Breakfast
I do enjoy breakfast but I don’t get around to eating it nearly often enough. Today, for example, I skipped breakfast and went on a rather long run (then proceeded to eat the largest lunch imaginable). Somehow I managed to maintain enough energy to crank this page out in an afternoon and watch some Top Gear besides. Why can’t every day be a national holiday?
This comic is getting quicker to draw, and looking better with every page, in my opinion. I’ve got a bit of a story put together which will span the coming weeks or months (depending on the pacing), so things are going to get interesting.
In music gear project news:
my amplifier project plods on. Unfortunately there isn’t very much more to show, other than rather a lot of wires connecting the tube heaters to their corresponding taps on the power transformer. This is about the simplest step in the whole process, but golly did it ever take a long time.
What I DID manage to accomplish this weekend was to finally install a new pickguard on my main guitar (a strat). I switched it from a traditional SSS configuration to an HSS with the stock single coils in the middle and neck positions, and a beautiful Dimarzio PAF Pro in the bridge. I bought the PAF Pro several years ago for cheap from a guy who thought it was a Super Distortion. In fact, I also thought it was a super distortion (or rather, the 4-wire version, the “Dual Sound”) until a few weeks ago when I noticed a sticker on the back reading, “151”, and a stamp in the metal of the letter “F”. This means it’s actually an F-spaced DP-151 PAF Pro, and not a standard-spaced Super Distortion as I had thought. Crazy. All that aside, though, I do really like the sound. It has had me playing Van Halen lines (poorly) all day now.
Oh, here’s a picture of before and after:
Where once there was elegance, there is now a sort of vintage-looking ugly bastard of a guitar – but somehow I find it very pretty. Those single-coil pickup covers are probably going to have to change from off-white to black, to balance out the heavy black from the new knobs. Well, I say “new” but what I actually mean is “pulled-off-a-50s-PA-amplifier”.
Anyway, that’s more than enough gear talk from me for now. Have a great week, everyone! I’ll see you Thursday.
I wouldn’t know a Gibson from a Fender if they didn’t put their name on it, so I’ll speak from shear ignorance. Why change the knobs and pick-up covers to black when you can keep most of the original look? Yes, I think the black parts on the white background make a nice contrast, and even work with the black fret board dots, but wouldn’t that compromise it’s value? The new pickup looks good though, even if the off white of the “new” pickup is a little bit more “off”!
Good questions! Fender guitars are all about interchangeable parts. Swapping pickguards, knobs, pickup covers, and even pickups is very easy to do. In my case, I simply wanted to stray from the “stock” look into something more unique. If I get tired of the look in a year, I can change back to stock (or something new) pretty painlessly.
How these changes affect the value is a little weird. Because the parts are so interchangeable, a newer guitar like mine is mostly valued by the sum of its parts rather than as a single unit. Swapping one pickguard out for another (or knobs or covers or pickups) doesn’t really devalue the guitar so much as it changes it. As long as the neck, body, and action are sound, everything else can pretty much be swapped in and out without anyone minding.
The exception is, of course, “vintage” guitars. For those, people tend to care a lot about having the original parts, because A) vintage parts are harder to find, and B) older instruments have value as a collectible, so a more “stock” guitar is generally more desirable.
All things considered, I plan to keep this guitar for a very long time (maybe forever), so there is more value to me in making it uniquely “mine” than there is keeping it all original.
Whoops. Looks like I got a little long-winded there. I hope that all makes sense.
Good answers! It reminds me on the ’84 Mustang GT in my garage I work on when my life’s responsibilities allow it. Not vintage, and considered the ugliest GT ever (to which I concur), never hit, but faded paint and interior. Completely stock, but not running. The 5.0 LTR High Output V-8, the last with a Holley carburetor, put out only 175 hp. Nobody wanted it, so they gave it to me! I already had an ’80 Mustang, 6-cylinder, but I gave up on it (rust and body putty issues). The interior, nose, and tail lights is going into the ’84. I’m building my favorite Mustang: Original Fox body (’79) styling, Modified 5.0 with a non-emission Holley, 5 speed stick, T-tops, hood scoop and spoiler. All parts will be Ford stock, except for the carb and internal engine mods. The rear axle is from a ’91 GT, the wheels from an ’87 and the interior from an ’80, but all Ford stock! So, your guitar and my GT will be worth more after we’re done with it than if we left them stock. One thing in your favor, it will be easier to return yours to original! And I might keep my GT “for a very long time (maybe forever), so there is more value to me in making it uniquely ‘mine’ than there is keeping it all original.
Whoops. Looks like I got a little long-winded there. I hope that all makes sense.” Who said that?
Hahaha. Well played, sir. People say Fender guitars look like cars. I guess the similarities run deeper than that.
That’s very cool. One of my coworkers drives a mid-80’s Mustang to work every day. It isn’t … pretty, but it is charming in its own way.
I’ve always loved classic cars (though to my shame I have no idea how to work on them). Even so, someday I hope to restore/overhaul an early ’70s Datsun 240z. Those are very pretty.
The 240Z. The ONLY Japanese car that became a collectable classic! I haven’t seen one in years! That’s because I live in New York, where they disappeared like the Wicked Witch of the West, “I’m melting, I’m melting!”.
In the case of the 240Z, it was rust. Do they still exist in warmer, drier climates? I hope so. No other rice burner was ever so loved and remembered as the “Z”! Toyota competed with the Celica. (the who?) It is a funny thing. Even when the Japanese were building better cars than the U.S., they ran them into the ground and left them there. Many American cars were rebuilt. Today I saw a beautifully restored early ’80’s Ford Fairmont on the road. A Fairmont!? Ever see a rebuilt Tercel or a or B210? Only the 280Z was considered worth saving. Check out a beautiful yellow ’73 on eBay. Garaged with 37K miles for $5100 and climbing. Lots of pictures!
Did I say “280Z”, I meant 240Z.
Yeah, the trouble with cars from that era is that they weren’t exactly built to last. I live in one of the drier parts of California, so you see a lot of classic cars rolling around during the summer (in various states of disrepair). “Z”s aren’t common but they are around. I see a TON of old Mustangs and El Caminos though. But then, there were probably more of those around to begin with.