Guitar geekery redux

[Doctor Rock]

Where Pat and I talk about guitars and shit. 

[Doctor Rock]

I've been accumulating gear for 20 years.  I had the time to get some nice stuff. 

Here's some of my gear:



My reissue american Jazzmaster, and my japanese made 57-reissue Fender strat (a copy of a late 50 stratocaster).  The jazzmaster is stock, there's nothing to change in it, it's perfect as it is.  The strat underwent a number of modifications.  The thing with Japanese-made strats is that the necks and bodies are comparable to that of american made guitars, but the electronic components are crap. 

This one got new pickups and new potentiometers, and sounds and plays excellent.   For half the price of an american made 57 strat, I got a guitar that is, in my opinion, just as good if not better: the pickups are hand-made units fabricated by a guy called Curtis Novak, and they're top notch, better than stock american made pickups. 

[Doctor Rock]

My number one amp:



This is a clone of a Hiwatt DR504, a 50 watts Hiwatt from the early 70s.  I've wanted a Hiwatt for a long, long time, but I realised that vintage British-made Hiwatts (built in the late 60s and during the 70s) where getting prohibitively expensive.  New Hiwatts are very expensive too, and they have a bad reputation regarding building quality.  After talking to a bunch of Hiwatt fans on the web, I learned that Reeves, a small american company, made copies of the old Hiwatts that were as highly regarded as the originals.  And they were a bit less expensive, and new!  Old amps often need some care, and they sometimes have issues.  Plus, it's hard to find a good vintage Hiwatt that doesn't cost an arm and a leg.  The Reeves only cost me an arm, but I am going to play it for the rest of my life, which hopefully will be a long time. 

I adore this amp.  Each time I fire it up, I'm like "duuude"! And a big dumb smile lights up my face. 

[Jeff]

I only ever had two guitars, a shitty Harmony Strat knockoff and a pawn shop Epiphone Les Paul knockoff we used to call the "Faux Paul."

Okay, I'm out. Have fun, fellas!

[Doctor Rock]

My Gibsons:



A TV Yellow melody maker with one P90, made in 2003 or 2004, that i bought super-duper cheap (150 bucks!) from a friend; my old 1980s The Paul and a 1993 Les Paul Special.  The Special originally had P100 pickups, which I didn't like much, so I took them out and replaced them with hand-made Fralin P90s.  This one plus the cranked Reeves pretty much gets me into Live At Leeds territory. 

[Doctor Rock]

Amp number two: a late sixties silverface Fender super reverb.



This poor thing was converted to a head by a previous owner, and I bought it pretty cheap in a pawn shop.  Then I rebuilt it: I bough a new cab, and new good quality speakers, got an amp tech to look it over, and put everything together myself.

It sounds great, and with my Fenders, it gives me the coolest, most classic tone ever! 

[Jeff]

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/page/free-plans

How to build cigar box guitars. And diddly bows, too!

[Doctor Rock]

Here's a picture of my rickenbacker 330, my Fender Telecaster 72 custom, and my old mid-seventies Ampeg VT-22. 



The telecaster is a japanese made reissue from the mid-80s.  It's a great very well made guitar, and unlike more recent japanese-made guitars, the electronics parts in it are actually quite good.  I got it in a trade for a japanese made jaguar.  One of the most intelligent gear trades I ever made. 

By the way Pat, a Telecaster Custom just like that into a VT22 is pretty much the Rolling Stones early 70s live tone.  That's what you're hearing on Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out. 

On the floor, you can see my main pedal array: I have a shit-load of pedals, but those are my favourites.

A fuzzface clone made by MJM (a Montreal pedal builder), a Teese RMC-1 wah pedal, an old rat given to me by Trey (aka Trompe) a former member of crappity and all around nice guy, a boss tuner, an Maxon AD-999 analog delay and a Akai Headrush looper/digital delay.  I also often use a Crowther Hotcake overdrive/distortion and a Vox valvetone overdrive (the hotcake and the valvetone are side by side in the picture, unconnected, the valvetone says Vox in it, and the Hotcake is the white pedal besides it) I prefer the hotcake with the Reeves, and the valvetone with the Super Reverb. 

[Doctor Rock]

The Rickenbacker 330 into a compressor (I use a jangle Box compressor) into the Reeves is my recipe for jangle tone.  But somtimes I also use this cheap guitar:



It's a mid 90s Korean made Danelectro 12-string.  It's a very good bang-for-the-buck guitar. 

[Doctor Rock]

Here's a better picture of my Rickenbacker:



You also can see the jaguar I traded for that telecaster.

[Doctor Rock]

Finally, here's a funky guitar that I love:



It's a Harmony H19 silhouette.  Bought it at a pawn shop for 100 bucks.  It's a great little guitar. 

[Doctor Rock]

Oh, and my old Traynor YBA-1. 



It's basically a poor man's Marshall JTM-45.  Canadian-made too!  I got really lucky with this one: it's an early model, from 1965 or 66, in pristine condition.  I got in trade for three boss pedals I didn't want.  Since then, the price of these amps has gone considerably up, as people have discovered that these old Traynors are great amps that can be made to sound like very expensive vintage Marshalls. 

[Doctor Rock]

Ok, I'm done.  It's out of my system now.  I promise I won't do it again.   

[Jeff]

Dude, are you kidding? I may not be able to play along, but this stuff fascinates me. I read every word. I hope some of the others give tours of their gear, too.

[Doctor Rock]

As you probably can tell, I love my shit.  Playing guitar is my 4th or 5th most favourite thing in the world.  Even though I am not that good, I love it, and I'll never grow tired of it.  I try to practice at least one hour a day.