OK So its a wooden resonator without a cone, Right? Wrong!

Hello Again Fret heads!

Yes twice in a day - I am really spoiling you eh? OK one for the rare bird fans here. And this one goes out to anyone who has seen one of these before.

Stunned silence eh? OK well its about the loudest wooden parlour guitar I have ever played. Its a particular type of guitar called an Ampliphonic Guitar and it was built by a gentleman called Peter Thomas Ney from Grimsby. Who apparently mainly built banjos or perhaps still does!

And at that point dear readers the story and trail goes cold!  The Ampliphonic nature of the guitar accounts for its extremely loud and resonant, some might say forceful tone. The craftsmanship and fit is superb with high quality tuners a stunning top, ebony hand carved bridge and a unique "Art Deco" style tailpiece.

So what else can I tell you about this guitar? Well it isn't your typical "man in a shed" project guitar, by any measure, the craftsmanship is just far, far too well done. There is a label in there that states "Made by Peter Thomas Ney, England 1998". Another Ney instrument, a rather fine parlour guitar in the style of Lacote was recently offered at auction for £800. So someone else out there in guitar land knows what they are looking at and owns one of these fine guitars. A lute by the same builder was offered in the US for $6000.

A cursory glance at this fine instrument reveals excellent proportions and dimensions, a nice "older" Martin style squared off headstock and a spruce top, ebony fingerboard and rosewood back and sides.  Someone called gripet0 was selling a more conventional Maccaferri style 'Ney' guitar on Ebay in 2013 and provides a detailed and comprehensive write up of the instrument and its build quality. From this listing there may be some other elements common to Ney guitars such as Carbon Fibre truss rods.

Tonally it is well amazingly odd or oddly amazing. Take your pick! Imagine something between the volume of a wooden bodied resonator and a dreadnought, but with the tonal subtlety of a nice say Martin parlour or OM and you are getting close. Lots of complexity in the tone and it makes you work hard to get anything out of it. Acoustic Blues and Folk picking feel easy and finely balanced and its a guitar that is made to be played, aged and loved.  It doesn't have enough patina or wear on it yet as you know fret heads I do like my 1930's Gibson Archtops so I am thinking this is a keeper for oh...about the next 25 years.


Finally I will leave you with one thought and an appeal.  Firstly anyone who does herringbone binding like the photo on the right must be doing something right...Right?

Secondly if anyone out there has any more Peter Thomas Ney guitars to sell or knows Peter in Grimsby or further afield,; or have dealt with him please get in touch?

Finally does anyone else own an Ampliphonic Guitar from another builder?

I so love a good mystery, especially one with such a interesting and well built guitar at the centre of it.



Until next time Fret Heads! Adios!

Cata What?

Aloha Fret Kings and Twang Queens

 Yeah! Yeah! I know! No blog posts for ages, but c'mon the dog ate my homework ( or the dog ate my blog, whatever!) Hey I've been busy and there's major changes at Modern Guitars Towers. I now have a proper job and work on guitar stuff for some very nice Dutch people called...

I work as their guitar auctioneer and this means my friends that I value guitars and set up auction sales of some very fine classic, vintage and high value guitars.  I know the phrase 'greedy kid in a sweetie shop" come to mind. The frustrating thing is I can't bid on any! Oh well its great to spend every day looking at cool guitars and amps! Its my perfect job! They have even been daft enough to put my photo on their rather lovely website! Oh well I did try to warn them! Seriously folks, its a very exciting development in my world as I am happily still working on Modern Guitars and attending the guitar shows but also get to do this Catawiki thing, and I get paid for valuing guitars, what could be nicer! My current auction is on now with 25 Classic and Exclusive items of fretboard, wood and wire loveliness. Spot the museum piece VOX Amp that hasn't been used for years, always nice - and that very lovely Smoke Green Gretsch is the coolest thing I have seen in a long time! Check it out here Catawiki Classic Guitars Auction

Until next time Fret Kings and Twang Queens

These are the early ones…they are always the best.

