Rebuilding Relationships

[DetroitBlues]

...;and it's not what you think....

My first guitar was a 1991 Aria Pro II JS Series- HSS Strat style with a reverse pointed headstock.

Many years ago, I parted that guitar out and I only have the truss rod cover today....

but I know who has the neck and I'm getting it back.

However, what should l do?

Make it another HSS Strat Style guitar?

Or should I make something different? Maybe a V or Explorer guitar?

The original body was smaller than a regular Strat, rear loaded, all black.  Body material was not even plywood, it was like particle board.  Very cheap stuff.

I built my love of Guitar on that worn out fretboard.  

I want to rebuild that early relationship.

But be true to the original?

or try something new?

 

[JeffB]

Ive been down this road. It was interesting, for me.

What I thought would be a quick strip and paint, refret and rewire turned into a guitar building class and small and temporary cottage industry.

Ultimately I didnt end up with the guitar, after all those years I just didnt like it all that much. A lot of effort for nothing. As I got close to completion I remembered the guitar was never ideal for me to start with.

I ended up building 8necks and 9 bodies. I sold them all to fans of Steve Stevens, Glen Tipton and Andy Summers  in the US and UK  That funded my own project and gave me some spare cash.

I learned a lot about guitars and had fun hanging around and using some cool machinery. I still have the templates and files from the scans. Ithink I have. I hope I have.

If your guitar was as cool as you think it was go with a replica. If you remember its flaws maybe have a go at recreating it as you think you might like it to be.

[TalismanRich]

I say go with the tried and true....  pure masonite. 

It was good enough for Jimmy Page and all those other hot cats in the 60s.

OK, so maybe I'm kidding.

 

Does Warmoth make a body with the proper neck pocket?   It may not be standard.   If you really like the neck (I'm guessing its somewhere between Louisville Slugger and a redwood in girth),  find a good Strat body and do a Partscaster.

[Kuz]

My opinion.... you originally sold it for a reason....

There are very few, if any of my guitars I sold that I would buy back.  Only one actually comes to mind.

We learn what we like and what we don't we sell.

Just my.02

[davesultra]

18 hours ago, Kuz said:

My opinion.... you originally sold it for a reason....

There are very few, if any of my guitars I sold that I would buy back.  Only one actually comes to mind.

We learn what we like and what we don't we sell.

Just my.02

Yes, this. ^^^

[Steiner]

Look for a body shape that "does it"   then find a guy that can fashion and put it together for you.

[DetroitBlues]

Here is a question for many of you, how many of you still have your first guitar?  

If you don't have it, do you still wish you did?  Even if its unplayable or not?

I've thought about getting a similar donor body and put it on the wall for decoration even if I don't play it again.

Or perhaps make a guitar that is playable.  I haven't seen or played that guitar in 10 years.  I've changed a lot in those 10 years.

Why I parted it out or why I didn't keep it, I can only guess.  Perhaps I wanted a regular Stratocaster, perhaps I wanted something that didn't have a pointy headstock.  Perhaps i couldn't afford another guitar so I sold this one in hopes of funding something different.

Who knows, that was ten years ago.

For me, to get it back, see what I had before, and compare it to what I like now is worth it.

I'm not spending a fortune on a rebuild.  I just like to have it and, if anything, for nostalgic reasons.

[Steiner]

You never forget your first.  Mine was the typical Stella Harmony entry level classical style rental unit.  Action was a mile high.

If I found a copy for under $200 I might put it on the wall.  I'd never pay to have it set up being plywood and all...

[DetroitBlues]

1 hour ago, Steiner said:

You never forget your first.  Mine was the typical Stella Harmony entry level classical style rental unit.  Action was a mile high.

If I found a copy for under $200 I might put it on the wall.  I'd never pay to have it set up being plywood and all...

take your pick...

 

https://reverb.com/marketplace/acoustic-guitars?query=Stella+Harmony

[Steiner]

2 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

take your pick...

 

https://reverb.com/marketplace/acoustic-guitars?query=Stella+Harmony

I'd have to find old photos.

If they exist!

[TalismanRich]

One of the reasons that I posted the Dano/Silvertone body is that the Silvertone 1448 was my first.   I never knew that masonite was a tone wood.   The action was nasty,   I don't care if Jimmy Page used one to record Kashmir, or the whole Physical Graffiti album.  He can have them all.    

I didn't have an amp so I would plug into my dad's Wilcox-Gay Recordio tape recorder (I DO have that one), plug in an extension speaker and hit the record button.  Instant practice amp for those 30 minute/day sessions playing music I had never heard before or since.

 

The Silvertone was relaced with a Kent (Guyatone) 4 pickup Videocaster.  Mine was RED!     I would love to find one just to remind myself how bad the action was.   Who know about truss rod adjustments in the early 60s?   It lasted a couple of years before I got the Fender Jaguar.

In terms of equipment, the good ol' days weren't all that good/

[LK155]

Not my first guitar (catalog-store $29 solid body piece of crap), not my second (an aging Hofner acoustic/electric I wish I had back), not my third (a new mid-60's Dauphne Blue Fender DuoSonic I wish I had back), not my fourth (a new mid-60's Fender Tele I wish I had back), not my fifth (a new mid-60's P-Bass I wish I had back).  No, this Framus Texan was my sixth guitar, one I purchased the day after finishing university in 1971.  It's still in the family.  It's the one that got dragged on all the camping trips but miraculously survived quite well.  It USED TO sound quite good and play decently.  Or so I thought.  I've picked it up a few times over the last couple of years, and each time I learn yet again how deluded one can become when there's only one guitar to be played.  This thing is AWFUL.  Painful to play, doesn't sound that great either.  Of course, I'm somewhat spoiled by all the excellent electrics I've had over the last 10 or 12 years, and the only other acoustic I've ever had is a recent 800-series Taylor, so that's not too hard to take.  But the Framus served me well.  And survived.  And made me wish for better. 

 

 

[davesultra]

Looking at that picture makes me wanna' say...

"Git a job you longhair"

[Kuz]

1990 Fender Strat with Lace Sensor pickups.   I think my brother might have it.  It's long gone to me and I don't have any desire to get it back.  I love the guitars I have now a lot better even though it was a good guitar.