Went Shopping Today

[tvanveen]

Headed over to Atomic in College Park, MD looking for an acoustic today, I haven't had one for a while...they didn't have anything I wanted, but much to my surpise they did have an Albert Lee which I would have bought if they could have come down a bit.

Unfortunately it was there on consigment and the seller wouldn't come down any. It's sunburst, shell PG, trem, but the guy had a phase switch installed. It's been there for 8 months at $900, The owner just shrugged his shoulders. I would have bought it at $750 or maybe $800 as it had the recessed neck plate, locking tuners and no silent circuit (which I don't use.)

Then I stopped at Southworth in Bethesda and picked up a '64 Gibson B-25, so the story has a happy ending.

 

[bing4sons]

looking for an acoustic today

I played this one the other day:

http://www.maplestreetguitars.com/Pages/acoustic-jf21.htm

Awesome looking and awesome sounding guitar! About half of what a Taylor 614 goes for (which was still too much for me right now).

 

[Jimi D]

B-25's are nice acoustics Tom... Congrats! My acoustic is a Seagull Artist Mahogany Folk, and it's a small-bodied acoustic like the B-25; I really love the punch and projection I get from it without the "boomy" bass... Hope you enjoy yours...

 

[tvanveen]

Thanks Jimi...yeah, I was just looking for something that had an even woody tone. Tried about 20 guitars, that was it.

Can't believe I bought a guitar older than me.

I also decided that since I plopped down a fair amount of cash that it was ok to ask to try one of the guitars behind the counter, which consist of strats and LP's from the 50's and 60's. So I got to sit down with a 64 strat plugged into a BF Super reverb.

I can see what the fuss is about...that guitar is much nicer than any of the stuff they put out these days. I sweat, the neck reminded me a little of my AL. The fretboard was wider, but it had that certain level of comfort that I find lacking on current fenders, including the RI's.

 

[PurpleSport]

So I got to sit down with a 64 strat plugged into a BF Super reverb.

I can see what the fuss is about...that guitar is much nicer than any of the stuff they put out these days. I sweat, the neck reminded me a little of my AL. The fretboard was wider, but it had that certain level of comfort that I find lacking on current fenders, including the RI's.

TV - be forewarned, the vintage guys who really know their stuff and are cool and generous enough to share it with you are like crack dealers, and will scar you for life!

Aren't those mid 60s pieces great? Best strat I ever played was a '64 L series, hands down (presented to me to try by a pal who was also one of the creme de la creme of the dealers mentioned above). I'm of the opinion that '60-'65 was Fender's golden era of tone and workmanship, '62-'64 being the sweet spot for Strats.

I've played a few custom shop Fender '63 repros that were very close, but no cigar...(that '64 had AMAZING tone to boot - it's that part of the equation that usually's off on the repros for me). What's sad is back then I could have bought said Strat for about the price of one of today's corresponding custom shop reissues!

The only neck carve that's come close to the comfort of that worn-in '64's been MM's, IMHO. Luckily, they cost much less!