Justin Guitar

Despite having been on these forums for many years, I've never done a proper road case. That was remiss of me!

So here it is. I'm going to start with the guitars I don't have any more:

Old guitars

Yamaha F310 Acoustic
This is the only photo of this I could find.


This was my first guitar.

I say "my first" as I actually shared a nylon-string acoustic with my elder brother when we were kids and, briefly, had a handful of classical lessons at primary school. I don't remember why I stopped, but the guitar got broken when my brother was pretending to be a rock star whilst listening to music, and smashed the headstock on the door frame.

I say "my", but it was actually my wife who bought it from Costco as, on an impulse she fancied learning to play. She gave up pretty much before she started. As the guitar was there I thought I should give it a go. I could actually remember some of the chords I had learned all those years ago at school. At that point I wasn't really taking it seriously and just messing with it occasionally. Piano was my first choice of instrument and, at that point, I was spending more time on that.

PRS SE Singlecut

This is the best photo I have of this:


This was my first electric guitar. My brother-in-law, David, was living with us at the time and he used to play electric guitar when he was younger. He had been talking about starting again and buying himself one for ages. When we became friends with someone at our children's school who was a professional rock guitar player, I think that fuelled his interest and he started saving up. When he went to buy it, I went with him to the guitar store. Whilst I was there, amongst the rows of electric guitars hanging on the walls, one stood out to me. I'm not sure why because it wasn't particularly flashy or brightly coloured, but it just appealed. David saw my interest and said "You should get that, it's a decent guitar". So, on a whim, I did. He is a Tele guy, so he bought a Fender Tele Lite Ash (more on that later) and also bought the Cube amp in the photo, and said I could use it.

It was after buying this that I started getting serious about learning the guitar, and I think it was around that sort of time I discovered Justin on Youtube.

I was travelling a lot within the UK with work at the time, and one of the things that appealed to me about the electric guitar was I could easily take it with me and practice in the hotel room without really disturbing anyone.

It was a great guitar and I used it loads, but a few years ago I decided to upgrade so I sold it.

Cadenza Electro-acoustic

This is the only photo I can find of this:


In 2010 I was on a work contract where I had to work in Kuala Lumpur for several months. I was staying in a nice apartment in Mid Valley. Whilst I was there I decided I needed something to do, so I went to a local music shop and bought this. It's a cheap copy of an Ovation with a bowl-style body and the odd sound holes. It wasn't the best guitar in the world but it did the job whilst I was out there, and I decided I would bring it home with me when I came back to the UK.

I had it for a few years, and then decided to sell it at the same time as the Yamaha F310 when I decided to upgrade to a better acoustic guitar.

Redwood Bass guitar
The only photo I have of this is with the neck off whilst I was fixing it:


A few years ago I fancied giving bass a go, but didn't want to spend a fortune on gear in case I decided it wasn't for me. So I went on Gumtree and found a cheap bass guitar for sale, costing £40. To be honest, it was a cheap model (I think they were only around £120 new) and it was in a real state when I bought it; all the metal parts were rusty, the strings were in a shocking state, the electrics were noisy, and it had been strung completely incorrectly. Also a couple of the frets had loads of wear, and the whole thing was a grimey mess. I bought it as, not only could I use it to learn, but also I saw it as a project to see if I could restore it.

I cleaned everything up, fixed what I could and, for a while, this was my main bass guitar.

Here's a video of me playing it (badly). Here I was taking part in a challenge on Scotts Bass Lessons.





Yamaha  TRXB204

When the Redwood finally died (the jack socket failed, and replacing it turned out to be tricky) I got a new one, so I nipped down to Andertons and bought the Yammy. I don't have a photo of it, but I do have some video of me playing it for another SBL challenge:





And, yes, it does look very similar to the Redwood. I didn't specifically set out to buy another black bass guitar, but it was the only colour they had in stock at the time.

I sold it to a friend last year when I got my latest bass (more on that in my next Road Case post).

Swing S100


I've already written about this, as it was the guitar I purchased for myself when in Singapore.

I gave it away to a local friend's daughter. Apparently she is loving it.