Hello again Twang Kings and Fret Queens Long time no blog huh? Well sorry about that but the dog ate my homework mumble mumble! Anywhow's back now!!! Yet more counterfactual reasoning from the wonderful whacky world of guitar dating, identification and valuation. The question of time and its relationship to value has always interested me. I was on my stall at the last and quite wonderful Liverpool Guitar Show at Aintree and conversation was struck up with a guy who had a 1970's Stratocaster outside in the car and would I want to take a look at it. As someone whose first "decent" guitar was possibly the worst 1970's Strat ever to leave Fullerton and the proud owner of a 1974, a 1979 and two Anniversary perhaps I didn't need to see another Strat but hey…! Its always difficult when the person selling/seeking valuation is convinced they have the 'crown jewels' when what they have is a not particularly well made 1970's guitar. The fellow seeking to sell the guitar was convinced it was worth around 25% above market value. Please remember that your unlovely local guitar dealer is also seeking to make a profit as we don't tend to do the "buying selling thing" for fun and have rent, diesel, light, heat, phone etc to pay for. What struck me, part from just how poor the Stratocaster was, was the way that the vendor was trying to convince me and the other dealers that there was an imaginary time based cut off point around 1978 - yes that right fret heads a pre 78 Strat. When I was a young inexperienced guitar shop saturday boy there were just 'old guitars and 'second hand' guitars. Then the vintage thing started and thanks to Gruhn and Carter we now have pre-CBS Strats and CBS era Strats. Now there are Dan Smith era Strats, I know I have two and they are OK. Please remember Twang Kings and Queens there is little relationship between these time periods and playability or even in some cases build quality. I have played 63 and 66 Strats that don't feel as good to me as my 1974 Black Strat, but then even that isn't as much fun and as versatile as a lovely Blue Pearlburst Strat Plus I have at the moment. What I find odd is that just as time is, according to Einstein, subject to distortion; so to is the way that we add value to guitars. Now that 'rare' is the most oft used word in any collectable market are we now in the 'pre 23rd of February 1978' guitars are better than any made after the 24th of February? This is obviously dependent on when the guitar was made and what seemingly arbitrary time period it fits into. If I am feeling particularly cheeky and I get the "these were the first ones that came out of the factory" line, I throw the 'yeah the later ones were much better weren't they - its called "The Experience Curve" you know process improvements being made as production increases! Oh and don't get me started on 1970's Gibson Les Paul Deluxes which might be better weighed rather than dated as a more certain indication of quality and playability! Perhaps we should just re-boot, re-set and start all over again with 'old guitars' and 'second hand guitars! and on that thought... Until next time Fret Heads!

Relic Guitars and some alternative places to put your hard earned six string readies.

