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Getting the guitar you used to see on TV.

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  • Getting the guitar you used to see on TV.

    I guess we all have it: seeing your favorite band on TV as a kid and going "I'd like to have one of those guitars one day."

    So let's talk about making that promise to yourself a reality: buying the guitar you used to see on TV.

    In my own case as a kid growing up in the eighties I saw a lot of chart shows with (Mimed) performances of well known artists playing whatever guitar they had lying around in that TV studio and in most instances it was a Black on Black Fender CBS series stratocaster.


    Add to the fact that Sting was also seen clutching one on Live Aid and people like The Edge from U2, Andy Taylor from Duran Duran and Gary Kemp from Spandau ballet, bands that I really was into as a kid, were playing Black on black CBS strats with big headstocks and big fat Fender Logos it was my indoctrination into becoming a Fender man, this was what a Fender guitar should look like to me.

    And last Saturday I finally made one of those Black on black strats my own.

    Mine is a 1983 Squier SQ-series. But regardless of the fact that it's not really a CBS era Fender, it still has everything I loved about the Black on black strats I used to see on TV, the big headstock, the fat logo, the works. It was calling out my name when I saw it at the stand I bought it from. It sounds really good too, although my bandmembers think that it sounds too shrill compared to my white on black strat with Dimarzio pickups, so I might have to adress that, nevertheless, I finally have the guitar I used to see on TV.

  • #2
    Getting that guitar you grew up wanting is a cool feeling. I felt that way when I bought mu Charvel, because it kind of looked like EVH's and that was good enough for me. Now, 2 odd years later, it looks even more like EVHs, right down to the abused finish I should get fixed sometime Went through a similar thing with my Gibson V, but crappy anchor in the strap button killed that honey moon real fast..

    As for the shrill tone, what pots are in it and what is the cap on the tone pot?

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    • #3
      Well my White on black strat has a Dimarzio Superdistortion fitted in the bridge position, EVERYTHING sounds shrill compared to that pickup.

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      • #4
        For me it was seeing Kiss on HBO in the late 70's - even though i had a connection with Ace and a hunger to learn every lick he played - i wanted a PS-10 more than anything!!!!

        I got one when they came out with the reissue in the mid 90's and that was a great feeing...i still hunger for an original PS10 but i do have the PS-10II and that is good enough for me!!!

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        • #5
          Well, being the Old Fart I am, that guitar was a psychedelic-painted Gibson SG used by Clapton. Yeah, and I lusted after Hendrix' Strat as well.

          My first cheapo electric was a department store Strat-like thing with three pups (I actually still have it!), and a neck like a tree trunk. It cost $40.

          When my parents realized I was serious about playing, they bought me my first real guitar: a '68 Gibson SG Standard. It was the closest thing I knew I could get to Clapton's, and, since I couldn't have Clapton's painted guitar, I painted mine. Luckily I had enough sense to realize messing up the finish was a baaaad idea, so I used water-based poster paint, and only on the pickguard. A smart move, since when I moved on musically, I was able to put the guitar back to what it was.

          Years passed; The real Fool SG faded into obscurity in Todd Rundgren's closet, and my musical career went from avocation to sideline to non-existent. Then a few years back the spark I though had died out flamed bright and true, and I started pulling together a home studio. I'm still busier with my day job than a one-eyed cat watching a dozen rat holes, but I have the desire to PLAY and WRITE again!

          But, I digress.... remember that SG, and Hendrix Strat? Fender came out with a "reverse" righty Strat a few years back. Being the fast mover I am, I never bought one, and they were discontinued. Then one turned up on eBay for an insane low price. Yep, one down...

          Every so often you see repros of The Fool SG. Usually they're around 2K - 5K. Not what I'd call a smart investment for someone in my position. Buuut.... a guy in the Midwest ends up painting an Epiphone SG that looked better that some of the high-priced repros. Score!

          Do they make me play better? No, I still play like crap. But they make me feel like I'm playing better, and so I strive to learn more, practice more, and I'm inspired more. Most times I don't touch those guitars (my current favorite is a 50th anniversary Gold Mexi-Strat with an amazing neck), but they still fire inspiration. As for improving my playing, I'm hoping watching you guys on YouTube may broadcast some skills into my spazzy fingers.

