1977 Greco EG700 Les Paul Copy

 

This guitar plays great, sounds great, and looks great.  Yet, I still find myself trying to make friends with it.  The only problem with this guitar is the neck is not quite substantial enough for me.  The nut is wide enough, but thickness (especially near the nut) is lacking a bit for my taste.  But isn't that the great thing about guitars, I know some people who love these slim tapered necks.  I am far from being a great electric player, but the neck on a guitar is important to me.  I love a beefy neck!  I think this is because I have spent so much of my life with acoustic guitars.  All of which have had thicker necks than most electrics I have played.  Plugging an electric guitar in at a music store is not even necessary for me.  I can tell if it's for me by simply sitting down and feeling its acoustic resonance as well as feeling like the neck has that chunkiness I enjoy.

Nonetheless, this guitar is a keeper because it sounds great.  You can get a lot of different tones out of it.  I believe these Grecos are a great bang for the buck.  There are models out there with thicker necks.  The Les Paul is the ultimate rock and roll guitar, but the pricing prohibits someone like me from owning an actual Gibson.  Even the current models are ridiculously priced.  If you are looking for a much cheaper option that still has a vintage vibe, I would recommend these lawsuit era Grecos.  That era is generally defined as being around 1980-1981 as you can see from this posts title, this guitar pre-dates that by a couple years.  I would like to get my hands on one of those 80's instruments to see if it feels any different.  If you like a light instrument, this may not be your thing, it has some heft to it.  Otherwise, it's all there.  Good sounding pickups, intonatable bridge, stop tailpiece, set neck, and good tuners.  Quite a nice copy.

The first two numbers of the serial number on these Grecos indicate the year it was made.

Greco(as well as most of the Japanese makers) all made models that have bolt on necks.  They don't have the same feel to me as these set necks.

Teisco ET-320 Electric Guitar

 

This guitar is a bruiser!!  Big, fat, muscular tone.  A heavy, thick necked, offset guitar that is a really pleasant surprise in every way.  It stays in tune, the neck is straight, the electronics work, the tremolo works and the guitar is generally in excellent shape for its age.  This guitar embodies what I always hope for, to find inexpensive diamonds in the rough, guitars that don't break the bank and are not only very playable, but smile inducing. 

Its no fast flyer like your perfectly set up Strat, but this guitar plays really well and I haven't even had it set up yet.  It also provides certain tones that you would never be able to conjure from more so called -elite- instruments.  I love the look of it as well, can't beat that retro vibe.  But damn those rocker switches for pickup selectors.  With all that Japanese ingenuity you would think they could have just settled on a Strat or Tele-like selector switch.  Though they are working fine, these switches are a pain in the ass and tend to fail.  Teisco made a number of different configurations of this model.  It seems the ones with the 4x2 tuner setup on the headstock like this one are all beefy, cool guitars that can still be found at bargain prices.  Make sure they have a truss rod and an intonatable bridge and you should be able to set it up to your liking. 

I generally don't get into wild headstock designs, but this one is rockin'.  It totally works for me!

1960's Kay Acoustic Guitar with Maple Back and Sides

 

This guitar is terrific.  It was given the once over by Ben Thiry of Seven Wards Guitar in Minnesota.

I can now highly recommend his work.  Ben re-braced the guitar, neck work, fret work, new bridge, saddle, nut...the whole nine yards.

It plays and sounds incredible now.  This Kay is probably from the mid to late 60's and sports a spruce top with maple back and sides.  This is a pretty rare wood combo for Kay.  I think I have only seen one other example of this model.  Maple lends to a brighter tone.  I was concerned about that as I am not a fan of bright tones in either acoustic or electric guitars.  In this case, the maple excels at simply knocking the mud out of the mids and lows.  Chords and single notes are crystal clear.

I believe this Kay came from a little later in their history.  A time when they were trying to compete and stay relevant against the Japanese invasion of cheaper instruments.  I think it dates to this time because of the wood combo, open back Grover tuners, and those sexy inlays on the neck.  A little more upscale than the usual dot fretboard inlays in an attempt to woo some customers.  Great neck on this one with a slightly flatter radius, terrific tone and playability.

A few wham-o's on this guitar, but that never hurt anyone.  I like 'em like that!

I forgot to mention the maple neck as well.  Super rare choice for Kay guitars.

Willie Nelson - Gear Talk

 

I bought this painting a number of years back.  I think it is the absolute best representation of Willie Nelson that I have ever seen.  Take a minute to look online and you will find nothing but craggy faced paintings of Willie that barely pass for him.  This painting captures what Willie is all about more than any other piece of art that has attempted to represent him.  It might very well be my favorite possession.  You can see that the frame needs a quick repair, but I don't even want to take it off the wall for that.

The painting was created by an artist named Sloan.  His focus was spot on.  He didn't elect to create another tired facial image focusing on the braids, the wrinkles, and the outlaw/stoner hero.  Instead, he used his talents to portray the item that helps Willie create his art.  Of course, the painting is of Willie's guitar - Trigger.  It could be easily argued that there is no other instrument so intrinsically tied to an artist in the way that Trigger is to Willie.

Trigger is a 1969 Martin N-20 nylon string classical guitar.  Only 262 of them were made in 1969, and thus are fairly hard to find.  They fetch a pretty penny these days.  One can only imagine the type of money Willie's actual guitar would command.  I am not sure anything could be referred to as priceless these days with the ridiculous amounts of money that seem to be floating around out there, but Trigger comes close.  Trigger is as culturally and musically significant as any modern instrument you can think of.  A Smithsonian worthy museum piece that is priceless in the sense that there is only one of them, and there will never be another.

Trigger came into existence when the Baldwin C800 acoustic guitar that Willie used to play was stepped on and broken by a drunk at Floore's Country Store in Helotes, Texas.  The guitar was beyond repair and Willie was offered the Martin N-20 for $750.  That was a boat load of money for a guitar back then.  To make a comparison, you could have purchased a '59 Les Paul Burst for around $500 in the late '60's.  That guitar, in some instances can fetch over $500,000 today.  

The Baldwin Prismatone pickup in that Baldwin C800 was salvaged and fitted into Willie's new Martin N-20.  This pickup has since been replaced many times.  They've been sourced from late 60's Baldwin acoustics and stocked to have replacements.  Willie also remained faithful to his Baldwin C-1 solid state amp from 1969.  He apparently has 8 of these.  So, here is the signal chain...a 1969 Martin N-20 nylon string classical guitar that has never had a fret job and has a huge hole worn into the soundboard after 54 years of road work is fitted with an antiquated Baldwin Prismatone acoustic guitar pickup and plugged into a 1969 Baldwin solid state amplifier that is fitted with 2 - 12" speakers.  It can't be forgotten that Willie uses a flatpick when playing Trigger.  He wanted to get close to the sound his hero Django Reinhardt obtained by using a nylon plectrum, often a button from a shirt or coat.  Under the direction of a lesser man you can bet that this rig will almost always sound like shit.  

But we are talking about Willie here.  He has cultivated that rig into one of the most distinctive tones in the history of any musical genre.  How has he done this?  The answer is found in the word "tone".  Tone comes from within it doesn't come from a wire.  The guitars, the pickups, the amps, the electronics are all simply tools that you and I and Willie are in charge of.  They do what we direct them to do.  The "Trigger Rig" is simply an extension of Willie.  When he has both hands on Trigger the tone circuit that begins with his fretting hand, travels through his body to his picking hand and back around again is complete.  

Willie has played Trigger exclusively for over 50 years.  What a terrific lesson for us.  You see these big time rock stars with massive guitar collections and they can't even come close to the cultural significance that Willie has established with just one guitar.  I have no doubt that a '59 Burst sounds and feels amazing.  I am also pretty sure that in the wrong hands that guitar could be made to sound like any Silvertone, Harmony, or Kay out there.  Willie and his "Trigger Rig" are constant reminders that tone doesn't come from expensive, rare gear, it comes from the heart and the hands.