Vintage Guitars


By Uncle Bill - Bill0666@aol.com - January 5, 2005
           The vintage guitars we either owned and lost, or wish we had kept reminded me that several of my old guitars can be seen on my Web site. If you visit it, you'll see the top left photo of a very young 17 year old Uncle Bill with a Magnatone guitar. Solid mahogany, DeArmond pickups, Grover heads and a real Bigsby vibrato. Pearl inlay neck. One problem, one piece neck & body. Impossible to balance neck.
           The second picture is me with a Framus Hollywood guitar. Purchased in Wurtzburg Germany. This was a neat guitar. Red with gold sunburst. Three pickups. Had a "out of phase" position on the switch plate. Great neck. Problem, pick-ups weren't very powerful.
           Third picture, 56 Strat. Originally the shitty Fender rouge red color. painted fire engine Glidden red with 20 coats of clear over it by a local guy. Rosewood wide neck. This is the guitar I used in Rollerland, Shaken all over, Move it and The Girl from Liverpool recordings. Problem? None, I just got tired of it.
           Next picture is during my "I wish I were a Beatle" years. It's a wonderful Rickenbacker 360 simi hollow body guitar. Two pickups, squared edges, blond with white pick guard. This was a real surprising guitar. Fast neck, great sensitive pickups and a odd sound. I used it until I switched to bass.
           Next picture is my drug induced long hair days. I have a Gibson EB-3 Bass. Customized by a former Twiliter band member for me to equal the bass player from the Grateful Dead's bass. The small pickup from the bridge was replaced by a big humbucker like the one near the neck, and the pickup switch was replaced by a real toggle switch with bass chokes on both pickups. With Rotosound strings, this sucker could move some air.
           The bottom two pictures are me with my Aspen acoustic and my Fender Standard Start with the narrow maple neck. I may have the pickups replaced with Seymour Duncan's to get more balls out of it.
           Not pictured are my first real electric guitar that I had in 56. A big yellow Kay F-Hole cutaway with a DeArmond pickup. 1956 White Fender Start pictured on the Twiliter site,  A Fender Musicmaster. White, not very impressive. Vox "something" Black with a white pick guard. Dreadful, my lead liked it and bought it from me. A old Fender Telecaster, blond with black pickguard. Could not get the sound I wanted from it. Owned it for two weeks. A Fender Jazz Bass. Great ax. Wonderful weapon. Vox Phantom bass. Neck was six feet long at least. I had cramps after the night was over. It lasted three weeks. Dynalectro Long horn base, great neck, needed massive amplification to get any bottom from it.
           That's just some of the major stuff that's past through my hands in the past 100 years. I now own a 70 something 4002 Rickenbacker bass, 20 year old Fender Standard Strat, a Schecter C6 solid body that is amazing. Aspin acoustic ands a Yamaha D100 that I keep tuned in "D" because it has a gutsy sound.
           I have my eyes on a Gibson Studio guitar and someday I'd like to own a Dan Armstrong bass. You would think I would have gotten all this out of my system by now.... Check out some of the above mentioned guitars at www.unclebillmusic.com.
Uncle Bill

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