Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
So... I'm working on "that other guitar" that I shouldn't have bought... Hmmm... a great way to keep from doing the things you're actually supposed to do, ha...
It's the doubleneck I mentioned in a post last night (F30 fingerboard cleaning thread), not at liberty to divulge full details yet, but let's just say that I played it (when not tuning, and retuning...) for a small crowd on Tuesday to test a PA system, and I gotta tell you, wow...
It seemed people were mesmerized, I was playing strictly on the 12 string neck, but in the "middle neck position", which causes a mild "ghosting" effect from the other neck, which is not being played. My son in law was there, and (he's quite the musician), and I could he was transfixed, and this may be the most attention I've ever gotten from him while playing an instrument.
If you've ever heard this before, and I never knew this before buying one, this is got to be one of the strangest and coolest things I've ever heard, has that "ethereal" x10 quality... "otherworldly" might be a more apt description.
Watch this video, halfway through he talks about it plays it like that, starting at 4:30. The whole video is pretty cool. Let me just say at this point that the guitar I picked up is NOT a recent Epiphone, but it is wired the same way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd9ONbMFtOg
Warning, only watch the next video if you really need it confirmed that a cheap Chinese guitar through a cheap Chinese amp really does sound awful as I've always suspected...
Anyway, now that I've stopped gushing (you've got to remember it was this 12 string kick that brought me to LTGuild in the first place), the guitar itself is a bit of a project, somebody's already done some way cool stuff to it (all four pickups are actual Gibson, a pair of '57 Classics on the 12 string side, and a 496/500T on the 6 sting (;-) side.
Not only those two pickups are too much for me, but they overpower the '57 Classics (16kΩ vs 8kΩ, you do the math) in that weird ghost limbo mode, meaning that you have to modulate the volume levels between the necks when you do this, I have to cut the 6 string side down to get the balance I want.
To be fair, the 496 is only 8kΩ, and I've had some extremely sweet ones before, and I like ceramics pickups, wow... there, I said it, I actually like the damn things, they smoke for hard rock and metal! But... I don't like them in this guitar, in conjunction with the 57 Classics, they don't work well. Because... the 12 string side sounds sooooo damn pretty, the '57 Classics sound warm and beautiful, and when you switch to the other side, it is so much more sparse sounding, and the p'ups are harsh, it's a horrible contrast, it doesn't work for me.
So, I've known this since I first plugged it in a week ago, and I'm just now getting to looking for a pair of pickups to put in it, and appropriate pair of pickups, open coils, black, no zebras or anything like that (but maybe?) and so I finally remembered to look on eBay for p'ups... and I gotta tell you; eBay ain't what it use to be, period.
I'm sure all you guys that have been on for ten or more years know that... and I didn't see much, go figure. Ten years ago, you could have made a good living buying pickups on eBay at bargain prices, and selling them on eBay for their real prices, I did it all the time. The market was nuts, lotsa vintage Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio pickups, gobs of Gibson p'ups (some outa Nashville, I swear Gibson employees were high grading them and sticking them on eBay, whatever it was, I loved it.
So this morning, I did manage to find a couple pairs that fit the bill, although nothing by the way of the BIN instant gratification, so... I had my second good idea of the day, LOOK ON REVERB!!!
So I go look on Reverb, you've heard the stories... "things are cheaper on Reverb cause the fees are less", I mean hell, it's a musician's dreamscape, all those cool articles, and videos , and you can buy gear to boot, at better prices than eBay, right?
Well, I got to preface this by saying that the double neck also NEEDS 18 new tuners, not necessarily brand new, it just needs all the tuners replaced, and after much hands on research, I decided to go with Grovers, because they are the only ones that will work on the 12 string side, spacing issues, etc, beside, I like Grovers, and since my 12 string buying kick kicked in I now have the '85 Hondo Fame 760/12 (12 chrome mini Grovers) '87 Washburn Japan (12 Gold mini Grovers), the Guild (12 chrome mini Grovers), and now this one will have 12 chrome mini Grovers also. That's a mess o little Grovers there!
