Show Your vintage gear!

[Stringswinger]

Let's say that vintage means pre-1980 (I know that for a lot of us 1965 is the real end of vintage guitars, but let's face it, a guitar or amp made in 1979 is pretty vintage these days.)

I have owned a few vintage guitars and amps over the years but have mostly sent them along. Vintage amps need repairs that are beyond my pay grade as do vintage guitars. I have pretty much settled on a collection of 15 guitars and 4 amps. Of those three of the guitars and one of the amps are vintage. Here are pictures and a short desription of my stuff:

1964 Fender Princeton amplifier. I have loaded this amp with a 1970 Fender branded JBL speaker and have also had a three prong cord installed (I have the original two prong cord and the original Oxford speaker)

1935 D'Angelico Excel. Here is a 6 year old thread from when I got this guitar with a lot of this guitar's history: 1935 D'Angelico Excel

1948 D'Angelico Style B. This guitar is mosly original except for some Grover tuners installed in the 1960's and a recent pickguard made by this forum's very own Deacon Mark

1937 D'Angelico Style A. This guitar was restored by master luthier and jazz guitar virtuoso Eddie Diehl (RIP).

I have showed you mine, let's see yours!

[wintermoon]

Looking good SS!

[Little Jay]

I’ll show you mine


1950 ES-125:






Late 60ies or early 70ies Guyatone Reverb Custom (Twin Reverb clone, behind my DIY ES-330 kit guitar):


Early 60ies (I think) Framus Strato 345 amp:


The Framus amp is superb! It’s my main amp nowadays for everything . Relatively light for a tube amp. It has 2 EL36 power tubes that you mostly find in old televisions, and a 12” Elbau speaker. I think it puts out around 30 watts or so. But the speaker must be pretty efficient because even on outdoor stages I have plenty of volume. It’s Fender-y, but with more mids which I associate with tweed amps, but with the mids dialed back it sounds very blackface. I meticulously traced the circuit so in case it ever gets lost or stolen I can rebuild it!

[telephone]

‘60 ES-125TDC, ‘51 ES-350 sn A6879, ‘51 ES-350 sn A6872.

The 350 on the right (A6872) will be moving on as soon as I find a buyer.

[Little Jay]

‘60 ES-125TDC, ‘51 ES-350 sn A6879, ‘51 ES-350 sn A6872.

The 350 on the right (A6872) will be moving on as soon as I find a buyer.

Really like that ES-125TDC, the working man’s 175(T)!

But the 350s are not too shabby either ;-)
(How did you find serials that close?!?! Wow!!!)

[telephone]

Really like that ES-125TDC, the working man’s 175(T)!

But the 350s are not too shabby either ;-)
(How did you find serials that close?!?! Wow!!!)

I put out a feeler for an early ‘50s 175. A fella contacted me acknowledging that while it wasn’t a 175, he had an immaculate 350 he was looking to sell. I replied saying that I already had a pretty nice 350 (A6872). When he revealed the sn of his 350 (A6879) my curiosity was piqued. These two guitars were litter mates. Just for kicks I asked to see pics. It’s unbelievably clean, completely original. No finish checking to be found anywhere, frets show no wear. Made the deal, and here it is. It’s breathtaking.

[Sam Sherry]

Ca. 1850 German double bass



It's my only DB. I'm a DB player, doubling guitar. I gig with it all the time.
(I have a stick-DB for outdoor gigs and dead-of-winter rehearsals.)

And yeah, it does sound every bit as nice as the operator allows it to!

[SierraTango]

1953 Epi Triumph Regent. I do gig with it occasionally, it has no pickup, so small, intimate venues. If we give 10 year leeway on the 1980 criteria, my 1990 Benedetto Cremona is now 32 years young, is my main working guitar. She's not getting older, she's getting better!

[vernon]

1974 Gibson ES-175

1964 Fender Princeton AA964

1962 Fender Princeton 6g2

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Now that's a classy amp wedge!

[Stringswinger]

Now that's a classy amp wedge!

It probably cost more than the one you got from Henriksen.

[Paulie2]

I'll join in! Here's my 1953 L-7C, 1973 L-5CES, and bonus 1946 Gibson lap steel. This is all I have vintage items I own at the moment, but had others come through my house over the years that I got to enjoy for awhile before moving on to buy these two.

[BComp61]

1915 Gibson L-03...she's rough but kind of cool. Missing the pick guard, been (poorly) refinished, tuners replaced but still...
Tailpiece has a 1910 patent.

[Gilpy]

Here are the ones that I have right now that could be considered "vintage":

1964 Gibson ES-335. This is my #1 gig guitar. It really is a special one.

1973 Gibson L-5S. I've been restoring it from some unfortunate mods. Almost done!

'60s Teisco EP-9. Plays great. My Mexican beach guitar

1936 Martin 000-18. A gift from my stepfather who bought it in '38. I've had it for 50 years

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Wow, Gilpy - the L5S looks great!!!

[Gilpy]

Wow, Gilpy - the L5S looks great!!!

Thanks! It turned out much better than I anticipated. I'm gonna let the nitro cure for a couple of weeks before I sand and buff. Since there's been some interest in this guitar, I'll do a NGD post when it's finished.

[Mark M.]

What a great thread. I wish I had something to contribute. Those stablemate ES350’s are stunning!

[Rhythmisking]

Not a lot of pre-'80 stuff here, and certainly nothing as impressive as above, but:


'77 Starcaster


'79 Yamaha SA2000 (bought new as a lad)


'77 Stratocaster


'57 ES-225 (modded)


'60 Supro Dual Tone


'81 Ibanez FA-100 (okay, not pre '80, but it's such a sweet guitar)

Almost forgot this one, (because my son has it now)

'75 Tele Deluxe

[wzpgsr]

Here’s a 1954 ES-125 and a 1965 ES-125T. I sold the T a couple of weeks ago to help fund a more recent ES-175.



Then there’s this little fella in back, a 1965 or 1966 Ampeg Gemini II. Paid $400 for it a few years ago. After all the required maintenance was performed, I was maybe $800 all in including a couple of exploratory speaker swaps. I love me some Fender, but I love me some Ampeg even more.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I forgot all about these - they're in my closet or on the wall in our apartment. The youngest is about 40 years old.

Supro lap steel with Rowe Industries changer tailpiece (year uncertain - early 1940s?) and one of the first Kubicki Expresses (made for me, signed and dated 1981 by Phil K).



early '57 P-bass reissue -



And here's my steel body National Tricone (early '80s as I recall). I bought it new from a local vintage dealer who was trying to decide if he should carry the newly introduced National line and brought this one in to test the waters. It's a wonderful guitar! I traded an original brass bodied Style O for it because the brass guitars were so heavy.

[grahambop]

Here’s the oldest thing I’ve got - a Windsor banjo. Must be older than 1940, since the factory in Birmingham was bombed by the Luftwaffe that year (on Hitler’s orders?) and the company went out of business.

[Spook410]

Primary tone control. 1954 but still in pretty good condition.

[Little Jay]

Primary tone control. 1954 but still in pretty good condition.

Nice playwear & patina!

;-)

[yebdox]

Nice playwear & patina!

;-)

Authentic weather checking, or professional relic-ing? I’ve heard that you can fake that finish by soaking the instrument in Palmolive dish soap for 5 hours, followed by 3 weeks in the sun…

[mad dog]

This is an amazing thread. Such beautiful instruments!

Here's another one. '61 Guild X175B. Came stock with aluminum bridge and Guild-badged Bigsby. Now set up with period correct harp tailpiece and wooden bridge: