Monday Munch

[RickT]

I'll start by providing a little background about myself. I work as a project manager for a big technology firm (human network) in the delivery services area. The customers for my patch are all federal government. I've been playing guitar since the mid '60s. My first electric was a Silvertone semi-hollowbody guitar and a Silvertone Solid State Amp. Both were crappy, but I was thrilled to get them. It took a few years but I upgraded to a Vox Spitfire guitar and a Vox Pathfinder amp that I purchased from an uncle who kept it under his bed. For those not familiar, the spitfire was the Vox version of the Strat. The Pathfinder was a solid state amp but had a decent tone to it. The tone was just very clean. I managed to sell that guitar and purchase a Gibson SG Jr with the plastic covered single coil pickups. I loved that guitar and played it for several years through a Kustom 150 4x10 combo amp. Again, solid state, but much better tone than anything I had previously owed. The next evolution of tone was a 1975 Strat, brand new, through a Fender Twin Reverb equipped with JBLs. This amp was loud! It had a master volume so you could dial up some grit, but those JBLs just weren't going to distort much. I ended up trading that amp towards a 50-Watt Marshall Super Lead head and a 2x12 cabinet with Celestion speakers. That was the tone combination! That strat, through that head and cab was magical. I played that rig for probably 12 years and nothing else.

My acquaintance with G&L came after I traded my strat for a pair of Telecaster guitars. One was a Fender, and the other was a "boutique" with a curly maple top and ebony fingerboard. I never did bond with those guitars and eventually sold them. But then, I had no electric guitar! It was at that point I found a sunburst George Fullerton signature Legacy. It had a very pronounced v-neck and a beautiful, classic, glassy strat tone. After I purchased that one, I found a red GF with a maple fingerboard, and that started by G&L collecting. I've owned about a dozen G&Ls in the past 15 or so years and am now down to just 2. I've got a mahogany bodied Legacy HB and a Leo Signature ASAT Classic. Both are very fine examples of what G&L brings to the table - great quality guitars at affordable price points.

Here are some of the G&Ls that I've owned:

G&L Food for thought:
I am amazed at the number of boutique guitar builders out there. They are putting out some truly phenomenal stuff. Some of it is of that vintage design that we know and love, but some of those guys are making stuff that is really out there. Personally, I think the stuff at G&L is equal or superior to a lot of the boutique stuff out there and given their size, I wonder why they don't market themselves as the "original" boutique guitar builder.

Lunch? I haven't decided yet but there several options. The cafeteria, boring and expensive....Quiznos, Smithfield's Chicken and BBQ, Red Dragon Chinese, Randy's New York Style Pizza, New York Deli, or the Morrisville Deli. I've got time to think about it.

That's my report for today. I was thinking I'd cover a little tone talk, amps, effects, and whatever else pops into my head. I'll save my gig story for Friday and it is entertaining. For now, funny things can happen over miscommunication. If you guys have any suggestions for topics, feel free to suggest them.

RickT

[yowhatsshakin]

Morning Rick

Like you, it also took a while for me until I had gear that sounded good. About 20 years after I started playing I finally bought an 'quality' instrument. Unfortunately it was a low '80's Gibson LP with some really shoddy workmanship but I figured that out only after I bought my first G&L and PRS. Some nice picture BTW, not only showing some fine guitars you once owned but also quite a variety of amps in the background. Are most of those still in your possession?

Paging through the Vintage Guitar Price Guide you once more are confronted with the vast number of builders,; most of them boutique. Once in a while somebody breaks through. Paul Reed Smith, Anderson, Sadowsky, and Suhr are a well known examples and today it seems to be Nik Huber who gets some traction. There are a ton out there and sometimes it is hard to just find them. The ideal person to build your guitar might live around the corner without you knowing.

- Jos

[RickT]

...but also quite a variety of amps in the background. Are most of those still in your possession?...

- Jos

Alas, all but the Swart and the Portly Cadet remains. In addition to those two amps, I have a Port City 12 combo and 3 Fender Super Champs.