Long story short, after a few days research I bought the tuners I needed on eBay, Reverb was a waste of time, hardly anything there, and the prices NOT EVEN COMPARABLE!
I bought two sets of nice older with patina sets of the 6 string Grovers, already have one set on the guitar, quite aged looking actually and it fantastic mechanical condition, and I'm waiting for the other set in the mail from BC (Canada), they should be here anyday. Both sets were very reasonable to stupid cheap (my price!), one set was $20 shipped BIN (I did say stupid cheap). Same set on Reverb, $100.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172251469849?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I'm sorry, but people like deals, and you know how it is, "vote with your wallet"...
I got the 12 string tuners brand new from an outfit in Tejas which was gracious enough to give me a little discount to reflect one of their previous sold set, $70 shipped, really a good deal ;-) And when they get here, I can put the guitar back together, I'm tellin you man, THAT DOG DOES HUNT!
Same set on the Verb, pffffftttt... I'm to poor to overpay for stuff, sorry Reverb, keep the great articles comin tho ;-)
This will actually finish my Reverb rant ;-) So I went a lookin on that there Reeevurb for some o them Gibson p'ups and what did I see, lookin only at used?
One set of '57 Classics for $250, USED, and another set for $195, USED, and that's when I said, Whoa Nellie, "hit the backbutton", nuthin here to see folks, and now I'm here writing about it, because it NEEDS TO BE SAID. Deals on Reverb?
What deals?
Maybe that's when it started out, and I have been thinking about selling there instead of eBay, but I was actually involved with someone at Reverb R&D for a while, I don't remember his name... sniff... ;-( He never writes, he never calls... I contacted someone on the R&D department about how to improve the site, and how to compete with eBay, and maybe even be equal with eBay, at least in presentation, prices be damned that isn't something you can control anyway...
And the guy took all of my suggestions, and filed them, "in the round file", and guess what, REverb still sucks, and the stupid page still looks like I wandered into Gbase by accident... sometimes more like Craigslist actually... Ouch.
I had a few suggestions (simple suggestions) that I'm sure would have made them all millionaires ;-), and there was zero interest, but they did ask me if I'd like to write articles there and contribute, which would have been fun, but I don't need to do that, I already waste plenty of time on the computer without it becoming a requirement.
All I wanted was a rewarding, pleasurable experience while looking at gear on the site, and to this day I can barely stand it, the presentation, the picture quality, the amount of information in the ads are all dismal.
Guess what Reverb? This is a GREAT WAY TO KEEP ME FROM BUYING ANYTHING!!! I need to FALL IN LOVE WITH THAT GUITAR/OR ITEM WHILE READING THE AD, IF THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN, FOR WHATEVER REASON, BAD PICS, POOR DESCRIPTION, WHATEVER, I'M GONE!
Consequently, I've never bought a guitar on Reverb, and I may never, and I have bought FOUR off of eBay in the last that many months.
But when couple this lack of gratification with prices double what you see on eBay?
Not a winning combination I'm afraid.
If there's interest, I could start a thread on the double neck, it would belong here as much as anywhere else on the net, and whoever is graced with it's presence will be rather unique among web pages, as it maybe the only one on the net covering that instrument, so that is a big deal, and right now, this place is kind of like home to me, for guitars, which just happen to be a pretty severe obsession this year. Started with a vintage Dobro, and then moved on to 12 strings from there, played in open D, already up to four different 12 strings, not including my minty one owner little old lady owned 1966 Harmony Sunburst, what a slide guitar that is, sweet tone!.
Maybe a page about a vintage weird but very yummy double neck would be good here, discussing double necks in general is very interesting to me right now, it's an interesting topic among guitar topics for sure, and I'd like to hear feedback from y'all on it, experiences, ownerships etc with these cool unusual and versatile instruments.
