The 3rd Annual "Year in Gear" Review-

[trey]

Oh gawd, it's time. Time for the yearly recap. Were you naughty or nice? Thrifty or plagued by financial flatulence? A bit regretful for something bought or sold? Satisfied or still have a nagging little itch in one of those dark hard to reach places? Give us a rundown of your Year in Gear.

This has been an interesting year down here in s. texas. I had a poquito stroke in August which left me with a forgetful right hand barely able to hold a pick much less hold a rhythm. Fortunately, after a couple of days in the hospital and a week at home I was back to my usual fumbliness and had fully regained the ability to send the cat howling to hide between the stove and fridge with just a couple of notes off the bridge pickup.

Along the way some guitars left, some made it to a new home to be played by refreshed hands and a slightly warier heart.

Guitars Bought:
First up is a magnificent '62RI that came from the manly hands of tbone. Sent all the way from that little communist community in Iowa it makes up for him wooing my blondie Harmony Meteor away from me.


Fully chromed with a real deal mini-bucker in the neck, a Bigsby that will make more than your hair stand on end and, AND stay in tune as well as a Florence Voodoo (courtesy of Tom(lct) of Skull Island) in the bridge that requires you make a Guitar Face everytime you flip the position switch to the "Damn, that sounds good" position. It has been christened The Fairlane and as with most things, Mo' Chrome-Mo' Better.

The next arrival was an acoustic to replace the '69 Hummingbird I had to sell a couple of years ago. After being sorely tempted (tell them, Johnny) by a 1954 J50 I ended up not feeling the Magic upon closer playing. So with the itch not scratched and money burning a hole thru my Levis I came upon this little beauty.


It's a Del Arte sloped shoulder dred. A model I've been lusting after since playing the store owner's a few years ago. It simply sings and will sound even more nicer after opening up some more.

Amps Bought:
I was pretty well satisfied with what I got until Tom of Skull Island fame presented this little bugger with all the aplomb of Satan tempting the seemingly self-satisfied.


It's a modified SF Bassman thru a Weber Michigan powered by EL34s. Best described by Tom as sounding like a "blues breaker on heroin."

GeeGaw Bought:
Again, as always, it's the accessories that kill you. Completing this year's extravagance was a Nobels Overdrive, a Boss BF-2, a Signalflex A/B box, and some George Ls.

Guitars Sold:
My lovely "Freddie" Goldtop tele to my best friend who in turn sold it to a student kid of his who was going GAGA over it.

The Telestar Mona with amp-in-case to the same friend. I'd won this guitar in a raffle at the same shop that I bought the Del Arte.

Traded:
Nothing.

That's it. I didn't keep things as "Lateral" as I usually like to do but the cat didn't miss a meal and granted, part of the Get was a Gift to myself for managing to stay around a bit longer.

And you?

The "Not missing Whataburgers as much as I thought I would"

trey

[Adam Waldron]

I bought:

Maton M225 solid cedar topped dreadnought.

Fralin blues special pups for my Tele.

'59 Bassman reissue amp.

I sold or trade nothing.

I was well behaved!

Cheers,

Adam

[Abe]

I'll play. Don't know that I've got enough pretty pictures, though...

Early this year a friend of mine (and trey I'll bet you'll know the picture I'm talking about) posted a picture of the "bastard child of Norma Jean" strat leaned up against his combo-fied Bassman head. Something in me snapped - I realized it was time for me to own another Fender, after not owning a Fender for over 10 years. After discussions, false-starts, and a few bit nails, I found this:



It's a Custom Shop "Custom Esquire", one of 100 made in 1992. And it fits me perfectly. Best Telecaster I've ever owned.

Also in that picture is an amplifier that came right after the Esquire and totally set me on fire. It's a 1998 Bassman RI that I got cheaper than I had right to from a local harp player and have been digging ever since. There are thems that rag on the RI amps, but I can't imagine it getting much better than this.

Later on in the year I found my first "real" strat since I sold my old MIJ one back in 1992. This one is a mongrel CS guitar with an early non-Relic-ed Relic body and a later Cray neck. It's been routed neck and bridge for humbuckers, but it sounds absolutely huge.



Leaving the stable this year were my old Hamer bolt-ons, a T-51 and a Daytona. Great guitars, but they were no longer *my* great guitars if that makes any sense.

And trey, for what it's worth, I'm still glad you're here.
Abe

[JohnK24]

Bought...

Barber Direct Drive

Fender Blues Junior

Agile AD35Q Acoustic

Eminence Legend 122 Speaker

Rio Grande Muy Grande pup

SD Broadcaster

ElectroKraft Vintage Wound set of pups

Sold:

Fender TX Tele neck and Nocaster pups

Nobels ODR1

Vox AC15TBX (lord I miss her, but financial reasons dictated)

Fender Jimmie Vaughan Strat (don't miss it, I'm tele-toned now and love it)

Dano DC59 (it was a toy, really a one trick pony)

So..overall, I "made" money on my sale/purchase equation. I'm really loving my current gear, I've found some really great tones with the tele > ElectroKraft pups and BJ. Just played the Epi 335 I have with new strings, and that guitar always makes me smile !

Next year...I'd like to just start saving for a Bill Crook Custom Tele (ash, white blond, birdeye neck and some Voodoo pups).

Best to all,

JK

[Maggot]

Bought

MIM Standard Strat
Custom Shop Fat 50s Pickups
Peavey Delta Blues
Fulltone Soul-Bender
Arion Stage Tuner

Seymour Duncan pickup - for P-Bass

Sold

Les Paul Jr. Special
1966(or maybe 68?) Ampeg Reverberocket II (to bandmate).
Vintage reissue Rat (to bandmate).

[Cam]

Bought back a blues deluxe that left the fold for a couple of years. Bought a Traynor Guitar Mate Reverb 1 combo that is currently getting some tweaking at the tech. No guitars. That's it....but the year isn't quite over yet is it?

[Kingpin]

Bought:
Victoria Bassman
Weber Mass50
EH Holy Grail
Keeley Modded BD2
Digitech Delay
Marshall ED1 Compressor
Boss Tu 2
Behringer GM110 practice amp

Smaller goodies purchased:
Custom steel saddles from Dan S.(dtele51)
Milled jack cup from High Tech Tool
Callaham knurled knobs
George L cables
Weber Cali speaker (for the Behringer)
various Tele neck pu's (liked the Fender OV best)

Items sold:
Marshall DSL50 head and vintage 4x12 slantback cab.
with Greenbacks.

It was a good year for tone enhancement!

[John Harrison]

Trey, it's great to see you posting, again, my friend! If "Fairlane" sounds anywhere near as good as it looks, I'll bet you've been smiling a bunch!

After busting my tail, for the past two years, to finish my Master's Degree work, I finally sold my childhood card collection - something I'd been thinking about for years - and, in a fit of shameless self-indulgence, put all the money back into my present "jones"...all things musical. I also did a lot of gear swapping. Associated acquisitions included:
"HippieTim" Noonan's Dr. Z Carmen Ghia amp (ooh, baby!); with the bonus of my first face-to-face with a fellow TDP'er.
A Robert Keeley compressor (it's all that).
TDP'er "Analogman" Mike Piera modified my old TS-9 and SD-9 (too cool!).
A Whirlwind Selector, a Boss TU-2 tuner, an MXR Phase 90 (which I just modded), and an octave pedal (for faux steel drum sounds).
A Johnson tricone resonator (got a great deal on a used one!).
A VanZandt pickup in my '52RI and some cosmetic changes to my Strat (snakeskin pickguard, etc.).
Scored a bunch of out of print, hard to find cd's, too.

The school community continued to bless my guitar program with timely support. Which was great, 'cause I'm again without a budget (and Oregon voters will probably overturn the costly, yet inadequate tax package our spineless legislators approved after 5 special sessions or purely partisan politics).
I was able to loan guitars to ten of my kids, so they can practice at home. My latest group (36 and counting) is mostly beginner-level, so we're plugging away, but having fun. All the TDPRI-donated gear gets a daily workout, yet keeps on ticking.
Our talent show was another budget-related casualty ( :( ), but there's a rumor that we're about to be the subject of a feature newspaper article!

I'm very thankful.

[hippietim]

Bought:[*]The Seusscaster! - http://www.hackolutions.com/seuss/Seuss%20001.jpg [*]Oscar Schmidt by Washburn 335 copy - this will probably go up for sale shortly - http://www.hackolutions.com/335copy.jpg[*]Jackson KV2T - http://www.hackolutions.com/kv2t/kv2t2.jpg[*]Antigua Tele RI - http://www.hackolutions.com/antiguatele.jpg[*]Jackson Custom Shop Rhoads - http://www.hackolutions.com/polka/polka1.jpg[*]Warmoth Strat Partscaster - http://www.hackolutions.com/rwmstrat1.jpg[*]Grosh Strat w/scalloped board - http://www.hackolutions.com/grosh.jpg[*]Agile fretless Les Paul copy - http://www.hackolutions.com/fretless1.JPG[*]Gibson Blueshawk w/Maestro Bigsby bridge[*]Fender American Standard Strat w/Kahler and internal GK pickup[*]Dr. Z KT-45 head[*]Line 6 2x12 cabinet[*]Fender Blues Jr.[*]Tacom Papoose

Coming soon:[*]Jackson Soloist - tie-dye finish - http://www.sysmatrix.net/~guitars/jack2.jpg [*]Charvel '95 USA San Dimas Standard - looks like this one http://www.jcfonline.com/gallery/cha...50127-pete.jpg[*]Line 6 Vetta II - I actually got it a couple weeks ago but there was a problem with the output transformer humming - I should have a new one this week[*]Line 6 Variax 700 - amber w/whammy

Bought and sold:[*]Fender Antigua Strat RI - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay4/antiguastrat1.JPG[*]Fender Tele acoustic/electric - not the cheapo Telecoustic, it was more of a thinline with piezo's - it's the red one in this picture - http://www.hackolutions.com/telefamily.jpg[*]Line 6 Variax - I've got the new one on order so I sold the old one before the price plummetted too much - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay3/variax1.jpg[*]Fender Burton signature Tele - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay3/burton1.jpg[*]Charvel Model 6 - http://www.hackolutions.com/forsale/IMG_2498.JPG[*]Steinberger GM w/trans trem and quilty top - http://www.hackolutions.com/forsale/IMG_2503.JPG[*]Charvel San Dimas Star - http://www.hackolutions.com/charvel1.jpg[*]Random partscaster - http://www.hackolutions.com/newgear/partscaster.jpg[*]Gretsch SparkleJet - http://www.hackolutions.com/newgear/gretsch.jpg[*]'63 Bassman - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay/bassman001.jpg[*]'70's Princeton - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay3/princeton1.jpg[*]Mesa Boogie original Mark I combo

Sold:[*]Fender Yngwie signature Strat - http://www.hackolutions.com/yngwie.jpg[*]Washburn D333 - yes, the Dimebag Darrell model (I got it in a trade) - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay4/d3331.jpg[*]Ibanez RG420GK - http://www.hackolutions.com/ebay2/rg420gk1.jpg[*]Dr. Z Carmen Ghia 2x10 combo[*]Godin LGXT - http://www.hackolutions.com/newgear/godinfront.jpg[*]Fender MIM Roland Ready Strat

Died:[*]Fender Pro Jr.

In the works:[*]rocker Strat - single hum with Kahler - body is with my mom to be painted[*]standard Tele - body is with my mom to be painted - neck is mahogany w/maple board[*]dual humbucker rocker Tele - body is being made by Kevin, neck is one piece wenge

Last but not least:
I've bought and sold a bunch of pedals, necks, bodies, synths and other stuff.

[Nick Fanis]

sold:

-CIJ J.DONAHUE HELLECASTER(due to the vintage frets)
-VAN ZANDT TLV60(due to the skinny neck)
-WARMOTH 52 COPY(due to an offer I couldn't refuse)
-MY PEDALBOARD(time for a pro one!)
-PV CLASSIC 50(due to an offer I couldn't refuse)

bought:

-NEW PB(the pro one!)
-2 RDS AA THINLINES(killer deal on killer axes!)
-1 WARMOTH 62 CUSTOM COPY(killer deal on killer axe!)
-FENDER TRRI (a guy owned me some money...)
-1964 CRUCIANELLI ELITE($50 in a pawnshop ,sounds and LOOKS great!)

