Randy Stodola's 1968 Telecaster

[TheZ]

Just wanted to do an appreciation post of sorts for this guitar. I doubt many guitars have been through the wringer like this one has, owned by Randy Stodola of the Alley Cats. One of the best sounding Teles I've ever heard. I'm attaching a few pictures of its recent condition as well as one taken from a live show in the late 1970s when it still had most of its finish. Date-wise I'm guessing it's a '68 based on the laminated maple board, CBS logo, hardware, and finish, but I could be wrong. I believe he bought it in the early 1970s and it was "already old" by then, so must have been used hard from the get-go.

 

[bender66]

Holy hell that's effing awesome.

 

[paulo6]

Wow look at that Peavey - are they making relicked amps now!?

 

[TheZ]

Wow look at that Peavey - are they making relicked amps now!?

I think it fell out of a van but still works and sounds great! Back in the day he played a silverface Super Reverb. Fell on hard times for several decades but it's great to see him playing again and that he was able to keep that Telecaster.

 

[Stratocast]

Just wanted to do an appreciation post of sorts for this guitar. I doubt many guitars have been through the wringer like this one has, owned by Randy Stodola of the Alley Cats. One of the best sounding Teles I've ever heard. I'm attaching a few pictures of its recent condition as well as one taken from a live show in the late 1970s when it still had most of its finish. Date-wise I'm guessing it's a '68 based on the laminated maple board, CBS logo, hardware, and finish, but I could be wrong. I believe he bought it in the early 1970s and it was "already old" by then, so must have been used hard from the get-go.

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I am glad you appreciate that band. I had never heard of them before and so I went on YouTube to hear what the big deal was. I have to say …. a band I was in a few years ago did Summertime Blues. But I feel our band played it better than the Alley Csts. Of course we played it at the regular speed and these guys are playing it in punk fashion. Guess I’m ok with punk rock as long as they don’t makeover the classics.

 

[Sax-son]

I remember Randy as I saw the Alley Cats on several occasions. He was actually a timid humble guy to talk to. He played that same guitar the times that I saw them. He did an incredible rendition of "White Rabbit" from Jefferson Airplane fame on that guitar. I hope he is doing well.

 

[Steve T]

I used to have a Peavey Bandit 65, if it fell out of a van the road would come off worse!

 

[tomkatf]

Prob same one... Super Reverb in back...

 

[TheZ]

Definitely the same one! And that looks like a blackface Super Reverb too, I guess I was wrong about the silverface part. That video is probably from 81 or 82, story I heard is Dianne switched to using that Mustang bass after the EB-0 got run over and the neck/headstock were too damaged to try and fix. She always had a great bass sound regardless.

 

[Swing 42]

Hey, this is great. Randy lives in my area and we would cross paths at open mic nights on many occasions. He's a sweet guy, good musician, and still throws himself into his performances.

 

[howardlo]

Why in the world would anyone do that to a guitar? Really?

 

[soundcloset]

I also used to have that amp!

 

[zumajim]

I'm going to see the Alley Cats in San Pedro in a few weeks. I'll try to get a report on Randy and that guitar for y'all...

 

[Mud67]

Wow! That guitar has been played, and loved in it own special way.
Thanks for sharing
mud

 

[TheZ]

I'm going to see the Alley Cats in San Pedro in a few weeks. I'll try to get a report on Randy and that guitar for y'all...

That would be amazing! I hope he is doing well, I need to go see a show sometime.

 

[Bradman]

Definitely the same one! And that looks like a blackface Super Reverb too, I guess I was wrong about the silverface part. That video is probably from 81 or 82, story I heard is Dianne switched to using that Mustang bass after the EB-0 got run over and the neck/headstock were too damaged to try and fix. She always had a great bass sound regardless.

Not to be picky, but the bass is an EB-3L. Sounded pretty good (for a Gibson bass)

 

[Bradman]

Definitely the same one! And that looks like a blackface Super Reverb too, I guess I was wrong about the silverface part. That video is probably from 81 or 82, story I heard is Dianne switched to using that Mustang bass after the EB-0 got run over and the neck/headstock were too damaged to try and fix. She always had a great bass sound regardless.

Not wanting to be picky but the bass looks like an EB-3L. Not a bad sound (for a Gibson)

 

[TheZ]

Not to be picky, but the bass is an EB-3L. Sounded pretty good (for a Gibson bass)

You're probably right! And yes, Dianne's playing always sounded great.

 

[E Baxter Put]

So cool. Glad to see how much you can wear them down, but they still function.

 

[TheZ]

A few more action shots of this guitar. The first two are taken from Urgh! A Music War from footage that I believe was shot at the Whisky.

This last one I snagged from the music video for "Heart Full of Soul." I tried to sharpen it up a bit, but there's not a high quality video bouncing around at the moment. The Day-Glo paint around the edges and pickguard may have been done for this video, you can see some remnants of it are still there from the first pictures in this thread of how the guitar appears now.

I seriously can't get enough of how this guitar looks and sounds. If ever there was an artist model I'd pay an absurd amount of money for this would be it.