Hello twang meisters and mistresses! I have long been a sometimes vociferous advocate of the view that so called 'relic' guitars are not a good long term buy if you want to get your money back. There are those out there in twangland dear readers that cry out that the 'relic' guitar is cool...you don't need to worry about chipping them and they are already played in. Like vintage but brand new and available at your local dealership. OK! Lets explode some 'relic' myths here: 1. The 'Keef will play em if he can have them all beaten up' was a brilliant piece of smoke and mirrors myth making by the Fender marketing department. Hey stories like that turn a buck - but he claims he didn't say that! C'mon this is Keef we are talking about here! 2. The relic process was demystified at a NAMM show sometime in the mid 2000's - there is no Fender Custom Shop magic mojo 'pixie dust' at work here. Keys, sandpaper, deep heat, liquid nitrogen its not a "skill" its a chemical process and when did the Guild of American Luthiers adopt throwing keys at a guitar as a 'skill'? 3. They are a baby boomer affectation a bit like faded Levis - the 'baby boomers' are dying out. Repeat the Baby Boomers are - unfortunately for us guitar dealers - a dying breed, therefore its simple demographics - demand will therefore, inevitably fall over time. 4. The "kids" want something different to their dads. I get a lot of 20-something players at guitar shows going mad over 70's Stratocaster's with their thick 'unmarkable' poly finishes. Time and the vintage guitar market move on! 5. Remember Fender increasingly can't 'do' nitro finishes in Southern California due to environmental legislation. They DO DO lots of nitro and thin skin finishes in Mexico. Hmmmmmm where DOES that $3500 relic Stratocaster start out its life? Why not just buy a Mexican relic model and play the S**t out of that instead - you'll have much more fun trust me...you remember "fun" its what we used to have before we started worrying about the resale value of $3500 "damaged" guitars. 6. The outer skin and finish of a guitar is a fashion trend - think of Gibson painting TV Yellow and Gold Top finishes on to Les Paul Juniors and Standards - fashions change - often rapidly and some like mullets and flares dont tend to come back round very often - can YOU wait "that" long Mr Relic Guitar Owner. 7. If a relic finish on a £2000 guitar is just "wear" why do guitar repairers I know get asked about repairing chips on a relic guitar? Huh? 8. Opening a box fresh pristine guitar made of quality tone woods and with a beautiful unmarked finish is one of life's simple pleasures IMHO! 9. Scratched iPhone6 with a cracked front glass anyone? But its dead 'cool' and 'street'. Nah thought not? 10. Thanks to some pretty hefty "recalibration" by various marketing departments 'relic' guitars direct from the dealer with a discount attached are getting to close to what the market seems to want to pay for a genuine vintage instruments in some cases. A chap recently "offered" me ( and I use the term advisedly) £300 less for a genuine early 1970's guitar than he was willing pay for a relic version of the same guitar. His head had clearly "gone"! If you want any validation of the insanity that is the 'relic' guitar try this simple test. Take your wife, girlfriend or significant other (relic guitar buyers are 98.6257% male right?) to a guitar shop - take a relic and a standard USA Stratocaster and try to explain to her why the beaten up guitar in the glass case costs twice as much as the nice shiny one on the wall. Not brave enough for that simple test chaps? OK lets move on! Back in the real world where real money gets spent. A Fender 69 Custom Shop relic Stratocaster is the biggest "faller" in the relic stable at £1250 (market value) that is down roughly 15% on second hand prices from 2 years ago. Sorry if you have one of these but its a relic replica of a guitar that is post CBS and has been superceded by various Hendrix lookilikeecasters. Not a good brand new buy - not a gigging guitar and I am unsure where it fits in at all as a keepsake investment instrument. A 57 Stratocaster Custom Shop heavy relic on Gumtree recently did not sell at £1100. I didn't buy it and it was re-listed a few times. It wasn't "nice" looking at all and the heavy relic thing really does look as rough as a badger's behind to me. Most of the 50's style Custom Shop relics are however, hovering around £1400-£1600 mark in the UK second hand guitar market. Look I know some dealers and customers prefer the more polite term 'investment' instruments but lets call a spade a shovel rather than a 'digging implement' here. The problem is they aren't going up and aren't likely to for a while. Remember those Nash relic copies a while back I have seen those going for £600-£750 and the price always seems lower every time I see one. Besides Gumtree, Preloved and Ebay seems to be full of 'terrible' relic jobs some bloke has done in his shed and that's not going to help sales or re-sale value anytime soon. My view is that in 10, 20 or 30 years time the guitar buying public and TV documentary makers will be discussing something along the lines of "They did WHAT!!!! to guitars in early 21st century" and it will be the subject of ironic TV programmes in the way that we look back at the 1970's in the same ironic way now. Final point! I think people are now bored with the "it's made to look like a vintage guitar but it's brand new" sales pitch...thats not 'amaaaaazing; any more as dinner table chit chat. Sorry folks! The problem is where is the smart money going if you want to buy guitars as investment. My advice and it pains me to say this is electric guitars "aren't" at the moment. We are going through something of a golden age of acoustic guitar building from Martin, Taylor, Santa Cruz, Froggy Bottom, etc. The prices do reflect the quality of timber and workmanship but some of them represent amazingly beautiful hand crafted artefacts where the quality shines through in a way that some "Custom Shop" employee throwing bunches of keys at a load of pre sprayed bodies unfortunately for me don't. There is also massive oversupply in the world guitar market. Manufacturers caught on to fact that some of us (me included) were buying and hoarding guitars in ever increasing numbers and geared up production to match. There are factories in the Far East churning out various guitars for manufacturer's low price branded ranges in ever increasing numbers. Its a great time to be starting out as the choice of good quality cheap guitars is endless. Farther up the food chain things get a little more opaque and the 'relic' thing has served to muddy that pool still further. The debate over tone woods and the Lacey Act will I think rumble on for a while and no-one wants to think their mahogany, rosewood or ebony led to the destruction of any sort of wildlife's natural habitat. I don't want to see buying a new guitar with expensive internationally sourced woods to be as unacceptable as buying a mink coat for the wife or killing tiny forest creatures but that seems to be where the debate is headed. Smartwood Gibson Les Pauls seem to be going up in second hand value - I wonder why? On that point I do tend to like luthiers and builders who increasingly use locally sourced "native" timbers such as Patrick James Eggle, Vigier, Brook and Lowden. Its not a Toyota Prius eco "thing" for me they also are damn fine guitars made from locally sourced materials and remember Stradivarius sourced native materials affected by soil conditions and other "pollutants" to get his unique tone woods. But if you can afford a Patrick James Eggle and Indian Rosewood or a relic guitar "worries you", you can always come to me for something pre-loved and pre-owned! Think of it as a real "relic" guitar thats also being recycled and is new to you! Until next time fret-heads and twang kings and queens Arrivederci!

