Tatty guitars used by pros?

guitargeek62

Not sure this one counts as much as it's relatively new, but I absolutely love it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd9LfzWTaLQ

johnhe

stimpsonslostson said:

guitars4you said:

John Frusciante's Strat

Or this one:
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/static/storage/wiki/media/4/4/4440cdf68a0c7bce0e8c801e9fb23ebf.jpg@534

Who be dat?

bbill335

Swami John Reis

crunchman

thegummy said:

Creed_Clicks said:

Weird how some people, me included, would be looking at used guitars to see if they have any nicks or dings. I suppose it depends on the guitar, the ding, and wear is different to a ding...

What's weird is that some people do that while others pay hundreds extra to have the nicks, dings and wear done to it deliberately.

Then there's the hilarious situation when someone is concerned over whether a specific piece of damage was done deliberately at the factory or happened in the real world since it shipped.

Compare it to the template!

soma1975

johnhe said:

stimpsonslostson said:

guitars4you said:

John Frusciante's Strat

Or this one:
https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/static/storage/wiki/media/4/4/4440cdf68a0c7bce0e8c801e9fb23ebf.jpg@534

Who be dat?

Mike McCready of pearl Jam

Bennyboy-UK

Nils Lofgren played a very knackered looking strat for years.

tbm

bbill335 said:

Swami John Reis

Love this. He usually has a perspex sheet over the back. Does it to most of his Les Pauls. 

skullfunkerry

Lewy said:

LastMantra said:

ICBM said:

skullfunkerry said:

Some of Seasick Steve's gear...

Mostly fake I think. I know someone who built some of his "dumpster find" guitars for him... expensive custom-built gear pretending to be junk.

It's funny that. I mean that was kinda his "thing" wasn't it.

I wondered if he was going to be mentioned on this thread. Yep, fake as f**k in every respect. Still, fair play to him - he spotted a market opportunity and milked it, and it’s not like he’s a bad musician. 

My problem with him is that at the height of his popularity, the people who’s music he was ripping off and pretending to be his own were alive and living in the kind of poverty that he was pretending to have experienced, and he was fine with that. Fuck that guy. He should have bought them all houses.

I know very little about him other than I've heard a few songs and thought they were quite good... I had no idea it was all an act, how disappointing. I hope my wife never finds out, she'll be gutted

Bowks

bluechargeboy said:

Mr Vai:

This poor instrument is FUBARed! The crack in the lower bout travels all the way back to the trem cavity. 

Jalapeno

Springsteen's (retired) Esquire/Tele hybrid was pretty roadworn

Philly_Q

tbm said:

bbill335 said:

Swami John Reis

Love this. He usually has a perspex sheet over the back. Does it to most of his Les Pauls. 

It's a brutal bit of surgery!  Presumably the clean looking holes going right through to the maple are the original weight relief holes.

I tried to find out more about this guitar.  Apparently James Hetfield told John Reis that it previously belonged to Davy Vain (or a member of Vain the band), but I couldn't find any pictures of Vain with this LP.

Lewy

skullfunkerry said:

Lewy said:

LastMantra said:

ICBM said:

skullfunkerry said:

Some of Seasick Steve's gear...

Mostly fake I think. I know someone who built some of his "dumpster find" guitars for him... expensive custom-built gear pretending to be junk.

It's funny that. I mean that was kinda his "thing" wasn't it.

I wondered if he was going to be mentioned on this thread. Yep, fake as f**k in every respect. Still, fair play to him - he spotted a market opportunity and milked it, and it’s not like he’s a bad musician. 

My problem with him is that at the height of his popularity, the people who’s music he was ripping off and pretending to be his own were alive and living in the kind of poverty that he was pretending to have experienced, and he was fine with that. Fuck that guy. He should have bought them all houses.

I know very little about him other than I've heard a few songs and thought they were quite good... I had no idea it was all an act, how disappointing. I hope my wife never finds out, she'll be gutted

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2016/sep/29/seasick-steve-session-musician-ramblin-man-book

Freebird

https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/image/upload/sp1_iiabgr.jpg

fretmeister

Schnozz said:

https://i.imgur.com/GiP02fV.jpg

Is that Chris Holmes?
If so - the years have not been kind!

fretmeister

bbill335 said:

Swami John Reis

I've done that to one of mine!

Not quite as much but I might finish the job now. I love the guitar but the weight is horrible.

impmann

Nels Cline's gorgeous "Watt" Jazzmaster.



Read all abahdit...

https://www.chicagofretworks.com/2014/08/19/1959-fender-jazzmaster-nels-clines-watt/

scrumhalf

John Mayall used to cut off bits of (guitar) bodies that he considered to be surplus to requirements, thus inventing the Steinberger years before Ned Steinberger did.

randella

I was lucky enough to catch the exhibition at the Met in New York last year which displayed a bunch of drool-worthy guitars.  Clapton's Blackie, SRV's No. 1, Les Pauls belonging/that had belonged to Kossoff, Clapton, Page.  Van Halen's Frankenstrat and his old Marshalls, complete with Variac.  Angus Young's SG, Hendrix's V.  The list goes on.

One of the things that struck me though was this - anyone remember the fad for distressed jeans a few years back?  How they were always tastefully ripped at the knees, but never at the crotch which is always where jeans eventually fall apart in real life?

These instruments are old, worn, and grubby.  As they should be.  But the disconnect between 'custom shop' guitars and these instruments that, if they belonged to your mate, you'd think twice about touching without first getting a tetanus shot, was very interesting. 

I like relic guitars but the way they're done shows that a great deal of thought has gone into the aesthetic without going too far and making the guitar just nasty.

ICBM

randella said:

I like relic guitars but the way they're done shows that a great deal of thought has gone into the aesthetic without going too far and making the guitar just nasty.

I have to admit I find them all pretty nasty whether they're real or fake, but much worse if they're real. I wouldn't touch most of the guitars in this thread without gloves on, and I don't think they look cool at all.

But that may be partly from too much experience having to work on guitars belonging to people who don't seem to have a strong sense of personal hygiene... which is what most of these look like.

I once got an infection from a string end on someone's guitar which required a large shot of antibiotics to deal with so it's not just an imaginary risk.