emailed me a list of his instruments last year and this instrument was listed as S/N G018818. However, upon inspection the first '8' looked more like a '3'. Only after the transfer trick could it be established that indeed the S/N is G013818, more in line with other HG-2s registered.


Since school has started again the student models are back to cramming too:


G&L questions:

1. Do you register your G&L instruments in the Registry?
2. Are you ever using the Registry otherwise?
3. Are there any sources you' think are missing?

OK, the last question is just another chance for me to urge on Greg and Gabe to finish their book Plus, I would hate to see the sales logs that were part of the Dale Hyatt estate to go to waste, so if there would be a way to get those published ….

Enjoy your day. I certainly am! Why? Before the day is over, I will have picked up my Savannah Collection Bluesboy 90 at the Seattle Guitar Store

- Jos

I was on fire to get going this morning. Ginny asked me to water her plants. I held that thought for a few seconds and remembered that she had asked me when she showed up at noon. I was in painting mode. I totally missed lunch and have too many fumes.


Non-G&L question
Any favorite engineers/technicians/producers? What is it they bring to the table you find appealing?

Not at the moment, but there are some very talented ones out there. One that comes to mind is Mark Knopfler. A terriffic player, producer, and business man.




G&L questions:
Do you register your G&L instruments in the Registry?

Yes I do. It is an excellent backup for information if guitars were stolen or lost in a fire.


Are you ever using the Registry otherwise?

I use it for research as to how many of a model are registered. It gives me an idea of the potential for collecting.


Are there any sources you' think are missing?

The registry has very limited information, depending on the information the owner enters. I have used your website for research Jos. It has a lot of detailed information that one can use and is much more informative.


It is difficult to motivate someone who is writing. It is easy to stall out. It has been suggested that I write a book on my Runestone experiences and I can't even begin to think about doing it. I have no interest in doing it and any thing that I do that involves a lot of time is easy to stall out on. Maybe these folks are doing things they would rather do.

I hope by now that you have that Savannah P90 in your hands. I hope you are as happy with yours as I am with mine. Give us a report!-- Darwin

Nice guitar!

I may have to try the pizza place too, I'm coming up the weekend of the Seattle Guitar show which is Sunday 9/15 in the Kent Commons. Would be good to get together with some of the Seattle guys while I'm up there.

I have some guitars in the registry; I need to add the rest of them. Lazy.

For engineers and producers, Eddie Kramer and Don Was come to mind. Oh yeah, and that guy from The Beatles...he did a pretty fair job.



Bill

I hope by now that you have that Savannah P90 in your hands. I hope you are as happy with yours as I am with mine. Give us a report!-- Darwin

Unfortunately not! There seems to have been some mixup because although the tracking said one thing, the guitar we unpacked was a Savannah ASAT Classic Bluesboy. Without the '90'. And another guitar James also had ordered. So it seems some switcheroo happened. Nothing either James or I could do anything about.

So I just have to have a little more patience ...

- Jos

I register mine just to have a record if something bad ever happened .... I like using the registry for knowledge , wish it had more info and more picts ..... nice "student" collection you have there !! ..... your guitars are bad azz , I always look foward to seeing your picts and your post's

bummer on the NGD postpone

Oh yeah, and that guy from The Beatles...he did a pretty fair job.

Yeah! I had expected George Martin to be the first to be mentioned.

Other people I like (beyong Jan Erik): the Johns brothers Andy and Glyn and young Ethan Johns. But I guess that sound engineer as a profession is slowly fading away with more and more home studio projects. Although I think a pair of independent ears is essential and as important as a producer to create a sound that will make waves (no pun intended).

Otherwise, as far as producers go, I really like what Jimmy Miller did wth with the Stones between '68 and '73.

- Jos

Jos,

That's a great collection of student models. Are you going for a complete set? I think I'm about as far away as you are. I would still need all three styles of SC-3, an HG-2, and a second-style SB-2. I've let at least one of each of those models get by me in the past year while I was focused on other instruments.

I register all of my G&Ls, and I have entered a couple of others that I've come across if they were damaged or otherwise not intact. I like having the public documentation in case anything ever happens to them. I also like contributing to the info that is available on each model, since I have found the Registry helpful when researching a purchase.

I don't really have a favorite engineer or producer. I've always respected the work Bob Thiele did with John Coltrane and Charles Mingus at Verve in the 1960s. I also admire the work Adrian Utley did with Portishead.

Ken

That's a great collection of student models. Are you going for a complete set? I think I'm about as far away as you are. I would still need all three styles of SC-3, an HG-2, and a second-style SB-2. I've let at least one of each of those models get by me in the past year while I was focused on other instruments.