It's the doubleneck I mentioned in a post last night (F30 fingerboard cleaning thread), not at liberty to divulge full details yet, but let's just say that I played it (when not tuning, and retuning...) for a small crowd on Tuesday to test a PA system, and I gotta tell you, wow...
It seemed people were mesmerized, I was playing strictly on the 12 string neck, but in the "middle neck position", which causes a mild "ghosting" effect from the other neck, which is not being played. My son in law was there, and (he's quite the musician), and I could he was transfixed, and this may be the most attention I've ever gotten from him while playing an instrument.
If you've ever heard this before, and I never knew this before buying one, this is got to be one of the strangest and coolest things I've ever heard, has that "ethereal" x10 quality... "otherworldly" might be a more apt description.
Watch this video, halfway through he talks about it plays it like that, starting at 4:30. The whole video is pretty cool. Let me just say at this point that the guitar I picked up is NOT a recent Epiphone, but it is wired the same way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd9ONbMFtOg
Warning, only watch the next video if you really need it confirmed that a cheap Chinese guitar through a cheap Chinese amp really does sound awful as I've always suspected...
Anyway, now that I've stopped gushing (you've got to remember it was this 12 string kick that brought me to LTGuild in the first place), the guitar itself is a bit of a project, somebody's already done some way cool stuff to it (all four pickups are actual Gibson, a pair of '57 Classics on the 12 string side, and a 496/500T on the 6 sting (;-) side.
Not only those two pickups are too much for me, but they overpower the '57 Classics (16kΩ vs 8kΩ, you do the math) in that weird ghost limbo mode, meaning that you have to modulate the volume levels between the necks when you do this, I have to cut the 6 string side down to get the balance I want.
To be fair, the 496 is only 8kΩ, and I've had some extremely sweet ones before, and I like ceramics pickups, wow... there, I said it, I actually like the damn things, they smoke for hard rock and metal! But... I don't like them in this guitar, in conjunction with the 57 Classics, they don't work well. Because... the 12 string side sounds sooooo damn pretty, the '57 Classics sound warm and beautiful, and when you switch to the other side, it is so much more sparse sounding, and the p'ups are harsh, it's a horrible contrast, it doesn't work for me.
So, I've known this since I first plugged it in a week ago, and I'm just now getting to looking for a pair of pickups to put in it, and appropriate pair of pickups, open coils, black, no zebras or anything like that (but maybe?) and so I finally remembered to look on eBay for p'ups... and I gotta tell you; eBay ain't what it use to be, period.
I'm sure all you guys that have been on for ten or more years know that... and I didn't see much, go figure. Ten years ago, you could have made a good living buying pickups on eBay at bargain prices, and selling them on eBay for their real prices, I did it all the time. The market was nuts, lotsa vintage Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio pickups, gobs of Gibson p'ups (some outa Nashville, I swear Gibson employees were high grading them and sticking them on eBay, whatever it was, I loved it.
So this morning, I did manage to find a couple pairs that fit the bill, although nothing by the way of the BIN instant gratification, so... I had my second good idea of the day, LOOK ON REVERB!!!
So I go look on Reverb, you've heard the stories... "things are cheaper on Reverb cause the fees are less", I mean hell, it's a musician's dreamscape, all those cool articles, and videos , and you can buy gear to boot, at better prices than eBay, right?
Well, I got to preface this by saying that the double neck also NEEDS 18 new tuners, not necessarily brand new, it just needs all the tuners replaced, and after much hands on research, I decided to go with Grovers, because they are the only ones that will work on the 12 string side, spacing issues, etc, beside, I like Grovers, and since my 12 string buying kick kicked in I now have the '85 Hondo Fame 760/12 (12 chrome mini Grovers) '87 Washburn Japan (12 Gold mini Grovers), the Guild (12 chrome mini Grovers), and now this one will have 12 chrome mini Grovers also. That's a mess o little Grovers there!
