Share your music gear

[Eppie]

We have a number of musicians here (no surprise, being an audio forum) so I thought it might be fun to share what equipment you have. I'll start with my first professional bass, a Guild B302. I bought this new in 1978 and it was likely one of the first Guild basses sold in Canada. Guild is known more for acoustic guitars but they make fine electrics as well. It was white when purchased but developed a cream patina over the years. You can see the dark mahogany body bottom left where I wore through the paint. This is a solid body with straight through neck. Fret board is rosewood. Guild made their own pick-ups for this model which gives it a great tone, but it's not a humbucker so tends to be noisy. I might change out those ugly volume and tone knobs some day but for now it's all original with the matching case.

The amp is a Sonax 530-B practice amp which is good for in the house. I have an Ampeg head and bass reflex cabinet for gigs but too big and loud for the recroom. On top of the amp is a rare UniVox tape echo that uses a tape cartridge, along with a Boss chromatic tuner. If you're wondering what the Unicum is that's a bottle of stomach bitters that happened to be there at the time.

 

[highfigh]

We have a number of musicians here (no surprise, being an audio forum) so I thought it might be fun to share what equipment you have. I'll start with my first professional bass, a Guild B302. I bought this new in 1978 and it was likely one of the first Guild basses sold in Canada. Guild is known more for acoustic guitars but they make fine electrics as well. It was white when purchased but developed a cream patina over the years. You can see the dark mahogany body bottom left where I wore through the paint. This is a solid body with straight through neck. Fret board is rosewood. Guild made their own pick-ups for this model which gives it a great tone, but it's not a humbucker so tends to be noisy. I might change out those ugly volume and tone knobs some day but for now it's all original with the matching case.

The amp is a Sonax 530-B practice amp which is good for in the house. I have an Ampeg head and bass reflex cabinet for gigs but too big and loud for the recroom. On top of the amp is a rare UniVox tape echo that uses a tape cartridge, along with a Boss chromatic tuner. If you're wondering what the Unicum is that's a bottle of stomach bitters that happened to be there at the time.

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There's nothing wrong with Guild's electric OR acoustic guitars - they gave Gibson a good run for their money- I was going to write "in the '50s", but they did, all along. I worked at a music store in the '70s and we were a Gibson, Guild, Martin dealer, then picked up Takamine, Ibanez, had a few Mossman acoustics.

I sold the Strat Plus last year and it's on Ebay, the acoustic is an Ibanez Artwood AW-60, the three guitars and amps were used for some of the vintage amp tracks for Tom Wheeler's book 'The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps'- my amp is the Tweed Bassman and after the recording was done, I brought it home and made the tweed look more like vintage because I hated the way it looked as a reissue cabinet. I thought I had some shots of my other stuff, but I need to find them- I also have a Shenandoah (by Martin) 12 fret acoustic with the smaller body and an old Beetle-back mandolin. As I had mentioned in the other thread, I have an SD Curlee bass and an Ibanez Fretless.

I had also sold a 1959 Magnatone 210 amp that was very similar to a Vibro Champ but rather than Tremolo, like most Fenders had, it had a real vibrato circuit. The oldest guitar amp I had was sold by Oahu during the Hawaiian music craze of the 1930s- as far as I can tell by looking at the tube data, the earliest it could have been made is 1937 and when I sold that, it worked beautifully.

 

[Eppie]

There's nothing wrong with Guild's electrics- they gave Gibson a good run for their money- I was going to write "in the '50s", but they did, all along.

I don't see many electrics from Guild out there though, mostly acoustic guitars, which are very nice; maybe more in the hollow body models, like Gretsch. The comment on the pickup was for this particular model. You won't see that pickup anywhere else. I have an Odyssey bass as well with Bartolini pickups but I prefer the sound from the Guild pickups. The Guild pickups in the B302 are much more prone to picking up interference though while the Odyssey doesn't have that issue.

 

[highfigh]

These are the Oahu-

 

[Eppie]

These are the Oahu-

Definitely the first one that I have seen. Those Fender amps are real nice too.

 

[highfigh]

Definitely the first one that I have seen. Those Fender amps are real nice too.

