I mod guitars

That's a pretty funky looking kit.
Might be worth a bit too, worth checking out.
It may be shonky gear, but it's vintage gear too and some idiots will pay a fortune for vintage stuff.

I played in a club band once (you know the type...."Needles and Pins-aaaah...." -it paid the bills ;D ) with a guy who was more interested in his medallion/hairy chest image than what he was actually playing. Things reached a head the night I lost my rag just we were reaching a quiet part of a tune....the assembled audience were treated to me shouting "OI! PLAY PROPERLY YOU CNUT" through clenched teeth

He left the band a week later.

haha i thought it was just me, i was in a band when i was 14/15 and got my mate in on it, stupid move that. he very quickly turned into an egotistical curse word as well. they kicked me out over my behaviour and i havnt spoken to him since 1999. last i heard he was still persuing the dream - despite being rather poor at what he does.

that one experience seems to be concurent with other bands ive been involved with and puts me off getting involved with other bands.

what is it with some people

I had an SG when I was six-string slinging back in the 80's, still amogst my favourite guitars to play, plus they do that Revolver-era Beatles guitar sound so well.

Nowadays the only non-bass I've got is a Hohner 12-string that I swapped for a Lada (I think I got the better deal...) in 1993. Love that 12-string sparkle!

Ive got a curse word load (about 13) of cheap squiers in various states of repair behind my bed and a couple of Fenders / other brands. In my old band (with my ex best mate from school, similar story to awoo's turned nasty) I used to buy up any and as many cheap guitars as I could afford, usually squier strats at £30 or so quid a pop from mates who had upgraded to more expensive instruments. I'd plop a fender pickguard on whichever one I was gigging, put kluson tuners on and I would have a great sounding instrument that I didn't have to worry about. My favourite was a Squier Affinity Sunburst with a black pickguard that I paid £10 and painted white. It sounded great with the standard pickups and never went out of tune but that one got broken on our last gig together.

A guitar I would heartily recomend to anyone is the Squier Cyclone, they don't make them anymore but they were kind of like a mustang with a Strat tremelo and a humbucker. Great sounding budget instrument and rumoured to be made with fender parts. Both of mine have fender stamped bridges and pickups from new and Ive never had any trouble with them.

Now I'm a bit gentler to my instruments in my new band I mainly use my Fender Strats and my SG but I have a huge fondness for those squiers which although they could be tempermental at times had great character and sounded great with a little work. With my guitars now I always have it in the back of my mind that its a £400 instrument and have become a lot more boring with my playing.

Even though my mate turned into a total cnut I really miss those crazy rock and roll cliche days and the memories are some of my best.





Horray for cheap gear!!! (although that Fender Twin Amp in the last pic wasn't cheap )

;D

Need a second drummer? I used to play in a two-drummer/one-guitarist band...

excellent stuff folks, great read this thread ;D

you can also put me in the "in band with schoolmates didnt work out" category. It didnt work out mainly because of the self taught talentless idiot err that'll be me then ;D they went on and did quite well, hats off to em

The gear I have is:

My first guitar, a chinese pieca faeces "sunn mustang by fender" which plays just brilliantly I have to say, although with its chipboard/mdf body it does sound a touch bright- the bridge pickup can tear eardrums at a small volume. Its curent state is in bits, I bought a load of lespaul wiring gear and a couple of humbuckers back when I first discovered ebay, so thats a bit of a project which hasnt been touched for many years. Pickguard still has my stone roses esque humbrol paint job ;D

My main one is my ("Not a real fender") early 90's J strat, 60's reissue tobacco sunburst "photoflame" (yup the one with the photocopy of a proper guitar under the laquer ;D ) which I love to bits. Had it since new, but cos I play for 20 mins once a year, its hardly been used. Bought this with my first paycheck after leaving the band.

I bought the missus an ibanez electro-acoustic to learn on, so i get to play with that too.

My amps an oldish marshall valvestate V65R combo. Me first proper amp, bit loud for the spare room but i'll prob keep it for sentimental purposes. I sold the only guitar I ever gigged, so I'm keeping the amp!

The guitar I did gig, was a cracker- so I agree with the squier strat comments above. Mine was an 80's korean number, in white with a maple neck. I bought it third hand for £90 off my brother, used it lots for a couple of years inc a few gigs, then sold it for £120 when I bought my fender ;D The best squire I've ever played was a friends dad's very early one- IIRC that was white with a rosewood board. Beautiful guitar, had a fender stamped bridge and gotoh tuners I think. Better than 90's US standard strats IMHO.

I have delved into the 4 string too, I have a £15 encore Pbass copy bought one of those cheap chinese laney 15 watt amps to play it through too. I'm too weak for these things, can just about knock out the odd smiths bassline ;D great fun

I also like my effect pedals- not keen on multi effects (stuck in the 70's me!) but I have quite a range of things from makes such as boss / pearl / dod / electroharmonix etc and a crybaby of course.

sorry i'm harping on lots now- i can hardly play a guitar but love messing, a bit like my cars really

Thats the one davey, it even rings a bell that. Truely a great guitar, and at the time probarly a third of the price.

I hear they're worth quite a few quid now.