RickT

[sirmyghin]

Some nice axes you have had there, Down to 2 though, I can understand that. It is easy to let our collection spiral out of control in the name of 'need'. Learning this young I have cut it off pretty early. I recently sold one and am back down to 2 also. My ASAT special and Carvin Contour.

I agree with G&L being 'boutique' quality. They rival my carvins easily, heck overall quality this one probably wins, as carvin has made a few errors on me and G&L has not. IF anything with my small sample bias G&Ls attention to detail is a bit better, and that goes a long way in my books. The carvins aren't going anywhere, but just putting that out there. Boutique instruments out there aren't worth the price IMO. IF I had the cash to throw around though I am sure the small differences would add up, but the big picture barely cahnges, so I have trouble justifying 3k+ price tags unless it is swimming in options.

[zombywoof]

Hey Hoss,

My first electric was also a Silvertone - the little single pickup Dano. I could not have been prouder. Went from there to a 1960 Esquire and from there to a 1958 Tele (they were just used guitars back when I bought them). I know where there is one of those SGs with the single coil for sale as we speak. I gave it a test drive and don't mean to be obnoxious but you probably would have been better off keeping the Silvertone.

Say what ya'll want about ss amps but solid state done right is better than tube done wrong. Some of those old Silvertone and other ss amps had a cool edgy sound to them. I know one came with a cab loaded with 6 10" Jensens.

[zapcosongs]

Hey Rick. Nice start. Crazy week for me here.

Speaking of crazy, THREE Super Champs? What's the story there????? - ed

btw, would love to hear some clips of your G&L's through the Swart and Port City amps. Have anything like that in store for us?
And what DID you decide to have for lunch? Inquiring minds want to know!

[blargfromouterspace]

Hi Rick.

I'm sure that with those two guitars and amps you can get most any sound you want. The Port City one in your avatar is a real handsome piece of gear. I'm happy with my rig at the moment, I'm using ASAT Classics through a Tweed Deluxe clone - you just gotta love an amp with only two knobs on it! Though there's a nice Fender Super Reverb for sale here that I have my eye on.....

I've played some very nice guitars and always end up preferring my own ASATs! I would love to try out a Hahn t-style. I love the shape of the headstock. The prices of boutique guitars (and amps) are way out of my range, and to be honest, I don't think they'd have a lot on the G&L line. They're made with the same materials. I would love to try out a 100% handmade guitar one day, though I seriously doubt that it would have a lot of effect on an electric instrument.

[sickbutnottired]

There are so many builders out there. G&L quality is right there with anyone, at least for solid body. I don't know anything about semi-hollow. My '08 ASAT Deluxe is straight up beautiful, and a fine player--boutique quality for sure. My older stuff is a little less flashy, but the quality is at least as good.

Marketing is a tough nut. But I think that marketing guitars is an especially strange challange.

I worked in a ski shop very briefly, and got to talk to the manufacturer's reps. I learned a really fascinating thing. Skier's are an annoyance to ski manufacturers. I'll explain. One of the things that I one rep told us lowly shop hands, was that the average set of ski's was used 11 days in their service life (5 years from manufacture). And the average skier used them just over 2 days per season. So this guy is telling this to a group of avid skiers, everyone putting there boots on at least 50 days/season and some closer to 100.

So the rep said, ski companies don't care about us, the serious practitioner. They have to build us ski's, or they can't get endorsement and pro-supplier deals done. But they aren't going to market to us, because we buy through word of mouth and brand loyalty, and there are not enough of us to matter.

I think guitars are the same way. The percentage of guitars sold to people who are serious about playing consistently over say, 75% of there life (calendar time) is very small. They have to sell to kids, collectors,and the passing hobbyist.

So I fear that unless Jason Bieber plays an S-500, G&L is destined to be a very large boutique manufacturer. If they ever had one year of current Gibson quality, they'd be history. But they haven't, and I see no reason that they will.

[standards guy]

...I'm using ASAT Classics through a Tweed Deluxe clone - you just gotta love an amp with only two knobs on it!...

