Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
yep ...... I actually talk to Barry Edgar, the drummer for that band, a few times a year still.
Where did you see them?
Budget Les Pauls
- Thread starter Jeff_D
- Start date
Where did you see them?
In Lake Charles in what was then the Nicholas Biddle Memorial Lighthouse. It was a converted movie theater.
I don't know why I remember this...
They took the stage and started off with the Who's "I Can See for Miles". It went like this:
"I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and..." <blooey>
Silence and darkness.
They restored power and the band started again.
"I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles
I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and..." <blooey>
Silence and darkness.
They restored power and the band started again.
Try #3. Same result.
They gave up and went to the second song on their set list. No more problems the rest of the night.
The guitarist played a black Les Paul, the first one I ever saw, with a big yellow lemon sticker on it. I was smitten by the look and sound of it.
There were some great bands out of BR in those days. The Basement Wall, The War Babies, Potliquor, The Ivy Peebles Medicine Show (first Vox Super Beatles I ever saw), the Luvrakers (with the phthalidimide baby bass player), Bill Wray and the Show Band Royale, Goatleg...
Potliquor - whatever happened to George? I heard that he went into gospel music and then he disappeared. What a voice!
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
I know every single one of all of those guys.
George did go born-again ..... he was doing a fair amount of voice overs and recordings for commercials and tv ...... I think he's still around .... probably hooked up with Cyril Vetter.
Les Wallace, the git player for Potliquor, moved to the mountains somewhere and homesteaded ...... lived in a tent for 4 years thru the snowy winters while he built a house.
wow ..... that's cool, that you heard all those bands. Yeah, they were all good.
Warbabies did a reunion gig recently .... and I talked to the drummer from the Luvrakers about a year ago. That bass player was Alva Snelling. He played a Hofner and put his claw over the top of the neck and managed to play pretty good bass. He became a substance abuse councillor, apparently so he could get substances!
He got killed in a car wreck a ways back.
George did go born-again ..... he was doing a fair amount of voice overs and recordings for commercials and tv ...... I think he's still around .... probably hooked up with Cyril Vetter.
Les Wallace, the git player for Potliquor, moved to the mountains somewhere and homesteaded ...... lived in a tent for 4 years thru the snowy winters while he built a house.
wow ..... that's cool, that you heard all those bands. Yeah, they were all good.
Warbabies did a reunion gig recently .... and I talked to the drummer from the Luvrakers about a year ago. That bass player was Alva Snelling. He played a Hofner and put his claw over the top of the neck and managed to play pretty good bass. He became a substance abuse councillor, apparently so he could get substances!
He got killed in a car wreck a ways back.
Last edited:
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
I had a pre-production Fretless Wonder. Some guy sold it to me in Chatanooga for $100. It had very rare p'ups. They looked like soap bars but they had rectangular magnets for pole pieces and by each pole-piece there was a little hole where you could stick an allen wrench and adjust the heighth of each pole seperately. They only put that p'up on a very few gits and even then usually just one at the bridge I believe ...... the other p'up would be a regular soap bar.
And then they never really used those 'pus again until they put some on some reissues maybe in the 80's?
Anyway, mine had two of 'em.
It sounded great but I loathed the tiny frets so I traded it for a Hagstrom Swede and a bag of white cross.
Geez...all this over what is and isn't a Les Paul...I have a Yamaha motorcycle that is patterned after a Harley Heritage Softail.....I call it my "Hardly Davidson". It cost me half, looks good, rides great and I get to cruise as much as I want. It gets me riding. That's all I need. If you want a budget "Les Paul" style guitar, there are plenty out there and they can be quite nice instruments. Try a few and you will probably find the one that suits you. If the name on the headstock is important, then save your pennies, be happy with the copy and buy the real deal when you can. HEY... we all get what we want if we persist and work for it.
Play on!
Play on!
Zaphod B
Raccoons-Be-Gone, Inc.
I'm of two minds about the whole high-end/low-end guitar model thing.
Fender has three grades of Strats, right? - MIA, MIM, and Squier, and they're all called Stratocasters. Same with Teles.
Gibson has three grades - Custom Shop, USA, and Epi. (Here's a question: is a USA LP any less of a LP than a Custom Shop model?
Please answer in 400 words or less, with citations. ) Gibson also has the Maestro student grade guitars that are often inaccurately characterized as LPs on Craigslist.
I guess a manufacturer has a right to label their products in any way they see fit. But to be honest, I think that calling Epi models "Les Pauls" cheapens the name. I feel the same way about Strats and Teles, although my impression is that the difference between a MIA Fender and a MIM Fender is less than that between a Gibson or an Epi.
Just my $.02.
Fender has three grades of Strats, right? - MIA, MIM, and Squier, and they're all called Stratocasters. Same with Teles.
Gibson has three grades - Custom Shop, USA, and Epi. (Here's a question: is a USA LP any less of a LP than a Custom Shop model?
Please answer in 400 words or less, with citations. ) Gibson also has the Maestro student grade guitars that are often inaccurately characterized as LPs on Craigslist. I guess a manufacturer has a right to label their products in any way they see fit. But to be honest, I think that calling Epi models "Les Pauls" cheapens the name. I feel the same way about Strats and Teles, although my impression is that the difference between a MIA Fender and a MIM Fender is less than that between a Gibson or an Epi.
Just my $.02.
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
The original Alnico, designed by Seth Lover. Introduced in the original fretless wonder, 1954 black LP Custom. It was a P90 in bridge and the Alnico at the neck. They went all humbucker shortly after. The one you had was rare indeed - or modified.
I don't want to piss you off by looking up what it's worth now...
More info on the pups: http://www.scottymoore.net/alnicov.html
lou
Last edited:
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
400 words or less! WTF? Well you ain't gettin' cites so fuck off.Gibson has three grades - Custom Shop, USA, and Epi. (Here's a question: is a USA LP any less of a LP than a Custom Shop model?
I believe the Custom and Historic shop only does re-issues and commemorative guitars; Pearly Gates, Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, etc...
The quality of woods and craftsmanship should be better considering the freakin' prices on some of those. Probably the cheapest one ever is the R4. How do you like yours? I think mine is bloody fantastic. Is it more LP than a box-stock Standard? Beats the shit out of me. I played a 2006 Classic Goldtop from the standard line that I thought was pretty nice.
I agree that Fender MIMs are closer to MIAs than Epis to Gibsons. The older MIJ Fenders are starting to get some interest - prices are going up.
lou
That's a shame about Alva. He was truly a sensational bass player given the degree of disability he had to overcome. To those who never saw him play, he had a severe birth defect which left him with half-sized arms, almost immobile fingers, and no thumbs. He played by hooking his left hand over the top of the neck with his pinky finger behind and moving his right hand as pretty much a single unit. He played with a psychedelic rock cover band out of Baton Rouge around 1970. Their signature was their version of In-a-gadda-da-vida.I know every single one of all of those guys.
George did go born-again ..... he was doing a fair amount of voice overs and recordings for commercials and tv ...... I think he's still around .... probably hooked up with Cyril Vetter.
Les Wallace, the git player for Potliquor, moved to the mountains somewhere and homesteaded ...... lived in a tent for 4 years thru the snowy winters while he built a house.
wow ..... that's cool, that you heard all those bands. Yeah, they were all good.
Warbabies did a reunion gig recently .... and I talked to the drummer from the Luvrakers about a year ago. That bass player was Alva Snelling. He played a Hofner and put his claw over the top of the neck and managed to play pretty good bass. He became a substance abuse councillor, apparently so he could get substances!
He got killed in a car wreck a ways back.
Did Courtney play the Warbabies reunion? I'll never forget his chewing the scenery treatment of that Spooky Tooth song - I've Got Enough Heartaches, wasn't it?
EDIT: My apologies for the hijacked stroll down memory lane...
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
I bought it in 1972 so I doubt it was modded ...... it was supposed to be a pre-production prototype.
I suppose it's worth a hundred grand or so nowadays.
Lt. Bob
Spread the Daf!
sure ..... how could you do the Warbabies without Courtney. He's a TV guy now but still plays in a bigmoney corporate type gig band called Kicks.
He played ...... Skippy Varnado played. The bass player was shot to death by his own son maybe 8 or 9 years ago so I'm not sure who played bass.
I don't live there anymore .... moved to Fl. after Katrina. But I spent my whole life playing and drinking and partying with that bunch of 'tards and I stay in touch.
Sooo... anyway, I have a couple basses from Rondo, and a palette off Xavieres (local guy, I pick 'em up to save shipping, yadda) including a couple of LP-types. They both offer great value. The Xavieres tend to have a fit and finish booboo here or there, but set up really nise, play and sound great. I don't care for either the Crunchy or Fat PATs that come standard, but the VEH pickups are terrific, go with the Vintage 59 set for typical PAF-y tones, and the Anico II classics if you want extra warmth. I have the syrupy A2 in the neck and the bright, lively and dynamic VEH in one of my Xaviere LPs, which work really well in that guitar.
Lou, it's been years, but I do recall the shop was a fairly easy walk from our hotel, which was also very near the Pike Place Market- so my best estimate is it was Emerald City Guitars. It seemed like a totally legit place, so I am inclined to thing that either it was a prototype, or I just remember the details wrong. If either of those, yeah, I missed out. Shit.
LDS
New member
Actually, yeah, there were a few guards.What does diminished supply do to prices? Hmmmm.....
I think watching it might have made me ill. I'll bet the dumpsters had armed guards.
lou
Insurance paid off on all the instruments, but they had to be destroyed. Evidently, a bunch of mint condition guitars are now mulch.
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
Don't that just suck out loud?
With all due respect to Epi Les Paul players here and everywhere - that just ain't never gonna apply to yer gits.
Yeah, El Tee, book on the '54 Customs is $55k - $70k. If it was a documented prototype (it can be done and if not, speculation alone will drive it up - collectors are fuckin' nuts) $100k plus. Sorry dude. I feel yer pain.
That's got to be the ultimate "one that got away" tale around these parts.lou
But OTOH, playability/build quality/tone and a collectors' book value have no correlation. Having an instrument that is very valuable is a double edged sword.
I have a Strat with a 1961 serial number, I took it to a guitar show and had it looked at by some collectors. It turns out that it is a "partscaster" put together from stuff made between about 1960 and 1963. I had mixed feelings about that; on the one hand it would have been nice for them to tell me it was worth huge bucks, but on the other it's my daily player, and it's good that I don't have to be scared to death to play it and that when I had it refretted and when I replaced a pickup that gave up the ghost I didn't set fire to large sums of money.
Sky Blue Lou
Well-known member
I agree. I would never buy a 100k guitar even if I had the money to play with. I don't think the collector thing is for me - I'd knock an easy 10-20 large off just playing 'em. But I like knowing what to look for in case I ever stumble upon one.
lou