Chrome Blue American Series Stratocaster

It turns out the color wasn't exactly what I had thought.  I have a Chrome Blue Fender Strat and the year is a 2003.  The guitar arrived and was MINT (though 10 years old), along with the case being just as gorgeously preserved.

The guitar is an American Series, the American Standard of the years 2000-2008.  The name has gone back to the Standard designation after that time period, but preserved many of the nice features that came with the American Series.  I love the tone and sustain of this guitar! It rings on after a chord like an acoustic guitar-- no kidding!  The sound and tuning are sweet. I love the maple fretboard.  So many more aspects to describe, but I will let the pictures suffice for now!

Notice this color changes in different light sources, somewhat like an old hot rod used to do in the sixties!

"My Blue Strat": An American Standard for Blues Playing

I have been thinning the heard and ridding myself of some items by selling them on Ebay-- saving for a new "used" guitar.  I found "my blue Strat" and this time it is actually blue.  The idea is that I play the BLUES on a Strat making it "blue", however, the idea of a blue Strat also goes with my desire to get an American Made Fender Stratocaster and a blue one also because I love all things blue.  Since I no longer can drive due to Parkinson's Disease, I can't purchase a car that color, but I can acquire a blue guitar.  That is as close to a car as it is going to get for me, I am afraid.

It is a pre-owned American Standard Stratocaster in Lake Placid Blue, approximately 2007 or 2008.  I will determine the year of production when I see the serial number.  It has the maple fretboard, which is what I was seeking.

Well, here is a picture from the listing of my new Axe.  I am going to love it, I know.  Now, the waiting begins. -- Guitar Man

Epiphone Les Paul Custom Comparable to Gibson

I have a "new" ax I bought used, but mint.  It is a 2005 Epiphone Les Paul Custom.  It was crafted in the Samick Factory in South Korea.  I have been playing it and enjoying it.  I took a few days getting it set up just the way I like it.  I raised, lowered and lowered the bridge again.  I set the intonation each time.  I gently adjusted the tuning machines, which are gold Grovers.  The more I worked with it, the more it became mine.  I have a tradition when I get an new instrument of putting my other electric guitars away for a few weeks and playing the one guitar, exclusively.  After many hours playing it, restringing it and polishing everything, I have comments to make about the quality of Epiphone Les Pauls.  

Reading on message boards and guitar discussion forums, I have seen talk of the comparison between the Epiphone and Gibson LP's.  I wouldn't kid myself-- this is not a Gibson LP Custom, but considering I paid $429 used with a plush original hardshell case, case candy and the case key, this was a great buy!  The body is in the tradition of the Gibson Custom, made of solid, carved mahogany.  The Epiphone website describes it this way, "Epiphone's LP Custom follows that tradition by using a solid, carved Mahogany body giving it a slightly mellower tone. Like the originals, attached to the body is a solid Mahogany neck with a hand-fitted, glued-in joint for optimum neck-to-body contact and acting almost like one continuous piece of wood."  

The difference between these two guitars would be found in the pickup quality and that is no small issue.  However, I find my Epiphone humbuckers, both neck and bridge, to sound rich and full in tone.  The bridge is as clear and bright as the neck is warm and bluesy.  The Grovers are just that-- actual gold Grover tuners and they keep this guitar in tune while playing an hour long set onstage.I am very happy with my Epiphone Les Paul Custom and it is truly a "black beauty." -- Guitar Man

Hear this guitar by clicking on my recording, Take a Stand above this post.

Epiphone Riviera Custom P93: Vintage Vibe Guitar Pickups and Compton Bridge

I recently had Vintage Vibe Guitar pickups made for my Epiphone Riviera Custom P93 Limited Edition guitar.  We also installed a Compton Compensated solid brass bridge made for my guitar.  These guitars are built in the China Epiphone Custom Shop and are a limited run edition.  They come with 3 Alnico V P90's, although the sound is muted to a degree in the stock versions.  It has a wonderful warm, tube sound, but it is hard to get them bright enough to play a solo over the band.  Not with these pick ups!  These Vintage Vibe Guitar pickups made for my guitar based on the pro guitar tech's specs he gave them, are comprised of dog-eared P90's with Alnico V, 50's style under-wound magnets.   Included were Alnico II, III and IV magnets, if the player wants to try different combinations. 

