List all the crap that's "Wrong" with your gear!

[Jahn]

Well that "I'm afraid to play my nice guitar" thread got me to thinking.

I have stuff with good bones but not collector quality, meaning there's no depreciation if I breathe on them. That does help me just play the darn thing with no fear to tweak it to get it looking and sounding just the way I want it. So yeah, if you get some of my gear, you are guaranteed an "issue" guitar with no issues, if that makes sense. I do try to keep all my mods reversible, but hey if I inherit something with stuff already dont like routing and such, whaddya gonna do.

What's your rundown? Either inherited or self-inflicted - there's no shame in the game! Mr. Gruhn, you may not want to read this thread...

The rundown:

Electrics: '69 Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman, new repro pickguard (original cracked one in the case), NOS period correct Grover tuners put on, original Grovers long gone. Tru-Arc bridge instead of long gone original bar bridge. Bridge base from a Gibson archtop, original bridge base long gone.

'76 Gibson Explorer LE, Grover mini tuners on there, NOS period correct Gibson tuner strip in case, sourcing tuner bushings now in case I ever want to put the strip back on, second strap pin screwed into the back.

'97 Black R8 Gibson Les Paul Standard, pinky sized dent on the top, a corner of the pickup ring smushed a bit, Gibson 60's Pat# Sticker buckers in there now, sold off the original '57 Classics. Swapped out the knobs, poker chip and tuners for more authentic looking bits from RS Guitarworks. Caps are PiO. CTS 500K pots I believe.

'08 Rick Kelly Bowery Pine Tele, actually, all original and pretty darn pristine other than some lacquer ruboff on the fretboard at the cowboy chords. I'm the original owner so that makes sense, but it didn't cost me an arm and a leg to buy it so I'm free to slam away on it with no regrets.

Amps: '63 Fender 6G10 Harvard, just tube rolled and swapped the flubby P10R out for a Celestion Gold 10 with beefy Kimber speaker wire from Lava, still have the original speaker and soldered speaker wire in a box. I believe it got a 3-prong cord and cap job in the past before my ownership.

'66 Fender Pro Reverb. Looks like someone with a bloody hand swiped the front grille, the optotrem clicks when used so i don't use it, tuberolled, may have gotten a cap job in the past, not sure.

Acoustics: '46 Gibson J45, a SHITload of wrongness from podunk repairers over the decades with this one, I don't even know where to start or end with it, so I won't even try. Bob Jones is giving it the thrice-over as we speak to tighten that ship up. Did I mention it was my fave acoustic even before Bob took a look at it and declared it near-FUBAR?

'67 Gretsch 6003 Jimmie Rodgers Folk, cracked pickguard, put Grover Sta-Tite tuners on it, originals in case.

'69 Guild F312, had a thick refin with orange peel and bubbling and all that nasty stuff on it, some wood separation in the back from the binding, bridge shaved down to stave off an eventual neck reset.

'72 Martin D-28S. Hello, it's a 70's Martin. All kidding aside, someone really really loved playing this one, the top looks like it got flesh scrubbed down to the tree veins, and in the oddest wear places too - a spot below the the pickguard and the BRIDGE. That's one long arm!

Bass: '04 Schecter Hellcat VI. Actually, this thing's pristine in all ways. My most perfect guitar. Which was made in Korea and is worth less than some of my pedals.

[gigs]

Whats wrong with my gear is that it is not on stage in front of 30,000 people every weekend.

Instead, its in my basement waiting for our next gig which we will be happy to play for free beer and some greasy bar grub.

That's whats wrong with my gear. Other than that, i love it... no complaints.

[teleblaster]

MY FINGERS!

[cvansickle]

No time lately to change strings.

[Help!I'maRock!]

the human operating it.

[TenThumbs]

[Ham_fist]

I love "issues" guitars!
'62 LP/SG Jr. Headstock repair. non-original hardware. Electronics are original, and it's had a refret. The original P90 sounds massive, and it plays great.



'65 SG Standard. Non-original everything. Heel repair. Someone even put black binding on it. And it had cardboard pictures or something super-glued to the front. Refret, WCR Crossroads, cleaned it up and found a Lyre Vibrola, Tonepros bridge etc... Plays and sounds great.



Beat to hell '65 non reverse Firebird. Original finish and truss rod cover... that's about it. It had about 2 pounds of grime on it. Repro pickguard, new electronics. Needs a refret and it's ready to go! I really want to get this thing done.



I also have a '60 single cutaway Melody Maker modded for a P90 that needs a refret. I'll probably be selling it soon because I just don't see myself doing anything with it.

I bought all of these around 2003-2004, and got screaming deals on all of them. I've just done whatever work on them that I had the time or money for over the years. For a while, it was more fun for me to bring guitars back to life rather than grab something off the rack. Now, I just want to... grab something off the rack. Part of being a dad, husband and homeowner I guess!

[Elmer]

The only thing wrong with my gear is that fully half of my guitars always seem to need fretwork of some kind. Having a heavy left hand doesn't help.

[imsilly]

All my tube amps need re-tubing!

They have all started to get a bit noisy and the reverb is very faint on one. Problem is they all have cool NOS tubes that sound great. I don't have enough cash to buy the cheapest new tubes, let alone a selection of decent old Mullards, Telefukens, RCAs, etc. Plus two are fixed adjustable bias and I don't have a bias probe for a quick re-bias.

[Derek Q]

The only thing that's "wrong" with my gear is me. I'm working on modding it, though.

[RedTiger]

I don't have any problems with my gear, but I'm sure if I listed all of it on TGP, plenty would be willing to tell me what's "wrong" with it.

[donthasslethehoff]

Originally Posted by RedTiger

I don't have any problems with my gear, but I'm sure if I listed all of it on TGP, plenty would be willing to tell me what's "wrong" with it.

you read my mind.......time to put my tin foil cap on

[sabby]

My Princeton Reverb needs a new power cord and probably could use a cap job.

My Brownface Pro is as heavy as one of Jupiter's lesser moons.

[Singin' Dave]

I too am a fan of buying low on "issue" or "player" guitars. I have the requisites, which are 1) I dig vintage guitars but don't have much $$ and 2) gig pretty regularly and do NOT baby my guitars.

So I play Silverface fender amps as I they sound like BF to me but are relatively cheap for handwired goodness. For guitars, I scour CList and elsewhere looking for those little "project" gems.

Here's some I've found, all of them purchased pretty much as is for replatively low $$:

'68 ES-335 in Sparkling Burgundy: All original but nicked all to hell, close to needing a refret, headstock repair, deeply weather-checked and faded to a gold finish. Just oozes Mojo and is my absolute favorite guitar.




'73 Fender Telecaster Deluxe: Again, nicked all over, replaced jack and switch tip, some mild routing between pickup slots and likely a finish strip as its a two piece natural. But damn if this doesn't have the sweetest neck carve ever and those WRHB pickups are incredible. This is a main stay gig wise for me.



'74 Guild S100SC: In incredible shape actually but has a second strap peg drilled into it and came with non original pickups. I have since put in proper HB1s and its a beauty.



'73 Guild Bluesbird: bridge and stop tail replaced with a TOM, headstock repair but a killer LP type guitar.




Others not pictures are a '74 Hagstrom Super Swede Bass I actually bought with its headstock already snapped and bartolini pickups put in for $150. Had it repaired myself and its a winner. '67 Fender Coronado II missing a pickguard and a '75 Mustang refin withsome fretboard issues are both great players and sound excellent.

Send me your projects!!

[smolder]

My gear has me holding it back from greatness.