Current Happenings

[goroth]

Playing that would be comparable to a short scale bass as far as ease of play is concerned.

That explains a lot for me unfortunately
I suck at bass. Or rather, I've never learnt to play a bass, and I refuse to be one of those guitarists who molest a bass just because it has strings and looks like a treble guitar.

[Bellyheart]

9 string isn't only for Pike fans. Just a cool new look.

[Hyphen Nation]

9 string isn't only for Pike fans. Just a cool new look.

I always have my eyes out for a vintage BC Rich Bitch where the cut out is actually used as intended for the 10 string.

[Bellyheart]

Show me?

[Hyphen Nation]

Here's a vintage ad image. You can see how that notch was originally to hold 4 more strings.
I've had a chance to play a few original BC Rich's. Their electronics were pretty fun. Usually had some kind of pre-amp/booster built in that is rad.

Bich.png (252.29 KiB) Viewed 3934 times

Here's a good article about Bernie Rico
http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/B ... Beginnings

[Bellyheart]

That's awesome and I hate BC rich. They went wild for a second.

[Hyphen Nation]

Early BC Riches are great. Some questionable bodies [shapes that stuck you in the gut when playing], but great build quality, neck through, and interesting electronics. Cool thing is you can still find a lot of their 70's guitars for under $2k for what were essentially boutique/handbuilt guitars. I cannot explain what happened in the 80's. Coke and Spandex?

[goroth]

I can explain what happened in the 80's. Coke and Spandex

Fix'd.

And also, this, mostly because it's not relevant to anything. But kinda.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-y1N29vH2Y[/youtube]

[AngryGoldfish]

But I am also aware of the economic climate! So I am adapting. This is why I am going to start work on a "budget" Nelson electric, baritone, and bass that should be able to be purchased for under $1k!!!

Anyway I am kind of rambling now but I know what you mean. Advances in technology make it easier for anyone to start doing something (like record an album, make a guitar, etc) and that is andouble edged sword.
Just like "free speech", the more speech you have the better because it allows more ideas and perspectives to be heard, BUT that means you have to listen to a lot of speech you won't like.
Just like how there is SOOOO much crappy music out there made by untalented people and it sucks to have to wade through it BUT it makes possible some amazing music that you otherwise wouldn't hear.

For guitars technological advances have made it possible for low/no skill people to make guitars. There has never been such a vast array to choose from in guitar history.
Unfortunately you see the way people can make a guitar but can't design one. It's all the same crap!
The thing modern technology has done for me is allow me to buy "obsolete" industrial machinery at cheap prices, utilized my machinist's cnc machine to make professional routing templates etc.
If you have the skill, the vision, the talent, and the drive you can make something really great.
Otherwise you just join the legions of people building strats and teles and les paul jrs.
Some might be very good but with that realm under slow collapse it IS safer money to just buy a real fender or gibson!!

I totally agree.

Plus, a lot of these 'relic' guitars, although they can look, sound and play well, they maintain the dated hardware and features that just don't match the innovations and advancements that folks like me grew on. Instead of advancing the old technology whilst keeping the same aesthetics and vibe, they just put together copies of dodgy old equipment that never really worked properly but that people came to love nonetheless. The Jazzmaster is an example of that, as is the Gibson Les Paul DC with a second pickup. There are only a few who were bothered (maybe that word is a bit harsh) to develop a new way to strip wood away for a double-cut design but still keep the second P90 in the 'normal' position closer to the fretboard. The same goes for the Telecaster brass saddles. There will always be a market for guys like Danocaster and Nash, etc. who offer 'cheap' copies of past relics. Guys who want the same vibe as an original but can't afford one are in heaven. But really they're doing nothing new and never venture away from that methodology even if someone offered them money. Like Danocaster won't work with modern radii or stop-tail bridges on a Jazzmaster body. I get it; he has a market and has no interest in veering from that. Cool. Sadly, though, the guys that are innovating like John Suhr and Tom Anderson cost a great deal of money.

[Nelson Instruments]

Having worked in the vintage guitar retail area for a while I understand the relic "movement" and yet I don't.
The best relics I have played were fender custom shop.
I mean no offense to anyone when I say this but Nash are some of the worst fender clones I have EVER played!
They feel terrible and I never found them to play well.
I'm trying to remember the other brand I'm thinking of....I played a jazzmaster clone of theirs a couple years ago....
Hmmm was it danocaster????? Well anyway what ever it was it is one of the big names in fender clones and cost $2k and upward.
The fret work was TERRIBLE!
Any idiot can "build a guitar" but if you can't get your fret work to a level that at least rivals a factory guitar then you've got problems!
And yet people line up for that stuff.

Hell you can even buy a finished and fretted neck from Allparts and it plays better than those "boutique" instruments!

It certainly leaves me scratching my head.

Regarding innovation(s) in hardware I agree and disagree in a vague way.
I am of the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" school of thought.
When it comes to fender bridges I think the tele is a good design.
The modern strat 2-point vibrato is better than the original.
The modern cast saddles are way better than the original stamped saddles.

As I'm sure we all know though the market is driven by what people WILL spend their money on.
People have this abstract construct in their minds about the utter magic of all things vintage.
With all the hype you'd think vintage guitars are made of unicorn horns and leprechaun turds.
The truth of the matter is that while there were/are some really nice vintage guitars out there a vast majority of them are terrible!
(Again I've played, worked with, and owned MANY vintage guitars)
Many modern guitars are infinitely better than their vintage counterparts but people are obsessed with mystique and image.
Instead if being a good musician they wring their hand over whether or not they "sound" like their hero, or whether they look "cool enough" playing their guitar.

When I worked on the retail side of things something that was always a sticking point for me was that management wanted me to sell a customer the right guitar "for the store" (whatever made us the most money)
But my philosophy was/is "the right guitar for the right person".

To this day I tell people that while I would love it if everyone wanted a Nelson guitar, it just isn't going to happen.
So buy/play what you want and be happy with it.

Just as I mentioned previously how we've never before had so many option available, we've also never been filled with so much frustration and indecision.
I've been there too when it comes to having lots of guitars and mot knowing what to do.....but imagine being a guitar player 50-60 years ago. You'd have money for one guitar and even then you'd have to save up for a while to afford it.
Sure celebs could have multiples but all of your non-famous, aspiring musicians had ONE guitar.
They didn't have the luxury of fussing over which one they should play today, which "tone" is better for their recording etc.
Their guitar was their tool and the music was their craft.
If playing rhythm or a solo you relied on your musical ability and the guitar you were playing HAD to be secondary because there was no other option.

Hahaha sorry for another long rambling monologue! I think we can overthink things far too often.
I'm not that old but I can remember 10-15 years ago when I was saving every penny to buy more vintage guitars, I only had to decide which model guitar I wanted.....I NEVER worried about which pickups it had, which knobs were on it, etc etc etc.

I was just happy to have a guitar.


One final story! When working retail about 6 years ago I remember a family came into the shop with a foreign exchange student from Japan. He wanted to buy a guitar and it seemed like he had never owned an American guitar.
He tried a bunch out and wanted a Rickenbacker 620.
It was a little more than he wanted to spend but we worked out a deal for him.
The moment he decided he actually let out a sort of battle-cry. "Rrriiccckkeennnnbaackerrr"
And he did it several times over the next 15 minutes.
The sheer joy and pride he had at owning a fine guitar were overwhelming to him.
THAT'S what it's about!

[AngryGoldfish]

I missed your post, but I agree.


I'm just letting everyone know that I received the fridge magnet from the Indiegogo campaign and it is totally awesome. I absolutely love it. The note included was also really sweet. You're a charmer, Bobby. I'd love to one day buy a guitar.

[Nelson Instruments]

Well I'm glad the magnet arrived!!
I had to test to see if the magnet was strong enough to stick to something through the envelope as I was worried a magnet could stick to mail sorting machinery.
Lucky for me they weren't THAT strong!

Glad you like the magnet!! I too would love to get a guitar to you one of these days! You'd be the first in your entire country to have one! A trailblazer! A PIONEER EVEN!!!

[AngryGoldfish]

^_^

[goroth]

Hey Bobby, if you get a chance can you tell a bit more about the tooling stuff? I think most guys interested in guitars know roughly what you have to do to make an electric guitar, but making the stuff that goes onto an electric guitar is an absolute mystery to me!

[Nelson Instruments]

Matt, I am assuming that by "tooling" you are asking about the tooling that I was fundraising for?

So the bridge frame and the tailpiece are made out of formed steel.
The bridge frame is stainless steel "U" channel. In addition to the actual shape of the parts, with the bends that need to he made, there are also the holes for the adjusting screws. The tailpiece has the keyhole shaped holes to anchor the strings.
All of this forming and making of holes will be done on a punch press.
For those that don't know, a punch press is a machine that can apply tremendous force to form materials or cut out shapes etc.
(Back in the day fender pickguards were stamped on a punch press)

But to be able to place the holes and make the steel into the proper shapes there have to be the pieces that will do the forming. These are the "tools".
So I was fundraising to pay for the company to make the tools that will be used to form the steel into the frames for bridges and tailpieces.
Hopefully that makes sense!

If you watched the video on the fundraiser I showed a pickup cover that I would like to reproduce. Because of the bending and forming that needs to be done to make a metal pickup cover they would have to make about 5 different tools to achieve that and the cost to make those tools would be another $8,000!!!

As a side note if anyone out there is looking for direction in lofe for a career I would strongly suggest machining and or tool-and-die making.
There is an extreme lack of those people and you can make BIG money going into tool and die making.
I've already decided that if this guitar venture doesn't pan out I'll go back to school to be a machinist.