Thanks Ken! And no, I am not going for the complete set. I am very, very content with the one-of-each (here I assume no HG-1s were actually ever made or stated otherwise 'less than 5' = 0). That was already enough hard work and paying attention as it is. The only model I contemplate of perhaps adding is a first body style SC-2 with vibrato. But in my case that is more driven by me collecting ASATs than anything else. You know the large MFD was introduced on that SC model ...

And yes, I can also relate to this feeling of having to let certain opportunities go by for the mere reason you are trying to achieve something different.

Other producers I like: Steve Lilliwhite, Brendan O'Brien. Other sound engineers: David Oakes, Rudy Van Gelder.

- Jos

hey Jos, great week , just one beer?
George Martin and Brian Eno, George Drakoulias did some great work with the Black Crowes
Thx
Anthony

I may have to try the pizza place too, I'm coming up the weekend of the Seattle Guitar show which is Sunday 9/15 in the Kent Commons. Would be good to get together with some of the Seattle guys while I'm up there.

Hey Bill,

Had completely forgotten about that show. FYI, my wife and I plan to be there between say 10am and 1pm because we have other commitments in the afternoon.

And yes, it would be great if a bunch of us could hook up.

- Jos

hey Jos, great week , just one beer?

Hi Anthony,

Yup, a 22 fl oz bottle Alesmith IPA

- Jos

Love that wall o' mapley HG/SC/B's !!
good stuff this week, I'll play catch up soon .

Cheers!
elwood

Yes I do. I've always added my own personal instruments. When I had the shop, any Leo-Era G&L that came through (G200's, Broadcasters, etc.) - I would add as well. And when I received Mr. Fullerton's collection - I listed all of those models as well. While I find some mis-listed items periodically, I think this is a great idea for collectors, buyers, and of general interest to the G&L community.

I do the same thing for models auctioned on eBay that are pre-BBE era, not registered, and the S/N is clear enough in a picture that there is no doubt about it.

And I also once in a while notice a mis-listings. The most recent was an instrument listed as an 'ASAT Classic w/Spalted Maple Top Special Build' but indicated to be '#'012'. I claim on my website that G&L never built 100 Spalted Bluesboys and 100 Spalted Classics but rather started with the original run of 60 Spalted Bluesboy and after a couple of months 'filled' it up to 100 instruments, mixing Bluesboys and Classics, while adding 100 Spalted Legacies and 100 Spalted L-2000s (BTW the latter 2 series do not seem to have sequence numbers on the headstock). If there was such a thing as a Spalted Classic marked as '012', that theory would be shot down. So I mailed the owner and asked whether it was really a Classic and it turned out he has a Spalted Bluesboy. Theory saved! Even more, I believe all Spalted Classics have a sequence number between 091 and 100 (all 3 registered guitars fall into this range and there is no Spalted Bluesboy) and thus the existence of at most 10 Spalted Classics. Which is why they do not show up in the list of Special Built instruments. So I keep track of the Spalted ASATs for the mere enjoyment of hoping to poke a hole in my own theory.

But so far, Occam rules

- Jos

I registered my instrument once in the beginning.

And recently I checked it again to see if many ASATs have been ordered without a top and noticed the option for the PGS Special Deluxe special build option so I placed in that as I ordered it from PGS under that line.

To my knowledge I am the only one who has done that other than admin.

Also that is quite an attractive bunch of guitars

Jos, in my fume clouded mind yesterday I forgot to mention your "students". They are all black. Were they available only in black or did you just happen to find black models? --Darwin

They look like the Swedish mafia .
Blondes in black ; a bit menacing... but probably accommodating once you get to know them

I found these for ya Darwin :
from 1987 ,


...and from 1983 ,


Notice that Black is a custom request , I hadn't known that before.

elwood

Here's another SC Ad slick:

Front:


Back:

Jos, in my fume clouded mind yesterday I forgot to mention your "students". They are all black. Were they available only in black or did you just happen to find black models? --Darwin

I wanted them black. I cannot recall who but somebody on this forum always states that 'Black sounds better'.

But you see you can find them is some pretty joyful colors although I believe most of the student models issued are actually Black.

They look like the Swedish mafia.

That would be the Dutch Mafia in this case

- Jos

But you see you can find them is some pretty joyful colors although I believe most of the student models issued are actually Black.

My SB-1 started life with a black finish, but a previous owner thought blondes were more fun:



Here's some gratuitous porn of student models that aren't black:











Ken

Thanks folks, that answers the color question and Jos is a lucky man as the Black was a special order. As for tone, I think Shell Pink does better!--Darwin