Very recently, partly long term lust and partly whim/kismet/symbiosis/great price, 'purchased a mid-1960s Mosrite of California (not Ventures Model) guitar.

'Will skip the instument's overall history, but after quite a few hours of cleaning, tweaking, restringing, polishing away a decade and a half being in a case (in a not ideal environment) after its owner passed to the next realm...

...that instrument is everything a "Vintage" guitar is supposed to be, at its best.

Toneful, sexy, lovely to look at, playable, sonorous, fun.

Anyone else had this (or the opposite) experience after ACTUALLY PURCHASING a truly Vintage/Classic guitar?

My Kramer 650G is amazing.


Aluminum necks >all

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

I have a '62 Musicmaster that arrived extremely clean. I could not be more pleased with how nicely it plays

My son recently traded his Bluesbreaker RI for a 1971 Goldtop Les Paul Deluxe...all original, mini humbuckers and that greenish tinge that vintage Goldtops take on...lovely to look at and great tones

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

That is a ridiculously good trade on your son's part....

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Favorite bands:

Melvins
The Jesus Lizard
Cows
Big Business
R***man
Minutemen
Flight
Minor Threat
Big Black
Shellac
Karp
Scratch Acid
Wipers
Pixies

Well, in 1969, my parents bought me a new Guild Studio 302 archtop. I took lessons, formed bands, lost interest and left it in the case under my bed for the better part of 30 years, bringing it once to try to sell it at a used guitar shop. Well, they suggested that instead, I should have it setup, which I took them up on. I guess today, it would be considered vintage. I still have it and play it occationally. It still spends most of the time in the case. I can't say I regret getting it. I do wish I had gotten something like a strat or LP back in the day. It was far less fun playing with 13's flat wound all the time. Back then, when we needed new strings, the school dictated what went on the guitar. I never understood how bending was done until I bought a solid body guitar with 10's about 3 years ago. I'm sure I would have stuck with it more, had I known about these lighter strings.

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2002 mim Telecaster
Jimmie Vaughan Stratocaster
Mexican HSS Stratocaster
6 non-fender guitars
2 kids (not for sale)
1 wife (uh....no comment)

Thank you for the thoughts.

Jack, for a change, try round .012s qith a wound 3rd. You may well find your Guild to be a livelier instrument.

I don't know if a 1979 Peavey T-60 would be considered "vintage" or not, but I got mine back when I first started playing guitar. I found it at a pawn shop for $100 and jumped on it. It plays great, but the back humbucker is broken. It still works in single coil mode, but not as a humbucker. Finding a toaster style replacement pickup has been a challenge since people usually want $100 for a set of pickups, which is more than I really want to invest in it.

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccalairdmusic
Twitter: https://twitter.com/beckslaird
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I have several guitars of 60s vintage and I love them all.Once upon a time in 1972 I bought a PAN Moserite copy and was dumb enough to trade it in on a Hagstrom II even though I could have at the time afforded to buy it without trading,that's something I'll always be kicking my own arse for.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

i have a mid-60's teisco and love it. i stripped it and repainted it (friend of mine does auto painting so i shot it with him). I love the sound.

I've got a number of '70s guitars that I bought on the cheap years ago, including several Peaveys, two beautiful Electra guitars and a sweet Yamaha SBG-200 set-neck. I've gigged out with all of these through the years and I will die with them. My son can't wait.

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Floyd, I know...when we started looking up values and prices on the LP, we were shocked
and happy. I also recently picked up 2 Bill Lawrence 70's NOS mini humbuckers at ridiculously good prices in case he wants to switch. One was $55, the other was $85.

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Current Gear: Ron Kirn Barnbuster Tele,
Marshall: 1971 SuperLead 100>1997 1960-TV, bunch of pedals
and a 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera coupe named Veronica

I love the used '78 Strat I got. I don't know why 70's Strats have such a bad rep, mine is great.

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Tune Low, Play Hard & Floor it!

As far as the 70s Fenders, I think the bad rap is because of the inconsistency of their quality from that time. There were plenty of gems amongst the dogs in that era...I think the people who got the dogs just were more vocal about their issues. I do not own one, but I played a late 70s Strat at a jam a few years ago (belonged to a friend) and it changed my mind about those guitars. Dead stock, no changed or upgraded parts, and it played/sounded awesome.

In 1991, I wanted a vintage Pre-CBS Fender so bad, but at the time Strats and Teles were just out of my reach (I wish I could find one now for the price they were asking for then!).

I found (and bought) a 1964 Fender Mustang (with the original silver "snakeskin" case) for $450. I'm not sure if that was truly pre-CBS, but it was close enough for me.

I think it was originally white, but it had turned a creamy yellowish color, with a red tortoise pickguard. The sound was really good, but the "feel" was a bit off. The finish had worn off the neck, which felt good, but the width at the nut was terribly narrow. I thought I would get used to it, but I never did, so I ended up selling it a year and a half later to a Japanese guy with tiny hands (he loved it)...I made $25 extra off the deal. It wasn't until just recently that I found out (because of Nevin's vintage Jazzmaster purchase that was documented on this forum) that there was a smaller neck profile (were they called "A" profile necks?), and this was probably one of those.

It's funny, I bought the guitar just as Cobain was starting to get popular, but when I went to sell it, everybody who wanted it was just a kid who loved Nirvana, and they couldn't afford it. The guy who bought it was a bluesy jazz player, which you wouldn't think a Mustang would fit that style, but it sounded good when he played it...it sounded even better when he paid in cash.

It would be cool to have it for the Armadillo Child (small neck, light weight), but that was almost a decade before she was a twinkle in my eye. I wonder what it would be worth now...?

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Good Vibes To Y'all!



Screamin' Armadillos
Texas Roadhouse Music
Guitar/Slide Guitar/Harp/Vocals

Back in '65 I spent a whole years paper route money on a '57 Strat. It slowly turned into the nightmare from hell. Wouldn't stay in tune no matter what was done to it,changed the tuners...the bridge. Eventually the only original parts left on it were the neck,body and neck pick-up. (this was still better than the electric I had been playing a dual pickup Beltone).I traded it in the mid '70s for a fairly new Gibson L6S. The ones I owned and wish I still had were a Dan Armstrong Lucite guitar that I traded for a Travis Bean. I traded the Bean for another strat in '82. I wish I had both those back, the Armstong was heavier than hell but it screamed like an eagle and the Bean played nice but when I traded it I wanted to get back into single coils again.

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Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancin'