New Guitar Day: Slapa Da' Bass Edition

About a month ago I had a longtime friend of mine decide to clear out some of his old basses.  He's a touring musician, and has collected quite a few instruments.  He told me that he's made a lot of friends across the country, and would pick up instruments at great deals.  But all those great deals were taking up space in the house, so a few had to go.

He posted a photo of a Squier Classic Vibe 60's Jazz Bass, and said he was happy to let it go for $100.  I immediately said, "That's an awesome price.  Someone will snatch that up for sure!"  I would have bought it, but I already had a Dean Juggernaut bass.  That's their version of the Fender Jazz Bass.

But then I got to thinking.  I remembered when the Classic Vibe Jazz Bass series came out.  It was everything I wanted in a bass.  The Olympic white with red tortoiseshell pickguard was the exact color scheme I love in a Fender type guitar/bass.  I also really liked the fact that the neck was a golden vintage tint with a rosewood fretboard.

After about two weeks I messaged my friend, and asked him, "Say, has anyone bought that bass from you yet?"  Shockingly, he said, "No."  When those basses were new they cost $400 plus tax.  $100 was a steal.  So I told him, "I had to have it!  When can I drop by?"

So I dropped in the next day, and handed over the cash.  I wish we could have talked more, but with the Covid-19 craziness happening we had to keep it short.  But it was good to see him, even if for a short time.

I immediately loved the bass.  The set-up was different than how I set up a guitar or bass, but somebody really took the time to make it easily playable.  What has shocked me the most on the entire Squier Classic Vibe series are the pickups.  They have installed some extremely awesome pickups for a guitar or bass at that price point.

Before I go into my tinkering I'll post some photos of her.

I have to say someone had performed a wonder fret-dress on this bass.  It was smooth.  Again, everyone has preferences on how they like their instrument set up.  With this bass I decided to shim under the neck.  This way it would lower the strings from the fifth fret up.

I know I said I loved the pickups, but I still had to tinker with them.  A few weird coincidences happened.  I had a Jerry Sentell Jazz Bass bladed bridge pickup that was going to go into another build.  That build never happened so I've had it laying around for a while.

I also managed to snag a used Seymour Duncan Vintage Jazz Bass neck pickup for a good price.  So I installed both pickups into this bass.  I also used some really thick and strong foam to push the pickups up closer to the strings.  I also changed the strings to my usual GHS Boomers.  I also prefer to install Fleor strap-locks, so I did that as well.

All in all it didn't require too much work on my part.  I cleaned it up a bit with my favorite Ken Smith polish.  I also used a large paintbrush to knock some of the dust away from the bridge saddles, but after that I could call it a day.

I gotta say I'm having fun with it.  I don't play bass that often so it takes me a while to get back into the groove when I pick one up.  Now I just have to find a place to keep it.  Like my friend I'm starting to run out of room here.  Oh well.  Such is the life of musicians.

The 2020 Orlando Guitar Expo: Bring Home The Spoils Of Rock!!!

I've been lucky enough to attend the Orlando Guitar Expo for four years running now.  I've attended with a few purposes in mind.  1.  I usually had something I wanted to trade.  2.  I was looking for a few small items for myself.  3.  I looked for things I could buy cheaply and then resell.  This year I managed to do all three.

So let's get to rockin!  First up I was aiming to trade a Hagstrom Ultra Swede w/ OHSC for.... something.  The good news, was that, a lot of people were interested in it.  I had both attendees and dealers looking at it.  I must have showed it to twelve different dealers.  Every one of them said the same thing.  "Somebody will jump on that."

One reason they said that was because I had it priced extremely fair.  When going to the show you have to take a grain of salt with the prices.  I had it priced so that they knew I wasn't going to jerk anyone around.  And you know, people appreciated that.

I had one dealer who asked to see it, and I was happy to show it to him.  In fact, his booth had a big sign that said, "We Buy Guitars!"  So he was the guy to show it to.  He looked it over and said, "Due to the damage (it was dinged in a corner) he couldn't buy it. "  Then he said an almost throwaway line.  "I mean, I'd trade for it."

That's when I pointed out a guitar that I'm sure a lot of people passed by.  It was a D.B.Z. Bolero.  Now for those who don't know, I love Dean Guitars.  Their founder Dean B. Zelinsky started a new line of guitars called DBZ Guitars in 2008.  They were partnered with Diamond Amps, and later became Diamond Guitars.

But this looked to be a first year model with the original DBZ logo on the headstock.  I tried it out, and dug it.  It reminded me a lot of my Luna Apollo (owned by Armadillo Enterprises who owns Dean Guitars.)  Actually, the DBZ Bolero is the copy of Dean's Soltero.  But in all fairness, Dean Zelinsky designed it in 2006.

I asked the dealer how much cash plus the Hagstrom he would want for the Bolero.  He thought about it, and said he would take $200 plus the Hagstrom.  I thought about it, and said yes.  My "Guitar Show" price for my Hagstrom was $350.  I would have taken $275 cash for it.  So the fact that he gave me $300 credit is a total win for me.

The other good news, is that, the Bolero came with a DBZ OHSC.  And I have to say, it's a nice case.  So now, onto the pictures!

Next up, I talked to a dealer who had a bunch of parts.  He had a bunch of Dimarzio pickups that he just wanted to get rid of.  So he cut me a heck of a break.  He sold me four of them for $80.  I plan on keeping one, and will sell the rest.  I ended up buying one HS-3 and three Virtual Vintage Blues pickups.

Also included in the bag were a Fender single coil and a Seymour Duncan Hot Rails.  Unfortunately, neither of them were working.  But they were free so I can't complain.

The third dealer I bought from was a great seller who I had bought from before.  Again, I looked through his parts drawer.  I think I must have cleaned him out last year as he didn't have any pickups.  But I did manage to find a pitch pipe and a mandolin bridge.

At a grand total of nine bucks I wasn't going to argue with him.  He has always been good to me when I've talked to him at guitar shows.

Except for lunch that was all I managed to buy at this years show.  I made quite a few loops around the place.  It was actually much easier this year since the rain kept regular attendees from coming in early.  I didn't let the rain stop me.  It's Florida.  That's why I carry an umbrella at all times.

So I feel good about the whole thing.  I managed to trade the guitar I bought.  I brought home an awesome guitar.  I also managed to grab a pickup I had always wanted.  And I have a few pickups to sell on Reverb to recoup some of my money.  All in all that's a great show.

Partscaster! A Little Buying, Selling, And Rearranging For the Perfect Stratocaster

I know, I know.  I need another guitar like I need a hole in my head.  But I had been wanting to put together another Stratocaster for a while.  It all started when Fender's Mexican line of Stratocasters started being built with two point tremolos.  This, of course, had been reserved for their U.S. made instruments.

I wanted one of the new Strats, but I couldn't justify buying another guitar.  Especially a new one at full price.  I already had a good number of parts in my parts bin, so it's not like I needed to buy a complete guitar.

I happened to come across this deal on Facebook Marketplace.  A seller had a Partscaster type Strat up for sale for the low price of $80.  I contacted them, and while they had many people making offers, those people were lowballing them or wanted them to drive over to their place.

I said I wouldn't jerk them around for that price.  I also said I would drive over, pick up the guitar, and be out of their hair.  Since they could see I was serious, they said I could come over.  I did, bought the guitar, and got out of their hair.

Here's what I bought.  Note:  It was assembled.  I only remembered to take photos of it after I had disassembled it.

So here's what was going on with the guitar.  The good news, is that, the neck was a Mighty Mite brand.  It was in great shape, and very straight.  The pickups were GFS Lil' Killers.  Even better was that they were the three different types: 6K, 10K, 15K.  I'll end up using them for a project down the road.

The wiring was horrific, and the pots were 500K ohms.  So that was disappointing.  There was also a Black Ice Overdrive module.  The knobs were UFO style.  It also had a pearloid pickguard that was really nice.

So I had to decide what parts to keep, and which to sell off.  The one thing I knew I could sell was the body.  I didn't care for it, so I listed it on Craigslist.  I ended up selling it for $40, so I made half my money back just selling the body.

Next, I ordered a blue body from Guitar Fetish.  Their XGP line is awesome.  I would put it up against any other guitar bodies out there.

And while I liked it, there appeared to be something off with it.  To me, it looked purple.  I asked family members what they thought, and to some it appeared Cobalt Blue, like it was listed, and to others it was purple.  So I sent it back.

As I was looking over GFS's offerings a thought occurred to me.  Why didn't I choose the silver colored body?  If I ordered it, I could put together a Stratocaster that resembled Eric Clapton's 1989 Strat.  For reference, here is a photo of Fender's Eric Clapton 1989 Stratocaster.

Here's the link to Fender's website:

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/electric-guitars/stratocaster/eric-clapton-stratocaster/0117602843.html

I always liked that Strat.  So it was settled.  I returned the blue body, and ordered the silver body.

Remember what I said earlier about wanting a two point tremolo?  Well, I've always like the Wilkinson style tremolos, so I ordered one.  Here's a photo of it lying in the tremolo cavity.

While I was waiting for the silver body to ship, I started on the electronics.  I had bought a number of Strat pickups over the years, but had never gotten to try them out.  This was the perfect opportunity to install them in an instrument.

I started over with all new (correct) 250K pots, 5 way switch, and a Mallory capacitor.  I kept the pearloid pickguard to use on the silver body.  Let's fast forward to where I put it all together.

I decided to use the following pickups:

Neck: Dimarzio True Velvet
Middle: Dimarzio SDS-1
Bridge: Seymour Duncan SSL-5

On a sidenote, I finally ordered a soldering station.  There's one company in China that manufacturers this model under a dozen names.  You can find them all over the internet.  I was extremely happy with the quality and usefulness of it.  If you do purchase one here's a bit of advice.  For guitar work don't use the super fine tip.  Use the wider, duller tip.  It works a lot better for applying solder to the back of the pots.

So now it was time to put it together.  The hardest part was to make sure I had the holes drilled correctly for the tremolo.

I have to say, I nailed it.  The alignment was perfect.  But, I've done this a time or two.  Once again, I'll fast-forward past all the usual work.  I do want to note that I kept the tuners that were on it.  They weren't name brand tuners, but they have been working great.  I don't see a need to replace them.

Once I set the guitar up she played beautifully.  Now that I think about it, there is one other thing I should note.  While I was waiting for the body to ship I fret dressed the neck.  It came out perfectly.  But then again, once you've done about 500 fret dressings, you tend to get pretty good at it.

Now the big question, what does she sound like?  The Dimarzio True Velvet pickup is a bit clearer than it's predecessor the Blue Velvet.  I know, everyone likes the original/vintage equipment better, but I have to stand my ground on this one.  I liked the sound of the Blue Velvet over the True Velvet.

Although, the True Velvet is a great vintage pickup.  To be honest, once a player's volume is turned up, most players won't be able to hear the difference between the two pickups.  The True Velvet is a bit crisper and doesn't have as much bass as the Blue Velvet.

The Dimarzio SDS-1 is a totally different type of animal.  It is supposed to be more of a bridge pickup, but I love it in the middle position.  Most middle pickups are kind of useless so I like to put something musically different in the middle slot.  The SDS-1 is without a doubt different.

The Dimarzio website says it's their take on a P-90 pickup for the Strat.  But what makes it different is it is much, much darker sounding than a Strat or P-90.  It's really chunky and thick.  Again, I love having it in the middle since it's so sonically different than a vintage Strat pickup.

I have the Seymour Duncan SSL-5 pickup in the bridge.  This pickup is well known and used by many players.  Most vintage bridge Strat pickups are crazy bright.  This pickup aims to balance out the EQ.  There are still plenty of highs, but the mids and bass are brought up what I would call a good middle ground.  Not too much, not too little.  I can see why players dig this pickup.

