Firemist 65 Owners club

[offkeyericdee]

Pretty much just NOS. OH MAMA!

Looks outstanding - congrats! Are you going to add a Mastery bridge? Seriously, the bridges on AV 65s are on-again-off-again buzzy, and not the good kind of buzz.

[ChampionPenguin]

Add me onto the list as well, and you might have to add another RIP to the list as well as Fender Australia told me the first one I ordered had a finish defect and they had to scramble to find me another one. Have never weighed it and haven't modded it either yet, I was intending on swapping the pickups for Novak's (Widerange neck and Tele bridge) and putting a thimbled (?) StayTrem bridge on, but it plays better than my Aztek Gold one so might do the swap on that one instead. Fun fun times

[spacecadet]

It feels like these are easier to find than even a production run of 150 would dictate they should be.

[EffinNewGuy]

Wow. Simply, wow. These are definitely something special.

[thomas-k]

I'm in !
Thomas-France-not weighed-Staytrem bridge&trem arm/collet


Here's my thread about it : http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... =6&t=89668

And a pic with the staytrem goods :

[spacecadet]

Ok, we're in business!



This was my reaction when I opened the case: https://youtu.be/OMGnRayA_U8?t=44s" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Since so many people here have these at this point I'm not gonna do my own NGD post, but I'll write a lot more about it on my blog in the next couple days. I'll just edit the link into this post when I do. (Now here: http://www.alphabetcityblog.com/2015/06 ... emist.html)

btw I still have the plastic on the pickguard and pickup covers in these photos.

But a couple quick things:



Aha! I knew it - they changed the pickup cover color on the AV65's. The one on the left came off my AVRI, and I bought some packaged AVRI's from Fender a while back for my CIJ that looked exactly the same. I keep putting them on and taking them off again because I always thought they looked wrong, and I guess Fender finally agreed. The ones on the AV65 look much better. In person, the difference is even more obvious.

But my question is, has anyone bought these covers separately lately? Are the packaged ones now the same as the ones on my AV65? I'd still love to put these off-white AV65 covers on my CIJ.

My streak of getting somewhat motley guitars also continues:



That's not an illusion - the rosewood on my fretboard is much lighter on one side than the other. It actually looks a little more pronounced in real life. I'll probably try oiling the whole thing and see if that darkens it enough to at least make the difference less noticeable.

My guitar also has two small scratches on the back (second guitar in a row that I've gotten like that), which I'm debating whether or not to try to polish out. I probably won't, out of fear of messing up the finish.

[amv]

The AV65's are definitely in a class by themselves when it comes to rosewood. I have two Jags, one AV65 and one AVRI. The AVRI has a deep, black-ish rosewood with very little visible grain. You could easily mistake it for ebony in all but the brightest light. Meanwhile, my AV65's rosewood is not only extremely pale, but has very pronounced, dark figures running through it. Mine doesn't have quite the same concentration of dark vs. light as yours, but it draws from a similar palette of shades. (For the record, btw, I think yours looks very striking as-is.)

I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand, the AVRI rosewood has a very tight, consistent quality that gives it an austere, dignified vibe. But the AV65 is so much more colorful that it's hard not to appreciate it on its own terms. Very vivid, with lots of personality.

Also, you're dead on with the case reaction. The CAR on my AV65 Jag is so goddamned bright that I've made this comparison every time I've described it since buying it almost two years ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRRKKKUAtoc&t=4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It was broad daylight and I still have no doubt my face was glowing red the moment it opened enough for light to escape.

There's something about opening the case for the first time on an American Vintage offset that can make grown men tremble.

[spacecadet]

The AV65's are definitely in a class by themselves when it comes to rosewood. I have two Jags, one AV65 and one AVRI. The AVRI has a deep, black-ish rosewood with very little visible grain. You could easily mistake it for ebony in all but the brightest light. Meanwhile, my AV65's rosewood is not only extremely pale, but has very pronounced, dark figures running through it.

Yeah, I have an AVRI as well and I was really surprised by the difference. I don't know which is really "better" but they are very different. In addition to being very dark, my AVRI also has kind of an oily looking finish on it - some have said it's probably just the oil from the wood because it is *very* light, but I think it's some kind of oil product they applied at the factory. My CIJ, on the other hand, was bone dry when I got it, and now so is this AV65. The net effect is that the AVRI has a dark, shiny appearance and smooth feel, whereas my AV65 has a mixed light to medium, matte appearance (haven't really judged the feel yet).

I put some "Guitar Honey" on my CIJ fretboard and that gave it a similar appearance and feel to my AVRI, although probably not permanently (it's lasted like a year now, though). I may try that on the AV65, although I'll see how I feel about it for a little while first.

[mekhem]

SpaceCadet - You picked up the New one?

[mekhem]

Oops

[spacecadet]

SpaceCadet - You picked up the New one?

Yup

They gave me a deal on it. Couldn't pass up the chance.

[mekhem]

SpaceCadet - You picked up the New one?

Yup

They gave me a deal on it. Couldn't pass up the chance.

I hear ya (twice) especially since it was a " wait... there's ANOTHER one?!?"

[spacecadet]

I hear ya (twice) especially since it was a " wait... there's ANOTHER one?!?"

I have not picked mine up yet (next weekend) but I am going to ask where all these came from. I might guess that a distributor was liquidating them.

You guys' guitars probably were something like that. Mine seems like it was probably the new one Dave's originally bought for themselves when they first came out, and it's been there for a while. It's obviously new but I can tell it's at least been taken out of the case and handled a few times, so it was probably the one they had hanging in their shop. Ironically you guys who ordered the "used" ones probably got less-used guitars than I did, and I bought the "new" one.

But I don't mind. I'd have loved to have gotten the same deal you did but I'm just happy to have one at all, and I did get them to knock half the difference off. And it's still newer looking than most other new guitars I've bought, most of which have had some kind of visible store wear.

[DFiasco]

I'd love to see one of these in person. That color seems difficult to photograph well.

[spacecadet]

I'd love to see one of these in person. That color seems difficult to photograph well.

On my laptop and desktop, I'd say the last two posts with pics (mine and thomas-k's) got it pretty well. It's a slightly greenish silver. Sometimes it can look bluish in pics depending on the white balance (and your monitor), but if you're seeing it with a slight green tinge, that's about right. I have almost no doubt that as these age, they will appear light metallic green.

It really is amazingly beautiful in person, though.