Honourable Mentions

For a while, we had a Yamaha Pacific 112V in the house (sorry no photo). This was my daughter's. We got it for her for her birthday because she said it was what she wanted, but she never really took to it in the end, and I think I played it more than she did. She has since grown up, got married and moved home and she has it at her new house, and is still talking about learning.

I also had a Harley Benton GS Mini (again, no photo) for a while. I bought that as I was going camping and wanted something to take with me that was relatively small and that I wouldn't worry about getting damaged or stolen. I recently (2 weeks ago) lent it to my daughter as she thought it might be better for her to start learning on than the Pacifica, as she is quite small. So far she's not done anything with it, so I suspect I may get it back again in a few months. It's a pretty decent little guitar for the price and I actually used it quite a bit.

Cheers,

Keith

What a great history to share, it was quite an interesting read for the evening, thanks for that Keith. Never tried playing bass in my past but I am tempted to try one day altough not anytime soon I always like how guitars are telling a story and are reminiscent of something that happened in our past, my old guitars are 1500 miles away in my hometown so I will try to follow your path and share some stories as well, even though they are not that much exciting to be fair

Sent from my SM-G973F using JustinGuitar Community mobile app

What a treat to learn some more about you Keith and better yet to hear you playing bass. Is there no end to your talent? You tell a great tale. Thankyou for this.

Good to see you up and running Keith. I do enjoy a bit of back story and history.

Thanks Richard. Hopefully you will enjoy the stories about my current guitars.

Cheers,

Keith

What a treat to learn some more about you Keith and better yet to hear you playing bass. Is there no end to your talent? You tell a great tale. Thankyou for this.

Thank you Maggie,

I'm not sure about "talent", but I do try. I really should get back to some bass practice now I'm back in the UK, as it's been a while and I'm quite rusty.

Cheers,

Keith

Freshman Apollo 2 OCBK Acoustic





This is a bit of a difficult guitar to photograph as the finish on it is such high gloss, and it just reflects everything, so I've included a few pictures to show it at different angles and with different detail.



It has gold hardware, Fishman electronics and quite ornate inlays around the binding and rose.







I bought this several years ago when I wanted to get an upgrade from the Yamaha and Credenza acoustic guitars I had. So I sold those and went shopping.

The local guitar shop had these Freshman Apollo guitars and, at the time, they were on Justin's recommended list. The shop was selling them at a heavy discount (unfortunately they were closing down). I took my daughter with me as she said she was interested. They had two colours in stock and I preferred the other one, but my daughter said she liked this one, so I went with it as I thought it might encourage her to use it (it didn't!).

Whilst I quite like playing this guitar, I'm not in love with it. It plays and sounds OK but is nothing special. I am not keen on how it looks. Frankly it's too "blingy" for my taste. I an actively considering selling it and upgrading to something not only better, but that I like the look of more.

I'm learning another finger style song and, if I can nail the tricky middle-section, I may post a video of me playing this soon.

Cheers,

Keith

G&L Legacy Tribute



I bought this prior to a business trip to Mexico City several year ago. At that time I was having guitar lessons with a local teacher and had been starting to work through the RGT Rock Guitar grades. I was due to attend the grade 5 exam, but work got in the way and I had to go to Mexico for several weeks. My exam was on the day after I flew back.

There's no way I was going to get through the exam having not picked up a guitar in weeks (on top of being jetlagged) so I started looking for options online. Guitar shops in Mexico City seemed to have a poor selection and seemed expensive, so I started looking for a cheap guitar I could take with me.

Whilst looking, I happened across Richards Guitars website and was looking through the G&L range. They were out of my budget but, having seen the discussions on the forum, as well as some online reviews, I had fancied getting a G&L Strat-style guitar for a while, so I thought I would browse a bit just for future reference. I had my eye on a sunburst model.

Whillst on the website, Richard popped up in the embedded web chat and asked me if I was interested in the G&Ls, and said he would be prepared to do a special deal on the Candy Apple Red model. I wasn't keen. I like red Strats (very Hank Marvin) but I didn't like the look of the G&L with the red headstock.

