When is a Jazzmaster NOT a Jazzmaster? When it’s a hand-built replica Jazzmaster relic built by Rock N Roll Relics of San Francisco CA.!
2009 American Standard (Factory Special Run), Strat & Tele, Fiesta Red with matching headstocks.
The Tele was found at the 12th Fret in Toronto waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in May of 2011, and the Strat was found a few days ago at Mountain Music in Hamilton. It’s fun to have a matching set…maybe I should start a band…we could be like The Shadows with our matching guitars!
My oldest child…he turned 46 this year! Still lives at home (rent-free!) and hasn’t got a job either. :D
1966 Fender Jaguar, 3TSB, at my home in Toronto, Canada, July 27, 2012.
…and some evenings I just play my Sherwood Green AVRI Custom Telecaster!
I am pleased to say that I have exactly 5 Telecasters…and every single one of them is awesome! They are (in no particular order):
- 2000-and-something American Vintage Reissue ‘62 Custom Tele in Sherwood Green (pictured).
- 2005 Custom Shop ‘67 Relic in shoreline gold. Love this one because it weigh in at a mere 6.8 lbs! Plus shoreline is such a cool colour! :D
- 2009 American Standard FSR, in fiesta red with matching headstock and hand-wound Pickup Wizard pickups.
- 1998 Custom Shop ‘60 Custom Tele NOS, in 3 tone sunburst.
- 2011 Ltd Edition 60th Anniversary Modern Thinline in Olympic White.
Maybe I will do a Telecaster-only photo series…hmmm…yeah. Stay tuned!Toronto, July 16, 2012.
When I was growing up I always dreamed about owning a Jaguar some day. Preferably a 1960’s E-Type convertible!
It didn’t take long for me to realize that I will always be poor…well not “poor” exactly, but too poor to own a Jaguar!
Anyhoo…if I can’t drive a Jaguar, at least I can PLAY a Jaguar! In fact, I can honestly say that I currently own TWO Jaguars! :D Here is one of them:
Two-thousand-and-something Fender American Vintage Reissue ’62 Jaguar, firemist silver metallic.
Toronto, Canada, Feb 20, 2012.
(This is the Jaguar I would REALLY love to own: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaguar_E-type) ;D
This is the “other” Les Paul in my life. It’s a 2010 Traditional Gold Top bought new at Steve’s Music in Toronto, Canada in November 2010.
After the floods in Nashville in early 2010, production was interrupted and it was very hard to find Les Pauls up here in Canada! I always wanted a Gold Top and because of the production issues, I waited about 6 months to find one. Then in Novemebr some “Traditionals” started showing up in stores, and I jumped on the first one I found. The “Traditional” is one step below the “Standard”…not weight relieved (much to my chagrin!) and the regular tuners and jack (as opposed to locking on the “Standards” starting in 2008.
This is truly one of the most Beautiful guitars in my collection, and yet I don’t play it very much…mostly becasue it weighs an incredible 9.5 lbs! Yikes! That kind of weight can give a guy back problems! In retrospect, I should have waited and bought a Standard! But at least this one is still visually stunning…and even though I hate the weight, I still like the way it looks… :D
Toronto, Canada, January 14, 2011.
It’s Friday the 13th and it feels like a Les Paul Special kind of night!
I have it this before and I’ll say it again…this 2009 Gibson Custom 1960 Les Paul Special Reissue VOS is just about as close to perfect as a guitar can be. I strongly encourage you to get yourself a Les Paul Special if you can…maybe it is the Fender-fan in me speaking, but I think “Specials” are better than “regular” Les Pauls! They feel great, don’t weigh a ton and those P-90’s just sing!
Now, I am having to stop myself from buying this one… http://www.theguitarshop.ca/features.php?id=1307 :D
Toronto, Canada, (Friday) January (the) 13th, 2012.
Fender Custom Shop Strats and Teles, and Gretsches too! Plus some Gibsons on both sides. I could live in this room and be perfectly happy! :D
Toronto, Canada, January 12, 2012.