I just posted a photo of a Bassman from 1957 in the China thread (someone asked about a Chinese-made stereo amp)- that Bassman is on Ebay, asking price of $10,500. Built by the same woman who built mine.

 

[afterlife2]

I'll post my stuff soon!

Highfigh saw these today at the thrift store!

 

[highfigh]

I'll post my stuff soon!

Highfigh saw these today at the thrift store!
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I worked at a Peavey dealer in the '70s and they sold like crazy. That was also when the manufacturers had switched to solid state for a lot of models and told the dealers that SS was better and "they needed to get with the program or be left behind". Honestly, I wish I had seen collectability coming better. One of the teachers at that store bought guitars like they were candy bars and when he stopped buying, because the prices were higher than he wanted to pay, he had more than 300 instruments, mostly Gibson electrics & acoustics& mandolins, violins, a few banjos and some amps. That store charged $5/half hour and took fifty cents, for studio rental. Not to make them sound like more than they were, they were small rooms with pegboard on the walls and ceiling, covering insulation. Most were bare, Sal (the collector) had guitars and other instruments hanging on every square inch. His main teaching guitar was a mid-'50s blonde Gibson ES-175 with a single P-90 and looked a lot like this, aside from the lack of lacquer checking seen in the Reverb.com listing.

Gibson ES-175 1949 - 1956 | Reverb

Reverb is a marketplace bringing together a wide-spanning community to buy, sell, and discuss all things music gear.

reverb.com

When people were dumping their tube amps, I snapped up my Bassman, which didn't come with the cabinet or speakers. I didn't care and when I found out they had reissued that model, I got the RI hardware, cab and speakers.

Holy crap! some of my stuff has really gone up in price, even pedals!

 

[highfigh]

I have been tinkering- twisted the wires for the pickups & jack, added a ground wire for the neck pickup cover, changed the tuners (HUGE improvement!), put Copper foil in the pickup cavities/soldered the overlaps, installed a four wire terminal strip in the middle pickup cavity and cut the neck pickup's wires short to connect to the strip and replaced the rest of the wires with a piece of Belden shielded, twisted pair audio cable. Teles are known for sounding like a chainsaw when the volume is up and it's not being played and coming from the AV world, that's just not something I can accept since common mode noise rejection has been known for over 100 years. With my TV off, it's almost silent with the volume & tone controls jacked and the volume/gain controls set pretty high.

The second pickguard material will be used for something else, but that's not happening yet. It's vinyl wrap for cars/trucks/boats, etc.

 

[Eppie]

I've been thinking of doing something similar with my Guild to reduce the noise level. Too much going on to strip it all down right now. I'm currently restoring my Odyssey bass as the brass became badly tarnished. I don't have any decent photos yet but I found it's twin on talkbass.com; virtually identical to mine. Odyssey guitars were made in Vancouver from 1976-81. Beautiful work but the main luthier died in a freak shop accident.

 

[highfigh]

I've been thinking of doing something similar with my Guild to reduce the noise level. Too much going on to strip it all down right now. I'm currently restoring my Odyssey bass as the brass became badly tarnished. I don't have any decent photos yet but I found it's twin on talkbass.com; virtually identical to mine. Odyssey guitars were made in Vancouver from 1976-81. Beautiful work but the main luthier died in a freak shop accident.

Does yours have Bartolinis, too?

What's your name on Talkbass?

This shows the condition before I stripped it, sanded the planer snipe out of the body, refinished it and installed the new neck.

The pickup is a DiMarzio Model One and the divot next to it was too deep to remove completely, but I may come up with some kind of thumb rest or ramp between the pickup and neck, similar to what's on the Fender Roscoe Beck or Ibanez Gary Willis models. The middle photo shows how bad the frets were worn and the new neck is really nice- I'm in the process of adding some weight below the bridge (I replaced the BadAss II with a HipShot type A) because these basses always suffered from neck dive and changing to lightweight tuners wouldn't correct it. I'm using two pieces of Phosphor Bronze and it will hang the way it should. The pickup uses a series/parallel switch and in series, it will overdrive the input of most amps.

 

[Eppie]

Does yours have Bartolinis, too?

What's your name on Talkbass?