Last-ditch attempt to save Tin Pan Alley from being turned into a theme park

Last-ditch attempt to save Tin Pan Alley from being turned into a theme park



There are those who say Denmark Street has had it coming from a long time.  Especially the vintage guitar shops who in the past might have been a little more customer friendly.  BUT... it is a place of musical and cultural significance in the UK. The original Tin Pan Alley.  Me I try to avoid going "down that London" if I can I am just happy Upt'North with my whippet flat cap and '72 Telecaster but it would be a shame to see it bulldozed and developed just because some Numptie from Camden Council Planning Department says its ok to!

The Aria Ike Isaacs - A forgotten 1980's classic!

Hello Fretheads! A guitar to watch out for that is something of a forgotten classic so much so that I found it hard to track down a really clear picture of one is the Aria Ike Isaacs Signature Model The best ones are from the early 1980's as they were first available in 1981. They were designed around a concept of a classic semi acoustic design made to be lightweight and with a very comfortable neck. They sound great unplugged or amplified - try a Polytone or a small boutique 10 watt -20 watt combo. Sound wise they have a light touch with a fair bit of attack. Build wise a nice cutaway allows access to the upper frets with little real difficulty and the double binding is always a useful indicator. Perhaps the most important aspect on these early ones is the solid spruce top - no ply here, combine this with an Ebony board and you are into serious quality territory. "Champagne quality", and if you keep you're eyes peeled "for lemonade money". People simply do not know how to price these and I have seem them as high as £750 but as cheap as £350. Aim to pick one up for around £500 and you can't go wrong. The original model number was the somewhat dull TA1500 - don't you just love those Japanese product names? Only the Japanese could take a beautiful instrument and call it the TA1500! Nonetheless I see great things ahead price wise for shallow and deep semi solids and these Aria's are worth keeping your eye out for. Until next time Fretheads!

All original 1979 Fender Stratocaster Body Original Blonde Finish with Bridge Jack and Trem cover in Devon, Exeter | Guitars, Guitar Amplifiers for Sale | Gumtree.com

All original 1979 Fender Stratocaster Body Original Blonde Finish with Bridge Jack and Trem cover in Devon, Exeter | Guitars, Guitar Amplifiers for Sale | Gumtree.com

£450 07895355482 modernguitars@gmail.com Can Post but NO Paypal please!

Selling a 1970/71 Selmer Treble and Bass 50 R SV Valve

1970/71 Selmer Treble and Bass 50 R SV Valve head in Brixham, Exeter | Guitars, Guitar Amplifiers for Sale | Gumtree.com

Currently selling this 70's Selmer! Imagine what this sounds like? Raucous but with subtle undertones of early 70's Hiwatt and a Plexi style decay!!!!! Lovely! Click through above or give me a call on 07895355482

Daftcat's daily nonsense: The 1974 Rickenbacker 4001

Daftcat's daily nonsense: The 1974 Rickenbacker 4001: Todays job... CLEAN THAT RICKY..! Well then... this took a damn sight longer than we first thought. Started cleaning this at 9.00am and f...

Relic Prices Falling...at last

Current prices on Fender Custom Shop Relics are starting to soften but only by about 3 -4% but you heard it here first folks!