The mid-pup is reversed to provide noise reduction for the neck, or visa versa.  The bridge is a blade style P90 and provides a hotter signal for leads.  I played this guitar live on the platform at church, with a full band and was able to clearly hear the clarity and resonance of the notes as I played a lead solo.  I didn't have to crank the guitar or amplifier up, but rather just the clarity of the pickups and sustain of the Compton brass bridge brought the tone and punch I needed out of my guitar. 

I was very pleased.  I also have a new push-pull volume for the mid-PUP, which allows me more tonal flexibility and various combinations of the three pick ups.  A new Switchcraft three position switch was also installed.  All in all, a great improvement.  Cost for parts was $275 for the three P90's and $65 for the Compton bridge.  Not bad for such a great improvement!  Thanks, also, to the professional that did the great work.  -- Guitar Man

Fender Champion 600 Mod Progress

My buddy with all the guitar amplifier talent has finished the modifications for my Fender Champion 600.  It is modified to be the 50's 5F1 Champ-like now in sound.  It will really rock now, like the amp used to play Layla by Eric Clapton.  I haven't picked it up yet, as I don't drive due to MSA, but I should have it by Saturday.  I can't wait to plug in and play my blues!

 Cool electronic component changes that open up the sound to give it that Champ-like quality.  Also, tube changes and went from a 6 inch to an 8 inch Jensen Mod speaker. 

 My buddy changed the grill cloth to this '63 Baseman grill.  Much more open and allows the speaker to breath better than the suede cloth the manufacturers included.  Fully modded and ready to rock! (You can look at the pictures I posted in my past postings to get an idea of how it looked before the changes.)

-- Guitar Man

Pre and Post Fender Champion 600 Modifications

I have made a video of my Fender Champ in the stock condition before having some modifications done by a great friend who is an expert.  I will make a post-changes video, as well.

Guitar Man's Fender Champion 600 Before Mods

Fender Champ 600 Arrived

My new amp rolled up today and it sounds really warm and vintage.  It was at a used price on Ebay, but is like new.  The new limited Fender Champion 600 "lil' blondie's" are going for $179, so $102 plus $20 for shipping was a great price. I played it dry and with my pedal board.  Really takes the pedals well.  My favorite form though is just straight in from the guitar.  The Strat sounds better through it than the Riviera.  Now, I will begin to plan mods with my friend who is helping me to make the changes.  -- Guitar Man

"

Fender Champion 600 at Long Last!

This week I landed a Fender Champion 600.  It is being shipped soon.  I bought a used one on Ebay a couple of years ago and reported on this blog that I was looking forward to playing my blues through this small, portable all tube practice amp.  Then, the seller shipped it as cheaply as possible, which meant that it rolled around inside a train for three weeks.  If it wasn't sad, it would be comical to report that the mail carrier couldn't make eye contact with me as he handed me a round box.  Inside was a very damaged amp!

Well, I worked that out and was refunded.  I moved on and two years went by.  I got to thinking that I still had a desire to own and play such a portable, practical tube amp that would allow me to sit outside and play my blues without disturbing neighbors or my sleeping granddaughter when she is visiting over here.

Since my first attempt, the Fender Champion 600 has become discontinued and now is a collectible amplifier.  I was fortunate to be the winning bidder for one at $102.00, whereas they last retailed for $175.  The one I purchased was listed as "new," which I took to mean that it was pre-owned, but never scratched and hardly played.  It should be a great amp to play stock or to modify as I posted previously one of the possible scenarios of alterations that are available.

One of the reasons I wanted this amp is that it will allow me to learn more about how to swap speakers, since I have now become accustomed to changing out tubes.  I will be looking at the Weber Alnico 6 inch speaker as a possible upgrade, plus maybe the tone circuit that a friend of mine, who is a professional, has experience upgrading.  There is also the Mercury Magnetics transformer as a possibility.  So many say the grill cloth changes the tone as much as any other mod.  It comes with a suede cloth that apparently holds back the speaker's ability to push sound.

So much to learn!  -- Guitar Man

P.S.  Here is a glimpse inside--

Post Script:  Right after I posted the above entry, I learned that there was a reissue of this amplifier in a new form, with slight color changes.  I heard it through the grapevine that this is a Fender Champion 600 limited edition, with only 200 units to start with, and an estimated time of arrival if you buy it now in October of 2013.  Here is a photo of the new mono-colored tolex.