He explained that he had one red one left in stock and was prepared to do a good price to sell it. He originally bought some of the red models along with various other finishes but, despite being a classic colour, the red ones had been slow to sell because noone liked the look of them in the photos (because of the red headstock). He said that the photos didn't do them justice and that they looked much better in person. If I was prepared to visit the shop and try it, he would give me a great price if I wanted it. So I jumped in the car and headed up there.

When I got to he shop (in beautiful Stratford-upon-Avon) he plugged the guitar into an amp, handed it to me, and left me to it for half an hour. Straight away all my concerns about how it looked evaporated. In person, the finish is a lot deeper red than it looks in photos, and is slightly metallic. It reminds me of the finish on a high-end sports car. I'm still not a huge fan of the coloured headstock regardless of colour (I don't think it quite suits Strat-style guitars) but it doesn't bother me at all.

He had set the guitar up well, and it played beautifully and sounded great too. Like most S-type guitars, it's a versatile thing with rich and creamy tones from the neck pickup, lots of bite in the neck, great rhythm tones in the middle, and some nice "quacky" sounds from the bridge/middle combo. As with most S-type guitars the combination of neck and middle pickups is the weakest of the available pickup combinations, but it's usable. At the price he was offering me, it was an easy decision.

So this traveled to Mexico with me and I used it, much to the amusement and entertainment of my business colleague, to practice and prepare for the guitar exam. My colleague had managed to book an amazing simplex apartment in the Polanco area of Mexico City near many good restaurants and bars.





 I had taken a recently-purchased Line 6 Amplifi TT with me as it seemed to be ideal for the situation. We plugged it into the apartment hifi and I used it as an amplifier practicing along to backing tracks streamed through Bluetooth, and we also used it to stream music (when the Bluetooth worked).

And when I got back to the UK, despite being heavily jet-lagged, I managed to get a pass on the grading.

I sometimes wonder if I should consider upgrading it to a better model as it is from the cheaper G&L line (made in Indonesia) but then I think "why?". It's a decent guitar and I enjoy playing it. Maybe I will come across an S-type guitar in the future which I fall in love with, and end up trading up but, for now, it's staying put.

Cheers,

Keith

That's very kind of you to say David.

I have emailed Justin to try to arrange the lesson now that I know I will be around in the UK for a bit. From Justin's newsletter it seems he's quite busy at the moment. I will update when things move forward with that.

Cheers,

Keith

  I forget when I spoke with Justin to set up mine as to the window when it was suitable for him. I think he had some workshops scheduled in September

I'm with you on the Freshman and it's look ... that high gloss finish wouldn't appeal to me. Personally I love the look of a sunburst finish.

You sure have got around the world ... like my brother, before he got married and then retired (early) to a village in the north east of Brazil to live an artist's life.

Kind of curious to see the different guitars to come. Appreciating the way you are telling the story of each one.

Love that red on that Strat and as a beginner bass player, I enjoyed those bass vids a lot!

PRS S2 Singlecut



There's not too much of a story behind this guitar. I bought it a few years ago to replace my original PRS CE model.

I liked the CE a lot, but the intonation wasn't quite right on the high E string, which was starting to annoy me. I guess it must be familiarity with guitars because I had played it for years without noticing. I took it to a luthier who basically said that the problem was the bridge. These guitars have a fixed, compensated bridge and when it works it works well, but if they are off then there's little room for adjustment. He suggested the fix would be a new bridge with individually adjustable saddles. The problem was not big enough to worry about so I left it, but a year later and it was starting to bug me, probably more psychologically than anything else.

I had seen the PRS S2 models advertised on Andertons YT channel, and saw they were doing a special end-of-line price, so I decided to get one. I sold mine on Gumtree to a guy who was just starting out he actually brought his guitar teacher over to check it out.

When I called Andertons the next day, I found they had sold out, literally that morning. Bummer!

So I scoured the Internet and found someone else who had them in stock. In fact, they were slightly cheaper. They had a decent returns policy so I bought it mail order.

