January Edition of The Vintage Guitar News and Views

Terms of Endearment
From time to time in explaining the condition ,shape or originality of a vintage guitar or piece of vintage gear,I get the response " what does that mean?" Nothing wrong with that question , not everyone is savvy to all the terms used in the vintage guitar arena,so here are a few terms of endearment that you should get to know.
-Clean:Where as the finish is in great shape from any major nicks or mars ,rips or tears.
-Straight:All the solder joints,tuners,keys,knobs,switches,frets,finish,color,and pickups as well as the pick guard are all original and intact,usually with the original case or cover if it is an amp.
-O.H.S.C.: Original Hard Shell Case as came from the factory.
-Period correct: The guitar or amp is original to a certain year or model and some parts may have been replaced with correct parts from another guitar or amp.
-Period correct case:May not be the original case as from the factory but is a correct case for the vintage piece.
-Refret or refretted: the original frets have been replaced with either period correct frets or frets that the previous owner may have wanted as far as size is concerned,if they were same sized frets as the original they would be ? period correct, see how it all comes full circle?
-Refin or refinished:This refers to the original finish having been at some point either repainted or recovered due to fade or a particular owners preference,i.e. a sunburst stripped off a guitar and a Fiesta red finish reapplied .
-Players grade or players guitar: Usually a vintage guitar ,but not necessarily, that has had some changes that may or may not be period correct it still retains some respectability of originality to it but not everything is original.The body and neck may be all that's left of the original guitar or bass and everything else has through the years been replaced for one reason or another, not a bad thing ,old wood is where the tone is, but not as desirable as an all original straight piece of vintage gear.
-Route or routes: not something everyone wants to hear, but during the life of a vintage guitar somewhere someone has replaced a single coil pickup with a humbucker and had to enlarge the cavity that is in the body to accommodate the larger pickup(s),This does effect the price of a vintage guitar ,but you have to be the judge on how bad you want it, and if the route is a professional or hack job and if the route has or has not been professionally refilled and rerouted back to original specs.
-Second or Factory second:For a while some guitar manufactures let people buy guitars that were deemed as inferior at some phase of the construction process, most blemishes or rejections are impossible to find some are obvious, the Factory would stamp a 2 somewhere ,usually under the serial number or on the back of the headstock to indicate this, according to some experts this does not really effect the price when dealing with highly desirable vintage gear as long as it is straight ,clean and original.
Tweed: The name given by collectors to the striped yellow and brown covering on amps and cases usually from the 40's and 50's.
-Tolex The rouged brown,white,blck covering on most amps and cases since the early 60's ,other colors do exist.
-Pups: The pickups in a guitar or bass guitar.
-Pots: The word usually said in place of the potentiometers, the controls for volume,tone,gain,bass,treble,etc
-Caps: Again a word used in place of capacitor ,these are the small electronic devices usually wired into a circuit to either combine some aspects of the build ,since you can not really wire each and every piece internally together ,some caps also bleed of unwanted noises, or treble or bass frequency's as determined by the builder, it is not uncommon to see the caps replaced in a amp.as these do deteriorate over time.
-Buckle rash: Usually the backside of the guitars body is covered in small or large areas of finish deterioration ,mars,scratches and finish removal due to usage.
-Ding: a small impression (sometimes not so small) that is pressed into the wood and finish but that does not go through to or expose any of the body wood or break the finish.
-Dink: An impression or mar that shows wood through the finish.
-Swirls: Usually light circular scratches that occur on the finish due to polishing the guitar over the period of it's life.
-Checking:Where the clear coat finish has actual lines throughout the surface of the guitar or bass,not a bad thing, not something that goes into the wood itself ,it is an aging and temperature change condition that almost all guitars will have on them at some point in their life.
-Neck set: Almost all acoustic guitars will at some point in their lifespan need to have the neck removed and a portion of wood shaved off to correct for time and pressure taking its toll on the wood itself and properly realign the neck angle with the body for continued playability.If done properly it is usually of no concern if not,it is usually a noticeable ugly mess and may not be able to be corrected.
-Re cone: When an original speaker coil drops or wears out the speaker is usually re coned, this does hamper the original tone as to how the amp will sound , usually they never sound as good as the original, but things happen and with amps it really is no big deal,it just depends on how original an amp you desire.
Now these are just a few of the terms most widely used or that you may hear when a item is being described to you or on a website ,So now that you understand some of them you will be better able to make a determination of the price that is being asked,always ask for clear precise pictures or clarification of anything that may cause concern and remember that some changes or replacement parts are not a bad thing , some things just wear out. As always this is just my news and views, So until next month ,may all your days be memorable,all your friends stay true and all your riffs be killer,Greg at Greg's guitars. days be memorable,all your friends stay true and all your riffs be killer,Greg at Greg's guitars.

November Edition of Greg's Guitars Vintage Guitar News and Views.

Giving Thanks For Groovy Vintage Guitars.
This article explores Vintage Ibanez guitars,Well one in particular anyway and what she boasts as far as appointments and playability ,plus a little interesting vintage guitar history. Ibanez got her humble starts by a company going by the name of " Hoshino" ,in the early 40's producing a spanish styled acoustic guitar that was named Ibanez. By the 1970's Ibanez ( which Hoshino had purchased the rights to)was known (good or bad) as the lawsuit guitars, for their blatant copies of more renowned guitars being produced ,Although most were cheaper imitations and copies ,the fact does remain that many Ibanez "lawsuit" era guitars were of comparable if not superior quality to the guitars the were produced to mimic. I will let you be the judge of that point. Now what we have here is a wonderful example of what Ibanez was creating in the early to mid 1960's. I have found an older picture of this very guitar on a German Ibanez website , and also a picture of the one and only Jimi Hendrix playing a very similar model ( upside down of course) in a sunburst color scheme as opposed to the white beauty we see pictured here.Knowing that every guitarist must start somewhere on the guitar food chain , and by no way implying that this guitar was ever owned or played by Jimi, the body shape and era that it was built is reasonable enough to inject that this was the type or at least close enough to the type that Sir Jimi cranked many a tune to the amazement of both audience and fellow band members alike. After playing her for quite a while now and coming to the conclusion that even though she is never going to be worth what the same era ,Fender or Martin, or Gibson guitar is worth ,I have decided that she is unique enough,plays good enough and has many nicely though out features that she is a keeper, and I can fully understand why Jimi played one similar to this mode. She just has such wonderful dynamic harmonic explosions tucked away in her, the neck is to die for and well since she is a little on the small body size , she is light enough to play for days. Her is the run down on some of her features..1 piece ash body with the pickups mounted directly on top of the body ( directly coupling for superior resonance) , the pickups themselves are unique in the fact that under the metal covers are 5,yes 5 huge round alnico I magnets that are so large as to only 1/3 of each magnet couples between each individual adjustable pole screw,that alone accounts for ( in my book anyway) for her tremendous tonal qualities. She is routed for the pots and wiring only beneath her 1 piece plastic pick guard located below the pickups. Another interesting and in my opinion superior design is the way her controls are laid out, no 3 or 5 way selector switch to bump and fiddle with while playing ,no sir ,this girl boasts one master volume control for both the front (neck) and rear (bridge ) pickup, this enables the player to dial in an indefinite array of tonal possibilities. As for a tone /treble control she has just the one master control for this ,which I like as it certainly adds to ease in playability and control of my sound.I do not see as to why the electric guitar manufacturers today don't do this as a standard feature.,The neck as I have stated is to die for, 1 solid piece of Mahogany ,perfectly sculpted for a fir like a glove to your fretting hand, and smooth as oriental silk, non bound (thank goodness) with a zero fret ( lord does she stay in tune) and a beautiful 3/8 of an inch thick slab of Brazilian Rosewood for a fretboard with a 10 radius, I love it and am seriously considering making an exact copy to place on a Tele.The only weakness and the only thing I have ever considered changing ( i wrestle with ) is the bridge setup. Now I am no fan of the cheap thumbscrew rosewood adjustable bridge on ANY guitar . let alone an electric, but, this one does stay where it is supposed to and does have compensation for proper intonation, but I would like to try a bigsy or Gibson style bridge and tailpiece but shudder at changing her from her original state, ah decisions decisions...She is one of the most in tune guitars I have and many friends alike agree all the way up and down the fretboard ,which makes my even happier that I acquired her.The headstock has an arrowhead shape with a single all encompassing string tree bar, metal Ibanez logo and ,(ugh) open back tuners, another point I have considered replacing, but hey like they say,"if it ain't broke ,don't fix it" Dynamically harmonic,sweetly sustaining,and extremely light in weight,yes this old girl ia as unique as it gets in the world of guitars. Who knows ,maybe the exact features that Jimi liked about his own 60 era Ibanez, before his change to an easier accessible American guitar? I hope you enjoy looking and remember to take the time to enjoy the obscure guitar for what they are and you as I may be delightfully surprised in what we find. As always this is just my News and Views. So may all your days be memorable, all your friends stay true and all your riffs be killer.Greg.