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As promised….. things I think are intrinsically beautiful (Part I)

September 16, 2011 9:32 am GMT -5

For me, the most beautiful object ever created is the original 1954 Fender Stratocaster Guitar.  I have owned several old Strats, including a 1959 with a rosewood slab board and clay dots in Fiesta red, but it was not right.  To me and for me, a Strat must have a Maple neck w/o a rosewood fingerboard, just as designed by Leo Fender in the early 50’s. Though I never use it, the original tremolo is also a necessity as it drastically affects the tone.  My current main electric guitar is a guitar that I have had since the late 70’s.  It’s a fake 57 in Fiesta red with Lindy Fralin vintage staggered strat pickups w/aged magnets.  But since I let everybody know it’s a fake, I don’t feel terribly guilty. Pictured here is a recent Fender Relic Series example.  Yes, Fender produces guitars that are artificially aged to appear to be originals.  They make new fakes of their own vintage guitars. To me, Fender makes and has always made the best looking, best sounding, but not the easiest playing guitars out there. The original models designed in the 40’s and 50’s are all still readily available and very popular. 



 


I could talk about all vintage guitars all day, and not just the Fender Stratocaster, but shown here is an example of what I consider to be the absolute pinnicle of guitar design. So there. Is anybody happier?  Angrier?   Did it change anybody for the better or worse?  Am I now less of an ogre? More of an asshole? Just curious…. I hope it made somebody feel better……  if only for a moment.


Next, the Jaguar XKE.

For me, the most beautiful object ever created is the original 1954 Fender Stratocaster Guitar.  I have owned several old Strats, including a 1959 with a rosewood slab board and clay dots in Fiesta red, but it was not right.  To me and for me, a Strat must have a Maple neck w/o a rosewood fingerboard, just as designed by Leo Fender in the early 50’s. Though I never use it, the original tremolo is also a necessity as it drastically affects the tone.  My current main electric guitar is a guitar that I have had since the late 70’s.  It’s a fake 57 in Fiesta red with Lindy Fralin vintage staggered strat pickups w/aged magnets.  But since I let everybody know it’s a fake, I don’t feel terribly guilty. Pictured here is a recent Fender Relic Series example.  Yes, Fender produces guitars that are artificially aged to appear to be originals.  They make new fakes of their own vintage guitars. To me, Fender makes and has always made the best looking, best sounding, but not the easiest playing guitars out there. The original models designed in the 40’s and 50’s are all still readily available and very popular. 



 


I could talk about all vintage guitars all day, and not just the Fender Stratocaster, but shown here is an example of what I consider to be the absolute pinnicle of guitar design. So there. Is anybody happier?  Angrier?   Did it change anybody for the better or worse?  Am I now less of an ogre? More of an asshole? Just curious…. I hope it made somebody feel better……  if only for a moment.


Next, the Jaguar XKE.

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72 thoughts on “As promised….. things I think are intrinsically beautiful (Part I)”

  3. Leo Fender was a genius. My main bass was always my ’75 (orig., black w/ maple neck and mother of pearl blocks) Jazz Bass. Those necks are great. Fast. The only bass that looks better is my ’76 Ric 4001.

  13. A little off topic but has anyone played a Tom Anderson super strat? My heros from when I first started playing (ie: Dr Know from Bad Brains, tons of Shrapnel Records guys etc) all played them at one time or another, but Ive never had the chance to play one.

    Same thing for Sadowsky…

     

  14. The Jazz usually sounds better to me, but I like the wider neck of a PBass.  The 4001 sounds great to me, especially if you use a pic.  That bridge setup makes it hard to use just fingers, and I never use a pick. But then again, I suck at bass.  I don’t think in bass lines, I think in chords…. I WISH I could play bass decently.  That…. and fuck Jennifer Aniston.

    Decently. 

  16. Life as a lefty guitarist must be frustrating! The K Yairi cutaway in a lefty is a rare find indeed!  You really scored there. The Ibanez is cool, they’ve always had a good lefty selection available. And the Orange is the BOMB. Now, as for the THREE distortion/overdrive pedals in one pedalboard…… well, I just hope that’s a wah and not a volume pedal in there with them.  You must play some heavy shit dude.

