New Gear Acquisitions

Pissy · June 27, 2023, 08:25:26 PM

See, that would be sweet tits.

Muffin Man · June 27, 2023, 09:56:38 PM

Check out Stephen Stills' lester guitar strap. haha, he probably had the widest strap ever made!?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manassas_(band)

Pissy · June 28, 2023, 03:37:33 PM

Got it. It's really nice for a 30 year old guitar. The color comes off differently in different light. Under the fluorescents of my shop it's a bright brick red around the edges, but it doesn't come across in the picture below.

Also there is a grain crack that suggests to me that the binding was separating from the fretboard and it was taking some neck meat with it. Then it was glued back. It was disclosed as a "finish crack near the nut" i think it's more than that, but it isn't enough to make me want to return it, which I could do (GC policy is to allow 3 days for refunds on vintage gear, btw) but I want to keep it. Dude told me he could help to try and get me a few bucks for the damage if I want to. I might take him up on it to parlay into some store credit.

Muffin Man · June 29, 2023, 11:43:51 AM

store credit is a good idea. scratch 'n dent/wounded warrior. cool that you have the facility to make it roar again.

Pissy · June 29, 2023, 06:21:45 PM

They gave me $200 back for the flaw! So I applied it to this for the kids.

mortlock · June 29, 2023, 10:18:22 PM

Dongeon synth is what its all about.

Pissy · June 30, 2023, 12:34:33 PM

Dove in to the LP. Anyone know anything about Early 90's les Paul pickups?

RAGER · June 30, 2023, 02:21:01 PM

Probably the old standard 490R & 498T since I see the sticker indicating alnico v which the 498T has. I've had them before and changed them out. Probably still have a set somewhere. I like the SD SH-18.

RAGER · June 30, 2023, 02:21:32 PM

Quote from: RAGER on June 30, 2023, 02:21:01 PMProbably the old standard 490R & 498T since I see the sticker indicating alnico v which the 498T has. I've had them before and changed them out. Probably still have a set somewhere. I like the SD SH-18 in the bridge.

mortlock · June 30, 2023, 07:10:09 PM

looks like the pick ups might have been wound by paul stanley.

Pissy · June 30, 2023, 07:34:48 PM

I'm sure they were.

Muffin Man · July 02, 2023, 03:54:20 AM

The Williams was a saavy move. just have them, or one, keep up with lessons. Lessons are cheap if they're good lessons and will pay off for a lifetime. Exceptional lessons will pay off over several lifetimes. It's all about listening, the student has to learn to listen when they are playing. No need to rush.

Muffin Man · July 03, 2023, 02:43:47 AM

it's okay, I can make sci-fi sounds with it. Bog-standard VI but with tactile facility, and knobs. and a ribbon slider. Actually, not bog standard there's some wave granular foo-foo warping. Big bonus- mic/vocoder. I can process robot sounds now. squak back like your ten feet tall.

mortlock · July 31, 2023, 07:17:47 PM

i need you guys expert opinions on this bass. i just scored it on my local craigslist. its a grand prix. i cant find a ton of infos on line about these. i believe its an 80s bass made in japan. it seems to have some really good hardware for what seems to be a lower end bass. mint grover tuners and that heavy bridge. also is string through body which you dont usually see on lower end basses. if in fact it is from the 80s, its in really good shape. neck is great and the frets look like new. the body has a few dings but over all great for a bass this old. the main issues is the volume pot seems fucked up and obviously its not the original knob. the tone pot is fine. the pick up seems fucked up too. the one side pole piece section drops into the body under the cover. could just be a matter of the foam under it is gone. im not sure yet but no matter as i have a p pickup set from a jackson bass that i think i can drop in if need be.

what do you guys think and what do you know about grand prix basses? oh yeah, i only paid $80.00 for it. i think i scored.

upload image

Muffin Man · August 01, 2023, 01:35:48 AM

Mort, congratulations on adding to the stable. Sweet P.

Have you ever used VM&P Naptha? highly flammable and volatile, in the paint aisle. Would clean that top-to-bottom. Any gunk, gone. Won't hurt anything on it. Might better see what Pissy says but I use it since the 90's when my tech said use it, just not around hide glue.

RAGER · August 01, 2023, 12:08:54 PM

There's a couple on Reverb for more than $80 so I'd say you got a deal.

The headstock looks kinda like Westone. Definitely Japanese. The stuff that's wrong is an easy fix. Congrats.

Pissy · August 01, 2023, 02:39:26 PM

Personally I think I'd have passed, but only because I'm stuck with a few $80 guitars that would serve me better creating heat in the fire place, than trying to sell.

Having said that, those weird branded Japanese basses are pretty solid. I think the guy from The Jesus Lizard plays 80's Memphis brand basses exclusively. Likely the same Matsumoku factory as yours.

Fix that volume pot, and put a meter on the pickups to verify they're shot. I wouldn't let that dropped pole piece deter me from using them if they in fact worked. But a good setup with a straight neck and leveled polished frets can make anything enjoyable to play.

Unless it does the neck dive. That would be a dealbreaker.

Pissy · August 01, 2023, 02:52:07 PM

Also, it just dawned on me that I had a bass with that same bridge. It was a Fame (by Hondo) Warlock copy. Like this.

That was probably around 1991 or 92 that I had it. It had the neck dive.

mortlock · August 01, 2023, 06:55:47 PM

no neck dive on the grand prix. this bass feels every bit as good as my fender jazz. actually plays a little better than my fender. the neck on my fender is shot.

Muffin Man · August 02, 2023, 04:58:26 AM

man get the J neck fixed. send it to Pissy with a 24 case of Genny.

Pissy · August 02, 2023, 08:34:36 AM

No Genny. Naraganset.

Pissy · August 02, 2023, 08:36:35 AM

And what do you mean by "shot"? Frets? Truss rod?

RAGER · August 02, 2023, 10:54:04 AM

I think yes mentioned that it's twisted.

mortlock · August 02, 2023, 06:57:49 PM

truss rod is inop and it bows from bad to worse depending on the season and it is also twisted from about the 5th fret to the headstock. none of this bothers me because im so used to it. doesnt really affect playability for me.

Pissy · September 29, 2023, 07:41:20 AM

I just pulled the trigger on a shredder guitar. 1990's Washburn MG series (Korean) with a licensed Floyd Rose locking tremolo. I haven't had this type of guitar in many many years. Dude has supposedly went through the painstaking process of cleaning and lubing all of the moving parts of the tremolo, and setting it up to move in both directions while settling back in tune. If it doesn't actually do that, then I'll dive in and learn a few things.

$320 all in with an SKB molded case, coming from Utah. We'll see.