Jimbilly

Vintage really is somewhat a matter of perspective, if it's older than you are, you're likely to call it vintage and I wouldn't argue that it HAS to be '79 or older. Vintage car racing has strict guidelines about what can be called vintage, but for very good reasons that don't translate to guitars.

I think there's something to guitars turning 30 years old. Maybe it has a bit to do with a guy nearing or past 30 would like to have a guitar/bass that was built the same year as his birth and now has the money to buy the toys he wants. It just seems like in the past 10 years or so Fenders and others really go nuts in value as they near and pass 30 years old. I recently bought a nice '78 Musicmaster guitar for $320 and guys are telling me it's only worth about $400, I think I'll hang onto it for a year or two.

Wow! so cute!! -Congratulations!!!

Welcome!, what's next on your guitar list?

I think he's going to get to keep it at that price, it would need boomers to approach that value. Killer looking bass though...

And Tremolux too! He had the traditional 'siped fish' at his birthday lunch today. -Happy B-day guys!

Also, try this experiment: cut a wooden shim just thin enough to slide in front of the 2tek when the strings are loose. When the strings are tightened the shim will pressure-fit and take the 'icepick' out of the 2tek, but it still seems to keep more than adequate sustain. I did that to mine, the shims not coming out, it's nicely warmer now.

Nice score! My Cruise 5 came stock with EMG's (but not w/ exposed pole pieces), and the stock controls on mine are identical to yours. I bought mine new, and hated the tortoise guard from day 1, so I bought a MOP gaurd for it, I'll bet you can find one of those somewhere. Mine:

We just went to in-ear monitors at the church I play bass at, when everything gets going the bass gets a little bit lost in the mix, do I just have to crank it up?, or should I add a stage amp back in? I was just using my bassdriver di, and it sounded good, it's extremely simple and hum free, but I hope to not have to get my earphones too hot, -but maybe I'm too worried about hearing damage.

You'll get a lot of good advice here, and a lot of it will sound the same, something like: "Hold out for a USA model", you can still get Diablos and Centauras for under $400. Any USA Hamer in playable condition will be a better choice than an import, -unless of course the import is stupid-dirt-cheap. A USA model Studio will be $800-ish, and it's well worth the extra $400. They hold their value really well too. That being said the imports are good guitars, but the USA's are great guitars.

With that silver trim, it's a '68 isn't it? It looks clean too. That should sound really good for bass too. Those aren't going down in price any time soon, so hanging onto it wouldn't hurt you a bit. .

Is the Bootsy CD really good? I generally dig Bootsy. RAS Records 'A Reggae Christmas' (1988) is still one of my all time faves.

That's too cool! Congratulations!

Me too, my higher powered amps sit, and I reach for the 2 el84 Hilgen or the '70s Champ.

A Fender Blues Jr. would be a good choice, those are pretty darn loud, upgrade the speaker to a V30 and that's a great little amp.

Does this look right for a stock '87ish MIJ strat? The solders look original (except where I had to reattach 2 grounds), but it could be an entire guard from something else.

What Ceeb said, they occasionally have a used Hamer for cheap, but IMO your time is better spent at pawn shops.

I saw a dayglo yellow Chap, bolt-on, boomers, sustainiac about 8 years ago, fs for quite a while NOS for $600ish. They ended up selling it for $400 (about 6 years ago or so), -which is what I would have happily paid. It was NOS from Monte Vista guitar in S Tacoma after they went out of bus., and while it was NOS it had a huge amount of finish checking. So, that one's out there somewhere too.

Have a fun B-day!

wow, prayers sent, my condolensces.

That's pretty stunning, wow!

I bought my wife a Pentax m10 dig camera a short time ago, I NEED one for myself, kick-a$$ camera for $160. I need to update all my guitar photos now, like this one:

A late entry of my SS1

great! welcome home!

You are starting to become a real Pain!!!! -ha-ha! Wow!, another great score! good (continued) luck!