Very nice look!  This older ones (above) that look like the '57 version are going to be disappearing from the landscape and going up in price, so I would grab one while you can.  -- Guitar Man

Fender Deluxe Lone Star Strat: Pick Up Upgrades Come Stock

It has been some time since I posted on my blues blog, and today I want to change the subject a bit to talk about the "pick up" composition of my Fender Stratocaster.  Specifically, the guitar you see in the My Blue Strat header on the top of this blog, is a Fender Deluxe Lone Star Stratocaster.  It has some upgrades over a Standard Strat, namely the finish on the neck and headstock, the tortoiseshell pickguard and the pickups.  The neck and mid PU's are Texas Specials and the Bridge PU is a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbucker.  A 1990's Stevie Ray Vaughan Signature Stratocaster reportedly has the same Texas Special single coil pickups that my blues machine comes with installed.  The Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates are used by ZZ Top lead guitarist Billy Gibbons.  He has a "Pearly Gates" Gibson Les Paul, but he only likes to use it in the studio.  In concert, he relies on Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates humbuckers, that which is found on my Strat, to replicate his guitar's legendary tone. Seymour Duncan's website describes this bridge humbucker as “sweet, but slightly rude, with great sustain and a bright top end that make harmonics jump out of the guitar.”

On various messageboards and chat groups for Fender Strats and Telecasters,  some refer to the Texas Specials as boxy or lacking tonal clarity.  Others say that the TS PU's will reproduce the good tone of the guitar unplugged.  I love the tone of my Strat when I am jamming on it unplugged, so that would explain why it sounds really natural and clear when I am playing it plugged in and turned on through my Peavey Classic 30 or my Crate Vintage Club 20 tube amps.

A guitar buddy with a lot of knowledge, reflecting on my style and use of my guitar recommended that I replace my round wound 10's with some flat wound 11's.  I did so and this really brought out the sustain and clarity of my ax.  I was so pleased as I played it in my weekly gig Sunday!  It had a bigger, bolder sound with the flat wound 11's, and for now, I will never go back to the lighter gauge, round wound strings.   It gives my Strat a versatility that I need when I want to strum it like an acoustic, or if I want it to stand up to the bends and blues runs I do when I am playing my traditional blues guitar riffs.  It holds the tune very well and has a much fuller low end, as well, than previously with a more typical electric guitar string.

I am enjoying this Fender guitar and it is currently in the number one position in my rotation, just ahead of my Epiphone Riviera Custom P93, which I love as well, for playing my blues. -- Guitar Man

The Blues in Church!

I want to give a shout out to my friend Tavo, who is our band leader at church.  Last week he put together an arrangement for "Lonesome Valley" that focused on blues guitar.  The lyrics, which were a gospel version, emphasized Jesus walking through that lonesome valley alone and facing it for all the rest of we humans.  Well, it was awesome to hear Tavo sing and play that song, while Dane, his teen son, played Upright bass, and my adult son, Mark, played drums and sang harmony.  The beauty of this is that Tavo knows how I dig the blues and love the opportunity to turn up my gain knob on my Epiphone Riviera and get the tubes warmed up on my Crate Vintage Club 20 amplifier.

It was everything I could have hoped for in the way Tavo arranged the chords and allowed me to fill the background with blues runs and riffs, culminating in his giving me a nod to begin a lead solo over a whole verse.  I was really in my element, bending those strings on that Semi-hollow electric with the P90's and letting my emotions for the message in the song be expressed through my guitar, pedals and amp.

It's the kind of guy Tavo is, a person who thinks of others and gives them credit for things before himself.  He is a far better player than I, but he gives me the spotlight in moments like this and it truly touches my heart.  Makes all the hours of practice worth the effort and all the love I give to my music!  The worship was sweet and the song list really drew in the people to reflect on the grace of God, and this blues number to close out as the service concluded was a joy.  My thanks and a "fist bump" to my pal and fellow traveler, Tavo.  You're the man!  -- Guitar Man

Flipped the Classic 20 and Found a Classic 30

I loved the Peavey Classic 20! I loved it so much, I wanted to get the bigger version.  So I flipped it on Ebay and waited for just the right deal for a Peavey Classic 30.  The Peavey Classic 20 is a great grab and go tube amp with 15 watts.  It has wonderful blues tone and it is plenty loud for its size.  However, I was looking for an amp that had great in-home volume levels but also the potential for gigging, able to keep up with a bassist and drummer without worrying about volume or tone.  The Classic 20 has great features-- such as an extension jack for a speaker cab and an input for headphones.  The accessibility of the tubes is just incredibly convenient.  However, the speaker is a 10" and that seems to limit the tonal quality, giving it a slightly nasal sound or what others term "boxy."

I love its tweed vibe and wish I could have all of 'em, but alas, I needed to flip it in order to get the amp of my dreams.  I found that amp, which arrived last night.  After saving and selling the Peavey Classic 20,  I now have the ultimate tube amp.  I would love to have had a tweed version again, but I was fine with the black tolex, since I am more interested in the sound and playability than the appearance. 

My sons and I have played it some already.  The clean channel is just that, full, warm and clean tones enhanced by the nice reverb.  The distortion channel is a great overdrive that will pan the range of dirty blues to rockin' metal.  I love the fullness of the 12 inch Blue Marvel Speaker.  The footswitch that came with it changes channels and turns on and off the reverb.  Also, like the Classic 20, the Peavey Classic 30 has a boost switch for going into a higher wattage output in the midrange in order to amplify a lead solo.  I am disappointed that the footswitch doesn't have a third button to turn this function on and off.  So far, I have read that in order to make that happen the amp would need to be modified in its circutry, something I am not willing to pursue at this point.

I am excited about the versatility this amp gives me to play with a combo or at church.  Truly a gig-worthy rig and the finest sounding tube amp I have played yet.  Four EL84's and three 12AX7's (appear to be Sovkek and JJ's, respectively) give this a true 30 watts of power, plenty for my purposes as a church guitarist who doubles as a blues musician on weekdays.  Check out my photos below and comment to give me your feedback, questions or ideas.  Thanks!  -- Guitar Man

Peavey Classic 20 for BLUES

I have plugged it in and tried the controls on various settings.  First with the Fender Deluxe Lone Star Strat and secondly with the Epiphone Riviera Custom P93.  The two EL84 and two 12AX7 Mullard tube replacements and the WGS G10c/s speaker provide a smoother, earlier breakup-- perfect for the blues guitar.  I actually anticipated a little more headroom, but I was able to mix it clean with no problem at all.  I turned the master to 3 o'clock and the volume set to to 9 o'clock, which cleans it up nicely and will allow me to play it at church on a mic to the PA system.

This amp was built in Meridian, Mississippi, in the good ol' USA!  I love American made musical instruments and equipment and they are getting harder and harder to afford, these days.  The amp came with the original owners manual/guide with some great information, such as how to mix the amp for clean, metal and blues. In the shipping box I found the seller had placed the original warranty cards/documents with the sign offs for quality assurance by the experts that built the amp!

I love the overall tone of this amp.  Truly, this will be my favorite amp ever, and I am including the Fender Blues Junior I sold-- though a great amp for clean headroom, in my humble opinion it is too loud and shrill without early enough distortion, and the VHT Special 6 Head and Cab, which I also sold because it, too, had to get too loud to get the breakup I needed for blues.  I will continue to use my Vox AC4TV10 for low volume practice, the Crate Vintage Club 20 for gigs requiring more volume and the Fender Deluxe 90 DSP amp when I need a lot of volume and great Fender clean tone.

I am ordering the gold Peavey logo badge in its original form because I love keeping things stock.  Some Classic 20 lovers remove theirs, I assume for an image purpose, but I like the look of completion that it will bring.  I am amazed at the condition of this amp built in the 1990's!  These things are solid.  The seller was very professional, removing the tubes and wraping them separately.  I enjoyed the ease in installing them in the amp.  So simple to reach in there and gently rock them in place. Also, the newish set of JJ tubes he had tried in the amp were also included in the shipment, in case I want to give them a try.

One of the things I love about this amp already is the open back for sound and, in addition, access to make tube changes.  The chrome chassis is beautiful, too; like the chrome bumpers on cars I remember longingly from the 50's and 60's.   The tweed tolex is gorgeous and in excellent condition, particularly given its age.  

My vintage Peavey Classic 20 is my new favorite amp-- hands down!  Point your mouse and click on the pictures to enjoy a better view of each one.  -- Guitar Man

Peavey Classic 20 Tube and Speaker Swap

Here is my Peavey Classic 20 15 watt tube amp.  It is a Class A with two 12AX7 and two EL84's.  The tubes were replaced recently by the individual I bought it from with a matched set of Mullards and the speaker has been replaced by a WGS G10 c/s, which I have researched a bit.  It is designed to smooth out the breakup and allow the amp to gain more clean headroom, while still achieving nice bluesy tone.  The tubes reduce the power output approximately 15-20%, also allowing for more versitile usage of both clean and overdrive sounds, as needed.

I will be pleased to use this amp for small gigs and plan to look for a 1X12 or 2X12 extension cabinet that will allow me to play this in a larger gig/venue. 

More pictures to come later.  Stay tuned blues guitar friends! -- Guitar Man