Your next guitar?

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That's a beautiful guitar, hibidy. I've always wanted an Ibanez myself since way back in the late 80s when I was mesmerized by Frank Gambale... :)
My Soundcloud Too many pieces of music finish far too long after the end. - Stravinsky

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Looking at an original,new, ESP GL-256.

Not usually big on distressed guitars but the sound of this is rather compelling.
More sizzle than an average strat. Pearly gates humbuckers in the bridge with Seymour Duncan s/c's in neck and middle.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b1J1kRIF4OI

Just realised it's an original, not a 2nd release...crap, now I have to be really nice to the mrs...
I'm tired of being insane. I'm going outsane for some fresh air.

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hibidy wrote:Oh hey I just thought of something, this will finally give me an excuse to post in tapper mike's thread tomorrow!
I've still got a few to post in it.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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werp wrote:Looking at an original,new, ESP GL-256.

Not usually big on distressed guitars but the sound of this is rather compelling.
More sizzle than an average strat. Pearly gates humbuckers in the bridge with Seymour Duncan s/c's in neck and middle.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=b1J1kRIF4OI

Just realised it's an original, not a 2nd release...crap, now I have to be really nice to the mrs...

Can you say Eric Johnson tone. The setup Lynch is using has "Cliffs of Dover" written all over it.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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I would love to get hold of a Strat from the 60s-70s.
Hard to beat...

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Easy to beat for those that had them. Occasionally one would find a reasonable strat. I actually turned down buying a 70's strat.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackie_(guitar)

The story (before he became a fender endorser) was that he went looking for 60's stratocasters but he was rather dissatisfied with them as a whole the build quality was atrocious. Which is why he chose 50's strats to pick through. Even then none of them "had it all" which is why he settled on the 6 guitars pulled the electronics from one, the neck from another and the body from a third which became blackie.

The parts industry grew due to the poor quality of materials fender would use. Those willing to buy a fender would often have the parts swapped out before leaving the store. Fender was at that time owned by a CBS subsidiary AMF (bowling balls) They simply wanted to reduce costs and had no clue to the market. As well they were unreceptive to the market. This laid the ground work for other amp and guitar makers both within the US and abroad to make inroads. The credibility of fenders made in the US had reached such an all time low that by the time the 80's kicked in they had to ship off the manufacturing to Japan.

A buddy of mine bought a '77 strat new and I remember the day he did like it was yesterday. He had to replace the tuners, the nut and have the frets leveled dressed and polished before he could take it home. Within two years the pickups were replaced. By comparrison. I bought my '86 strat new. I've traveled extensively throughout the US and played it regularly. The most I've ever had to do was change the strings and neck adjustment 6 months after purchase. It's been right as rain and been through hell and back.

Technology makes the guitars of today better then those of yesteryear.
The old three bolt necks with tilt adjuster were because it was hard to get a precise neck to body fit with the woodworking tools of old. While it's interesting to push on the headstock for a vibrato effect the guitar doesn't go back in tune nor does it sustain as well when there isn't a solid fit of body and neck. I'd rather have a fender from the 80's through today (and I do) then those of the cbs era.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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I got to play one of those blackie remakes they charged like 20k for. It was nice. Not 20k nice but it felt good and comfy. I ended up buying the 1000 dollar model :hihi: (which was RUINED by some tech buttwipe locally)

I'd love to be a really good guitarist with loads of cash and actually try all those vintage instruments. I'd be willing to bet that a) they play terrible most of the time BUT b) sound terrific.

I've been on a long and windy road with all these guitars I've had and it's a mystery. Some people say "just change the pups" which didn't really work for me. I'm also not a fan of the relic'd guitar. I like clean looking instruments. I dunno. Everyone is different. If you can find a guitar that sounds good AS IS then it should be a keeper. This new ibby seems to fit that bill, but it's too early to know for certain (have to wait for the "ooooo looook, new toy" thing to wear off and see if it stands the test of time)

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I'm looking at a used Ibanez S540 (well the seller says it's a 1991 S540 but AFAIK those were called 540S...)

Not sure what to look for. It has a HSS setup, a rosewood fretboard and a Floyd Rose trem. It also seems that he has the orginal case for it. I'm waiting for the serial # so I can check manufacture date etc.

EDIT: Serial # is F112853.

It seems to be in great condition, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet. What should I look for?

The seller wants $900 for it (I'm in Norway, so if I were to buy something on eBay for about $600 that would be equivalent when you add postage and duties etc).
My Soundcloud Too many pieces of music finish far too long after the end. - Stravinsky

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@hibidy that's when you find a super luthier/tech like Koontz. He charges an arm and a leg for his work but can make a vintage instrument play like a dream and look like a dream without destroying any vintage value.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsnZ38vF7uU

When he first came to town he built all these one of a kind guitars as a calling card for local guitar stores. God they were beautiful. He'd sell them on commission and build up a trust with the stores for things that local guitar stores couldn't wouldn't touch like painting or fear of value loss.

