Lets See All Them Axes

[Fred Sanford]

I paid 80$ for mine, with a gig bag, strap, spare set of fresh strings.

I've thought about blocking my trem. not sure what the graphite bits do, but the PU mod sounds interesting. how is that done?

I had a really nice AH-10 Alan Holdsworth signature Ibanez from the early 80's at one point. that was a nice japanese built guitar.

The graphite bits helped with a problem where the original nut and string trees would often grab the string while tuning (or using the trem) instead of letting the strings slide through easily.

I had bought this guitar as a test-bed guitar to test the pickups I had lying around, but once I delved into this one & noticed that the OEM pickups were wired for access to the individual coils, I had to give them a shot. Once I did, they sounded good enough that I've never taken them out. I used a push/pull tone knob pot/switch to do the coil tapping, so it looked stock and would have been easy to return to stock if I ever cared to. Most of my Vantage guitars have used that approach. Look to see how many wires are coming from your pickup to see if it's an easy job on yours. A clear pic of the control cavity might be enough to let us see what your easy options are.

je

 

[Fred Sanford]

Here's the first Vantage I owned, and an example of the push/pull tone knob coil tap I explained above. It's been well-loved, I've worn a lot of wood away from the face of this guitar over the years (I've had it since '85). It's on its third bridge, second set of tuners, and who knows how many output jacks. Original pickup (MMK45) & pots, though. It was the go-to knock-around axe until the IbaNerf showed up, and still gets brought out for a spin once in a while, especially to deflate snobbish types. I have a backup for it that's nearly identical, but the frets are in much better shape so it intonates better- it has been used on many, many recordings. It also started me on a long line of Vantages...I can think of at least 10 I've owned, and there are still 5 here.

There are stories in just about all the stickers and gouges and bruises on this thing (some of the stickers are even scratch-n-sniff, some glow in the dark). It's part of the family now. It deserves some adjustment & detailed attention some day, but I always just seem to fire it up & go.

1981 Vantage AV-320

je

 

[rockin1150]

here's mine!

 

[DENNYDOG]

^^^^^^Cool guitar Fred ^^^^^^ Kind of reminds me of my welding helmet.

My FISKARS wood chopping axe... and my Epiphone G400 music shredding axe. :yes: Still learning on the guitar.

 

[ic-racer]

Great pictures everyone. I don't own a guitar but it's fun to look at your incredible collections. Are the Gretsch Nashville's (and similar) and Gibson Les Paul's difficult to play compared to some of the others? I love the sound of the Gretsch's and Billy Zoom and Brian Setzer are a couple of my favorite guitarist.

I would say no.

I set up all my guitars about the same. They all could be set up with .009's, and sound OK that way, if needed. Most people would put heavier strings than that on a Gretsch, thus making it slightly harder to play than an Ibanez RG ( but not much). Even with thick strings the Gretsch is going to be way easier to play than a steel string acoustic.

 

[ic-racer]

A couple more Gibsons.

A re-issue SG and a Les Paul Studio Light with MIII electronics. No one understands the MIII electronics...unless, of course you happen to also own an MIII (see earlier post). The black hardware was made by Schaller in Germany for Gibson.

The SG is pretty cool in that they even duplicated those little PAF stickers on the back of the pickups.

 

[ic-racer]

Original 1987 Yellow RG550. They re-issued this last year (20th anniversary)

 

[Duffinator]

I would say no.

I set up all my guitars about the same. They all could be set up with .009's, and sound OK that way, if needed. Most people would put heavier strings than that on a Gretsch, thus making it slightly harder to play than an Ibanez RG ( but not much). Even with thick strings the Gretsch is going to be way easier to play than a steel string acoustic.

Thanks for the info. So are you and the other members with multiple guitars professional musicians or just obsessed like many of us on AK?

 

[Fred Sanford]

Original 1987 Yellow RG550. They re-issued this last year (20th anniversary)

I never liked the squared edges of that series . I had a Maxxas that was cool, but the bridge pieces kept falling off of it & were tough to find replacements. Just from looks, I'd think the Satriani series would fit me well.

je

 

[Fred Sanford]

Thanks for the info. So are you and the other members with multiple guitars professional musicians or just obsessed like many of us on AK?

