OffsetGuitars.com

really great - cheers!

Great story, I bought your records, played Fate/hate when djing a lot and saw you live with Wolfgang Press and DCD.

D

Fantastic. A great story, maybe the best I’ve read on here, thanks for sharing.

The guitar must mean a lot to you. Wonderful that you’ve kept it all these years, and now you’ve treated it to a full refurb by one of the true masters.

It looked great before, now it looks sublime.

Can’t quite believe how good a job he’s done on those tuner holes.

Hope you continue to enjoy the guitar for many decades more.

I guess that guitar does mean a lot to me. When we were recording there are no photos of the band... only the guitars! The amp s a Bandmaster which I had made into a combo with a couple of Celestion 10 inch speakers.



That was a nice 1970s blonde Jazz bass. I stupidly enoucraged my bassist to sell it after I made the bass in the earler photo from Mighty Mite parts. But we did get a good Ampeg valve head with the money.

Shadowplay, you are one of a very select group! I almost feel compelled to apologise for that show, I remember a version of Fate where the monitoring went and we all got half a bar out of sync with the sequencer. Fun times. It was after that show where Robin G was asking to buy the JM.

It's starting to play really nicely. The ringing is from the tremolo spring I think, adds a kind of reverb, which is interesting but will have to be sorted (it stops when I put the trem lock on). Just having a different varnish makes the neck feel different and for the first time ever I seem to be able to fret the bottom F etc of an F chord with my thumb.

It's very pleasuresome having a guitar feel newly old. I've actually cleaned up some of the distressing on the body, where he's added in dirt in some scratches, which looks more subtle but more convincing. In real life the guitar is probably a little more yellow than the pics but of course it changes with light conditions.



The veneer on the back ends where the shadow is... you can get more of an idea from this angle. But only if you know it's there!

The headstock work is unbelievable!!

Amazing work on the blonde finish too!!

Paul-T wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:46 am

Shadowplay, you are one of a very select group! I almost feel compelled to apologise for that show, I remember a version of Fate where the monitoring went and we all got half a bar out of sync with the sequencer. Fun times. It was after that show where Robin G was asking to buy the JM.

I don't remember it much but looking back it's a great lineup with what football analysts like to call 'strength in depth'. I DO however have to apologise for your signature, I recognised me saying that and it came out not quite the way it was intended. I think the one with Architect on it was hovering around those waters but in all honesty I spent most of my life with my nose in remainder bins and I've got bargain bin tastes.

I paid full whack for Fate/Hate (and the Vital single) though and still really like it and my older daughter told me she plays it out occasionally and asked me to pass it on. In the mid 80's when I was saddled playing to Goths that wanted to hear She Sells Sanctuary 5 times a night it was one of the tracks I wished I could have played when the place was busy and not empty since you could actually dance to it (strange as that idea might seem in the goth disco).

D

That headstock repair is incredible.

Paul-T wrote: ↑

Wed Nov 21, 2018 3:46 am

Just having a different varnish makes the neck feel different and for the first time ever I seem to be able to fret the bottom F etc of an F chord with my thumb.

I've sprayed a few necks in different finishes- nitro, acrylic lacquer and shellac. The nitro seems to me to feel the most "slippery", shellac pretty close to it, acrylic lacquer and the poly finish on my Jag bass, not so much.

Beautiful result for your guitar, and great story also.

A fine result. Clive's finish work always looks pleasing to me.

How long was the wait?

Mother of god, what a beautiful job. Good on you for doing it right.

zepset wrote: ↑

Mon Nov 26, 2018 9:09 am

A fine result. Clive's finish work always looks pleasing to me.

How long was the wait?

I think I called him around September 2017, and he said he could take it in April. Called over the new year and with to-ing and fro-ing got it to him in June, he thought it would be ready in December but had it done mid November.

He had a bunch of nice guitars he was working on; a blackguard tele (repro, not restored), some of his own Dwights, including the Explorer-Jr hybrid IIRC, and a beautiful TV Jr or Special, which again he seems to do a better job of than anyone else. He's simply had a lot through his hands, and of course he's been doing this for 25 years now.

It was great seeing his workshop, which was exactly as you'd expect, but in the perfect setting: Ripon, an old Yorkshire Market town, full of Georgian buildings, his workshop is at the back of what was probably an entrance for a horse and cart, behind an early Victorian shop. Wish I'd had more time to explore as it's an amazing location (although for some weird reason they have no train station). Plus, it turns out what while he makes a living restoring vintage guitars, his girlfrined makes a living restoring a very different object of desire: Teddy bears!

As I mentioned at the outset, one reason for getting this done is to rationalise. I have a 52 Blackguard, 59 Melody Maker, the JM, and a Mary Kaye CS Strat.

I sold my Gretsch 6120 a few years back to get a good Yamaha piano. I figure guitars need playing, so better to have fewer each of which gets more love. I am reducing to the JM, the Melody Maker (or perhaps a Jr) and a CS Tele. Getting the JM finally sorted, with an 'old' finish will ease some of the loss of selling the Tele, it's got much of the same texture and vibe.

I am till thinking of whether I compensate myself for the loss of a Tele with a Jr, which I've always wanted and for which the Melody Maker was a substitute, I'm planning a face-off between the MM with a Novak P90 and a Jr soon, to help make the decision.

That's actually shorter than I would have expected.

I like his work and talked to him about doing a guitar for me. With the wait time, and shipping from the USA, and being so far away if something wasn't right, I went a different direction.

I do think his finish work is among the very best.

zepset wrote: ↑

Tue Nov 27, 2018 7:20 am

That's actually shorter than I would have expected.

I like his work and talked to him about doing a guitar for me. With the wait time, and shipping from the USA, and being so far away if something wasn't right, I went a different direction.

I do think his finish work is among the very best.

Who did you use, Zepset?

Is there one thread anywhere here with a list of restorers and photos of their work?

In that case, I ended up passing the guitar on to someone else and vowed I would never buy another guitar that needs finish work. Let's see how well I can hold to that vow

In general, the wait time, cost, and uncertain outcome are all things that make me worry about having a vintage guitar refinished.