Jimbilly

I had to wonder if this is really Andrea Martin from SCTV, but no

Was the front strap button originally on the back of the neck where it meets the body? is there a hole there where there used to be a strap button? Be careful not too offend the headstock, those can crack with even a sideways glance it seems: My ss1 and ss2 both have headstock crack repairs.

I was a bit surprised to see that name on a theater marquee yesterday I'd be tempted to go if I didn't have rehearsal, I used to listen to them 40+ years ago, not much since then

An artwork element to the paintjob for sure, and some rarity. I think a few pros had played them?, which always helps a whole lot. I have a Gibson 'designer series' Explorer bass in a black and white stripe graphic, I think it's super cool, so very '80s, - which were largely my formative years for music and pop culture

If I didn't like 5 ers so much, I'd play the 4 in my profile pic a whole lot more

as I understand it... generally it's the size of the inner core of the string and not the winding diameter, which is why a strat for example will most often have the two 'stair steps' at similar placement (cores of the wound strings are roughly similar diameter as the plain strings). I think I've got a tapered B on my old Chap 5, it's roughly a 'straight slant'. As a sidenote; there's a youtube review of a low cost headless bass, a model that I own and like, where the guy goes on and on with difficulty setting it up after a string change, FINALLY getting to the point: he put standard scale with tapered B strings on his fan fret (35" scale) headless: the taper on both ends, especially at the nut made it impossible to setup. 'User-error' ("what does this screw do?") is very common with used gear, I've been guilty but improving. When buying used bikes to flip, I call it 'the mark of the bonehead', - something has been adjusted or setup weird, now where is it? More common with bikes, but not uncommon on guitars

my first thought from the 2nd photo: "there's no way that's properly intonated" - which is a common observation/guess for me

they've been showing up in my youtube feed too, it must be their turn. The arrangement of I Like To Rock is really impressive. it's nice to see them getting some attention, I admit that I was mostly unaware back in the day. I actually sent the youtube link for I LIke To Rock to my 18yr old daughter, she thought it was cool.

John was really a genuinely nice good person. I'm glad I knew him, sad that I didn't stay in contact more recently

hmm, Guitar Maniacs has been a 'brick and mortal' store in Tacoma WA for 30+ years, Rick King (owner) is a real and early vintage expert. looks like he is just on facebook and reverb now, no standalone website https://reverb.com/shop/guitar-maniacs?utm_source=rev-ios-app&utm_medium=ios-share&utm_campaign=shop&utm_content=68574

sounds like something I would have appreciated as a kid, piano was nearly torture! My kids also didn't enjoy the year or so of piano we put them through. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/piano-students-sweep-national-competitions-after-learning-payam-method-60-minutes-transcript/

cool find! I don't recall having seen on like that before, you've tried using 'google lens' on it?

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

I believe my late '80s desert yellow Jem had the same color hardware as this black '89 Jem, the DY had a busted tuner and I wasn't able to find a matching Cosmo Black tuner or set back then, - at least it should be easier to find a trem bar than a tuner set for an 89 Jem. I have a 2000 ish 'Cortek' Ibanez RG (the neck through mik RG) that also has the same color hardware, but it uses a different trem arm I think, - and was also missing the trem arm when I bought it.

I see black, or chrome, but not Cosmo Black, am I missing it?