Back in the day...

[javabirds]

Everyone has done stuff that seemed like a good idea at the time but in retrospect it becomes a major face-palm. This stuff happens with our clothes, cars, etc, but what kind of stuff have you done to your gear because it was the cool thing to do? Or what stuff have you noticed that other people do or did back in the day...

A friend of mine recently loaned me his GA-20 Gibson amp from the 50s. It was originally brown and leathery kind of like an old suitcase. In the 60s when fender came out with their blackface line all of the sudden everyone wanted black amps and started to hate carrying stuff that looked like grampa's luggage. So in the case of my friend's amp, they painted it black...

Apparently this was pretty common back in the day! From what I understand quite a few vintage tweeds suffered the same fate...

[DOGGONE]

I know of one!!

[caferacer]

yup my blond basseman and non matching 2X12 cabinet were painted black by some previous owner in the 1970's and my 59 P-bass had all of it's sunburst paint removed at some time in it's past (at one time this was thought to improve the sound of an instrument)

and I drilled holes in my gibson L6 deluxe because I wanted four knobs like an SG instead of two,and moved the input jack to the side of the body, then got rid of the stock pickups for some duncan custom's and re painted it (I know I am an idiot) what can I say, it was the 80's

[stantheman]

Yep...the thing that I personally "wicked hated" was grillcloth that had been painted black.
That just disgusted me.
Yes - even more than Cargo Shorts.

[javabirds]

Originally Posted by caferacer

yup my blond basseman and non matching 2X12 cabinet were painted black by some previous owner in the 1970's and my 59 P-bass had all of it's sunburst paint removed at some time in it's past (at one time this was thought to improve the sound of an instrument)

and I drilled holes in my gibson L6 deluxe because I wanted four knobs like an SG instead of two,and moved the input jack to the side of the body, then got rid of the stock pickups for some duncan custom's and re painted it (I know I am an idiot) what can I say, it was the 80's

Now that's what I'm talkin' bout! Thanks for the honesty/humility... I can think of about thirty things off hand but I wanted to hear from you guys!

[javabirds]

How about taking off the back plate covering the tremolo access on a strat? Anyone remember when that became the cool thing to do?

[Old Cane]

My strat was going to be gouged out for a humbucker more times than I can count but procrastination got the better of me.

[KellyCaster71]

I got this bright idea that my already tank of an Ibanez Roadstar 2 needed a makeover. I devised an intoxicated plan to add style and more sustain.

I super-glued pennies over the whole front of the guitar. Kinda my homage to Buddy Guy and my love of money. I quickly realized it was insanely heavy and stupid looking. So I pried them all off.

I really love how this guitar plays and it was my first one so I've held onto it. I would love to give it a proper re-finish.

[Torz Johnson]

Originally Posted by KellyCaster71

I got this bright idea that my already tank of an Ibanez Roadstar 2 needed a makeover. I devised an intoxicated plan to add style and more sustain.

I super-glued pennies over the whole front of the guitar. Kinda my homage to Buddy Guy and my love of money. I quickly realized it was insanely heavy and stupid looking. So I pried them all off.

I really love how this guitar plays and it was my first one so I've held onto it. I would love to give it a proper re-finish.

In one of the earliest incarnations of Blue Öyster Cult, Buck Dharma performed wearing a pair of pants with pennies glued all over them. Either great minds think alike, or some elemental spirit is going around planting strange penny-related ideas in people's heads.

[telex76]

In the early 70's my uncle loaned me an old Gibson accoustic to learn on. The neck got broken and I threw it away.

In the 90's when I got back into guitars I realized that it had been a small body archtop with f holes probably made in the 30's. Even with a repaired neck it would have been worth quite abit. My uncle had never asked me about it.

[emu!]

My dad had an old amp...tweed covered...I don't think it was a Fender, but rare none the less. When he gave it to me, it had a bad tube and a cracked speaker. My thoughts were...this old thing will cost more to fix than it would to just purchase a new solid state amp WITH a master volume! So, I threw it in the trash.

What a dumbass move.

[OtherTom]

Like when I was 20, drilling holes in my '75 Les Paul to put those Bucker splitting microswitches between the knobs. They were all the rage back in the day. Drilled from the back. When the bit broke through to the front, it spider-web crack the finish for 3 inches all around. Not knowing squat about guitar finishes, I bought some generic clear poly spray, thinking I could blend in and re-melt the cracks..

It just kept getting worse. <facepalm>

[fendrguitplayr]

Back in the day....I did some wild black light designs on some grill cloths. It seemed almost everyplace we played had blacklights on stage.

[TeleTim911]

When I was young....remember we're talking back in the mid '60's...I got a used BF Concert amp. Thought it would be nice to "repaint" the black part of the amp faceplate because it was all scratched up. I've still got the amp chassis, and wonder why I did that? It looks AWFUL. It's a "20 foot paint job". And there are no replacement faceplates I can find for it.

The amp quit working, but I hung onto it with the intention of rebuilding it one day...as I still hope to do. Won't be soon, being out of work now.

I've got a nephew that owns a sign shop and he said he can probably make a new faceplate "overlay" for it out of vinyl. Not sure I want to do that, but it's not original anymore anyway. No speakers, cab, nothing...just the chassis in a home made cabinet (used it as a head unit).

Who knew when I was a kid that BF Fenders would be vintage or collector items? LOL!

[tpaul]

Originally Posted by Torz Johnson

In one of the earliest incarnations of Blue Öyster Cult, Buck Dharma performed wearing a pair of pants with pennies glued all over them. Either great minds think alike, or some elemental spirit is going around planting strange penny-related ideas in people's heads.

Penny art is a fairly old and well established form of folk art. You can find old chairs, tables, etc. all covered with glued-on pennies.

[Duncas]

i had a P bass copy that i learnt bass on, one day i decided to ake it more 'Unique' i took a sander and drill to it. my bass player friend bought it off my for £10 to rebuild it. its harder than it looks to reshape

[Tommy Biggs]

Originally Posted by javabirds

How about taking off the back plate covering the tremolo access on a strat? Anyone remember when that became the cool thing to do?

I always do that. I have a hard time changing strings fast with the cover on.

[Bill Gates]

[javabirds]

Originally Posted by Tommy Biggs

I always do that. I have a hard time changing strings fast with the cover on.

Yeah, me too. I think I remember an iconic shot of the back of SRV's strat and probably got the idea from him. He was cool, you know.

[claudel]

I think I have a winner...





Yep. it's an old one.