Tweed Deluxe clones like Victoria 20112 and Mission, etc., are my favorite amps for Fender design guitars. All that chime and harmonic tone.
I'd like to build a Mission 5E3 kit. A friend has one I play at Blues jams through: perfect!

[blargfromouterspace]

You're a man of very good taste, Standards Guy!!!

[RickT]

Monday lunch was ..... Progresso Pot Roast Soup with La Choy crispy noodles, a jonagold apple, cajun peanuts, and a can of diet Dr. Pepper Cherry.

I've got 2 G&L guitars, 1 PRS Archtop Jazz, 1 Hamer Newport 90, 1 Grosh Retro Classic, and a Taylor GC8. I owned the Grosh and the Red Fullerton at the same time. I modded the Fullerton by adding 3 JB jr humbuckers. The stock pickups were just too thin sounding. It turned out to be a very good sounding guitar. On a scale of 1 to 10, the Grosh was a 10 and the Fullerton a 9.2. Build quality, finish and tone were fantastic on the Fullerton. But the Grosh got the higher score due to neck radius, classic '50s single coil tone, body weight, and nitro-cellulose finish. Value wise though, I think the G&L won hands down. You just get a lot of guitar for your money with G&L.

3 Superchamps - One of the ironies of my layoff was that I earned more money that year than any other year since I'd entered the workforce. Mostly due to a generous severance and being able to collect unemployment funds at the same time. One of the rules here is that if you are laid off due to outsourcing and you take a training course you can collect unemployment even while collecting severance. I earned my Project Management Institute's Project Management Professional certification through that training. But, I digress. While I had so much spare time, I started watching eBay and started buying stuff I thought was a good deal. So, I ended up winning 3 Superchamp auctions. I got a great deal on all these amps. I use them at rehearsal at my house so people don't have to bring an amp but still have something that sounds decent. I highly recommend these little workhorses.

RickT

[zapcosongs]

Don Grosh builds some fine guitars. I've owned (and sold) a couple. I just wasn't worthy. Couldn't even fool myself. Not worthy of my G&Ls either, btw, but given the value, I've been able to justify them in my own mind at least, lol!

I also own a Super Champ XD. Channel 1 is nice and worth the price of admission. I'd be grateful to you though if you could help me out with respect to getting some use out of the second channel. Seriously, there are so many possibilities, but alas..... Maybe I just don't have the patience....

Hey, you could do worse than Progresso soup. Actually made a 12 bean and ham soup for my family this evening (actually took much of the day). Progresso would have been much easier, and equally satisfying, given the reviews! - ed

[RickT]

...I also own a Super Champ XD. ...

I own 3 of the original Super Champ model. There is only one channel. I believe there were Rivera designed back in the early to mid '80s.

RickT

[zapcosongs]

Doh!!!!
-ed

[sirmyghin]

Don Grosh builds some fine guitars. I've owned (and sold) a couple. I just wasn't worthy. Couldn't even fool myself. Not worthy of my G&Ls either, btw, but given the value, I've been able to justify them in my own mind at least, lol!

Guitar is only as good as the player, never anymore. So don't kid yourself into thinking a guitar is our of your league. What matters is that you can relax and focus on your playing, not the instrument in your hand. That doesn't happen if the instrument has many faults.

[zapcosongs]

Ha!

I almost NEVER focus on my playing - so I assume I'm in a minority here. G-d bless the rest of you. We need you!

I just play enough to express dumbed-down song ideas - hopefully to folks who have more imagination (and connections and chops) than I have playing-talent.

Truth be told, many nights find me stuporously pounding my (R.I.) Guild acoustic/electric.

BUT - when I can get rid of the wife and kids (or medicate them sufficiently ;+), I have been known to try to shatter windows using a Leo-era guitar or bass, or my (modern and very kick-ass) solid alder double-bound Bluesboy, with my Fender Super 60. (Best thing to come out of the '80s!).

Lucky man am I! - ed