27 Mar 2016

March 2016 – A Temporary Change Of Direction

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: News, Opinion | 0

A couple of months (and posts) ago, I mused on the other key elements of a guitarist’s arsenal, amplifiers and effects. While often regarded as 2nd class citizens of the vintage signal chain, they are, however, both essential items as well as intensely personal in terms of shaping musicians’ individual sound signatures. Being fortunate enough to have a number of Cool & Rare Vintage Electric Guitars, it made some sense to explore these other gems that contributed to modern music as we know it.

The first step was to ditch modern transistor amps and acquire a solid, reliable (but small) vintage amp. The early ’70s Music Man 210 ‘sixty five’ (click here to see the amp feature…) designed by Leo Fender was the first of these, and what a great addition this was.

Then, because of a recent change in personal circumstances, I took a strategic decision to stop looking at the pricier (for me) end of the market and start re-exploring the landscape of vintage effect pedals. I have a number of original ’70s Electro-Harmonix (EHX) American stomp boxes, although these are (sadly) in storage at the moment. I also have a range of modern BOSS and Line 6 pedals which, when I started thinking about it, just didn’t get me excited. Don’t get me wrong, they are great pieces of electronics. However, they didn’t inspire my playing in the way I thought they should. So… unless there isn’t a vintage equivalent, I think that they are now going to have to go the same way as modern amps. My first dalliance with vintage effects has resulted in a number of interesting little effect pedals. I have to say that this may be dangerous territory and I might be opening another Pandora’s Box of addiction for me.

The first area to explore was the sonic continuum from compression to add clean sustain at one end to absurdly dirty fuzz at the other extreme. As far as effect pedals are concerned, the top Japanese brands like BOSS and Ibanez deserve as much respect as their American counterparts like EHX and MXR. I therefore make little distinction, as long as they are both vintage and classic (and good!). Recent additions include (in order from serenely subtle, through sensuously sublime, to seriously psychotic):

1980 MXR Dyna Comp Compressor
1980 BOSS CS-1 Compression Sustainer
1980 BOSS OD-1 Over Drive
1988 Pro Co Rat Distortion
1978 Electro-Harmonix Little Big Muff π (fuzz)

I won’t repeat myself here, other than to say these diminutive boxes provide an infinite range of tonal possibilities (Click here to see features on all these classic pedals…). This is just the start. Over the next few months, I will try to add to the above and also, hopefully, retrieve my original EHX pedals. I have also started looking at the other families of effects, the time delay-based warbles of phasers, choruses, flangers and echoes, as well as other oddball sound manglers such as envelope followers, ring modulators and pitch shifters. When I started looking, I couldn’t believe the prices of some vintage pedals, original Ibanez TS808 Tube Screamers for instance or Roland Space Echoes (OK, the latter is strictly not a pedal but you know what I mean). Even battered and beaten examples can go for eye-watering sums. I am just (re-)learning all about this stuff, so it will take a time to get re-acquainted with the nuances.

By the way, I haven’t completely resisted the temptation of vintage guitars. I have been ‘naughty’ and continued to dabble in my 6-string obsession with some diverse acquisitions. I hope to be reprising these in another ‘What’s New at CRAVE Gutiars’ post soon. Generally speaking though, guitars will have to take a back seat for a while, so I may go on about ‘Amplifiers and Effects’ for a while yet. Until next time…

CRAVE Guitars ‘Music Quote of the Month’: “Music doesn’t provide answers to life’s complications but it does provide solace for the soul when the questions are asked.”

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18 Oct 2015

October 2015 – What’s New at CRAVE Guitars

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: News | 0

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?

CRAVE Website Footer Screenshot — CRAVE Website Footer

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…

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23 May 2015

May 2015 – More ‘new in’ at CRAVE Guitars

by CRAVEGuitars | posted in: News | 0

CRAVE has had some serious IT issues, which have made it difficult to keep up with things – apologies. Following on from my last post, saying that I’d been surprised by purchasing a cute 1959 Fender Musicmaster. Well, that trend of ‘leftfield’ acquisitions has continued into spring 2015. At first glance, these new old guitars may seem inconsistent with CRAVE’s philosophy but bear with me – “though this be madness, yet there is method in’t” as a certain Brit Bard wrote in Hamlet. Methinks, he would have been a wicked guitarist.

The first recent purchase is a really nice original 1976 Music Man Stingray I purchased from Ross Godfrey, founder and guitarist of Morcheeba, who bought it from its original owner in New Mexico. I used to work for the importer of Music Man in the late ‘70s (Strings & Things) and the 1978 Stingray bass that I still own came from there, so they make a good pairing.

1976 Music Man Stingray 1 — 1976 Music Man Stingray I

This Stingray is a lovely all-original early example with the white pickguard and retro knobs. The Stingray, designed and built by Leo Fender at Music Man after his 10-year post-CBS exile from the industry, showed where his prolific innovations in guitar design were going at the time. Sadly, for a number of reasons, the guitar didn’t survive into the Ernie Ball era like the bass did. However, in my opinion, it is a greatly underrated and underappreciated guitar. While some critics jump on the bandwagon of knocking it simply for the sake of it, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate it on its merits, which are many. They have a lot going for them and there is a lot of virtue in conserving these cult models for posterity. The connection between this guitar and Fender is therefore strong and credible. In my opinion, the MM represents a different and really cool instrument (and a relatively rare one – only 500 of these early examples were made).

The second recent purchase is a really cool 1966 Epiphone Olympic in lovely condition. Epis at that time were made by Gibson and, while some other models were Gibson clones, this particular Olympic has all the key hallmarks of Epiphone’s independent early ‘60s design.

I imported this one from Canada and it had to have a little bit of respectful restoration to the electrics on arrival (thanks to Dave at Eternal Guitars). Now it’s in perfect order, just as it should be. Taking all costs into consideration, I’m unlikely ever to make any profit on the Epi but that’s not the point of CRAVE Guitars. It is a lovely little vintage instrument, very light, beautifully made, easy to play and the single, often belittled and misunderstood, ‘60s Gibson Melody Maker pickup sounds great. As you may have noticed by now, CRAVE really likes stripped down back-to-basics guitars that the snobs (thankfully) tend to bypass. Dig that neat ‘batwing’ headstock too, SO cool. This Olympic model is undeservedly overlooked by collectors in favour of the Epiphone Coronet, Crestwood and Wilshire models of the same era, despite sharing many characteristics (especially the body and neck).

So… with Fender and Gibson DNA running strong through the veins of both the Music Man Stingray and the Epiphone Olympic, they typify the CRAVE Guitars’ niche ethos perfectly. The Epiphone is a real contrast to the Music Man but that’s kinda the point of what CRAVE does. Both cool and uncommon, both deservedly earning a CRAVE Guitars endorsement. Until next time…

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