I gotta agree: I think GFS carries excellent stuff for surprisingly low prices. The Dream 90s you speak of are excellent and, in my opinion, better than TV Jones (and a fraction of the price). I also have to agree that my biggest beef with Strats is the location of the volume knob that I accidentally wind up turning myself down the harder I rock. You could always move the knob to one of the other holes and replace it with a blinking light or some other weird thing that would make your guitar cooler. The great thing about this forum is that I don't think you'll get the snobbery. garage and punk "style" is that of a dude that wants to rock but can only afford less-expensive gear. So, discussing how someone can rock out on a cool guitar without spending a ton of money is a great topic of conversation (with all due respect to Fenders and Gibsons).

Phil holloway said:

Its pretty interesting that we all seem to be essentially on the same page. 

But then again we don't flock to Garage Punk to discuss getting that ubiquitous "Nickelback" or the hipster equivalent "Arcade Fire" sound.

As for modding,  I have on more than a few occasions dropped GFS "Dream 90's" and "mean 90's" into SG and les Paul type copies for friends  (this is a humbucker sized P90) to make them sound and interact with the amp more like Les Paul juniors.   In all cases I felt a pang of pain as I gave them back to the owners as I had improved them 10000%.

This is not a flippant plug for GFS pickups,  I really do think they are good value for the money.  with the P90's you get that single coil sound but with a little extra boost and they really well potted thus avoiding the nastier and unwanted feedback problems.

I also am currently re-wiring and experimenting with a 3 pickup SG to give me a more Ric type sound. (believe it or not). 

My strat is completely stock and is perfect. l.uck of the draw?  (volume pot location excepted due to my playing style)

a good fender jaguar would be on my wishlist. 

As for guitars online.  There is always the problem of neck confort that is a gamble.  What would be great would be local guitar swap meets or guitar clubs to swap guitars and ideas without the snobbery or bull.  One mans lemon is another mans goldmine.

Great topic!

Cheers!

 

RE"I bet Link Wray would look cool rocking an Ibanez."

Link Wray would look cool playing even a Peavey!

 

very true.  i thought flying V's were lame until jay reatard rocked the shit out of them.

The Dark Rags said:

I think it's all up to the person playing the guitar. I bet Link Wray would look cool rocking an Ibanez.

Its pretty interesting that we all seem to be essentially on the same page. 

But then again we don't flock to Garage Punk to discuss getting that ubiquitous "Nickelback" or the hipster equivalent "Arcade Fire" sound.

As for modding,  I have on more than a few occasions dropped GFS "Dream 90's" and "mean 90's" into SG and les Paul type copies for friends  (this is a humbucker sized P90) to make them sound and interact with the amp more like Les Paul juniors.   In all cases I felt a pang of pain as I gave them back to the owners as I had improved them 10000%.

This is not a flippant plug for GFS pickups,  I really do think they are good value for the money.  with the P90's you get that single coil sound but with a little extra boost and they really well potted thus avoiding the nastier and unwanted feedback problems.

I also am currently re-wiring and experimenting with a 3 pickup SG to give me a more Ric type sound. (believe it or not). 

My strat is completely stock and is perfect. l.uck of the draw?  (volume pot location excepted due to my playing style)

a good fender jaguar would be on my wishlist. 

As for guitars online.  There is always the problem of neck confort that is a gamble.  What would be great would be local guitar swap meets or guitar clubs to swap guitars and ideas without the snobbery or bull.  One mans lemon is another mans goldmine.

Great topic!

Cheers!

RE"I bet Link Wray would look cool rocking an Ibanez."

Link Wray would look cool playing even a Peavey!

I think it's all up to the person playing the guitar. I bet Link Wray would look cool rocking an Ibanez.

If a strat is good enough for Mick Collins it's good enough for me. But...you have to use the pickup everyone refuses to use...I'm sure you'll figure that one out.

haha great topic! Should be over in the Bands and Musicians group though.

I've got a '94 Japanese Fender Strat. 62 reissue something. Gutted the pickups out, dropped some decent ones in, gave it a setup and fucking rock n roll she goes!

I love it, it does everything I need it to. Every other guitar I look at is just a cheap whore as far as I'm concerned!

Good question and plenty of great answers.
Speaking of Danelectro: they might not be as rock solid as some guitars, but for the money they are great and super cool with a very unique tone. I have had many different types. The Hodad pictured is actually one of the best ones they ever created in both quality, classy-ness, and practicality/functionality.
Any guitar can be totally cool. I agree that you can make any guitar look cooler by modding it however you like.
I am not a huge Strat fan, but there is no denying that it is a versatile, classic, and high-quality guitar (although most are way over-priced).
I agree that buying a solid low-end guitar and modding it, changing it's appearance, and making it look unique in your own way is a surefire and cheap way to make your guitar look cool.
Rondo and Xaviere (guitarfetish.com) make super cool guitars that are very crazy-inexpensive. But, yes, definately spend some money to get them up to road-warrior ability: re-set up, good strings, double-check electronics and hardware, etc. You could buy a very cool Xaviere guitar for just over a hundred dollars, but may have to spend $50-$100 just to get it tweeked, but it will be worth it. Try to find a friend that knows how to do setups (unless you already know how; if you don't know how you should start learning) and have them show you how it is done and maybe they'll do it for you for a good price.
Good luck.
KK

Isn't it cool enough just to be in a band and play on stage? You know there are people in the audience who are envious that you are up there and they are not. Now that's cool...

