Get the big sound

[Rocky]

that's saying something considering the corners Leo cut

<veer>
I'm going to have to stop you right there.

Leo was thrifty, sure, but he was never cheap. There is a reason that there are lots and lots of old Fenders around, and not very many others. Most of the others fell apart, and/or were thrown away. Leo would save a penny where he could, but he would never sacrifice tone, ruggedness, reliability and serviceability. He knew where it mattered. Take Leo's classic 5E3 narrow panel Deluxe circuit, bottom of the 'Professional series.'

Leo specifies a 0.0005 uF silver mica capacitor for the tone circuit. If he was cheap, he could have easily put in a ceramic disk capacitor there at 1/10 the price. But given the capacitors of the day, the silver mica one sounded better in that position. So he specifically put it in there, even knowing most professionals would be playing Supers. Pros, Twins or Bassmans, and not this step-above-a-student model. But he doesn't put silver mica anywhere else. Because he didn't detect a difference, and wasting money where it didn't belong didn't provide any benefit, and kept him from providing value to his customers. That's also why he used Jensen speakers, and Triad and Schumacher transfomers. They weren't the cheapest, but they were the most reliable and sounded the best.

</veer>

 

[Soul Tramp]

<veer>
I'm going to have to stop you right there.

Leo was thrifty, sure, but he was never cheap. There is a reason that there are lots and lots of old Fenders around, and not very many others. Most of the others fell apart, and/or were thrown away. Leo would save a penny where he could, but he would never sacrifice tone, ruggedness, reliability and serviceability. He knew where it mattered. Take Leo's classic 5E3 narrow panel Deluxe circuit, bottom of the 'Professional series.'

Leo specifies a 0.0005 uF silver mica capacitor for the tone circuit. If he was cheap, he could have easily put in a ceramic disk capacitor there at 1/10 the price. But given the capacitors of the day, the silver mica one sounded better in that position. So he specifically put it in there, even knowing most professionals would be playing Supers. Pros, Twins or Bassmans, and not this step-above-a-student model. But he doesn't put silver mica anywhere else. Because he didn't detect a difference, and wasting money where it didn't belong didn't provide any benefit, and kept him from providing value to his customers. That's also why he used Jensen speakers, and Triad and Schumacher transfomers. They weren't the cheapest, but they were the most reliable and sounded the best.

</veer>

I wouldn't be surprised if during the 60's - 70's, Fender made five amps for every one off-brand manufactured. During the 50's there weren't many companies making guitar amps. Every music store I've been in that carries vintage gear has had many old non-Fender amps (Marshall, Sunn, Acoustic, Ampeg, Kustom, Traynor, Gibson, etc). As well, much of the off-brand amps in the 60's - 70's we solid state, and they didn't hold up well.

Triad transformers are excellent, Schumacher are good quality garden variety. Triad was selected as they agreed to Leo's terms, line of credit, and they were located in CA.

There are many issues with Leo's circuit designs, chassis layouts, and component selections that were intended for cost cutting. They do not contribute to quality, tone, serviceability.

Where he went above and beyond was his use of box-joined pine cabinets, and the Astron & Mallory caps were an excellent choice.

Please don’t get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for Leo Fender. He was an absolute genius, and the giant who's shoulders we all stand on. I believe he created the most beautiful amps extant (the blonde amps were the pinnacle of design), and best sounding production amps.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

Carvin stuff has to be the most underrated on earth with history going far back.

They're not as underrated in price as in hardly anyone knows about them, comparatively.

So it's clearly better made and more versatile than a Gibson but it's not a Gibson so a tough sell.

Even more pickup adjusting screws than Guild, 4!

I recall that Carvin tended to sell their products directly through mail order. Don't know if they still do, or if they also sold through retailers. Selling directly probably helped them offer a better product for the money, but also meant that the brand was not as high profile as it might have been Nice to see that they are still around

 

[GuildFS4612CE]

I seem to recall that Carvin changed their name, but offhand I can't remember it.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

I seem to recall that Carvin changed their name, but offhand I can't remember it.

A ways back they broke off the guitar business and named it Kiesel Guitars.

 

[Guildedagain]

Carvin guitars are like BC Rich/Alembic's on the cheap, to me.

 

[Prince of Darkness]

I seem to recall that Carvin changed their name, but offhand I can't remember it.

As Grot stated, the guitar part of the company was renamed Kiesel, which was the original name of the company and the family which owns it. The companies founder Lowel C. Kiesel renamed the company Carvin after his two oldest sons Carson and Gavin.

 

[Guildedagain]

<veer>
I'm going to have to stop you right there.

Leo was thrifty, sure, but he was never cheap. There is a reason that there are lots and lots of old Fenders around, and not very many others. Most of the others fell apart, and/or were thrown away. Leo would save a penny where he could, but he would never sacrifice tone, ruggedness, reliability and serviceability. He knew where it mattered. Take Leo's classic 5E3 narrow panel Deluxe circuit, bottom of the 'Professional series.'

Leo specifies a 0.0005 uF silver mica capacitor for the tone circuit. If he was cheap, he could have easily put in a ceramic disk capacitor there at 1/10 the price. But given the capacitors of the day, the silver mica one sounded better in that position. So he specifically put it in there, even knowing most professionals would be playing Supers. Pros, Twins or Bassmans, and not this step-above-a-student model. But he doesn't put silver mica anywhere else. Because he didn't detect a difference, and wasting money where it didn't belong didn't provide any benefit, and kept him from providing value to his customers. That's also why he used Jensen speakers, and Triad and Schumacher transfomers. They weren't the cheapest, but they were the most reliable and sounded the best.

</veer>

I should have caught this. Leo cut no corners, quite the opposite, left no stone unturned in the quest for great tone, tone so great if there was a fire and I had to grab one guitar it would be my best Strat, not a second's hesitation, the best of two because my two best guitars are my two vintage Strats. A few summers ago, I'd put the other one in the car in case of having to flee, but either way, best guitars I've ever owned, magic tone and playability, I'd be half the player on something else and wouldn't sound as good. I always go back to these two guitars.

In fact the hardest thing I've ever had to do was decide which of these two guitars I should keep, quite a trial actually.

I've decided to keep both but now finally know which the better one is, it's twice as loud acoustically as the other with the exact same strings.

And it sounds like heaven, totally unplugged. It can do anything I dream up, capable of nearly any tone.

I pity the fools that don't need/understand tone knobs, and then other similarly misguided souls who cry and whine about the one pickup without a tone pot on the vintage Strat circuit, the bridge.

So for me personally Leo's vision trumps all others, in terms of how good a guitars they are, and his work ethic and genius are immeasurable, and inspiring. His perseverance and belief in himself, he's up there with any deity for me, or actually in fact higher than any I've heard about.

 

[Guildedagain]

Marsland speakers aren't that bad for me. I have a 1974 Garnet Reverb/Trem 1 x 12 combo with original Marsland Alnico speaker, which I blamed on the amp's somewhat thin shrill tone, but after a year with a Weber Signature Ceramic in there, I put the Marsland back in, put the Weber in son in law's Sears 40XL. The tone of the original speaker is fine, as good as the Weber, even better maybe. I'm never taking it liut again.

Of course Traynor broke into the big league, probably sold millions of amps, broke into the big leagues a lot farther than Guild ever dreamed of for amps. I had a Traynor very early on, with NICKY SIXX stenciled inside, fab amp actually, but never saw a single Guild amp in a pawnshop, to this day.

 

[Soul Tramp]

Marsland speakers aren't that bad for me. I have a 1974 Garnet Reverb/Trem 1 x 12 combo with original Marsland Alnico speaker, which I blamed on the amp's somewhat thin shrill tone, but after a year with a Weber Signature Ceramic in there, I put the Marsland back in, put the Weber in son in law's Sears 40XL. The tone of the original speaker is fine, as good as the Weber, even better maybe. I'm never taking it liut again.

Of course Traynor broke into the big league, probably sold millions of amps, broke into the big leagues a lot farther than Guild ever dreamed of for amps. I had a Traynor very early on, with NICKY SIXX stenciled inside, fab amp actually, but never saw a single Guild amp in a pawnshop, to this day.

I'm a huge Weber advocate! In fact, I use Weber speakers exclusively in my amps, unless there is a special request for otherwise. That being said, the Signature Series speakers are junk (just my opinion). They are awful sounding things, alnico and ferrite. The only reason to use one is if you have to have an 8" speaker.

I sold my YBA-2A (6V6 head) last fall, and still have a YRM-1. I love the old Traynor amps! There were a few area bands that had them back in my high school days, and they really made an impression. And my best friend in high school had one.

 

[Guildedagain]

There was a fabulous Seattle band, the Gits, the guitar player used a badgeless Traynor with a Silverburst Les Paul, one of the greatest guitar tone I've ever heard. Singer's life ended tragically walking home from a gig one night. She was friend of my wife's who was a drummer in a Seattle band at the time, really put a chill on the scene. Wife gave up music and moved away from Seattle very soon after.