Gretsch Corvette

Exhibit I:  1967 Gretsch Corvette

Just the Facts

The Gretsch Corvette was Gretsch’s entry level solid body. Gretsch was primarily known for large hollow body guitars, but periodically made a few solid bodies with various results. The Duo- Jet, which looks kind of like a Les Paul was pretty successful and was played by George Harrison, but most successful Gretsches were hollow bodies.

The Corvette was introduced in 1961 and finally discontinued in 1978.  Quite a few were made, but it is rare to see them in original condition, because a lot of guitar players bought them cheap and then modified them with different pickups, different tuners and so on.

The particular guitar is a 1967 Corvette.  It has Hi-Lo Tron single coil pick ups and a Bigsby Vibrato.  Originally it had a build in treble booster, but that had already been removed when I got the guitar.

It sounds pretty good, and is very light.  I don’t really like the shape of the neck at the low frets. It feels too clubby in my hand. 
   
Where and When

 I got this guitar at Trade Up Music  in Portland in 2002.
   
Why it’s Cool

The coolest thing about this guitar is the way it looks and the fact that it is a vintage Gretsch.


On the Other Hand

It is really not that comfortable to play and the sound, while adequate, is short of spectacular.

Gibson ES 345

Exhibit H:  1966 Gibson ES 345

Just the Facts

The Gibson ES 345 was manufactured between 1958 and 1981, when it was discontinued. Based on the famous
ES 335, the 345 was designed to be slightly more upscale and had a couple of “improvements“.  One was stereo wiring, and the other was the inclusion of the Varitone.  The Varitone was a circuit which offered a six position selector and changed the tone making it increasingly thin and more Fender like.  However most guitarists didn’t think any of the settings actually improved the tone, and almost everybody leaves the Varitone on the first setting.  Stereo, also, is something that never really caught on in guitars, and most 345 players have the guitar re-wired in mono.

Like the 335, the ES 345 is semi hollow with a solid center block and two real “F” holes.  In the early sixties the stop tail piece was replaced with a trapeze tail piece which changed the tone slightly.  Most players prefer the stop tail piece for sustain, but the trapeze tail piece seems to make the tone a little more open and alive.  Which is better is really in the ear of the player.

Where and When

I got this guitar at Sagebrush Music in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1983.

Why it’s Cool

This is a great sounding guitar, and it was my main guitar for a lot of years.  Throughout much of the fifties and sixties, semi- hollow body guitars were the instruments of choice for many guitar players.  If you watch old you tube videos, especially of the British Invasion bands you’ll see a lot of these guitars.  Then in the late sixties and early seventies, Les Paul type solid bodies became the most popular guitars.  In the late seventies and early eighties, the Stratocaster suddenly exploded in popularity.  Guitar Player did a cover story on “Strat Mania” and the Strat has tended to be the most widely played electric guitar ever since.

On the Other Hand

In the late eighties or early nineties, I switched to Fender style guitars, mostly Tele’s .  It just seemed to be easier to get the tone I wanted.  However, this Gibson ES 345 is a great guitar, and I still play it quite a bit.

Fender Jaguar

Exhibit G: 1963 Fender Jaguar

Just the Facts

In the early ‘60’s the Jaguar was Fender’s top of the line instrument.  It was introduced in 1962 and was similar to the Jazzmaster in shape and appointments.  However it had a shorter 24” scale, and two newly designed single coil pickups.  It also had a sophisticated two channel tone system with four switches and two sets of pots, a floating tremolo system and a spring loaded mute.

While Fender Jaguars did not have the lasting impact of Strats and Teles, they were quite popular for a while especially with country guitar players and surf bands like the Astronauts and the Surfaris.  Both Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys and Buddy Merrill of the Lawrence Welk orchestra sometimes played a Jaguar, as did session legend Billy Strange.  More recently Jaguars have been played by  punk, grunge, and alt performers including Johnny Marr and  Kurt Cobain. Fender used Cobain’s highly modified Jaguar as inspiration for the popular Jagstang model.

