Modding vintage amps - OK or blasphemy?

[Chuck H]

If it came up in conversation, I used to mention the Beatles. I recall talking to the young girl at the cash register, and I said "They were the Beatles, there were four of them and they were very popular." And she said, "I have heard of them".

That has to be chalked up to bad parenting. And I might even be serious about that. The Beatles, their music and their influence on all popular music since then is so significant and culturally important that it seems irresponsible not to teach or even tell your children about them. Right? You can still hear their influence in new artist material ranging from metal to pop.

[Chuck H]

There's a pretty good young music scene (think high school age) here on Whidbey and the PNW in general. When my daughter was going to shows (and dating these guys) maybe ten years ago I got to know a lot of these kids. Older groups like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and even KISS were very popular among them. Along with many newer bands I'd never heard of. But it wasn't unusual to see any of them wearing something like a Boston T-shirt. That was a decade ago. Essentially another epoch as young culture goes. Can't say about how real that is now.

[Greg_L]

If it came up in conversation, I used to mention the Beatles. I recall talking to the young girl at the cash register, and I said "They were the Beatles, there were four of them and they were very popular." And she said, "I have heard of them".

I was at a Sonic drive-in some years ago. I'm sitting there waiting for my junk food, the car-hop young lady brings my order and hears the music coming from the car radio. She asks "that's cool what are you listening to"? I said "Ramones". She says "Oh I have their T-shirt!".

She has the shirt but can't recognize the band when she hears it. I wasn't even mad. I'm not a rock and roll gatekeeper. I was just...ugh. She was just a kid and the Ramones were done probably before she was even born. And I know Ramones shirts look very cool and are very popular, but they are not a T-shirt brand.

[Greg_L]

There's a pretty good young music scene (think high school age) here on Whidbey and the PNW in general. When my daughter was going to shows (and dating these guys) maybe ten years ago I got to know a lot of these kids. Older groups like AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and even KISS were very popular among them. Along with many newer bands I'd never heard of. But it wasn't unusual to see any of them wearing something like a Boston T-shirt. That was a decade ago. Essentially another epoch as young culture goes. Can't say about how real that is now.

I talk about the 80s and 90s with my own kids and they act like we were living in the stone ages. Things like rewinding a cassette tape, or having to be home to watch something on TV, it blows their minds. It's so funny. They were truly fascinated with the unimaginable inconvenience of rewinding a cassette or video tape. And phone calls. I'd tell them that when you called someone, if they didn't answer, that was the end of the transaction. There was no text, no messenger, no facebook stalking. You called, and they answered or they didn't. Then you moved on to something else. It's all crazy to them.

[eschertron]

...phone calls. I'd tell them that when you called someone, if they didn't answer, that was the end of the transaction. There was no text, no messenger, no facebook stalking. You called, and they answered or they didn't. Then you moved on to something else. It's all crazy to them.

There's a country song in there somewhere

[Enzo]

I for long time have watched as we gain something from progress, but lose something in the bargain. For example, the phone. Years ago, you got a nice solid phone from the phone company. It was tough as nails, and it ALWAYS worked, and the phone system worked. Then the law said we have to be able to buy our own phones if we wanted. So now phones got cheaper, but they also were of less quality and sounded less consistent. And then...cell phones. Now we could walk around with the phone, but now we also accept dropped calls, missed calls, odd sound phenomena.

[Chuck H]

I for long time have watched as we gain something from progress, but lose something in the bargain.

There's an author I like to read that writes fly fishing books. Well, he actually writes books about life, passion and philosophy and how fly fishing relates to and exemplifies it. Anyway, a quote from one of his stories relates to his fondness for vintage gear and he states: "We're too fast to leave the best of what we have behind and call it progress."

[The Dude]

Straying off topic here, so apologies glebert.

What I miss most is a more polite society. I think it started when people could hide behind the anonymity of a keyboard and just post whatever they like on line without consequence. It has spilled over into every day society, though. People say and do things to each other they would not have when I was younger. Some thoughts are better left in your head and don't need to exit your mouth and it doesn't cost extra to be nice to people.

[Enzo]

In the old days you either wrote a letter to the editor of a paper, or you called in a radio show. In print, you can't get idiotic hostile rhetoric past the editor. ON radio there was a seven second delay, so if you blurted something out, all they did was press a button. These days, no such filter.

[Mark Hammer]

1) We live in a time when impetuousness, impatience, and "gut feel" is both enabled and encouraged. Even IF newspapers had a staff of hundreds to scrutinize every single message received, 99.5% of what passes for "comment" would not pass muster, largely because the authors never stopped to edit, or even think, about what they had written, Most discourse is essentially high school hallway banter ("Hey Biden, your fly's open. HAH! Made ya look!"). I'll attribute 22% of the blame to cellphones.

2) I own two original '59 tweeds. I don't mind modding them, and have done so, since there are enough in existence that retaining every last vestige of original factory fabrication is not necessary to conserve archival knowledge. If there were, say, only 20 in existence around the world, I wouldn't monkey with them, but I think I'm safe.

3) Thirteen years ago, I dropped into Gruhn's Guitars and took George out for lunch, where we had a lovely chat. While I was waiting for him to get off the phone, before lunch, I wandered around the upper floor where the "preferred customers" (i.e., folks with lotsa dough) get to go. Against one wall I saw a Magnatone amp sitting inconspicuously. I sauntered over to take a look, and was stunned when I saw the $175,000 price tag hanging from it. But when I saw the old school Dymo label on the top of the amp, the price tag made a lot more sense. The label said "Buddy Holly". It was Buddy's amp...or at least one he had owned, and thought to label, for whatever passed for "security" in those days.

In the early '70s, some buddies and I went to see B.B.King at an outdoor show, We got there early to get a good view, and a good view was what we got. On the headstock of his ES-355 was also a Dymo label. This was well before he started getting things custom engraved by Gibson. It very clearly said "My name is Lucille. I belong to BB King."

[J M Fahey]

3) Thirteen years ago, I dropped into Gruhn's Guitars and took George out for lunch, where we had a lovely chat. While I was waiting for him to get off the phone, before lunch, I wandered around the upper floor where the "preferred customers" (i.e., folks with lotsa dough) get to go. Against one wall I saw a Magnatone amp sitting inconspicuously. I sauntered over to take a look, and was stunned when I saw the $175,000 price tag hanging from it. But when I saw the old school Dymo label on the top of the amp, the price tag made a lot more sense. The label said "Buddy Holly". It was Buddy's amp...or at least one he had owned, and thought to label, for whatever passed for "security" in those days.

NOW we are talking.

[Mick Bailey]

A guy asked me about re-finishing his '62 red Strat. It was 100% original, had never been re-fretted, rewired or anything. Not a screw changed and pretty much perfect. I said it would be a crime to do this and I wasn't prepared to mess around with such a wonderful guitar. He bought it back with most of the paint removed with stripper. He'd used a disc sander in a drill for the rest and gouged the body. His words were "Now will you do it?" It ended up black with a different pickguard. The least satisfaction I ever had from any job.

[Chuck H]

A guy asked me about re-finishing his '62 red Strat. It was 100% original, had never been re-fretted, rewired or anything. Not a screw changed and pretty much perfect. I said it would be a crime to do this and I wasn't prepared to mess around with such a wonderful guitar. He bought it back with most of the paint removed with stripper. He'd used a disc sander in a drill for the rest and gouged the body. His words were "Now will you do it?" It ended up black with a different pickguard. The least satisfaction I ever had from any job.

Need an un-like tab for this one. I think you gave the guy the awareness he needed. In hindsight you would have had to go so far as to suggest he buy a different body in the color he wanted rather than destroy the original. It probably wouldn't even have been more expensive than the refinishing. What a chowder head.

[Greg_L]

A guy asked me about re-finishing his '62 red Strat. It was 100% original, had never been re-fretted, rewired or anything. Not a screw changed and pretty much perfect. I said it would be a crime to do this and I wasn't prepared to mess around with such a wonderful guitar. He bought it back with most of the paint removed with stripper. He'd used a disc sander in a drill for the rest and gouged the body. His words were "Now will you do it?" It ended up black with a different pickguard. The least satisfaction I ever had from any job.

Wow, that is ghastly.

I have to stand by my previous sentiment though..."it's his guitar, he can do whatever he wants"....but on a personal level I truly hate that guy and wish bad things on him.

[Mick Bailey]

I suggested he got another guitar and the one he had was pretty valuable (this was before the insane recent rises in early '60s Strats - late 90s). He said the value didn't matter and he just wanted that guitar, only in black. When I'd only just finished painting it he wanted it back for a gig. It was straight off the gun, no final finishing and buffing and still soft. He picked it up and wrapped it bubble wrap which imprinted the paint. I ended up not charging him on the condition that he never mentioned my name in connection with that guitar.

Another butchered guitar was a 60s pink Strat I got in a trade. It was actually red under the pickguard and had faded really badly, though uniformly. The guy had chiselled out the middle pickup and installed one of those Gibson mini humbuckers. It was properly hacked and pretty much ruined, but I did like the sound. I got rid of it because the crap work bugged me so much.