The Cult of Personality

I am always puzzled by the signature model, artist developed or artist tribute guitar market. If the whole notion of playing a musical instrument is motivated by freedom to create and 'do your own thing', I am left puzzled as to why people would buy a guitar made to another person's specifications. The guitar industry seems particularly prone to this form of product enhancement. After all I do not have the same hand shape or size as Eric Johnson, can't play the way Yngwie Malmsteen does (I wish!) or want a seven string like Steve Vai. I am always therefore left puzzled when folks contact me trying to sell me a signature model, I turn them down and they react well... 'badly'! Sellers tend to get very defensive - well its an 1982 Blind Albert Ollerenshaw Whammycaster by Jukeson they huff and puff! Nope sorry still not interested mate. The economics I am afraid stack up like this. The seller is Albert Ollerenshaw's biggest fan. Firstly they often get the guitar signed somewhere by the great Albert! Big mistake! unless its non permanent and can be cleaned off the guitar. Secondly I am not a huge Blind Albert Ollerenshaw fan neither are 96.24% of the guitar buying public. Of the remaining 3.76% of people who have heard of Blind Albert Ollerenshaw about 1% might be motivated to buy the signature guitar lovingly machine crafted by Jukeson. Therefore its a bad buy and a hard sell. You can stretch the numbers out for Vai, Malmsteen, Satriani etc but not by much! Let's put this into the real world now. Mr. David Grissom is a great guitarist and as far as I know a wonderful human being. Mr Paul Reed Smith makes lovely guitars and the two of them have got together to produce the DGT model which as with all PRS instruments is crafted to an exceptionally high standard. Originally these instruments of wonder retailed before discount, at between £2000 and £3000 for Standard and Custom models. I initially set my buy in price at around £1000 - £1600 depending on the model and condition. Now here is the shock of the signature guitar 'curse'; I have recently been involved in deals with customers where I have been offered PRS DGT's one in a solid block colour with no flame at £800 and the other a rather nice Custom with a lovely top at £1250 against a 70's Fender I was moving on for a client. This means that market value on DGT's is way off the premium a PRS should sell at... or to put it another way below PRS non signature Standard and Custom model prices! The huge clue is the structure of the trade. Mr David Grissomfan of Twang Terrace - Guitarville wants to chop in the instrument of his "lifelong" hero for a 1976 Fender Stratocaster. 'My music is heading in a different direction' says Mr Grissomfan. The subtext is clear - he bought the DGT plus possibly an amp and pedals in the style of Mr Grissom of Austin Texas in the vain hope that this would, could and should confer the talent and ability of said Texan guitar maestro on our humble fan. It rarely happens that way and people get fed up of trying to be Mr Grissom or Mr Malmsteen etc. The signature guitar is simply a bad buy from retail down to me the humble dealer. It doesn't, to misquote Ronseal 'do what it says on the tin'. You aren't going to be Vai, Malmsteen, Grissom or Blind Albert Ollerenshaw and buying their signature guitar isn't going to change this. When this penny drops the instrument becomes 'persona non grata' in your guitar collection and needs to be 'moved on' for something that allows you to be you. Buying all of the gear of your fave guitarist isn't a smart idea and players tastes change and they move on to something else; although I did once turn up to a house to buy a guitar where the guy had lovingly recreated the complete Eddie Van Halen rig in his front room. no I don't know why either he wasn't even in a Van Halen tribute band! Footnote: the deal went wrong anyway as my client wanted a cash only sale and I was not interested in being left holding the DGT! I can only suggest one thing that despite the DGT being a wonderful instrument David Grissom being a fearsome player with an amazing track record of achievement he is known to only the most focused fan. The curse of the signature guitar has struck again dear readers! Obviously guitar companies the world over see the signature instrument as a marketing ploy. You should see it only as that - a marketing ploy and buy something in the first place that lets you be you! A nice 75 Telecaster I have just bought in - step this way Sir , Madam! Until next time fret heads and twang kings!

Eric Johnson Strat Market Tracker Value?

Much as I like the Eric Johnson Stratocasters, and I do like them especially in Lucerne Aqua, their status as signature guitars makes me very very nervous when parting with cold hard cash! Here however is the anomaly in the current market place. An Eric Johnson Strat retails for upwards of £1800+ which is not too shabby in anyones book. Dealers in the secondhand market are putting them on Ebay and in their stores at around £1100 -£1200. Modern Guitar's market tracker valuation has them at £1220. The issue is this; dealers who lets face it like to buy at 50% of what they sell at, won't be stocking the Eric Johnson for quite some time unless there is a major market correction as the dealer expected price is currently way less than the s/h classified price. There may be a story here in terms of how vintage and second dealers are being squeezed out of the market by internet classifieds and Ebay. Perhaps even more significant is the price rises that Fender seem to be pushing on US made product at the moment. It can't just be a strength of the dollar issue can it? Until next time Fret Kings and Twang Kings! Adios!

From Elephants to ...Pig's Noses

Hello again Fretheads!

From my last post's talk of Marshall Elephant Tolex to another animal themed post. The Pignose Amp. I bought two of these wonders recently. I am talking about the original Pig Nose Amplifier with the Metal Pig's Nose Volume Control on the front...what is now referred to as the P7-100. A design so simple for a battery amp...the open and close mechanism is the tone control...Now that is an uber cool design idea dontchathink?

Time was you couldn't open up a copy of Beat Instrumental or International Musician without seeing the guitar greats we all looked up to backstage or in the studio with a "Piggy" in tow. Oh look there's Frank Zappa at his Cailfornia Studio with a Piggy on the mixing desk. There's Peter Frampton or Joe Walsh or Alex Lifeson or Jeff Beck all with a "Piggy" in the vicinity. Imagine my shock when the current price list came out and the P7-100 is now £129.95!!!! More ominously I haven't seen any for sale secondhand for ages. It looks like they are the kind of iconic original items that have now found their way into everyone's collection and supply has dried up and this is reflected in the price of the new item. If you have one stick hold of it I will be hanging to the two I already have as I sense a great future for the humble "piggy".

Orange, Red and Purple Elephants and Levants

Hello Fretheads we are of course talking about Marshall Tolex. Marshall and Park products produced in coloured tolex are on the whole worth more than their plain black counterparts.



This cool little Park 6 watter was one of those made by Marshall for Grattan's catalogue in the late 60's and early 1970's. Between 1967 and the mid 1970's Marshall offered Red, Orange and Purple amps like this little Park right up to the mighty 200w PA amps. This included such cool amps as Mercury's Capri's and of course the so called Plexi's and Master Volumes which makes them pretty collectable indeed. The earlier less pronounced grained Tolex from the late 60's is called Levant, the one with the deeper grain was named naturally 'Elephant'. All in all I think they look pretty cool and def have that retro 60's and early 70's vibe.

If you want to check out the little Park amp its on my website



Until next time fretheads!

Flying V's over Leeds

Hello again Fretheads!!!

Well over to Leeds for the annual Wars of the Roses Guitar Show in which I a Lancastrian attempt to tell a Yorkshireman but clearly I can't tell him much! Not a bad show on the whole but I am somewhat at a loss at the Leeds show as I never seem to do well sales wise and end up buying more than I sell. Some lovely stuff on show including some nice old 60's Strat's and an early 60's SG Les Paul.

I did spy on one stand a very nice 70's Flying V but the price was realistic rather than profitable. I DO like the Flying V's and I think this goes back to a mate of mine having one in the 1980's when I had a humble and rather badly made three bolt neck Strat. Yes even during that terrible period in Fender's history I bought the worst example. A hardtail Sunburst one with an unsteady neck. Anyway back to the Flying V! I do love the Flying V shape as I do all the Gibson Modernistic models. I suppose those modern shapes fit in with the vintage retro modern aesthetic of Modern Guitars.

The limited number of V's produced between 65 and 70 and the obvious Hendrix connection mean that values of these guitars have rocketed (if you pardon the pun) in recent years. The change in body design on the 65 and later models to the 'slope shoulder' pattern is, to me, more pleasing to the eye. 1970 to 1974 Gibson V's known as the Medallion Models due to the 'Limited Edition' medallion (in reality a sticker) being added to the front of the body are also becoming sought after. 1975 -1980 V's are less rare and less valuable but still have resonance with players and collectors. After 1980 there were a whole range of designs ending with the V2 (yes you can have V shaped pickups Sir!). Since then the more sought after have tended to be Custom and Historic models recreating the original 1958 Modernistic designs and some signature models.

V's are great guitars that can span blues and metal, They are sought after by collectors and players alike and at the right price represent a bargain....I have seen them sell for as little as £650 for an early 1980's model as people 'fall out' with the shape and go for something a little less 'radical'.

Until next time Fretheads!

Tonewoods Part 1

Hi there Twang Kings and Fret Queens

There is much speculation about the way that Ash and Alder bodies affect tonality. In fact masses have been written about the subject in vintage guitar books and magazines. The often neglected tonal/tonewood element is however, the neck and board. Maple Board on Maple or Rosewood Board. The added snap and bite from a maple neck isn't always a given. Neither is the "truth" that rosewood boards are somehow mellower. I have had strats and teles with maple boards that have been how shall we say quite "refined" tonally. Laid back almost!...Equally I have had rosewood board guitars that are lively and have an incredible tonal "snap" to them. You may have noticed the use of inverted commas as my opinions are highly subjective and therein lies the problem. One guitarist's twang heaven is another player's "shrill hell".

Until next time Fret Heads!

Arrive Durci!

Fender Built by Mexicans Played by...Snobs!?

Hi there fret heads...

I have been keeping my eye on Mexican Fender's at the moment. I have recently had one offered and it is/was a truly lovely guitar... foam green. I have to admit to being a US Guitar snob and certainly with sales and buys pretty thin on the ground in these recessionary times I have "stuck to the knitting" with regard to US Instruments.

One guitar recently changed my mind. I have bought in a cream coloured maple board California Series Telecaster with Humbucker at the neck. A 1990's one....regular readers will know my love of 1980's and 1990's Fenders in custom colours. But this is great!!!! A real knockout! The Cal series guitars are a bit like the Road Worn ones now....made in Mexico but they were assembled in the US and have that all important Made in The USA mark on the headstock. Apparently the bodies were routed and sprayed in Mexico then a cross border switcheroo meant they were assembled in the good old USA ...mine has a Corona Neck plate too...bonus!

After all anyone who has read any of the histories of Fender's early day will note Abigail Ybarra, Tadeo Gomez and a host of other Mexican names working at the Fullerton plant. So I guess you can say that the best Fenders have always been made by Mexicans!

This one has an AMXN serial number and is a true players guitar that wont lose its value but will give good service with that great Humbucker at the neck a la Andy Summers....pictures up on the website soon....

Until next time Los Twang Wrestlers!

Making You an Offer You Can't Refuse

Hello Fret Kings and Queens!

Mooching around on my fave online classified ad sites and I am amazed by the number of guitars of a vintage hue on there where people are asking for 'offers'. This seems to be a trend possibly exacerbated by the closure of Music Ground's two Northern stores. The guitar sellers cry of "But its £2500 in Music Ground!" has been replaced by "Make me an Offer!". It is as if no-one can fix a price point anymore!

There is a counter to the old Caveat Emptor saying of - let the buyer beware and that's Caveat Venditor - let the seller beware! Quite clearly no-one has a clue where vintage and quality guitar prices are going to land at the moment. There are too many variables around at present although my recent experience at the Northern Guitar Show suggests that buyers and sellers ARE doing deals again!

The make me an offer thing is a conundrum though. Do the sellers who bring guitars along to shows or advertise them think a dealer is going to have a sudden fit of generosity and make a hugely 'over the top' offer. They also seem genuinely insulted when a dealer makes a realistic market based offer...or even a cheeky one! I usually work around the 'what price did you have in mind' at which point they blurt out their price expectation! Why not just start from that and work around it instead of this ridiculous 'fandance'. I used to have a friend in the used car trade who as he put it - knocked the price offered down by 5% for every half hour of his time the seller wasted. I am not sure you can be that harsh in the vintage guitar market but if you are coming to do business with me have a price sorted out in your head! Please!

Until next time fretheads!

Firebird Sweet!

Hello again Fret Kings and Twang Queens

What balls! I am talking about Gibson's management in 1963 the year old Mr Modern was born incidently. To launch the Gibson Firebird after the failure of the Modern series V and Explorer took 'mucho cohones'.

I really don't know why I like the Firebird so much after all I have owned two both of them 1976 Bicentennial and both were horrible. Incidently I sold the first one to the sadly missed Steve Clark formerly of Def Leppard.

The first Firebird's however were especially handsome guitars, whilst the second generation models, how can I say this had a style only a mother could love.

Gibson produced 2800 of the superb neck through body instruments and was available in ten custom colours, my own favourite being Kerry Green or Pelham Blue or Cardinal Red! Its all good!

Until next time Fretheads!

Open Back v Closed Back

Well fret heads this week I am not talking Mrs Modern's choice of dresses but tuners. It is a generally accepted that closed back tuners are better in some way. There are some great and iconic tuners such as the Grover Imperials. I will let you into a little secret check out many of Steve Howe's guitars when next you see him performing with Yes or the Steve Howe Trio. He retro-fits Imperials to many of his Gibson's and they look and I assume perform like the very thing.

But the open back v closed back issue is an interesting one. The need for a cover to protect from dust and damage is a bit of a moot point. After all its better to have access and open backs can be easily cleaned with graphite or a non sticky lubricant. The price issue is an interesting one too. Student instruments usually have cheaper open back tuners whilst Strat's, Tele's usually have closed back Klusons or retro fitted Grovers.

One tip though twang kings and queens... if you do swap your tuners for something more aesthetically pleasing or functional don't go selling the originals on Ebay will you.

Until next time my little riffsters and "strum"pets!