The guitar itself is lovely. However, the "satin" finish is very thin and quite easily damaged. I was slightly annoyed at first, but then I realised a bit of wear gives it some character. In the photo yo can see a few places where it's starting to get some wear.

The guitar has two humbuckers, both of which can be tapped to give a "single coil" sound. Like most coil tapped humbuckers, it's not particularly convincing, but it is a different tone to play with. The guitar actually has quite a dark sound and can be quite muddy, but it's great for growling rock sounds and thick, creamy solos.

It has locking tuners, which are great.

I think this is my favourite guitar, and it's the only humbucker-equipped guitar in my collection. It doesn't suit every song but, whenever I use it, it feels comfortable and familiar.

Cheers,

Keith

Gibson SG P90

(I'm not sure exactly what model this is, but I think it's a SG Special '60s Tribute).





I got this as part of a bunch of equipment a friend, Anita, was selling. I actually got to know Anita through Scott's Bass Lessons. She was selling a bunch of both Bass and Guitar gear that she had accumulated over the years as she wanted to clear the space to make an art studio. She contacted me through a message on the SBL forums:

Hi Keith,

Thought I'd message you on the off-chance that you were interested in some guitar gear, as I'm wanting to get rid of it and I'd like to see it go to a good home. You still play guitar, right?
...

She then listed a whole bunch of kit.

I would rather have the stuff collected as I don't drive and it's pretty delicate/heavy to ship...

Yeah... I suffered from a lot of GAS when I was younger!

My initial response was:

Yes I'm still playing guitar although, really, with 3 electric guitars and 2 acoustics, plus a bunch of amps and modelling interfaces, I've probably got enough stuff. Do you have any view on what you want for them, either individually or as a package, as I can ask around.

She then messaged me prices and said:

For actually selling stuff, in particular I'm looking to move the Gibson SG Special P90s 2011 and the Laney TI15 amp. All fantastic condition, the amp was bought new in 2013 I think and barely used, the guitar was bought used but no wear.
...
Oh.. and I'm also looking to move a bass guitar and amp, so if you do happen to have any interest in those, let me know. I'll do an insane deal for a friend

I know, I know, lol. I have way too much stuff.

The bass and the amp piqued my interest (more on that later).

After a few messages back and forward, I was actually considering some of the guitar stuff as well. After all, I had to make a 3-4 hour round trip to pick it up, and the price she was selling it for was pretty good. Anything I didn't want she said I could sell on if I wanted.

I replied:

That is really, *really* tempting, damn you!

I drove over the following week, had lunch with her and loaded up the car. The deal I did with her included a cheap Takamine acoustic, which I gave to a friend who taught music at the local SEN school, some drive pedals, and a cahon.

I'll cover the bass gear in future posts.

Apparently the story behind the SG (if I have it correct) is that she was travelling through Europe with her boyfriend when she saw the SG online for sale second-hand in Belgium, so they did a detour and she bought it.

Being a Black Sabbath fan, she had originally changed the pick-guard out for a completely black one, but she had kept the original laminated one with the white layers so I reinstalled that, as I preferred it.

I was originally thinking I might sell this. I had never played an SG and, although at one point, had toyed with the idea of getting a cheap Epiphone SG, I had always suspected that it wouldn't be my thing.

It turns out I was wrong. It's a lovely little thing, and the P90s have a tonal character distinct from all my other guitars. I don't use it that much at the moment, but I enjoy it when I do, and it's really nice to play. one odd thing I find is that, when I first pick it up, I sometimes get slightly lost as I expect the 12th fret to be closer to the body than it is. It's not dramatically smaller than my other guitars, but it feels a lot smaller for some reason. It's a 2011 model with a matte black finish that I'm pretty sure is nitro.

I'll cover some of the other gear I got in later posts.

Cheers,

Keith

So many bright, shiny toys, entertaining tales, deals done. Thanks Keith.

What a fantastic collection, Majik. I particularly like the P90 SG. I don’t always love black guitars but that one is just sweet. I love my Les Paul Jr with P90 but do sometimes wish I had that neck pick up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk