Anybody else bought a guitar for what it looks like?

  • Thread starter Thread starter rob aylestone
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"Spend your pennies wisely" I was once told. Put you money where it does the most good. Using a 100$ capacitor would have put me on the wall of shame, if not fired.
The power of suggestion is very strong. A certain guitar company knew this when they encased a standard polypropylene cap in a black body and put some bumblebee stripes on it, then proceeded to sell it for $$$$$! It must sound better, it was only 200x more expensive!

I also remember people complaining because the originals were rated 600v and the reproductions were merely 400v. Surely 600 gives you more headroom that 400, right? Considering that the tone circuit in a guitar is dealing with a fraction of a volt, it seems a bit like overkill, doesn't it?
 
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I also remember people complaining because the originals were rated 600v and the reproductions were merely 400v. Surely 600 gives you more headroom that 400, right?
That spec is for "working voltage". i.e. not to exceed. If you've never seen an electrolytic capacitor blow up, you are definitely missing out on one of life's little pleasures.
It's a prank that every rookie tech goes through.
 
I did it again. I had one just like this 20 years agao and gave it to a friend who was having a bad time in his life. For some reason bells went off when I saw it. More sentimental than sexy. And it IS a fucking Dandy.
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That spec is for "working voltage". i.e. not to exceed. If you've never seen an electrolytic capacitor blow up, you are definitely missing out on one of life's little pleasures.
It's a prank that every rookie tech goes through.
An electrical engineer I worked with years ago rigged a cap in one of my desk drawers to blow up when I opened the drawer. Nearly shat myself when it blew.
 
An electrical engineer I worked with years ago rigged a cap in one of my desk drawers to blow up when I opened the drawer. Nearly shat myself when it blew.
We pranked a kid one day. "Henri". Nice kid, but full of himself. White lab coat, white shirt and tie, knew everything, blah, blah.
I had a 8X8 cubical, We took a 2200uF electrolytic, and rigged it to a 12V supply. BACKWARDS.
"Hey! Henri! Got a minute?
He came in, (poor guy) and turned on the power supply. Henri was sitting there in his white lab coat, my buddy Dave was standing next to me with our backs to the cube. Both of us were looking at the current meter on the supply, pegged @ 5 amps. Henri was checking out this unit, (that we had rigged not to work).
Dave and I were watching the cap get bigger, and bigger and BIGGER. We were like, "this thing should have blown 3 minutes ago! "We gotta get outta here!" BIGGER AND BIGGER AND BIGGER ! BAM! It sounded like a bomb went off. There was smoke, paper, aluminum shards 100 feet away! OMG. And the smell? God awful.
First thing Henri said, "It wasn't my fault!". Dave and I damn near sh*t ourselves and couldn't get out of that cubicle fast enough. .
I WILL have to explain that to my maker on Judgment day. There will be a laugh, but I WILL go to Hell
 
That spec is for "working voltage". i.e. not to exceed. If you've never seen an electrolytic capacitor blow up, you are definitely missing out on one of life's little pleasures.
It's a prank that every rookie tech goes through.
Been there.... done that! They do make a nice "pop". :giggle:
 
That spec is for "working voltage". i.e. not to exceed. If you've never seen an electrolytic capacitor blow up, you are definitely missing out on one of life's little pleasures.
It's a prank that every rookie tech goes through.
Guilty. They don't half make a bang.
As a young technician I stayed for 6 months in an employees hostel, when I worked in the scientific civil service.
The window of my shared bedroom was directly above that of the foreign mature lady cook.
So I dangled a... Well, you can guess the rest.
I'll just point out that I could never condone any immature behaviour.
 
Almost all my guitars are bought because I love how they look. And I often use them in photoshoots ;) so always a good excuse.
Y'all got a great eye, buckaroo!
Extremely nice photos.
BTW: Notwithstanding the distraction, that Lucky Buck with the P90 is stunning.
 
Well, I was looking for a les paul traditional on reverb. So yeah, I pretty much had to go by pictures. Had to make sure it was a real les paul traditional. Had to make sure the serial number was right for what I was looking for. Had to decide if it was in as good a shape as I wanted. Had to make sure the belt buckle rash was acceptable. Had to make sure I didn't see any part that looked wrong.
I bought it and I couldn't be happier.
My amp tech told me "This looks like a nice guitar. Can I opened it up and see what's under the hood?"
I said yeah go ahead.
He said " this is a REALLY nice guitar....braided wire, CTS pots, high dollar capacitors, the whole 9 yards!"
 

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The pickups are PAF clones by Duburno (Mr fabulous on reverb.com) They are really good. Sounds exactly like those old paf vintage gibson humbuckers. But honestly, I got used to Seymour Duncan 59's that my LP studio was loaded with. They are a little more mid scooped and compressed than these PAF clones. I LOVE Seymour Duncan 59's and i will probably load this Les paul traditional with a set sooner or later.
To be fair, I'm going to experiment with pickup height and magnet screw heights before I swap pups though.
 
I bought this guy sight unseen,
Why the hell not?
 

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