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Josh is da man! A year or so ago, he brought to my attention a pickup he was winding for another customer & he thought might interest me: a Van Halen-esque wind somewhere in the neighborhood of Ed's p'up on Fair Warning / Diver Down. Dayumm. It rocked in my HEL Spitfire 1! Then he wound a slightly different one, still in EVH territory but with a slight tweak to the high end, and I put that in my HEL Spitfire 2. Boom!! Killer! So, I ordered one for the upcoming Star Spangled Star. Tone report will come as soon as I get it in hand. Was anticipating acquiring another guitar so I ordered yet one more of the tweaked EVH. That acquisition fell through BUT... ...as fate would have it, I'm going to be acquiring another Hamer and this newest Gravelin is going in that one!!! Stay tuned!

RIP. Dementia is bitch.

No! So sad. RIP John Butler.

I got word yesterday from JohnnyB's wife that he has peacefully passed away. John was a very good friend... He was passionate about music both playing and listening. He was an audiophile and had 2 incredible sound systems for listening. He was a master BBQ-ist. And he was a masterful conversationalist. Most importantly he was a fierce and loyal friend. The saddest part is his dementia robbed him of so many things over the past few years. I hope he is at peace and talking up storm in heaven. God bless you John, you will be missed.

Awe damn. He is responsible for some of the better gear around here and was my go-to for any audio questions that came up. He taught me a lot. Always willing to compare and share and point you to the best bang-for-the-buck. And he always found great deals. He has been missed for some time now. Wherever you are JB, I hope you have their system tweaked and turned up to 11. R.I.P., JohnnyB.

One of the OGs. I'll think of him fondly when I post a hot link or when I see a dollar amount adjusted for inflation.

That looks like it came out of a 60's or 70's car, off of the heater or A/C control..

No affiliation. Fair shape (?) https://salem.craigslist.org/msg/d/salem-1983-hamer-guitar/7928487373.html

"Anyway".

Ooof... a sustain block bridge 😃👍

Just go straight for a new car. She'll be so pissed about a car payment that she'll never notice a guitar.

Sad to hear of his passing. He was a great contributor here and he shared a lot of his knowledge. RIP.

I was waiting for that. (...at least it wasn't anyway's)

I traded a Custom shop Charvel, an 86 SG and a Chaparral that may or may not have had a neck repair even up. I didn’t really gig with any of them so….. and, the Firebird will be going out Friday night to a gig !!

Prelims: During the most recent respite vacation coordinated with the local hospice folks, the Princess and I went to south central Kentucky to my mother's hometown. Elizabeth had never been there and I wanted her to know about her paternal grandmother's family (my Mom died when Elizabeth was 17 months old), so there was a visit to the home where my mother was born, the cemetery, etc. Plus we stopped by Cumberland Falls. We were a little ahead of schedule, so naturally I hit some pawn shops, and picked this '83 Peavey T-27. I had always been intrigued by this model, as it was of the few production model S/S/HB hardtails made (the only other ones I can recall off the top of my head were Gibson's short-lived US-1 later in the '80s (didn't Gary Richrath endorse that model?) and the Robin Medley. Seemed like almost all S/S/HB guitars had high-tech vibratos. And Robin made a S/S/HB Medley bass. The T-27 had Peavey's patented coil-rolloff circuitry but it's set up differently from the T-60 (I'm still figuring it out). But I'm wondering what the replacement toggle switch cap is, and the intrigue is admittedly the main reason I bought it. Its wide-and-flat configuration is easy to locale (by feel) and easy to manipulate. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I'm sorry to hear this sad news. Johnny's posts were always entertaining, and his advice sound. I have speakers he recommended, and have missed reading his posts for several years. He was a good part of the HFC. Someone has to say it in Johnny's memory: Ringo was a great drummer.

Sorry to read this. Thank you for letting us know.

Rest well Hamer brother. 💔❤️‍🩹❤️

Thanks for this. I miss Sylvain. He was a good buddy. I used to work on his guitars..

My bespoke switch ring.

What a day. First I found the Sylvain Sylvain and the Teardrops LP for 3 bucks. Then I took a cup of coffee and found this gem recorded for Swedish TV in 1982. Enjoy:

https://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid?source=3WWRWXGG&utm_medium=paid-search&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=MF_G_NTM_SEM-STD_General&utm_term=musical instruments&utm_content=ntm&utm_id=9312500617&utm_creative=654838309660&utm_marketing_tactic=general&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=9312500617

I'm so glad I got to meet you guys in Seattle in what, the summer of 2010? Thanks for posting the goofball pic of us, Peso; I immediately was going to look for that one. RIP, Johnny. I already miss your recommendations on stereo equipment. The receiver I'm using right now was one of your recommendations here on this board, many years ago.

