Quite a lot has been happening at CRAVE Guitars over the past few weeks. Firstly, the web site has had quite a major overhaul. While it doesn’t look very different at first glance (intentionally) it has been comprehensively updated with nearly all pages having had some work done on them to one degree or another. There are now quite a few new pages added to the original ones, so now there are even more reasons to (and fewer excuses not to) revisit CRAVE Guitars.
For example, the footers on each page now show the last 2 tweets from CRAVE’s quite prolific Twitter output. Twitter is where the general, topical and fun stuff about guitars appears, usually with multiple tweets daily. Don’t take it seriously, it is just light entertainment. The Twitter feed is basically replicated on Facebook and Google+. You can now also subscribe by e-mail to these opinionated ramblings, so you don’t need to visit the site to see if there’s something new that I’m waffling on about. I only post ‘blogs’ about once a month with longer, more in-depth articles like this, so it isn’t a daily deluge of irrelevant irreverence! For a more business-like approach, CRAVE is now also on LinkedIn and I’m trying to work out what to do with it that’s different and a bit more, well… professional and fundamentally meaningful than the lighter side of the guitar universe on Twitter. Why not take a look?
There are new Galleries on ‘amplifiers and effects’, Instagram, ‘impressions’ and YouTube. These are the beginnings of more visual content to come in the future. The Features section now includes short articles on brand histories of the major US guitar manufacturers whose past output provided us with the instruments we now cherish as vintage guitars. All vintage guitars were shiny and new once. I am also writing some new features to add to the site in the future. There will also be new features on vintage amplifiers and effects; the first of which has just appeared (see more below). I have lots of vintage Electro Harmonix effects to dig out for instance. All the guitar features have been improved with some brand new and some updated material. There are a couple of new(ish) matching Danelectro instrument features (1 guitar and 1 bass) which aren’t quite part of the core CRAVE ethos but which are modern takes on cool American guitars of the past (1963 to be precise). Fantastic colour too (aqua).
The Resources section of the site has been completely revamped and extensively expanded from a single web page to 7 pages with, hopefully, a cornucopia or even a smorgasbord (i.e. lots) of interesting and useful information about guitars, guitarists, guitar music and guitar references. There is too much to go into here. Take a look and hopefully there is something to fire your imagination and make a visit worthwhile. I welcome input, ideas and even corrections (this isn’t a bible and it can be improved with your help), so drop me a line if there’s something you think will make it better.
There is a new ‘For Sale’ section although it’s a bit, erm… thin at the moment. I have some newer equipment and some guitar bits and pieces that I need to sell in order to feed the vintage guitar habit. This won’t be an online shop from the start but it will (I hope) promote some upcoming sales on eBay. If this proves popular, I might venture into direct e-commerce. Watch this space. I also want to use this section to highlight some relevant items on Amazon for guitarists and vintage enthusiasts to peruse (I’m testing it on the ‘guitar books’ section under Resources at the moment). It might even earn some pennies to help fund CRAVE’s non-profit enterprise.
Anyway… enough about the CRAVE Guitars website for now. While I should be selling stuff, I’m actually buying again at the moment. My ‘buy of the month’ is an exquisite mid-‘70s Music Man 210 ‘sixty-five’ guitar amp, which was not only a bargain but also a superb example of what Leo Fender designed after he left Fender. The ‘sixty-five’ was the first MM product to see the light of day in 1974 and the early ones are particularly great. These fantastic amps are so ‘under the radar’, it’s unbelievable. Ssshhh… don’t tell anyone! There is a feature on this remarkable little amp on the website (click here to see amp feature…), so I won’t repeat that here. Suffice to say, I’m excited by it. There is a personal connection here too – I used to work for Strings & Things, who imported Music Man into the UK in the late 1970s. I have finally got around to having a credible vintage amp that does justice to CRAVE’s vintage guitars. I have a funny feeling that this may be the start of a distracting side venture for CRAVE.
It’s not only amps on the shopping list; CRAVE is also back on the guitar buying trail again. I am tracking down another ‘Cool & Rare American Vintage Electric’ Guitar model which, if I’m successful in acquiring one, is likely to make an appearance on the CRAVE website before too long. This particular model isn’t either a Fender or a Gibson and it’s not a brand I’ve owned before – diversity can be a good thing and it should certainly complement other CRAVE guitars nicely. The guitar in question was a niche model and not hugely popular at the time. However, it is one that I believe the company involved should seriously consider ressurecting. Intrigued? Keep an on the website and for a future ‘blog’ post where I hope to explain ‘what’ and ‘why’.
Even though CRAVE Guitars is a demented enthusiast’s pastime and I have to work for a meagre subsistence; I may have to increase the frequency of posts to fit everything in! Until next time…
© 2015 CRAVE Guitars – Love Vintage Guitars.