Exhibit C: Fender (or maybe Tokai) 62 Reissue Strat

Exhibit C:  Fender (or maybe Tokai) 62 Reissue Strat


Just the Facts

This is a very high quality replica of a 1962 Fender Strat.  It has an authentic Fender decal on the head stock.  However, it was probably made by Tokai.  It has Tokai hardware and before they were replaced with EMG’s had Tokai pickups.  I got it from a private party in Lake Oswego.  Bob Stull of guitar crazy said that there was an attorney there who liked to put Fender Decals on various copy guitars.  He thought I had one of those.  Shortly after I got it I had Twelfth Fret install EMG pickups  and a replica vintage pick guard. 

Another possibility is that this guitar as advertised is a Made in Japan Fender reissue, or perhaps a Tokai body and hardware with a Fender neck.  However, I think it most likely that it is a Tokai with a Fender decal on the headstock.

Where and When

I got this guitar from a private party in Lake Oswego, Oregon in 1987.  Till I got this guitar I mostly played Gibsons, but since then it’s been mostly Fenders.

Why it’s Cool

This is a great guitar.  The neck is excellent and I love the sound of the EMG pickups.  It is easy to play, and fairly light.
One reason I wanted a strat was to get the Mark Knoffler “out of phase” sound and this guitar does it very well.

On the Other Hand

I’m not really a Strat Cat.  I just seem to do better with Tele’s.  I often use a Strat style guitar, but when I go back to a Tele it feels like I am going home.

EExhibit B: Fender American Standard Telecaster

Exhibit B:  Fender American Standard Telecaster

Just the Facts

This guitar is a 1988 Fender American Standard Telecaster. Fender released the first American Standard Tele’s in 1988, so this one of the earlier ones.  A previous owner had replace the stock pickups with EMG’s, and it did not have a case.  Other than the replaced pickups it was pretty much in mint condition.

Where and When

I got this guitar  in summer of ’93 at McKenzie River Music in Eugene. For some time, I had been wanting a tele with a rosewood fingerboard.  At the time I had two other tele’s--a ’52 reissue and an ’84 Tele Elite--but I had issues with both of them.  I found the pickups on the Elite to be a little too hot for my tastes, and the maple fingerboard on the ‘52 reissue got sticky after a couple of sets.  I was familiar with EMG pickups and had had a set installed on a Stratocaster.  After a fret dress and set up by Twelfth Fret in Portland, it played like a dream and sounded wonderful.

Why it’s Cool

The first time I saw a Telecaster was in a picture in the 1965 Fender catalog. The accompanying copy said that while Telecasters and Esquires were the earliest Fenders, some old timers still preferred them. I remember thinking that it looked funny with the huge bridge cover and funny shape. At the time I thought the ideal cool guitar was a Fender Jaguar, Mustang, or maybe a Stratocaster.

As time went on my tastes changed.  Through the seventies and most of the eighties I played Gibson, mostly Les Pauls.  Then in the late eighties and early nineties I started playing more Fenders.  I really liked my ‘52 Tele reissue except for the late set stickiness on the strings. I thought a rosewood neck tele would probably be great. 

This guitar more than exceeded my expectations.  It sounds great with all three pickup combinations.  It is good for country, rock, jazz, pop--anything I want to play.  There is no significant volume drop off between the pickup settings and the tone and volume controls are very useful.  If I could only have one guitar, this would be it.


On the Other Hand

With this guitar, there is no other hand.  It has been my main ax for nearly twenty years.  While I enjoy playing other guitars, I always return to this guitar for most of my playing.

Amps

My first amp was an 18 watt Lectrolab ordered from the Bennett Brothers Catalogue in fall 1965. It was probably a model R600C.  It had two channels, a 12” Jensen Speaker and tremelo.  I thought it sounded really good, but it didn’t have the umph to hang with the loud drummers I was beginning to play with.  So for the next several years I was on a quest to get better amps. 

Between 1967, when I graduated from High School, and 1970 when I got my Twin Reverb, I played through a variety of amps including a solid state Silvertone with 6 10” speakers, a Blackface 2--12 Fender Bassman, and a Baldwin Exterminator. 

The Exterminator was kind of interesting.  It stood about five feet high and had six speakers--2-15" speakers, 2 - 12" speakers and 2 - 7" speakers. It was very loud, and had colored push button tone controls.  It weighed a ton and didn’t really sound very good.  The only person I’ve heard of who uses one is Neil Young.  I’ve never actually seen one except for the one I had.

In 1970 I got a silver face Twin Reverb.  It came stock with JBL speakers, and as a result weighs a svelte 115 pounds.  I still have the amp, but don’t use it much anymore.  It’s just too heavy to move, even with the castors that I put on. However that was my main amp until about 1986.