          Moral of story: go for your dream - or a reasonable facsimile thereof - no matter how long it takes!
          WarPig____________________________________________
          "Live every day as if it were your last...
          ...one day it will be."

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          • #6
            Any of Lynch's guitars. Eddie's & Warren's, too. Nuno's N4. Dweezil's Green Charvel.
            8 strings? Because 6 is too easy?

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            • #7
              Originally posted by WarPig View Post
              But, I digress.... remember that SG, and Hendrix Strat? Fender came out with a "reverse" righty Strat a few years back. Being the fast mover I am, I never bought one, and they were discontinued. Then one turned up on eBay for an insane low price. Yep, one down...
              One of these you mean?


              This is my main stage guitar although I have since modified mine to carry a Black pickguard with a Dimarzio humbucker at the bridge

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Blazer View Post
                One of these you mean?
                That's the one!
                WarPig____________________________________________
                "Live every day as if it were your last...
                ...one day it will be."

                Comment


                • #9
                  I thought you meant the actual guitar you saw on TV. That's what I did.
                  Sleep!!, That's where I'm a viking!!

                  http://www.myspace.com/grindhouseadtheband

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                  • #10
                    My favorite was the Red, White & Black EVH guitar. I have had many different variations of it but this was the coolest.



                    To bad for me in my line of work I end up selling off a lot of guitars I wish I could keep longer, so this one is gone now, but I have many other cool guitars so I guess I can't complain.
                    I have to say the Guitar that would be the Holy Grail for me would be Phil Collen's Bela ...
                    This guitar made me want a Jackson so bad!!!!!!! Wow!

                    http://www.philcollenadrenalized.com/TheBela.htm

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                    • #11
                      For me it was the Ozzy albums I had as a kid. Listening to Randy's playing and seeing pictures of him with that white Jackson V is what sealed the deal for me.
                      'Howling in shadows
                      Living in a lunar spell
                      He finds his heaven
                      Spewing from the mouth of hell'

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by FloydRose4Prez View Post
                        Any of Lynch's guitars.
                        + 1 Especially the tigerstripes. My first guitar was an Aria Pro II RS Classic in Pearl white (what was I thinking?) Three very clean single coils, a V-trem.

                        After seeing Lynch, I chopped and hacked that guitar into a single hum tigerstipe with a Kahler Killer bridge, Screamin Demon, and I sunk/angled the neck pocket for the raised bridge. It still is one of my favorite guitars.

                        I'd like to make a Dave Murray strat (the old black one with dual super D's). Maybe a Scorpion guitar or two. Maybe a Marty KE1 as well.

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                        • #13
                          I made that promise to myself twice. Neither was from watching TV. In 1977 (could have been '78) I saw a magazine ad from Brian's guitars in CT. It showed the BC Rich eagle, mockingbird and bich. I promised myself right then that I would buy a bich someday. I figured it was simple destiny considering the name of the store

                          Ten years later I had a 6 string bich.

                          I had always liked explorers, but I was moving away from Gibson necks. In 1985 I saw Rough Cutt. What was that bitchin guitar Chris was playing? A Jackson, well that would probably take care of the neck issue and it looked . I made it my mission to get myself a kelly. That one took 23 years.

                          Promises fullfilled, now if I could add a handbuilt bich and a CS kelly...
                          Damn GAS

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                          • #14
                            Very good topic. Always good to read thru what others thought was cool!
                            The "one" for me was Gibson Explorer of Mathias Jabs. It was such a impression, that I built a body in wood shop, canabalized a old semi acoustic-electric copy of some Gibson for the internals and bought a neck from some place and threw it together as a 9th grader. That wasn't my last canibal job. Did the same for a Nikki Sixx Warlock bass and a a Phil Collen Destroyer. But now the "one" I have craved since seeing it the first time is the RG550DY. But there must be something wrong with me...41 and wanting a SCREAMING yellow guitar trimmed in PINK & LIME GREEN....WTF??Someday someway.

                            But it's the truth and I am sticking to it!
                            Last edited by sixx_ gunner; 10-07-2008, 12:54 PM.

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                            • #15
                              I can still remember the first BC Ric bich...it stuck with me until I made a 3/4 size project out that style.
                              I love that shape...

                              Blazer, the Squire reminds me of the famous Gilmour black strat!
                              Nice...

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