Long story short, after a few days research I bought the tuners I needed on eBay, Reverb was a waste of time, hardly anything there, and the prices NOT EVEN COMPARABLE!
I bought two sets of nice older with patina sets of the 6 string Grovers, already have one set on the guitar, quite aged looking actually and it fantastic mechanical condition, and I'm waiting for the other set in the mail from BC (Canada), they should be here anyday. Both sets were very reasonable to stupid cheap (my price!), one set was $20 shipped BIN (I did say stupid cheap). Same set on Reverb, $100.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/172251469849?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT
I'm sorry, but people like deals, and you know how it is, "vote with your wallet"...
I got the 12 string tuners brand new from an outfit in Tejas which was gracious enough to give me a little discount to reflect one of their previous sold set, $70 shipped, really a good deal ;-) And when they get here, I can put the guitar back together, I'm tellin you man, THAT DOG DOES HUNT!
Same set on the Verb, pffffftttt... I'm to poor to overpay for stuff, sorry Reverb, keep the great articles comin tho ;-)
This will actually finish my Reverb rant ;-) So I went a lookin on that there Reeevurb for some o them Gibson p'ups and what did I see, lookin only at used?
One set of '57 Classics for $250, USED, and another set for $195, USED, and that's when I said, Whoa Nellie, "hit the backbutton", nuthin here to see folks, and now I'm here writing about it, because it NEEDS TO BE SAID. Deals on Reverb?
What deals?
Maybe that's when it started out, and I have been thinking about selling there instead of eBay, but I was actually involved with someone at Reverb R&D for a while, I don't remember his name... sniff... ;-( He never writes, he never calls... I contacted someone on the R&D department about how to improve the site, and how to compete with eBay, and maybe even be equal with eBay, at least in presentation, prices be damned that isn't something you can control anyway...
And the guy took all of my suggestions, and filed them, "in the round file", and guess what, REverb still sucks, and the stupid page still looks like I wandered into Gbase by accident... sometimes more like Craigslist actually... Ouch.
I had a few suggestions (simple suggestions) that I'm sure would have made them all millionaires ;-), and there was zero interest, but they did ask me if I'd like to write articles there and contribute, which would have been fun, but I don't need to do that, I already waste plenty of time on the computer without it becoming a requirement.
All I wanted was a rewarding, pleasurable experience while looking at gear on the site, and to this day I can barely stand it, the presentation, the picture quality, the amount of information in the ads are all dismal.
Guess what Reverb? This is a GREAT WAY TO KEEP ME FROM BUYING ANYTHING!!! I need to FALL IN LOVE WITH THAT GUITAR/OR ITEM WHILE READING THE AD, IF THAT DOESN'T HAPPEN, FOR WHATEVER REASON, BAD PICS, POOR DESCRIPTION, WHATEVER, I'M GONE!
Consequently, I've never bought a guitar on Reverb, and I may never, and I have bought FOUR off of eBay in the last that many months.
But when couple this lack of gratification with prices double what you see on eBay?
Not a winning combination I'm afraid.
If there's interest, I could start a thread on the double neck, it would belong here as much as anywhere else on the net, and whoever is graced with it's presence will be rather unique among web pages, as it maybe the only one on the net covering that instrument, so that is a big deal, and right now, this place is kind of like home to me, for guitars, which just happen to be a pretty severe obsession this year. Started with a vintage Dobro, and then moved on to 12 strings from there, played in open D, already up to four different 12 strings, not including my minty one owner little old lady owned 1966 Harmony Sunburst, what a slide guitar that is, sweet tone!.
Maybe a page about a vintage weird but very yummy double neck would be good here, discussing double necks in general is very interesting to me right now, it's an interesting topic among guitar topics for sure, and I'd like to hear feedback from y'all on it, experiences, ownerships etc with these cool unusual and versatile instruments.
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