[JoeyV]

lets see ....a LesPaul Custom Historic 57, 2 months and sold it,,,PRS McCarty , played it two weeks, sold it....Fender 52 RI Tele, one week , sold it.....62 RI with Bardens..2 days , sold it.....Gibson GA 15RV Goldtone amp...played one year and sold it.....what am I left with ? Same stuff I started with ..........68 Tele, 2 strats,a Dano U56, a Bassman RI and a 75 Vibrolux Reverb....am I a happy tone camper....yup...most of the time

[Lew UK]

i lost this






and this





and got this





and one like this




8)

[Johnny Isaacs]

Traded:
nada

Sold:
nada

Bought:

Parts Tele
Guild D-66 acoustic
'65 Bassman
Vox Cambridge 30
Ibanez AD-99
Brian Friend's LPB-1/Fender Blender pedal

I'm actually getting something this weekend that's gonna kick some hindend..... more to come.

Johnny Isaacs

[Vincent Caster]

Hey Trey,

Nice to see ya post!
Well, I got this partscaster together this year, 50's classic neck with Van Zandts, USACG bod by Rob DiStefano. 2003 been berry berry goot to me.

[eryque]

Wow! I'm absolutely amazed to see how much dealing some of you guys do in a slow year!

My year was real simple:

Sold[*]California Fat Tele. After getting Ginger the JD tele, this medium-sized neck was too small. The Snowman turned it into a regular-old tele, I think.

Bought With that cash I bought[*]a pair of Webers for the Pro,[*]a Reverend Drivetrain,[*]a new pickguard for Ginger,[*]a Duncan '59 for the Sheraton,[*]and a shubb capo in vintage radius because it got me free shipping on the pickup order.

Bought & Sold[*]A Duncan Seth Lover pickup because it sounded about like the stock pickup in the Sheraton,[*]a Boss BD-2 because it sounded too buzzy,[*]a Nobels ODR-1 because it didn't overdrive much at all,[*]a Super Hard On because it didn't do anything I couldn't do by just turning the amp up,

[nasonm]

If I bought my Martin this year or last....

Bought: Martin 00-15

Traded : Kentucky 340S Mandolin
for
1995 Fender MIM STD C.A.R. Jazz Bass

Still considering selling:
Said bass above
1965 Gibson discoverer amp
Godin Radiator

[Dillon]

Guitars
No change. One Tele and one Strat.

Amps
Bought one of the last Carlson Turbo Pups. Great amp. (My back and Twin Reverb are on a break.)

Effects
Bought a Barber Tone Press. (I love this pedal.)
Organized effects with a PedalTrain board, ADL JuiceBox, and ADL SwitchBox.

Plans for '04
None at present. I'm a happpy camper.

[Joel Terry]

Bought:
[*]2002 Fender CIJ '50s Classic Telecaster (TL52-70US)[*]2002 Fender CIJ '62 Reissue Jazz Bass (JB62-75US)[*]2002 Fender CIJ Pink Paisley Telecaster (TL69-85)[*]Mid-'60s Ampeg B-12XT Portaflex Universal amplifier[*]BOSS DD-6 Digital Delay

Sold:
[*]1977 Fender Stratocaster

And that just about wraps it up, fellow gearheads. :)

Joel

[stevedenver]

2002 Gibson Historic LP R8-my little lemon squeezer....
Lentz T blackguard broadcaster-ordered in August, will arrive soon!
5E3 clone kit which i built-Mission-wow
1966 fender 6G13 reverb tank-lost in pluto'verb

[Mik]

Trey,
great to see you back on the Page and to hear you're Tele-terrorizing your kat.

How do y'all keep track for the recap? My year is a 3 or 4 year smear.

I haven't sold or traded anything this year.

I bought a new Gibson Les Paul Jr earlier this year, about which I've posted too much.

I finally acquired a quality pedal-a Fulltone Fat Boost for clean boost and overdrive. (guitar cabled straight into the amp looks good on paper BUT....)

That's about it. I don't see much buying and selling in the smear term. Maybe finally sell that Pro Jr. Maybe buy a Squire Custom II after it's released in Jan 04.

Maybe sell off the whole damn collection to finance another motorcycle! naw...

Mik

[gtrjones]

This year was a selloff year for me...

Sold 11 guitars, bought 4, sold 2 combos, bought a head and cab...

Was full bore into a band at the beginning of the year, which folded in August, and I'm starting to gig again in a duo - first show Sunday, another booked next month already...