Other amps I used along the way included a Carvin X series amp that was basically a copy of a Mesa Boogie, a Fender Stage Lead SS amp, a Peavey Bandit, a Fender 30 tube amp, and a Peavey Backstage Plus which was an amazing little amp.

Sometime in the early nineties I got a Fender Silverface Vibrolux Reverb amp and that has been my main big amp since that time.

Most of the time these days I use small solid state amps however.  I have a Fender Princeton 65 DSP that I use quite a bit, as well as a couple of Roland Cube amps--the 30 X series and the Cube 60.  Both offer modeling and various effects and in a band context sound really good.  In addition they weigh less than thirty pounds which is getting to be more and more of a consideration as time goes on.

Exhibit A: Fender Duo-Sonic

Exhibit A: Fender Duo-Sonic


Just the Facts

Duo-Sonics were manufactured between 1959 and 1964 when they were replaced with the Duo-Sonic II. Originally they had a gold anodized pick guard and maple fingerboard. In 1959 they changed to a rosewood fingerboard and single layer plastic pick guard.  Early Duo-Sonics featured a Desert Sand finish.  Later models had a red sunburst and then white finish.

The Duo-Sonic had two plastic covered single coil pickups, volume, tone, and selector switch. 

The Duo-Sonic was a student guitar and was essentially a two pick up version of the Fender Music Master. It had a short, 22.5” scale, and was marketed to players with smaller hands such as students or women.

My Duo-Sonic is a 1960 model.  It has the plastic pick guard and the slab rosewood fingerboard.  It came with a beat up case and the ash tray bridge cover.  It is pretty much in very good to excellent condition, and is all original except for the selector switch.  When the original switch broke, the guy who had the guitar before me replaced it with an old strat three way switch, which required him to make a cut in the the pick guard.  It works fine, but does look a little weird.

Where and When

I got this guitar in winter of 1987 from a private party in Beaverton, Oregon.  We were living in Sandy, Oregon at the time, and I saw an ad in the paper.  I called him up and drove all the way to the other side of the metro area to meet him at his apartment.  He was a little late and I remember hanging around outside his apartment hoping he would show up.  After a while he did, and I bought the guitar.  I think it cost about $200.



Why it’s Cool

My first electric guitar which I bought from a friend in 1965 was a Duo-Sonic.  I learned to play on that guitar, and still remember how great it sounded the first time I plugged it into his little tweed  Champ Amp.  I eventually traded that guitar for an Epiphone Casino in 1974. 

Duo-Sonics are neat for a lot of reasons.  It is small and light.  The pickups sound good.  The short scale makes it easy to bend.  Also original pre-CBS Fenders are getting pretty pricy, as are guitars with Brazilian Rosewood finger boards.

For a while in the early eighties I played in the Jim Glass Band.  Jim used a Duo-Sonic two through a Fender Twin Reverb and got great sound out of it.  I think they are just really cool guitars.


On the Other Hand

There are lots of other guitars that sound as good or better, and sometimes the small size can be a little bit of a problem.

Cool Guitars Blog

Introduction:

I’ve been a working musician since 1965 when I played at the McCall Donnelly High School Science Club Halloween Dance.  The guitar I played at that gig was an early sixties refinished Fender Duo-Sonic through a borrowed Silvertone Twin Twelve amp.  Guitars and amps have been a major part of my life ever since.

I like to read and hear stories about guitars, amps and equipment in general.  I also like to reminisce about the good ol’ days (which probably weren’t all that great if you get right down to it). I also like to collect and play a variety of guitars.

While I always made my living doing something else--mostly in education--playing in a dance band has always been a good part time job for me.  It still is.  Sometimes I get paid, sometimes I don’t but I still play several times a week.  Currently I am in a Cajun Band (The Nu Acres Gators) a rock-a-billy band (Billy and the Barn Cats) a Lawrence Welk style swing quartet (The Swinging Four) a big swing Band (The Treasure Valley Swing Band, aka Ed’s band) and a Dixieland Band (the Ontario Dixieland Society).  Other bands come and go. I also make it to various jam sessions in the Treasure Valley.  Every month I try to make it to the Guitar Solutions Jam in Ontario.  Most Sundays you can find me at the jam at the Mirage in Adrian.  I also sometimes go to the one at Fisher’s in Homedale.

I also collect guitars and amps.  My collection is fairly motley in nature.  I don’t have --can’t afford--many of the really desirable pieces (I don’t have a fifties strat or a 1960 Les Paul Standard for instance), but I do have a nice group of guitars and amps that I enjoy playing and learning about.  Pretty much all my guitars are ones that I think are cool for one reason or another.  Most are “players guitars” or utility instruments, though most are in very good shape. 

I started collecting in about 1980 and since then have managed to get quite a few.

This blog will be about some of my guitars and probably a few random thoughts about music as well.  Hope you enjoy it.