My Toys

[LeftyRuss]

Here's the basic rundown:

* Carvin LB76 six-string Bass (for sale in the bass section)
* Peavey Foundation Bass (original owner since '84 or '85, great bass, grossly underrated.)
* Takamine EG-330SLH Electric Acoustic
* Ibanez V300L Acoustic
* Frankenstein Strat (Carvin, Kramer, Schecter, Washburn parts)

I've owned the Ibanez since 1986. When we got engaged, I gave my wife her ring and she gave me the Ibanez. I think it was a fair trade!

I picked up the lefty Takamine new in a trade. I swapped an old S200 Sunn head even-up. Again, not a bad trade.

I've got more stories about my other instruments but I won't bore you.

I'll try to attach pictures soon, along with the model numbers of my acoustics.


My amps are kind of sparse right now:
- Crate 1x15 160w bass combo
- Randall 2x10 bass cabinet
- Rocktron 1x12 bass combo
- Rocktron 15w guitar combo
- Crate 1x12 35w guitar combo

Since I'm only playing at church, and the occasional blues jam, I'm using smaller amps these days (cheaper too). Plus, my back isn't what it used to be...

The Crate bass combo with the Randall cabinet produce a decent tone. I wouldn't tour the world with it, but it's good enough for what I'm doing. Plus, these are a lot easier to move than my old Gallien-Krueger stack!

[GodWentPunk]

Excellent run down of stuff.

joe...

[LeftyRuss]

Thanks Joe.

[LeftyRuss]

Here's a couple of pics.

[lostinthemasses]

likin' the peavey bass

[LeftyRuss]

Thanks. I've had that guitar for 25 years and I've never had a problem with it. It was made in Mississippi, I think the later Foundations were made overseas. It was my first lefty bass. I paid $400 for it, and it came with a hardshell case. At the time I ordered it, Peavey only offered their lefty Foundations in black. Of course, that was cool with me!

I currently have it strung with GHS flatwounds and it had a really nice warm sound. Back in the 80's I had it strung with GHS Boomers, and the occassional Rotosounds. It has a lot of bite with the roundwounds.

I had a lefty fretless Foundation for a while, but didn't play it much so I traded it away for an amp.

I've always told myself that someday I'm going to buy a couple more. Great tone and sustain. I'd like to find one or two with a rosewood fretboard.

For a little variety, I also wouldn't mind picking up one of the Peavey B-Ninety basses from the 90's.

Anyway, thanks for looking!

[Olav]

Like the Frankenfurter guitar, go ahead and 'bore' me with the story of how/why that got to be.
Nice color on the Ibanez!

[LeftyRuss]

LOL! Olav, okay, thanks for humoring me!

Sit back and relax, this might take a while...

First, the odd paint job. (I'll post a better pic)
The Frankenfurter (lol) strat was many years in the making. The body is a Schecter that I bought back in 1982. I think I paid $25 for it. It was on the clearance table at a music store in Lansing Michigan. I goofed around with a couple different paint jobs, but never got around to buying other parts to build a complete guitar. Fast forward about 15 years. The body was forgotten about, and hidden in an old equipment trunk I had. I was rummaging through the trunk and rediscovered the body. I took it out, sanded it up, and decided to paint it dark blue (I had a couple of cans at the time.) I hung it in the backyard from ladder using a coat hanger when I was painting it. It looked awesome. Is it was drying in the sun, it fell face first into the grass. It had a weird crackle look that I was kind of diggin'. Then, my neighbor, who was an artist, recommend is some some opaque glitter paint on it. It's the same type of glitter paint used for Christmas ornaments. Anyways, the opaque had blues, greens, silver and gold in it. The more paint I used, the more I liked it. I ended up using two cans of paint! It looked awesome. After it dried I decided to put polyurethane on it. But, stupid me, bought Satin instead of Gloss. So, the polyurethane toned down the glitter. I was a little bummed, but it still looked good.

The neck:
I was living in Fort Wayne Indiana at the time an a local guitar luthier had bought a shipment of NOS left handed necks from Kramer. The fretboard is flatter than a regular strat neck, with 22 frets. I think I paid $60.

Electronics and assembly;
I happened to be working with another lefty who was more knowledgeable than me in building guitars. He had some old Washburn parts laying around. He gave me a neckplate, two pickups (including a Seymour Duncan hotstack for the neck position) and other miscellaneous tidbits. I was inspired, so I bought a pearloid pickguard, tuners, and a M22SD humbucker pickup from Carvin for the bridge position. Also, I had picked up the bridge many years ago out of a clearance bin too.

My lefty coworker took the first stab at assemblying everything. It turned out okay, but wasn't great. I had it like this for a couple of years, but then decided to take it to the luthier where I bought the neck. He installed a coil-tap on the bridge humbucker and rewired everything correctly, and a lot cleaner. He performed an extensive setup and now the guitar plays great. The Carvin humbucker has a lot of bite, even on a clean channel. It's a nice contrast to the Duncan that produces a nice warm tone.

I've never played the guitar outside of my house. I'm more of a bass player than a guitarist. Maybe someday...

As for the Ibanez, thanks, it's one of those traits from aging. It has darkened nicely over the years. It's basically morph'd from natural to amber over the past 25+ years.

I guess the story IS kind of boring, but thanks for asking!

-LR

A great orator I am not! lol.

[Olav]

Boring? Näääh! I love reading about guitars' lives.

[AllroyPA]

re kramerfurter

Post a better pic of the body paint, I think the strap is cool too, compliments the brassy color in the bridge.