  18. Ya know, that’s really exactly what I expected from a bunch of people…. but this has turned out to be kinda fun.  But then again, I do still love me a good old fashioned shit slinging scrap.  You wanna have a go, dickbreath?  You up for it? C’mon…  I’ll fuck you up.  You’ll WISH I was a Muslim.

  19. Both. AAA Fucking PLUS.  A little TOO much quality for me though.  I need a little sleaze in my squeeze.  I’d feel guilty slobbering all over one of those. 

  22. Being a lefthanded player is terrible, yes. You go to a guitar shop, look at all the cool shit, then go find your section where you’re lucky to find 3 guitars, with a price range of 150, 250, and 1000+. Yes it’s a crybaby, knobs are for volume, not pebals. the overdrive/distortion go together as one, the metalzone is for lead. Besides my car, that amp and the acoustic/electric are the nicest things I own….actually besides my computer, my clothes, and my car…it’s pretty much all I own.
    http://youtu.be/KdbRx2e7H1Q
    Now you post something of you playing.

  23. Kudos! You have def gots mad guitar skills.  Admittedly, it’s not my style of playing but I absolutely respect your ability. You have obviously spent some serious time playing. As a bare finger style guitarist, ala Mark Knopfler, Ry Cooder, and Wes Montgomery I could never have played with that kind of speed.  I envy that.  As for me posting my playing, I have no video digitized of anything, but I’ll see if I can figure out how to post some audio. Never tried…..

     

    This whole little experiment is really getting interesting on so many levels…… 

  30. Maybe it’s too much to expect someone who has the mental capacity of a 5th grader to actually read big words like Mesopotamia and 5000BC. However, enlighten me who do you think invented the guitar?

  32. Don’t EVEN try to take me on when it comes to guitar. I will eat your fucking lunch, puke it back up and rub your stupid face in it.  I have spent decades studying, repairing, playing, collecting, and adoring all things guitar. I have owned hundreds of guitars, everything from a mint 55 Tele to a mint 87 Gibson Kalamazoo Award.  Pre-war Martin Herringbone D-28 with Brazilian rosewood back and sides?  Yep. Traded it to George Gruen for a 55 D-18 and pyle of cash.  I know about everyone from Torres to Ted McCarty, from Loar to LaBella, from the Dopera Brothers, to  the Mandolin Brothers….. well, go ahead and google asswipe.  I’ve met everyone from Christian Frederick Martin III to Ted McCarty, from Paul Reed Smith to George Gruen, Tom Scholtz, Seymour Duncan…….. and you don’t even know what I’m talking about.

    I know about everything from Gizmotron, to gut strings, from Ebow to Epiphone, from The Parsons-White string Bender, to the Musiclander by Fender.  You don’t quiz me about guitars and I won’t ask you about KFC, deal?  Stupid fuck, you really lost this one.  You are now the King of Lose.

    (Who invented the guitar? That question is as stupid as asking who invented the drum. You should be ashamed of you. I know I am.)

  36. Yeah, the Travis Bean turned out to be kinda a dead end.  Aluminum necks just never caught on.  One problem was the feel, especially when the ambient temp was cold. They seemed liked they WANTED to be cold feeling. Kramer didn’t fare much better with the Aluminium necks, but when Eddie started endorsing them, they went crazy with the more traditional wooden necks!  The Dan Armstrong quick-slide changeable Pickups in the See-Thru or Lucite guitars was a great idea, and has been tried by others (especially as a tool for pickup designers) and it seems very logical, but then musicians are not always very strong proponents of logic, are they?  The Dan Armstrong  Lucite body was a whole ‘nother issue. TOOOOOO heavy.  At one time it was thought that heavier was better in electrics, with Fender even producing a novelty solid brass body prototype They also made a totally clear (body AND neck) Lucite strat for display at the NAMM show one year. 

  39. A lot of guitar companies that went to hell in the 70s have come back strong.  Fender did it with the help of Japan and Mexico.  Fine guitars come from both places these days….  and there is not that much difference between Mexico and California these days anyway. 

  41. I agree entirely. Oddly enough, Japan (who excels at all things electronic) has never been able to produce pickups that can equal American made pickups.  In every other regard the best Japanese guitars are at least equal to those made in America. 

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