Gearhead

[MikeA]

Kinda had a problem figuring out where to post this rant but think this might be as good a place as any.

New Year's Resolution in October! STAY OFF OF eBay!

I've got to quit making a routine each morning of browsing the listings on eBay. It isn't good for my health!

There are two guitars that I want to own before that plant me out in a meadow somewhere. One of those guitars is a 1958 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst. The are the guitars that started it all.

Here is a set of pics of a 1988 reisue of the 1958 LP

http://cgi.ebay.com/1988-Gibson-1958...d=p3286.c0.m14

The other is not a classic. It is "just" a really good mid level acoustic guitar that to my ear has the playability and looks that just yank my chain! This is a Tacoma "Roadking". They are odd looking instruments with the sound hole in the upper left corner of the cutaway body. Tacoma makes another identical guitar called the "Chief" that sells new for quite a bit less than the "Roadking" with the major difference being the material used in construction. The "Chief" has a cedar top that produces a warm sound but the cedar is soft and wears faster and picks up dings and scratches. The "Roadking" is built from the same blueprints but has a Spruce top. It has a brighter sound than the "Chief".

I would really prefer a well loved used Roadking than a new one. As the wood in a new guitar ages, the sound becomes more pleasing and a good 40 year old acoustic (and electric for that matter) is worth much more than a new one of the same model. My dream acoustic is that "Roadking".

And here I am looking at eBay and there is this "Roadking" that sold for the unbelievable price of $331.99. $50 shipping! My train zipped by and didn't stop at my station! These guitars sold for $800 to $900 new. However, Fender has bought the company and the guitars are no longer available. At least not yet! Come on Fender....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=005

[TimothyBFan]

Mike-do you use the favorite searches on ebay? That way you get emails everytime one of those items comes up for sell on ebay.

[MikeA]

Mike-do you use the favorite searches on ebay? That way you get emails everytime one of those items comes up for sell on ebay.

Yeah, I'm an old-timer on eBay. My usual MO is to tease myself with auctions for items I really want for several months before I talk myself into taking the plunge. It makes the actual event much more satisfying than if I bought on impulse <LOL>

[TimothyBFan]

Gee -and I was feeling sorry for you-but it sounds like you just like the torture!

[sodascouts]

I had to stop checking out Ebay. It was too frustrating to see all this stuff I wanted but couldn't afford!

[Brooke]

I seem to go in spurts at ebay.

I guess the good thing is, I don't usually buy anything too expensive.

[Glennsallnighter]

Mike, I think I suggested to you on a previous thread that we may have been in college together! . Now I KNOW we were definitely aligned somewhere in the cosmos at one stage. My morning eBay routine is exactly the same as yours. I too love to browse items and watch their auction over a period of time. I usually only put in a bid with a few seconds to go!! (Thanks for the sniper Ticky!!). It does spice up the auction to watch it ove a while. And I love the adrenaline rush in the last few seconds.

That sunburst is gorgeous. Its out of my league though! Good luck if you go for it. I think I've done enough guitar buying this year!!

[MikeA]

That sunburst is gorgeous. Its out of my league though! Good luck if you go for it. I think I've done enough guitar buying this year!!

It's outta my league too...and there was a 1958 original LP Jr. listed at $12,000+ I think and that is not a high price for a '58 that is not a reissue.

Here is my (and my son's) weapons. Missing in that pic is also a Jackson owned my my son. Or you can get a closeup of each on plus another bass that isn't in that group shot if you look at THIS album of mine.

[TimothyBFan]

OK I admit, I know nothing about guitars and the different kinds and what kind of special sounds you get from each etc... All I know about them is I really think it is HOT when a man is weilding one, with his head thrown back and feeling the music that is coming from it! It's a woman who loves rock and roll and the men that make it thing!! I apologize Mike, for sounding like a woman that counts freckles again .

That being said, I really like that 2nd one from the left, the black one. It is really pretty (I guess that it's probably wrong to call a guitar pretty-Sorry).

[MikeA]

That being said, I really like that 2nd one from the left, the black one. It is really pretty (I guess that it's probably wrong to call a guitar pretty-Sorry).

"That" one is an Epiphone Sheraton. Epiphone is owned by Gibson (or Gibson is owned by Epiphone....never can keep that straight). Guitars with the Epiphone stamp on them that look like Gibsons such as the Sheraton, are built to the exact same blueprints that the Gibson versions are crafted from. The Sheraton happens to be made from the Gibson ES-335 plans ("ES" = Electric Spanish). This particular model is a semi-hollow body guitar meaning it has a solid block down the center of the body of the guitar but has hollow "wings" underneath the "f" holes on either side.

John Lenon played a Epiphone "Casino" guitar a lot. It looks almost identical to a Sheraton or ES-335 but is entirely hollow bodied.

These are very popular Blues guitars. Warm sound. Nice.

Now a new Gibson ES-335 will cost the owner in the neighborhood of $4,800.00. The Sheraton can still be bought for around $700.00 or twice that much if you get it from the Musician's Friend Custom Shop. There is very little difference...mainly, the pickups. Gibson uses what they call a 57 humbucker. The Sheraton doesn't have quite as good a quality in the humbuckers that they use. Many people buy the 57's and replace the ones in the Sheraton. I haven't.

That guitar plays about as good as any guitar I've ever played. When you attend your next Eagles concert, pay attention to what guitar Stu Smith is playing. The last concert I was at, he was playing a tobacco sunburst ES-335 on quite a few songs. One that comes to mind is "I Can't Tell You Why" That low 5-note riff that is iconic for that song is Stu making that 335 wail with a little reverb tossed in!

HERE is that riff I was talking about though I have neither the effects nor the skills Stu has!