Never full-time musician, but did work in musical theater bands & orchestras as a drummer. Live PA and studio work on the side, too. Made LOTS of money over the years by repairing/modding guitars or picking up busted/neglected guitars & fixing them up to eventually sell. Amps, too. This obsession came long before the A/V obsession, but the recording obsession helped fuel the A/V obsession. Mostly the guitar wheeling & dealing paid the extra needed for a house to keep a studio in.

je

 

[Fred Sanford]

I would say no.

I set up all my guitars about the same. They all could be set up with .009's, and sound OK that way, if needed. Most people would put heavier strings than that on a Gretsch, thus making it slightly harder to play than an Ibanez RG ( but not much). Even with thick strings the Gretsch is going to be way easier to play than a steel string acoustic.

Any difference in scale length/string tension? I find solid-bodies usually have the strings feel livelier & sustain more, but I can't say that I've had any really well-setup hollow bodies. I did have a cool Gretsch at home for a while (Monkees model), but never got around to sourcing a correct bridge for it, so it was never 100% at all.

Also had a Gretsch Traveling Wilburys model, but that's a different animal.

je

 

[Fred Sanford]

^^^^^^Cool guitar Fred ^^^^^^ Kind of reminds me of my welding helmet.

My FISKARS wood chopping axe... and my Epiphone G400 music shredding axe. :yes: Still learning on the guitar.

I remember when you picked up that SG- how's that going for you? My first guitar was a ~'71-'72 SG, I miss that poor thing.

je

 

[StevieDude]

Great pictures everyone. I don't own a guitar but it's fun to look at your incredible collections. Are the Gretsch Nashville's (and similar) and Gibson Les Paul's difficult to play compared to some of the others? I love the sound of the Gretsch's and Billy Zoom and Brian Setzer are a couple of my favorite guitarist.

Duff, it's been my experience that once you get use to the larger body, they play very good, in fact of all the Les Pauls, Strats, SG, etc. my orange 6120 is as good of a player as any guitar I have ever owned. The same goes for the Tenny as well but the Gent could use a fret job and the sooner the better!

 

[StevieDude]

Fred, that's just too cool man! :thmbsp: How about a sticker story?

 

[OldSkool]

This is a stock photo, but I really like my Peavey Grind.

 

[ic-racer]

I never liked the squared edges of that series . I had a Maxxas that was cool, but the bridge pieces kept falling off of it & were tough to find replacements. Just from looks, I'd think the Satriani series would fit me well.

je

For some reason I can't locate all my Ibanez pictures, but maybe I'll take some new ones.

I got into collecting Japanese-made 80's locking tremolo Ibanez guitars a while back because finding sunburst Les Pauls at garage sales was more difficult than finding Bigfoot. I never saw one and never personally knew anyone that ever did.

Japanese-made 80's Ibanez locking tremolo guitars were cheap in the early 90s because everyone wanted a fixed bridge then. Never was able to get a Maxxas or Reb Beach and its probably too late as those guitars now have some appeal to Ibanez collectors (and thus have exceeded my $250 limit )

 

[StevieDude]

Here are a few more I just took pictures of yesterday.

This is a better pic of my Les Paul and one of it's big brother, an Epi Elitist 335.

This is a 1996 Japanese Strat with Fat 50s' pickups I mounted a while back, great sounding guitar but a little on the stiff side for me.

Both of these could use a fret job but I think are keepers!

 

[ic-racer]

Here are some of my Ibanez solid body guitars:

Mid 90's JS 1000
80's RG430 ('Gibson' scale length, other Ibanez are 'Fender' scale)
Signed Jem
80's green RG470 (Japanese made, they re-used the RG470 name on a different Korean guitar in the 90s)
1987 blue RG550. Re-finished, though I can't detect the original color. Brochures don't show blue as an available color in 87. This is probably my most played and favorite guitar of all. A 'chance' meeting of the right woods and electronics.

This is the blue one:
http://soundclick.com/share?songid=6147741

 

[ic-racer]

Here are a few more I just took pictures of yesterday.

This is a better pic of my Les Paul and one of it's big brother, an Epi Elitist 335.

Awesome guitars!

 

[StevieDude]

Awesome guitars!

Thanks! So are yours! I really like the black wrinkle painted one! Was that painted like that from the manufacturer? Is it a textured paint? :scratch2: