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".