I was out of town for a couple of days, and since I NEVER travel without a guitar (unless flying overseas…then it just becomes too much trouble!), this is what my hotel room usually ends up looking like:
- guitar (on bed)
- jacket (on bed)
- man-purse (on bed)
- book, in this case “Electronics for Dummies”…I am learning about wiring! (on bed)
- gig bag (on bed)
- misc. clothing (on bed)
I guess this is why I always try to get a hotel room with a king-size bed! :D
Toronto Canada, November 2011.
It has been a cold and rainy day in Toronto. A perfect Jazzmaster day! here is my Rock N Roll Relics Style 3, whcih is a Jazzmaster replica, heavily relicked. Not sure how to spell that… ”relicked”? ”Relicd”? ”Relic-d?”. Anyhoo, it;s pretty beat up. :D
Toronto, Canada, October 15, 2011.
Jazzmaster bridge and pickup at sundown on October 14th, 2011 in my living room, Toronto, Canada.
One last heartwarming Jazzmaster pic, after a cold and rainy October day in Toronto, Canada.
Sometimes it pays to know someone in the guitar business!
I was chatting with my buddy Brent from The Guitar Shop (http://www.theguitarshop.ca/) in Port Credit Ontario last night, and I casually mentioned that I would be interested in buying a PRS starla if they built one with a Tune-O-Matic and a stop bar tailpiece, rather than their standard Bigsby tremolo/tailpiece. I have a Starla (see pic!) with a Bigsby, which is pretty much the ONLY way they come. But I have seen a few pics out there on Internets where they have a stop bar instead of the Bigsby, like you would find on a Gibson, and these have always intrigued me!
My pal at The Guitar Shop (http://www.theguitarshop.ca/), Brent, sells a LOT of high-end PRS stuff and often has “private stock” units (for which he has personally selected the wood for during visits to the PRS factory!) which sell for 4, 6, 8 thousand dollars or more! I guess if you are jetting down to Maryland to pick your own wood from their inventory, I would say you have a pretty solid connection with the factory! I mean this guy knows Paul Smith personally!
So, as I said, I causally mentioned this thing about the stop bar Starla to Brent and thought that was the end of it. Not so…
Today I get an email from Brent…and he tells me that he emailed his buddy who works in production at the PRS factory, and he tells me that if I want to order a Starla with a stop bar, PRS will be happy to build me a one-off instrument! A Starla with a stop bar tailpiece instead of a Bigsby! Plus I get to choose the colour (I chose “charcoal”) and whether I want “bird” or “dot” markers on the fret board (I chose birds)!
So I am totally stoked! I am getting a custom-ordered, once-off build directly from PRS in the colour of my choice, AND the price is no more than the regular price for an “off the rack” Starla!
The only bad thing is that it’s going to take about 3 months to get it built and shipped up here from Maryland! But that’s actually OK with me - I need some time to save up anyway! But I can’t wait to get my special order Starla!!! :D
I’ll say it again…sometimes it pays to know someone in the guitar business! :D
Saw this lovely Tele last night too…it not expensive for a Custom Shop instrument either at $2300. If I didn’t alreay have 2 Custom Shop Telecasters, I would be very tempted by this one…I am a sucker for blondes! :D
Toronto Canada, September 28, 2011.
Jammin’ on the Jazzmaster tonight out in the warehouse.
Actually, it’s not a Fender. I can’t lie. It’s a Jazzmaster replica by Billy Rowe of Rock N Roll Relics, San Francisco. Check it out. He builds some beautifully aged replicas. Mostly Fender replicas, but some Gibson. And then he makes his own designs too…check out his “Jazzbastard” model!
http://www.rocknrollrelics.net/
http://www.rocknrollrelics.net/shop/jazz-bastard-2
…actually it’s not a warehouse either. I can’t lie. It’s my living room with the box my new dishwasher came in… :D
