Time passes. . . .

I had the Sumbro for about 3 years and as I had something

half decent, I found that I could do a swap with someone for

a week, which lead me down all sorts of paths.

I remember that the first Telecaster guitar I borrowed, was a

"Jedson" and it was completely different to what I had got

used to with the Sumbro.

After a week, this went back and I then went looking for

another swap.

I can't remember all the swaps. I do, however, remember

a "CSL" Gold Top Les Paul, which was stunning to look at

and seemed to me to have a lot more poke than mine.

There was also an old "Burns" that I had for a short while

but thought at the time it felt a bit dated and couldn't get

on with it.

By this time, I had done all sorts of things to various guitars

and had several given to me to improve or alter them.

I had now learned a lot more and memories of the first incident

with the file, started to fade a little.

I had also started building a guitar, using acquired parts and

a neck, mated to a body that I had made from ash.

Not long after that project, I was asked to make one for a friend

and there the story takes a dramatic turn.

The Story Continues. . . .

The story continues from last year. . . . .
What followed was a sucsession of "planks", mostly from
second hand shops, that were my victims for the next few
months, selling ones that I had done to fund getting another one.

Myself and three other friends were in a band at the time,
loads of enthusiasm but not much skill. It was during this time
that I was introduced to democracy.

"You can play the bass". Oh well, two less strings to worry about.

It was at this time that my dad and me decided to make a bass.
Boy was that a learning curve!
It was very crude and our attempts to calculate fret postions
weren't that accurate. The neck, with no truss rod, was best
described as erm, "Chunky" - a little on the thick side.

It did, however, play and this did the trick for a while.

I managed to persuede someone I knew, that the "Kay" or
Teisco bass he had was not for him, as he was better
on guitar.
I bought the bass and took it home for some of my
special treatment!

Over time, we all got better and thoroughly enjoyed getting
together to practice.

After about six months, we had a change around and I ended
up on guitar and the bass was handed over to my friend.

At this time I yearned for something better and during trips
into town, would stare into the windows of the local
music shops, dreaming!

This desire grew even greater when our bass player arrived
with a brand new bass!

It was an "Ibanez" Ric copy, thru-neck and was absolutely
georgeous.

I just had to have that black Les Paul copy, the one I had
been looking at for weeks.

At the time, it seemed like ages but I guess was only a few
weeks after the unveiling of the Ibanez, that I went into
town with my dad.

Now, I don't remember hounding him to get me this thing
of beauty but when I asked if we could drop by the music
shop, he said yes.

Anyone who remembers this experience, will know what I mean.

We walked in, I went straight to it and just stood there.

A black "Sumbro" Les Paul copy, it all it's glory.
"Do fancy a go", came from behind me, "I'll get it down for you".
The salesman lifted off the wall and handed it to me.

My palms began to sweat as he plugged it in and although
I could play at the time, all I had learned just vanished.
I sat there, fumbling up and down the board, two people
looking at me and it just was all going wrong.

The kind salesman said "it'll take a bit of getting used to"
which I took as "it suits you, buy it".

You cannot imagine my surprise when my dad said "do you
want that one"?

The rest of the transaction was just a blur and the next thing I
recall is being at home, in my bedroom - lead plugged into the
amp, here we go.

The next hour was electric, literally - my first real guitar,
plugged in and sounding so good.

I was Joe Walsh, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimmy Page,
Peter Frampton - in reality a very poor attempt at the heroes
of the time but I didn't care!

Didn't get much sleep that night!!!

This was the start of a life-long love of guitars.
Their looks, sounds, colours, switches, knobs, bridges,
anything connected with them, was of great facination.

The collection had begun!

A long time has passed!

Today I decided to re-visit my blog, as I started it some time ago and have been sort of distracted for a while. A lot going on and I have found myself logging on to several guitar based forums, when I have moments to spare - mainly first thing and at lunch.
So, lunch will now be blog time for at least a couple of days a week.
If anyone actually starts to read this.. . . . .Say Hi!