Well that sucks. Makes me realize that I've been posting here for probably almost two decades now. Time flies when you're having fun. RIP JohnnyB, you are definitely missed.

I've missed his posts and expertise on many subjects. My condolences to you and his family.

RIP, JohnnyB.

^^^Excellent postulation. Its flat wide profile does make manipulation a lot easier, and I can visual that shape as something on the dashboard. Thanks

It looks like there are Guitar Maniacs out there.

Yeah... like if the Chinese company had even tried, they might have actually won. But instead they ignored it, or possibly were never even notified, given how good they are about keeping a mailing address for legal procedures. I heard that they argued the shape was based on a woman's body? Did Leo Fender EVER say that?

I, for the record, don't think you paid too much if you really wanted it. Not trying to be a dick.

/\ thats a superb statement, and I'm going to adopt it

Atta' kid. I've paid too much for some of the best guitars on the planet (IMHO). I let their market value "catch up" to what I paid. Enjoy!

Totally agree with Chris, that is a refin and at least the bridge pickup was changed. You should definitely black light the guitar to make sure no neck issues.

You know, I kind of see his point.

I assume that Fender went after the name "Danocaster" because they were trying to protect the "XXXcaster" IP associated with a guitar. So that's back to trademark law - protecting Fender's rights to the name in the US, even if they can't protect the shape. As LucSulla pointed out, there are many ways to slice the IP pie, the main IP categories being copyright, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. And then there is geographic scope, as the IP laws differ by country/region. Even if the laws themselves may be similar, the judicial precedents for interpreting and enforcing the laws may be considerably different in different regions. Patents expire after roughly 20 years, so any inventive aspect of the original Strat has been up for grabs since the 1970s. Patent laws were intended to give inventors a limited term monopoly over their inventions, which thereafter become public domain. This provides incentive to the inventors in the short term before the invention becomes part of society's technology base. Trademarks protect a business entity, not an invention. Trademarks enter the public domain if they become generic due to lack of enforcement by the trademark holder: names like escalator, aspirin, thermos, etc. Add the strat body shape to that list in the United States. But it seems Fender can still protect the name "Stratocaster" in the USA, as well as any variants that might reasonably create confusion in the marketplace. So in the USA, you can produce and sell a strat copy, but you can't call it a XXXcaster. Trade secrets can only be protected as long as they are kept secret. A guitar design is readily apparent, so it's never a candidate for being a trade secret, although a specific manufacturing technique might be. That leaves copyright. Different countries/regions have different time limits for copyrights. Fender seems to believe it has an angle on protecting the strat shape as a work of art in Europe, so they are going for it. So yeah, it's a small piece of the IP pie - but Fender has calculated that the European market for strats is big enough to go after. The present internet kerfuffle reflects the layman's general misunderstanding of both IP and the landscape of international law. Fender's European gambit is not a quest for WORLD DOMINATION OF ALL THINGS GUITAR. It is a corporation grasping at the final available IP straws protecting its cash cow.

Strat copies didn't really become a thing until the Japanese started making a lot of them in the mid-late 70's. So the first 20 years of the Strat's life were relatively copy free. I think the CBS management at the time didn't see cheap Japanese copies as a big deal. Fast forward to the creation of the new FMIC when management bought the IP from CBS in the early 80's and nothing else. They are a separate company than the one that didn't police their trademarks. Moving through the 80's there were lots of Superstrats but they didn't use the exact Strat shape - Kramer, Ibanez, Jackson, etc. all used a modified shape. The 90's saw a resurgence of interest in traditional Strats and by the late 90's boutique builders were becoming a thing because of the internet. Now there are many builders making what are essentially copies at all price levels. From $200 import copies to $3K-4K high end Andersons and Suhrs. I really have no issue with Fender going after copies. It's pretty lame to just make a copy anyway. It is not difficult to change the shape a little so it's Stratty but not exactly. Don Grosh does a great job on his Retro Classics. So anyone who doesn't want to be affected by this simply needs to change the shape a bit. How hard is that?

They knocked off $500 and I traded a few things even up. That was a quick google search of the serial number….not accurate

My point is the ridiculousness of Fender's claim to a design they didn't defend for decades. Attorneys here know what I mean by that. Fender has ten fingers and there are eleven holes in the boat...

I’ve got a great idea. Fender should hire Mark Agnesi to make a video explaining the rationale for the situation. You know, to smooth things over. None are more qualified.

my wife just counted guitar cases, uh oh!, - damage control! flowers? jewlery?

He spoke in class today.

Friends growing up were huge Scorpions fans and had all of the important vinyl. Even as a young boy seeing that for the first time, I found it disturbing.

Go fuck an orangutan? Good fun and optimism? Get funky around Ontario?

I still wanna put one on 0006…Grace & Enola…

They stopped putting them on there in ‘78.