I love garage, but my guitars are a Gibson LP Junior VOS and a MIM Fender tele. I love 'em.

Strays are totally cool. Richard Lloyd, lenny Kaye, Mick Collins, built to spill, Dick Dale, Wayne kramer, etc etc

That being said, I'm biased cause I have 6 strats. But I have a bunch of other guitars since i suffer from bad GAS. Among them is a danelectro innuendo, which is a cool guitar in some ways, but playability could be better.

Speaking of playability, I just bought a used agile al-2000 a couple of days ago and it is fucking sick. Really unbelievable guitar for the price. I can't recommend them highly enough. They start at $225 from rondo music. Rondo also has plenty of other great guitars at super low prices. Check them out.

I just read that part. I'm pretty sure he said it was either JJ Flash or Street Fighting Man (or both?) that he did that way. He made a point of saying that he used an "echoplex" effect for satisfaction, which was a new thing then, but the bit about using acoustics through a tape recorder was a bit later...right?

Phil holloway said:

Personally I believe Kieth is holding a bit back on the Satisfaction thing.  If it was an acoustic into a tape machine...

 

I used to have a vinyl copy of "Sucking in the 70s."  I have fond memories of that album.

Phil holloway said:

I actually really like Sucking in the 70's

.......

go figure!

 

Although many people will throw some hate my way I always considered the Rolling Stones to be a really good R&B cover band that could write awesome songs.

The whole "constant craving" thing is pretty much par for the course.

Personally I believe Kieth is holding a bit back on the Satisfaction thing.  If it was an acoustic into a tape machine He probably had the microphone taped right on the guitar near the bridge.

  By  coincidence I did a similar thing when I was 12.  My parents bought me a crappy steel string acoustic guitar AND one of those childrens circuit boards kits that allowed you to learn and build electronics.  From it a built the most basic solid state amplifier from the instructions (obviously no limiter) and  used the microphone/speaker diaphragm part it came with as an "electric guitar" pickup.

At the time I thought it sounded pretty rad.  however my family was not so impressed.

I totally forgot about it until I read the book and thought...of course!!!

 

I actually really like Sucking in the 70's

.......

go figure!

Although many people will throw some hate my way I always considered the Rolling Stones to be a really good R&B cover band that could write awesome songs.

The whole "constant craving" thing is pretty much par for the course.

Personally I believe Kieth is holding a bit back on the Satisfaction thing.  If it was an acoustic into a tape machine He probably had the microphone taped right on the guitar near the bridge.

  By  coincidence I did a similar thing when I was 12.  My parents bought me a crappy steel string acoustic guitar AND one of those childrens circuit boards kits that allowed you to learn and build electronics.  From it a built the most basic solid state amplifier from the instructions (obviously no limiter) and  used the microphone/speaker diaphragm part it came with as an "electric guitar" pickup.

At the time I thought it sounded pretty rad.  however my family was not so impressed.

I totally forgot about it until I read the book and thought...of course!!!

The Mummies are the fucking best.  Also, a great band from Madison WI called Knuckeldrager.

I really like the Back from the Grave compilations, as well as Uptight Tonight.  For Australian Garage the 'It's a Kave In' comp is great.

indeed...even after all these years they are still the best...especially the last one

Gary Patrick Norris said:

back from the grave is the best, imo. solid through each of the 8 volumes. hard to do.

back from the grave is the best, imo. solid through each of the 8 volumes. hard to do.

Yep, this.

John Carlucci said:

Don't refinish it. Don't try to fix it. Leave it be. To do so will drastically reduce the guitar's value. Checking on old guitars is a normal part of the guitar's aging process. It has to do with the wood expanding as another poster already mentioned.

It's one way of proving a guitar is original & not a re-issue. Seriously If you want a pristine. clean guitar go buy a new one & leave this in it's original condition. Trust me on this. Ask any quality vintage music store & the will tell you the same thing.

Don't refinish it. Don't try to fix it. Leave it be. To do so will drastically reduce the guitar's value. Checking on old guitars is a normal part of the guitar's aging process. It has to do with the wood expanding as another poster already mentioned.

It's one way of proving a guitar is original & not a re-issue. Seriously If you want a pristine. clean guitar go buy a new one & leave this in it's original condition. Trust me on this. Ask any quality vintage music store & the will tell you the same thing.

Nice, I think when I have a bit of time I'm going to have to build one of those.  Thanks for the link!

Man, I wish I had any skill or talent with electronics. I'd like to try to build a nice little Supro Thunderbolt clone, but I might end up electrocuting myself to death if I do, haha.

Excellent! Thanks for the link. I've always been a big Pussy Galore fan.

First one that springs to mind is Sleater-Kinney. They fucking rocked. L7 was super bad ass. Currently, I'd say Girl In A Coma.

The Pandoras

The 5,6,7,8's

Gore Gore Girls

I used a Cort Jim Triggs II (with TV Jones Classic pickups) for years and loved it.  I'm too cheap right now for the fret job it needs and just got a Reverend Pete Anderson (p-90's).  Awesome guitar with grit when the bass roll-off knob is turned up.  Highly recommended!!  Strangely, the Cort had awesome useable feedback whereas my Reverend's feedback is high-pitched, shrill and unmusical.  A very versatile guitar, though.

http://www.wildwoodguitars.com/electrics/reverend/12305/12305.php

The Sonics version is unhinged but The Kingsmen version grooves (and still sounds like it's about to go off the rails).