NHD '24: what did you bring home?

[BoogieMKIIA]

No guitars in 2024, I don’t buy/sell often. I did pick up a used Mather 2x12 cab off Facebook marketplace and a used Paisley Drive from GC. I resurrected my Marshall 1987, like getting a new amp.

Not planning on any big purchases in 2025 unless I get some unknown windfall. An RS Tele might happen in that case. I still have a few older amps to get working and tubes to buy.

[cmatthes]

I have had a self-imposed "no new (or used)" guitars thing going for a while, but I did trade several basses for a Les Paul (and walked with $100 cash) earlier this year and also finished up one of the many (TOO many!) projects on the pile in 2024.

The LP

The "project" - with major input from some badassed HFC'ers (Gary/"Slingblader", and Stike), is the "Custom Twangcaster", which is a 1.12" thick Musikraft neck (!!!) and a 3.8lb (after routing) Musikraft Swamp Ash body, bound with real Rickenbacker checkerboard binding, a NOS Duncan "Double D" neck pickup, and a kill/stutter switch  (just because). Done in trans Surf Green:

 

[murkat]

king dingus, lol, awesome 

[Dutchman]

On 12/29/2024 at 10:10 PM, cmatthes said:

The "project

How do you like the Hipshot lockers?

[cmatthes]

1 hour ago, Dutchman said:

How do you like the Hipshot lockers?

They're actually really nice - lightweight and they WORK.  I used to put Sperzels on my builds, but something happened to the quality about a decade ago that turned me off, so the Hipshot stuff has filled that void rather well.

[velorush]

Another thumbs-up for the Hipshot lockers. That and their cool mounting system:

I was up and running in minutes with no holes to drill.

[bry4321]

My first Floyd Rose guitar. It's a work in progress. Most modifications are reversible for when I change my mind or decide to sell, including putting the middle/neck pickups back. However the finish on the front seemed fragile. Removing the black vinyl could be dicey. 

 

 

 

[kizanski]

12/31 2:00 pm. Made it in just under the wire:

Arthritis/bone spur cleanup, cyst removal and a side of bunion correction.  

BTW: You want nightmeares to go along with your champagne hangover?   Google "bunion correction surgery."

[Jimbilly]

2 hours ago, kizanski said:

12/31 2:00 pm. Made it in just under the wire:

Arthritis/bone spur cleanup, cyst removal and a side of bunion correction.  

BTW: You want nightmeares to go along with your champagne hangover?   Google "bunion correction surgery."

my wife has had that done on both feet, that is not fun.  You deserve a new special guitar in '25 for going through that. 

[ArnieZ]

14 hours ago, kizanski said:

12/31 2:00 pm. Made it in just under the wire:

Arthritis/bone spur cleanup, cyst removal and a side of bunion correction.  

BTW: You want nightmeares to go along with your champagne hangover?   Google "bunion correction surgery."

Or Ask me😀

[django49]

2024, sorta.....Shipped Dec 31, arriving Jan 2.....

Meanwhile, fooling with a handful of Effectrode pedals. Pricey not so little buggers, each with tube circuitry requiring a strong power supply. Pretty impressive. Yeah, over the top..... I had only used their Blackbird SR-71 preamp pedal before. Experimenting with running  them into a Duncan stereo board mounted power amp into a shop built stereo cabinet.

If anyone is curious.....

https://www.effectrode.com/product-category/effects-pedals/

 

[belgian]

[ArnieZ]

18 hours ago, django49 said:

Meanwhile, fooling with a handful of Effectrode pedals. Pricey not so little buggers, each with tube circuitry requiring a strong power supply. Pretty impressive. Yeah, over the top..... I had only used their Blackbird SR-71 preamp pedal before. Experimenting with running  them into a Duncan stereo board mounted power amp into a shop built stereo cabinet

looks like you scored some t-shirts as well😀

[Jimbilly]

I have a late entry; the local pawn shop had a Sire Marcus Miller V9 (Jazz style 5 string bass), sometimes at the end of the year they are more motivated to move some inventory.  So far it's quite nice, the nut was a little high, I'm going to possibly keep it.  V knob is on the way, it looks more like the above guitar than my photo shows.

[django49]

4 hours ago, ArnieZ said:

looks like you scored some t-shirts as well😀

Well, no.....I think that if you buy direct, there are shipping and custom/duties considerations. If you have access to a dealer stateside, they should be able to sell for the same price, without time delays and they probably get enough of a purchase discount to not have to pass along any taxes/fees. Sales taxes? May depend upon your location.

I can live without more t-shirts.......

Costly pedals, but they seem to hold their value pretty well.

Kinda surprised they have not done a tube driven reverb pedal as well. But that is probably even more overkill.....

 

[Nan0brain]

80's Red Special and a unique '08 Studio Custom in "Mystic-T" finish. CoA says it was custom built for Lightning Joe's Guitar Heaven: Chevron'd ultimate FM top, Double-bound, chambered, BRW board, nickel hardware with some Jones's. That said, I'm out of the buying game for a while.

[Camstone]

Four guitars landed here in '24 but no Hamers.

Yamaha Asuka, Yamaha SA2200, Nash S-57, and a custom Lashing V.

All are killer.

 

[burningyen]

Painted this in February:

Partscastered this in April:

The inspiration:

Also got this Martin D-JRE in July, but it looks like my daughter is about to take it to boarding school:

[bruce919]

I bought more than I expected. 

Hamer Subtone

Hamer Goldtop Standard

Gibson ES-390 , that one was out of the blue but a smoking good deal. 

Fuchs 4 Aces

[Steve Haynie]

1 hour ago, burningyen said:

I love the headstock decal!

[burningyen]

10 hours ago, Steve Haynie said:

I love the headstock decal!

Ha, thanks! Made it myself and have a few left over.

[Jim85IROC]

I bought a lot less this year than in recent years, but the stuff I have bought has generally been more up-market from where I usually shop. 

In December of '23 I took advantage of the PRS SE fire sale and grabbed a 594 doublecut.  I liked that so much that in early January I picked up a used 24-08 SE.

Next I picked up my first headless guitar, a used Leo Jaymes for $100.  The action was a foot high, but after I shimmed the neck and set it up, it was great.  I bought it to flip, but my son ended up using it in the high school pit band where space is limited, so I decided to hang on to it for now.  I've been thinking about upgrading it because I actually really like playing it.

Next I got a Gibson Greeny, which is a halo guitar for me.  Ironically,  the same day it arrived, the Chibson Greeny that I ordered way back in September also showed up.  The pic below shows those and my Epi Lazarus that I converted into a Greeny prior to getting the other 2.

Next was 4 cheap IYV IPF-300 semi hollows from Amazon.  I made a video showing the build quality across all 4, fixed them all up and sold off 3 with enough profit to pay for the 4th.  I never play it so I'll probably sell that one off soon too.

Next was a pair of Firefly FFMNs, one for me, one for my buddy.  I used them to do another multiple-guitar review.  My kid is playing this currently.  I don't love Floyd guitars, especially cheap Floyd guitars, but I do love the neck on this guitar.

Next was a used Schecter C-1 Custom.   This was a bit of a trainwreck when I got it. It had Duncan blackout pickups in it, but the bridge pickup was DOA.  It came with a set of Guitarpartsonline Screamer pickups, which I promptly sold off along with the 1 good Duncan.  I had a set if G&L humbuckers that I bought off a member here that I put on  black chrome covers and chrome pole screws and installed with a custom coil split setup with PRS-style resistors in the split circuit.  This guitar came out super nice.  I put on black chrome tuners, bridge and black chrome knobs. I love how it looks, and the sorta-coil-split works great.  The bridge is wound to about 12k, so it's got some nice grind, but when you split it, it measures closer to 9k and sounds PAF-ish.  The neck measures around 8k and splits to about 6k, so it doesn't sound like an anemic split neck, but more like a t-top or maybe a broadtron neck.  I don't use this one much but I really should.

Next was a 2019 Les Paul Special with a MojoAxe compensated bridge with TonePros locking studs.  I'm absolutely loving this guitar.

Recently my guitar instructor gave me a couple rough (but technically brand new) Walden acoustics and a cheap bass.  He moved to a smaller location so he wanted to get rid of stuff that wasn't really sellable. He robbed parts from these to keep customer guitars going, and they've been getting banged around for years.  One was even missing a fret.  I refretted that one and got both of them functional.  Both needed their piezo undersaddle pickups replaced, and the ones I bought are overdriving the preamp input, so I still need to build a capacitive voltage divider to get them working properly.

Next was the Indonesian Standard that I got on Reverb from Belgum.  This was probably the worst Indonesian Hamer that I've come across with multiple loose and/or high frets.  I had to tap a number of them back down and glue a lot of the fret ends down, then file away a lot of fret sprout.  But, it came out killer.  I'm debating whether I want to upgrade the electronics or move it along.

And most recently, right before Christmas I saw this LP Special Plus on Marketplace for $600 and I jumped on it.  The seller said he was playing his Strat more so this was just sitting.  I've bought enough guitars to recognize that as code for "it doesn't play well", and sure enough, the action was pretty high.  I investigated further and found that the neck had an absolute TON of relief.  I pulled the truss rod cover off and the truss rod nut still had lacquer overspray on it, indicating that it had never been turned.  It took almost a full turn, but the neck straightened out beautifully, which brought the action down so far that I had to raise the bridge to get it where I like it.  I cleaned up the guitar and I'm willing to bet that now it plays better than the seller's Strat. 😆  As a nice bonus, this cheap guitar came with a $200 set of locking Ratio tuners!  This is another guitar that I'm unsure what to do with.  I bought it to flip it, but now I really like it. Plus, these zebra pickups would be perfect for the Standard.

 

[Brooks]

NHC as usual. One worth posting, I posted this when I got it & a few other times, but its just so darn photogenic;

Gibson custom shop ES359

[JOE_CPWE]

I only spend gig money or sell/trade to get guitars.  This year I made more playing and (mostly) held off on impulse buys to get some things I'd wanted for a years.  Three used guitars and one big repair are my keepers of the year.

1994 Duotone, 2019 Eric Johnson Strat, EVH Wolfgang Special, and neck reset on my 1956 Silvertone which IMO is like buying a guitar in cost and it added a playable guitar to my collection.

It was a good guitar year.

[burningyen]

3 hours ago, JOE_CPWE said:

2004 Duotone

Probably a '94 DuoTone. Hamer moved to the f-hole DuoTone Customs in '99.