I'm kinda surprised no Reggae in some of the ipod lists.. Here's one of my favorites. Just for the heck of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPZydAotVOY

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10CC - cool

I think "How Dare You" is one the 10 greatest albums of the 70s..

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

What language is this thou speakest in, dear friend? I don't seem to understand you!

Smashing thread, folks, I was down in the far West so couldn't make it - I'm so glad it was a great evening! Sort of like a private live event of "Mythbusters", eh? Great stuff!

Cheers

Nutter

Katchafire!? that must have been awesome!! They are pretty big down here, my favourite tune is 'Get Away'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vd07RdZ ... re=related
Let me know how it goes bro, well meet up for a beer

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Nut's me ol' mate, I fear that guitar is beyond even Ceri's repair skills.
Very solid necks on those Vintage guitars.

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No no and no

Simply that they couldn't replicate the same size/carve twice in succession so came up with a neck size marketing ploy. That ones big, it's a D or even E. That ones small, sell it as a A or B.
From the mouth of Leo himself to Mr Wilkinson.

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No no and no

You wouldn't save on material because you'd have to cut blanks to the maximum two widths. The heel and the headstock because of the one piece neck. And then you'd have to be clever about your centerline and fret slots.
Is it at all possible that the nut widths are an approximation to suit how the necks came out?

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No no and no

Nevin amongst Mr Wilkinson's constant stressing that Leo and George got it so right in '54, he had a few things to say about the vintage instrument market. Mainly that some are heavenly instruments, others are dogs. I read a while back that what we see on the vintage market are the survivors, the cream of the crop of those old instruments. That the dogs have largely been trashed. Could that be why some neck profiles and nut widths are a lot rarer than others?

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No no and no

Awesome Now that you've treated us to tids, bits and pieces of the book, I'm looking forward to the film.

Needless to say how juiced I am to learn that you've got together again. I can certainly vouch for Ceri, in person, and accept the testimony that the rumors about Niki are true, though I look forward to cross-examining Serge in person at this years holidays season.

Yes it is a pity that we are strung out across this wide, wide world of ours, but there are those who make it a point to try to face to face where possible, and I've encouraged it in these pages more than once. Looking forward to the possiblity that Niki's gig will bring him stateside in the right place, at the right time, me being in constant pursuit of leaving this NY area for Florida permanently. T'was a coup, indeed that I was able to spend a pitifully few hours with Ceri last year around this time.

On a relevant side note, I'm current with my Joe Bonamassa catalog having just installed in my auto's CD player, his joint effort with Beth Hart which, I strongly suggest ya'll own.

Standing by.............

Doc

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"Another day in paradise!"

That's really cool, you guys are lucky. I would love to go to something like that to see Trevor Wilkinson someday.

I know a guitar player in Austin who has a custom signature model Fret King. He swears by it. It has a bridge which to my knowledge is not in mass production yet. It's like a Gibson Robot guitar in the sense that it tunes itself, but instead of the clunky tuning machines the Robot guitar has, it had motorized saddles which adjust the intonation. I've seen it work and most of the time it's awesome, but it does make the strings more prone to snap at the saddle. Did he show any of those new bridges to you guys there?

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Website: http://www.rebeccalaird.com
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(And we're back.)

Hi TGS: yes, he demo'd a guitar with that "Super-matic" bridge. Putting to one side whether we believe we want auto tuning gizmos on our guitars or not it did seem to me the best such system I've yet come across. Six pre-set tunings plus user presets and other clever trickery; the ability to retune the remaining strings mid-song if one string breaks; the machinary is in the bridge, so no weight added to the headstock making the guitar nose-heavy; amplified or silent tuning; designed to fit in a normal Strat trem cavity, so retro-fittable to any S-type guitar without modding the timber.

Drawbacks: doesn't work well with strings above a 12 gauge set; only so far available as a hardtail - a vibrato version due in a couple of years. Here's a page about it:

http://www.fret-king.com/supermatic.html

If I wanted such a system (I don't) that's definitely the one I'd go for, at present.



Oh, and Our Man did hint at the arrival of Wilkinson FX boxes shortly to be released. I wonder what he'll have to add to that over-saturated market?

Cheers - C

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Reading through, I noticed this:

GTG, just to amplify on what Nick already said to that, Wilkinson was endlessly at pains to emphasise how Leo Fender was at heart a production designer. As we know, he wasn't a player and in reality he wasn't a luthier either: what he was all about was designing things that could be made in factories, with all that implies about creating repeatable designs made from affordable, source-able materials.

So the alder thing was just one example of that. Back in those days alder and ash were in no way regarded as "tonewoods". Rather, Leo didn't want to use expensive imported tropical timbers so went to his local lumber supplier to see what was available. Apparently (I'm thousands of miles and several decades away, so some others can confirm how true or not this bit is) cherry was a particularly popular timber for building furniture in the US at that time, and so carried consumer appeal value. However, it was expensive, so cheaper furniture was made from alder which just so happened could be darkened by staining to appear fairly similar to cherry and so give "the look". Leo liked the utility of that - and that's why he adopted that timber.

Nuttin' to do with tone. All of that voodoo came along later - that's the point Wilkinson kept wanting to make.

Similarly, the dimensions of the bodies and especially the bolt-on neck came from the commercial availability of timber in those days, sold as it was in billets measured in 1/8" increments. So again, a production design solution, rather than luthiery.

And to be clear, Trev Wilkinson (who worked closely with Leo Fender for two decades) couldn't have been more admiring of that attitude, and it has plainly directed his own entire approach to this day. It's all about meeting the needs of musicians, but through factory implementable solutions rather than craftsman workbench methods.

Cheers - C

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I never cease to be impressed at the level of knowledge and expertise around here but for me, it's the equivalent of needing a background in oral and maxillofacial surgery just to be able to brush one's teeth.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Hahaha!

But then I suspect you're rather better at brushing your teeth than many people, Doc. More knowledge is always better than less...

- C

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Thanks, my friend. Very interesting.