Here is a pic to keep the ball rolling. :)



Cheers.

Almost a Collection! :) :)

I have spoken to many people over the years of collecting and more recently have been asked if I had a Web Site.
One of the things I have wanted to do for many years, is to learn how to create a web site - to get my head around how to make one interactive and interesting and to unravel the mysteries of being a Web Designer - sort of a creative challenge.
I am playing around with some software but for the time being, I
shall continue the details on this blog.Why "Almost a collection"?
Well, this was a comment made by a friend I had not seen for a while and after detailing the instruments I had at the time, he laughed and said "Blimey, that's almost a collection". I thought his comment was quite amusing and in stuck in the back of my mind.
When I started laying down some ideas, this conversation came to mind and I thought that it was quite appropriate - after all, what quantity constitutes a collection?

So, here goes, hang on tight and I will lead you through the list, starting with how it all began.

Now, I have to say at this point, I still only had a very small amount of experience and what I set about doing makes me shudder, even now.
Again, this is all from memory but it is still pretty clear in my mind.

It was not long after the Hypercaster project was finished and I was after something else to do, something I could get my teeth into.
Sadly, from memory, it took ages and frustration was begining to set in!
Eventually, something did happen, in the way of a set up for another friend. 

He had a "Woolies Special" that he was struggling with and gave it to me after I had pestered him for weeks.The action was very high and it wasn't too difficult to work out that lowering the bridge would bring the strings closer to the fretboard.
Having done that, the strings buzzed on a few of the frets.
So, knowing nothing about truss rods or neck relief, I thought the easiest thing to do was to file down the offending frets, with the smallest file I could find in my dad's kit.
"Mmm, that's odd - that fret doesn't buzz anymore but the next one does!"
Perhaps I'll file that one. Now the next one and the next (you can see where 

this is going!) until after some time, most had been filed.
To my horror, it was worse than before - perhaps more filing was required.
Common sense, or panic, made me stop at this point.
I confided in an older friend that I was having a "bit of trouble" and he said, "oh, that's dead easy, you need to run a flat sharpening stone over them"
Aha, the dark art has been revealed.
This is what I did, very nervously and very carefully and to my relief, it worked.
Not knowing anything about finishing and polishing frets, they were left as they were.

I returned it to my friend, who was very pleased that it was a lot easier to play.
What a relief. So, Paul Harris, if you are still out there, that is the real story!
I learned a great deal from that experience and decided that for the time being, I would practice on what was mine!

Flat Eric.

Hypercaster Guitar.

Some history behind the story.

Almost a collection!

Collecting guitars is something I have done for most of my life, beginning when I was around 12 years old.
It started with a nylon strung classical that I learned the basics on for a while and then moved on to a Vox electric, which I acquired for very little money, as it was in a bit of a state.
It looked like a Strat but was much smaller, black and bashed around, looking a little sorry for it's self.
I took this as my first project and stripped it down to individual components, ready for a re-build.
A very good friend of mine, John, suggested that a bit of custom work on it would make it more individual and offered to paint a logo on the headstock. I gave the neck to him and carried on with the rest of it, eventually deciding the Red was the colour to go for.
He came back with the neck and the "Falcon Hypercaster" was born.
From memory, it had a very thin sound, not helped by the asthmatic 10 watt amp I had been given on loan from another friend, who could spare it for a while! I think I still had it over a year later!!
This was the start of my obsession with the instrument and I would love to know if the "Falcon Hypercaster" is still out there somewhere.
So, that's where it started and continues to the present day.


The only image I can find of one, is this.



Cheers.
Flat Eric

Seems like a good place to start!

Today's the day!

Never done anything like this before and know little about how it works but today I have made a start.
I used to have a passion for Classic Cars but after more years than I care to remember, I think I am finally cured!!

My other passion over many years, has been Guitars!
This must be something that millions of us share around the world, either as players, as admirers of the instrument, or both!
I am both a player and an admirer and the in following days/weeks and months, I will come back to this blog with something new, until there is no more to be said.

Cheers.
Flat Eric.