I've had great luck with the Wilkinson tremolo.  I wish the bar would screw in rather than slide in, but it had an extremely smooth movement.  There are more expensive tremolos, but I wouldn't say they are any better.  If you are looking for a tremolo, I whole heartedly endorse giving Wilkinson Tremolos a shot.

I've had so much fun jamming with this guitar.  It's been fun playing it through different amps.  It's a bit bright through my Genz Benz El Diablo 100, but I expected it to be.  I have a Mega (brand) Amp that has a Fender sound through the first channel.  That's where this guitar really shined.  I'm going to break out a few of my other amps to see what this guitar can do sonically.

Again, I know I need another guitar like I need six fingers on each hand.  However, this guitar just blows me away.  I was thinking of using it to try out different pickups, but the ones I have in it are awesome.  So I don't think I'll be making any modifications to it in the foreseeable future.  Everything just worked out perfectly on it.  Now, I have a great new guitar.  Sweet.

Soak Up The Sunn: New Amp Day: Sunn Solos

I told myself that I was through buying amps.  But that's like a junky saying this is his last hit.  The last amp I bought cost me a lot, and I wasn't happy with it.  I ended up getting rid of it quickly.  After losing a good amount of money on both repairing and trading it, I said no more amps.

But then, and there's always a, "but, then," I saw it on Craigslist.  It was advertised as a Sunn Solos 2, possibly being made from 1969-1974.  I am a huge fan of Sunn amplifiers.  In fact, I own a Sunn Alpha 212R that has never let me down.  I knew I had to have this amp.

I talked to the owner on and off.  I was trying to trade equipment for it, but he wanted cash.  I drove about as far as I could drive to South St. Petersburg without driving into the water.  Truthfully speaking I was dang close to the saltwater.

He let me check out the amp.  I have to admit, it didn't sound great.  It was supposed to be a copy of the Fender Twin Reverb, but with a solid state power section.  It did have three tubes in the pre-amp section.  That made this one of the earliest hybrid amps I had ever seen.

I started checking it out, and was kind of disappointed.  I saw a few things that needed repair.  Honestly, it was both good and bad.  The speakers were completely shot.  As in, they were rusted and falling apart.  The power cord had tape wrapped around it, so I knew that needed replaced.  As old as it was I'm sure it needed a solder job.  It also made an insanely loud hum whenever the reverb was turned up.

Now here's the funny math.  Do I buy this amp at a discount, but have to invest so much into it that would cost more than I could actually buy a Twin Reverb?  However, I can go to any Guitar Center or Sam Ash and buy a Fender Twin Reverb.  I can have them search their inventory and have them ship me certain models of the Twin Reverb any day of the week.

What I can't do is buy this amp any time or place.  To be honest, I had never even heard of this amp.  I had never seen one, and this was the first time I was ever playing one.  So what do I do?  Do I buy the ultra rare amp from a company I love, or do I buy the time tested best known Fender amp?

I decided to buy the Sunn amp, and here's why.  The seller already had it lower than market value.  He then knocked the price down again.  I knew I would have to acquire two new speakers for the amp.  The good news was I already had one that was perfect for it.

So I bought the amp, and headed directly to ProAudio Electronics Tampa.  Mike J. has run the shop for a long time, and absolutely knows what he's doing.  Rex, the tech who would be working on the amp came out, and looked it over.  He pointed out where a cap was leaking and needed replaced.  He noticed the tape wrapped around the power cord, and said that wouldn't pass inspection.  I agreed.

I told him he had plenty of time to work on it since I was headed out hunting.  I told him I had one speaker for him, and would order the other one.  He should just worry about getting it working, and he could add the speakers last.  I then headed out hunting two days later.

In the middle of the next week we talked on the phone.  He told me that three (out of six) of the caps needed replaced.  Also, one of the speakers was completely dead, and the other one was in bad shape.  It also needed a solder job in some places, plus the standby switch needed replaced.  I told him to go ahead and get it working.

Before I had left, I bought a Jensen C12K speaker for the amp off of Reverb.com.  I already had a WGS G12C/S sitting at the house.  So while I was hunting, I had my Mom drop off the speakers to ProAudio Electronics.  That gave them a chance to play it, and see how it sounded.  If there were any problems they would be able to hear them, and sort out the problem.

Once I made it back I was able to play it at the shop.  Two of the guys said I'd better not leave that amp around the shop much longer.  They liked it too much.  As I tested it out I had to say it was very different from the amps I usually play.

It had a very interesting clean sound.  It wasn't tinny like so many clean amps are.  It had a full sound, but was clean.  When I turned it up it started to slightly overdrive.  It completely took me back to an era before my time.  I could hear that vintage sound that defined so many artists.

Rex the technician told me something that I had completely missed.  He told me that this amp wasn't the Sunn Solos 2 as had been advertised.  It was the first model from 1969, the Sunn Solos, version 1.  That meant that this one didn't have an X20 circuit.  The X20 would engage a circuit that would add distortion to the amp.  The only problem was that you couldn't control the amount of distortion.    But since this model didn't have it, I didn't have to worry about that.

I checked out the serial number, and realized that it read 001XXX.  As in, it was only around the 1000th amp ever made by Sunn.  In other words, this was an early model.  I tried to find information about it on the internet.  It turns out there are very few things written about the Sunn Solos 2.  There is almost nothing written about version one.

The only thing  I could find that was they made versions one and two in 1970.  After that, they strictly made version 2.  I was on a music forum where I read a post from a musician who had bought one new in 1970.  He said back then the Solos amps were more expensive than Fender Twin Reverbs.  I have to say that surprised me.

So here are the photos:

It's in what I could call "good" shape.  It's roughed up a bit, but I wouldn't call it fair or poor.  Something equipped on this amp that I have never seen on another amplifier is a control for depth and rate of the reverb.  I've seen depth and rate for a tremolo effect, but never a reverb.

It took me a while to find the right setting for the reverb.  The reverb is not very deep at all.  The Twin Reverb beats it hands down.  However, with the rate and depth controls it acts like a tremolo/reverb if that makes any sense.  I ended up putting the reverb to 10, the rate to 10, and the depth to 7.

Rex explained that the depth control grounded the signal.  So the more you turned it up, the longer the delay between notes.  So it was acting like an analog delay.  It was very subtle below 7.  Once it was turned up beyond that, it had some serious delay.

Here are photos of the speakers.

I have to say these were the perfect speakers for this amp.  I was worried that the WGS wouldn't be bright enough for this amp.  It actually hadn't been very good in a few other amps I had, but it was perfect for this.

I didn't have to worry about the Jensen since it came standard in the old Twin Reverbs.  I did notice that both speakers needed broke in a bit.  They were very stiff.  Once I adjusted the EQ, and played the amp a bit, they started to sound better.

Oh, remember how I said the other speakers were shot?  Yeah, here's what they looked like.

You can see why I wasn't worried about replacing them.  Also, they weren't original to the amp anyway.

I've been writing this blog since 2008, and it kind of surprises me which of my blog posts end up getting large amounts of views.  I think this is going to be one of those posts that ends up continually receiving views since there are so few pages dedicated to the Sunn Solos amps.

There used to be a webpage called the "Sunn Muesum," but I think the owner took it down.  It had a great amount of information about Sunn products.  I'll admit, I would have liked to have seen what it had to say about the Solos amps.

But for now I am happy to have an awesome amp to play.  It takes pedals really well.  It probably goes without saying that my Biyang reverb pedal sounds like an angel coming through the amp.  Every one of my overdrive pedals work well with it.  So, basically I am having a lot of fun trying all sorts of settings and sounds.  It's so much fun I might not have to buy another amp.  Yeah, I'll keep telling myself that.