Where and When

I got this guitar in Flagstaff, Arizona in 1983.  It is in really good shape and came with a period correct case. 

Why it’s Cool

It has a kind of a thin, percussive sound that is great for retro music, especially surf and rock-a-billy. I used to play it quite a bit in several groups that specialized in fifties and sixties rock and roll

On the Other Hand

Some people don’t like the short scale and small frets.  Also the tone tends to be thin and percussive and it does not sustain as much as some other guitars. 

All in all It’s a great guitar and a lot of fun to play.

Charvel Surfcaster

Exhibit F: 1991 Charvel Surfcaster


Just the Facts

    This is a 1991 Surf Green Charvel Surfcaster.  It was made in Japan by the Charvel Jackson company and is sort of a cross between a Danelectro, a Rickenbacker and a  Fender Telecaster Thinline.  It has a semi-hollow basswood body with one real F hole, maple neck and rosewood finger board.  The pickups are Chandler lipstick pickups. There is a three position selector switch, and master volume and tone controls.  The tone control has a push pull switch that combines the two singles into one hum bucker reducing noise and increasing the punchiness of the tone. There is a very nice non locking tremolo which works great.

    This guitar was targeted  at country players who wanted a great clean tone, and for retro players who might want an alternative to a Fender Jaguar or Jazzmaster.  It really is a good surf guitar and is great for all these applications.  It is a lot like a telecaster, only different, and has quite a bit of appeal for a tele player. The Surfcaster model in  various incarnations was marketed by Jackson until about 2005.

Where and When

    I got this guitar at Guitar Crazy in Portland on New Year’s Eve, 1991.  I had recently read an article in one of the Portland papers talking about Jim Mesi’s Surfcaster.  Jim Mesi is one of Portland’s premier blues and rock performers.  He is an amazing musician, and a local legend.

    At the time I had two Peavey T-60’s, one with a maple finger board and one with a rosewood fingerboard.  I liked the rosewood one better and decided to see if I could trade the other one. 

    I asked Bob at Guitar Crazy about the Surfcaster and he said that this particular guitar was actually  the one that had belonged to Jim Mesi. Jim had used it for a while and then had traded it for  a Strat.  We made a deal and I traded the Peavey and some cash for Mesi’s Surfcaster.  Later I was in a band that was playing on the same bill as Mesi’s band. Jim and I had a discussion about guitars and he told me he wished he had it back.

Why it’s Cool

    It is a great sounding and easy playing guitar.  At various times I have played this instrument at  surf rock and fifties gigs and have enjoyed it very much. Plus it is neat to have a guitar that was owned by Jim Mesi who is one of my favorite players of all time.

On the Other Hand

    The tremolo needs to be tightened with an allen wrench if you want it to stay in one position, and that sometimes seems like too much trouble.

Little Chords and Scales

I was at a jam session at Guitar Solutions Saturday, and got in a conversation about chord shapes and voicings.  Specifically we were talking about a major chord with the third on the sixth string. For instance--if you put a barre at the seventh fret and then put what looks like an open “C” chord underneath it you would have a G major chord. The note on the sixth string would be a “b” which is the third of the chord. . The notes of the chord, low to high, would be b (3), g (R), b(3), d(5), g ( R), g (3).

While I occasionally play all six strings of this chord , I much more  frequently use the shape to develop triads on the 2,3 and 4 strings.

Like this--Key of G--Chords G (I)          C (IV)               D (V)
                                                          ------------------------------------------------
                                                          --8--------------8---------------------7-------
                                                          --7--------------9---------------------7-------
                                                           -9--------------10--------------------7-------
                                                           ------------------------------------------------
                                                            -----------------------------------------------
                               

This is an example of what I think of as “little chords”.  Little chords only have two, three, or occasionally four notes.  Sometimes They  don’t have a root.  Freddie Green often used little chords when playing with Count Basie.

These shapes lend themselves to lead and melodic applications.  There are a lot of licks available in the immediate vicinity using the G major diatonic,  G major pentatonic  and “D” mixolydian scales. The D Mixolydian  is especially cool because it is a great all purpose scale for jamming over jazz changes such as the IIm7, V7, and I.

Here are the fingerings for those three scales

G Major Diatonic            G Major Pentatonic (Starting on 5)      D Mixolydian

----------------------------------------------------7-----------------------------------------7-8--10----
------------------------7--8--------------8---10--------------------------------7--8--10----------------
-------------------7-9-------------7--9---------------------------------7--9-----------------------------
-------7--9--10-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--10-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Note that they all use the notes of the G major scale.  The main difference is the starting note.

Of course these chords and scales are all moveable and can be played in any key.

Danelectro U2

Exhibit E: 1998 Danelectro U2


Just the Facts

The Danelectro company was founded by Nat Daniels in the fifties and made lots of low end guitars and amps.  Most were marketed by Sears under the  Silvertone name. However many were sold in music stores as Danelectros. For the most part, the guitars were cheap and were quite popular, especially with beginners. Tons of guitar players learned on a Silvertone guitar made by Danelectro.

Most Danelectro guitars  featured a hollow wood frame, masonite body and silver lipstick tube pickups.  The earliest instruments actually used tubes that had been manufactured by cosmetic companies as containers for lipstick.
 
The Danelectro company went out of business in the sixties but then in the nineties the name was purchased by a  new company that began manufacturing authentic copies of some of the original guitars.  These guitars were imports and I believe they were made in Korea. One of the first of the Reissues was the U2 model.

The Danelectro U2 features 2 lipstick single coil pickups, concentric volume and tone controls, selector switch, rosewood fingerboard, and aluminum nut. It is very similar in appearance and construction to the original.

The guitar is very light, and has a bright, snappy tone.  It sounds good in a variety of applications.

Shortly after I got this guitar I was in the pit orchestra of the musical, Grease.  The show was mounted with the band on stage inside a giant juke box.  I used this guitar because of its appearance and also because of the sound. It sounded really great on the retro style music.

Where and When

I got this guitar for Christmas in 1998.


Why it’s Cool

It is very light and sounds quite good, especially through a clean or mildly distorted amp. It also looks really neat. It rocks--it rolls and especially it twangs, sounding quite a bit like a lighter tele.

On the Other Hand

The strap buttons are plastic and tend to come out at inopportune times.  The bridge is basically a piece of wood, and is not very adjustable. The tuners are pretty cheap.

Samick GL 950

Exhibit D: Samick GL950 NA


Just the Facts

Samick is one of the world’s largest guitar companies and has made guitars marketed by Hondo, Epiphone, Fender, and others as well as under the Samick brand.

This guitar was probably made in the late eighties, or possibly nineties.  I e-mailed Samick and was unable to get any information about this guitar.  On one of the guitar forums there are pictures of two similar guitars, but nobody seems to know much about them.  About all I  know  about this guitar is derived from examination of the instrument.

It features a neck-through design, and in appearance is similar to some of the guitars made by Alembic in the seventies.  It also resembles the Ibanez Musician, and S.D. Curley Guitars from the same period.

The  fingerboard is ebony and the body appears to be maple and walnut.  The model number  on a little sticker on the back  says GL950 NA.  The NA probably refers to the natural finish.  There are two humbucking pickups, a stop tail piece and tune-o-matic style bridge. The two volume, two tone, and selector switch layout are similar to most two hum- bucking guitars.  The sealed tuners say Samick and resemble those made by Schaller  and Gotoh.

The workmanship on this guitar is very good ,although two of the fretboard inlays are a little off center.

Where and When

I got this guitar from a friend in about 2010. 

Why it’s Cool

This is a very good guitar.  It is fairly light and the pickups are well balanced and sound good.  It is also a really good looking guitar.

On the Other Hand

It sounds pretty much like most two humbucker guitars.
The sound is good but not particularly distinguished or magical.

I really like this guitar and would like to know more about it.  I’d like to know when it was made and would be interested in any marketing materials about it.  I have been reading Guitar Player Magazine since 1976, and still have most of them.  I don’t recall ever seeing this model advertised.

If you know anything about this guitar let me know.