This shows the condition before I stripped it, sanded the planer snipe out of the body, refinished it and installed the new neck.

The pickup is a DiMarzio Model One and the divot next to it was too deep to remove completely, but I may come up with some kind of thumb rest or ramp between the pickup and neck, similar to what's on the Fender Roscoe Beck or Ibanez Gary Willis models. The middle photo shows how bad the frets were worn and the new neck is really nice- I'm in the process of adding some weight below the bridge (I replaced the BadAss II with a HipShot type A) because these basses always suffered from neck dive and changing to lightweight tuners wouldn't correct it. I'm using two pieces of Phosphor Bronze and it will hang the way it should. The pickup uses a series/parallel switch and in series, it will overdrive the input of most amps.

Same nic as here but I'm not active on that forum currently. Yes, my bass has the Bartolinis too. Mine is virtually identical to those photos except for the nasty chips and dents on the bottom. The body and neck on mine are in excellent shape. Just the brass got nasty and there is nothing BUT brass on those models. Nut, pickup rings, knobs, cavity cover plate, bridge all brass and under the bridge is a large solid piece of brass as a sustain block. I have photos at home. I got stuck in the restoration as the allen head screws for adjusting the saddles are steel and the saddles are brass. One screw is corroded into the saddle and no amount of penetrating has freed it up yet. ;_;

 

[highfigh]

Same nic as here but I'm not active on that forum currently. Yes, my bass has the Bartolinis too. Mine is virtually identical to those photos except for the nasty chips and dents on the bottom. The body and neck on mine are in excellent shape. Just the brass got nasty and there is nothing BUT brass on those models. Nut, pickup rings, knobs, cavity cover plate, bridge all brass and under the bridge is a large solid piece of brass as a sustain block. I have photos at home. I got stuck in the restoration as the allen head screws for adjusting the saddles are steel and the saddles are brass. One screw is corroded into the saddle and no amount of penetrating has freed it up yet. ;_;

Ever try using electrolysis for cleaning metal? YouTube has plenty of videos- it's used for all kinds of restorations, like hand planes, saws, car parts, etc. If you want to try using mechanical shock, insert an allen wrench in a single saddle on a block of wood and smack it with a small hammer- not enough to damage it, but the corrosion can break free.

The nut on my SD Curlee was a lost cause, so I made a new one and the BadAss II bridge had been cut badly, plus it doesn't have the correct spacing for a medium scale bass, so it was pretty bad. The previous owner wasn't big on maintenance and apparently knew nothing about setup. His sound wasn't all that great, either.

I use PB Blaster for penetrating oil- best I have found.

For cleaning Brass and Bronze, I like ScotchBrite- I tend to prefer a soft glow or satin finish on those metals- the white pads aren't really abrasive, the next is blue, which is also sold for cleaning non-tick pots & pans. The abrasiveness increases once you get into the green, gray, brown and red but 3M has a grit comparison chart online.

 

[Eppie]

Ever try using electrolysis for cleaning metal? YouTube has plenty of videos- it's used for all kinds of restorations, like hand planes, saws, car parts, etc. If you want to try using mechanical shock, insert an allen wrench in a single saddle on a block of wood and smack it with a small hammer- not enough to damage it, but the corrosion can break free.

The nut on my SD Curlee was a lost cause, so I made a new one and the BadAss II bridge had been cut badly, plus it doesn't have the correct spacing for a medium scale bass, so it was pretty bad. The previous owner wasn't big on maintenance and apparently knew nothing about setup. His sound wasn't all that great, either.

I use PB Blaster for penetrating oil- best I have found.

For cleaning Brass and Bronze, I like ScotchBrite- I tend to prefer a soft glow or satin finish on those metals- the white pads aren't really abrasive, the next is blue, which is also sold for cleaning non-tick pots & pans. The abrasiveness increases once you get into the green, gray, brown and red but 3M has a grit comparison chart online.

Have not tried electrolysis yet. I used a chemical cleaner as they were lacquered but you have to be careful with brass. Solutions like CLR cause the copper to come to the surface and the brass starts to get a pink hew. The tuners and truss rod cover are gold coloured so I think they may have used a gold coloured lacquer. I think my best bet after polishing is Nikolas Gold Colored #2105 Lacquer. I believe it is suitable for brass instruments and air hardens.

I have a butcher job you would get a kick out of. Hopefully post some photos later. My 3rd bass is an Ibanez Flying V. Inexpensive bass with a short narrow neck. Thought I would try some mods but it did not work out well. Needs a complete do over now.

 

[highfigh]

Have not tried electrolysis yet. I used a chemical cleaner as they were lacquered but you have to be careful with brass. Solutions like CLR cause the copper to come to the surface and the brass starts to get a pink hew. The tuners and truss rod cover are gold coloured so I think they may have used a gold coloured lacquer. I think my best bet after polishing is Nikolas Gold Colored #2105 Lacquer. I believe it is suitable for brass instruments and air hardens.

I have a butcher job you would get a kick out of. Hopefully post some photos later. My 3rd bass is an Ibanez Flying V. Inexpensive bass with a short narrow neck. Thought I would try some mods but it did not work out well. Needs a complete do over now.

I'm not sure how the copper would come to the surface if the metal has cooled- never heard of that and I have used various solvents on brass over the decades, although not CLR- I have some and will try it. CLR isn't a super weak acid, though. Might try something else. If you know someone who pickels vegetables, ask for some Citric Acid and mix some with water, so the piece can soak. That's what I use for restoring hand planes but monitor it. I think I used that on the Brass adjusters for my planes and it didn't hurt them.

I would be careful with that V- if it's a close copy and doesn't have an Ibanez designed headstock, it's valuable because it was made before the lawsuits. Lots of people refer to their guitars as 'Lawsuit model', but if it wasn't Ibanez, it's probably not part of the suits.

Ibanez Flying V (lawsuit Era 70’s) w/Original Case | Reverb

Has nicks and dings, but overall super clean for a 70’s V. Part of the lawsuit era of Ibanez. Pickups were switched to DiMarzio Super Distortions. It roars. Also modded with coil taps, thus, the small toggle switches. Comes with Original Case(heavily worn. the hinges are broken and other one loos...

reverb.com

 

[Eppie]

I'm not sure how the copper would come to the surface if the metal has cooled- never heard of that and I have used various solvents on brass over the decades, although not CLR- I have some and will try it. CLR isn't a super weak acid, though. Might try something else. If you know someone who pickels vegetables, ask for some Citric Acid and mix some with water, so the piece can soak. That's what I use for restoring hand planes but monitor it. I think I used that on the Brass adjusters for my planes and it didn't hurt them.

I would be careful with that V- if it's a close copy and doesn't have an Ibanez designed headstock, it's valuable because it was made before the lawsuits. Lots of people refer to their guitars as 'Lawsuit model', but if it wasn't Ibanez, it's probably not part of the suits.

Ibanez Flying V (lawsuit Era 70’s) w/Original Case | Reverb

Has nicks and dings, but overall super clean for a 70’s V. Part of the lawsuit era of Ibanez. Pickups were switched to DiMarzio Super Distortions. It roars. Also modded with coil taps, thus, the small toggle switches. Comes with Original Case(heavily worn. the hinges are broken and other one loos...

reverb.com

Below is an example of the Ibanez Flying V bass. The hardware in the photo is identical to mine. It was a really crappy bridge and lead pickup. I routed out the lead cavity for a Split P pickup (DiMarzio, I think) and replaced the bridge with a Badass. Replaced the white pick guard with a clear plexiglass one to show off the nice finish and painted the underside black over any cavities in the body. That actually worked quite well. My mistake was mounting the lead pickup too close to the bridge. It has low output and not enough bottom end. In addition, the Badass bridge was too wide for the neck. I was real newby. I tried filing the saddles further in to keep the strings in the right place, but the bend in direction made it easy to pop the E string off of the saddle if playing too hard. That job needs a complete do over. I did keep all of the original hardware but the windings on the original lead pickup are shot and it would have to be rewound to return the bass to original condition. From the way it played originally I don't think it is very sought after except for the body shape.

Another photo on talkbass.com. Don't see too many of these. It's not nearly as nice as the Rocket Roll V bass which would be worth a lot of money. The ones from around '77 look to be much nicer with better pickups and bridges. I need to do more research but I think this model is older. I found a wiki that says the guitar model (2387) was produced from 1972 to 1976, so the bass would be from that period as the body colour and hardware style are identical. Initial digging around seems to indicate they are only worth around $500 while the post '76 bases can go for $2500.

 

[highfigh]

Below is an example of the Ibanez Flying V bass. The hardware in the photo is identical to mine. It was a really crappy bridge and lead pickup. I routed out the lead cavity for a Split P pickup (DiMarzio, I think) and replaced the bridge with a Badass. Replaced the white pick guard with a clear plexiglass one to show off the nice finish and painted the underside black over any cavities in the body. That actually worked quite well. My mistake was mounting the lead pickup too close to the bridge. It has low output and not enough bottom end. In addition, the Badass bridge was too wide for the neck. I was real newby. I tried filing the saddles further in to keep the strings in the right place, but the bend in direction made it easy to pop the E string off of the saddle if playing too hard. That job needs a complete do over. I did keep all of the original hardware but the windings on the original lead pickup are shot and it would have to be rewound to return the bass to original condition. From the way it played originally I don't think it is very sought after except for the body shape.

Another photo on talkbass.com. Don't see too many of these. It's not nearly as nice as the Rocket Roll V bass which would be worth a lot of money. The ones from around '77 look to be much nicer with better pickups and bridges. I need to do more research but I think this model is older. I found a wiki that says the guitar model (2387) was produced from 1972 to 1976, so the bass would be from that period as the body colour and hardware style are identical. Initial digging around seems to indicate they are only worth around $500 while the post '76 bases can go for $2500.

Fortunately, saddles for that bridge are available separately, so you don't need to buy a whole new one.

Check out HipShot bridges- they make several and the saddles are adjustable for spacing. I bought the Type A that's used by Birdsong/SD Curlee and it's great. They're also flexible (or they were) WRT base finish (plated, powder coat, polished or tumbled) and saddle color. It wasn't terribly expensive, either.

 

[Eppie]

Fortunately, saddles for that bridge are available separately, so you don't need to buy a whole new one.

Check out HipShot bridges- they make several and the saddles are adjustable for spacing. I bought the Type A that's used by Birdsong/SD Curlee and it's great. They're also flexible (or they were) WRT base finish (plated, powder coat, polished or tumbled) and saddle color. It wasn't terribly expensive, either.

I might take it out of the case for some photos but it's a long way from getting restored. Need to finish the Odyssey, which will need a complete setup from scratch, and the Guild is overdue for some touch ups and adjustments. The finish started to flake off of the neck in one spot so it needs repair. Given it was made around '78 it's likely a nitro finish so I'm hoping a bit of spray and proper sanding will get it smooth again.

 

[highfigh]

I might take it out of the case for some photos but it's a long way from getting restored. Need to finish the Odyssey, which will need a complete setup from scratch, and the Guild is overdue for some touch ups and adjustments. The finish started to flake off of the neck in one spot so it needs repair. Given it was made around '78 it's likely a nitro finish so I'm hoping a bit of spray and proper sanding will get it smooth again.

Look into TruOil- it's sold as a finish for gun stocks. Wipes on, let it sit, wipe off the excess and let it dry before adding more coats. Durable, look great and the sheen can be reduced with ScothBrite pads. Very easy to use and it's not expensive.If you don't use all of it, its shelf life isn't great, but you could find a way to reduce the amount of air in the bottle and it should last longer. Some painters put glass marbles in the can to take up space and reduce the air volume.

 

[highfigh]

I might take it out of the case for some photos but it's a long way from getting restored. Need to finish the Odyssey, which will need a complete setup from scratch, and the Guild is overdue for some touch ups and adjustments. The finish started to flake off of the neck in one spot so it needs repair. Given it was made around '78 it's likely a nitro finish so I'm hoping a bit of spray and proper sanding will get it smooth again.

I doubt it's nitro- most manufacturers had moved on from that in the '60s. Still used car paint, but it was polyester or polyurethane, both catalyzed. Some used Acrylics.