If you want to check out private collections.....
http://youtu.be/aAnRSBKGeWo?t=33m

Great documentary so far but skip ahead to the 33 minute part. This guy has rooms and rooms and rooms of guitars. 50 Fender Coronado guitars alone not to mention the dizzying arrays of other guitars, and stringed instruments.

I walked into this guitar store that was an old huge barn. It was a one man operation. two stories of stalls. Stall after stall of guitars. I bought a crestwood deep archtop from the guy it was a 60's/70's model back in the early 80's
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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kovacs wrote:I'm looking at a used Ibanez S540 (well the seller says it's a 1991 S540 but AFAIK those were called 540S...)

Not sure what to look for. It has a HSS setup, a rosewood fretboard and a Floyd Rose trem. It also seems that he has the orginal case for it. I'm waiting for the serial # so I can check manufacture date etc.

EDIT: Serial # is F112853.

It seems to be in great condition, but I haven't had the chance to try it yet. What should I look for?

The seller wants $900 for it (I'm in Norway, so if I were to buy something on eBay for about $600 that would be equivalent when you add postage and duties etc).
There is a SN checker on the net somewhere. The F means is fujgian factory which is desirable.

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tapper mike wrote:@hibidy that's when you find a super luthier/tech like Koontz. He charges an arm and a leg for his work but can make a vintage instrument play like a dream and look like a dream without destroying any vintage value.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsnZ38vF7uU

When he first came to town he built all these one of a kind guitars as a calling card for local guitar stores. God they were beautiful. He'd sell them on commission and build up a trust with the stores for things that local guitar stores couldn't wouldn't touch like painting or fear of value loss.

If you want to check out private collections.....
http://youtu.be/aAnRSBKGeWo?t=33m

Great documentary so far but skip ahead to the 33 minute part. This guy has rooms and rooms and rooms of guitars. 50 Fender Coronado guitars alone not to mention the dizzying arrays of other guitars, and stringed instruments.

I walked into this guitar store that was an old huge barn. It was a one man operation. two stories of stalls. Stall after stall of guitars. I bought a crestwood deep archtop from the guy it was a 60's/70's model back in the early 80's
Impressive.

Our techs SUCK. They don't listen, they don't do good work and I've decided I'll just sell a guitar if I think it's not right :) I was going to try this guy "gary brawer" in SF but a couple of people have told me he won't likely work on a guitar for just any old shlub (has other people to do the work) and I'm nervous.

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I had that as well with a couple of different tech's at guitar stores closer to me. Including GC


Which is why I'm more then happy to go back to music castle. They listen and will do anything that doesn't involve routing or painting. Oddly Koontz buys his parts from music castle. Dropping a couple of grand on a paint job no matter how good the paint job is goes off the deep end for me. And trust me my strat really needs to be stripped sanded repainted and finished.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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I think they ditched the GC thing here. I noticed the little booths are gone from where they used to be. Could be wrong.

@new guitar: Pretty sure I'm going to have to shim the 6th string. I'll have to check into if the shims I have work with the OE. (EDIT) looks like they do. That should be pretty easy to do. I'll likely wait until the next string change in a few days. Now I have to find the shims :lol:

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Here's a funny story.
It's a long video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GxDGdL50R8

And I think all of us have gone through it at one point or another. The take away is this. You put your hopes and dreams into a guitar you buy with certain expectations. And then you find that maybe your expectations have changed or it didn't fulfill then. So you change the pickups and maybe you change something else and then your heart wanders searching for that next guitar. And as time passes there is something not right about the next one. How something just didn't match you. And you go on this journey of always the next guitar and sometimes it turns full circle to something you've already had but couldn't fully appreciate when you had it.


You all know the story of my blacktop tele by now. I was really expecting it to be quite different then it was. And I was very unforgiving to things like how it's designed for the action it has. It's not the tele of my aspirations. I was fully expecting something closer to a Jeff Beck / Seymour Duncan sound. Nonetheless in the weeks that I've had it now I've slowly become more accustomed to the tone and neck. While not a U it's certainly wider and deeper then any "C" shape neck I've ever played before. My new yamaha amp is really helping it to shine. I've thought long and hard about replacing the pups but If I don't do that in the next two years I may never. I may finally settle into the instrument and appreciate it for the guitar that it is rather then trying to make it into the guitar it's not.

The SX furrian (tele copy) on the other hand is a different matter. If a new neck won't cure it into the dumpster it goes.
Synapse Audio Dune 3 I'm in love

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hibidy wrote:The F means is fujgian factory which is desirable.
Fujigen desu. Hmm... I may look at some FGN guitars when I go to Japan next month. :hyper:
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